redordead wrote:
Very good season so far. Looks like you might be pushing for a top 10 spot.
Unlikely, but we are having a satisfactory season I'd say (other than completely failing goals :lol
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Let's do a little recap, a completely average month+, I am completely apathetic towards it.
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[PTHC] Cheshire Cycling Tour
We scored 8 points! Thanks to Ovsya and Nepo. Nothing to say, filler race for now.
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[C1] Windhoek ITT
Pretty satisfactory result, considering the field. Hofer took 8th, which is probably a slight overperforming, but Giorgi brought it right back with a sad 15th. But still, pretty good!
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[PTHC] Scandinavia Open Road Race
14 points. These PTHC races haven't been going well since, well, Portugal. XP is nice though.
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[HC] Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt
Ah, finally, a fun one! Stage 1 was an extremely encouraging one - Denifl beasted and feasted, only losing to the eater of worlds himself, Pluchkin. Intxausti was also good, losing a bit of time, but in the top 15.
Stage 2 was not good though. The break won the stage AND Denifl lost time to 3 other GC candidates, dropping down to 3rd in GC.
S3, 4 and 6 were non-factors for us. But Stage 5 certainly wasn't. And Denifl had an absolute stinker, losing almost a minute to GC favorites, even getting bested by Intxausti! Outrageous I tell ya. And it will cost him as timetrialing is definitely not his strongest discipline.
The timetrial, was, um, fine? Dees Nuts continues his amazing season by taking 6th with other 3 timetrial friendly doms in top 25. Denifl had an unsuprising stinker too and fell way down to 6th in GC, but Intxausti jumped to 9th! Dees' performance got him into Top 30, while Carpenter finished 33rd. Overall, a great race for us. If not for a stinker on stage 5, Denifl could've finished 4th, but oh well.
Not much to say, other than that Krizek scored some points. But all C2 races for us are purely for xp, I could not care less about it.
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[C1] Olympia's Tour
Straight garbage. Got ourselves a donut.
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[PTHC] Riga - Jurmala GP
Guerao was pathetic, still scored 8 points though! That's aight. Unfortunately our goal was to win it.
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[C1] Hanko Classic
Guerao with 7th. Good! His resistance really hurts if the sprint is not perfectly timed, but pure POWER still guarantees a decent result in a bunch.
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[HC] Grands Prix Cyclistes
What a weird race. Pretty much every team scored and ended up being a pprd booster for everyone. Break won both stages, and Krizek was lucky enough to get into one on Stage 2 and finish 3rd, and 12th in GC. Siskevicius finished 17th. I vote for a route change, it's a stupid race.
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Pos
Last
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
13
20
DK - SVA Zalgiris
1777
113
15,73
2753
So we are comfortably in mid table for NOW. It looks like we will end up finishing around 18th or so, but, most importantly, we should not be having a relegation scare, even though Denifl's RDs are mostly spent.
Another 'amount of time' has gone and Žalgiris is still killing the game.
[C1] Monterrey TTT
One of the easiest victories of our lives, Intxausti carried the squad through the hills and brought home a dub. Certainly expected and anything else would've been a complete joke.
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[HC] Berlin ProRace
Guerao was once again kind of average, but at least he's one of the guys who does score, even though not much, but fairly consistently and I am cool with it, 9th and 30th is an acceptable result fo sho.
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[HC] Tour of the Middle East
We haven't done anything of particular in this race, however it still yielded a fine amount of points. Two riders in top 15, 3 more in top 50. Had Guerao not shit the bed in sprint stages in tours maybe this could've been a certified banger, but we'll take it.
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[C1] Celtic Chrono
Did not expect too much as our TTers are not incredibly strong individually, so 12th and 15th was pretty fair for Narekli and Hofer.
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[C1] Kenya Mountain Classic
This was good, but will never know how much better it could've been had our guys not employed a Pepega strategy. 4th for Denifl is still a great result, but Intxausti and Carpenter cracked due to their pulling and finished at the bottom of the pack, still scoring, but could've finished better. We'll take the points though.
