Giro 2013 9h

[AlmavivaItalia]

1 week to go, and nobody in the Subscription list.

Brath Rhum Factory now send the Pre-order Participation List:
Teams can insert up to 14 riders to pre Lineup:

1)Kyle Brathwaite
2)Peter Brathwaite
3)Ayrton SennaDaSilva
4)Michi Vinco
5)Aaron Brathwaite
6)Gummo Marx
7)Chico Marx
8)John Brathwaite
9)Obadele Brathwaite
10)Harpo Marx
11)Mark Huges
12)
13)
14)


Main Target Should be Top10 in GC and at least 1 stage.

[Alkworld]

Good idea

Team Alkworld:
Most likely those guys will be there:
1) Don Quijote - windmill man and winner of LBL, riding on his old bicycle named Rocinante
2) Sancho Panza - Don Quijote's most loyal helper (who would ever have thought anything else?)
3) Francisco Santander - always strong in the mountains - always bad the next day
4) Caetano Veloso - singing even after a rough day
5) Federico GarciaLorca - fighting, riding, sprinting and maybe winning?
6) Carlos Cespedes - the fast guy
7) Jaime Roldos - pretty fast, even during the TTT

The two remaining riders will be among those:
- Eloy GutierrezMenoyo
- Carlos Yushimoto
- George Orwell
- Oswaldo Paya
- Luis Costales
- Jorge CarreraAndrade
- JuanJose Castelli

[stemmi]

sv furpach presented for the giro:

1) pat luck (white or not white this is the question)
2) sam pain (the man, work alone in the ttt)
3) walt work (great heart, but small skills)
4) mitch lefebre (always on tour)
5) ian mcfly (he has a bad live in this team)
6) max reason (young and cheap)
7) steve east (young and cheap)
8) nathan tool (too weak for a classic-rider but...)
9) tom banks (the last helper for the capt`n)

of the bank and maybe on board

10) alex snowwhite
11) piere breux
12) william toffee

without chances for the team
13) ron slowly
14) liam short
15) matt blackmoon

[Alkworld]

Team Alkworld's final line-up:

1) Don Quijote - windmill man and winner of LBL, riding on his old bicycle named Rocinante
2) Carlos Cespedes - the fast guy
3) Federico GarciaLorca - fighting, riding, sprinting and maybe winning?
4) Eloy GutierrezMenoyo - another fast guy from Cuba
5) Sancho Panza - Don Quijote's most loyal helper (who would ever have thought anything else?)
6) Oswaldo Paya - our newest Cuban addition
7) Jaime Roldos - pretty fast, even during the TTT
8) Francisco Santander - always strong in the mountains - always bad the next day
9) Caetano Veloso - singing even after a rough day

[AlmavivaItalia]

Official Brath Rhum Factory's Lineup

1) Kyle Brathwaite, Top10 Classification Guy.
2) Peter Brathwaite, last Kyle's Helper
3) Ayrton SennaDaSilva, last Peter's Helper
4) Michi Vinco, Our 2nd TT Guy for the TTT
5) Aaron Brathwaite, Flat Helper
6) Harpo Marx, Comic Resistant guy
7) Gummo Marx, Comic Resistant Timetrialist
8) John Brathwaite, Flat Superstar
9) Chico Marx, useless flathelperguy

[Alkworld]

Finally, the Giro started, so let's see what he have here:
- three sprinters (two off today, one not willing to win the stage)
- four 85 climbers (only Don Quijote with another climber as helper, Kyle Brathwaite with a strong team, Rübli and Boltinger without much support)
- Ben Speedbiker, the best TT rider of the climbers, with one strong helper, but not much else
- Pat Luck (bad luck?), another climber who could still become stronger during the Giro and who also has a strong team

Maybe on one of the next flat stages, the sprinters will all be online and go for a sprint. The GC looks like a battle between Ben Speedbiker and the strong climbers, especially Kyle Brathwaite and Don Quijote with their strong support, although Don Quijote has the advantage of being the better sprinter and time trialist of the two. However, first they will have to gain some time on Speedbiker to equalize the seven or eight minutes they lose in the TT on next Saturday. A more detailed favo check will soon.

