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As this years Romandie 14h edition could get very interesting lets make a racethread!
8 Teams - quite ok participation

Sindarov-Draupnisson-Cubas-Oeudraogo-Savickas-Fakasega-Koskov-Frazer-O'Riordan

So, the expected lineup? Yes, but with one last minute replacement. Vaiaho Fakasega. Signed that guy earlier today, lets see if he can fulfill the high exectactions the team management has.
Good old Koskov was leading the proloque TT for the first 3 km. km4 then was, as expected, too hard for him. A podium finish, now he will suffer for a few days and try again on the last stage, where the profile will be again too hard for a win, nevertheless he will give 100%.
Sindarov is hoping to get his win count back to 0. Doesn't look too promising either, despite he will get support from J.C. and J.D. and the rest of the team.

The fight for gc will be interesting to watch, Eiffel (BigDonkey), Kreuzer(Hansa), Brand (Fau), DeWit (Gipfel) all with chances.

Pretty nice that we continue the race threads for the afternoon cat 4+ stage races.

A&D is starting with team leader Franz Schwackhöfer. He was pretty confident that he could beat old Koskov but than we also saw that Falkenbier starts with a TT specialist that has pretty good climbing skills and we thought Franz cannot take it. In the end Franz finished 1s ahead after the final steep km and is wearing the next high cathegory leader jersey (after Paris-Nimes and Pais Vasco). We couldn't check the group yet but the goal to win at least a stage is already checked. We will see the chances of Franz in the final TT and in the fight for white (don't see big chances there).

Stupid Falkenbier thought it's 15h starting time, baaah. So Muir with 80% for the first 2 km. And now I'll miss the start everyday, baah baaah, baaaaaah

Ha Schwackhöfer!!! No first Franz, second Arthur, A&D dominating the GC and stages

Austrians dominating in Switzerland.

Big Donkey obviously here for the GC. Eiffel 84-62 the favorite. 20 km TT. Covered to some degree by Apicella in the mountains.

But challengers are there, like the group, for once it's not a 2 manager race when it comes to climbers, there are quite a few around this time.

Number 2, pretty clearly, despite the rather annoying protestations of Hansa who likes to pretend he's just an outsider, Kreuzier with 85 and 58 is there. No second climber, but good classics that can protect Kreuzer rather well I'd say.

Next then Brand, 83-60, 70 flat, but he normally should be weaker than Eiffel in both the mountain and the TT., The danger is flat following, where he could follow but not Eiffel maybe at some point. But Eiffel with 64 flat can hope too.

Then of course there's the real favorite, De Wit! After beating Apicella he wants to do the same to Eiffel. 85-58-80 with 52 TT and 59 sprint.

And let's not forget Sindarov, he has the best classics to help, Sindarov with 84-65 is the perfect partner for Eiffel, especially because Eiffel then wins the sprint . But he'll want to beat him here I expect... maybe together with Apicella? If the others control each other or something....Best climber, 86, but no 2 in his team, after winning in Huy he wants to prove that he is a star himself.

Situation right now is:
Eiffel
Kreuzer 1"
Brand 2"
Ballabeni 5"
DeWit 8"
Apicella 15"
Sindarov 17"

Winners of the first 2 days: KReuzer, losing only 1" in the 4 km TT. The gap between all the others seems to fit pretty well, he's the only one who really overperformed. Normally it should be 4" or so. Luck, form, doesn't matter, it's 1" only. And DeWit with 4" bonifications already, thanks to his 59 sprint.

But of course it will be the 2 last stages, that will decide this Tour. So in May, new form. Late Giroform=good Romandieform. Haven't set mine yet, but probably lateish makes sense?

