Bavaria 10h

[team fl]

Back from California, straight to Bavaria. From 9h to 10h, from the wetsuits to Lederhosen, from water with beer taste to real beer. Team FL will participate with the following drinkers, uhm riders:

x1 Gaudenz Taverna, our guy from Schaffhausen for the GC
x2 Nathaniel Biedermann, the quiet man from Hinterschellenberg
x3 Harry Hole, for sure drunk in Bavaria
x4 Niels Hörnö, keeps OlléOllés smile shiny white
x5 Stefan Küng, King Küng in Bavaria
x6 Takashi Murakami, likes to draw colorful Bavarian landscapes
x7 Jean OlléOllé, Parasite No. 1 (smiling)
x8 Pit Schlechter, arrives better from California
x9 Xaver Unsinn, Parasite No. 2

Line-up may change a bit. But so far this is what Team FL is intending to send into the Biergarten of Bavaria. Goals will depend on who is participating, parasite a lot of course. Thinking back to California if there is no success in Bavaria.

And the first change: Biedermann will most probably attend instead of Arni Steinsson. We're afraid that the nordic cyclist will enjoy the beer too much.

[Alkworld]

Team Alkworld will definitely be there, the manager just hasn't decided which riders will come. The following lineup in possible:

1) Miguel Cervantes - fighting Salas'ian windmills
2) Eliseo Alberto - fastest rider of the team, even with Bavarian beer
3) Tupac Amaru - 500 years of experience, first Peruvian to drink beer
4) Facundo Cabral - sings songs about Bavarian beer ... no, sings too many songs after drinking Bavarian beer
5) Juan Montalvo - thirsty parasite
6) Antonio Narino - the "Arbeitstier", will be rewarded with beer
7) Bernardo OHiggins - fast, with or without beer
8) Oscar Romero - doesn't need beer to be fast in descents
9) Benito Salas - put a beer on the finish line and he'll be the first one there

Salas, Cabral, Alberto, Amaru, Romero and Narino are fixed, the other three might still be shuffled around. Goals will be strongly depending on the final line-up

[team fl]

Very long and hard race this morning at stage one. In the end, Alkworld arrived with Salas 4 secs before the sprintteams, won the stage and even could get bonusseconds for Cervantes. The fight for the points classement should be already done like this, while the GC is still very open. Taverna is now 15 secs behind Cervantes and there are other good timetrialists still in time, especially from azzurri, ENEFEL and El Bergo. So the tour is what Team FL expected: Alkshow with lots of unions in front and in the back. And hard. Alkword with a very good average regeneration skill in his team has advantages, but if that's enough will get clearer in the upcoming stages.

GC of the best time trialists:

01. 00:00 Miguel Cervantes TT 76
05. 00:08 Martin Bergler TT 73
09. 00:11 Paul Grainter TT 70
13. 00:11 Carl Carlsen TT 76
24. 00:11 Philip de Gent TT 83
27. 00:11 Salvatore Bartoli TT 82
47. 00:15 Zdenek Hulka TT 81
75. 00:15 Gaudenz Taverna TT 88

[team fl]

Favorite check:

General classement

***** Gaudenz Taverna (Team FL)
**** Philip deGent (azzurri)
*** Miguel Cervantes (Alkworld)
** Zdenka Hulka (Medvedi)
* Carl Carlsen (El Bergo), Salvatore Bartoli (ENEFEL)

Points classement

*** Benito Salas(Alkworld)
** Miguel Cervantes (Alkworld)
* Marcel Tinazzi(Celtic Club)

Mountain classement

*** the one who wants it (Tom Streiss, RSC Unlingen)
** another rider
* a surprise rider

Youth classement

*** Zdenek Hulka (Medvedi)
** Salvatore Bartoli (ENEFEL)
* Carl Carlsen (El Bergo)

Team classement

*** El Bergo
** RSC Unlingen
* another team

[Alkworld]

Hm, hopefully the participation here gets as good as in the race. Very exciting race today with high tempo almost from the beginning till the end. Salas finally launched his sprint with less than 800 energy. Tomorrow might be similar again, but the days afterwards could become more quiet, when there are less hills to make a selection and the main participants having less energy left. Our goals will be another stage win with Salas, the points jersey and we'll maybe try to take a chance in the GC.

