Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 5 Leg 1: Nessebar -> Roma

[Sir Lüc]

Small trivia moment.

Team In The Wind has already gotten three stage wins, so that puts it in quite a good place to break the record of five stage wins in a team's maiden edition*, jointly held by Gagnheirs/Mençeis (Spain 2022) and Cyclohexane (Italy 2023, but with added value due to more participants).

Cyclohexane also went on to win that edition, being again one of two teams to win its debut edition, together with Esqipă Velocostă (Italy 2025). Surprisingly (or not, if you recall how that edition went...), EVC only took a single stage victory in that winning maiden edition.

Also perhaps surprisingly, Averatxeirs and Valcürïas got two stage wins in their respective debuts, while other teams who went on to win and, in general, to take part in TCAT much more often, actually got no wins in their debut and it took a while to get their first stage win: it took Fieschă 24, Dead Last 25, Port Maxhestic 29, ex-SOS/REX 33 and the Cabana Boys 44 stages before they could finally triumph.

Today's Mençeis wins also ensures ex-GNH/MMM confirms their perfect record of getting at least one stage win in every edition they took part in (5 editions, 17 wins), which they share with GHST (12 editions, 37 wins), EVC (3 editions, 10 wins) and obviously ITW (1 edition, 3 wins).

(*: I am obviously ignoring the very first edition as all teams were new, and the low turnout would skew stuff even more)

[Glüc]

Todays stage could have been a sprint. However, some teams had different plans, going fast enough on the climbs on the way to drop most of the fastest sprinters (who often struggle uphill). They never managed to return, resulting in a reduced peloton heading towards the finish. Without the organisation of the sprint teams there was room to attack and Alec Segaert used the opportunity to escape and solo to the stage win. Aular (REX/VFL) was the first TCAT rider across the line followed by Narvaez (MMM/REX/VFL) resulting in a pretty low scoring affair. A disappointment for the teams who invested credits in sprinters perhaps. Els Talossaes Rexhital remain in the lead.

Standings after stage 12:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	3740	+261
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3561	+137
3rd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	3491	+179
4th	(+1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3317	+278
5th	(-1)		Team In The Wind (ITW)	3186	+72
6th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3114	+81
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3049	+95
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1809	+72

Tomorrow is somewhat similar to today, except we get climbs that are a bit steeper and a bit closer to the finish, so again we probably won't see a bunch sprint. Yet another opportunity for Narvaez perhaps. Presumably we will see Scaroni or Silva near the front as well. Meanwhile, with opportunities slowly running out ITW and BDC will very much hope Ciccone finally gets a result to prevent GHST from running away with the competition before we get to the mountains again.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Yaaaaaassssss!