If the 2 TTs were flat, the prediction would be:
Eiffel
Brand 12"
Kreuzer 24"
De Wit 1'
The rest more.
With the hills probably all a bit less? Never remember the effect they have... Be it as it may, right now Brand is on course, Kreuzer already 3" ahead of the plan, De Wit at 12" after the TT exactly on course too.
So if we assume (which I really don't, but assuming I assume makes it easier) that the 16km TT will go exactly according to plan Eiffel has 12" to defend to Brand, 21" to Kreuzer 56" to De Wit. On the mountain stage Brand seems possible to contain. First Apicella, later Eiffel, shouldn't be a big problem. Even if Brand has more reg 63 vs 45. Bonifications look difficult for Brand too there, almost can't imagine him getting more than 4" . DeWit, Kreuzer, Sindarov, Eiffel himself, enough other guys around.
Kreuzer on the other hand is much more difficult to control. If he manages to win the stage, all he needs is 11" time gain, if Eiffel finishes 4th. Or 15" if he's second. And Eiffel 4th. And Thyon 2000 is long and hard, very possible that Apicella-Eiffel can't control it well enough.

Then there's today, which is a very hard stage too, but getting easier towards the end, but still differences possible.

So while I think that Eiffel is the favorite here, it's all far from clear. Another race that will be decided by seconds, like Pais Vasco seemed to be, between the climbers. This time I see the advantage for Eiffel. But thankfully there's more than just one challenger, should make the race more interesting.

Stage 2:

Early escape with Aeschbacher from Hansa. Of course my favorite solution would be he helps in the peloton to control... he doesn't want to ok. SEcond favorite option, he stays in the peloton and relaxes. Doesn't seem to be in his plans either... But the reaction by the Donkeys of course is a hard chase. Stakhanov feels in his element, even if he suffered a bit yesterday after all. Swift with 50 reg there for this too. Both with a certain risk of having to fight against the devilish 45', but we'll deal with that day by day. Anyway, Hansa of course can do what he will, but pleeeease spare us the utter stupidity of claiming that you're only an outsider. No, you're not, you're one of the favorites. If you don't want to ride that's a completely acceptable tactic, the "I'm just an outsider" is insulting stupidity. Kreuzer, his skills, his team=favorite. Number 2 slightly behind Eiffel. If Kreuzer was riding for somebody like celteam or JoyRide, somebody who is completely inept, ok, outsider. Or dismiss him from the start. But Hansa might not be perfect, nobody is, well, Anton Hasler was, but he's not a hopeless manager either. If you don't want to ride, ok. Want to attack, ok. But again, no need for complete nonsense arguments, maybe works at 18h, here it will just result in a chat full of idiocies like me asking you yesterday "why are you riding with your classics now" I can bring my level down many many notches, I have no problem with that. The question is... is Hansa able to bring his level UP?

First group caught, second one Löffel on Aeschbacher, a red attack then got rid of Löffel. So chase. A short while Jäger ahead of CC and AAD and Hansa, but then came back together. And no collaboration. Hard chase first was worth it, Jäger seemed not to want to carry Hansa, the guy that I wasn't going to go, so the advantage would mostly remain small. Mountain for Marent, Grass, his helper dropped back, CC with 2 in front, a longish rolling phase at 3'26" followed, perfect for Swift, who didn't have to ride as much as I feared after the start. Then Swift started, after a sieb dropped back and Gipfel as one of the stage candidates took over. The only one, so was hoping he's win it.

Last climbs, CC ahead, rides through, but then stops. Unexpected. But right. Not meant in an insulting way, but CC usually strikes me as the "head through the wall" guy, he has his plan, he tries it, he tries it whatever happens. So was expecting the classic attack to come, drop Kreuzer, possibly deWit, hope for stage. But this looked all rather hard with low reg for Cubas and Draupnisson. So he rightly stopped, since it looked like after an attack the group behind driven by AAD, Falkenbier and Gipfel for stage and Hansa (WHY??? hihihi) would be caught anyway. So sprint, Schwackhöfer wins again, Gipfel with the 4 man train too slow, nobody and Franz, so easy win.

Today probably Schwackhöfer loses yellow, CC should be the race making team in the end, but not necessarily, we'll see what happens. His problem is that Brand always and Eiffel often can follow his classics. One is good, Sindarov needs to follow somebody after all. And if it's either Brand or Eiffel, he can deal, he rides, he gets the stage, the GC guy gets second place and time win in GC. But with both there it's.... hm, they fight for the stage with more sprint, not good for CCs stage wins.

