The real Giro 21: Afternoon

[Robyklebt]

15h again it seems like.

To avoid having CC asking me about this and that rider every day, here the projected lineup for the Donkey. Or no, let's go for the preselection. Alphabetically. The bolded riders are sure to start, unless they incur an injury or are caught for doping or decide to suddenly retire to become hippies. (retirement to become anything else they still have to ride)

M. Apicella
J. Coderch
T. Espariat
T. Eiffel
B. Faye
J. Löffel
F. Messerli
G. Moretti
F. Quaghebeur
M. Stakhanov
V. Teixeira
E. Trewlove

So 12 riders, 6 fix

Eiffel starts as leader
Apicella as his number 1 helper, but being Italian, it being the Giro, only 40 km TT and quite a lot of mountains, depending on the situation he could take over as leader. Depending on his training too...

Coderch the star classic helper.

Faye is not confirmed, but after Pais Vasco he's 99% sure to start, he earned his ticket there. The only doubt now is: Salary. Not because I can't afford it, right now I can, will have 4 millions at least when the Giro starts. But my quest to start GTs cheaper... bought 2 climbers with not so much reg, but with the TT for Eiffel and Faye with his TT.. risk being as expensive as last year, wanted to become cheaper every year until I reach 500k. Setback danger there with Faye.

Teixeira and Trewlove are fix as 60-80. Or 57-87. Here the normal plan would have been Teixeira-Moretti, both with downhill, but with Trewlove at 57, even without downhill, while Moretti is still at 56 and planning to move to 60 from now on.... Trewlove gets this place. Moretti still a possibility. After all Trewlove has neither downhill nor reg, which we like in that role.

Trewlove and Stakhanov for flat. Well, Trewlove double, if he is allowed to clone, that's good. If not, ok, just double role.

So the 3 open spots

1 will go to Faye as announced, 99%

Moretti for 60-80? Or bring Espariat? But more expensive, so unlikely. As Italian Moretti is likely to join, he adds reg too. 80% I'd say.

Last spot, Messerli the favorite, Löffel the alternative in case we let Moretti home and bring somebody like Quaghebeur instead. Swift btw insists that he really is in the shortlist too and might take that Moretti-spot, but we'd know if that was the case, it clearly isn't.

Anyway, we hope for some climbers. Not "only" Sindarov and the devilish DeWit. More. because if it turns out like Tirreno we'll be bored out of our mind by stage 3 and will not win the Giro because we'll just give up. (And actually might not be able to hold it on all the flat stages, which would be sad, Giro decided there, not mountains and hilly stages) So bring your climbers!

[team fl]

Most likely, Team FL will participate in the only real Giro, if at all. The team should be easy to select, although it's not sure yet how many sprinters will participate. It should look something like this, eventually:

x1 Jay Blankenau
x2 Bana Hassana
x3 Koen Koekelkoren
x4 Uros Kovacevic
x5 Yuji Nishida
x6 Pekka Piippo
x7 Stantiago Stolk
x8 Timo Tammemaa
x9 Zach Wheeler

Goals are unclear yet. The team doesn't know if it should go for GC, stagesm, special classements or simply everything...

[Robyklebt]

Pekka Pekka!

[Seven Down]

Most likely, Seven Down joins the Party in the afternoon!

Lineup

1.Damian Harris
2. Liam Robinson/Amar Nussiwanji
3. Jack Hughes
4. Jacob Gibbons/Demba Faye
5. Jackson Hewitt/Logan Edwards
6. Luke Davies
7. William Clarke/Harlow Wood
8. Charly McCarthy/Riley Lee
9. Noah Walker

Goals: Maybe Top3 GC.. And some Stage Wins, maybe red also. Lets see

[CircleCycle]

99% Sure that I'll start here, Lineup tbd in the next days.

[flockmastoR]

Will be starting here too, but mainly because I fear that the side program will be sad. The more I look at the profil, the more I tend to not start TBH

[fantasticos]

Starting here most likely too...90% chance i would say.

