F1 Rejects Cycling Challenge: Tour de France underway!

QuickYoda41 · Post by **QuickYoda41** » 10 Nov 2012, 09:58

Minardi's squad to the Milano-San Remo:

Danilo Ceccon
Davide Cozzo
Róbert Cziczkás
Paolo Lesallo
Daniele Rampazza
Vincenzo Tolano
Thor Tromsen
Philipe Viruolien

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 10 Nov 2012, 18:40

Firehawk will enter:

Singh
Edison
Suchayo
Roberts
Iketani
Andrews
Yazaki
Tanatacci

Also, seeing as Kostas apparently leaving the forums after "The inevitable" thread debacle (his leave note, along with many other posts, has since been deleted by Phoenix), Shadaza, can you convince Kostas to return and sort his lineups?

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 10 Nov 2012, 22:34

FMecha wrote:Also, seeing as Kostas apparently leaving the forums after "The inevitable" thread debacle (his leave note, along with many other posts, has since been deleted by Phoenix), Shadaza, can you convince FMecha to stop talking about it because he is annoying everyone?

Fixed

Jari-Matti Valanthi
Franco Rimolta
Olivier Ricard
Pedro Sousa
Fernando Sousa
Anthony de Vries
Johan Kelstrom
Ryan Nelson

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 11 Nov 2012, 00:40

UBC's Milano Lineup

Arnold Abil
Jackson Bannister
Preston Senerson
Quinton Voss
Frank Mortarhouse
Brock Carson
Giacomo Canfora
Istvan Feher

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 11 Nov 2012, 15:59

We have 11/16 teams entered for the Milan-San Remo.
Still to enter are CBR, Team CIP, Tiger, Alitalia and Circus.

Hopefully Kostas will be back for this.

The top 10 riders of the stage will score under the following points scheme. 100-80-70-60-50-40-30-20-10-4

1.Hitachi

Jerry Fletcher
Yuki Shizzuno
Francois Le Bleu
Sochiro Hamasaki
Oleg Brutschev
Paddy Quinn
Katsuko Hondo
Taki Takashita

2.Fosters

Klaus Fahrrad
Jaap van Riebek
Daniel Sims
Thomas Yorke
Mitchell Webb
Andy Badger
Jermaine d'Alberto
Matsohiro Mizuhara

3.Fantomette

Jonson Edderly
Alexandre Charpantier
Norbert Centrone
Rui Miranda
Alexandre Cadinho
Ingo Voeller
Bernard Roullaint
Siggi Judsen

4.NSA Team

Alexey Volkov
Wesley Duncan
Jason Melbourne
Janice Edwards
Laurens Buivart
Kevin Frederickson
David Clarkson
James Collins

5.Twinings

Sven Johansson
Alex Harris
Ivan Shermetev
Shinji Miyamoto
Jacob Denver
Louis Gaillard
Jose Vasquez
Freddie Donnelly

6.PCR

Stefan Lomassonn
Wilson Ricky
Brandon Plant
Nelson Burbridge
Len Kozlovsky
Dougal Dalkeith
Carlo Adjej
Norman Sumner

7.Lansvale

Jizdni Kolo
Jean-Marie van Fiets
Jean Velo
David Lee
Naseef Aqeen
Giovani Bicicletta
Kang Xian Bin
Peiter Briggs

8.Minardi

Danilo Ceccon
Davide Cozzo
Róbert Cziczkás
Paolo Lesallo
Daniele Rampazza
Vincenzo Tolano
Thor Tromsen
Philipe Viruolien

9.Firehawk

Singh
Edison
Suchayo
Roberts
Iketani
Andrews
Yazaki
Tanatacci

10.Battery Energy

Jari-Matti Valanthi
Franco Rimolta
Olivier Ricard
Pedro Sousa
Fernando Sousa
Anthony de Vries
Johan Kelstrom
Ryan Nelson

11.UBC

Arnold Abil
Jackson Bannister
Preston Senerson
Quinton Voss
Frank Mortarhouse
Brock Carson
Giacomo Canfora
Istvan Feher

