F1 Rejects Cycling Challenge: Tour de France underway!

[Shadaza]

Darn, I missed the last race. Can UBC come back with the following riders for the Grand prix de Romandie?

Preston Senerson
Jackson Bannister
Chilserx Dawson
Quinton Voss
Istvan Feher
Arnold Abil
Leandro Davidson
Giacomo Canfora

Welcome back, .

Current Entry List for Grand Prix de Romandie.
1.Mabazzana

2.Alitalia
Timothee Voeckler
Stefano Firenze
Alessio Monteverdi
Claudio Castiglione
Emanuele Montella
Vincenzo Jacomuzzi
Fermintxo Intxausti
Heidar Helguson

3.Fosters
Klaus Fahrrad
Ed Kevin
Craig Beic
Mitchell Webb
Daniel Sims
Terry Wright
Andy Badger
Ragnar Solmundsson

4.Hitachi
Hirohito Kamizaki
Jorge Luis Hernandez
Jerry Fletcher
Yuki Shizzuno
Francois Le Bleu
Tadi Nokaro
Daniel Morales
Esteban Fuentes

5.NSA Team
Jacques LaRossa
Laurens Buivart
Wesley Duncan
Alexey Volkov
Juan Pablo Martinez
Jason Melbourne
John Vonn
Janice Edwards

6.Twinings
Craig West
Sven Johansson
Alex Harris
Jean Gauthier
Carl Kerr
Storm Danielsen
Jacob Denver
Ivan Shermetev

7.Fantomette
François Ndiekele
Alexandre Charpantier
Nobert Centrone
Jonson Edderly
Üyük Çeynan
Alexandre Cadinho
Hiroshi Kekami
Siggi Judsen

8.UBC
Preston Senerson
Jackson Bannister
Chilserx Dawson
Quinton Voss
Istvan Feher
Arnold Abil
Leandro Davidson
Giacomo Canfora

9.Community Cycling Initiative
Singh
Edison
Sucahyo
Roberts
Iketani
Vance
Jung-Un
Murphy

10.Minardi
Raul Julandro Jimenez
Paolo Lesallo
Rinaldo Ranozzi
Shane Reid
Artem Tereshin
Vincenzo Tolano
Harry White
Takuma Yumoto

11.Restov
1. Andrei Dzagoev
2. Hans Drecker
3. Sergei Baloshikinov
4. Diniyar Akinfeev
5. Torsten Fritz
6. Jakub Radiszki
7. David Odonkor
8. Jose Aramento Garcia

12.Battery Energy
Franco Rimolta
Barry Firestone
Stefan Muller
Jan Ahlberg
Ryan Nelson
Simon Hill
Pavel Ranchek
Jeroen Braams

13.Performance and Cocktails
Bernard Jones
Tomas Wojtyra
Kenta Nakimaka
Daniel Martins
Brandon Plant
Len Kozlovsky
Dougal Dalkeith
Sid Hatayuki

14.Team CIP
Abruzzo
Corday
Aizkibel
Schulz
Mota
Perez
Necipoglu
Payne

15.Lansvale
Giovani Bicicletta
Tamak Bisiklet
Jizdni Kolo
Kang Xian Bin
David Lee
Peiter Briggs
Nicolas Pedersen
Tomas Knutsen

[Londoner]

After celebrating away the night and day, PCR will enter the following riders:

Bernard Jones
Tomas Wojtyra
Kenta Nakimaka
Daniel Martins
Brandon Plant
Len Kozlovsky
Dougal Dalkeith
Sid Hatayuki

[andrew]

just to confirm my riders
John Firclont - Endurance, Recovery, Cobbles
Jimmy Kay - Endurance, Sprint, Flat
Vladamir Mechavic - Flat, Acceleration, Endurance
Fernando Vettel - Resistance, Time Trial, Mountain
Sebastian Alonso - Resistance, Acceleration, Time Trial
Joel Janz Marquez 18 (Argentina) - Flat, Endurance, FS
Claudi Gusto 24 (Chile) - Sprint, Downhill, Flat

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Braams is Dutch

[Shadaza]

Just need Team CIP to enter and I can get things underway.

