Giro 2015 23h

[Pokemon Club]

Spring Classics are over let's open the Giro topic !

Taiga leave, so there is no leaders in the team anymore. No GK objective p1, podium or p53 is the same thing, I just take fun and make the spectacle.
Pokemon lineup will looks something like that so :

x1 Peter Gabriel, Fleche 2015 winner.
x2 Miguel Hill, Thermo Lefkada winner.
x3 Kurisu Makise, best 21 yo japanese rider.
x4 Satsuki Momoi, 4th Roubaix, 2nd Omloop, 3rd Sachsen but Paves de Noel 2014 winner !
x5 Manaka Mukaido, best family name in the team.
x6 Chinami Oka, Dwars door Vlanderen winner.
x7 Sakura Sakurakoji, best entire name since Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi gone.
x8 Momoka Sonokawa, 3rd Haut-Var.
x9 Asuna Yuuki, p11 at LBL.

EDIT : Giro start tomorrow the list change a bit :

x1 Peter Gabriel
x2 Miguel Hill
x3 Yuuki Konno
x4 Kurisu Makise
x5 Pierpaolo De Marchi
x6 Satsuki Momoi
x7 Chinami Oka
x8 Sakura Sakurakoji
x9 Momoka Sonokawa

[Bear]

Although the Tour de Romandie was a big dissapointment, I think the team is ok for the Giro.
Reg might be a problem. But I will go just for stages as I dont have a real GC contender.
Jonass with 37reg will have big problems with the TT-MountainStage double.

I think I can manage to be online most of the stages. Because of that and the interesting profiles (especially for RSF), I will be onboard.

[Falkenbier]

The beer bellies at the start here, late night, brrrr....

Line up should be the following:

x1 Harri Leesi: The man for the mountains, our leader!
x2 Pietro Cavegn: Wants to have some fun in the hills
x3 Giovanni Gonzalez: TTT and Gruppetto guy
x4 Kirill Gordienko: The guy with the 7 lungs
x5 Heorhij Hleb: Hmmmm....
x6 Edgar Kaljo: Sprint leader!
x7 Illia Korzun: Just here for the TTT it seems...
x8 Brice Nguimgo: Just powerful!
x9 Mikita Sviridenko: Hopes to be successful in the hills


Goals:
Have fun and waste some money

[Bear]

I will start with the following lineup:

#111: Pauls Jonass - Climber, without Reg he looks for stages rather than the GC
#112: Glenn Coldenhoff - Helper, his goal is to arrive in Milano
#113: Mikkel Haarup - Classic with some Reg, heavy workload expected
#114: Aigar Leok - Helper with flatskill, most likely part of the grupetto
#115: Antoine Meo - Classic with Sprint, leader for middle mountain/hilly stages (maybe he should get #111)
#116: PierreAlexRenet - Classic and "super-domestique I" for Meo
#117: Kim Savaste - Classic and "super-domestique II" for Meo
#118: Arnaud Tonus - Swiss, above average Downhill-skill
#119: Calvin Vlaanderen - Helper, my favorite

Matiss Karro (he sucked at training), Davy Pootjes (just wants to ride downhill) and Harri Kullas (lost against Leok because of Reg) will stay at home.

Goals: First of all I want to have lots of fun. The profiles seem to be very good for C4F. Hopefully there will be at least 10 teams, 15+ would be better. And for sure, I want to win at least one stage. GC seems out of reach with the reg problem, but I picked out special stages which I want to go for.

[Pokemon Club]

3 stagewins in 2012, 4 in 2013, 5 in 2014...let's go for 12 stagewins in 2015 so.

[Bear]

I will be racing in real life this weekend. That's why I will be off for today. Maybe there will be someone taking care of my team. See you Sunday night...

