Got to say we both build very similar teams (stat wise). I think we have a little more star power at the top and way more youth to be better suited for the future, but you have a top-tier sprinter to help in your fight for promotion. We should have a lot of interesting battles this season. Best of luck and hopefully we both finish near the top of the table.
knockout wrote:
2nd strong team from the Baltics on the team to Baltic world domination. Now we only need an estonian team to build around Taaramae and noone can stop us
Hey I tried that once but no luck getting Taaramae
@croatia - if you fail once, try again, I know there used to (or still is) someone with Estonian 2ndary focus And I am not worried about decline, worse case scenario (like with Intxausti) I'll have a fantastic general in Denifl and a decent leadout in Guerao, and declining riders are cheaper anyways
@knockout - indeed, however I have to constantly fight against anti-Baltic coalition, there's gonna be a lot of resistance if we want to implement our plan.
@mre - same, you also have the upper hand on competition simply due to having a Zalgiris alumni in Narvaez, I expect Tenorio and Denifl be heavily marked by others
Good luck with Denifl and Guerao! They both can be very frustrating riders at times, but did mostly very well for me in PCT! I believe you'll end up near the top of the standings!
Bikex wrote:
Good luck with Denifl and Guerao! They both can be very frustrating riders at times, but did mostly very well for me in PCT! I believe you'll end up near the top of the standings!
If they end up being frustrating, only gulag awaits them. You got promoted with Guerao, that means we have a shot too
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Amazing team you've built after promoting. I'd say Top 10 awaits
Our only goal is to not pull a Philips
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We continue to provide old fashioned kits to the peloton, one of very few with some class and dignity, core values of Žalgiris management. We also have a couple national champions, believe it or not!
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Muh Goals
Riga - Jurmala GP
Top 5
Tour of Lithuania
Top 5
Baltic Chain Tour
Win
Monterrey TTT
Win
Team Standings
Top 10
Riga - Jurmala GP --- definitely a possibility, if Guerao shows up and doesn't stink it up
Tour of Lithuania - roughly 1% chance, we just didn't acquire a puncher to be able to deliver in the GC
Baltic Chain Tour - easy dub, noone has a chance
Monterrey TTT - Top 3 is possible, some of the teams in PCT have higher top end trialists that could challenge us too hard
Team Standings - we were very modest in our top 10 prediction, easy smash, even easier goal than top 15 in CT last year
We've had exactly zero races in January, but February is a tad busier.
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PTHC VOLTA A PORTUGAL BABY
Benat Intxausti Evaldas Siskevicius Darijus Dzervus Giorgi Nareklishvili Matthias Krizek Andreas Hofer Mihkel Raim
Should definitely be scoring some points here. Not much support for both Benat and Siskevicius, but maybe they will work as a duo helping out the rider feeling better. Hofer and Nareklishvili have decent chances to score in prologue and time trial, same goes for Intxausti. Krizek will start off his 1000 point season here, will definitely have chances for breakaway stage win. Should be quite a fun race overall.
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HC OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD
Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Alexandr Ovsyannikov Welle Jallays Lucas Hamilton Itamar Einhorn Venantas Lasinis
I expect nothing. But OVSYA doe? Good time to instantly show that he is indeed a 10 million money rider. But mainly this is a 'free xp' race.
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C1 HONG KONG CHALLENGE
Stefan Denifl Robin Carpenter Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Egidijus Juodvalkis Justas Beniusis Jan Drago Petelin Beka Nareklishvili
I hate this god damn race. Denifl is here because he had 3 RD left over and I couldn't find anything better for him to attend, considering climbers end up winning this race. We will see if another one wins it this year, and Denifl *should* be the best one attending. But I hate it, please delete it from the calendar.
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C1 VOLTA A CATALUNYA
Benat Intxausti Tim Dees Giorgi Nareklishvili Beka Nareklishvili Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Alexandr Ovsyannikov Welle Jallays
Sadly, Denifl just didn't have enough RDs to attend this. Can Benat improve on his dreadful 10th place finish last year? Unlikely, but should end up a fairly decent scoring race I reckon, but I don't expect much. I'd consider top 10 GC a damn good result.