[Bleu]

Just need Team CIP to enter and I can get things underway.

Abruzzo
Corday
Aizkibel
Schulz
Mota
Perez
Necipoglu
Payne

[Shadaza]

Just need Team CIP to enter and I can get things underway.

Abruzzo
Corday
Aizkibel
Schulz
Mota
Perez
Necipoglu
Payne

Thanks .

Just realised I am also missing Lansvale so we are still one team short.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Incompetence Inc powered by Lansvale Racing will enter the following team:

Giovani Bicicletta
Tamak Bisiklet
Jizdni Kolo
Kang Xian Bin
David Lee
Peiter Briggs
Nicolas Pedersen
Tomas Knutsen

[Shadaza]

With that, the GP de Romandie can now begin.

The first stage is just a 3km dash to the line so expect times to be close.


Lansvale kicked off the tour, though Xian Bin isn't going to challenge for the win on this stage, he much prefers the mountains.


The win on this incredibly tight stage was Community Cyclings Sucahyo, beating Canfora by less than one second! Akinfeev gives GRR their first points on only their second event with Kekami and Duncan rounding out the top 5 stage points.
Only 40 seconds covered first to last so the times overall mean very little. However CCI will have the yellow jersey for stage 2 (Which I plan to run around 8pm GMT tonight).


Team CIP and Fantomette take a joint lead after the first stage, ahead of the time trial friendly Minardi and UBC teams. Many teams towards the back elected not to focus too much energy for this stage preparing for the more important climbs to come.

Live Chat for stage 2, at 20:00 GMT

[takagi_for_the_win]

Wow, thats a brilliant start!

[Shadaza]

Head on over for live commentary of stage 2 now!

[andrew]

Head on over for live commentary of stage 2 now!

where

[andrew]

New rider to join my team
Gimmi Mallatacci 25 (Italy) Endurance,hills time trial

[Shadaza]

Stage 2. Morges-La Chaux.

This stage started very slowly and in the pouring rain. CCI attempted to protect Sucahyo's lead and wouldn't let anyone through. However as the climbs began and the rain eased things became interesting.

Daniel Morales + Francois Le Bleu from Hitachi broke forward, they were joined by L-B-L winner Sid Hatayuki (PCR) and CCI's Iketani. This dangerous break of climbers had to be caught and the pace went from a crawl to an explosive run right to the finish!


The pace led to a large pileup involving many riders, Mabazzane's Marquez dislocated his shoulder and has been forced to pull out of the tour as a result.

The front 4 breakaway riders played a smart tactical game by taking all the available mountain and sprint points before resting and allowing the chase pack to catch up. The 4 would stay with the leaders until the finish.
27 riders came in to the final 5km with a chance of victory but there could only be one winner:


Alitalia's Firenze had played a stealthy game all race, he only lead at the final km and managed to hold on to take the stage victory!

Ranchek had to settle for second with Danielsen and impressive 3rd, the Dane had earlier been assisting West so he certainly put in the effort this stage! Sims took 4th and an Ndiekele 5th.

However with his superior Prologue time, the new leader of the tour is Batteries' Jan Ahlberg!

Firenze takes the stage bonus to put him second and Iketani's breakaway bonuses awards him 3rd place.

With the top 27 riders separated by just 28 seconds, things are very close!


The teams standings is also super close, with Alitalia taking the smallest of leads from Battery. With Hitachi, Fosters and Twinings right there also.


Finally the mountain points, Morales managed to outfox the other 3 early breakaway riders to take the lead.

If you want to know where your riders are feel free to ask. I hope to run stage 3, 8pm tomorrow.

[QuickYoda41]

My team seems to be doing pretty badly looking at the Teams' standings. How are my riders doing individually? Were any of them involved in a crash?

[Shadaza]

My team seems to be doing pretty badly looking at the Teams' standings. How are my riders doing individually? Were any of them involved in a crash?

A mixed bag at Minardi

Paolo Lesallo finished with the lead bunch so is classified 21st, 24 seconds behind Alberg.
Rinaldo Ranozzi just lost touch with the leaders, so he is 30th, 3 minutes 20 seconds behind.
Tolano and Tereshin are 62nd and 74th, they finished with the peloton and are 8 and a half minutes behind.