[Bear]

I had a look on our group depending on Leader, Team, Experience. These are the favourites imo:

General classement:

***** Christopher Horner
**** Josep Gomes
*** Pen Palacio
** Raphael Bernard
* another climber with some Reg and TT

Points classement:

*** Bakary Senghor
** Yuuki Konno, Aripov
* Christopher Horner, another climber

Mountain classement:

***
** Christopher Horner
* another climber

Youth classement:

*** Raphael Bernard
** Nadia Sousa
* Ilias Tepe


It's just the beginning of the Giro. Almost every stage something can happen which will mix up this list.
In general, I think this could be an exciting group. There are GC teams, "sprint" teams, classic teams, allround teams.
Could be a bit more of everything, but ok. At least another classic team with a 7X-8X---65+ leader would have been great, especially for me.

[Bear]

Hard work pays off, sometimes. Yesterday it worked out perfectly, although I was in the mood to attack before the final climb. But Once and Poke kept the 2nd chasing group going so that it was useless to attack. In the end, it was good for me because Meo was fit enough to stay in contact to the climbers. As downhill is one of the teams strength, Meo was able to get in front and won the sprint. His first win in his 17th race after some dissapointing defeats, for example at Harelbeke and RVV.

GC: Poke's climbers, C Horner, Palacio and Bungo earned some seconds with following Meo close to the finish. The upcoming Abetone stage might not create big gaps, but it will show some form settings. It's the first mountain top finish (a tricky one), so GCwise there will happen something.

[Pokemon Club]

Hard work pays off, sometimes. Yesterday it worked out perfectly, although I was in the mood to attack before the final climb. But Once and Poke kept the 2nd chasing group going so that it was useless to attack. In the end, it was good for me because Meo was fit enough to stay in contact to the climbers. As downhill is one of the teams strength, Meo was able to get in front and won the sprint. His first win in his 17th race after some dissapointing defeats, for example at Harelbeke and RVV.

GC: Poke's climbers, C Horner, Palacio and Bungo earned some seconds with following Meo close to the finish. The upcoming Abetone stage might not create big gaps, but it will show some form settings. It's the first mountain top finish (a tricky one), so GCwise there will happen something.

It was impossible for me to do something against Meo today. P2 with Momoka is probably he best thing I can do against so much classic monsters. Konno with the same problem because of Senghor, looks my only hope to won stages are escapes.

And I am not in GK fight, as last year and 2 years ago

[Pokemon Club]

Hard work pays off, sometimes. Yesterday it worked out perfectly, although I was in the mood to attack before the final climb. But Once and Poke kept the 2nd chasing group going so that it was useless to attack. In the end, it was good for me because Meo was fit enough to stay in contact to the climbers. As downhill is one of the teams strength, Meo was able to get in front and won the sprint. His first win in his 17th race after some dissapointing defeats, for example at Harelbeke and RVV.

GC: Poke's climbers, C Horner, Palacio and Bungo earned some seconds with following Meo close to the finish. The upcoming Abetone stage might not create big gaps, but it will show some form settings. It's the first mountain top finish (a tricky one), so GCwise there will happen something.

Well done ! It was impossible for me to do something against Meo today. P2 with Momoka is probably he best thing I can do against so much classic monsters. Konno with the same problem because of Senghor, looks my only hope to won stages are escapes.

And I am not in GK fight, as last year and 2 years ago

[Bear]

Classic monsters? Meo and PAR with good flat skill, but 72 mountain is nothing spectular. I admit, they trained well so far.

I think there will be stages later in the Giro where a lot of teams have chances to get a stage win. Form, Reg, strategy...

[Bear]

Stage 5:
First mountain stage. Some teams off. Teams with good climbers. I thought they were panting for this mtn top finish because it's not only a possible stage win. It's a chance for earning bonus seconds, GCwise it could be an important stage and besides that, this climb is not 100% predictable (and becaus of that, fun to ride). But they were not. Group with two classics (Falke and Skullz) was gone, as ONCE just had the GC in mind, knowing that 88-53 is not the best rider at this climb.
Flinky and Mapei were off long into the stage. If they knew that they would be the strongest (86-62 and 87-59, +they both have a second climber) they might have chased earlier. But they started when it was already too late. At the finish line, the climbers were 2:45+ behind the winning classic rider.
Although I was a bit disappointed that so many teams were off, the stage was not frustrating. Just a bit strange the way it went.
For me, it worked out good. The team is back at a good energy level, Jonass kept pace with the other climbers and Meo saved his Maglia Rossa for one more day.


sneak peek at stage 6:
Flat stage with some small ascents. In our group this seems to be a sprint stage.