[stemmi]

the giro started an 10 teams will do his best.

the favos:
speedbiker: nice hill-duo, with one great tt-skill, the first week is him, we will see what the comes at the end

alkword: the best hill-duo and the best team, only weak tt-skills, he comes from the back after the first week, and everybody fears this manager

all other teams with good riders at the top but always alone in the hill, we will see if anybody can upset the classment

first stage:
lucky, but deserved victory for team playboy. two sprint-teams off, the third team without trust in his rider. team playboy invested the most and win.

[Speedbiker]

Speed ​​Biker has now found the right forum.

up:

Ben Speedbiker = the man for yellow
Barak Sope = best helper and always dangerous
Joe Tarence = good helper but weak in training
Iolus Albil = gap driver
Luigi Pusti = helper in flat
Bob Marley = the man for the TT
Gianluca Fantastico = helper in TTT
Niclas Ferry = young and eager
Marcin Nobel = just young

[stemmi]

easy win for speedbiker in the ttt, so now at the moment he ist the man to beat.
but ugly training for all, alk now with to 85-hill-riders. now it is a mirical who is the favo in the team, and the chance for speedbiker for the maglia rosa und for furpach for the white a much smaller.

[Alkworld]

Alkworld favo check

Maglia Rosa
***** Don Quijote (Alkworld), Ben Speedbiker (Speedbiker)
****
*** Kyle Brathwaite (Brath Rhum Factory)
** Pat Luck (SV Furpach), Sancho Panza (Alkworld)
* Peter Rübli (CARRERA-ITALIA), Marvin Boltinger (Vitesse)

Unfortunately this group stayed a bit small, so the favorite list is pretty short. It's basically Ben Speedbiker vs. Don Quijote. Speedbiker is by far the best TT rider of the favorites and has a strong first helper with Barak Sope, but not much else after those two. Don Quijote on the other hand has his most loyal helper Sancho Panza on his side and loads of strong helpers. Kyle Brathwaite could be a contender, but he'll lose some time to Don Quijote in the TTs and possibly also more time on bonifications. However, he should not be overlooked here also because of his strong team. Pat Luck seemed to have lots of bad luck in training, but still needs to be considered here, also because of his TT skill and his strong team and two more possible trainings. Maybe he'll be able to surprise everyone here. CARRERA-ITALIA (Did I understand him correctly yesterday that he didn't want to ride at 9am?) and Vitesse (not online yet) both have weak teams for their captains and may therefore have quite some problems in the mountains.

Maglia Ciclamino
*** Don Quijote (Alkworld)
** Amadeusz Raczinski (Rasmussenbank)
* Barak Sope (Speedbiker), an escape rider

Once his manager learns to sprint, Don Quijote should be able to score everyday here and will be hard to beat, also because there are barely any sprint stages and the best sprint team not interested in sprints yet. Other than that, this one is really hard to predict. Raczinski might play a role, if he doesn't lose more skill points, Sope may end up in front in many stages, but also some other classic riders might score points regularly.

Maglia Azzurra
*** Toni Liias (Cologne Procycs)
** another escape rider
* a climber

Toni Liias seems very interested in winning this jersey, but there also will be other riders escaping and scoring points. However, if a climber decides to go for it, he may still easily beat any other contender.

Maglia Bianca
*** Pat Luck (SV Furpach)
** Sancho Panza (Alkworld)
* Ivan Quintans (Die Playboys), Stephen King, Dean Koontz (Recien Nacidos)

Sancho Panza and Pat Luck look like the obvious favorites, but as Sancho Panza is a natural born helper, Pat Luck still is the big favorite here, also because of his good TT and regeneration skills. Quintans, King and Koontz might be good for some surprises when riding offensively.

Team classement
*** SV Furpach
** Brath Rhum Factory
* Alkworld

If there wouldn't be any escapes and everybody would just happily roll to the final section of the race, Alkworld with two climbers and strong classic riders would be the obvious favorite. But here it's more likely that a combination of time won in escapes and good climbers decide.

