|
Post by kurtinsc on Jun 19, 2012 14:38:39 GMT 1
Well, Wavoc took the Deutchland Tour as expected. I perhaps didn't choose the best team for that one... I didn't have my better hill riders in the field, instead saving them for Vattenfall (which in retrospect may not be better suited for them like I thought).
On an unrelated note, this upcoming Sunday will likely be my last week of training hill (at least for a while). After this I'll be training sprint for a season (bit of a risk, but it seems to to effectively break from the peloton on the new engine a bit of sprint will be needed), then probably moving to flat.
Overall, I don't think choosing hill was very smart of me. Mountain would have been best, but since I lost so much time training hills I think that it would probably be best to do a rotating schedule (where I train one skill up, set that to train, then "untrain" the last one and train up a new one to switch too) to create more balanced riders and hope the "generalist" model can compete with the specialists.
Perhaps a 7-7-7 can do some damage against a 3-3-14 in some tours.
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jun 25, 2012 18:29:23 GMT 1
Well, the Tour has been pretty much as expected, with the two mountain trainers holding the first 9 spots after the "mountain portion" of the race. Now we have the second ITT before the stages that favor the flat trainers more.
8, 9 and 10 have enough hills that perhaps some of my guys make up a little ground, though I don't have any of my pure hill guys here, but rather more mountain guys that have gotten a small dose of hill cross training.
We'll see if the flat at the end lets any of the teams focusing on the flat make it close.
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jun 25, 2012 18:31:04 GMT 1
First stage on 70%, 2nd on 70% and 3rd on 75%, so I was suprised he won. Maybe he can win the tour de France. Prophetic? Gau sitting in first just before the second TT.
|
|
|
Post by Michellios on Jun 25, 2012 18:48:16 GMT 1
First stage on 70%, 2nd on 70% and 3rd on 75%, so I was suprised he won. Maybe he can win the tour de France. Prophetic? Gau sitting in first just before the second TT. He didn't lost to many time in the mountains so he can win the tour. One of my best mountain riders even lost some time today. Gau was 3rd in the first stage and 6th in the first TT, it will be hard to beat him!
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jun 28, 2012 13:38:15 GMT 1
Well, I got my stage win today, but also lost my mountain jersey rider (not that he was going to win... but he was picking up some mountain sprint money and would have gotten something for finishing 2nd or 3rd in that category).
I had 3 stages targeted for the Tour... stage 4 (which I hoped to win with a lesser climber going at 100%... but got 2nd), stage 8 (which I got) and stage 9 (which I'll have to give up on as the rider going for that one is now injured).
We'll see if perhaps some of the other climbers fall back on the flat stages to allow my GC guys to climb a little higher in the top 10.
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jul 2, 2012 13:45:30 GMT 1
Well, Gau ended up winning the Tour going away. He was the only one near the top after the mountains were done who could ride flat. I'm interested what his flat skill is if you feel like sharing... but no pressure. The mountain teams took 9 of the top 10 places overall (as opposed to 8 in the Vuelta). Despite the flat stages, it wasn't enough to allow the non-mountain teams to compete. Wavoc took the overall, mountain and point jerseys with Larre winning the young rider jersey aways back in the GC. Andalucia retook 2nd place in the league standings, but perhaps I can steal it back again before the Giro starts. Up next is the Eindhoven TTT. I'm putting my money on the Hackney Wheelers. They've won 3 of the 4 time trials this season... the main question is if they have used up all their top TT guys at the tour and lack depth. I saved up my best TT riders, so we'll see if I can challenge.
|
|
czukay
U23 Developm. Team
Posts: 46
|
Post by czukay on Jul 3, 2012 10:24:03 GMT 1
I was pleased with my showing in the tdf - 3 wins and 3rd and 4th in the points is a lot better than I expected. I even registered on the mountain points which was a bonus. This season is about cash in the bank for me and it's been pretty hard to come by up to now.
I've got one guy that seems to have the measure of the field in TT's in a grand tour situation but he isn't available for Eindhoven and there will be a lot more flat guys in the field anyway, so he wouldn't necessarily be the fastest anyway - I'm not expecting to win but I'm not expecting to bring up the rear either as I imagine the mountain guys can't waste 5 flat guys on a single race.