[Bear]

Stage 6:
No sprint. Skullz had to work all alone and with a very good attack by Poke, Skullz had to chase hard with all he had. In the end, more attacks got off the peloton and Skullz gave up the sprint (because there was no chance to keep it together).
ONCE attacked for some GC seconds and a group of 16 came to the line when Falke's Hleb won by inches in front of Poke's Oka and Mikkel Haarup.

sneak peek at stage 7:
Long and mostly flat stage with hilly ending. Should be something for classics. Meo would like to get another stage.

[Bear]

Stage 7:
Longest stage. Would have been a great classic stage with some more hills before the finish. The beginning was a bit weird because of the chasing. Controlling almost alone keeps the team busy, especially with low reg skills. The finish was great, Jonass (uphill), Savaste (flat and downhill) and Meo (last 2km) kept the leading group together. Meo followed a good wheel (Glomser) in the sprint, sneaked through some other riders and pushed to the line. Second stage win for Meo.

Stage 8:
Mtn top finish. I think ONCE controlled a lot of the race. But right in front of the final climb, it was just Poke in tempo. One of his climbers (M Hill) attacked right there and got a ~45sec lead. It was a good decision to not follow with Jonass, just because he has only 37reg and I need him on stage 9. But also nobody else followed. Plus, nobody else reacted well. Poke got the right moment and finished some seconds in front of the other climbers. Well done.

Stage 9:
Again a long stage. I was sure it will be hard to controll because my helpers were pretty beat up. In the beginning it looked easy because the group was not riding all the time. But at Monte Terminio it became faster and my helpers were lost in the back of the race. In the meantime, Poke made a big sieb. Because he had two helpers in the escape group, I thought he will try to keep going. I wasn't sure if I can get back in front (gap was 2+ minutes). For sure it would have been a big effort to come back so that I couldn't hold it together for Meo during the last km. But Poke stopped and lots of helpers came back to the front group.
The second to last hill started perfectly, Glomser siebed, Aripov siebed. That was the big chance for Meo. But Horner dropped to Glomser and brought back (just) Aripov. So Meo had to deal with his big rival again. For another time, Savaste and Jonass rode a strong race. They reeled in the climbers group and prepared Meo's attack. At 4% (3km to the line) Meo attacked and suprisingly just Aripov followed. I had 3 options in mind: 1) waiting for the other classics and go for 5 rider sprint, 2) keep riding 2km and hope for miracle, 3) Attacking! with 12points flat difference I was hoping that Aripov at least loses at lot of energy.
I decided to go for 3) because 1) I didn't believe in a better winning percentage and 2) made me suffer more than Aripov. 3) looked to be a good option, but Aripov beat Meo in the sprint.

In general, these stages were a lot of fun. But the team was struggling with less reg skills and almost no help in chasing. The restday comes at the right spot and in week 2, the team will not chase as much as in week 1. The stages should be for different riders and Meo happily sits in first in points standings so that he welcomes groups to get through.

[Bear]

It's hard to compete with the 15h Giro, some will say it's impossible. But I try my best to stay in touch. This is the review of week 1:

GCwise it didn't happen too much. There was just no interest. Just some climbers could create little gaps to their opponents, but nothing important. It's still pretty close. Because some teams were going for stage wins, it was hard for the climbers to earn some seconds.
Oxfam International dominated the first week with 4 stage wins. AS St Etienne, Poke and Falke were the escape teams. ONCE cares about GC, others not so much. Dirtshark's riders have been busy with chasing.