The Lukas · Post by **The Lukas** » 11 Nov 2012, 18:58

Tiger Cycling Team squad to the Milano-San Remo:
Rafal Piotrowski
Janne Nordman
Takeru Watanabe
Aleksandr Stefanovic
Siergiej Grishin
Yusuke Tanaka
Martin Stensky
Pavel Gafurov

Benetton · Post by **Benetton** » 11 Nov 2012, 21:22

Bancarotto enters

Verwest
Vache
Lagg
van der Boom
Kraviz
Flugschreiber
de Moor
Epoque

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 11 Nov 2012, 21:30

Team CIP
Oosterling
Sand
Schulz
Michalek
Perez
Bouwer
Payne
McRae

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 11 Nov 2012, 23:14

That is all teams apart for Cycling Circus and kostas's Alitalia.

Circus only have the 6 riders so they get put down automatically.

Now for Alitalia, I have no idea if kostas will return or not, let alone when. The protocol I shall use in the situation of an AWOL shall be as such:

1.Riders with the most championship points shall be entered.
This covers:

Castiglione
Firenze
Romano
De Vos
Le Clerq
Voeckler

2.Following that it shall be the most tours entered
Karimi (has entered both tours)

3.After that random lucky dip will be used
Fermintxo Intxausti

This will be Alitalia's Milan-san Remo team unless I hear otherwise.
All other teams are now locked.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 12 Nov 2012, 03:34

Can you wait until tomorrow until after 15:00 GMT to submit lineups. I will figure out my preferred line-up for Milan-San Remo tomorrrow once I had sobered up. Danke schone. :mrgreen:

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 12 Nov 2012, 12:37

kostas22 wrote:Can you wait until tomorrow until after 15:00 GMT to submit lineups. I will figure out my preferred line-up for Milan-San Remo tomorrrow once I had sobered up. Danke schone.

alright then.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 12 Nov 2012, 18:12

This is a tricky one. Will the hills be too hard a test for the sprinters to keep up with the peleton? This stage will surely either be won by a sprinter who keeps up with the peleton over the climbs, or a hills specialist who breaks and manages to maintain the gap all the way to the finish.

Alitalia-Parmalat Bianchi's lineup for the Milan-Sanremo;

Lorenzo ROMANO
Vincenzo MAZZOLA
Raphael LE CLERCQ
Maarten HOOIVELD
Gianni MARZANO
Heidar HELGUSON
Artan KARIMI
Pierluigi SALTALAMACCHIA

A home victory for Romano would be great. But if he can't get over the hills then hopefully Saltalamacchia breaks as he did so often in Le Tour last season and goes for the win solo.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 13 Nov 2012, 03:08

The race is done.

One team is probably going to be hated.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 13 Nov 2012, 03:14

Shadaza wrote:The race is done.

One team is probably going to be hated.

Hopefully everyone will be flaming Alitalia then :mrgreen:

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 13 Nov 2012, 03:25

Shadaza wrote:The race is done.

One team is probably going to be hated.

Really hope it's not Battery

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 13 Nov 2012, 03:28

Knowing my luck, it'll probably be those clowns over at Lansvale.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 13 Nov 2012, 15:09

Round 3. Milan to San Remo.

The 126 rider field is ready for the long near 300km stage.
Almost immediately riders started to attempt to break and were caught and then more riders broke forward and were caught in a frenzy that would make you think the stage was 30km not 300!

Eventually 4 riders broke free of the rest: Foster's Fahrrad, Minardi's Viruolien, Fantomette's Miranda and Twining's Ivan Shermetev.
They have very little chance of winning but can cause some serious problems, especially to the teams that want to gently nurse their sprinters to the line.

The chasing pack was lead by Alitalia for most of the distance. Other teams also chipped in at the front including, UBC, Team CIP (especially in the mid part of the race), Cycling Circus and Credit Bancarotto.
The gap between the peloton and the 4 break away riders went as high 8 minutes for the most part it averaged out as about a 5 minute lead during the first 2/3rds of the stage.

Though they never got all that far ahead the breakaway were strong enough to force the pace of the race to be very high, so much so that many riders began to struggle to keep up the pace. Rui Miranda and Ivan Shermetev could not keep up with Fahrrad or Viruolien and were caught with over 30km to go. The Foster's and Minardi men put up a much better fight and were still over a minute in the lead by the penultimate climb, however they could not hope to win and were caught with some 15km to go.

