Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 4 Leg 1: Dürres -> Roma

[Glüc]

Talossan Cycling Association Tour
2025
First Leg
Dürres -> Rome


_{(Logo created by Sir Lüc)}

And we're back again. A record number of fourteen teams from 7 different provinces will do more than 3400 kilometers of cycling in the coming three weeks while the team captains sit at home and enjoy the show. The goal is to score the most points by winning stages and doing well in three classifications: the King of the Mountains classification (blue jersey), the points classification (cyclamen jersey) and the general classification (pink jersey) which determines which individual rider wins this leg of TCAT.

The following teams are participating:

- Naziun Cjovani - (CJO, Belacostă) Roglič Ayuso A. Yates Double Zijlaard Heiduk Fiorelli Pidcock Bardet -----------------------------------------------------	- Port Maxhestic AC - (PTM, Maritiimi-Maxehstic) Roglič Ayuso Carapaz Bardet Pedersen L. Hamilton Černý Pluimers Geniets -----------------------------------------------------	- Gordon Hiatus Support Team - (GHS, Belacostă) Roglič Ayuso Fortunato Poole Pedersen Pietrobon Tarling Poels Groves -----------------------------------------------------
- Cézembre Fieschā - (CFA, Cézembre) Roglič Ayuso A. Yates Hindley Pedersen Van den Bossche Van der Hoorn Van Hoecke Van Baarle -----------------------------------------------------	- Velociposse Florencia - (VFL, Florencia) Ayuso Tiberi Carapaz S. Yates Van Aert Pidcock Aleotti Affini Germani -----------------------------------------------------	- Els Talossaes Rexhitais - (REX, Maricopa) Tiberi Gee Carapaz Landa Kooij Pidcock Ulissi Scaroni Arensman -----------------------------------------------------
- Dirnalaiset Mortescu - (DED, Vuode) Tiberi Roglič Hindley Ciccone Kooij Pidcock Scaroni Aleotti Affini -----------------------------------------------------	- The Manilows - (MAN, Maricopa) Martinez Ayuso Poole Double Van Aert Dewulf Donovan Welten Roglič -----------------------------------------------------	- Cyclohexane - (CHX, Belacostă) Roglič Tiberi A. Yates Ciccone Pedersen Busatto Formolo Denz Affini -----------------------------------------------------
- Kinetic - (KIN, Fiôvâ) Roglič Gee S. Yates Hindley Van Aert Pidcock Van der Hoorn Van Baarle Vine -----------------------------------------------------	- Els Averatxeirs - (ATX, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) Ayuso Gee S. Yates Ciccone Groves Vacek Ulissi Pacher Landa -----------------------------------------------------	- BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs - (BDC, Cézembre) Arensman Ayuso A. Yates Storer Pedersen Pidcock Harper Poels Fretin -----------------------------------------------------
- Esqipă Velocostă - (EVC, Belacostă) Gee Tiberi Ciccone Carapaz Kooij Pidcock Scaroni Ulissi Landa	- Maricopa Cabana Boys - (MCB, Maricopa) Roglič Ayuso Carapaz Ciccone Kooij Baroncini Arrieta Marcellusi Bouwman

Links:
Registration thread
Information about the route and riders

[Audrada Roibeardet]

That battle for the first climb was fun to watch.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

[Glüc]

Oooof Landa :(

[Audrada Roibeardet]

That was a rough crash near the end.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 1 Durrës -> Tirana

We're off with an (expected) reduced sprint of just 35 riders - Mads Pedersen (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC) just edged out Wout van Aert (VFL/MAN/KIN), who seemed to struggle during the climbs but was helped by his team to reach the front again. A surprising fourth place for Francesco Busatto (CHX) hands today's win to Cyclohexane, who seems to have a knack for picking unexpectedly strong sprinters. Lots of other TCAT near the front - Pidcock, Ulissi, Carapaz and Poole also finished top 10.

Now to the bad news: potential GC contenders Derek Gee (REX/KIN/ATX/EVC) and Lorenzo Fortunato (GHS) already lost one minute, and Thymen Arensman (REX/BDC) lost 1:35. Not as bad of course as, sadly, Mikel Landa (REX/ATX/EVC), who unfortunately crashed out and is TCAT's first abandon.

Standings after stage 1:

Pos	Team	Pts
1st	Cyclohexane (CHX)	615
2nd	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	524
3rd	Esqipă Velocostă (EVC) (EVC)	521
4th	Kinetic (KIN)	447
5th	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	436
6th	Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	431
7th	BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	409
8th	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	407
9th	The Manilows (MAN)	381
10th	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	360
11th	Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	344
12th	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	249
13th	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	238
14th	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	235

Finish photo (click to enlarge):

[Sir Lüc]

Coming up tomorrow, the first of two time trials, shorter but with a climb inbetween. All eyes on GC riders like Roglic, Ayuso and Tiberi, who are good time trialists, and on time trial specialists like Tarling, Affini, Vine, Vacek and van Aert. There's also Arensman and Gee who lost time today but should be able to get a top 10 result.

Of these nine, Kinetic and Velociposse hold four, so they might be the favourites for the daily win, and they only share van Aert. You never know though - that hill in the middle might scramble the field a bit in favour of the GC riders.

