Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 5 Leg 3: Monaco -> Granada

[Glüc]

Placement holder post for teams

[Glüc]

Stage 1 (ITT)  »  Monaco  ›  Monaco

And we're off for the third leg. We started with very short time trial in the streets (and tunnels) of Monaco. A very technical parcours with quite a lot of corners. One of the main favourites was Joshua Tarling (GHS/CHX/BDC), who earlier this month lost his brother Finlay in a terrible accident in the tour of Portugal. Despite this tragedy Tarling did start today and finished in third place.

The fastest however, by nine hundredth of a second, was GC favourite Pogacar (9 out of 11 teams), who already takes the red jersey after stage 1. Chamberlain (CJO) finished 7th, followed by Van Aert (CJO/CHX) in 8th.

As a result it is Cyclohexane who take an early lead, followed by GHST and BdC. After getting very close to a win in the second leg, Els Talossaes Rexhital now have a disappointing start and are in last place. Granada is still very far though.

Unfortunately the script Lüc made for the standings isn't working anymore, so I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way for now.

Standings after stage 1:

1. Cyclohexane (CHX) - 586
2. Luca (GHS) - 546
3. Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC) - 518
4. Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM) - 345
5. Cézembre Fieschā (CFA) - 316
6. The Manilows (MAN) - 287
7. Port Maxhestic AC (PTM) - 262
8. Velociposse Florencia (VFL) - 262
9. Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED) - 262
10. Naziun Cjovani (CJO) - 217
11. Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX) - 46

Today TCAT heads to France for a hilly stage that could end in a succesful attack, a bunch sprint or some sort of reduced sprint. I imagine a lot of riders who did well in the TT (including punchy sprinters like Van Aert and Pedersen) see an opportunity to take the red jersey today.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 2  »  Monaco  ›  Manosque

Uphill sprint finish saw Wout van Aert (CHX/CJO) attack with two kilometres to spare to try and snatch the red leader's jersey from Tadej Pogacar, but the effort was unsuccessful and it was his teammate Matthew Brennan (BDC/GHS/MAN) who instead sprinted to a dominant first place ahead of Pogacar in third, who keeps his red jersey and already a 30"ish lead on his closest actual competitors for the overall win, and Pedersen (CFA/MMM/REX) in fourth.

Among the three Brennan teams it is the Manilows who get the stagewin - their first ever - thanks to Tobias Halland Johannessen in 6th (also of CJO/VFL), while second placed BDC gets the overall lead.

Standings after stage 2:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1099	+581
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1043	+505
3rd	(-2)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	973	+387
4th	(+2)		The Manilows (MAN)	938	+651
5th	(-1)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	821	+476
6th	(-1)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	689	+381
7th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	601	+339
8th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	601	+339
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	548	+286
10th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	454	+237
11th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	263	+217

Tomorrow we have our first summit finish - a long flattish approach to back-to-back category 1 and category 2 climbs. The outcome depends on who tries to get away in the early stages; a strong group of climbers would have a chance at staving off the GC favourites in the peloton, and perhaps even temporarily steal Pogacar's GC lead, while a weak breakaway will all but ensure the main GC contenders will dominate the top of the standings.