Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 4 Leg 3: Torino -> Madrid

[Glüc]

Talossan Cycling Association Tour
2025
Third Leg
Torino -> Madrid


_{(Logo created by Sir Lüc)}

We're getting closer to the end of the season as we start the final leg of TCAT 2025. Eleven teams from 6 different provinces will do another 3100 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 (polkadot jersey), the points classification (green jersey) and the general classification (the famous yellow jersey) which determines which individual rider wins this leg of TCAT. Esqipă Velocostă has managed to win the first two legs of the season. Can they be beaten?

Let's have a look at the teams:

- Esqipă Velocostă - (EVC, Belacostă) Season score: 18064 Vingegaard Tiberi Gall Landa Biermans Pidcock Bagioli Bjerg Jorgenson -----------------------------------------------------	- Port Maxhestic AC - (PTM, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) Season score: 16427 Vingegaard Ayuso Fortunato Chaves Pedersen Bisiaux Armirail Küng Frigo -----------------------------------------------------	- Gordon Hiatus Support Team - (GHS, Belacostă) Season score: 16369 Vingegaard Jorgenson Bernal Ciccone Philipsen Silva Campenaerts Azparren Vine -----------------------------------------------------
- Velociposse Florencia - (VFL, Florencia) Season score: 16051 Ayuso Tiberi Buitrago Hindley Philipsen Pidcock Bouwman Ganna O'Connor -----------------------------------------------------	- Cyclohexane - (CHX, Belacostă) Season score: 15749 Vingegaard Tiberi Ciccone Pellizzari Viviani Armirail Campenaerts Bagioli O'Connor -----------------------------------------------------	- Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs - (BDC, Cézembre) Season score: 15220 Vingegaard Soler Pellizzari Fortunato Philipsen Ganna Pidcock Bisiaux Buitrago -----------------------------------------------------
- Cézembre Fieschā - (CFA, Cézembre) Season score: 14577 Vingegaard Almeida Hindley Kuss Coquard Jungels Küng Rickaert O'Connor -----------------------------------------------------	- Els Talossaes Rexhitais - (REX, Maricopa) Season score: 14092 Almeida Tiberi Buitrago Hindley Zingle Pidcock Aleotti Ganna Philipsen -----------------------------------------------------	- Naziun Cjovani - (CJO, Belacostă) Season score: 13390 Vingegaard Ayuso Ciccone Bernal Aular Balderstone Arcas Gamper Sheffield -----------------------------------------------------
- Dirnalaiset Mortescu - (DED, Vuode) Season score: 12798 Almeida Vine Buitrago Fortunato Philipsen Pidcock Ganna Aleotti Pedersen	- Maricopa Cabana Boys - (MCB, Maricopa) Season score: 7425* Vingegaard Jorgenson Ciccone Buitrago Pedersen Armirail Barceló Bagioli Gamper

Links:
Registration thread
Information about the route and riders

[Glüc]

No fewer than 8 out of 11 teams picked Vingegaard. It's clear that people are expecting him to do well.

Also interesting that the season top 3 all went for three all rounders, the mid table teams all went for 3 climbers and the rest went for 4 unclassed/2 sprinters.

[Glüc]

Limited time to write update unfortunately. Philipsen (GHS/VFL/BDC/REX/DED) won the first stage in a bunch sprint, taking the maillot rojo, after winning the first stage of the tour de france as well. Unsurprisingly the five teams who picked him take an early lead in TCAT.

Standings after stage 1:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	400	+400
2nd	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	387	+387
3rd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	364	+364
4th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	353	+353
5th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	353	+353
6th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	188	+188
7th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	156	+156
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	126	+126
9th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	89	+89
10th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	42	+42
11th	(=)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	34	+34

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

This may be the only time the Posse graces first place so we are enjoying it.

[Glüc]

Mostly flat stage yesterday but with a cat 2 summit uphill finish. Vingegaard was the strongest on the final climb and takes over the red jersey, although he did not win any time on his opponents. Results by Ciccone and Bernal mean GHST wins the day and takes the overall lead. The additional research isn't quite paying off for Port Maxhestic yet.

Standings after stage 2:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1161	+797
2nd	(+4)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	934	+746
3rd	(+1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	771	+418
4th	(+4)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	761	+635
5th	(-4)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	749	+349
6th	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	724	+568
7th	(-2)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	722	+369
8th	(+1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	670	+581
9th	(+2)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	663	+629
10th	(-8)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	648	+261
11th	(-1)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	441	+399

Today we stay in Piemonte, Italy for a stage with a slightly less challenging uphill finish that seems very well suited for someone like Mads Pedersen

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

The additional research isn't quite paying off for Port Maxhestic yet.

no chill

[Glüc]

Everything seemed to be going to plan for Pedersen, until in the final meters out of nowhere there was Gaudu, who unexpectedly beat Pedersen to the finishline. Pedersen still came in second and with good results for Vingegaard, Ciccone and Buitrago that was enough for the Cabana Boys to take the win and gain 6 places in the standing. GHST remain in the lead.

Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1732	+571
2nd	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1566	+632
3rd	(+6)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1437	+774
4th	(+2)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1168	+444
5th	(-2)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1141	+370
6th	(-2)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1123	+362
7th	(+3)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	993	+345
8th	(-3)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	977	+228
9th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	962	+292
10th	(-3)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	940	+218
11th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	893	+452

The peloton hasn't moved to Spain yet. Instead we're crossing the alps into France, but although there is some climbing at the beginning of the stage it avoids the real mountain passes and looks more like an opportunity for sprinters, although the finish is on a slight uphill gradient. Another chance for Pedersen perhaps.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 4 Susa -> Voiron

I'm back from traveling so here's a quick update on yesterday's stage, which led riders out of Italy and into France for the last of the four "grand depart" stages away from Spanish soil.