Hofer started off the tour by taking 3rd in the prologue, which is piss poor as he should've won EASILY. Stage 2 was a DUD, nothing to see there...
But Stage 3 was a doozy. Dzervus hasn't won anything in his life, but somehow, due to incredibly amount of TRT and HGH injected into him, he managed to win a stage and take the GC lead.
Stage 4 and 5 were a nothing stages, only served to lose time on GC.
However, stage 6 began Krizek's reign of dominance. Easy 3rd on the stage, and a bunch of KoM points.
Stage 8 was deciding stage for KoM jersey, and Krizek couldn't miss an excellent opportunity. By steadily taking 2nds in the sprints, he has secured himself the jersey, first of 50 this year.
This terrible race that should be removed from the calendar is still terrible.
We did manage to score SOME points, but with Denifl in attendance it's a disappointment.
Nepo took a point in the sprint stage, which is cool, I guess? Nareklishvili took 4th in the next sprint stage? wat. Stage 3, the TTT, was pretty good, we took 4th, which in the end has definitely scored some extra points #blessed. Then Big Ovsya took 2nd in stage 5? Alright then. Benat did nothing other than score some GC points, and Dees Nuts did the same.
Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Alexandr Ovsyannikov Giorgi Nareklishvili Beka Nareklishvili Mihkel Raim Itamar Einhorn Venantas Lasinis
Close to an impossible task to score any amount of points higher than 10. Complete filler race, but big Ovsya is a big wildcard, he is the 10 Million Man for a reason.
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[HC] Barbados Cycling Festival
Oscar Guerao Darijus Dzervus Egidijus Juodvalkis Justas Beniusis Welle Jallays Lucas Hamilton
This could be a big one! A weakened squad due to clash with Bosberg, but Dzervus *should* be a perfect leadout for Guerao. 4 stage wins and GC win is inevitable.
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[C1] Jelajah SKL
Robin Carpenter Benat Intxausti Tim Dees Nuts Giorgi Nareklishvili Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Jan Drago Petelin Itamar Einhorn Venantas Lasinis
This actually looks like a sneakily potentially high scoring race for us. Two prologues and two somewhat easy stages. Guys like Dees Nuts, Intxausti, Narek and Zamri could all finish in top 30 if things go right. Or all could end being outside it. No idea what's gonna happen there.
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[C1] Circulo de Juarez
Oscar Guerao Matthias Krizek Mihkel Raim Darijus Dzervus Alexandr Ovsyannikov Beka Nareklishvili Welle Jallays Lucas Hamilton
Another one for Big O! Probably a waste of Krizek's RDs here, but maybe somehow he can get himself a KoM jersey or something? 5 stage wins and GC win is minimum requirement here.
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[PTHC] Vuelta a Colombia
Stefan Denifl Robin Carpenter Tim Dees Nuts Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Egidijus Juodvalkis Jan Drago Petelin Itamar Einhorn
A big test for Denifl. I don't think this was the BEST decision to send him here, but I thought long summit climbs will be his forte. A GC Top 10 is certainly doable, and maybe a few stage points too.
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[C1] Apex Mountain Classic
Benat Intxausti Evaldas Siskevicius Justas Beniusis Venantas Lasinis Matthias Krizek Lucas Hamilton Beka Nareklishvili
Intxausti took 3rd here last year. Can he do it again? Probably not, but Krizek certainly can. A win is a requirement.
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[HC] Strade Bianche
Robin Carpenter Tim Dees Nuts Evaldas Siskevicius Justas Beniusis Venantas Lasinis Matthias Krizek Andreas Hofer Alexandr Ovsyannikov
Generali trio's first outing together, which can only mean one thing - easy win. Waste of top puncher RDs yall
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[C1] Tour of Uppsala
Oscar Guerao Benat Intxausti Tim Dees Nuts Giorgi Nareklishvili Beka Nareklishvili Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Andreas Hofer Welle Jallays
This race is all about time trials. And we sent Guerao for some easy stage wins. Is GC result doable? Unlikely, but I expect quite a few depth points, and maybe with good TTT a LOT of depth points.
