Another quick update from me: In a team session this afternoon, the team management introduced us to a sort of rating system, a matrix that evaluates a set of 13 key attributes for a cyclist. Those attributes include your strength on the flat, the mountains and the hills, but also things like stamina and recovery.
The minimum value for each attribute is 50, and you can go as high as 85 (what kind of a scale is that?!). Below, you see my skillset:
I'm pretty happy with what I got. High values in the uphill categories, good resistance and recovery. What I'm severely lacking, of course, is speed, both top speed and acceleration. It's something I'll have to work on, but don't expect me to be following the kick of an Alejandro Valverde anytime soon. However, I will let you guys know once this evaluation changes, and I will track my stat progression in the second post.
If you're interested, here's how the rest of the team did:
Spoiler
As you can see, Peter Sagan is unsurprisingly our top rider. Incredibly versatile, too! In terms of climbers, I'm already fourth best, but still quite clearly a tier below Leopold and Rafal.
A couple of our guys are kicking off the World Tour season tonight with the first stage of the Tour Down Under. I'll give you the full results in my monthly recap in early February, and the next time we hear from each other after that, I'll be in Oman, ready to ride!
@Kiserlovski: Thanks a lot! Expect the Oman preview tomorrow, and racing starting on sunday. Although with the amount I'm playing and writing at the moment, I might start posting it sooner
@Masterblaster: It's a matter of taste, but I prefer it this way. It makes it easier for you to know what to expect when both he and the team are racing, and to evaluate the performances accordingly. Plus it's a nice mean of tracking his development other than results alone.
Certainly going to be a great story! I will try my best to follow along. Definitely a great rider choice for you, and it should be a really fun team to play with too, with Sagan, Majka, Bennett and Konig.
I really like the way you presented your stats, and the rest of the team, with the "evaluation system" from the team. Better than just going "here are the stats" (which I've been guilty of in the past)
As promised, one last update before I'm off to Oman: It's time for the first monthly recap, albeit a (relatively) short one. Here's how it goes:
World Tour Results
Tour Down Under
1
Esteban Cháves
Orica - Scott
2
Peter Sagan
Bora - Hansgrohe
3
Ben Hermans
BMC Racing Team
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
1
Peter Sagan
Bora - Hansgrohe
2
Matteo Pelucchi
Bora - Hansgrohe
3
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto - Soudal
A strong start to the season for the team. Peter Sagan couldn't beat Cháves despite a stage win on Old Willunga Hill, but he took advantage of a really weak field a few days later to win the first World Tour iteration of the Great Ocean Road Race. So weak even, that Matteo Pelucchi held on to second place after leading out Sagan.
Bora-Highlight
While the 1-2 at the Great Ocean Road Race was impressive, there was one moment that was still a bit more emotional: Jay McCarthy won the Australian Road Championships! After an attack on the final climb, he showed incredible stamina, holding on to a 15 seconds advantage for more than 5 kilometers and taking home the yellow and green jersey. Congratulations!
World Tour Rankings
Individual
1
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
770
2
Esteban Cháves
Orica - Scott
560
3
Tobias Ludvigsson
FDJ
365
4
Ben Hermans
BMC Racing Team
345
5
Matteo Pelucchi
Bora - Hansgrohe
250
Teams
1
BORA - hansgrohe
1082
2
Orica - Scott
722
3
FDJ
635
4
BMC Racing Team
415
5
Team Dimension Data
405
Not much to say here. Peter Sagan is comfortably in first place of the individual standings and helps Bora to the lead in the team rankings, as he alone has more points so far than any other team in total.
Take these standings with a grain of salt, though, as it's of course still incredibly early in the season.
In other news ...
Not too much to report here either. The Tour de France wildcards unsurprisingly went to local continental teams Cofidis, Delko, Direct Energie and Fortuneo.
Also, Simon Gerrans used the opportunity in his home country to announce his retirement at the end of the season. On the contrary, BMC and Sunweb announced the extension of the sponsorship deals with their respective teams, so good news if you're a fan!
