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?

[Sir Lüc]

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

Yeah, and it happened so fast. Literally slipped on his own in a right hander while he had four teammates pulling in front. A heartbreaking moment for sure.

[Sir Lüc]

Lightning quick restday 2 analysis: Els Talossaes Rexhitais seem like the far and away favourites at this point, especially with Vingegaard retiring, not necessarily for BDC/EVC/VFL being definitely out of the running, but rather because it will make all their GC riders skip up a place: REX now hold the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th highest ranked riders, in addition to Pidcock in 9th, which would bring an insurmountable amount of End of Tour points - and the 4th placed rider is CFA's Seixas at the moment, who is not held by any of REX's direct competitors.

By comparison, the Mençeis hold 1st, 3rd, 7th and 14th, Cyclohexane holds 1st, 3rd, 5th and 12th, and GHST holds 1st, 3rd, 5th and 18th. I think these three teams will contest the final podium positions, but the contest for second is between CHX and MMM, with GHST the underdog.

Today we resume with the only individual time trial, which unlike the one in Giro will not be pancake flat. The smell test says this goes to either REX, who once again looks like it has high chances with Evenepoel/Ayuso/Lipowitz, or Fieschă, who holds Evenepoel/Pogacar/Seixas. If Team Visma lets Vingegaard's former teammates loose, Affini (BDC/GHS) and Armirail  (CJO) could make their teams competitive, with Cjovani also holding Arensman to boot. Not many more time trial specialists among TCAT teams, to be fair, with good hilly-TT riders such as Vauquelin and McNulty left out of all rosters.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

This is so tense!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 16 (ITT)  »  Évian-les-Bains  ›  Thonon-les-Bains

Well, scratch most of what I said! Fuller update later but:

- Evenepoel wins ITT as predicted, over Pogacar and a surprisingly strong Skjelmose
- Cjovani gets stagewin due to Evenepoel, Pogacar, Arensman (7th) and Armirail (8th)
- Lipowitz crashed halfway through and broke his collarbone, much like Vingegaard just did on Sunday
- Lipowitz was the one rider held by REX, CHX and GHS but not by MMM: first impression is that this swings TCAT back open for sure (in the Mençeis's favour)
- If positive surprise is Skjelmose, negative surprise is Ayuso, who probably is out of contention for the final podium (Del Toro vs Seixas is gonna be the fight for 3rd now)


Standings after stage 16:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	7630	+499
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	7304	+595
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	6970	+393
4th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	6876	+381
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	6475	+406
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	6123	+279
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	5607	+641
8th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	5131	+240
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	4823	+663

[Glüc]

Stage 17   »   Chambéry  ›  Voiron

Yesterday was a hilly stage that looked suited for attackers because a break would be hard to control. However forces in the peloton decided otherwise. A crash split in the peloton resulted in different groups racing each other leading to the original break being caught.

After that the stage was overshadowed by the fight for the green jersey and the points classification between Pedersen, who started the stage with a 31 point lead and because of his better climbing abilities is often able to pick up intermediate sprint points and Philipsen who is behind with very few point scoring opportunities remaining, but is the faster finisher of the two. Several attacking groups emerged, with Pedersen in the front group forcing other sprinters to try and make the jump as well in order to not miss out on a potential sprint finish. Pedersen and a few others did manage to get away and score the maximum amount of intsprint points while Philipsen was still in a group further behind.

Eventually however they did get caught by the large group including Philipsen (with the help of Van der Poel, who could have gone for his own chances today but chose to help Philipsen instead) and we did get a rather chaotic bunchsprints, which Philipsen did end up winning. Kooij (GHS/BDC) came in third and Askey (CJO) got fourth place, while Pedersen only finished 8th. The result: despite Pedersens hard work Philipsen reduced his deficit to only 7 points.

The fight for the green jersey (PC) is a lot closer than GC or KOM. However, Pedersen is still likely to win as there are barely any opportunities for Philipsen left to make up the difference which the remaining intsprints following tough climbs (which Pedersen is actually  trying to reach as we speak), which are too difficult for Philipsen to keep up on and the finish in Paris not necessarily one for the sprinters because it includes several ascents of Montmartre.

Not much changes in the TCAT standings except GHST overtakes Cyclohexane due to the Kooij result.

Standings after stage 17:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	7932	+302
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	7601	+297
3rd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	7155	+279
4th	(-1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	7123	+153
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	6867	+392
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	6315	+192
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	5738	+131
8th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	5371	+240
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	5073	+250

Today is the first of three alpine mountain stages that will determine the GC, KOM and likely TCAT as well, including not one but two finishes on the legendary Alpe d'Huez on friday and saturday.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Niiiice, a stage win for the Posse!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 18  »  Voiron  ›  Orcières-Merlette

We already got today's results! The first of three mountain stages goes to the breakaway, and specifically to Richard Carapaz (BDC/CHX/CJO), who battled for summit points with Valentin Paret-Peintre (CHX/GHS) for most of the stage, but unlike the Frenchman, who had to settle for fourth, he still had plenty of energy on the final climb to distance him and four other fellow attackers.