[Gipfelstuermer]

90% sure starting here, too. Why only 90%? Problem is, I am changing my job and moving to a different city for 1st of June... so lots of things to do, no time is really ideal, will probably miss some stages.

Anyway, it's the Giro! We have to ride! What's our team? Currently 10 riders have a chance, 7 of them are safe:

x1 Willem DE WIT............. 85-58-80-52-59-57.4pavé, 54reg (28-yo) - 99,161
x2 Bonifacio BALLABENI..... 80-58-73-59-49-56.5pavé, 46reg (23-yo) - 79,636
x3 Bartholomäus BRANDT... 74-77-75-50-57-76.2pavé, 59reg (33-yo) - 77,524
x4 Joost ZEVENBERGEN...... 71-79-79-48-53-71.1pavé, 53reg (30-yo) - 63,241
x5 Severin SAVOIE............ 61-75-77-51-58-68.4pavé, 43reg (22-yo) - 42,875
x6 Mathieu MAJERUS......... 60-83-64-53-52-81.2pavé, 56reg (30-yo) - 59,521
x7 Gaspard GAGNEUX........ 59-79-71-50-54-79.3pavé, 55reg (24-yo) - 52,547

?? Vittore VESPA.............. 55-74-72-46-55-69.2pavé, 61reg (21-yo) - 40,374
?? Thijs VAN 'T WOUT........ 50-86-78-55-52-84.1pavé, 45reg (24-yo) - 53,071
?? Dries VAN DER VEEN...... 50-62-56-52-87-60.5pavé, 44reg (32-yo) - 52,271

Total Salary: 567k - 580k

VESPA, VAN 'T WOUT, VAN DER VEEN... 2 out of the 3 V's .... Vespa is cheap, high reg, young, hungry, Italian... Van 't Wout strong on the flat, wants to train for Strade Bianche 2022... Van Der Veen the sprinter for 3-5 mass sprints this Giro....

Any recommendation?

[IDF]

?? Vittore VESPA.............. 54-74-72-46-55-69.2pavé, 61reg (21-yo) - 40,374
?? Thijs VAN 'T WOUT........ 50-85-78-55-52-84.1pavé, 45reg (24-yo) - 53,071
?? Dries VAN DER VEEN...... 50-62-56-52-87-60.5pavé, 44reg (32-yo) - 52,271

Total Salary: 567k - 580k

VESPA, VAN 'T WOUT, VAN DER VEEN... 2 out of the 3 V's .... Vespa is cheap, high reg, young, hungry, Italian... Van 't Wout strong on the flat, wants to train for Strade Bianche 2022... Van Der Veen the sprinter for 3-5 mass sprints this Giro....

Any recommendation?

Thijs in any case (if it 's Dries, you'll need flat power, and i don't see you with Vittore + Dries..). Dries for MS .. but Vittore good to pull escapes

For me would have been Dries + Thijs ^^

[team fl]

Afternoon Preview (so far)

Teams:

Alive And Dead
Climbers/GC guys: None
Classics: Rinderknech, Wolfowitz
Time trialists: Schwackhöfer (Leupold)
Sprinters: Karatzoglou
Other: Fortnow, Detreköi, Schöning, Loève, …

GC And Stages? Nope, contrary to the living stage of the team, this will be stages clearly. While Karatzoglou may profit from more hilly terrain and could have a serious say in the points classement, Schwackhöfer looks like the best time trialist in the peloton (so far). Besides that, It looks like escaping in the mountains.

Big Donkey
Climbers/GC guys: Eiffel (GC-leader), Apicella (key domestique)
Classics: Coderch, Faye (?), Espariat (?)
Sprinters: Messerli, Löffel (?)
Other: Teixeira, Trewlove Stakhanov, Quaghebeur (?)

Eiffel seems to be the clear GC leader, assisted by Apicella. The rest of the team looks like leaders too (as always), but they seem to be mere helpers for Eiffel. Despite some escaping efforts, only Messerli (or Löffel) might add to stage chances.

Circle Cycle
Climbers/GC guys: Sindarov
Classics: Cubas, Draupnisson,
Sprinters: Lim (?), Snel (?), Eselson (?)
Other: Fakasega (?), Faye (?), Ouedraogo (?), O’Riordan (?)