[Speedbiker]

Wo ist hier der Gefällt mir Button ?

very good work Alkworld

[AlmavivaItalia]

Brath Rhum favo check

Maglia Rosa
***** Don Quijote (Alkworld)
**** Ben Speedbiker (Speedbiker)
***
** Pat Luck (SV Furpach)
* Sancho Panza (Alkworld)


Maglia Ciclamino
*** Don Quijote (Alkworld)
**
* a Far Far Away GC riders who love to win

Maglia Azzurra
*** Toni Liias (Cologne Procycs)
**
*

Maglia Bianca
*** Pat Luck (SV Furpach)
** Sancho Panza (Alkworld)
* Ivan Quintans (Die Playboys), Stephen King, Dean Koontz (Recien Nacidos)

Team classement
*** Alkworld
** SV Furpach
*

[Alkworld]

Maglia Azzurra
*** Toni Liias (Cologne Procycs)
**
*

Hm, did I see that before the last edit? Brath, no need to hide yourself, Kyle will still score good results here, the team is strong enough to do it. There's no need to give up that early.

Today's stage looked like a clear case for the group, but two things changed that:
1) Cologne Procycs announced that he'll miss the end. That made me with the then best sprinter work.
2) The group didn't speed up at San Mauro Cilento, but carried the dead helpers over that hill, while the peloton rode a lot faster.
In the end it was the perfect situation for Don Quijote, who won his first Giro stage here with Federico GarciaLorca's help. But anyway, the usual suspects in escapes shouldn't worry as there will be more opportunities to come in the next days with a few more long stages.

[AlmavivaItalia]

i edited because i've some work issue from wednesday. Rumours speak about a workplacetrasfer where i can't ride at all due to a proxy who denies internet to all:(((... Main doubt is for period. if from wed, it should end on 17th may. if later, it should end at the end of may, so i've, ready, a PN to send to buh to delete the team. Tomorrow i will race, but i hope a more clear situation....

[stemmi]

that`s no good news, i hope for you, that you can ride the giro to the end without much offline-times.

stage3:
the same guys in front as stage 1. i think we read the name of the teams in much more stage in the futher. speedbiker with work in the field and the result - alkword in the end to strong for all and with perfect timing (as so often ) first, but not least, stage win for him on this tour.

[Alkworld]

i edited because i've some work issue from wednesday. Rumours speak about a workplacetrasfer where i can't ride at all due to a proxy who denies internet to all:(((... Main doubt is for period. if from wed, it should end on 17th may. if later, it should end at the end of may, so i've, ready, a PN to send to buh to delete the team. Tomorrow i will race, but i hope a more clear situation....

Then good luck to you. It would be a pity, if you couldn't ride the Giro any longer.

[Alkworld]

Team Alkworld is a bit tired and can hardly write now . Lots of work was invested, but it didn't work out with the stage win. But the actual result was basically even better. As Barak Sope followed an attack by Rasmussenbank, Ben Speedbiker suddenly was on his own, which Don Quijote could use to his favor. The downside of the attack was Erne following who could not be beaten in the final sprint. Tomorrow's stage looks a bit similar like today's (long flat, two late hills), but could end with a totally different result, although the favorites remain similar: Erne, Raczinski, Quijote, GarciaLorca, Hammerson. But maybe also a group will make its way.

[stemmi]

stage 4:
another great demonstration of alk-taktic. no win for him, but a important step for the gc. speedbiker let his leader alone and alk directly exploid that and make 60 sec for his cäpt`n in the gk-classement.
4 escapers specific the stage, but the guys from team rasmussen and furpach ultimately against the power of team alk. in the end first win for the boys of cologne - gw.
my team lost the white , recien nacidos will not give me the shirt at a present.

[AlmavivaItalia]

Today very bad fairplay by alk, but he's not guilty.

RSF app crashdown around km 190, so me and Speedbiker can't do "saving tempo" neither Changing wheel to follow (in fact Michi was behind Federico Garcia Lorca before the "10"s.). I can't do anything and so alk gains something like 1'30. Luckily he understand something but these 37 seconds are too much instead of maximum 20 if i coop for a reduced group (and, surely, i tried to do something else to avoid DQ easily win)

Now Kyle is disappointed and... Sponsor is really thinking to unsubscribe the team.