These included EVC's Matteo Jorgenson, ultimately third, and Tobias Halland Johannessen (GHS/VFL), who finished fifth. The GC contenders had to settle for eighth onwards, with Evenepoel (CFA/CJO/REX/VFL) 9th and Pidcock (REX/EVC) 10th being the other two top 10 TCAT riders. It was indeed Evenepoel's team who paced for much of the finish, unlike the usual Pogacar-UAE show; but it was not the day for Pogacar's team to attack, with teammate McNulty abandoning due to a potential illness, and other teammate Yates (MMM) struggling as well; rival Evenepoel will no doubt try to exploit these manpower issues in the next two stages.

TCAT-wise, the win goes to Cyclohexane, who retakes third place in the standings, ahead of Cjovani and GHST.

Standings after stage 18:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	8284	+352
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	7917	+316
3rd	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	7806	+683
4th	(-1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	7657	+502
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	7191	+324
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	6761	+446
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	6164	+426
8th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	5767	+396
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	5589	+516

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Will I regret not nabbing Evenepoel and going top-two again?

[Glüc]

Stage 19   »   Gap  ›  Alpe d'Huez

TCAT still very much undecided after first of two Alpe d'Huez stages with three/four teams fighting for the win tomorrow and possibly sunday.

Even though the climb to the Alpe d'Huez (which was filled to the brim with a massive crowd of spectactors) seemed destined to be yet another Pogacar victory we did get a fairly large break again. This included Pedersen (REX/MMM/EVC), who managed to score intsprint points for the second day in a row and now has basically secured the points classification after all. The group which remains in the attack at the foot of the Alpe d'Huez, which included among others Carapaz (CHX/BDC) (again), Johannessen (GHS/VFL), Arensman (CJO) and Yates (MMM) had about a 3,5 minute headstart on the group of favourites, which for a bit almost looked like it might be enough, even when Pogacar accelerated and left the other GC riders behind again. But in the end Pogacar again proved to be nearly unbeatable uphill and overtook the last two remaining from the break, including Carapaz, who finished third. Johannessen managed to get 5th place this time.

In the group of favourites Evenepoel (CFA/CJO/REX/VFL) was best of the rest and got 6th, followed by Del Toro, Skjelmose (MMM), who had a strong day and is looking like he might climb further in GC and Seixas (CFA). Along the way Carapaz scored enough points to get the polkadot jersey for the KOM classification. He will need to attack again tomorrow to have any chance of defending it against Pogacar. Ayuso (REX/EVC) has had a bad third week and dropped to 7th in GC

The result is the second stagewin in a row for Cyclohexane, bringing them very much back in the game. The Menceis however had a good day as well, and if we look at how many points the teams would score if the classifications remain the same:

Expected end-of-tour points for the top 4 teams:
MMM 2050
CHX 1760
REX 1680
GHS 1525

then the Menceis may well be the favourites to win this edition. However, unlike Italy this year, this edition is very very close. A third good day for Cyclohexane (Carapaz will almost certainly be in the attack again tomorrow considering the fight for the KOM jersey) could make the difference. Els Talossaes Rexhital are also still very much in the race to hang on to their current lead if Evenepoel, Pidcock and Ayuso do well tomorrow, and the final day could help them as well if Van der Poel wins in Paris as some expect him to. Of course the Menceis will be looking at Pedersen instead. GHST are a bit further behind, and while they could in theory still win (which would be a third victory in a row) its gonna require a lot of things to go very well both tomorrow and sunday.

Meanwhile BDC keeps bleeding points without Uijtdebroeks and Vingegaard and have now taken over the red lantern. There's also more bad news for them (and GHST) as Affini dropped out.

Standings after stage 19:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	8668	+384
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	8598	+681
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	8534	+728
4th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	8263	+606
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	7631	+440
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	6997	+236
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	6726	+562
8th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	6309	+720
9th	(-1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	6288	+521

Tomorrow we get Alpe d'Huez again, but the approach will be different so most of the climbing happens way before that. However this time theyve also thrown in the formidable Col du Galibier in for good measure along with two more hors category climbs (!!). It's a monstrous stage with 5624 vertical meters that should provide enough opportunities for GC riders who are feeling strong to attempt to leave behind their competitors (except for Pogacar who is almost certainly going to win the GC tomorrow if nothing crazy happens)

[Glüc]

Will I regret not nabbing Evenepoel and going top-two again?

Well Evenepoel is looking like a pretty strong pick right now with already over 100 points per credit and more on the way if he keeps his second place today, so I think many of us are regretting not picking him.

However, he wasn't necessarily the obvious number two at the start. If you'd gone for a top two strategy you might have ended up with a crashed Vingegaard like me and that would have been a much bigger regret. Meanwhile, you have currently very good chances to win even without Evenepoel

[Glüc]

Ayuso and Carapaz currently in the attack while Skjelmose is struggling to keep up. That could be bad news for the MMM and good news for REX/CHX.