Not a big fan of the Ranaweera and APP leadership, they're probably not up to the task in PCT. Add some ageing sprinters nobody ever heard of and a German lead cobbler and you have the recipe for relegation.
I also don't like this dubious Devo Team you set up, it just seems fishy!
The plan before the season was quite simple. Get a top sprinter and try to ride him for goals, then add an or goal with 2 different races just in case. We considered going for Groves or Halvorsen but ended up with (for our nationality) our first choice in Coquard. Can he win everything we want? Not likely, but hopefully we will be in contention.
Leaders calender
Planning your leaders is always hard and I never feel I get it perfect. When selecting HC and PTHC we didn't really plan for a climber or a cobble rider but rather focused on the flat races we wanted thus making it a bit awkward. Still in the end we are quite happy with how the calender works out. If I am right we will end up with 1 race where we have no chance to score.
Ranaweera gets one pure climbing classic, hopeing for some luck and then stage races where we try to fit in climbs and TTs. His planning is built around Tour of America and we really hope he will have a good one, we feel the race fits him and he can get a an early jersey and ride that to good points.
APP riders a combination of stage races that fits him and some hilly classics since it fits his race days and we didn't really have another hilly rider for them. I love him in races like TDU
Coquard is our main sprinter and will lead our team in every race he enters. It is a combination of some flat flassics and stage races. We really believe in a good season for him
Rutsch was a hard one, we didn't really plan for a cobble rider and it was more a "thats the way the chips fell". He will thus ride a combination of flat races, stage races and ofc pretty much every cobble race we could find for him. Hopefully next season we will be able to build a better program for him
Rick was pretty much a case of "find every flat race day we are not sending Coquard to" and then a little bit where we send them both. I decided early to send him to ToA to try and pick up stage wins
Oops, what went wrong with some of the flags?
Looks like Latvia actually annexed the U.S.
And not sure APP will race the Grand Prix Cycliste de Lima
Godoy vs. Ranaweera will be an interesting fight in ToA, and I could well imagine that the latter will be ahead for 13 days, and it could go either way on the final day... It will be 1'30"-2'00" for Godoy to make up for after the two TTs, so we'll see ^^
Facing APP in those hilly stage races was expected, but will be nasty (less so than facing Madouas I guess, which will be a pain for both of us). Rutsch definitely doesn't get an optimal schedule, I hope it's not the factor that would push you towards the bottom of the rankings...
As wj/jt mentioned in the podcast, I think sending Zabel to the classics might have made more sense given Coquard's awful stamina, but I guess you tested him and he must do OK. In stage races, both can definitely get their wins, and I don't like to see them all over the place
Good luck, and looking forward to racing against you for the first time since your comeback
Oops, what went wrong with some of the flags?
Looks like Latvia actually annexed the U.S.
And not sure APP will race the Grand Prix Cycliste de Lima
Godoy vs. Ranaweera will be an interesting fight in ToA, and I could well imagine that the latter will be ahead for 13 days, and it could go either way on the final day... It will be 1'30"-2'00" for Godoy to make up for after the two TTs, so we'll see ^^
Facing APP in those hilly stage races was expected, but will be nasty (less so than facing Madouas I guess, which will be a pain for both of us). Rutsch definitely doesn't get an optimal schedule, I hope it's not the factor that would push you towards the bottom of the rankings...
As wj/jt mentioned in the podcast, I think sending Zabel to the classics might have made more sense given Coquard's awful stamina, but I guess you tested him and he must do OK. In stage races, both can definitely get their wins, and I don't like to see them all over the place
Good luck, and looking forward to racing against you for the first time since your comeback
Haha, yeah I noticed the flags, but gave up Became even stranger when I tried to continue and couldn't bother to restart. America it had problems with because it went over several nations.
In general during my testing Coquard just did better than Zabel both on classics and stage races. So I planned him and then stuck Zabel whereever
I have worries both with Rutsch and Ranaweera. The first because of scheldue (I didn't realize how few cobble races I could go to before I sent in C1) and the latter as he has been very hit and go when I've ran races.
In general I should be safe from relegation but there is a world where everything fails... There is also a world where everything clicks and we promote, though it is a less likely world
Six races and 19 race days made for a busy first month of the season. Bryan Coquard was our main man in the sprints, Rick Zabel proved a more than capable partner, and Aurelien Paret-Peintre led us in the hilly stages of Tour Down Under. Luc Wirtgen and Alex Kirsch handled the C2 outings.
We are very happy with how January has gone with good results from start to finish. A one-two in the Great Ocean Road Classic on the last day of the month was a nice way to finish.
[HC] Down Under Classic
1
Sondre Holst Enger
Zwift - Newton Foundation
1h37'00
2
Danny Van Poppel
Bianchi Enel
s.t.
3
Bryan Coquard
Peugeot
s.t.