[Alkworld]

Today very bad fairplay by alk, but he's not guilty.

RSF app crashdown around km 190, so me and Speedbiker can't do "saving tempo" neither Changing wheel to follow (in fact Michi was behind Federico Garcia Lorca before the "10"s.). I can't do anything and so alk gains something like 1'30. Luckily he understand something but these 37 seconds are too much instead of maximum 20 if i coop for a reduced group (and, surely, i tried to do something else to avoid DQ easily win)

Now Kyle is disappointed and... Sponsor is really thinking to unsubscribe the team.

I actually think that without any downtime, the DQ group would even have gained more time than it was now. As nobody at all blocked the big attack (Sancho alone in tempo), even FGL, the weakest guy in the group would have gained 40-50s instantly. Then I still could have decided to ride with FGL or just leave him and ride with Santander instead. On top of the hill, Veloso even secured the gap a bit with auto tempo in the peloton, which I set for him before the hill.

[Rasmussenbank]

think its worth mentioning here that raczinski wins his 17th stage in his career at the old age of 35, and rides a day or 2 in ylw

[stemmi]

the thursday-stage was overshadowed by a little blackout of rsf for 3 km in the end of the race. after the darkness, alk with four riders in front and a few riders on his wheel, a lot of gk-riders in the field, 1:30 min back. very fair reaction of alk that he make slowly the rest of the race. so only a 40 sec he won against speedbiker. the stage victory for cologne.

in the friday-stage - playboy, rasmussen and furpach are in the escape, at first no interrest in the field to follow. but, if the escpars be sure of their victory, 3 teams make tempo in the field. so in the front the must work harder, but in the end a safely victory for the guys in front. the sprint of the 3 best escapers won playboy.

tomorrow the great tt - we will seen how many time make speedbiker against alk.

[Alkworld]

The blackout was really very badly timed. Just before it happened I realized that Sancho was completely alone in tempo and decided to attack with everybody except Veloso (team attack rule 1 no longer applied as it was on the last 10km). Just afterwards nothing happened, the connection to RSF was dead. A few minutes later my riders were still spread over three group ahead of the peloton all making tempo. It would really be interesting to know how this stage would have ended without those technical problems. But that's the past now.
I'm now also looking forward to tomorrow. This is where this year's Giro really starts. We'll see who'll ride 100% and who'll be saving energy for Sunday.

[AlmavivaItalia]

Brath's strategy should be enough clear.

Free to do Everything is Gummo, who may be involved in Stagewin. After him, only Michi, who can save some time, should be authorized to force. Others have to be in reg for sunday, avoiding to lose some other time against DQ

[Alkworld]

Finally a day of rest for everyone and time to revisit the favorite check from a week ago.
GC seems to be the expected fight between Don Quijote and Ben Speedbiker with the latter still being 3:29 ahead after the expected strong TT, but bound to lose some time in the mountains.
1) Ben Speedbiker 0:00 - as expected at this time
2) Barak Sope 2:07 - Speedbiker's first helper, likely losing time when used more as a helper
3) Dean Koontz 3:28 - another surprise, but lacking climbing skills
4) Don Quijote 3:29 - on the way up, collecting bonus seconds
5) Pat Luck 3:37 - bad luck in training, could have been a GC contender otherwise
7) Ivan Quintans 5:47 - another small surprise
10) Kyle Brathwaite 6:44 - could have been Don Quijote's biggest enemy, but lost already 3 minutes to him
12) Sancho Panza 7:05 - Alkworld's training hero could gain a lot of time still, but may also be helping Don Quijote all the time

The points jersey seems already decided with Don Quijote already far ahead.

The climber's jersey is maybe the most open jersey left. Paul Herengracht and Toni Liias were fighting for it during the first week, but also the top climbers are not out of the race. However, until now, none of them showed any real interest in it.

The white jersey is pretty safe in Pat Luck's hands, although Sancho Panza is still feared by many to fight for it. Which he is not.

Team classement is still as open as it was before.