Giro 2019 Afternoon (the only real Giro)

[team fl]

Welcome to the Afternoon Giro, the only real Giro! Can last year's dominance of Big Donkey be broken? Will we see a future superstar in the making like Afshin Pirhashemi? Will a sprinter be able to win the Ciclamino?

Anyway, Team FL will be in place for the last one, if any. But at least, the Liechtenstein cycling team will start with Italian champion Luca Spirito as the team leader (GC leader would be a far fetch). He will be accompagnied by french handy man Thibault Rossard as the second main man for hilly stages and escapes.

Besides that, the team will look out for sprint chances for Baltasar Banzer, Karl Kopinski and a new sprinter who will join in May. The ink from the contract is not dry yet, but the team management is confident that the negotionations have been successful. Of course, all 5 of them will need a support cast. Team FL offers that in with Pieter Coolman, the belgian flat specialist, Max Funk, the "duchy" allrounder who is afraid of downhill passages, the ever late Sandro Spaeth and Ron Zwerver, not "duchy" but dutch… well… cheap rider to fill the team, I guess.

x1 Luca Spirito, reigning Italian Champion, conqueror of hearts, GC leader
x2 Baltasar Banzer, continues the long lasting tradition of Liechtenstein alliterations in the team
x3 Pieter Coolman, too cool for school
x4 Max Funk, funkiest member of the squad
x5 Karl Kopinski, strikes fear in his opponents' hearts
x6 Thibault Rossard, best climber of the team, but will be leader at the Tour de France as a frenchman
x7 Sandro Spaeth, never too late
x8 Ron Zwerver, filling material
x9 A sprinter

Goal is of course to win everything, although that might be a bit more difficult than usual. But some stages and a shot for the Ciclamino would be great already. And I've heard that the Giro mountain classement is also not as "douchy" as in other stage races...

[gaurain rx]

Feiting Siebing might also start here but the lineup is really provisionnal... The sure starters are :

1. Peter Vangramberen : The gc leader, eager to show his skills after riding really few (but succesfully) the last 2 motnhs;
2. Jonas Wauthier : The sprinter, normally fits perfectly with the Italian profiles but this year doesn't seems to be totally the case... So well, does he need a full team around as support? I don't think so;
3. Robin Zingle : 60-80 with downhill and reg, always a usefull guy in a tour. He'll have to do a lot of tempo during the whole tour;
4. Emile Gourdin : Flatguy with downhill and reg, yeah also a masterpiece in a big Tour.

And that's it actually... The rest is quite open! Bouteiller/Cyclone/Prieur (2 of the 3 probably), Theophane as helper or leader or to grab white Jersey, Frognet and/or Vaneste (only one classic looks a bit short), and then Jung/Sacré/Cordonnier all with weaknesses (Jung with a good sprint but expensive, Sacré with a great downhill but no reg, Cordonnier cheap but without downhill)... So well, today, Cyclone, Prieur, Théophane, Vaneste is the most likely option... But last spot, I'm really uncertain!

OF course, Lesinge and Lemile are out of the fight, Vliegen is not an option as long as Wauthier is a certain starter (Wauthier, who can also be usefull as helper on some stages).

[Robyklebt]

Big Donkey here of course.

1 Hisashi Matsuyama: Leader, 86 mountain
2 Snorri Kolbeinsson: Flat rider without reg or sprint
3 Hiroshi Matsubara: Flat rider with reg and sprint (60)
4 Hiroyasu Matsukaze: Star sprinter
5 Hiroshi Matsuoka: Aging classic rider.
6 Hisoshi Matsuyama: Pissed off elder brother of Hisashi, no 2., 86 mountain as well. Has promised to finish the Giro as winner
7 Hiroya Matsuzaka: 60-80
8 YoungWon Son; Classic rider with sprint (60)
9 Stephan Wiedmer: Swiss star, future 60-80 with reg.