4
Caleb Ewan
Ethiopian Airlines
s.t.
5
Kaden Hopkins
Bacharu Mamachari Faito!
s.t.
6
Jago Willems
Bralirwa - Cegeka
s.t.
7
Darshana Prasad
SparkNZ - Liquigas Pro Cycling
s.t.
8
Aliaksandr Riabushenko
McCormick Pro Cycling
s.t.
9
Matthew Walls
Tryg - ENI
s.t.
10
Xhuliano Kamberaj
Deutsche WindGuard
s.t.
...
17
Samuel Welsford
Peugeot
s.t.
30
Jonas Rutsch
Peugeot
s.t.
38
Arno Wallenborn
Peugeot
s.t.
44
Trond Hakon Trondsen
Peugeot
s.t.
60
Clement Venturini
Peugeot
s.t.
63
Alex Frame
Peugeot
s.t.
79
Valentin Paret-Peintre
Peugeot
s.t.
Points: 96
PpRD: 48
We opened the season with the HC sprint race Down Under Classic. A short race in good conditions ended in a close bunch sprint, where Bryan Coquard took a solid 3rd place right behind Enger and Van Poppel. We set up a good train and got a good result out if it!
[C1] Tour Down Under
1
Hayden McCormick
Philips - Hero
17h36'02
2
Valentin Madouas
Bralirwa - Cegeka
+ 6
3
Patrick Müller
Team UBS - EDP
+ 7
4
Matthew Walls
Tryg - ENI
+ 8
5
Matevz Govekar
Trans Looney Tunes
+ 13
6
Odd Christian Eiking
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 24
7
Bachirou Nikiema
SEE Turtles
+ 26
8
Christopher Lagane
Bacharu Mamachari Faito!
+ 27
9
Alexandr Kulikovskiy
Philips - Hero
+ 28
10
Jay McCarthy
SEE Turtles
+ 32
...
12
Aurelien Paret-Peintre
Peugeot
+ 34
27
Mark Donovan
Peugeot
+ 1'09
56
Arno Wallenborn
Peugeot
+ 2'55
87
Valentin Paret-Peintre
Peugeot
+ 3'12
101
Paul Magnier
Peugeot
+ 5'37
126
Bryan Coquard
Peugeot
+ 10'58
158
Samuel Welsford
Peugeot
+ 18'02
167
Axel Kallberg
Peugeot
+ 22'24
Points: 45
PpRD: 7.5
Tour Down Under was a mixed bag of hills and sprints, and we brought riders for both. Aurelien Paret-Peintre gave us the highlight on stage 3, winning from the front group ahead of McCormick and Govekar, with Donovan (8th) and Wallenborn (10th) also in the Top 10. He did however lose some time on Willunga Hill and ended up 12th overall.
In the sprints, Coquard was 7th on stage 6, 7th on stage 1 and 15th on stage 4. Not the stage wins we were hoping for from the sprinters, but a stage win and a Top 15 in the GC is a decent return.
[HC] Circulo de Juarez
1
Caleb Ewan
Ethiopian Airlines
17h44'37
2
Jiankun Liu
Trans Looney Tunes
s.t.
3
Rick Zabel
Peugeot
+ 36
4
Fabio Jakobsen
Minions
+ 39
5
Willi Willwohl
Everesting
+ 45
6
Dylan Kennett
SEE Turtles
s.t.
7
Itamar Einhorn
Sauber Petronas Racing
+ 46
8
Danny Van Poppel
Bianchi Enel
s.t.
9
Sondre Holst Enger
Zwift - Newton Foundation
+ 47
10
Jago Willems
Bralirwa - Cegeka
+ 53
...
47
Samuel Welsford
Peugeot
+ 1'21
62
Axel Kallberg
Peugeot
+ 2'25
84
Trond Hakon Trondsen
Peugeot
+ 2'32
107
Paul Magnier
Peugeot
s.t.
119
Mathieu Kockelmann
Peugeot
s.t.
125
Goran Antonijevic
Peugeot
s.t.
128
Brieuc Rolland
Peugeot
s.t.
Points: 177
PpRD: 35.4
Circulo de Juarez was a pure sprinters' race and Rick Zabel made the most of it. After a quiet opening stage (25th, won by Kennett), he was 6th on stage 2, 3rd behind Ewan and Willems on stage 3, 4th on stage 4 and 5th on the final stage, which was enough to finish 3rd overall, just 36 seconds behind Ewan and Liu. Consistent racing from Zabel proved to be the recipe for a good finishing result.
The other big contributor was young Axel Kallberg. He took the mountain jersey after the very first stage and kept it all the way to the end, which was worth a full 25 points for the final classification, and he was also leading the U25 classification for a while before dropping back. Tthis was our best stage race of the month.
[C1] Great Ocean Road Classic
1
Bryan Coquard
Peugeot
3h49'04
2
Rick Zabel
Peugeot
s.t.