General classement:

01. 00:00 Pen Palacio (Allstars United)
02. 00:03 Christopher Horner (ONCE-Team)
03. 00:32 Miguel Hill (r Sukuran Pokemon)
04. 00:45 Josep Gomes (superdragoes)
05. 01:06 Harri Leesi (Falkenbier)


Points classement:

01. 142 Antoine Meo (Dirtshark)
02. 111 A Aripov (Oxfam International)
03. 111 Gerrit Glomser (ONCE-Team)


Mountain classement:

01. 79 Kirill Gordienko (Falkenbier)
02. 61 Miguel Hill (r Sukuran Pokemon)
03. 55 Harri Leesi (Falkenbier)


Youth classement:

01. 00:00 Nadia Sousa (superdragoes)
02. 00:02 Ilias Tepe (Flinky)
03. 00:19 Raphael Bernard (Mapei)


Team classement:

01. 00:00 Falkenbier
02. 04:17 guciuzuza
03. 04:44 Trachenberge


Stage wins by teams:

4 - Oxfam International
2 - Dirtshark
1 - Allstars United
1 - Falkenbier
1 - r Sukuran Pokemon


Stage wins by riders:

2 - A Aripov (Oxfam)
2 - A Meo (Dirtshark)
1 - R Botta (Oxfam)
1 - M Hill (r Sukuran Pokemon)
1 - B Senghor (Oxfam)
1 - H Hleb (Falkenbier)


Preview week 2:

Week 2 will be a different Giro, with 2 flat stages and 2 middle mtn stages (the second one might get the climbers to go for bonus seconds). Stage 14, the ITT, will be the first big GC stage. Reg will be important, also strategy. The final stage of the week will be the mtn stage to Madonna di Campiglio. This stage will create big gaps and the GC teams will be busy. But also the pure climbers will be there, trying to get a stage win and maybe move up in the GC ranks. I am really looking forward to week 2.

[Pokemon Club]

Let's help Sharky. Interesting first week, but frustration dominate after that, because of too much annoying riders in this field else if I am always in the good move :
- Impossible for Konno to beat Senghor
- Impossible for Sonokawa to deal with Meo + Aripov at the same time
- Oka lose against Hleb for nothing
- Podium is impossible with Gomes, Horner and Palacio in this field for Hill and/or Gabriel

Hopefully Hill won one stage, so we can ride without pression now, and surely make mountain jersey a goal for Hill.

[Bear]

Meo annoying? Pff, such a cool guy.

Podium should be clear, yes. But actually, I dont think they will ride without mistakes. IMO just ONCE really keeps an eye on GC. If they really fight each other, this would be a change for others. At the end of week 2 we know...

[Bear]

Stage 11:
Yesterday was strange. I decided to control directly from the beginning. That worked out good so that no dangerous group was formed and my helpers could get back in front. Then everything was prepared for Meo, the sieb, the attack, -1 sprint. Fortunately for Falke, I decided to sprint a little early so that he could overtake Meo during the last 50m. This mistake sucked, but at least it was a good day for the sprint classement.

Today will be different and imo it's very open unless ONCE takes care of business.

[Bear]

Stage 12:
ONCE controlled very good. But the group made it easy: No big escape. No early sieb. A stupid Sharkattack. In the end, Christopher Horner was the strongest (Flinky might be able to follow, looked strong), stage win plus bonus seconds. GCwise a good day for him.

I was very unhappy about my performance. But after rethinking the situation there were no really good possibilities. With an attack in the flat part before the final climb, a classic could be the stage winner, but surely not Meo, maybe Aripov which would be very bad for Meo. That's why I tried the downhill attack, see who follows and then give it a go or not, risky but maybe the only chance to win. After all, the best thing would have been to just wait and see. But better die trying. Second mistake, which cost me some hair, attack with Pauls instead of following anybody. Before the attack I thought attacking would be better in case of stage win. Unfortunately the Guci-climber was still too strong, so that the attack was shit anyway.

Weekend will be interesting. Friday and Saturday, two boring days, but GCwise Sat very important. Sunday the first real Mtn stage, looking forward to that.

