Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 5 Leg 2: Barcelona -> Paris

[Glüc]

The heat is absurd... I saw a story on it and how everyone is basically swaddling themselves in ice when they're not competing.

Yeah it's wild. I get nauseous just thinking about having to physical exercise for more than 10 minutes at 40C, and these guys just do 150-200 km of cycling at high speed in those temperatures day after day. How do they even think about stagewins or classifications? I'd only be concerned with not actually dying...

[Glüc]

Stage 9   »   Malemort  ›  Ussel

The stage was shortened yesterday because of the extreme heat. A short stage usually means a lot of activity however, and the hilly terrain favoured attackers, so everyone wanted to be the in the break, thinking an attack would likely be succesful. It would take a long time before a definite break was formed, eventually including Van der Poel (REX/VFL), T.H. Johannessen (GHS/VFL), Pidcock (REX/EVC), Baudin (GHS/CHX), and a couple others. Only these four reached the finish before the peloton, where some riders never quite gave up the fight and made it a close race until the very end. Van der Poel won the sprint, followed by Johannessen and Pidcock.

A much reduced peloton finished only 6 seconds behind the quartet with Pedersen (MMM/REX/EVC) finishing in 6th place overall. The only rider from the top 10 GC not to be present in the peloton and dropping out of contention for top 10 was Vacek.

It was a big score for Els Talossaes Rexhital, who take over the lead from the Menceis in the standing.

Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	4063	+777
2nd	(-1)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	3784	+416
3rd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3711	+583
4th	(-1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3683	+398
5th	(+1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3633	+681
6th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	3554	+505
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2742	+160
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2504	+206
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2090	+170

Today is a much needed restday. Tomorrow, we will go into the Massif Central for a stage with a lot of vertical meters spread out over many climbs. A day for the more punchy climbers and gc guys, with Pogacar realistically being the big favourite.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 10  »  Aurillac  ›  Le Lioran

A tough stage peppered with categorised climbs saw a large breakaway never being allowed to get too far, with Tadej Pogacar's (BDC/CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/MMM) team deciding this too was a day for general classification riders to win (specifically, him). Perhaps surprisingly, upon the breakaway being caught, it was Richard Carapaz (BDC/CHX/CJO) who immediately attacked to try and go for a long shot win, but he too was reeled back in by the Slovenian en route to another stage win.

Second was Evenepoel (CFA/CJO/REX/VFL), in front of Seixas (CFA) and Lipowitz (CHX/GHS/REX), with Ayuso (EVC/REX), Skjelmose (MMM) and Vingegaard (BDC/EVC/VFL) completing the chasing group. Bad day for Del Toro (CHX/EVC/GHS/MMM/REX/VFL) then, who finished eighth but paid up to one minute to Evenepoel and the others, therefore slipping four places in GC. Rounding off the top 10, Pidcock (EVC/REX) finished 9th despite a crash while descending in the final stages, and erstwhile attacker Carapaz had to settle for 11th.

Fourth consecutive stagewin for REX, a feat only matched by Velocostă (during France 2025), GHST (Spain 2024) and Banqeu de Cézembre (Italy 2024). And the odds for a fifth and maybe sixth win in a row look great, as a sprint is assured today and likely tomorrow, REX being the only team that can count on effectively three sprinters.

Standings after stage 10:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	4825	+762
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	4461	+677
3rd	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	4382	+699
4th	(-1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4307	+596
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4137	+504
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	4082	+528
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3261	+519
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3183	+679
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2669	+579

As mentioned, today sees the sprinters getting involved again. Very difficult to see REX not winning this one as well if Bittner, Pedersen and Godon all keep finishing in or near the top ten. If that doesn't happen, the non-Pedersen/Bittner teams might get a shot if their sprinter wins; Kooij (BDC/GHS) and Kanter (CHX) would seem the strongest candidates, but non-TCAT Merlier seems difficult to beat at the moment.