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A long and grueling month, but potentially big one for us. Or a complete shitshow, considering we haven't seen Denifl and Guerao at all really.
Guys were complete non-factorsin the race, Big Race Ovsya with 72nd!
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[HC] Barbados Cycling Festival
First couple stages (or rather the whole tour as a whole) were shambolic. All Guerao could muster was 15th on stage 1. HOWEVER, he did redeem himself with a nice 2nd on S3, which left him 11th in the GC. Not great, but that little spark did score us a few points, which in the end may be quite important.
Stages - Guerao 2nd S2
GC - Guerao 11th
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[C1] Jelajah SKL
I hate this race, along with HKG. Just disgusting scenes. Certainly not because our riders are just unable to perform in it year after year. Absolutely no stage results to speak of, but due to consistent performances, we had 3 GC scorers, with Dees Nuts getting 8th. Remove JSKL and HKG from the calendar forever.
Quite a similar story to Barbados, a shambolic tour all around. Part of the course, Guerao shat the bed on S1, which in the end hurt his GC finish. Somehow Dzervus took 6th on S2, continuing his random bursts of excellence, which was big time result, big points for ya boy. From S2 to S5, Guerao finished in top 10 in every single one of them, even taking 2nd on S5, however due to Stage 1 failure only 6th in GC for him.
This was simply a mistake, Denifl should've used his race days elsewhere. He was simply outclassed by the elite climbers. But oh well. A slew of 11th place finishes doomed him. Only mustering 13th in the GC and a big waste of time.
GC - Denifl 13th
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[C1] Apex Mountain Classic
Wasn't expecting much upon seeing the startlist, vastly superior to the amateur race that happened last year. Still, we scored some points, but no shot at the glory.
Results - Intxausti 18th, Krizek 23rd
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[HC] Strade Bianche
We scored, I guess? But this race was completely cursed. Anytime Di Maggio gets a good result you know the race was a complete joke, and Krizek and Carpenter finishing 32nd and 33rd illustrates my point perfectly.
Results - Siskevicius 14th
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[C1] Tour of Uppsala
An incredibly strong startlist there. Certainly expected weaker competition. One poopy race attracted both the best TTers and sprinters. Madness. Guerao was mainly a non-factor, getting a 4th and a 7th, and our best GC finish came from Intxausti? Truly frightening.
GC - Intxausti 7th, Hofer 17th, Dees 23rd
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[HC] Tour of California
A bit late on an update, so I'll just include this here.
A decent race, albeit somewhat bittersweet due to podium proximity. Denifl, once again, wasn't the one forcing the issue, but did enough to not get his ass dropped and stay in contention. And then Wallays(dude's name is hella weird, I always type Jallays first) dabbed on the haters and took Stage 5 in a breakaway finish, complete disregarding the lives on his break compadres, giving middle fingers to everyone as he crossed the finish line. Denifl practically finished 2th on Stage 6, but it was a breakaway win, no points for us BUT essential extra seconds in the GC, which put him in 4th before the time trial finale. And he did fairly fine, however, he finished in 5th, mere 2 seconds behind 3rd. But good shit overall
The season has been consistently mediocre, as evidenced by our paltry points total (minus Cali) which placed us in 20th, and projected 21st. Can only go up from here with some more consistent results
Obvious, Tour of Californiahas already happened, so it won't be included.
[C1] Baltic Chain Tour
Oscar Guerao Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Mihkel Raim Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Darijus Dzervus Alexandr Ovsyannikov Jan Drago Petelin Beka Nareklishvili
Two stages already in the books, and it's looking good. This is a home race, so only the win is acceptable.
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[HC] Tour of Pologne
Stefan Denifl Oscar Guerao Robin Carpenter Evaldas Siskevicius Egidijus Juodvalkis Giorgi Nareklishvili Matthias Krizek Welle Jallays
Now this will be an interesting race. Pretty sure I just had a bunch of free RDs for Guerao so we sent him here. A waste, but maybe a nice 50 point waste, who knows. But we brought some heavy cavalry here, disregarding Corsica. Denifl only has to do well in a single stage to be in top contention, plenty of opportunity for small victories for guys like Siskevicius. Will be a fun race to follow as we can win every single stage.