By the final 10km of the stage most of the field were still together, It is at this point that Thomas Yorke made a break for freedom and rushed forward for victory on his own! Many riders tried to break after him but were caught immediately by the Alitalia/Team CIP and now Lansvale lead peloton.

Tom Yorke had managed a 20 second lead comming in to the final km of the stage, but he is no sprinter! Will he be able to hang on?

Yorke still leads with 0.5km to go but hang on, where did all that red white and green come from!?! It's Hitachi, this is the first they have been anywhere near the front!

Just like that Paddy Quinn sweeps past Thomas Yorke and claims victory for Hitachi! Francois Le Bleu, also from Hitachi, snatches 2nd away from Yorke at the line and the Fosters rider managed to hang on to 3rd place. You can see the intense pace of the field at the end as half the field has been left behind the 1KM mark, also in the distance can be seen the riders in last place, still at the top of the final climb.

So there you have it, SIX out of EIGHT Hitachi riders managed to make it in to the top 10, scoring a 1-2-4-6-7-8. The team did nothing to help chase the early break away down and reap the rewards from the tired crews. Maarten Hooiveld is 5th for Alitalia, the only other resistance to a Hitachi top 6 sweep. Whilst Sven Johansson and Jackson Bannister complete the top 10. Bannister is now the only rider to have scored points in every event so far, even if he is yet to find that big result.

Naturally, Hitachi dominated, Fosters and UBC managed to do fairly well too, Fosters very nearly controlling the race with Fahrrad dictating the pace and Yorke nearly pulling off an excellent solo win.
You have to feel for some of the teams here, Fantomette have come so close to points again, yet still remain on nothing. 3 of the 5 favorite riders for the event were from CBR and they end up with nothing! The top 12 teams all looked as if they could end up scoring some points and were strong at some point during the race, however Tiger, Battery, PCR and Firehawk were truly nowhere the entire distance, save a half hearted final sprint effort from Ryan Nelson. PCR clearly prefer the shorter smash and grab sprints whilst the other 3 teams are obviously much more comfortable on the hills and mountains!

http://www.2shared.com/document/TC3MiYIH/Milan_-_San_Remo_Milano_-_San_.html
Here are the full results, don't hesitate to ask me how your team did.

QuickYoda41 · Post by **QuickYoda41** » 13 Nov 2012, 15:34

Wow, what were all the other teams doing? Didn't someone tell them where the finish line is?

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 13 Nov 2012, 15:46

With 6th place in San Remo added to his Paris-Nice victory score, Jerry Fletcher takes the overall lead.
The leaderboard is still jumping around with different victors each time. This trend is likley to continue with the Tour of Flanders classic next to come followed by the mountain Basque tour.

Unsurprisingly, Hitachi take the lead of the teams standings too.

1.Hitachi Pro Tour 416
2.Alitalia Parmalat Bianchi 200
3.Fosters Good Cycle 119
4.Cycling Circus 109
5.Samsung Skoda FIrehawk 108
6.Team CIP 96
=7.Minardi 93
=7.Twinings Earl Grey Cycling Team 93
9.National Steroid Association Racing Team 91
10.United Boxtel 89
11.Performance and Cocktails 87
12.Battery Energy Drink 39
13.Credit Bancarotto 7
14.Lansvale Smash Repairs 6
15.Tiger Cycling Team 1
16.Equipe Fantomette 0

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 13 Nov 2012, 15:52

QuickYoda41 wrote:Wow, what were all the other teams doing? Didn't someone tell them where the finish line is?

The key to the race was energy management. The fact the 4 riders that broke away early on made it so far really ruined a lot of teams day because so much energy had to be put out to catch them. It allowed for some strange developments like a whole team saving energy and steam rolling and a single rider who managed to break 10km from the end with a peloton too weak to catch him!