The other 4, Yumoto, Reid, Jiminez and White seemed to slow early on and fell far behind the rest of the field and are now over 20 minutes behind the leaders. ranked 114th 115th 116th and 118th out of now 119 riders!

[Shadaza]

New rider to join my team
Gimmi Mallatacci 25 (Italy) Endurance,hills time trial

Ok added.

In other news I can confirm that Cycling Circus will compete in the Giro! Meaning now only CBR and Tiger cycling are under threat of collapse.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Well Ahlberg did quite well. What about the rest of my riders

[Londoner]

Good job by Sid, but the rest of my team appears to be a complete non-entity so far. Where are my riders?

[Shadaza]

Well Ahlberg did quite well. What about the rest of my riders

The front 3 are in the lead pack.
1.Jan Ahlberg
4.Pavel Ranchek +00.17
18.Jeroen Braams +00.24

Nelson, Hill and Muller all finished with the peloton
79.Ryan Nelson +8.51
85.Simon Hill +8.52
87.Stefan Muller +8.52

Firestone and Rimolta both lost time.
102.Barry Firestone +12.31
111.Franco Rimolta +17.22

Battery are looking in great shape, it will be interesting to see them try and defend Ahlberg's lead in tomorrow's stage.

Good job by Sid, but the rest of my team appears to be a complete non-entity so far. Where are my riders?

Brandon Plant also managed to sneak in to the main group as Hatayuki did ok with the early break, though he could maybe have earned more bonus time then he did.

8.Sid Hatayuki +00.20
20.Brandon Plant +00.24

Kozlovsky, Martins and Nakimaka finished with the peloton and are thus
39.Len Kozlovsky +8.17
63.Daniel Martins +8.47
84.Kenta Nakimaka +8.52

The rest are well down, with Bernard Jones having a fall.
93.Tomas Wojtyra +11.15
102.Dougal Dalkeith +12.54
108.Bernard Jones +15.47

I would say Plant is looking a better bet than Hatayuki at this stage, maybe your mountain riders can claw back some time later on.

[takagi_for_the_win]

Shadaza, how are my merry bunch of pedal monkeys getting on?

[Shadaza]

Shadaza, how are my merry bunch of pedal monkeys getting on?

Radiszki and Baloshikinov both managed to finish with the lead group and are thus in 23rd and 24th place. 24 and 26 seconds behind respectively.

The other 6 riders all somehow avoided the pileup ( 5 of them are in the crash picture!) and finished with the peloton and sit 37th Akinfeev to 89th Drecker.

So I would say Restov are looking really good at the moment.

[pasta_maldonado]

Great job by Badger and Fahrrad, Sims was also up there at one point IIRC.

Shadaza, would you mind posting an update to how my other riders are doing?

[Shadaza]

Great job by Badger and Fahrrad, Sims was also up there at one point IIRC.

Shadaza, would you mind posting an update to how my other riders are doing?

Sims came 4th on this stage! You have 3 riders in the lead pack.

15.Klaus Fahrrad +00.23
16.Andy Badger +00.24
25.Daniel Sims +00.27

Terry Wright was right there but fell away towards the end.

33.Terry Wright +5.46

Beic, Webb and Solmundson came home with the main pack so are 8.30 - to 8.52 behind.

Edd Kevin may have been one of the fallers, he finished 17.25 behind and is 113th.

[AndreaModa]

If it's not too much trouble I'd like an update on my riders as well please Shadaza!

[Shadaza]

If it's not too much trouble I'd like an update on my riders as well please Shadaza!

Sure,
You have Le Bleu, Fletcher, Nokaro and Morales all with the top group

6.Francois Lebleu +00.20
9.Jerry Fletcher +00.22
17.Tadi Nokaro +00.24
26.Daniel Morales +00.27

and just missing out on being classified with the leaders Yuki Shizuno +2.43.
Fuentes and Kamizaki finished with the peloton and are 61st and 65th, plus 8.50.

Jorge-Luis Hernandez had a fall, is in 100th place and 12.03 behind.