Everybody for Sindarov! Is CCs motto. Although Cubas and Draupnisson look like they could have chances in hilly stages too. Then again, will CC arrive with sprinters and if yes, with how many?

Fantasticos
Climbers/GC guys: Suero Skeljvik (GC-leader), Artemio Gajalo (key domestique)
Classics: Lyfenko, Otero
Sprinters: None
Other: Carter, Perez, Verduyn, Yakas, Fertz

Skeljvik and this team seem to be made for this year’s Giro. Being the best climber by far and having the second-best climber as key domestique makes him the clear GC favourite. Despite having some stage chances on their own, the other riders might only be helpers on the way…

Gipfelstürmer
Climbers/GC guys: De Wit (GC-leader), Ballabeni (key domestique, youth classement)
Classics: Brandt, Zevenbergen
Sprinters: van der Veen (?)
Other: Savoie, Majerus, Gagneux, Vespa (?), Van ‘T Wout (?)

Let’s see if De Wit can storm up the mountain (pun alert!). Despite noch having the very best chances for GC, his teammate and fellow young climber Ballabeni will have a very decent shot at the youth classement. The rest of the team’s tactic will depend on the question if sprinter van der Veen will be in the line up or not.

Mosca:
Climbers/GC guys: None
Classics: None
Sprinters: Wallinder, WürtzSchmidt, KraghAndersen
Other: Lots of flat riders

All out for Wallinder seems to be Mosca’s slogan for this year’s Giro. I guess there will be some escapes too if the manager is online. But besides that, the team looks like a legit Gruppetto champion and adds to the cannon fodder.

Team FL
Climbers/GC guys: None
Classics: Koekelkoren, Nishida
Sprinters: Blankenau, Tammemaa, Wheeler
Other: Hassana, Kovacevic, Piippo, Stolk

Cannon fodd… uhm GC favourite (as usual)? Well, best case there will be a lot of stage wins, worst case the Liechtenstein cycling team will not do much at all and will be indeed cannon fodder… Still, during the flat stages, the team around Wheeler will have the best chances, although a successful escape in the mountains could also be the way to go.

Team Seven Down
Climbers/GC guys: Damian Harris
Classics: Nusserwanji/Robinson, Hughes
Sprinters: Walker

Other: Gibbons/Faye, Hewitt/Edwards, Davis, Clarke/Wood, McCarthy/Lee
It seems like the team’s manager does not really know which riders should participate in the Giro. Maybe flip a coin? Roll a dice? Anyway, two riders should be safe, climber Harris and sprinter Walker. The rest is up for discussion indeed.

Favorites:

General classement:
***** Skeljvik
**** Eiffel
*** Harris, De Wit, Sindarov
** Gajalo, Apicella
* a surprise rider

Points classment:
*** Karatzoglou
** Walker, Wheeler
* Skeljvik

Mountain classement:
*** Skeljvik
** another rider
* a surprise rider

Youth classement:
*** Ballabeni
** another rider
* a surprise rider

Team classement:
*** fantasticos
** Big Donkey
* Gipfelstürmer

[flockmastoR]

Well in fact I see CircleCycle with Koskov as a better TT specialist. In his case I would leave the old guy at home and not torture him to trying to survive 3 weeks.

Alive And Dead will start expensive but without any ambitions. We bring our classic trio with leader Franz Schwackhöfer. He is our guy for the GC, the TTs and the sprints on hills terrain. He will be helped by Arthur Rinderknech (flat power to bring Franz back) and Jacob Wolfowitz (pave power). Our second gun is money sprinter Alexandros Karatzoglou beeing there for flat and medium hard stages. Wilfried Nöbauer and Lance Fortnow (probably just Fortnow) look logic too as Uwe Schöning. So it looks like some old riders need to make the lineup complete and not completely overpriced.

[Robyklebt]

Big Donkey rather unhappy with himself. 570k, too much. He wants to become cheaper every year, think more expensive than 20 again? Brrr. Faye TT and then I don't really know why I'm that expensive. Eiffel of course costs, ok ok.
Anyway, goal for 22, under 540k! Under 500k until 2025! Because team with weaknesses make for a better race. I still have shitloads of money to spend, that isn't the problem.

