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

[Glüc]

Because we had a restday, I made a graph of previous results looking at the scores for evenly balanced teams vs teams with the most expensive riders and a lot of cheaper picks.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Because we had a restday, I made a graph of previous results looking at the scores for evenly balanced teams vs teams with the most expensive riders and a lot of cheaper picks.

So minmaxing is a valid strategy, it would seem...

[Glüc]

Stage 4 Alberobello -> Lecce

A surprising result as TCAT arrived in Apulia in southern Italy today. What was not at all surprising was that we got a bunch sprint, but the winner was not one anyone saw coming. Kooij (REX/DED/EVC/MCB) came in second, Zijlaard (CJO) third, Pedersen (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC) fourth and Groves (GHS/ATX) fifth. Fretin (BDC) disappointed, but still scored some points, unlike Van Aert (VFL/MAN/KIN), who didn't even manage to finish in the peloton.

The results for Pedersen and Groves resulted in two-sprinter team GHST easily scoring the most points today and overtaking Cyclohexane for the overall lead. Dirnalaiset Mortescu also had a pretty strong day.


Standings after stage 4:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1908	+413
2nd	(-1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1794	+293
3rd	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1497	+272
4th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1421	+284
5th	(=)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1292	+301
6th	(+2)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1196	+302
7th	(-1)		Kinetic (KIN)	990	+75
8th	(+2)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC) (EVC)	984	+254
9th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	982	+92
10th	(-3)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	978	+71
11th	(+2)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	928	+298
12th	(-1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	911	+238
13th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	861	+232
14th	(-2)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	852	+218

Casper van Uden winning the sprint:


Tomorrow: A couple of hills, but the overall expectation is another sprint. The final stretch is slightly uphill however and it is preceded by another short steep climb only between 2,5 kilometers before the finish. So sprinters with some climbing ability are likely to do well here, and who knows whether a late attack might not succeed?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

10th(-3)Velociposse Florencia (VFL)978+71

Oof, man that's rough.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 5 Ceglie Messapica -> Matera

Fifth stage, third Mads Pedersen (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC) win - a long uphill sprint culminated in the Dane pipping non-TCAT Zambanini and Tom Pidcock (CJO/VFL/REX/DED/KIN/BDC/EVC) for the stage victory. Banqeu de Cézembre breaks the three-stage winstreak of GHST thanks to Pedersen, Pidcock and Storer, sixth today. Also scoring decent amounts of points are of course the other Pedersen teams, in addition to Naziun Cjovani who places Filippo Fiorelli in fifth. Averatxeirs's Quentin Pacher places seventh, but that's not enough for the M-M team to finish towards the top of the daily standings.

Narrowing at the front of the overall standings, but the Pedersen teams are still firmly on top. The rest of the pack is a very tight affair, with all other teams in little more than 200 points, apart from DED.

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2293	+385
2nd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2220	+426
3rd	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1944	+447
4th	(+1)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1885	+593
5th	(-1)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1805	+384
6th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1524	+328
7th	(+1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1309	+325
8th	(+4)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1298	+387
9th	(+1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1259	+281
10th	(-3)		Kinetic (KIN)	1255	+265
11th	(=)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1139	+211
12th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1136	+275
13th	(+1)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1101	+249
14th	(-5)		The Manilows (MAN)	1091	+109

Finishphoto: pink jersey Mads Pedersen juust in front of Pidcock (left) and Zambanini (right), as Storer and Aular look on in the second row.



Tomorrow, one last chance for pure sprinters, but not before two categorised climbs (cat 2 and 3 respectively). Is that just gonna be an occasion to farm summit points for the King of Mountains classification, before a full peloton forms back in anticipation for a long mostly flat approach to the finish in Naples? Or is something more exciting in store? A chance for a breakaway to slip by, or even for Pedersen's team to outpace all pure sprinters - as in stages 1, 3 and 5 - and get to Naples with a much reduced bunchsprint of punchy sprinters?

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

It's nice to see us Maricopans sticking together!

[King Txec]

Unfortunately at the bottom of the pack!