Anyway, today promises to be rather interesting, like the stage, hard Romandie in general this year, even the flattish stages have more climbing than usually somehow, and they are never really sprinter friendly in the Romandie.

GC after 3/6 stages
00:00:00 Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
00:00:00 Sam Brand (Fau Cycling)
00:00:03 Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)

Statistics for Tour de Romandie:

Stage Wins by Riders:
2 - Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
1 - Suryp Sungkar (Falkenbier)

Stage Wins by Teams:
2 - Alive And Dead
1 - Falkenbier

Days in leader jersey:
2 - Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
1 - Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)

So after the win in the prologue and at the first stage, Franz finally has to give the leader jersey to Tim Eiffel, will he carry it till the end?

Weird stage somehow

Early group, second try gets away, I have Teixeira in it, not the second rider I had sort of planned. Swift. As expected at the first climb then Marent goes, so 3 Jäger, 2 CC, 1 Donkey, 1 Hansa and forgot if Gipfel was there too or gave up after the first try. Group gets 5-6' rather easily, I didn't plan to speed up anytime soon, Stakhanov-Swift as far as possible. Then... Gipfel takes over, stage chance were there. And Jäger in front stops. Weird, why? Marent for mountain looks very good, some more points better, with 3 guys use the second one, collaborate with CC who had likely interest to go there too. And try for the stage. Even with Gipfel riding fast there, Could still be 5' when the 2 final climbs start. Unless Gipfel wants to kill his whole team. Or somebody joins. Marent for stage, CC for attack, Donkey and Hansa as passengers for covering/attacks, seemed to be a good group for everybody...

So out, CC doesn't go in either, group caught. Then no tempo in the peloton, Falken goes, very good timing, good win. Nothing much happening, until a double attack by CC. Which I chased, not very confident in Eiffel, following both in mountain and flat, CC who normally then would do some action attacks at the first mountain, but Teixeira and then Espariat said no. Seemed too much of a risk. Yes, can see if I can follow, can see what exactly he does, but thought better to shut it down. Even if Sindarov is far away right now, CC will keep trying, if he gets closer even more...

Vue des Alpes, Apicella does the mountain, goal drop that CC as far as possible Then different possibilities, my favorite maybe to collaborate with all the others, Brand, DeWit, Kreuzer. All in, try to get to the goal before the CC express, Sindarov and his 2 classics. But the advantage was a bit smaller than I had hoped, 26"? But can be still enough, with our motor Brand, but close anyway. And then just seemed immensely complicated to get collaboration. Fau doesn't seem to communicate. Hansa seems intent on not collaborating, thinking that's the best way for him to win this, and in retrospect when I mentioned it he indeed immediately had something he didn't like about this plan. So didn't even try. So take the bigger risk. I would have been happy to go for the low risk, low reward option, all together, then DeWit probably wins the sprint? Kreuzer-Eiffel-Brand fight for 6".... risk losing 6" to Kreuzer, no good, but can win it too.

But so the high risk option, no other option there in reality really. Wait for CC, then see if Eiffel can follow. 3 km from the goal at +1 Draupnisson goes, rather fresh, gets away. Only Brand and Eiffel there. Very strange, Sindarov not even trying. And then Draupnisson even riding, last km yes alone. Weird, what for? Like this he basically rode for Eiffel and Brand against Kreuzer, but also against Sindarov. Draupnisson as new GC option... hm, with that monster climb on Saturday looks difficult, but CC might have a good plan.

