The Real Giro 2026 Afternoon

[Robyklebt]

Donkey finishing with a lucky punch... Bongiorno wins, makes it a good Giro, didn't expect that anymore.

Formwise, Lafuente on Pila, less beause of Pila, more wanting to have a better TT, a bit more time, easier to gain time there than "save" the same amount in the last 2 stages. Iskanderov then Cari, wanted later, but was afraid he might be too strong then for Lafuente, stupid thought, less helpers...last 2 days would have been fine. Form was made when I had no clue about this Abdurashitov anyway, thought it possible to be in rosa, at least virtual, real GC men after the TT at the time. Would have been an interesting Giro, no Abdurashitov, Donkey with Bonjour and Gjeldnes.. under attack every day, not very optimistic to defend it in a Giro with that many super classics. And then SWP and L with lesser ones but ready to use them for attacks. Brrr, anyway, only theoretical, so did the form to get an early advantage. Cari sort of the kind of standard I expect, seemed to make lots of sense for many, stage hunters too, never top, except Cari, but always there... so wanted to avoid it, but as I said... stupid ideas of Iskanderov being too strong for Lafuente... pah.

Bongiorno was Napoli... 87 now, probably pretty standard as well. Rest was irrelevant, ah, Gallego sometime in the last week, Andalo maybe, yep.

Finally with the lucky punch today satisfied, my team pretty much sucked. Helpers definitely, leaders ok, just overpowered by others, Bongiorno by the flat of Palamarchuk (and Frizzante, but even that poor guy never got the wheel) Lafuente by Abdurashitov. So fully relied on SWP for my second place in GC, never did a meter for sprint (well, only the days we didn't get one) and with the lack of reg (or any other good skill for some of my riders) wasn't much in the attack either. Then out of sync with the classic festival too.. could have been better, but really not much, considering I regularly missed the start as well... and I like my computer. Not the mobile. But in the end I reached my goals, second place in GC, easy, nothing to do, and the goal that wasn't even one anymore really, seemed too hopeless, a stage. And the other goal reached too, money, that was the reason for the weakish team, finally made 600k plus, with better helpers but still not winning riders like Gjeldnes and Bonjour wouldn't have earned more (ok, intermediates maybe) but paid more. Now fairly solid financial situation, even went down to 68% tax, sold Lanfredini and Lüthi for 2% more!

We heard there is a post Giro criterium in France in July or so, we might show up there. While suffering through endless 14h races in June, and coming too late there too every time.

[Flandrien]

Basta con il divertimento or, as they say in English, the fun is over. Three weeks of blood, sweat and tears. Winning and losing. But als joking around and having a blast. Throwback to just over three weeks ago, when the Flandriens made their first appearance in a Grand Tour. No big expectations, but we’ll just take things as they come. Competing for the win in every stage, riding aggressively and secretly hoping, along with Salvatore, for a top-10 GC finish. And so we set off for the Giro. Fast forward to today, and we can look back with pride on a successful campaign. 1 stage win, 3rd place in the
mountains classification, maybe the most active team in the escapes and to top it all off, a podium GC finish in Rome. What seemed impossible, we managed to do as a small team, Although there may well be a bit of luck involved here and there, that’s what makes the race so wonderful. We learned, we grew, and we’re taking it all with us into the future. I’d like to thank everyone for making this Giro so wonderful, for the laughter and the endless discussions hihi. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you all again for the Tour de France, hopefully earlier on the races in June of course.

See you next time, greets.

Niels aka Flandrien

[Falcor CC]

The Giro isn't over until Team FL posts the last stories!

[team fl]

First things first, the final standings. stories may or may not follow:

Final standings after stage 21:

General classement:
01. 00:00:00 Jamshid Abdurashitov (SouthWest Packers)
02. 00:04:27 Gabriel Lafuente (Big Donkey)
03. 00:05:17 Salvatore Meeus (Flandrien Pro Cycling)
04. 00:05:23 Tilen Trkman (L RSV)
05. 00:05:30 Xavi Rodriguez (Confidential Era)
06. 00:05:30 Uros Urbánek (L RSV)
07. 00:05:33 Iwan Bondarew (SouthWest Packers)
08. 00:05:36 Arjen Burger (CreditPommes)
09. 00:06:23 Graziano Alborghetti (Tukhtahuaev)
10. 00:06:24 Michael Redrocks (Falcor)

Points classement:
01. 271 - Artem Palamarchuck (Tukhtahuaev)
02. 195 - Vincent Verwimp (Team FL)
03. 180 - Magnus Jensen (Falcor)

Mountain classement:
01. 294 - Domingo Cruz (Falcor)
02. 175 - Oleksandr Piskun (Tukhtahuaev)
03. 167 - Kenneth Verbeke (Flandrien Pro Cycling)

Youth classement:
01. 00:05:36 Arjen Burger (CreditPommes)
02. 00:06:23 Graziano Alborghetti (Tukhtahuaev)
03. 00:11:57 Finn Bennett (Confidential Era)