[Glüc]

Stage 2 Tirana -> Tirana

Yesterday we remained in the Albanian capital for the first time trial. It was very close between GC contenders and TT specialist, but in the end it was TT specialist Joshua Tarling (GHS) who was the fastest with a time of 16'07,68", an average speed just under 51 km/h. GC favourite Roglic was less than half a second slower, but does take over the pink jersey from Pedersen, who himself also did well, finishing in 7th place (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC) and of course keeping the lead in the poinst classification. Vine (KIN), Affini (VFL/DED/CHX) and Vacek (ATX) completed the top 5. Roglic's main contender for the overall victory, Juan Ayuso did manage to limit the damage, losing only 16 seconds and coming in 10th. Most other GC favourites ended up losing between 20 and 60 seconds.

Wout van Aert (VFL/MAN/KIN) disappointed after a strong showing on the first stage. On paper the stage should have been very well suited for a punchy rider like Van Aert, but he didn't come close to a win and didn't score any points.

Cyclohexane had another strong showing due to the results by Roglič, Affini and Pedersen and keep the overall lead. Team of the day is GHST, who scored the most points, as they were the only team to pick one of the world's strongest TT specialists on top of having Roglič and Pedersen on board as well.

The five teams without Roglič filled the bottom five of the stage leaderboard. Esqipă Velocostă and Els Talossaes Rexhitais had a particularly bad day with no riders in the top 10. With the crash of Landa these teams are off to a very bad start and may even end up competing for last place soon (although of course its still very much early days.) The other team to suffer from the Landa crash also had a bad day and drop to last place in the standings.


Standings after stage 2:
                                             

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1139	+524
2nd	(+6)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1090	+683
3rd	(+2)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	898	+462
4th	(=)		Kinetic (KIN)	855	+408
5th	(-3)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	799	+275
6th	(+4)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	793	+433
7th	(+2)		The Manilows (MAN)	746	+365
8th	(+3)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	734	+390
9th	(-2)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	673	+264
10th	(-7)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	565	+44
11th	(+2)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	538	+300
12th	(+2)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	531	+296
13th	(-7)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	493	+62
14th	(-2)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	486	+237

Tarling (GHS) going fast:


Today is the last stage in Albania. It includes have two somewhat serious climbs that might result in some of the sprint favourites getting dropped halfway, but a fairly long downhill/flat stretch to the finish after that. We may have a succesful break today (currently it appears Tarling (GHS), Germani (VFL) and Donovan (MAN) are represented), allowing Roglič to give away the pink jersey until we get to the mountains. On the other hand the final stretch may be enough for the peloton (perhaps somewhat reduced) to come back and go for a sprint.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 3 Vlorë -> Vlorë

The last stage in Albania was won by Mads Pedersen again (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC), whose team controlled the stage very effectively, meaning no chance for a breakaway to succeed and also most pure sprinters getting dropped on the tough terrain mid-stage. A breakaway though ill-fated did get formed, including Tarling (GHS), Germani (VFL) and Donovan (MAN). Germani also managed to score stage points (P16), joined by CJO's Fiorelli (P8), Scaroni (REX/DED/EVC, P9), Ulissi (REX/ATX/EVC, P12) and Poole (GHS/MAN, P13), in addition of course to Pedersen.

Little consequences in the general classification - Pedersen retakes the pink jersey from Primoz Roglic (CJO/PTM/GHS/CFA/DED/MAN/CHX/KIN/MCB) on bonus seconds, and will probably keep it until late in the first week, since a raft of sprint stages are coming up. No major contender lost any time, but Wout van Aert (VFL/MAN/KIN) showed again signs of struggling with illness, as he finished over 15' after the main peloton.

It must be a Pedersen team to come out with the daily win, and indeed it is GHST who does so, thanks to Poole - none of the other four scored any other stage points. All five Pedersen teams are both top five today and in the overall standings thanks to the Dane's impressive pair of sprint wins and time trial P7 inbetween.

Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1501	+362
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1495	+405
3rd	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1225	+327
4th	(+2)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1137	+344
5th	(+4)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	991	+318
6th	(-2)		Kinetic (KIN)	915	+60
7th	(-2)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	907	+108
8th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	894	+160
9th	(-2)		The Manilows (MAN)	890	+144
10th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	730	+165
11th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	673	+142
12th	(+2)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	634	+148
13th	(-2)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	630	+92
14th	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	629	+136

Finishphoto: a ciclamino-clad (points classification leader) Pedersen will be wearing pink again from the next stage



Unusual first Monday restday coming up, as riders cross the Adriatic Sea to finally get to Italy proper. See you on Tuesday for the first of three consecutive stages with a likely sprint outcome, and the first chances for the likes of Kaden Groves (ATX/GHS) and Olav Kooij (REX/DED/EVC/MCB) to stretch their legs.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

🤔

[Glüc]

Yes?

[King Txec]

Well this is certainly a disappointing start!

-Txec R

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Yes?

A little minor ribbing about the Belcostan Viceroy using a now-officially-former flag to represent the province, is all. :P

[Sir Lüc]

Yes?

A little minor ribbing about the Belcostan Viceroy using a now-officially-former flag to represent the province, is all. :P

Are you seeing the old flag still? The flags are all linked off the database (in this case https://database.talossa.com/static/img/BE.webp) and I did overwrite the old flag with the new at the same URL (old one is now MU.webp). You might have the old flag cached in your browser - we could both already correctly see the new flag. Try visiting the flag url manually or CTRL+F5ing?

(The irony here is that Glüc reminded me himself that I hadn't gotten around to replacing the flag on the database, so he was well aware of the change!)

[Glüc]

Thanks Lüc for clearing that up 😇
Of course ribbing of any size would have been well deserved if I had posted the wrong flag, but I was getting rather confused because I was assuming we were both seeing the new one 😅