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[HC] Corsica International
Benat Intxausti Tim Dees Nuts Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Justas Beniusis Venantas Lasinis Beka Nareklishvili Itamar Einhorn Lucas Hamilton
As filler of a race as can be. Will score a few points probably, but expecting nothing.
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[HC] Tour of Cyprus
Stefan Denifl Evaldas Siskevicius Venantas Lasinis Matthias Krizek Alexandr Ovsyannikov Jan Drago Petelin Itamar Einhorn Lucas Hamilton
Not a very strong squad sent here, but Denifl could definitely push for Top 5 here. Low risk race with good potential
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[HC] Tour of Ukraine
Benat Intxausti Tim Dees Nuts Evaldas Siskevicius Justas Beniusis Venantas Lasinis Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Andreas Hofer Welle Jallays
Really, really have no idea what to expect here. Probably not very good in the end with some depth scoring and maybe a top 15, but genuinely have zero expectations here.
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[HC] Veenendaal - Veenendaal
Oscar Guerao Mihkel Raim Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Darijus Dzervus Alexandr Ovsyannikov Jan Drago Petelin Itamar Einhorn Lucas Hamilton
First classic of the year for Guerao. The terrain is quite dodgy for him, tough to expect big time result, but it is doable. With Guerao, it's all RNG seems like
To be frank, this sucked. All Guerao could muster in this new home was 9th in GC, 2nd on S2 and couple points scored in other stages. BIG UNIT OVSYA did manage to win the youth standings, so that lessened the blow just a bit. This will hurt our budget for next season.
This was a moderately successful race, better PPRD than our average still. Denifl got us on the right track right off the bat by taking 3rd on S1. However, Guerao completely shat the bed on the flat stages by being a complete nonfactor. Tough stretch for him. BUT! S3 was another triumphant performance, this time by none other than our boy Siskevicius. He got VIOLATED by Kump during their attack and had to settle for 2nd. Denifl continued his podium performances by taking another 3rd on S5, catapulting him to 2nd in the GC! But alas, it wasn't meant to end on a good note. TT was going to hurt his placement, and he was demoted all the way down to 6th. But Nareklishvili finish 3rd once again for us, making up the point loss just a tad bit. Krizek and Carpenter also managed to place in the top 25, in the end placing us 2nd on the team rankings.
I did not put much hope into this one, but I was proven wrong, it ended up being quite great! Intxausti and Ahmad Zamri had themselves a decent TT, placing themselves in top 25. The queen stage was not GREAT, but it helped Tim Dees Nuts overcome his sad TT performance to jump all the way up to 20th in GC, while Intxausti finished 11th. Not amazing by any means, but 60 points for 3RD is an acceptable performance for us.
GC - Intxausti 11th, Dees Nuts 20th
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[HC] Tour of Cyprus
We were completely silent in first couple stages. S3 was not much different, however, Denifl stayed in the leaders group not losing time (other than to the random dude). Denifl managed to grab himself 4th on the final stage and finish 6th on GC. Another 20 PPRD race, mainly due to absolutely no depth scoring, but Denifl didn't shit the bed and that's enough.
GC - Denifl 6th
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[HC] Tour of Ukraine
What a fantastic race for us. I was quite sceptical, but for what reason?! They did let us bang and we did bro. Dees Nuts, Intxausti and Ahmad Zamri quickly placed themselves in the top 20 after S1. And Dees Nuts continued his triumphant performance (let him have it) by SOMEHOW grabbing 3rd on S2, which he should have no reason taking, but I'll chalk it up to our numbers advantage and we also had 4 other guys finish in the top 40 in the stage. S3 wasn't GREAT, but it didn't really matter, Dees Nuts stayed in 3rd and shows that Zalgiris treats their riders much better than Generali ever did. BIG POINTS FOR YA BOI, too many to even count.