My flight to Maskat is going in about a week, so I'll have a couple of days there to acclimate - and of course to give you guys a preview of the race!
@valverde: Great to see you here! Yeah, the times have changed
@everyone: I've tried to keep the monthly recap somewhat short, which excludes superprestige and win rankings, and in the future will exclude for instance reports of team wins in continental races that Emu doesn't participate in. Is that okay with you, or are you interested in these things as well?
Oh, and nice results for Bora too Well I'd like the recaps having some details of Bora wins in HC/C1 races, even if it's just a short sentence on them, doesn't really matter, but whatever is good for you is best and the concise format is nice
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Selwink wrote:
Ah ok, that's my bad then. They reminded me of the original db somehow
that is a problem indeed, would've waited for a db with decent stats to start the fun indeed - like this Sagan f.e. is a Top10 contender in GTs and other riders look really strange too...
@jandal: I have something in mind to include top results, maybe I'll test it out in February More feedback on this would be appreciated though!
@Croatia: I really didn't want to wait though You won't be confronted with the stats much, and I promise you that I won't go for a GT overall with Sagan, so I hope it won't bother anyone too much
@VoetsT & Tamijo: Thanks guys!
Since I'm already almost finished with Abu Dhabi, I'll start Oman today already, so here you go:
Tour of Oman 5 Stages | February 14 - February 19, 2017
The Tour of Oman has first been introduced in 2010, and has since found a place as a staple early season prep race for sprinters and stage racers alike. For both types of riders, it offers rich opportunities to prove themselves.
The attractive profile, alongside the warm climate, usually attracts a strong starting field. Chris Froome is the record holder with two wins while the last iteration has been won by Vincenzo Nibali. Interestingly, the race itself is hosted by the ASO, with race director Eddy Merckx!
Stages
As I said above, all kinds of riders have opportunities for good results here. The GC will most likely be decided atop of Green Mountain on stage 4, while the sprinters have four days to battle each other for stage wins and the green jersey – although there are a few bumps on the road.
We're here with a pretty solid team: Rafal Majka comes straight off a dominating win at the Vuelta a Murcia, and he has some strong support in Patrick Konrad and myself. Matteo Pelucchi and Sam Bennett will try their best to achieve a few good results in this star-studded sprinting field.
Personally, this race is just to get it started. I will give my very best to help Rafal to another victory up the Green Mountain, and if I still have enough energy to get a good result myself, great, if not, no big deal. The competition for the white jersey is stiff with Bob Jungels present, so I'm not expecting anything in that regard.
The first stage leads from Al Musannah to the Sultan Qaboos University. While early escapees will probably be fighting for the lone mountain sprint, the second part of the stage is exclusively downhill and flat. Anything but a bunch sprint would be a huge surprise.
112 km to go
Cesare Benedetti made it to the break of the day and takes the KoM-Sprint. A first success for us!
Meanwhile, I've been tasked with protecting Rafal for the day, and we sit somewhere in the first third of the pack. Not too much going on so far.
14 km to go
The breakaway group is still about 40 seconds in front, but it will be reeled in shortly. With Jan Barta and Cesare Benedetti, who dropped back into the peloton, the Bora train is starting to take shape!
3 km to go
As the sprint is about to start, we're doing reasonably well. Quick-Step for Marcel Kittel is even stronger, though.
But with a big burst of tempo, Matteo Pelucchi brings Sam Bennett into a great position. Now, the Irishman has to finish the job!
Official release had him at 77 mountain, which is maybe fine after the Dauphiné, but not at the start of the year, so I toned it down a little. I made him just a little slower as well, but increased his TT, which I think is a little better than he gets credit for. Didn't touch any other rider though. Those are the World DB stats.
Tour Down Under
Tour of Oman
Chris Froome
Alexander Kristoff
Danny Van Poppel