Judging from the tdf 1st stage Gau is a 6 flat although that stage did work out a little odd (Laroque put over two minutes on Pavenic and they are nigh on identical) so he may be a 5 and his mountain worked out more important in that stage than you would imagine.
I'd say Andalucia will be in 3rd by the season end even if you haven't overhauled him by the giro. The title is WAVOC's by a mile though.
It looks like it will be pretty much the same GC contenders for the giro as they didn't max out on the tdf so will all be available. I do now have 1 guy that can go over bumps so he'll be in the giro, but as he can't do anything else I'm not expecting him to break the top 10.
|
|
|
Post by Michellios on Jul 3, 2012 11:27:54 GMT 1
Judging from the tdf 1st stage Gau is a 6 flat although that stage did work out a little odd (Laroque put over two minutes on Pavenic and they are nigh on identical) so he may be a 5 and his mountain worked out more important in that stage than you would imagine. 5 flat
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jul 3, 2012 13:40:57 GMT 1
I'm not feeling as confident with finishing ahead of Andalucia. I think it will be a battle. My team had been hill training until last week and I have some purchased riders that have solid mountain skills, but going forward pretty much every tour will be mountain focused. Suisse has 3 mountain stages with one that's more flat. The Dauphine has 2 mountain and one hill stage. The Giro is a mountain race. Catalunya is a mountain race with a bit of hill... might have a chance there. Romandie looks more mountain focused. Pais-Vasco is mountain focused. T-A is a flat/hill race. P-N is a flat/mountain race.
When it comes to the stage races, the ones that suit me most have already passed. I feel pretty confident about scoring more then Andalucia in T-A, but other then that the mountain teams probably have the edge. And while I might be able to make up some ground in the one-day races, that's not even a given. The ardennes in this engine are mountain races rather then hill ones.
My hope has to be that I can consistently place just behind the mountain teams in the climbing centric races and just behind the flat teams in the flat races and somehow combine that to a 2nd place overall. My team losing Maessen to injury in the Tour might end up being big... he may have been able to manage another stage win on stage 9. I could have used those points.
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jul 5, 2012 13:32:29 GMT 1
And Wavoc shows in Eindhoven that he's got some TT guys as well. You planning on winning some group sprints in flat stages next?
|
|
czukay
U23 Developm. Team
Posts: 46
|
Post by czukay on Jul 6, 2012 15:52:51 GMT 1
Yeah he seems to have been balancing his squad over the last few weeks - 3 of his TT squad were bought recently and he's making a profit from his sales so he could buy plenty more to trounce us on the flat as he has in the mountains!
|
|
|
Post by Michellios on Jul 6, 2012 17:25:11 GMT 1
Yeah he seems to have been balancing his squad over the last few weeks - 3 of his TT squad were bought recently and he's making a profit from his sales so he could buy plenty more to trounce us on the flat as he has in the mountains! I sold some riders with a bad mountain FA and I bought some flat riders. My TT squad: 3 flat riders (7 flat 2 TT) and 2 youthscout pulls (4/5TT).
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jul 25, 2012 14:03:00 GMT 1
Well, the second climbing team (Andalucia) is cementing his hold on second place. As I'm a hill trainer who has now moved to sprint, I don't think I can make up ground with the flatter classics coming up as the flat focused teams will probably take the big points from those.
I was able to cherry pick a stage in the Giro, though. I don't have much hope of the TTT with two riders out due to injury... this is why TTT's aren't at the end of GT's in real life.
|
|
|
Post by kuijpie on Jul 25, 2012 14:08:03 GMT 1
the TTT time is the average time of your riders, so the number of riders doesnt matter with the current race engine
|
|
|
Post by kurtinsc on Jul 25, 2012 14:13:50 GMT 1
the TTT time is the average time of your riders, so the number of riders doesnt matter with the current race engine Huh... that may actually help me then. THe three I have left are among my top 6 TT riders. The two I lost are in my bottom 6 TT riders.
|
|