[Bear]

2nd Restday:
The GC is (almost) done. C Horner, the best climber in the group, created a big gap at the TT and the first real Mtn stage. Yesterday he could have been in danger, after losing lots of energy with riding and attacking, but M Herklotz (Mapei) decided to work together and took the safe stage win. Otherwise Horner would have struggled on the final climb, any attack could have been decisive and create a gap against Horner. But that did not happen. J Gomes, who got into rosa at the ITT, lost a lot of time. Although he has got a good helper, his lack of downhill and energy (after the ITT), killed his small chances to keep rosa. Poke had a good plan. With two riders in the escape group, he attacked with his climbers about 80km before the finish. ONCE was chasing with his classics, the gap went up to more than a minute. C Horner lead the chasing group up the Passo Daone and attacked when tha gap was down to 7 seconds (the moment where all other climbers in that group were not attentive). I wondered why noone wanted to chase Horner+Herklotz and the Poke group, also when Superdragoes was dropped.

The second week was the time ONCE took over. Horner took a win on stage 12 and made a big step to the GC win. Oxfam missed one stage win by one second, but got another one at the sprint in Jesolo. Yesterday B Senghor of Oxfam was in the break to get some points for the points classement. A Meo was not attentive and lost 9 points against Senghor.

BjornTore Kvarme (AS St Etienne) got a stage win after a late attack (stage 10) . And Mikita Sviridenko (Falkenbier) beat Meo at the sprint in Imola. Sebastian Klaus (Mapei), a TT specialist, won the ITT in Valdobbiadene.

GC (Top5) after stage 15:
01. Christopher Horner (ONCE-Team)
02. Josep Gomes (superdragoes) +2:44
03. Pen Palacio (Allstars United) +2:44
04. Maximilian Herklotz (Mapei) +4:49
05. Miguel Hill (r Sukuran Pokemon) +5:43

[Pokemon Club]

It was funny yesterday. But now p1 is clear, podium too. Team GK and red and blue jersey too. only stage hunting so till now.

[Bear]

It was funny yesterday. But now p1 is clear, podium too. Team GK and red and blue jersey too. only stage hunting so till now.

I dont think that everything is clear. Also GC, Horner could be easily isolated on a steep mountain like Mortirolo, Saint-Barthelemy and Finestre. If those classics are far behind, it is hard to beat every attacks. And just riding is not an option every time. Attacking himself could create problems when somebody is blocking or other climbers chasing together. Maybe some climbers can follow him, not riding like yesterday, and then beat him at the final climb. Although it looks pretty clear, it's not over. Yesterday it all went for Horner, as he got help and others riding against each other.

[Bear]

Stage 16:
I really like this Mortirolo-Aprica finish. It's up for attacks and big gaps. I don't need this every year, that's too much, but it's one reason that made me ride this Giro. Maybe the best stage at 23h so far because Poke made a good early attack with Falke and Trache following.
The gap between the Poke group and the GC leader (Horner, ONCE) was up to around 4:30. But ONCE just felt one drop of sweat on the forehead. His classics dropped the gap to ~3:30 and than, C Horner took over at the Mortirolo, just like A Contador. With late help of Mapei's Herklotz they almost got to the front, but Hill and Leesi had a strong day. The saved 12sec at the line, Leesi won the sprint. Big race by Poke, well done by Falke, and also a big race bei ONCE. He earned the GC on this stage imo.

For me, it was about to get some points with Meo. That's why I send Haarup and Meo to the escape group. I was thinking of following Poke's climbers with Jonass (I think everyone knew it was coming). I decided to stay behind, as my maingoal is the maglia rossa. GCwise, Jonass plays no role anyway. From todays point of view, it might be an option for a stage win. But I thought, that Jonass is too weak to beat those other followers (I thought of more climbers following).

[Pokemon Club]

Good win again from Falk, grrr

[Bear]

Yes, Falke is riding a strong Giro. And I start doing mistakes every day. But I guess I cant care about everything, the maglia rossa is number one on my list. And not hanging anytime seems to be more negative than positive in this Giro. I have to live with that as long I dont like be on somebody's trailer.