But as it stands this action to me seemed pretty much nonsense. Go with Cubas and have DRaupnisson and Sindarov follow, de Wit too, then makes sense. Possibly Kreuzer can't, then he wins time on at least one guy. Or if Draupnisson try again the next km, at least drop Eiffel. Brand is undroppable. Or let Brand and Eiffel ride alone if reg was a problem for a second attack. Like this seemed.... ?? as I said, pretty much nonsense. Like this Brand gained 24" and Eiffel 22" on Kreuzer. Which I'll be told is irrelevant since Kreuzer has almost no chance.. .but well, if CC doesn't do this questionable attack with follow through, Kreuzer might very well still be at 1". from Eiffel. Like this now of course a big setback for Kreuzer, now he is indeed no 3. in the race. A setback that couldn't be expected in this form, with no Sindarov there.

Good win by Gipfel. Early group goes, I have no problem letting it go far, thought I do the tempo in, out thing, Majerus tried to join, went back in, he could have joined, didn't bother me much, just didn't want others, incl. a second Gipfel of course to start jumping.... But in front they didn't wait, so Majerus back in peloton and then Gipfel too over. Kept the advantage at around 2', less a bit. I'd really have preferred more, but not Gipfel, and he was right.

Marent-Schindler attack at the 3rd last climbs combination. So after that Swift and Stakhanov rode, group can go through for me, just not with 10' of course. But 3' back in GC absolutely no problem. SEcond last combi the 3 classics, Zevenberg from Gipfel there too go alone, before pulled by Grass from the first escape. In the back TEixeira, some Lanz, some little Espariat.

Last climb, I thought I try to surprise Brand, go with Coderch at the 4, Espariat too. . Double attack with Apicella, Eiffel, Brand the only one to follow. Espariat pulls, Second climb another try to attack, Brand tries it too (which seemed weird) all land at the same km. But Donkey forgot to let Coderch wait Another case of having the plan and assuming that c4f implements it automatically. But well, Cubas who did drop back to Sindarov might have caught Coderch anyway, not sure. So then at least I had Coderch there, not just Cubas-Draupnisson with Eiffel isolated, Cubas attack in the last km Brand follows, 2 seconds lost. Bah. Now 2" back to Brand. But well, without the attack with many followers by Coderch might have been more, if Draupnisson goes at the 0 and just Brand follows. So 2" lost is not good, but the attempt was worth a try and it might have been worse otherwise. Might have been better too, today felt more confident about Eiffel following, had discovered that his form was 95 by now. Somehow was still traumatized by LBL where he never could follow... and thought it was still low 90es... hihi. Check form more often!

Good stage win by Gipfel, even if was given by Jäger in the end, but ok here, Jäger gets the leadership for a day, is nice too. And Gipfel actually really deserved it too (Jäger would have as well, good attack), he believed in his chances, rode for it, then had the right wheel. Now let's hope he's satisfied and let's De Wit take it easy tomorrow...

Tomorrow the decisive day, promises to be interesting, hope it works well for me but not for others. But really lots can happen there. Early climbs, wild CC? Hm seems a certainty almost. Followers? Then how to deal with the final climb. Eiffel vs Brand vs Kreuzer, but I still worry about De Wit, the real favorite and Donkey slayer and Sindarov too. Already back, less TT, so they can win some time, no problem, even good if they take bonifications away, just not too much please! And May-form! And looking at Fau's team, he has some 88 monster in his team, hm, possible he puts in topform for Brand since the 88 guy might be leader for the Giro? Ah, for the slightly retarded readers, (yes yes, I'm being a bit imprecise, the "slightly" part) that's not an unsubstantiated claim, but speculation!

GC after 4/6 stages
00:00:00 Rupert Schindler (Jäger-LeCulture)
00:01:08 Jarngrimur Draupnisson (CircleCycle)
00:01:10 Sam Brand (Fau Cycling)

Statistics for Tour de Romandie:

Stage Wins by Riders:
2 - Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
1 - Suryp Sungkar (Falkenbier)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage Wins by Teams:
2 - Alive And Dead
1 - Falkenbier
1 - Gipfelstuermer

Days in leader jersey:
2 - Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
1 - Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
1 - Rupert Schindler (Jäger-LeCulture)

Quite nice to have these afternoon race threads... and a shame for me to start contributing only after winning two stages! Promise to contribute more again in other races!