The plan is to go for GC of course. With 2 86... not hopeless, not favorite, we'll see.

[LENNAO]

Because of the bunch of great and sympatic managers - except of roby - maybe i decide to ride in the afternoon.

But I can tell you nothing about my concept for the first GT since 2012 ...
Without Liam as a leader? Maybe with him but no supporting cast.
My teambuild is not finished yet and maybe Vuelta will be the first GT i can ride for GC.
I am not a friend of sucking 3 weeks - being offline at the weekend - and hoping to win anything. But Liam is my rider to go for, normally.

And maybe is FL and his teamstrategy a reason to start at this time, because if I go for Niklas and Marko Kozina at flat stages - and hunting stages with Tomislav Kozina or red jersey with him he could be a good ally what makes the tour more fun and interesting.

Possible Lineup:

1. Tomislav Kozina - classic with reg
2. Marko Kozina - hilly sprinter (good leadout for Niklas)
3. Niklas Arvidsson - flat sprinter (without real chances if big sprinters sign in)
4. Kristijan Varjacic - flat guy with reg - can escape almost every day
5. Ender Uslu - flat guy with decent reg - can escape every 2nd day
6. Kristijan Kozina - flat guy with sprint - probably first guy in a train - try to beat Kopinski if puncheurs go ...
7. Mikaela Kulstad - will pull grupetto with 60 reg

The rest is quite open
2 possibilities:
1. expensive with Liam and Klaasen - to go for a good GC position - not riding for the win - no time and team for that
2. cheaper with Josip and Filipi - just to get some money out of GT ...

Maybe a mix ^^ Liam and Filipi possible too, because Filipi with train most likely 3x mountain till end of march and can help at smaller hills as he can follow 60-80s.

Maybe i will ride in the morning - then you can fear Liam until the start of the Giro and take a deep breath when he finally doesn't show up.


Greetz

[gaurain rx]

Feiting Siebing might also start here but the lineup is really provisionnal... The sure starters are :

1. Peter Vangramberen : The gc leader, eager to show his skills after riding really few (but succesfully) the last 2 motnhs;
2. Jonas Wauthier : The sprinter, normally fits perfectly with the Italian profiles but this year doesn't seems to be totally the case... So well, does he need a full team around as support? I don't think so;
3. Robin Zingle : 60-80 with downhill and reg, always a usefull guy in a tour. He'll have to do a lot of tempo during the whole tour;
4. Emile Gourdin : Flatguy with downhill and reg, yeah also a masterpiece in a big Tour.

And that's it actually... The rest is quite open! Bouteiller/Cyclone/Prieur (2 of the 3 probably), Theophane as helper or leader or to grab white Jersey, Frognet and/or Vaneste (only one classic looks a bit short), and then Jung/Sacré/Cordonnier all with weaknesses (Jung with a good sprint but expensive, Sacré with a great downhill but no reg, Cordonnier cheap but without downhill)... So well, today, Cyclone, Prieur, Théophane, Vaneste is the most likely option... But last spot, I'm really uncertain!

OF course, Lesinge and Lemile are out of the fight, Vliegen is not an option as long as Wauthier is a certain starter (Wauthier, who can also be usefull as helper on some stages).

Latest news of our team :

1. Jordan Lemile will be in Italy during the Giro... as consultant for the Belgian television! Jordan and the team agreed to stop their collaboration after Wendelsee Cup. Furthermore, he will be celebrated on the 6th of July in Brussel, right before the start of the Tour de France. One of the street of the Belgian Capital will be renamed with his name at this occasion.

2. Considering internal sources, the Giro lineup is almost completed... Theophane, Logan, Philemon and Jules have been seen at the airport of Bologna this morning to join their 4 teammates and the staff who is there since Sunday. Last spot is not secured yet even if the young Georges and his impressive results scores points lately for the DS's.

[CircleCycle]

Very likely that I can participate this year.
Lineup is not sure yet, but it looks like Houssem will be there.