Goals: GC win with Eiffel. Gajalo looks strong, with that Skeljvik as helper, only 2" ahead today of Gajalo, so I decided Gajalo is now leader We'll see, just hope fantasticos doesn't lose motivation somewhere along the way. I'll ride for GC a bit here and there, but I won't on mountain stages...
Tomorrow Messerli wins, nothing can go wrong.

[Robyklebt]

Low participation sprint today, FL busy, MOsca too, FL on for some parts. But the attackers offline too, only Equinox tried, but against 2 then 4 teams no chance really.

Donkey riding rather too much for his his 87 star, but well, with Mosca off and FL part time, thought I can help more, and for my GC riding too, even if to me looks like fantasticos should overtake Eiffel fairly easily (and then get the 1'30" necessary for the last TT too) I do some GC control riding too for the moment... not much else to do, don't want to go in the escapes, maybe later, but certainly not on sprint days.

Sprint then today straightforward for CC. 2 trains, his the stronger one, but he has the stronger opponent on the wheel. Messerli! But FL leaving when the sprint started made it easy, otherwise FL can go very early, 200, with only Karatzoglou in the wheel... But even then, most likely no chance, Snel can just get Karatzoglou's wheel and go at 100... With Mosca there more difficult for Snel in coming stages I think. But now being the ciclamino favorite, he can risk being beaten by Mosca and just get points for ciclamino too.

Tomorrow, sprint looks unlikely, rather impossible actually. Karatzoglou can be there, (without really having checked his team) Messerli can try to chase (he most likely will) Possibly CC can attempt a comeback with 1 sprinter? All 3 no chance, but if he concentrates on one, Snel most likely, and has his 85-85-88 army with him, he can attempt it too. But seems difficult for Messerli, so for Snel even more, maybe together.. .but I like to lose alone usually. But we'll see, looks very much like a stage for a group too actually. Donkey though will control a bit with Stakhanov I think, then see later if a Messerli try is worth it. Trewlove-Moretti-Teixeira... with only 15km to go from 7 7 5 and lots of downhilly stuff, looks like a challenge. Escape, classic group, Karatzoglou sprint, Messerli sprint, no idea what it will be... as I said, I'll try the Messerli sprint if the team is reasonably fit, but have strong doubts if these 15 km are enough to come back against others. But then don't know the peloton that well yet, no idea how strong the classics are, will see that tomorrow.

[flockmastoR]

Not much happened until now, CC dominating the stages till now as expected. 2 wins with 2 different riders and wearing the Maglia Rosa in the first days. Equinox showed his team in front of the first flat stage getting the first points for the Maglia Azzurra. Franz Schwackhöfer took the lead in the Maglia Bianca and Alive And Dead dominates the team classement after a brilliant TT performance of the whole team.

Today will be a nice stage with no clear favorite. A&D will try to get Franz into the Maglia Rosa, so a cooperation with some teams that want one of the battled stages is what we are looking for. We also see some stage chances for Franz, not clear if going for Alexandros is an option too. We will see.

Chase for Maglia Rosa, after 2/21 stages
00:00:00 Georgi Koskov (CirclyCycle)
00:00:06 Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
00:00:44 Arthur Rinderknech (Alive And Dead)

Days in Maglia Rosa
2 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)

Stage wins by riders:
1 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Boudewijn Snel (CircleCycle)

Stage wins by teams:
2 CircleCycle

[CircleCycle]

Lets spend some time, contribute to the racethread and start with the lineup:

1) Boudewijn Snel
2) Jarome Eselson
3) WhenZun Lim
4) Vaiaho Fakasega
5) Rosco Frazer
6) Doug O'Riordan
7) Nodirbek Sindarov
8) Georgi Koskov
9) Jambaar Faye