Stages - Dees Nuts 3rd S2
GC - Dees Nuts 3rd, Intxausti 10th, Ahmad Zamri 14th, Teams 1st
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[HC] Veenendaal - Veenendaal
The bunch got banged hard by the late attack who in the end managed to finish 30 seconds ahead of the pack. Guerao finished 8th, which is..expected? Definitely happier with 8th here than in the stage races, so WE TAKE THOSE.
"Another triumphant performance [...] by [...] Siskevicius"
I love to read this!
Overall a pretty good month for you. Ukraine as the highlight but also finishing top 10 in basically every race is a great way to score lots of points.
knockout wrote:
"Another triumphant performance [...] by [...] Siskevicius"
I love to read this!
Overall a pretty good month for you. Ukraine as the highlight but also finishing top 10 in basically every race is a great way to score lots of points.
Bad news, it's NOT looking good. Our leaders are tired and May will be their break.
[PTHC] Cheshire Cycling Tour
Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Alexandr Ovsyannikov Jan Drago Petelin Beka Nareklishvili Justas Beniusis Venantas Lasinis Itamar Einhorn Lucas Hamilton
A point would be MASSIVE. Basically just Nepo + 7 unmaxed riders. Can Ovsya show why he's ACTUALLY worth 5 million+?
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[C1] Windhoek ITT
Andreas Hofer Welle Jallays Giorgi Nareklishvili
Hofer took 4th last year, can he do similar? His season has been quite disappointing so far, but this could be his race to prove his worth. Nareklishvili has had decent results this year, hoping he can continue impressing here.
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[PTHC] Chrono d'Arenberg
Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Alexandr Ovsyannikov Welle Jallays
Wacko race o'clock. A point for me please.
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[PTHC] Scandinavia Open Road Race
Evaldas Siskevicius Egidijus Juodvalkis Venantas Lasinis Matthias Krizek Andreas Hofer Welle Jallays Jan Drago Petelin Beka Nareklishvili
Yet another PTHC race. Maybe 2 points? Any points will do, maybe Siskevicius can have his random superman stage performances here.
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[HC] Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt
Stefan Denifl Benat Intxausti Robin Carpenter Tim Dees Nuts Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri Egidijus Juodvalkis Welle Jallays
Look at this squad man, so inspirational. One of whole TWO races this year where Intxausti will be riding alongside Denifl. Definitely hoping it results in BIG POINT. Absolutely no sprinting other than Jallays possible getting into the break on the flat stages. If we can get both climbers into Top 10 GC, this will be BIG. Both Dees Nuts and Ahmad Zamri can also contribute big. Definitely most excited for this one.
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[C2] Giro del Trentino
Matthias Krizek Alexandr Ovsyannikov Jan Drago Petelin Beka Nareklishvili Justas Beniusis Venantas Lasinis Itamar Einhorn Lucas Hamilton
Honorary member - Andreas Hofer - unfairly BANNED from the race
Just Krizek and a bunch of unmaxed dudes. Matthias could possibly get into scoring position, but other than that, we're here only for xp (and because we god damn have to).
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[C1] Olympia's Tour
Giorgi Nareklishvili Mihkel Raim Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy Darijus Dzervus Alexandr Ovsyannikov Itamar Einhorn Venantas Lasinis Beka Nareklishvili
Possibly interesting race for us, with plenty of opportunities to score. Not expecting big time results, but some decent scoring is somewhat guaranteed.
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Points expected: 20Edited by quadsas on 08-02-2021 11:41
And I am not worried about decline, worse case scenario (like with Intxausti) I'll have a fantastic general in Denifl and a decent leadout in Guerao, and declining riders are cheaper anyways 
Benat Intxausti
Evaldas Siskevicius
Giorgi Nareklishvili
Matthias Krizek
Mihkel Raim
Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy
Alexandr Ovsyannikov
Welle Jallays
Lucas Hamilton
Itamar Einhorn
Robin Carpenter
Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri
Jan Drago Petelin
Tim Dees