[team fl]

That's great. It looks like we have some nice competition here already. Liquigas-CND has confirmed in the chat that he thinks he will join too as well. That's already the following teams at the only real Giro, it looks like:

- Big Donkey with Hisashi and Hiroshi, two 86 mountain climbers and a late blooming Son as well as Hiroyasu for the flatter (and hillier?) stages.

- Feiting Siebing with Peter Vangramberen as the main GC rider, 87 mountain climber, and Wauthier for the sprints.

- Circle Cycle with Houssem Matoussi, 89 mountain climber and possible strong sprinters for every terrain.

- LENNAO with Liam Albrecht for the GC an Kozina for the sprints

- Liquigas-CND with Hurtado and Zambrano, the royal climbing force! Madsen for the sprints.

- Team FL with the Italian Champion! and a sprint line up for the really flat stages, looking at all the 60+ mountain sprinters…

[CircleCycle]

Seriously in doubt if the ever annoying Jester is joining if I want to spent 3 weeks in the same peloton with such kind of manager.

[Robyklebt]

WE only need cannon fodder now!
Where's Luques when you need him? Or Falkenbier, he's excellent too.
No volunteers and the Donkeys might be forced to take over that role....

[team fl]

WE only need cannon fodder now!
Where's Luques when you need him? Or Falkenbier, he's excellent too.
No volunteers and the Donkeys might be forced to take over that role....

Bah, am I not enough cannon fodder?! Ad hominem!!!! stage 3 or whatever!!!

[Falkenbier]

Pffff here we are! Not the perfect time, but after checking my schedule, the alternatives aren't much better. So Falkenbier will start in the afternoon, surely missing some stages, but as we are just cannon fodder... who cares!

Line-up:

1 Javier Ayala - First in alphabet, that's why he's our leader
2 Uladzislau Bandarenka - Current sprint star, hopes to win a stage
3 Malik Brathwaite - Sprint launcher (if needed), otherwise he gets some freedom to ride for himself
4 Maksim Karatynski - Helper, escaper and translator as nobody else in the team undestands strange Bandarenka Russian...
5 Kimi Larinto - The Iceman, supporting Ayala in the hills.
6 Bruce Manatawai - The domestique!
7 Alejandro Oviedo - Helper, escaper for the flat and light hilly stages
8 Azwar Supriyanto - Helper for the very flat parts
9 Giorgio Tuttobene - Future sprint star! The young Italian should gain some experiences at home


Depending on the opponents, the team will try to win stages in sprints or escapes, let's see!

[CircleCycle]

You wouldn't believe how much time I spend to make the decision about the final lineup. While I am still not sure if it was good or bad - the answer will be given in the first week (if not already today) - I can use the time to present you the 9 heroes.

#1 Richard "Ritschi" Springer - top star sprinter
#2 Andrea "the Italian" Palladino - star sprinter
#3 "Pavé-Pavel" Romanishin - A hero
#4 Haakon Olsen - winner of MSR 2019
#5 Paulo Marinheiro - Portuguese friend and helper
#6 Panagiotis "Takis" Sandalakis - The greek gift
#7 Houssem "one-and only" Matoussi - star climber
#8 Eduardo "Cohiba" Rivera - famous guy from Cuba
#9 Tore "Den Gamle" Bergstrom - star TT guy

Goals?
Stagewins, Stagewins, Stagewins.

[schappy]

Now i Ride here. Have to work at the beginning of the stages in the week, but Maybe it Works on work

#1 Marius Hagen good for top 10 places in Mountain stages. Maybe only helper for #2.
#2 Caroline Hansen, my Girl for the youth Jersey without an Enemy.
#3 Richard Gajda, helper in hilly stages. Last Tour and Races here.
#4 Michael Haase, Same like Gajda
#5 Jean Papin, First french Rider in Team. Can Not speak german and english, so he will domwhat he Wants to do.
#6 Gerhardt Berger, helper.
#7 Michael Schnobel, Bad Sprinter, but Maybe top 10 in Sprint.
#8 Michael Forster, helper.
#9 Maik Stadler, helper.