Somehow surprising, but on the other hand not too much. The trio infernal (Sindarov-Cubas-Draupnisson) never really was the preferred option for the Giro for many reasons. Lack of reg on the one hand, but that we can cope with - the lack of sprintskill on the other hand was just annoying in the 2 tours in April. The moment someone is able to follow he is just massive favorit in a sprint.
Frazer and O'Riordan were clear, as usual they are there to "Go for it", so were Snel, Lim and at some point also the talented young sprinter Jarome Eselson! When my young flat riders (Son and Ghazouani) constantly refused to train I really started doubting the sprint-lineup. Who's gonna block the attacks? So bought Jambaar Faye - not to be able to block attacks, but to do more early work, controlling escapes - and luckily managed to get Vaiaho Fakasega (88 flat) at 27.04. So 7 starters clear by the end of April, whom to pick for the remaining two spots?
Initial plan was Sindarov and Cubas, to have a little support, but then Georgi Koskov, who surprised everybody and their dog, by simply refusing to downtrain his TT skill for months showed tremendous fighting spirit in the Tour de Romandie. After his desastrous Giro last year, when he had to abandon the race during stage 15, he and his team will try to bring him to the final stage of this years Giro, when again the last stage of week 2 (this year it is stage 16) will be the hardest test for that.
The main goal for this Giro is now to bring all them riders to the final stage, and collect some stagewins in between.
Stagewin for Koskov --> check (stage 1)
Stagewin for Snel --> check (stage 2)
Stagewin for Sindarov --> ??

With the absence of Sevendown and Mobster (both not starting) and Mosca (offline) at stage 2 Snel could deliver the first win in a Sprint, while the day before good old Koskov proved yet too strong for young Schwackhöfer. A great start! Stage 3 will see Koskov losing the maglia rosa, thats for sure, but otherwise hard to predict what will happen.
The finish certainly seems to hard to bring Snel back in front so the team is just preparing to be as fresh as possible for stage 5, when there will be the next chance for a MS.

[Robyklebt]

Karatzoglou! Good following, then winning the sprint, nice and surprising win the way it came about.

All calm, the Donkey who had half planned to ride came late and saw already 3 teams happily riding, so thought he doesn't need too for his chances. then second last climb, sieb by CC, seemed rather likely that at some point then the Lim attack would come, to get over the last climb, and it did. The Donkey had nobody to put on there really... A classic to try to go alone then? Moretti, since he was the weakest of the team for Messerli? Messerli himself? None seemed to make sense and still really doesn't, so nobody there, tried to block when he went out, but came in way too late probably. Surprisingly Karatzoglou was on Lim, that was unexpected but sort of brilliant. It was going to be hard for Karatzoglou to come back, ok, he could drop back 2 of his 3 classics, leaving Schwack.. in front for rosa. But like this, elegant! Got to the mountain with a minute, then in the group, attack by fantasticos failed, sprint, LIm goes early, Karatzoglou gets back to the wheel and finally wins the sprint.

The Donkeys 4" back, but it all worked almost perfectly for me. With LIm-Karatzoglou in front Gipfel and fantasticos didn't really have reason to ride. So only AAD for most of the time. And in the last kms Frazer brought down the difference from 10" to 4". I was still quite far away from catching them, but with my team trying made sense, process of elimination, all other options made less sense Try the classic attack late... seemed pointless.

Another day done, tomorrow steep hill then 2 km flat downhill.. fantasticos, but the least sure of his many wins probably, the last 2 km he will lose some time, but still with 3 hard or was it 4 rather steep ones ahead.....oh well, Eiffel will try to come back with DeWit and those guys, if he's allowed to ride with them... Entirely possible that somebody has early form too of coursem maybe not tomorrow, but still early, and if fantasticos has late form for both he could be beaten by stars like Apicella-Valtter-DeWit etc. Sindarov! Who has the spirnt problem

[flockmastoR]

My dilemma was that Schwackhöfer gets siebed anyway and if I wait for Alexandros I end up with no rider in front (tried to keep Wolfowitz in first group failed too). So better go for Franz and try to get Gip and fanta to wait for my dropped riders. But with this tactic it made really sense to hang Alexandros on Lim. In the end it was a bit of luck in the sprint. Lim pretty early made me hope again, then confusion following but in the end it was enough.

