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!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 13 Alessandria -> Verbania

A day for the breakaway, but unfortunately once the initial attacks settled Mirco Maestri (CHX) was the only TCAT rider among the 15 leaders. He finished a distant 12th and +1'48 behind the winner. The peloton essentially chose to pace and conserve energies for today's upcoming mountain stage, ultimately finishing a whopping 13 minutes down.

Despite Maestri getting a few points, Cyclohexane gets beaten by Gordon Hiatus Support Team by just one point for today's stage win. Since only Maestri, Arensman and Bernal got (very few) stage points, we got an extremely low scoring result mostly made up of assist and daily classification points - which is usually good news for the virtual leader because that's one less stage to make up the difference.

Standings after stage 13:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	3817	+77
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3697	+136
3rd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	3587	+96
4th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3409	+92
5th	(=)		Team In The Wind (ITW)	3267	+81
6th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3249	+135
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3149	+100
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1873	+64

Today's stage should be much more consequential. It's just 133km (80ish mi) but chock full of climbs, perfect to see some action among general classification riders. Good chance of big scores and big swings in TCAT and GC; the kind of stage that can make or break an edition. Be sure to tune in for the results.

[Glüc]

Stage 14 Aosta -> Pila

Today was the most challenging mountain stage so far this giro, taking place in the autonomous region of the Aosta Valley, near the border with France and Switzerland. The stage had the potential to shake up the general classification quite a bit. A break including Rubio (CFA), Arrieta (CHX), Ciccone (ITW/BDC/CHX), Garofoli (GHS), Narvaez (REX/VFL/MMM) and Christen (REX/BDC/VFL) scored points along the way but never got enough space to make it to the finishline once the GC favourites started going on the final climb. Narvaez did get enough sprint points in the intsprint to take over the lead in the points classification and the Maglia Ciclamino.

 Along the way we got bad news for Els Talossaes Rexhital and the Menceis as Scaroni woke up with a fever and had to drop out.

In the end it was Vingegaard who showed why he was the favourite as he won the stage with a 50 second margin and becomes the new leader in GC with a 2,5 minute lead over the current number 2. By winning the stage he also scored enough KOM points to take a near unassailable lead in the KOM classification. Gall (REX/VFL) came in second and also did well in GC. Hindley (BDC/GHS), Piganzoli (GHS/MMM), Pellizzari (CFA/VFL/MMM/CHX), Arensman (ITW/BDC/GHS/VFL) and Storer (REX/GHS/VFL) took places 3-7 and are all placed somewhere in the top 10 now.

Another big stage win for GHST, who now take the lead in the standing for the first time. They most likely have a big lead in virtual end of tour points as well and more riders seriously competing in the GC stages. It would now require a massive upset for them to be overtaken by any of the other teams, although we still have a full week to go where of course a lot can happen. Els Talossaes Rexhital had a pretty bad day and drop from first place and may well drop even further. BDC were the best of the rest and gain two places in the standing. Unfortunately Cézembre Fiescha keep falling even further behind.


Standings after stage 14:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4610	+913
2nd	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	4237	+422
3rd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	4221	+634
4th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4044	+635
5th	(+2)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3856	+705
6th	(-1)		Team In The Wind (ITW)	3786	+517
7th	(-1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3768	+519
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2368	+495

Tomorrow a flat stage and almost certainly a sprint. The finish is in Milan. Will Milan be first at the finish?