[Robyklebt]

Interesting lineups.
Wondering how FL will do his favorites check.
Matoussi on skills. But no team.
Lubazim with 88-85-81, no team behind that. And in the Sinks opinion lack of managerial experience. So i don't see any chances there really.
Feiting, Peter 87, Barreau 85 at 24. No chance for white btw. Good team.
Donkey 86+86, top classics better team than a year ago almost (Matsukaze weakens it) but no dominant leader.
Berry aging 86
Olimpiazurra 85+TT, but new
Schappy 85+82

Interesting.
Donks on mobile at horserace track, so more later, but seems Feiting vs Donkey with the hope of getting rid of Matoussi along the way? And lots of similarly strong leader waiting to profit. A bit of a blocked race maybe.

Generally, good for the game: 4 editions with 10 teams. 1 with 19. No discounts on salary!
No team over 600k. Last year was bad, most expensive teams won every edition, and the Donkey was the "cheapest" of those. With a salary +/- like now? Have to see if I find that data somewhere...
Generally less buying of wins around this time. Exception 18h seems to Donks... Too bad, Hurtado would have fit nicely here.

[team fl]

Wondering how FL will do his favorites check.

Good question, but I'll try:

General classement:

***** Peter Vangramberen (Feiting Siebing)
**** Hiroshi Matsuyama (Big Donkey), Hisashi Matsuyama (Big Donkey)
*** Erster Fahrer (Lubazimteam), Houssem Matoussi (CircleCycle)
** Kim Woojine (Olimpiazzurra), Marius Hagen (Schappy)
* Samuel Samba (berryberry), Théophane Barreau (Feiting Siebing), Jose Ferreira (Lubazim team)

Note: Vangramberen and the HiMas are very close to each other with just a slight Advantage for Vangramberen in my opinion.

Points classement:

*** Jonas Wauthier (Feiting Siebing)
** One of the CC riders
* another rider

Mountain classement:

*** The one who wants it
** another rider
* a surprise rider

Youth classement:

*** Caroline Hansen (Schappy)
** ...
* a surprise rider

Team classement:

*** Big Donkey
** Feiting Siebing
* Lubazim team

[team fl]

Ha! Uncontested Favourite check, nice .

Stage 1 went as expected. Perfect setting for Wauthier. And although the teams with sprinters who were siebed cooperated well, Feiting Siebing managed to keep them away 9 seconds eventually, paving the way for Jonas' first win in the Ciclamino campaign.

Team FL lost valuable seconds for Spirito in the GC as he was helping his team's sprinters. So Hugo Marxer has to find out opportunities to get them back somewhere… Rumour has it, that it could take a while for him to return to the team, as he is literally looking on the streets in Italy...

[Robyklebt]

Wanted to complain about the defending champion, the Donkey, not being top favorite. But Barreau already 86 now, ok ok, can give that to Peter after all. .