Race reports from the Donkey as always very detailed. Thanks for that.

Today the decisive mountain top finish at Thyon 2000 and other than in real life, no neutralisation happened despite bad weather. Throughout the race, different larger and smaller groups formed, but all of them poised a thread for Big Donkey's GC as always either Fau, Hansa, CC or me tried to sent riders there. So of course the Donkey chased or controlled successfully and also used siebs to play his team advantage vs. Fau, who was maybe missing a strong helper for Brand (even if the high tempo on flat sections was certainly not bad for him).

So all the classics and mountain riders arrived at the bottom of the final climb together. Brand isolated from the previous climb and then an early attack from Sindarov. DeWit followed, which was the plan, as both could cooperate for stage and maybe a small chance for GC. That part of the plan worked, but it wasn't part of the plan, that Kreuzer and Brand follow as well. Sindarov stopped immediately of course, so I thought, it comes back together, Donkey with big power advantage and easy stage and GC for im... but then Brand and Kreuzer realized they have to ride, found some cooperation. But Apicella/Eiffel combo was simply stronger (at least after the attack) and caught them within a few km. Then Apicella controlled perfectly for Eiffel. DeWit was waiting for his chance to attack for the stage win, but instead suddenly Apicella and Eiffel go. DeWit the only one able to follow Eiffel. Excellent for stage and GC.

Eiffel let DeWit win the stage, which was friendly, but also only logical as Eiffel needed to save energy for the TT (with less Reg than DeWit) and DeWit was able to attack Eiffel even after joining his tempo for 3km. So today we are very proud of Willem. After a stage and podium both at Provence and Pais Vasco, he gets another World Tour stage win here. And maybe he can defend his podium spot tomorrow? 1'03'' vs. Brand and 1'18'' vs. Kreuzer... hilly 16km TT... let's see.

For the white jersey, the TT can also be interesting. Ballabeni has 1'53'' advantage vs. Schwackhöfer. And Schwackhöfer is fighting for green in the TT as well... That's another nail-biter for us tomorrow. Maybe we even tune in for the TT as it is quite interesting this time!

GC after 5/6 stages
00:00:00 Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
00:00:22 Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
00:00:53 Michele Apicella (Big Donkey)

Statistics for Tour de Romandie:

Stage Wins by Riders:
2 - Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
1 - Suryp Sungkar (Falkenbier)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage Wins by Teams:
2 - Alive And Dead
2 - Gipfelstuermer
1 - Falkenbier

Days in leader jersey:
2 - Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
2 - Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
1 - Rupert Schindler (Jäger-LeCulture)

Let win? Nothing let win there, Eiffel didn't contest the win because he a) didn't want to be under reg and b) had no chance to win anyway. The moment you were able to follow was clear you win it.

Race, masterplan was following the early attack. But make it after the first hill so that Stakhanov and Swift are still there. 2 CC will go, seems everybody knew that, I thought I was being clever with putting my 2 guys there... And if no Fau was there I most likely would have let the group go. In retrospect good that it went like it did.

After that there really wasn't much danger anymore, a 3 team group ahead, AAD, and.. Gipfel? Jäger? Swift-Stakhanov will be useless after Anzere anyway, so just ride with them. Didn't really matter who was there and who not.

Anzere for Löffel, useful guy, wants to ride the Giro, I told him no. Group smaller, but I really had no interest to keep riding. Missed Teixeira and after a while Lanz too. Löffel still had him fighting, so thought dropping him with Espariat and let other bring him back made more sense. Worked well. And then waiting for Teixeira. Short danger moment when CC attacked with his 2 guys again before the small counter climb after Anzere, was seeing siebs, chases, there in my imagination, but he just wanted to save them from Donkeysiebs it seems. Which weren't coming.

