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Post by evild on Aug 8, 2018 16:09:33 GMT 1
i noticed the same last week... lezzani is an excellent flat rider. If you played him at 100% last week you would probably have won a stage, and he was available for next week? Weird tactics, but then again, I don't know your ambitions off course
dunno what to do tomorrow, go fully for the stage win and GC with dodos or save him and use him again next week. I hoped to be closer in the GC, the flat parts in the past 2 stages were more crucial then I expected
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Post by JoeLag on Aug 10, 2018 7:16:35 GMT 1
This is hard work. The tactics that were successful for div 3 do no longer work. At least Finnlug Abramian who dominated last season's 3.3 finished 5th in the Volta ao Algarve. But I come to think that I don't have the material to go for GC anymore.
At least going all in for one stage with Florinel Kogalniceaunu succeeded. Alas, last season he was good enough for GC wins :-(
Anyway I bought some more experienced cyclists to be able to go 100% in any race. I hope my youngsters can achieve another decent result today.
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Post by bosko on Aug 10, 2018 8:57:42 GMT 1
It is hard work indeed to grab every point you can. Still a lot of 38y olds who have enough skill points (top 4 in cyclist standings all 38y old). I hoped they would have lost more skills or be retired by now... I hope for a good U21 result today too. I'll need them if a want to stay in 2.1.
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Post by headcase on Aug 10, 2018 9:04:44 GMT 1
Anyway I bought some more experienced cyclists to be able to go 100% in any race. I hope my youngsters can achieve another decent result today. Congratulations with your purchases. I really hate the fact that Ceccanti is now riding against me. I was hoping for a rider outside 2:1 to buy him. Well I'm happy with th 1,1 M euros I got in return. To be honest Rigaux and Maldonado didn't impress me anymore, but I'm more than excited to see what you can do with those two. I think 14k for Rigaux is a bargain so congrats on that one.
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Post by evild on Aug 10, 2018 17:22:05 GMT 1
had no ambition today, my generation youngsters has become too old to participate in u21 races. Need to buy some others, but its hard to find the good ones for the right price at the right time in the evening. There is a lot of rubbish on the TL :-) Glad to see my 19y old ending 6th
Joe, you have to ask yourself the question what your ambition is this season. I noticed that you have 49 cyclists at the moment. Way too many mate. After 2 weeks now you should have an idea of what you need to compete for stages in Div2. Sometimes its better to relegate and come back stronger. It's a waste (in my opinion) to pay huge amounts for a 38y cyclist as he probabely will retire at the end of the season. Keep in mind, there is always a reason why they sell them. In 3rd div you get away with mono skill cyclists, in 2nd you don't. Here is a mountain skill of 16 just not enough if not combined with sp and TT. You have to create your own winners.
Bosko, I agree. The devaluation of skill goes too slow. I think schizm will look at the retirement procedure as well. Fact is that good 38y olds are still too strong at the moment. Look at Droeftoeters.
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Post by JoeLag on Aug 11, 2018 15:50:24 GMT 1
Joe, you have to ask yourself the question what your ambition is this season. I noticed that you have 49 cyclists at the moment. Way too many mate. After 2 weeks now you should have an idea of what you need to compete for stages in Div2. Sometimes its better to relegate and come back stronger. It's a waste (in my opinion) to pay huge amounts for a 38y cyclist as he probabely will retire at the end of the season. Keep in mind, there is always a reason why they sell them. In 3rd div you get away with mono skill cyclists, in 2nd you don't. Here is a mountain skill of 16 just not enough if not combined with sp and TT. You have to create your own winners. Thanks for the tips. But indeed it's exactly corresponding to my strategic approach. To extend contracts can be a very money consuming thing. So look at the upside: You do not need to extend a contract for a 38 yo. And of course there's no need to train a 38 yo anymore. So in fact I only pay $14,456 per week for Chicco Ceccanti. Ask yourself what it would have cost headcase to extend the contract! As for my mass of youngsters: Yes, I should have abstained from at least 3-5 of them. But as I do have a level 20 trainer I should make full use of him.
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Post by JoeLag on Aug 12, 2018 14:38:46 GMT 1
I'm outwardly puking! Clarebout was robbed his win when he fell downhill (after being the best flat sprinter in the first sprint). That robbed me of a stage win, 60 division points and 2 minutes for my GC cyclist when he waited for Clarebout. That couldn't have went much worse :-(
(Edit: And I'm not even talking about 1 flat and 3 falls of my 2nd GC cyclist which cost him more than 5 minutes)
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Post by bosko on Aug 13, 2018 7:01:41 GMT 1
Week 2 StandingsNr | Team | RW | TJ | PJ | MJ | YJ | Pnts | Pnts % | Ptns Wk | Ptns Wk % | Rank Wk | Rank Diff | 1 | Groenenhoek | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 745 | 18,97% | 461 | 24,11% | 1 | 2 | 2 | Neo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 663 | 16,88% | 303 | 15,85% | 2 | -1 | 3 | WC VroOom | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 477 | 12,14% | 206 | 10,77% | 4 | 1 | 4 | StreetFighters | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 475 | 12,09% | 188 | 9,83% | 6 | -2 | 5 | KS Crusaders | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 348 | 8,86% | 222 | 11,61% | 3 | 2 | 6 | SpartaB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 316 | 8,04% | 197 | 10,3% | 5 | 2 | 7 | GIK team | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 311 | 7,92% | 49 | 2,56% | 9 | -2 | 8 | Bolt Thrower | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 282 | 7,18% | 173 | 9,05% | 7 | 1 | 9 | Headcase Pro Cycling | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 236 | 6,01% | 67 | 3,5% | 8 | -3 | 10 | St-Etienne cyclo team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 1,53% | 34 | 1,78% | 10 | 0 | 11 | DeZweters | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0,2% | 5 | 0,26% | 12 | 0 | 12 | Schizmano Development | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0,18% | 7 | 0,37% | 11 | 0 |
Groenenhoek the best of the week and takes position 1. Neo 2nd and already a small gap with nr3. Week 2: RacesNr | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4-5 | 6-10 | Total | 1 | Groenenhoek | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 2 | Neo | | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 3 | WC VroOom | | 2 | | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | StreetFighters | 1 | | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | KS Crusaders | 2 | | 1 | | 5 | 8 | 6 | SpartaB | 1 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | GIK team | | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | Bolt Thrower | 1 | | 1 | | 3 | 5 | 9 | Headcase Pro Cycling | | | | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | St-Etienne cyclo team | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | DeZweters | | | | | 1 | 1 | 12 | Schizmano Development | | | | | 1 | 1 |
Let the battle for Paris-Nice begin!