Erster Fahrer on the same level as Matoussi? Pff... Even if CC is already hoping to lose time, Matoussi has a chance, he can make it frustrating and hard for the others to get rid of him. Best climber, 55TT, he can try to hang in. The reg clearly is a minus, but other than that in this group and this parcours, even without help, he can wait and see. Until stage 13 he's normally in no danger to lose any time, on the contrary, with possible bonifications on some days, L'Aquila of course, but also Frascati, then the 35km TT the question is how much advantage will he have when the mountains start on stage 13. Should be a minute. More possibly. And then the mountains 13+14+15 GC stages, 12 possibly too, but let's ignore it for the moment. Here he can be tested on reg. Possibly. He can't follow everybody. But while Feiting and Donkey need to drop Matoussi, they need to distance the other guy as well. So ok, Hisashi and Peter go? Then difficult for Matoussi. Hiroshi and Theophane? Already much simpler possibly, since Théophane as leader is good, but not if he's under reg the next day. So if that happens let's say on stage 14, the front will not work well. Only solution is Barreau rides less but promises to give Hiroshi the stage, hehe, good plan. Any attack by Feiting climbers without Donkeys, or Donkey climbers without Feitings will result in: The other doing tempo in the back. Because losing a minute, or 30" or so to the other will be huge, not that easy to catch back. Peter goes, I don't follow, I can let him go, do nothing, or carry Matoussi with me... It's Matoussi who profits, why should I let a guy who has the team to defend vs Donkeys on attempted rampage get the advantage, rather have the guy who has more problems containing wild Donkeys there. And Feiting the same, unless he's lost his brains... no indication of that so far.

And what counts for the first 3 GC days, counts for the 2+3 later on too, stage 14 sounds potentially energy consuming, so does the Mortirolo, but... unless it's the right Feiting Donkey combi ahead, he's there. And even if it's the right one...Lubazim and Schappy are there too, if they are in the back with both, they should chase too.

So IMO Matoussi is very much there. Frustrating but also challenging and interesting for everybody, he might go under sooner or later, he might hang on to start the TT in Verona under reg... we'll see. And of course he will have to decide if he wants more stages or GC at times, go for the stage, start under reg, or lose some time in bonifications, but in reg... we'll see. He's in it, but agree below Feiting and Donkey

Erster Fahrer? First, the name should already put him down at least one level. Second, 50" behind Matoussi already. Third, TT worse than both the Feitings and the Donkeys. Unlike Matoussi he will start the GC part of the Giro down. Then, less reg than Matoussi. And last, not meant in an insulting way, but Lubazim. Hasn't impressed me so far as manager. Start November 11, 453 races, experience should be there by then... but that's 450/7,5 years, that's 60 races a year... a bit more lately probably, but it's not 60 races a year that give you lots of experience. And in some race where people desperately tried to make him top favorite (which he absolutely wasn't), he missed some stages, weekends I think, as well. So no, Erster Fahrer would be a sensation for me, never ever should he get the same number of stars as Matoussi at this point. He belongs to the Schappy, berry, olimpiazzurra line, with Schappy having the experience, but not the reg, maybe even with better chances, for waiting without seeming to be a big danger, and profiting he doesn't need that much reg.

[CircleCycle]

Of course I'll comment on the favo check!

I agree more with what the Donkey just wrote, so

***** Peter Vangramberen (Feiting Siebing) Hiroshi Matsuyama and Hisashi Matsuyama (Big Donkey)
****/* Théophane Barreau (Feiting Siebing)
**** Houssem Matoussi (CC)
***Kim Woojine (Olimpiazzurra), Marius Hagen (Schappy), Erster Fahrer (Lubazimteam)

Both, Big Donkey and Feiting Siebing with 2 options, at least to me it sounds like a reasonable idea to ride for Barreau. Many possibilities to make it hard for Houssem in the mountainious stages, but on the other hand one can't rule out that Houssem gets kind of support from other teams. The reg will be a problem, especially for the last 2 stages, but one answer can already be given. He is more interested in stages, because in this constellation gc can be lost in 1km. Unlike in Catalunya Houssem won't drop back intentionally here to get more freedom and the team is motivated to ride for the stagewin chances.

Other classements?
Ciclamino looks very good for Jonas already, here again my sprintstar would rather prefer to get some stagewins then to fight for the jersey.
Mountain? At the moment Tore will try to defend it as long as possible, later I won't completely rule out a CC rider trying to get it.
Youth Classement for Schappy, pretty clear.
Team? Hard to say, depends on escapes, Big Donkey otherwise in the best position to clinch it.

[gaurain rx]

Mainly agreeing with what has been written down before...