I can't say I saw Minardi too close too the front (Minus the breakaway dude) but in general riders with high endurance and resistance did the best here. whilst sprinters took a very secondary role.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 13 Nov 2012, 17:43

La Gazzetta Sportiva wrote:Alitalia launches scathing attack on Hitachi's 'anti-cycling' tactics

Alitalia-Parmalat Bianchi team principal Alasdair Lindsay has openly criticised Milan-San Remo winners Hitachi ProTour, who pounced in a last kilometre move after spending the rest of the race at the back of the peleton.

"Hitachi are a team that do not respect cycling and its tradition," said Lindsay. "One does not simply cruise along in the autobus, relying on the honest hardworking teams like Alitalia and CIP to stop breakways from winning the race, and then take advantage at the very end. It is disrespectful, weak and cowardly."

"They are not a real cycling team. They are poachers. They rely on all the other teams to do their work for them and take all the credit themselves. They are a disgrace to the UCI ProTour."

Hitachi ProTour have so far declined to retort against Lindsay's comments.

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 13 Nov 2012, 17:57

Luke Knight wrote:I have to say i'm very dissapointed that we lost the race, but again pleased that we lead the race right up until the end. It's even more disappointing, to the point of angering me, that the race was won by cheaters. I thouroughly agree with Alasdair here; that has got to be one of the greatest corruptions of the spirit of the sport that I've seen in all my life. What's even more disturbing is the Cycling Authority has allowed that to happen.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 13 Nov 2012, 18:22

The whole of Hitachi ProTour, clutching bottles of champagne and singing loudly wrote:Haters gonna hate!

Seriously though that is an insane result, I do apologise to everyone else for ruining their races! Things are bound to level out again as the season goes on, still a long way to go yet!

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 13 Nov 2012, 22:23

Stage preview for Tour of Flanders

Teams will enter 8 riders for a single 250km stage on mostly flat. However there are more than 22km of cobblestones to navigate as well as a large collection of short, but steep, climbs.

Like before it is a race for the top 10 spots.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 14 Nov 2012, 00:24

Did Lansvale do anything at all of note in the Milan-San Remo race?

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 14 Nov 2012, 01:19

Wizzie wrote:Did Lansvale do anything at all of note in the Milan-San Remo race?

Yes, in the latter half of the race the likes of Aqeem, Xian bin and Bicicletta helped the chase of the break aways and Jean Velo tried a few times to break forward at the end only to be caught by the field. He nearly ended up in the points too!

Aqeem was the next highest runner in 42nd.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 14 Nov 2012, 02:23

Lansvale will enter the following team for Brugge-Oudenaarde:

Naseef Aqeem
Roberto Di Magenta
Jean-Marie Van Fiets
Jean Velo
Kang Xian Bin
Nicolas Pederson
Giovani Bicicletta
Michael Chow

And are there any free riders that we can nick for our team?

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 14 Nov 2012, 02:26

NSA's 8 riders will be:
Juan Pablo Martinez
Randall Clarks
John Vonn
David Clarkson
Kevin Frederickson
Jacques LaRossa
Wesley Duncan
And a new rider:

Name: Colin Thompson
Age: 24
Nationality: Canadian
Primary Skills: Endurance, Sprint, Acceleration

FantometteBR · Post by **FantometteBR** » 14 Nov 2012, 02:27

Equipe Fantomette for the next cycling round

Rui Miranda
François Ndiekele
Hiroshi Kekami
Alexandre Cadinho
Norbert Centrone
Demetrio Molina
Piercarlo Balder
Bernard Roullaint

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 14 Nov 2012, 02:34

Alitalia-Parmalat Bianchi
Mika PYORA
Raphael LE CLERCQ
Lorenzo ROMANO
Vincenzo MAZZOLA
Maarten HOOIVELD
Gianni MARZANO
Xavier DE VOS
Artan KARIMI

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 14 Nov 2012, 07:05

Twinings' team for the Tour of Flanders:

James Davies
Ivan Shermetev
Jacob Denver
Jean Gauthier
Shinji Miyamoto
Jose Vasquez
Freddie Donnelly
Louis Gaillard

Post by **Londoner** » 14 Nov 2012, 13:06

Performance and Cocktails will enter the following team.

Jaime Carling
Stefan Lomassonn
John Jaywick
Wilson RIcky
Hugh Englemann
Nelson Burbridge
Len Kozlovsky
Dougal Dalkeith

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 14 Nov 2012, 13:27

East Londoner wrote:Performance and Cocktails will enter the following team.