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Post by bosko on Aug 13, 2018 8:38:45 GMT 1
I'm outwardly puking! Clarebout was robbed his win when he fell downhill (after being the best flat sprinter in the first sprint). That robbed me of a stage win, 60 division points and 2 minutes for my GC cyclist when he waited for Clarebout. That couldn't have went much worse :-( (Edit: And I'm not even talking about 1 flat and 3 falls of my 2nd GC cyclist which cost him more than 5 minutes) It's always frustrating to lose because of a fall. It could be bad luck, but a fall on a downhill part is often the result of bad downhill skill? So not really a "rob" but rather a weakness of the cyclist. Off course, when you're lucky, sometimes you get away with it. Yang losing 2 minutes is stupid indeed. On the other hand, still 4 races to go, so everything is still possible.
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Post by evild on Aug 15, 2018 10:20:07 GMT 1
idd, a crash in the downhill part is often the result of bad downhill skill and (to a lesser extend) bad balance/steering. The higher you get in division, the more important those stats become. I also saw that yang couldn't really reduce the gap with the other, now it's up to you. If it were my cyclists I would pull them both back and let them score next week. I have no clue about your rider's lineup, but it might give you some extra possibilities in the upcoming weeks. Face it, this tour is a disaster, let it pass (which is a hard nut to crack, I know), but come back stronger. I wonder how far Stroh will come in Paris Nice, especially after Friday's mountain stage. I expect a battle between him, Lamego and Acerbi
I'm surprised by Groenenhoek doing so well to be honest. Didn't expect that. Seems to score points in every race, understands the tactical part of the game very well. Not top of the top cyclists, but decent ones to clinch points everywhere. I think he and neo will fight it out for the #1 spot. I expected more from headcase and Bolt though. Personally I am were I wanted to be, so all clear for Wc VroOom:-)
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Post by bosko on Aug 15, 2018 19:09:49 GMT 1
Stroh has a good lead, but has only 7 MO and used 10% more fitness than his opponents. The last race suits him again off course... Very curious to see fridays race. He's wearing all jerseys for now. Crusaders will certainly need that if he wants to get some money back from the almost 4M he spent on him (amazing number for a guy who might retire at the end of the season).
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Post by headcase on Aug 16, 2018 9:17:58 GMT 1
I expected more from headcase and Bolt though. Me too. I hope to do good in the upcoming stages in Nice. And this seasons calender has some mountainous ITT's so expect some nice work from Castelo Branco later in the season. Cosmescu and Ulivieri haven't started this season on a competitive level yet. And I got some cash, so we will go for a good purchase if something interesting is on the transfer list. Edit: I forgot to say that I had plans for the U21. Well I didn't have a plan, just watch how things would have turned out. Well it turned out excellent for Hazeleger. The pacing of De Schrynmakers in the first half and Hazelegers mountain skills and the 1 extra LS gained by Thielemans last week did the trick!
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Post by Stinus1986 on Aug 16, 2018 15:33:04 GMT 1
Gongratz with you win, Headcase!
I am quite happy with my results so far. I did not expected, we could compete for the first place. However we still have to wait for the first real mountain stages, starting next week. It will be harder to get good results in those ones. For Paris-Nice I think the gap with Stroh is too big for Acerbi to overtake him. His mountain stat is not high enough for this to happen.
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Post by bosko on Aug 17, 2018 7:44:53 GMT 1
Damn... I think I picked the wrong guy yesterday. Great terrain skills, but only TT 1. I think I should have gone for decent terrain skills and excellent SP and TT. The biggest disadvantage for me in U21 races: you can't bet on multiple horses.
Today, I hope Guignard can do a good job for his GC. For the stage win I see maybe de Lima (Headcase) or Jurewicz (Groenenhoek). Also Neo's cyclists are remarkably quiet for now. Maybe Zeklos can try something? I don't know the skills of Craddon (WCVroom). He could be the surprise.
For tomorrow, I hope Cormier can end close. But he'll have to handle guys like Clementino (WCVroom) and Pequeno (Streetfighters), so won't be easy.
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Post by headcase on Aug 17, 2018 9:39:43 GMT 1
Thanks Stinus. I found the need to write this out, might as well share it: It helped me realize why Hazeleger with 0 sprint could win this. He made his big move on a mountain without an attacking point. His combination of Mountain and TT made the difference. In the first half it was De Schrynmakers who has sprint and a lot of hill who kept him in the group with Everts between AP3 and AP4. So good teamwork pays off
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