Gc wise, should be a Circle/Donkey/Feiting fight mainly... Even if all the 85+ are not chanceless definitely, also considering there's one training coming before the really hard work begins.

Cyclamo wise, yeah Wauthier with good chances definitely, considering we could get every possible sprints (with or without every sprinters)..; But we'll see... Flat sprinters have their shot too, a guy like Son, who knows but I doubt.

No need to comment white fight I think, that one isn't even existing.

Mountain might maybe be the most spontaneous and unpredictable fight. I mean, Falkenbier, FL, Mosca have no gc interests I presume so they might go in escape and collect lots of points, one Lubazim's climber could go for red... And who knows, if gc doesn't look good, one of the gc guy could also go for red as a second quest.

Stagewise it looks good for CC with Bergstrom, Springer and Matoussi who should collect a bunch of success alltogether... and some others (Romanshin, Palladino) are also on the list to score.

[Robyklebt]

Third stage, second win for CC. Didn't expect Feiting to try today to be honest. But in the end he had the perfect sieb.

1)Palladino back, gives him a chance to win today too if Springer is forced to go early.
2)Schnell (88 Berry), the whole FL train, railroads in Liechtenstein, well..., the Falkenbier 84 sprinter, Tuttobene, didn't seem to be the case today, all in the back. That almost guarantees him second place, which he got.

So with that a big step towards ciclamino. The big outsiders all lost more points and really are out of it now, even if they were never really in anyway, but more importantly, he loses less points to Springer than he might have with the full sprint group present. Even if Springer insists on not being a danger... 10 points lost today. If somebody manages to go in between it's 16... Another one 22. And with the full group that is possible.

Only negative maybe that riders like Hansen and Son scored more, but finally they only managed to be 10th and 11th, so not such a problem. They will score points on days Wauthier won't, but at first sight there's more than enough sprints for Wauthier, and enough sprints for Wauthier with all the point stealers that were not there today doing their point stealing job.

Escape, hoped for more, thought more would be there... in the end 2 Donkeys and a Schappy, 10', CC did a rather risky thing by coming back very close, 3', even less a bit later, while in front we were happily rolling. After the Donkey had decided that after all he was going to try (had a moment of doubt since tomorrow with Son one of the favorites, came to the conclusion that Hansen, the other climbers with sprint have chances too, 4 finish, they follow attacks, sprint they get the +4 bonus, so no need to be able to control almost alone, since I have 0 interest in doing that even with a fit team, so kill Wiedmer and Matsuzaka, all ok,) he thought letting them come back closer might motivate some others to join, Mosca (despite the 83 sprinter), Olimpiazzurra, a Schappy-puller, Lubazim despite his lack of flat generally.. .but no, nobody did. If somebody did, the stage potentially much harder for him. But in retrospect probably Feiting then would have helped, with the plan he had would have been logic.

Tomorrow long, hard to control, possible fairly open finish with probably Donkey favorite no 1, because he has 2 cards, Hisashi 86 mountain and 54 sprint and Son 75 with 60 sprint. But that's it, 2 cards, most others have only one, or it seems likely they have to use one to help the other...but Matoussi 89-52 Vangramberen-Barreau 87-52 and 86-54, Samba 86-53, Hansen 82-59, Soares, 81-56 Bartoli 80-55 all with chances in a sprint too. And Ayala if he's there as well. Attacks? Caruso, 78-78 with 50 sprint Matsuoka 76-77 with 43 Son 75-76 with 60... Matsuoka attack seems incredibly stupid, since he'll lose all sprints. Son with 75-76 seems worth thinking it over, Caruso... he's the one that might drop some climbers on the 3? if he attacks? Doubt it works on 4, pretty sure it won't on 5. Higher flat helps, the Donkey not too happy with his 55-52.... Anyway open finish really, change of rosa very possible too, Samba-Matoussi with bonifications, Woojine can maybe hope to do it without? But no real clue how much Tore will lose on 7-3-5-4. Be it as it may, Donks will attempt to control a bit for Son-Hisashi-Hiroshi-Hiroshi, but well, not too much, if the group is too big, too few interested in the back, we'll stop that soon.