Good cooperation of Gipfelstuermer, fantasticos and Alive And Dead, a Sindarov sieb than broke the rythm and the teams forgot to block the expected Lim attack. Heroic Karatzoglou followed the attack and survived the last climb when A&D had problems to hold all together and keep Big Donkey train away. Somehow there was some help too in the end and the sprint was a bit lucky. Franz takes over the Maglia Rosa, probably just for one day.

Chase for Maglia Rosa, after 3/21 stages
00:00:00 Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
00:00:38 Arthur Rinderknech (Alive And Dead)
00:00:58 Baaba Faye (Big Donkey)

Days in Maglia Rosa
2 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)

Stage wins by riders:
1 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Boudewijn Snel (CircleCycle)
1 Alexandros Karatzoglou (Alive And Dead)

Stage wins by teams:
2 CircleCycle
1 Alive And Dead

[Robyklebt]

Little GC preview:

FANTASTICOS. Looks a bit unavoidable... 89-87 climbers, super classics, unless he loses motivation one day...
Yes, he loses 2' on Eiffel in the 2 TT, or close to, but with all these annoying mountain finishes or almost mountain finishes like today...stage 4, 6, 8, 9, that's very likely already way over 30". 40" bonification if he wins all, which isn't 100% sure, but seems possible anyway. And most likely each time some seconds, Ascoli maybe even quite a few, 10" or more. And that's before the real mountains start.

Another 5 real mountain stages later. Looks rather hard for Eiffel. But ok, there are others. Apicella, Valtter DeWit, Sindarov. Again, he can control all of that, but maybe if somebody manages a good attack one day it's possible to put him in trouble, we'll see. Gipfel with Ballabeni in support (or going for him, but needs to gain lots of time then) not a bad team. Valtter with Riis? Sindarov alone surprising everybody because he has no reg and no support, nothign to lose? Apicella who tries something instead of riding for his leader? 11 might be something I just thought, Eiffel not too bad on pavé. But Gajalo (we said he might ride for him if I didn't misunderstand him) is even better, so nothing for poor Tim there either And Skeljvik of course is not bad either, support team there... possible that fantasticos will need to decide who to ride for that day, but doubt he'll be in real trouble. So really seems... that it shouldn't be too difficult for fantasticos. Of course it's never sure, but with those 2 climbers, his cards are excellent.

Still good he's there though.... without him it might be similarly unexciting, then Eiffel with his 84 and 62 TT with 86 Apicella in support has to defend against 86+85, which again, seems very possible. Bonifications too for him very often I guess. And the Donks team generally not that bad either. So rather have fantasticos there so at least I can spend my days making masterplans on how to attack him (or not let him gain time) instead of what probably would be a rather dull defence vs the other, where no real masterplans would be needed, just some control for GC while hoping to let groups through. Of course it wouldn't be automatic either, but I would be rather confident I can limit the losses to Valtter and the Donkey-slayer DeWit.

But as I said, like this better, I'm more used to not winning anyway

Maglia ciclamino looks much more open. For me it's still Snel though. Mosca being of Sunday lost a big chunk of points, won't be easy to make it up. Karatzoglou... yes, more mountain, but that won't help if he loses points in every normal sprint, with CC having a train he can guarantee himself a good placement, in front of Karatzoglou in every flat sprint, even if Karatzoglou were to win stage 10... he most likely would still be behind.
Ok, intermediates, haven't thought about them yet, they might play a role in some stages where sprinters can't go for sprint. Ah, normal points there it seems.... so still can play a role, but rather minor.
Classics.. .none seems above the others, thus guaranteed to get high points in all flat sprints and wins or very high points in classic stages... so for me Snel. Challenged by Karatzoglou, but also Wheeler, Messerli, VanderVeen. And who knows, maybe Willander can come back? But doesn't look easy, plus he might be off again on other days.

White jersey, Ballabeni, easy unless he has to regularly ride for a DeWit GC challenge. The Schwackhöfer might have a chance. But well, he can expect to win another 2' in the TT, but those 3 minutes will be lost soon.