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[C2] Classico San Cristobal
Didn't score, don't care
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[C2] Sakartvelo Trophy
It took an absolutely herculian effort by Fabbro to beat Krizalid, as he continues his fantastic season with a 2nd in our step-home race.
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So yes, this was a fine stretch for us, only stinking it up in a pointless C2 race. And such fortunes allowed Žalgiris to climb further up the rankings, now up to 11th.
Spoiler
Pos
Last
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
9
8
Polar
2221
121
18,36
3213
10
12
Minions
2068
118
17,53
3068
11
13
DK - SVA Zalgiris
2064
131
15,76
2758
12
10
Podium Ambition
2052
138
14,87
2602
13
11
Berg Cycles
1983
125
15,86
2776
14
14
Desigual
1906
107
17,81
3117
It is going to be pretty hard to keep that spot, we are projected to finish in 12-15th range, which is probably quite fair.
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Individually, well, there isn't much to write home about, it's been a lot of depth points with many riders contributing (as knockout correctly pointed out in their PCT preview).
Spoiler
25
22
Stefan Denifl
AUT
DK - SVA Zalgiris
500
65
63
Oscar Guerao
ESP
DK - SVA Zalgiris
268
67
75
Benat Intxausti
ESP
DK - SVA Zalgiris
261
77
72
Tim Dees
NED
DK - SVA Zalgiris
222
92
88
Matthias Krizek
AUT
DK - SVA Zalgiris
182
131
143
Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri
MAS
DK - SVA Zalgiris
99
135
131
Evaldas Siskevicius
LTU
DK - SVA Zalgiris
96
143
158
Robin Carpenter
USA
DK - SVA Zalgiris
89
156
177
Andreas Hofer
AUT
DK - SVA Zalgiris
76
162
178
Welle Jallays
BEL
DK - SVA Zalgiris
68
165
155
Darijus Dzervus
LTU
DK - SVA Zalgiris
63
207
223
Giorgi Nareklishvili
GEO
DK - SVA Zalgiris
44
230
216
Alexandr Ovsyannikov
KAZ
DK - SVA Zalgiris
35
306
494
Justas Beniusis
LTU
DK - SVA Zalgiris
21
350
380
Mihkel Räim
EST
DK - SVA Zalgiris
13
373
421
Egidijus Juodvalkis
LTU
DK - SVA Zalgiris
11
414
338
Jan Drago Petelin
LUX
DK - SVA Zalgiris
6
429
413
Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy
KAZ
DK - SVA Zalgiris
5
445
432
Itamar Einhorn
ISR
DK - SVA Zalgiris
4
492
485
Beka Nareklishvili
GEO
DK - SVA Zalgiris
1
Denifl, naturally, is our top scorer but almost double, but his season is almost over (still a classic and a stage race remaining). Intxausti has had a blinder I'd say, he's been very consistent and basically performing at same level as he did last year, even after decline. Now Giorgi and Nepo are having a stinker. Giorgi should be scoring more than Hofer and Jallays, and Nepo is getting nothing done, Ovsya has 7 times more points than him. But it is a nice sight to see a balanced team.
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And of course, from 2021 season (right?) onwards, DK - SVA Žalgiris will be riding under Red Bull Žalgiris name. More on that in the future.
I guess the team will get another energy boost next year with Red Bull
Yes.
Season is over, we absolutely SHATTERED the hopes and dreams of those begging for ŽALGIRIS to get relegated.
A nice photo of Chad enjoying a tasty Red Bull can with Žalgiris colours
Season reviews are for MONSTER lovers (ew), we achieved our goals of getting 0/5 season goals and still surviving, and we are taking our rag tag of wheelchair bound oldfarts to next season with high hopes of once again SHATTERING THE MORALE of the opposition.
Red Bull Žalgiris will retain their partnership with SVA (Sakartvelo Cycling Academy), but even more focus will be put in towards development and acquisition of those wacky Austrians, as Krizalid and Denifl are old as hell.
Big offseason with, once again, a lot of activity from us, big things are coming, and it ain't dat boi