[CircleCycle]

Palladino back was the bigger mistake (risk), as I forgot to let him fight. Then the sprint really could become dangerous, even from 150 it wasn't that clear. So a rather lucky win, how the stage went, nothing to complain about.
The team now is quite motivated to try for MS at every possible stage, even if that could mean to be weaker in the stages that follow.
Meanwhile the goal is to keep Tore in rosa and ahead in the mountain classement as long as possible. The 7-3-5-4 will give most likely too much time for the climbers and Son, so the strategy for tomorrow will be decided later. Probably the focus will be on having a fresh team for stage 5 and a possible MS sprint finish.

[Bear]

Maybe I have to watch RSF again at Mortirolo stage... good memories

[Robyklebt]

Stage 4 + 5, 4... Easily controllable escape by Falkenbier and FL, Donkey works, CC too, then takes IMO unnecessary breaks and continues with Marinheiro too long. Later an attack by Rivera, I'm still wondering what the plan was actually, there was one, but what? Not sure why CC didn't just go for the simple yellow defence and stage hunt, Matoussi certainly had chances too. In the end the group made it through, which after all was ok for me, since I ended up third in the back .Was number 1 favorite there, but well, 20% chances, a bunch of other teams with 15%, or somthing like that. I thought I was the only one with 2 options, but well, Schappy had at least 2 as well, looking back. Hagen in the end won in the back, but offline the whole stage, so no chance to do tempo. For me option 1: Son comes back. Then I hope to keep it together, great sprint train Hiroshi Matsuyama-Son-Hisashi. If he doesn't come back Hisashi still chances, but if Schappy is online he's the best sprinter... In the end the wrong sieb, wasn't sure what to do, soft sieb hoping to keep my guys, plus a bunch of other classics there or strong one, strong one was no good.... Son and Matsuoka never came back. Bah... Doesn't matter, at least I got to do something. Unlike on stage 5...

Stage 5: Feiting impressive. Third sprint stage he does it, and second time I didn't see it coming. At all. He studied the parcours well, uses his team well, gutsy too, 140 km against sprinters. In the end it was just against CC. IMO though FL would have had reason to ride, Banzer in front, yes ,but if he gets his train together, it can be an interesting sprint for him. And Falkenbier would have his there too... .but ok, Falkenbier 82 already a bit better and with a sort of train anyway. So CC alone, gave up after a while. Seems slightly frustrated, but well... with that team you have to expect to be isolated often. Plus 2 of 5 stages won, another 2 seem almost automatic, TT, then tomorrow 7 arrival, seems nice for Matoussi, 2 completely flat ones for Springer. And still of course Matoussi for GC...It's not like this risks turning out to be a complete failure here. More reason to be frustrated for FL if anything, hasn't managed to get his train to the sprint even once... Escape second behind Falkenbier, who was supposed to join as cannon fodder.
But man of the first 5 days clearly Feiting. Very impressive riding so far. 2 stages, what seems a lock on ciclamino. And now I understand why he was reluctant to bring Barreau, one more flat guy wouldn't have hurt for Wauthier. But so far it has worked wonderfully, so all ok.

[team fl]

. IMO though FL would have had reason to ride, Banzer in front, yes ,but if he gets his train together, it can be an interesting sprint for him.

Besides stage 2, I was either offline or in front of the app while busy with something else (meeting, childern, swimming). So no chance to react properly or even try to be competitive. Anyway, hope that will change soon, but so far it has been feeling like this indeed:

More reason to be frustrated for FL if anything, hasn't managed to get his train to the sprint even once... Escape second behind Falkenbier, who was supposed to join as cannon fodder.

[Robyklebt]

Pff! And then he wins today? Scandalous.