Then the longish flat part before Suen... Fau attacks, ok, can see that. He has to try to save some guys over the next climb. And he can hope that I sleep, not pay attention, can happen. If not I chase hard, doesn't hurt him either, he has 2 helpers for Brand and Brand with 70 flat likes it fast anyway. Weakens Kreuzer and weakens the Donkey, since he either has to have Coderch helping then or has to have Apicella with only one helper. But the boneheaded move of the day of course goes to Hansa, the best thing to do there for him would have been to do nothing at all, OR to put in a guy in blue and help me, but mostly keep the tempo low for Kreuzer. He goes in blue, I'm happy to go at this tempo. But no, he has one guy in front with the 2 Faus, and sends to after them. So Lanz in, Kreuzer loses energy. Making tactics like a 5 year old (which admittely is better than his arguments, they are like a 4 year old) To beat the favorite I have to attack him!!!!! Even if actually it hurts only himself. Might has well have tried an attack with Kreuzer and lose the energy from that failed attack, same effect....So all under control till Suen.

There the danger was CC. But more possible followers. De Wit most likely. Possibly others. Had been about hanging Apicella there, but decided against it, would beat Sindarov in GC, but not De Wit. And then would miss Apicella in the back. So ride presieb, ride with Espariat, if CC goes see how it develops and either change to Coderch but most likely Espariat can keep the difference at an acceptable level. But nothing happened, so worrying for nothing.

Downhill, 4 riders, take a break, so that Espariat can help Eiffel and Apicella doesn't have to.. but Schindler goes! Nice. Not for me, not much danger, but still have to ride, can't let him 5'. So ride with Espariat at 30", then let it grow to 2' for my helping thing (Brilliantly I forgot to actually take Apicella off helping.... )

Final climb. Coderch starts. Donkey finishes preparing race number 9 at Tokyo racecourse tomorrow, horse races. Checks in of course, then what does he see? Attack! Sindarov followed by everybody but the Donkeys! Very nice that I saw it, checked in often, but could miss a km... and one more then it's very critical. Like this? 14", perfect. Pretty confident I can get that back with mroe energy. Apicella vs Brand first km, 2". Then Kreuzer goes in, Eiffel too, still gaining 1" or 2" per km. All under control . Caught, continue with Apicella, can't do the attack immediately, becaue I'd be out of energy. Somethign our resident geniuses never seem to have considered in their analysis... Eiffel's achilles heel was the reg. If he has to ride earlier he can't even afford an attack. But Apicella? His achilles heel, the lack of helpers, he was going to have less energy than all other climbers.
So Brand following anybody but Eiffel there was just stupid, sorry. Wait. Hope that something like this happens, but stay back, and then have me deal with it. Apicella vs Kreuzer. One less GC guy, DeWit might consider joining at some point. And then I need Eiffel. I can lose some time to Kreuzer, but not 30"+And that's the chance for Brand, I still can't attack early, I still have to ride, so he can be almost sure that I will ride with Eiffel at some point. And then when I try the attack, if I can, then he might follow, win the sprint, possibly get 4" or so bonifications. (Assuming 2 of the 3 in front go through) Like this was prefect for me. I then could wait, attack late, stay in reg, although barely. Attacked 1 km earlier than I really wanted, but thought if I wait longer somebody will block. I still get away, but then the time gain will be minimal (or they catch me, but since the attack costs less energy if you have less energy already, a smaller penalty than their attack was) So went, only DeWit follows, he has the stage, not given, was going to be his anyway.

So the final climb really worked perfectly for me. Wasn't clear at all. For Kreuzer more difficult than for Brand, he needed to gain more time. Waiting like Brand.. unlikely to give him the leadership at this point, so following was ok. Or wait, but attack while Apicella is still riding, so a few km after Sindarov. But follow there ok too, without Brand a deal might have been possible, I do 4 km alone, then DeWit joins, ok? Sindarov with no sprint and no GC chances due to his reg never had a reason to join. Might have worked, but Brand following really made it clear for me. Never dreamed of such a nice scenario in the final climb. But well, lucky Eiffel, now he really can't lose Romandie anymore. Unless I put 75% or something by mistake. So no tiny gaps in the end as expected, but Eiffel destroying the field. Well, with no Baaba there his chances were good...