Mountain, no idea, either Equinox who seems interested, if he continues collecting points with Heisterkamp, who has the reg but is not that great in the mountains, 59, he might have a chance. Otherwise a climber or classic that is interested. Or automatically one of the 2 fantasticos.

Team looks like fantasticos or somebody with a big time gain in an escape....

Maglia rosa: For me Schwackhöfer will easily keep it until Ascoli. There most likely will be gone, I just hope Eiffel can get it for 2 days. But with only 22" to Skeljvik, 24" to Gajalo, that doesn't really seem all that likely either. Depending on form and that stuff of course, hopefully somebody will steal some stage wins and bonifications from him.... But I expect to be behind in GC from at the latest stage 8, more likely 6. But I'll still try to win this thing here of course.

[Robyklebt]

Maglia nera, the fight there already started, and Stakhanov isn't there. Disappointing performance from him so far, and it doesn't look good either. The Donkeys for the moment simply won't have to do much on hard stages, not Stakhanov anyway, so he'll most likely never be the big winner of the day. Equinox with an excellent start, already 6' advantage to the first non-Equinox. He might have too much mountain with those 3 to see it through though, might have to gain a bigger advantage in the easier middle mountain stages.

Challengers: Kedves with 43 mountain, but he might be in big trouble, risking to be kicked out. Seems to low in mountain almost, will need to start decisive stages fit to stay in the race. Same for Koskov, more, with 45 mountain, possibly less soon a big challenger. On paper, in practice he will have to be guided up the mountains as fit as possible to be able to win the TT on the last day. So the biggest challengers IMO should be Fertz, fantasticos and Faye. Fertz might have to work, might be far back a few times, will be rather far back in mountain stages, but risks elimination too. Faye on the other hand with his reg is ideal for a challenge, his problem is that he'll have to guide Koskov most likely, can't ride for himself. So right now seems all rather open, but if I had to predict a winner it would be Faye. Or then one of those awesome Equinoxes, they started so well.

[flockmastoR]

Interesting first climb finish with 2 km flat after very steep kms. Equinox put 2 riders in a group and Brian Moore fought as a lion to survive until the very hardes part of the race. In the back CircleCycle put some effort to win 2 points to steal the Maglia Ciclamino from Alexandros shoulder but A&D fought back on km 180 and Alexandros won back 4 points and distanced Snel. On the final climb Skeljvik and Sindarov attacked the climbers group and Sindarov caught Skeljvik on the last flat km to win the race. In the climbers group Tim Eiffel took over the lead in the GC and the Maglia Rosa, Franz Schwackhöfer lost too much time but stayed best young rider.

Chase for Maglia Rosa, after 4/21 stages
00:00:00 Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
00:00:09 Suero Skeljvik (fantasticos)
00:00:14 Nordirbek Sindarov (CircleCycle)

Days in Maglia Rosa
2 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)
1 Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)

Stage wins by riders:
1 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Boudewijn Snel (CircleCycle)
1 Alexandros Karatzoglou (Alive And Dead)
1 Nordirbek Sindarov (CircleCycle)

Stage wins by teams:
3 CircleCycle
1 Alive And Dead

[Robyklebt]

Rosa, rosa, didn't expect Schwackhöfer to lose that much, my calculator seems wildly off. Thought he'd keep it by 20" or so.... Oh well. 13" lost to Skeljvik in GC.... so it will be in Ascoli that Skeljvik takes over. Let's hope Sindarov can steal another win, but that looks rather unlikely there. Not much action today, the Donkey was really tempted to attack with somebody, just for something to happen... Stakhanov-Moretti or so. But refrained, can't guarantee that I will be able to do that in all coming hilly stages...

[CircleCycle]

Stage 3: Tried to get an opportunity to bring sneaky Lim in front before the last mountain as 7 7 5 just is too hard for him. Small little sieb by Sindarov at km 144, then continued with O'Riordan and attack with Lim + Fakasega at km154. Great plan! Nobody blocked, only Karatzoglou following and for some mysterious reasons I didn't expect that. Frazer there following would increase the chances dramatically, but also without him Fakasega managed to get a 1min gap, which proved enough to stay in front after km175. In the sprint Lim continued to disappoint and got 2nd place. Ok, ok, we'll take it, can't win everyday anyway.