[FantometteBR]

How my Fantomette guys are going?

[QuickYoda41]

My team seems to be doing pretty badly looking at the Teams' standings. How are my riders doing individually? Were any of them involved in a crash?

A mixed bag at Minardi

Paolo Lesallo finished with the lead bunch so is classified 21st, 24 seconds behind Alberg.
Rinaldo Ranozzi just lost touch with the leaders, so he is 30th, 3 minutes 20 seconds behind.
Tolano and Tereshin are 62nd and 74th, they finished with the peloton and are 8 and a half minutes behind.

The other 4, Yumoto, Reid, Jiminez and White seemed to slow early on and fell far behind the rest of the field and are now over 20 minutes behind the leaders. ranked 114th 115th 116th and 118th out of now 119 riders!

Thanks!

I'm really disappointed with Jimenez, Tolano, and Tereshin. I might change my pre-chosen squad for the Giro where Tolano was supposed to be the team leader.

[AndreaModa]

If it's not too much trouble I'd like an update on my riders as well please Shadaza!

Sure,
You have Le Bleu, Fletcher, Nokaro and Morales all with the top group

6.Francois Lebleu +00.20
9.Jerry Fletcher +00.22
17.Tadi Nokaro +00.24
26.Daniel Morales +00.27

and just missing out on being classified with the leaders Yuki Shizuno +2.43.
Fuentes and Kamizaki finished with the peloton and are 61st and 65th, plus 8.50.

Jorge-Luis Hernandez had a fall, is in 100th place and 12.03 behind.

Interesting. Hernandez is on a one way ticket to missing the Grand Tours this year. He doesn't know how to stay upright! Conversely, Le Bleu is having a great season so far, so if he keeps that up he might well be one of my main men in the bigger events.

[TomWazzleshaw]

How are my stooges over at Lansvale Racing doing?

[Shadaza]

How my Fantomette guys are going?

The front 2 are with the leaders.

9.Francois Ndiekele +0.22
22.Norbert Centrone +0.25

The next 5 are with the peloton (+ 8 to 9 minutes)
40.Jonson Edderley
56.Alex Candinho
76.Uyuk Ceynan
80.Alexandre Charpantier
81.Siggi Judsen

Kekami dropped a little and is in 90th, +10 minutes.

Fantomette are very average at the moment, though compared to the teams early season form, this run of points is pretty good.

How are my stooges over at Lansvale Racing doing?

4 of them finished with the peloton.
43.Knutsen +8.32
49.Bicicletta +8.34
66.Briggs +8.50
69.Bisiklet +8.51

with some riders losing a lot of ground
94.Lee +11.44
95.Pedersen +12.00
104.Kolo +13.44

Kang Xian Bin had a fall and is in 112th 15 minutes off the pace.
Not the right event for Lansvale.

A reminder that stage 3 will be run at 20:00 GMT with live commentary over at F1 Rejects chat, Mibbit. (Just under 30 minutes after this was posted!)

[Shadaza]

Stage 3
Montbeliard - Moutier

This 148km stage may be on the short side but there are a variety of steep climbs and mountain points available.

It looks as if this stage will be another for the hill climbers as Battery lead the field trying to protect Ahlbergs lead. Battery kept the pace really slow on the first mountain climb and two riders took the opportunity to break.

Nicolas Pedersen (Lansvale) and Oliver Corday (CIP) both tackled the tricky first climb, hoping to use their downhill skill to escape on the descent.



Their plan looks to have been successful as Battery Energy decided not to pursue them, indeed as the stage went on the gap grew as nobody else wanted to risk breaking. All of yesterdays leaders maintained a steady pace in preparation for tomorrows stage, they only increased pace after the final climb.

This was good news for Pedersen and Corday as they took all the mountain and sprint point victories, they had a 7 minute lead in to the last 10km, it is clear they are going to win the stage but which one?


Pedersen takes Victory for Lansvale! The pair of them taking victory in a stage most took easy.


The pair of them having a victory margin of 5'15 over the rest of the field. With the time loss from yesterdays stage this was not enough to put them into the lead. Corday is now running in 30th place, a superb position for a non-climbing specialist whilst another lucky run for Pedersen, especially on the mountain stage could put him right up there.