-Txec R

[Glüc]

Oof massive crash in the peloton. Hindley left in an ambulance. Other riders are on their bike again but several appear quite badly hurt including Cerny (who was originally also reported as having abandoned), Adam Yates and Carapaz. 😖

[Glüc]

Stage 6 Potenza -> Napoli

Today we moved to the west coast for a sprint in Italy's third largest city and it was wet. Slippery roads caused a rider to slip and much of the peloton behind him followed suit. Biggest TCAT victim was Jai Hindley (CFA/DED/KIN) who suffered a concussion and had to abandon. Multiple other TCAT riders were hurt however, so we have to hope there won't be more abandons because of this crash.

The crash and the condition of the roads led the organisation to decide not to award PC points or time loss at the finish, leaving only the stage itself contested with no implications for classifications and allowing anyone not contesting the stage itself to avoid further risks. Fortunato (GHS) had already scored some KOM points by that point and there was also a break, involving Taco van der Hoorn (CFA/KIN), which only got caught mere kilometers before the finish after being hindered by a very dangerous action by a some protestors (who then also went on to nearly cause another crash in the peloton).

So we did get a sprint in the end, not involving Pedersen (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC), who decided not to risk it with no points on the line. Van Aert (VFL/MAN/KIN) accidentally bravely attacked before the finish, but did not manage to stay ahead of the bunch. Instead Groves (GHS/ATX) won the sprint, followed by Fretin (BDC). Zijlaard (CJO), Marcellusi (MCB) and Kooij (REX/DED/EVC/MCB) also managed to end in the top 10.

The result by Groves means GHST again scored the most points and extended their lead. Averatxheirs also did well and gained four places in the standing.

Standings after stage 6:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2643	+350
2nd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2353	+133
3rd	(+1)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2168	+283
4th	(-1)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2084	+140
5th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1975	+170
6th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1673	+149
7th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1516	+218
8th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC) (EVC)	1426	+117
9th	(+4)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1409	+308
10th	(+1)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1386	+247
11th	(-1)		Kinetic (KIN)	1362	+107
12th	(-3)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1330	+71
13th	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1232	+96
14th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	1166	+75

Finishphoto: Groves wins the sprint in a group of only sprinters while the rest of the peloton takes it easy with no points or time on the line.


Tomorrow, TCAT enters a new phase as we move north into somewhat more mountainous terrain. While friday's stage isn't the most challenging we do end on a pretty serious uphill finish, which should favour pure climbers and the more punchy of the GC contestants, with Roglic probably being favoured to take over the pink jersey. As it stands there are 41 riders within 3 minutes of the GC leader. That number will shrink considerably. The giro can't be won tomorrow, and I don't think the top riders will put minutes between them, but for some riders their GC standing be lost and this will tell us a lot about the chances of the various TCAT teams as well.


Profile of the final climb tomorrow.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 7 Castel di Sangro -> Tagliacozzo (Marsia)

First summit finish, first direct skirmishes between GC contenders, with a long breakaway including Paul Double (CJO/MAN) and Christian Scaroni (REX/DED/EVC) which got regathered on the final climb; bit of a letdown as no early attack came, as most of the final climb saw the leading group slowly shed riders, Juan Ayuso (CJO/PTM/GHS/CFA/VFL/MAN/ATX/BDC/MCB) waiting until the very end to launch an attack that caught his main GC opponent Primoz Roglic (CJO/PTM/GHS/CFA/DED/MAN/CHX/KIN/MCB) sleeping.

Ayuso ultimately got the stage win, gaining 4" on Roglic (fourth today) plus another 10" from finishing first, which all together put him at just 4" from the lead of the general classification. The lead is instead inherited by Roglic himself, with former pink jersey Mads Pedersen (PTM/GHS/CFA/CHX/BDC) obviously not suited to a stage such as today's, plummeting down the order as was always assumed.

Lots of other TCAT riders scoring stage finish points by placing top 20 - unsurprisingly, as it turned out to be a stage for GC contenders - with Ciccone and Tiberi immediately behind Roglic, and Carapaz, Poole and Storer closing the top 10. Both Yates twins, Derek Gee, Harper, Arensman, Poels and Pidcock also got points.

This results in a large haul for most TCAT teams, but the Cabana Boys rising on top; the Maricopans make the most of placing Ayuso, Roglic, Ciccone and Carapaz within the top 8 and leap into the top half of the standings. GHST retains the lead of the overall standings and place second today, though the next nine teams in the daily results are all within about 100 points of them. Sadly not as good as a day for Kinetic and the Royals despite respectively placing four and five riders in the top 20 - the top 10 positions simply pay much more stage finish points.