Team classement:
01. 00:00:00 L RSV
02. 00:06:58 Falcor
03. 00:11:10 Big Donkey

Stage wins by riders:
4 - Artem Palamarchuck (Tukhtahuaev)
2 - Domingo Cruz (Falcor)
2 - Zhansultan Dosmagambetov (Tukhtahuaev)
2 - Magnus Jensen (Falcor)
2 - Vincent Verwimp (Team FL)
1 - Iwan Bondarew (SouthWest Packers
1 - Arcadio Bongiorno (Big Donkey)
1 - Carlo Chambaere (Romoc Riders)
1 - Domingo Gonzales (Equip Ciclista Poblenou)
1 - Robin Jonckheere (Flandrien Pro Cycling)
1 - Simon Molgaard (VC Team Multi)
1 - Xavi Rodriguez (Confidential Era)
1 - Tapio Tamikkonen (L RSV)
1 - Tilen Trkman (L RSV)

Stage wins by teams:
6 - Tukhtahuaev
4 - Falcor
2 - L RSV
2 - Team FL
1 - Big Donkey
1 - Confidential Era
1 - Equip Ciclista Poblenou
1 - Flandrien Pro Cycling
1 - Romoc Riders
1 - South West Packers
1 - VC Team Multi

Days in Rosa:
12 - Jashid Abdurashitov (SouthWest Packers)
5 - Magnus Jensen (Falcor)
1 - Moreno Ottema (Romoc Riders)
1 - Michael Redrocks (Falcor
1 - Xavi Rodriguez (Confidental Era)
1 - Vincent Verwimp (Team FL)

Most combative rider:
2 - Cesare Baddetti (Falcor)
2 - Zane Claessens (Flandrien Pro Cycling)
2 - Pyry Pitkäaikainen (L RSV)
1 - Magnus Fjellvik (Flandrien Pro Cycling)
1 - Shohrat Dawamat (Tukhtahuaev)
1 - Luat Meo (RC Cost)
1 - Kodai Naraoka (Equip Ciclista Poblenou)
1 - Oleksandr Piskun (Tukhtahuaev)
1 - Kensi Taiwia (Tukhtahuaev)
1 - Tapio Tamikkonen (L RSV)
1 - Kenneth Verbeke (Flandrien Pro Cycling)
1 - Miikka Muurinen (L RSV)
1 - Ivo Peraza (RC Cost)
1 - Facundo Pomoli (RC Cost)
1 - Kodai Naraoka (Equip Ciclista Poblenou)
1 - Manfred Matt (Team FL)
1 - Kenneth Verbeke (Flandrien Pro Cycling)
1 - Kodai Naraoka (Equip Ciclista Poblenou)

Days with the Red Lantern:
11 - Dacian Liberiu (L RSV)
7 - Mick Rory (Falcor)
2 - Cesare Baddetti (Falcor)
1 - Pyry Pitkäaikainen (L RSV)

[Robyklebt]

Interesting stage. Escape, Aurélien joined, somehow forgot to put Ousland on following, as was planned, but actually was quite nice like this finally, parasiting ahead while having one of the strongest guys. Bubendorf reacted right, hard tempo from the start, despite the annoying influencing attempt(s?) he kept going. Classic in tempo on the Tourmalet, last km catch, but there he goes with Badenhorst and Anders. Big mistake. Donkey claimed. And still thinks so. But not by Bubendorf, by people like Big Donkey, Tukh, Credit Pommes. Just hang! The attack actually wasn't bad finally, the Donkey was thrown off by the minimal advantage, of course that came from somebody blocking, Tukh. Not sure if last second or early, if Bubendorf was out early or not. Without that block he has the stage and gains some time in GC. So good attack, ignore Donkey comments sometimes. Of course he might have tried an earlier sieb with Anders, go with Badenhorst, but then more likely that some of us dumbasses realize the danger and follow. Or go one km earlier. That puts the classics a bit further back if then SWP rides with Bondarew. But good attempt, just didn't work. Thanks to Tukh the classics were close enough, Hölzel went, he tried, while singing "Rock me Guido", that's what Buchwald did. Bäm. The sound of Niederlage was was big. Buchwald either excellent form or saved enough energy.

GC nothing much happening of course, with a bit more success Bubendorf might have started a tiny attack on Abdurashitov, but wasn't to be. And it will probably stay like this for the whole Tour.

In the meantime the mood, atmosphere in the chat is degrading fast. Mostly Flandrien seems very unhappy about lots of stuff and seemingly cant' help himself making it personal. My theory is simple: SWP and Big Donkey winning, everybody was still happy. From the moment others started winning, stage 3, it got tense. So for peace love and happiness, there's only one thing to do. Let the Donkey and the Packer split the remaining stages! No more other winners!

[team fl]

pretty late reaction to the Giro...