3
Fabio Jakobsen
Minions
+ 1
4
Matthew Walls
Tryg - ENI
+ 2
5
Jiankun Liu
Trans Looney Tunes
+ 3
6
Sergey Medvedev
Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh
+ 4
7
Tobias Bayer
JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
+ 6
8
Nicolay Cherkasov
Lotto-Caloi
s.t.
9
Jonas Abrahamsen
Grieg-Maersk
s.t.
10
Warre Vangheluwe
DeNA RoadStars
+ 7
...
16
Jonas Rutsch
Peugeot
+ 1'12
20
Trond Hakon Trondsen
Peugeot
+ 1'12
31
Goran Antonijevic
Peugeot
+ 1'15
42
Clement Venturini
Peugeot
+ 1'17
47
Arno Wallenborn
Peugeot
+ 1'19
115
Valentin Paret-Peintre
Peugeot
+ 2'21
Points: 146
PpRD: 73
The best day of the month came on the last day of it. In a hectic race, Coquard and Zabel were both in the front group and finished 1st and 2nd, ahead of Jakobsen, Walls and Liu. A perfect result, and a second win for the month after Aurelien Paret-Peintre's stage in Australia.
[C2] Clasico San Jose
1
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Fincantieri - Grand Seiko
5h26'04
2
Ronnilan Quita
Deutsche WindGuard
s.t.
3
Simon Yates
JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Alexey Lutsenko
Air New Zealand-Prada
+ 13
5
Joel Yates
Air New Zealand-Prada
+ 19
6
Jay McCarthy
SEE Turtles
s.t.
7
Henry Antonio Rojas
Karthago
s.t.
8
Aime De Gendt
IncaLine Pro Cycling
+ 27
9
Louis Blouwe
Tafjord Kraft
+ 43
10
Simone Velasco
Deutsche WindGuard
+ 1'21
...
17
Alex Kirsch
Peugeot
+ 2'14
23
Luc Wirtgen
Peugeot
+ 2'48
127
Mathieu Kockelmann
Peugeot
+ 14'47
136
Brieuc Rolland
Peugeot
+ 15'43
146
Goran Antonijevic
Peugeot
+ 15'43
156
Christophe Laporte
Peugeot
+ 18'39
172
Axel Kallberg
Peugeot
+ 22'19
173
Paul Magnier
Peugeot
+ 22'19
Points: 4
PpRD: 2
A hilly C2 where Alex Kirsch (17th) and Luc Wirtgen (23rd) did what they could. Not a lot to write home about here
[C2] Hong Kong Challenge
1
Alessandro Covi
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
4h01'12
2
Michal Schlegel
IESE ProCycling Team
s.t.
3
Ronnilan Quita
Deutsche WindGuard
+ 10
4
Simon Yates
JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Alexey Lutsenko
Air New Zealand-Prada
s.t.
6
Guillermo Andres Beltran
Banco Vaticano-Valkyrie
s.t.
7
Luc Wirtgen
Peugeot
s.t.
8
Natnael Tesfatsion
Karthago
s.t.
9
Victor Langellotti
Fincantieri - Grand Seiko
s.t.
10
Muhamad Zawawi Azman
Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh
s.t.
...
29
Alex Kirsch
Peugeot
s.t.
120
Mathieu Kockelmann
Peugeot
s.t.
132
Brieuc Rolland
Peugeot
s.t.
146
Johan Price-Pejtersen
Peugeot
s.t.
162
Paul Magnier
Peugeot
+ 17'33
170
Axel Kallberg
Peugeot
+ 19'34
171
Christophe Laporte
Peugeot
+ 20'14
Points: 17
PpRD: 8.5
Luc Wirtgen took a good 7th place in the Hong Kong Challenge, just behind the leading group, with Alex Kirsch adding a few points in 29th. For a C2 race we can't really complain, a few points scored and we are happy
January Rankings
Pos
Last
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
1
-
Trans Looney Tunes
684
21
32,57
5309
2
-
Peugeot
485
19
25,53
4161
3
-
Ethiopian Airlines
453
17
26,65
4344
4
-
Bralirwa - Cegeka
406
19
21,37
3483
5
-
Team UBS - EDP
312
14
22,29
3633
We are very happy with the month and coming in on 2nd place. We really hope we can keep this form going forward
Incredible January for you, congrats! I really didn't see in particular Zabel scoring that high, and even with Coquard I was rather pessimistic about his support stats. But it looks like it doesn't matter for them; driving the newest Peugeot cars seems to motivate them well enough to go beyond any potential weaknesses
APP's TDU was rather subpar, maybe compensating for some of your sprinters' huge scoring But I'm sure he'll do well in other races
I hope I'll eventually catch you, but if your sprinters continue their amazing run (and Rutsch seems to be going strong as well), your promotion dreams might actually come true
