I call this a very nice debut by Baris Dao.
2 mentions and 26 UCI points. Couldn`t expect anything more and actually had far less.

I wonder what had happened without his gearing problems.

Well written, Ian.

Damn that might shut Cook up - or at the very least restrain him! Gormless takes it over Champagne Bollinger and Ole Crusty.

Season's started yay! Nice performance by Matt, who's been a bit silent lately. A fantastic report like that is the perfect way to start off the season and nice to see Gormley repeating himself

Mine too!

Starting position for next race. For some reason 3 riders disappeared but I'll fish them back up along the way. Probably neopros who didn't score any points today, so to be added at the end. No points = start at the end

1	Dries Cornelis	498
2	Shay Gormley	446
3	Elliot Cook	420
4	Sylvain Lipawsky	371
5	Michael Bollinger	353
6	Francis N. Vague	320
7	Matt Mazzarelli	312
8	Christian Schiltz	299
9	Hafthor Eldfjallsson	272
10	James Carlisle	272
11	Tariq Faizullah	236
12	Naveed Alinejad	200
13	Mikel Hammarling	189
14	Ronnie Hira	187
15	Max Power	177
16	Sven Welling	163
17	Gregory Bernard	156
18	Arda Akdeniz	155
19	Mustafa Moli	151
20	Lachy Bauer	148
21	Rik Van Fleming	148
22	Thijs Van Lookeren	143
23	Rudy Verboven	118
24	Nicky Van Drenthe	89
25	Timi Kokkonen	88
26	Jannik Stolz	84
27	Andrew McLaughlin	75
28	Blazej Dobransky	70
29	Frederick Muller	67
30	Ketso Tembi	65
31	Matthias Barthez	64
32	Eddie Goldenberg	63
33	Nic Hashir	61
34	Mohuti Sow	52
35	Alfonso Munoz	51
36	Lars Van Hennep	51
37	Josiah Bennett	49
38	Lars Lejeune	49
39	Guido Visconti	48
40	Iban Etxeberdea	48
41	Pierre Lipawsky	44
42	Robert Wells	41
43	Fred Markson	35
44	Milan Vermeulen	34
45	Pierre Lavigne	33
46	Marcus Flinch	28
47	Baris Dao	26
48	Milan Listerijn	25
49	Lue Khamse Khamphan	21
50	Stan Van Overberghe	19
51	Vladimir Stoyevski	18
52	Fabrizio Lorenzi	13
53	Ferdi Kloet	11
54	Camilo Osorio	10
55	Amadou Bakari	9
56	Estifanos Mutahi	7
57	Karol Konva	6

Interesting Development: Goldenberg moves up to 4th row after today's race. Etxeberdea, Dao and Listerijn to 5th row.

Prepare for the Hell that is the Blaarmeersen!

Like last year, I give you the same pictures, giving you a sense of the Blaarmeersen and what your rider has survive

Beach:



Uphill:



Narrow roads (don't slip here, tricky to overtake another cyclist):



Note: Don't worry about the pace. You shouldn't feel rushed or anything. I just decided it'd be better to have the preview up as long as possible, so people can prepare better. In my opinion, if you have a race on day 1 and on day 5, why should you put the preview on day 3 when you can have it on day 1 a little later, so people have 4 days to send in tactics etc

Blaarmeersen looks like another good race for Iban with the sand and uphill. Could just as well be around San Sebastian.

Great read Ian, that Duinencross report!

Not the best races for Karol Konva and Jan Soucek, but you can read in a game thread, that it feels like victory for Konva.

Great win by Gormley in a thrilling finale, some of the favourites were a bit disappointing.

Cheers guys
Send in tactics before Thursday, as I plan to do the Blaarmeersen then!

Really some nice quality additions to the game, very good.

Couldn't agree more. Very happy with this

Also, minor update. Perhaps I'll do the Blaarmeersen tomorrow instead of Thursday. It'll depend on how much time I have.

I hope this report of the Blaarmeersen doesn't disappoint!

In the spoiler (read the report first ) is the starting position for the next race!

Lovely report Ian! I really like the Blaarmeersen course, it's got some really distinctive features. Definitely one of the races I've enjoyed reading the most, out of all the reports you've done so far.

Duh, a 2nd! Not bad, not bad at all though, especially if it is a 2nd place achieved behind Cook, and ahead of Vague, Lipawsky! Fantastic to see that Matt grew into a stronger rider this season, I can see that from the fact that he learnt how not to waste his energies all in once Blaarmeersen confirms to be one of my favourite races, not my favourite one to spell btw but definitely my favourite route, along with Kwaremont although not the most suitable to Matt but still, and the report looked real once again, what an epic battle it was!! Sorry for being silent in the game thread, I know that all this apologies are getting annoying but I hope you understand me

Races with 4th places this season 0/2!

So is Schiltz the new Mazzarelli? Races with 4th places this season 2/2!

Holy shit, what an intense race. Love Schiltz.

Fantastic report Ian,enjoyable read.

Pleased to see Sou�ek giving it all and entering the top10 in a senior Superprestige race, that i almost as good as U23 title.

Konva finished the race and almost top25, he is getting into it slowly.

Congrats to Cookie man, although i understand every third word from his speeches, too advanced english i suppose.

Chapeau to Vague, what a comeback, what a determination, he is rising on value in my eyes...

Glad you liked the report, it was very exciting writing it
During the finale, I actually typed faster than I had ever typed because I was excited myself

@SportingNonsense: Yeah, Blaarmeersen is one of my favorite races, too. I've been in the Blaarmeersen dozens of time in real life, so I can bring it to life a bit more than other courses And, yes, I guess Schiltz has been officially rewarded with the Mazzarelli award now

@matt17br: Matt was strong last year, but still some progression left, it seems only one victory this season would be a disastrous sesaon for him, I think. Though that sprinting weakness will ruin a few good chances...

@Shonak: It was a good move from BKCP to get Schiltz!

@Avin: Thanks! Yeah Cook's posts are of unseen proportions. Don't worry, though, after a while you get a hang of this Cook-language. He always cracks me up just a few translations for the future: the old git = Cornelis. The Mistress = Vague. shyte = sand. The French Lip = Lipawsky. Mazerati = Mazzarelli. The rest you'd have to ask himself

Don't forget:
Cornelis - Maid, crusty
Bollinger - Champagne (still no explanation)
Gormley - Gormless
Vague - Franny
Bauer - Yank, Kiwi Yank

Also, have to see about rp until Hertford, really depends on time but expect Ronnie and maybe a Milan.


Damn when I start my huge project in this I'll have to include Cookisms

Read the Great Hertford Classic preview here.
Not sure when I'll actually race it, though. Saturday I have an exam, a rehearsal and a quiz in the evening so I probably won't have time to do it.

Tomorrow might be a bit too soon. Though I'll see how many people send in their tactics.

But most likely will be Sunday