The longest of this edition, yesterday's stage started off strong with three categorised climbs, then a very long downhill and flat stretch to an uphill sprint. Many speculated this could go to the breakaway, but ultimately most of the peloton arrived together in a sprint. It was non-TCAT Ben Turner who crossed the line first, ahead of stage 1 winner Jasper Philipsen (BDC/GHS/REX/VFL/DED). EVC placed Jenthe Biermans in fifth, ahead of still-winless Mads Pedersen (MCB/PTM/DED, 6th), Orluis Aular (CJO, 8th), Guillermo Silva (GHS, 9th) and Bryan Coquard (CFA, 13th).

Logically a pretty good result for the five Philipsen teams, who lock out the five top positions. Dead Last just misses out on the daily win despite the Philipsen/Pedersen combination, with GHST edging them out with Silva and more daily classification points.

Standings after stage 4:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2129	+397
2nd	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1767	+201
3rd	(=)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1694	+257
4th	(+1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1420	+279
5th	(+2)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1383	+390
6th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1280	+157
7th	(-3)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1264	+96
8th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1242	+265
9th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1195	+255
10th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1171	+209
11th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1105	+212

Tomorrow, a very rare team time trial (TTT) - only the third TTT in 11 editions of TCAT, I believe - as TCAT finally enters Spain proper. Each of the 23 (real world) teams taking part in Vuelta will field their riders as a group, and the time for the whole team will be taken at the fourth rider crossing the line. The custom Velogames scoring for this kind of stage means TCAT managers will receive 50,40,30,...,5 points for each rider they hold in the 1st,2nd,3rd,...,8th placed Vuelta team.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 5 Figueres -> Figueres (TTT)

Second of three updates from me as I catch up on the ones I missed while travelling - many thanks again to @Glüc for covering for me earlier.

Not much to say about yesterday's team time trial except that it was fairly clear it would be won by either UAE (Ayuso and Almeida's team) or Visma (Vingegaard's team) - it was the former who ultimately prevailed by 8". Lidl (Pedersen and Ciccone's team) rounded off the podium.

TCAT wise, GHST gets another daily win largely thanks to holding five riders among the three podium placed teams. Most other teams got roughly the same amount of points, 60 to 80 fewer than GHST, except for PTM, whose riders might not be bringing enough assist points to fill these small gaps yet, and REX and VFL, both of whom only held a single UAE rider. As a combination of the low-ish scoring and little point differences, not much has changed in the overall standings except for EVC gaining two places off their daily fifth place.

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2467	+338
2nd	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2035	+268
3rd	(=)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1967	+273
4th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1666	+246
5th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1640	+257
6th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1546	+266
7th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1518	+254
8th	(+2)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1432	+261
9th	(-1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1409	+167
10th	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1390	+195
11th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1318	+213

Today we finally get a first true taste of the mountains as Vuelta enters a fourth diffferent country in six stages, with a category 1 summit finish in Andorra. Could be a first chance to see the first meaningful gaps in the general classification, although it doesn't seem nearly hard enough to blow up the standings altogether. It will still be an interesting first peek at the climbing pecking order, and a chance for poor fortunes to turn around as the climbers get more engaged.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

Heck yeah MCB!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 6 Olot -> Pal. Andorra

Vuelta's first true mountain stage was defined by a ten rider breakaway including Jay Vine (GHS/DED), Lorenzo Fortunato (BDC/DED/PTM) and Bruno Armirail (CHX/MCB/PTM). They got all the way to the finish, with this TCAT trio getting respectively first, third and fourth place; Vine himself went on a solo attack on the final climb and won by around a minute over non-TCAT Torstein Træen, who takes the lead of the general classification off Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane got 11th and second in the group of favourites, only bested by Almeida (CFA/DED/REX). The duo are now 5th and 6th in the general classification, with Giulio Ciccone (CHX/CJO/GHS/MCB) just behind both today and in GC, and the leading quartet all unlikely to stay there for long.

It's still very early days though, as you definitely can't win Vuelta but you sure can lose it. Indeed, Juan Ayuso (CJO/PTM/VFL), already off a disappointing showing in TCAT Italy earlier this year, managed to disappoint again by dropping very early on in the final climb and losing almost eight minutes to Vingegaard and Almeida; his bid for the general classification is already over. And for a last bit of the bad news, Koen Bouwman (VFL) is unfortunately the third TCAT rider to abandon. Not the best first shot at a summit finish for Tiberi, Buitrago, O'Connor and Landa either - all of them are already a minute down on Vingegaard, Almeida, Ciccone, Jorgenson, Hindley, Pellizzari, Bernal and Gall, who at a first look seem like the strongest GC picks (again very early days).

In TCAT, Dead Last get the win they nearly got two days ago; making the most of these mountain breakaway stages is very important* and they almost got it perfect with Vine and Fortunato on the podium and Almeida best of the GC favourites. DED accordingly takes over Cjovani's podium spot, with Port Maxhestic, today's strong second holding Fortunato and Armirail, also a big mover going straight from last to midpack.


Standings after stage 6:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2963	+482
2nd	(+1)		Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2348	+371
3rd	(+2)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2322	+674
4th	(-2)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2229	+182
5th	(-1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2071	+396
6th	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1899	+375
7th	(+4)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1864	+528
8th	(-2)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1755	+200
9th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1668	+227
10th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1597	+203
11th	(-2)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1543	+128

Tomorrow, arguably a pretty similar stage. Will today's first impressions prove correct? Will we see another breakaway win (and from whom), or will the GC guys take this one instead? Tune in to find out!