Jaime Carling
Stefan Lomassonn
John Jaywick
Wilson RIcky
Hugh Englemann
Nelson Burbridge
Len Kozlovsky
Dougal Dalkeith

Daniel Martins wrote:I would like to go to the Basque tour, boss!

Post by **Londoner** » 14 Nov 2012, 13:38

Fair enough then.

AutoCycle wrote:PCR cyclist sent home

In a surprising turn of events this Wednesday morning, Kiwi Nelson Burbridge, of the Performance and Cocktails team, was sent home from the Tour of Flanders mere hours after being selected. It is unclear why this has happened, although some unscrupulous sources, possibly connected to Alitalia have commented that Burbridge may have been drinking 'performance-enhancing cocktails'. Burbridge will be replaced by Portuguese rider Daniel Martins, who some sources claimed was unhappy at his non-selection for the Flanders tour, and may have played a part in Burbridge's dismissal.

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 14 Nov 2012, 16:54

Hoping to build from their agonising defeat, Foster's will enter the following team:

David O'Reilly
Jermaine d'Alberto
Mitchell Webb
Tomas Yorke
Matsohiro Mizuhara
Dave Hedgehog

Plus two new riders

Name: Denis van Walwijk
Birthdate (or just age): 25
Nationality: Dutch
Primary Skills: Cobbles, Sprint, Flat

Name: Terry Wright
Birthdate (or just age): 28
Nationality: British
Primary Skills: Cobbles, Hills, Flat

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 14 Nov 2012, 17:00

Daniel Martins wrote:I would like to go to the Basque tour, boss!

Craig West wrote:Basque? We're in friggin' Belgium you nonce!

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 14 Nov 2012, 17:06

Don't think that's allowed now? Certainly in real life the UCI imposes a transfer embargo between 1 January and 31 July. That includes riders moving from ProContinental to WorldTour level, which would typically be where new riders are sourced from. The Ronde van Vlaanderen is typically held on the first Sunday of April, so new rider registrations would normally be closed at this point.

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 17 Nov 2012, 04:05

UBC's lineup

Arnold Abil
Jackson Bannister
Preston Senerson
Quinton Voss
Frank Mortarhouse
Chilserx Dawson
Giacomo Canfora
Istvan Feher

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 17 Nov 2012, 14:08

kostas22 wrote:Don't think that's allowed now? Certainly in real life the UCI imposes a transfer embargo between 1 January and 31 July. That includes riders moving from ProContinental to WorldTour level, which would typically be where new riders are sourced from. The Ronde van Vlaanderen is typically held on the first Sunday of April, so new rider registrations would normally be closed at this point.

On the one hand it is ridiculous to continually add riders, on the other hand some teams are smaller than others and could do with some more.
In the meantime I will keep rider reservation open, but in following seasons there will be a stricter transfer window.
I would also prefer riders that are not being used to be made free agents rather than sitting in the reserves forever, as I am sure somebody would love to have them.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 17 Nov 2012, 18:17

Shadaza wrote:
kostas22 wrote:Don't think that's allowed now? Certainly in real life the UCI imposes a transfer embargo between 1 January and 31 July. That includes riders moving from ProContinental to WorldTour level, which would typically be where new riders are sourced from. The Ronde van Vlaanderen is typically held on the first Sunday of April, so new rider registrations would normally be closed at this point.

On the one hand it is ridiculous to continually add riders, on the other hand some teams are smaller than others and could do with some more.
In the meantime I will keep rider reservation open, but in following seasons there will be a stricter transfer window.
I would also prefer riders that are not being used to be made free agents rather than sitting in the reserves forever, as I am sure somebody would love to have them.

That's entirely fair, I almost considered dropping Pyora for this exact reason, because I thought he wouldn't ever get used. However I do think he will compete in most of the one day classics in North Europe.

Is there any Alitalia rider that hasn't made a single appearance? I think Kolodziejczak is the only one that hasn't...oh and Montella, but that's because we haven't had any races yet with long flat time trials. I expect he'll be at all three Grand Tours and some of the smaller Tours (Tour de Suisse comes to mind).