[Glüc]

Stage 11   »   Vichy  ›  Nevers

Today was another bunchsprint, with a surprising winner: Søren Wærenskjold, who profited from a bold move when the peloton lost a bit of speed. Kooij (GHS/BDC) and Philipsen (VFL) came just short of beating him on the line. GHST scores the most points and takes over third place from Cyclohexane.

Standings after stage 11:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	5016	+191
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	4696	+235
3rd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4602	+295
4th	(-1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	4530	+148
5th	(+1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	4280	+198
6th	(-1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4256	+119
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3549	+288
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3297	+114
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2752	+83

Tomorrow looks like another bunchsprint, but some hills along the way may invite attackers to give it a try.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 12  »  Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours  ›  Chalon-sur-Saône

Belated update; Thursday had another sprint that went to non-TCAT Tim Merlier for a third stage win. Olav Kooij (BDC/GHS) took second ahead of Jasper Philipsen (VFL), who was initially penalised and relegated, and later reinstated. GHST gets a third stagewin, the second in a row.

Standings after stage 12:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	5256	+252
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	4958	+272
3rd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4937	+335
4th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	4763	+237
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4743	+321
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	4481	+211
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3837	+290
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3407	+114
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2847	+95

[Glüc]

Stage 13   »   Dole  ›  Belfort

Yesterdays stage included the category 1 climb Ballon d'Alsace, but the summit was 25 km before the finish, making this a perfect opportunity for a break. As a result nearly the entire peloton wanted to be in the break and many succeeded, including Philipsen who won the intsprint ahead of Pedersen and climbed to second place in the points classification before dropping back to the peloton. The strongest among the many attackers was Mauro Schmid, who beat one other rider in a sprint. More importantly for TCAT, Pidcock (REX/EVC) came in fourth, still far ahead of the GC contenders and shot to 4th place in GC as a result. No other TCAT rider made the top 20.

As a result it was a stage with for Els Talossaes Rexhital, closely followed by EVC.


Standings after stage 13:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	5585	+329
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	5142	+184
3rd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	5039	+102
4th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	4958	+195
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4860	+117
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	4806	+325
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3935	+98
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3499	+92
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2929	+82

'

Today was* perhaps the toughest stage of this edition with 1 second category and 3 first category climbs, including the entirely new Col du Haag, which turned out to be quite an exciting one.

*Yeah it's already happened (spoiler). Sorry for the late stage 12 update

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 14  »  Mulhouse  ›  Le Markstein

A playbook we already saw quite a few times: a large breakaway forms, but the peloton carefully manages it, reels them in at the right time, and it's just a matter of waiting for Pogacar to attack and win. Specifically this time the attack featured Valentin Paret-Peintre (CHX/GHS) and Richard Carapaz (BDC/CHX/CJO), both hunting for summit points, with the Ecuadorian and Tobias Johannessen (GHS/VFL) being the last two to fall.

Another stagewin for Pogacar, then, in front of two trios: Del Toro outsprinting Seixas for second, with Vingegaard pretty much settling for fourth, and Evenepoel, Ayuso and Lipowitz a short distance behind. Former attackers Carapaz and Johannessen rounded out the top ten.

TCAT-wise, the stagewin goes to Cyclohexane, who gets their 20th all-time win (on par with VFL). Still no changes in the overall standings, though. In the general classification, the most notable development is Tom Pidcock (EVC/REX) falling five places to ninth.

Standings after stage 14:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	6254	+669
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	5889	+747
3rd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	5828	+789
4th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	5814	+856
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	5539	+679
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	5407	+601
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	4545	+610
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	4196	+697
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3527	+598

Today, the final stage of week 2, with a medium mountain approach but a long final climb. Seems like another day for the GC favourites.

[Glüc]

Full update later, but the big news is: Vingegaard crashed and abandoned the race! An EVC, VFL or BDC comeback is unthinkable now.

Standings after stage 15:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	7131	+877
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	6709	+820
3rd	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	6577	+763
4th	(-1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	6495	+667
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	6069	+530
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	5844	+437
7th	(+1)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	4966	+770
8th	(-1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	4891	+346
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	4160	+633

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Oh my God! He's OUT?!? Wasn't he like the number two in the race?