There was very little change in position at the top, all 27 of the lead riders yesterday finished together, though Iketani managed to jump up to 2nd place overall with the bonus time for finishing this stage in 3rd. Bannister and Ahlberg score series points for finishing 4th and 5th, this kind of stage is always good for them.


Pedersen also takes the mountain jersey, he is much stronger on the climbs than Corday, but the Frenchman managed to take one of the peaks after a bit of elbow work. Behind them Battery Energy took all the minor points, highlighting how much they controlled the pace this stage.


Having fought every sprint checkpoint, Iketani takes a 1 point lead in the points standings from Pedersen, meaning not only does he take 2nd from Firenze but he takes his points jersey too.

[andrew]

where did my lot come

[Shadaza]

where did my lot come

Mabazzana had a tricky stage, all 6 of your remaining riders fell off the back of the peloton and are now some distance down. Sorry .

----------------------------

I plan on running stage 4 at the earlier time of 3pm (30 minutes) so feel free to pop in to Mibbit (Link is in my signature)

[Shadaza]

Stage 4.

Stage 4 features gentler climbs than yesterday and about the same distance, the big difference? Todays stage ends on a hill climb, so expect fireworks.

The first half of the stage went as expected with Battery leading the stage, with their rider Ranchek taking sprint checkpoints to lower his time.
However on a very short seemingly nothing climb a dramatic breakaway occurred with some serious big hitters.


Sid Hatayuki (PCR, Front of frame) blasted away with Andy Badger (Fosters) leader Jan Ahlberg (Battery) Sergei Baloshnikov (Restov) and Francois Ndiekele (Fan) in hot pursuit.

Those 5 infront forced the pace to climb dramatically as the pack went in to pursuit, lead by Alitalia and Minardi.

The front 5 were caught 15km before the stage ended with the final climb offering a grandstand finish. Norbert Centrone (Fantomette) decided to break on his own just 5km from the line just as most teams were setting up for a sprint finish. The sneaky attack caught everyone off guard and a field of 27 riders set off in pursuit.

Centrone had at a 40 second lead in to the final 2km, he was tiring but nobody can catch from that far behind!
Centrone takes his and Fantomettes first stage victory this year!


Klaus Fahrrad again has to settle for 2nd place, timing his attack too late as Alitlia have another strong finish with Jacomuzzi 3rd and Firenze 5th. Craig West takes 4th as Twinings continue to show good pace. Most of the top finishers were from the lead group, but 3 riders have lost time. Sid Hatayuki (PCR), Francois le Bleu (HIT) and crucially Jan AHlberg (Battery) have dropped a little time, meaning the former leader has now dropped out the top 20. That early break was a terrible idea.


The surprise break has gifted Centrone the lead of the tour, though it sits at less than 20 seconds ahead of Iketani. Ranchek is now Battery's top rider in 3rd ahead of Firenze and Jacomuzzi of Alitalia. The next stage features 2 large mountain climbs and the stage after that a time trial. So the order can change dramatically in the final two days.


Iketani maintains the lead of the points standings. Pedersen remains the leader of the mountain jersey and Alitalia remain ahead in the team standings. Battery slip to 5th after losing 1 minute on the top 4 but it is all still to play for.

[FantometteBR]

Wohooooooooooo! Finally!

[andrew]

where did my men come

[DemocalypseNow]

where did my men come

Stone dead last, IIRC. The Mabbanza riders finished in the autobus. In fact, they may well have been the autobus.

This is a good position for the team to be in. Stefano and Vincenzo are right at the sharp end, but I think the next stage will really suit Claudio. He's a hardcore mountain climber, tough as nails, this terrain really suits his riding style. He'll be one to watch tomorrow.

[Shadaza]

The 5th stage will be run at 5pm. This is the first mountain stage so there may be a large shake up in the order, so make sure to come to Mibbit for every twist and turn.

Click the link now! http://client00.chat.mibbit.com/?server=irc.mibbit.net&channel=%23F1Rejects

[takagi_for_the_win]

All in all, not a bad stage for the newbies!