[team fl]

And again Salas, still Cervantes in the leader's jersey gaining some bonus seconds, in the end as well as at the last intermediary. Anyway, the stage today was much cosier than yesterday, especially for Team FL as Taverna was allowed to join the main group in front of the sprinters. Thus, he still has the best chances to win the ITT on Saturday AND the GC. Still open is the fight for the mountain classement, although Steiss is eager to take the blue jersey back home. And it's looking good for him. The points classement is also still open. Nevertheless, it looks good for Salas or even Cervantes, who could gain some important points during the ITT. In the youth classement, it looks good for Bergler from El Bergo, though still one second behind Svensson from Team Ruhrgebiet. tomorrow might be the first chance for the flat sprinters to win a stage. three 6 in the way, last one at km 143, but not as tough as today or yesterday.

GC of the best time trialists:

01. 00:00 Miguel Cervantes TT 76
04. 00:17 Martin Bergler TT 73
15. 00:20 Paul Grainter TT 70
17. 00:20 Philip de Gent TT 83
18. 00:20 Zdenek Hulka TT 81
31. 00:24 Gaudenz Taverna TT 88

-> Rest to far behind for realistic GC chances

[Alkworld]

Hm, still only a public dialogue here ... Yesterday, the expected race took place, although it turned out to be a little different than expected. El Bergo didn't wait for the Alk helpers and made the race even faster. Therefore it was easy in the end to keep the sprinters away after the second hill. A downhill sieb at -11% caused some trouble still, but in the end, it was an easy sprint with Salas being the lucky winner in a sprint that could also have been won Adamek with a little more luck on his side. GC, red (or blue) and green (or red) seem to be almost decided (green most likely for a Alkworld rider), so we should be able to have three relaxing days left.

[team fl]

So we keep up the dialogue: Yay, Ollé Ollé simled himself to victory! Credits go to SK Blu-Bardhe of course. And others told me to sell him. Pfff. Anyway, 30 secs for Taverna tomorrow to the GC-leadership against Cervantes. Stage win is hopefully undoubted. Funny fact: Then the two most expensive teams will have won every stage so far, two by Alk, two by FL.

[Alkworld]

The chat here seems to reflect the actual race, mostly FL and Alkworld duelling The race had a surprising winner today with Miguel Cervantes winning the sprint against all remaining sprinters (some were lost at the hills on the way) and by that also finally taking the points jersey away from Benito Salas, who is angry now. It even got pretty close in the GC between Cervantes and Taverna, but still with the deserved winner.

[team fl]

The chat here seems to reflect the actual race, mostly FL and Alkworld duelling The race had a surprising winner today with Miguel Cervantes winning the sprint against all remaining sprinters (some were lost at the hills on the way) and by that also finally taking the points jersey away from Benito Salas, who is angry now. It even got pretty close in the GC between Cervantes and Taverna, but still with the deserved winner.

GW for the last stage, great Cervantes. And I can sign your first sentence. As said before, the most expensive teams were dominating. Anyway, I thought I could ride every stage myself when I inscribed. Luckily SK Blu-Bardhe and ABC-Polsat were so kind to sit my team on Friday and Sunday.

Nevertheless, I am happy that Gaudenz could win his first stage race, the ITT was not that difficult...

So finally the facts about this tour, again lazy presented:

General classement:

1. Platz: Gaudenz Taverna (Team FL)
2. Platz: Miguel Cervantes (Alkworld)
3. Platz: Zdenek Hulka (Medvedi)

Mountain classement: Tom Streiss (RSC Unlingen)

Points classement: Miguel Cervantes (Alkworld)

Youth classement: Zdenek Hulka (Medvedi)

Team classement: Medvedi