Stage 4: Just 2 Equinox riders escaping, a bit tempo by Cousin Jambaar before the first hill and after a friendly sieb by friendly Moretti, Snel could get 2 points at the first Sprint. Good, not planned, even used Snel as a helper for the first 80+ km, then nothing much happened in the peloton. Very slow tempo in the climbs, (C.) J.Faye tried to slow down fantasticos and to make sure nobody gets dropped early. Even could do some tempo with O'Riordan before km165, when the fight for stage more or less began. Sindarov isolated, ok, not ideal, but not too bad, we knew that might happen. lots of downhill kms and he was well protected before and with the change in the lineup from Cubas to Koskov, we have to deal with that.
Final 6km then. In the Giro Roadbook CC-Edition I wrote the note "Sindarov?" Clearly, a stage where he could have a chance to come back against the stronger climbers. Luckily I attacked at the same km as Skeljvik, caught him at last km and won the sprint. Great! Sindarov back to 0 career wins, with a Giro stage in the pocket.

So far, so good. 3 stage wins means that goal is already reached after 4 stages! Now waiting for the training, little bit afraid for Koskov, need a bit of luck there to keep mountain and/or TT skill.

[Gipfelstuermer]

So far 0 of 4 days fully online... always missing the start or just an on app... and it seems I am not needed here....

Alive And Dead - The statistician
Big Donkey - The race reporter
fantasticos - The Donkey-climbers-slayer
Team FL - The record holder for most maglia ciclamino wins
CircleCycle - The stage hunter
Equinox - The escapist
Palasteam - The team that mainly follows real life race

All these nice roles, which I would love to have, taken by other teams... In addition, we have...

Mosca - The Offline-Team

So there is even a team that is better in being offline! I can't even be the offline-team here!

So what is my role? Can I have a role in this race at all? Let's see... today first stage where I am online 100% on laptop (instead of useless app...)

[CircleCycle]

Stage 5 the expected MS. Again Lim and Eselson set up Snel perfectly and his sprint from 100m was just enough to stay in front. Wallinder although came very close, while the FL train with Wheeler followed by Messerli could only fight for p3.
Good points for the ciclamino, stages like this (completely flat, low tempo and last km a 0) Snel simply has to win to have a chance. With the strong support he is very hard to beat, but unfortunately (for us - not for the other sprinters) the remaining possible sprint stages aren't gonna be that easy. Stage 7 with a +1 finish, Stage 10 with that ugly hill 40km before the finish, won't see Snel unbeatable.

Tomorrow's gonna be the first real test for Koskovs ambitions to finish the Giro this year - the team is prepared to escort him through the climbs, while trying to be as fit as possible for stage 7.

[flockmastoR]

Not really too interesting stage. Leonard Stallaert, Etienne Lamotte (both Equinox) and Vittore Vespa (Gipfelstuermer) formed a group that was not let enough time to at least belief in their chances. In the back the sprinter teams worked good together and in the bunch sprint noone could again beat Boudewjin Snel (CircleCycle) with Eselson launching his sprint.

No chances in the Maglia Rosa, Snel again took the lead and wears the Maglia Ciclamino for the next stages. Let's hope for new teams to enter the statistic part about stage wins.

Chase for Maglia Rosa, after 5/21 stages
00:00:00 Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
00:00:09 Suero Skeljvik (fantasticos)
00:00:14 Nordirbek Sindarov (CircleCycle)

Days in Maglia Rosa
2 Tim Eiffel (Big Donkey)
2 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Franz Schwackhöfer (Alive And Dead)

Stage wins by riders:
2 Boudewijn Snel (CircleCycle)
1 Georgi Koskov (CircleCycle)
1 Alexandros Karatzoglou (Alive And Dead)
1 Nordirbek Sindarov (CircleCycle)

Stage wins by teams:
4 CircleCycle
1 Alive And Dead