Oh, was that a Repsol rider in a breakaway? But Prado doesn't take neither KoM points or bonus seconds So we get from here the points of Gilbert finishing best of the riders that didn't take any bonus seconds during the race.
Congrats to Abhishek for the GC win and almost securing a promotion spot. And thanks to tsmoha for the great reports!
Grats to Abhishek for the almost secured promotion!
As for Reddit, 9th is nothing special. But still a lot better than Xero and Azteca. Glad Kip could hang on as well for some bonus points. I didn't calculate anything, but I feel like we could be 5th right now, which would be for the first time of the season. East Java (scary) and Zuri to go, I can't wait
First off, apologies to our intrepid reporter for my lack of comment thus far, on my annual road trip across Europe which severely limits internet connection. On to the race.
With the field a bit reduced in strength due to the clash with the Herald Sun Tour, and JAC and Lay among the best sprinters in the division even before the clash, WCC had high hopes. Hence the outcome of only 1 podium performance across the four stages is to be honest quite disappointing. Our sprinters have been steady but not brilliant this season, and I don't think I've yet fully got my head around the best approach to PCM sprint AI even after experimenting with various line-ups through the season trying to learn for future years. Nonetheless, although no shining performance, the teams organsiation, particularly in stages 1 and 2 looked good. JAC consistently picked up minor bonus seconds to secure 6th overall (although given the set-up from the team, this still seems a bit disappointing). Better news is Lay backing up having gained early bonus seconds to finish 11th, to ensure we continue to hit our ppRD target for this race (>15 ppRD). This race could have nailed down the title for WCC if we had really delivered here, but at least we keep positive momentum.
In the final stage the prospect of lots of small groups and gaps looked good for us with multiple representatives, but in usual PCM fashion, no gaps awarded. Other than the victorious Philips crew (congrats), none of the promotion challengers seem to have done any better than ourselves, so we'll pack up here knowing we are still in the race for the title (although not sure if still in pole position given various recent race results).
Flaksis tryed 3 times to be in the break and failed when it went.. He was in the break twice and tried his luck in the other two stages, didn't give us any result but looked strong as hell. Sadly nobody else matched that so a disapointing (well initially it's what I expected) race.
Congratz abhishek and thanks tsmoha for the reports.
Nizzolo won a race, THE race: and still manages to blow it. I'd laugh if it weren't so tragic.
I honestly thought he was a bargain.
Disclaimer- Most of my posts are me thinking aloud. And most of what I think is rubbish.
Winner of a FIFA Prediction Fair Play Award (a phrase becoming increasingly ironic) "... Because he (me) has a sound tactical mind in general..." jandal7, at 9:30 am GMT on 12th May 2016
Huge congrats to abhi! Coming on strong at the right time of year, much to the detriment of the other promotion contenders, ourselves included. We’re now REALLY limping across the line!
So we get from here the points of Gilbert finishing best of the riders that didn't take any bonus seconds during the race.
