Campeonato de los Andes 2020, 14h

[Robyklebt]

Big Donkey at the start, chasing his 7th win.

So far in the Andes:

2006 11. V. Kharlamov 13. U. Guevara 1étape L. Tismeanu
2008 5. F. Gygax 11. N. Pucci 22. P. Ruiz 3 étapes, B. Iseli, N. Pucci, F. Gygax Maillot a pois: N. Pucci
2009 2. Y. Gamov 12. R. Guggisberg 18. I. Buonarroti. 2 étapes, Y. Gamov, maillot a pois, Y. Gamov
2011: 1. O. Fahrny 4. S. Urganov 16. D. Mattarozzi 18. C. Todea 1 Etappe, S. Urganov
2012: 1. M. Trapani, 7. Y. Ramirez, 11. N. Legrand, 13. R. Momyshuly 3 Etappen, 2x Gong, 1x Ramirez
2013: 1 P. Groselj 8. Z. Kopelyan, 9. R. Momyshuly, 12. A. Tasman, 4 Etappen: MZF und 3x Groselj
2014: 2. V. Dourado, 7. T. Stratigoupolou, 3 Etappen, 2x U. Tobler, 1x V. Dourado
2016: 1. E. Zipoli 9. A. Uppdal 10. M. Quiroga, 2 Etappen, M. Quiroga + E. Zipoli
2017: 1. L. Zafzaf 3. A. Uppdal, 10. J. Sax, 4 Etappen, 2x L. Zafzaf + K. Gopal + A. Uppdal.
2018: 1. Hiro. Matsuyama 7. C. Aeschlimann 12. Hisa. Matsuyama 3 Etappen, MZF, L. Innocenti, H. Matsuoka, Mannschaftswertung

So won 6 of the last 7 times I started... El Rey de los Andes! And this year we'll have Tulio Armas on the staff, not sure in what capacity yet, so nothign can go wrong.
But well..... the team is the weakest I've had for the Andes in years. Usually by this time my first climber is around 86-87, or near his top. This year I was late, and bought some weird climbing TT guy, Tim Eiffel. And in the end rather than winning I'd have an interesting race. The first Andes were great, and I was destroyed most of the time.
Then the first wins, battles with Bergwerk, fun too, 2011-2012 I think? After that? Small groups, boring regardless of if I won (most of the time, can't stop mentioning it) or not (once...) My team too strong too often, but what am I supposed to do, weaken my team on purpose, start with only 2 of my 3 climbers, let classics home, bring some 50-85 instead? No, if I start, then with my best team. Which this year according to my analysis is:

skills I just mention mountain and reg, if something else interesting I'll write what it is...

1 T. Eiffel: Leader 83-45: A bit weak, a bit young, 60 TT might not help much here, but have to recheck the TT km at some point. (As long as the Andes are as they should be, the details of the route don't matter that much, so I'll just look a few days ahead generally, since this year I'm happy to report that the Andes are as they should be)
2 M. Apicella: 82-46: Young helper in training, hopefulls successful. Long term hopefully stronger in mountain that Eiffel (or if Eiffel wants to go to 88 that's ok too..) but here will be max 84 at the very end, so 82, hoping for 83 in the middle.
3 H. Belhassen: 73-41: Classic, so 79 flat, depending on the stage a simple battery with his reg. Or a one day worker, 3 day holiday type of guy.
4 J. Coderch: 61-50, Classic in training 75 flat only now, but with his reg one of the possible workers if that's ever necessary.
5 B. Faye: 69-40. Classic too, 80 flat, decent downhill, see Habib. Loader or 1 day worker.
6 F. Krankl: 63-51, the star of the team, flat, escapes, chasing work, safety tempo, a lot will be done by him. Both for the benefit of the team and as teaching to Teixeira.
7 J. Larios 85-41. Old, 35, downtraining certainly a worry, so even though he's the best climber right now clearly a helper.
8 V. Teixeira: 56-50: The next Krankl hopefully, but doubt he'll reach his flat, only 78 right now. So that's what he's trying to train.
9 I. Totakhyl: 72-35, pure battery here most likely, ok, some downhill tempo. But generally as little work as possible normally, he's more out for 4 than 3 days after an effort... Risk starting unfit even without doing much actually, as do the 2 other classics.

Strong mountain team, but with the low reg in the top 6 guys I risk being unfit without doing much with quite a few, if there's a hard stage. Tactic, strategy no clue yet, will see day to day. But most important is: Who else will start. Dickson and Feiting announced, both with awesome 87 climbers. But sucky teams compared to mine. But I of course hope for many more participants, more than 10! Join, have fun. But let me my top 10 placing at least. If we're 20 that might be at risk. We want Andes guys! The real ones, not that sprint thing.

[gaurain rx]

Starting here too... But the team, for Andes standard is more than weak.

Leader excellent (87 moutain, 80 downhill, 52 reg), but the rest. 2 classic without regeneration (71 and 68 moutain), 2 60-80 with reg (but 1 is 36yo so will loose a bit but actually, these 2 guys are probably the most usefull in the team), 1 56-84 without reg, 1 sprinter (52 mountain, a relief), 1 flatguy with reg (but who cares in anden) and probably another flatguy with 43 reg... But ok, 9th rider not sure yet, have to choose between Devadder, Rousseau and VanLooy.. But Rousseau with the lead at the moment.