Standings after stage 7:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3224	+581
2nd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2877	+524
3rd	(=)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2667	+499
4th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2650	+566
5th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2510	+535
6th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2150	+477
7th	(+3)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2126	+740
8th	(-1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2070	+554
9th	(=)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1946	+537
10th	(+2)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1909	+579
11th	(-3)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1853	+427
12th	(+2)		The Manilows (MAN)	1743	+577
13th	(-2)		Kinetic (KIN)	1672	+310
14th	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1543	+311

Finishphoto: Juan Ayuso's first stage win at a grand tour

[Sir Lüc]

Today's stage is already underway - one for a breakaways perhaps, with a category 1 climb right in the middle and a very spicy last bit, with a hard but short climb just before, a long downhill, then a 4% slope finish. Everyone will want to be in the breakaway though, so it might take a while to form.

[Glüc]

More detailed update tomorrow, because it's way past my bedtime and I've had too much wine, but the short version:

* The break succeeded.
* Ulissi (REX/ATX/EVC) was the first TCAT rider across the line and also takes the lead in GC and the pink jersey
* GHST got the most points again and extend their lead
* The Cabana Boys got very close a second succesive victory and keep gaining spots.

Standings after stage 8:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3628	+404
2nd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3071	+194
3rd	(+1)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2935	+285
4th	(-1)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2838	+171
5th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2722	+212
6th	(+1)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2527	+401
7th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2345	+275
8th	(+1)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2330	+384
9th	(-3)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2322	+172
10th	(+1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC) (EVC)	2211	+358
11th	(-1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2065	+156
12th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	1923	+180
13th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1862	+319
14th	(-1)		Kinetic (KIN)	1799	+127

Tomorrow: Gravel! We get a stage inspired by the spring classic Strade Bianche passing some of the same gravel sections and finishing on the famous Piazzo del Campo in Siena. Might the most interesting stage to watch this Giro.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 9 Gubbio -> Siena

Quick ish update: yesterday's Strade Bianche ended up being the most chaotic day so far, as what seemed like a stage for the breakaway actually saw just six riders go for it, including sprinters Groves (ATX/GHS) and Fretin (BDC) - hardly candidates for the stage victory. As such, it turned into a day for general classification riders to try and put gaps on each others in the unpredictable gravel portions.

And chaotic they were - Tom Pidcock, one of the favourites for the stage win given his win at Strade Bianche 2023 and his second place at this year's edition, crashed in the second gravel segment taking Primoz Roglic and Derek Gee with him. This effectively guaranteed a minute timeloss to all three, leaving rivals such as Ayuso, Ciccone, Tiberi and Carapaz free to battle for all top 10 places.

The stage win actually went to a resurgent Wout van Aert, who battled with young non-TCAT Isaac del Toro in a two man finale and just about prevailed as the two snaked their way in the tight alleyways of Siena. Giulio Ciccone headed the GC riders for third, about a minute down. A further minute down, Pidcock, Roglic and Gee. Del Toro inherits pink from Diego Ulissi, way down the order today together with Lorenzo Fortunato; both tumble down the order and out of the GC top 20.

Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3851	+223
2nd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3526	+455
3rd	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3314	+379
4th	(=)		BdC Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3258	+420
5th	(+1)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3101	+574
6th	(-1)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3044	+322
7th	(+4)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2923	+858
8th	(=)		Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2889	+559
9th	(+1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC) (EVC)	2744	+533
10th	(-1)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2709	+387
11th	(-4)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2645	+300
12th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	2331	+408
13th	(+1)		Kinetic (KIN)	2308	+509
14th	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	2303	+441

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

7th(+4)Velociposse Florencia (VFL)2923+858

VFL won this round by hundreds of points somehow. Going to enjoy this one bright shining moment before we start back burrowing into the ground.

[King Txec]

7th(+4)Velociposse Florencia (VFL)2923+858

VFL won this round by hundreds of points somehow. Going to enjoy this one bright shining moment before we start back burrowing into the ground.

Enjoy it because being at the bottom is not terribly exciting!

-Txec R