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ICL18 - Race Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 07:45
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 26-04-2018 06:11
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11675
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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First of all, thanks to everyone for a brilliant ICL season. Spectatcular racing for the most part.
Apologies for my constant moaning about my climbing squad all through. I sort of knew they weren't good enough but didn't know they'd be so bad. The Vuelta result made up for most of it. Might just have saved Porte's seat in the squad for next season, despite the decline. Degenkolb was the undoubted star and without his signing, for which I took advantage of Santos's misfortune, we would've been relegated for sure. Van Avermaet was hit and miss, with a couple of nice wins along the way. I had predicted 15th for my team at the start of the season, and beat that by a position, so I guess I should be satisfied 
Congratulations to CarbonSports on doing the double and for Sagan's win in the Individual World Cup! Complete domination, and the Contador trade was the expected final piece of the jigsaw. Congrats also to Italo for a somewhat surprising win in the World Cup, slipping under the radar and performing consistently in those races. Congratulations to Vittel, whose performances as a new team was incredible! I wouldn't be surprised if they have a great first season in the WT too, given their base. Sevilla, after being dubbed as favourites for the drop, end up the highest finishing promoted team!
Three very competitive teams going down to the CT in SAP, Ceramica and Santos. I'm sure they'll be in the running to come straight back up. A mention of CCC is a must, who look to have just missed out on promotion once again!
Not much expectations from the World Championships, so mostly will be an excited spectator. Looking forward to the rest of the scouting process and the ever-exciting development sheet 
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 26-04-2018 06:39
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Team Leader
Posts: 7366
Joined: 11-07-2014
PCM$: 700.00
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Ah, well we relegate, kinda fair given I wasn't nearly as active as I have been in the past or should've been - though we easily had a strong enough squad, PCM just isn't liking me that much here or in the MG. 
On the bright side, going down means Spagnoli may get some goes in a leadership role and De Gendt can stay with us a season longer, two awesome riders. while many our other cool guys will be quite useful too.
Thank you very much for the awesome season bikex and all the reporters, as well as everyone else involved.
Now for the World Championships, would I be right in feeling that Kwiat owes us something?
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Ripley |
Posted on 26-04-2018 06:46
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3341
Joined: 25-11-2014
PCM$: 300.00
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Wow, that was a lot of fun. Thanks so much Bikex for creating the ICL and you, Shonak and Abhishek for running the season. Every result and especially every video is like opening a present, full of surprises. And the stats nerd in me is very satisfied, too, I'll compile a few stats in the coming days. And I'm looking forward to the WC, of course.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 26-04-2018 07:01
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Thanks for a great season of ICL everybody! Especially Shonak, Abhishek, Croatia and, of course, Bikex for bringing it to life. Love to see CarbonSports winning (I claim some part in that ), and Grupo Argos moving in on their goals taking silver (ditto). Also loved the debutants, particularly Aviva and Ripley (Dowsett takes your amazing contributions to a new level) and Vittel and YJ, what a team!
Commiserations to SAP for being screwed a little, as well as one of our long-term rivals and admired teams in CCC - hope you can go up next time finally! We will be biddng for Ochoa and Rivera though 
For us, it was awful. Siskevicius had his moment of glory, but in the wrong division, and Appo and Bennett occasionally showed some fight. Ospina was good at times but not good enough, whilst Majka was just plain awful. Shoulda kept Dege
It was an uphill battle from the start but I was looking forward at least to our fight. Turns out we had none, which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, as does our failure in scouting too. I'll need a while to think over what happens to our plans, now the talent-focused side of things took a hit.
Apologies for not contributing and commenting as much as I could have - I wanted to but my team's invisibility makes it hard I guess 
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
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-04-2018 08:14
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Happy with how our season panned out. Herrada above my expectations with that Vuelta win and safely winning two podiums in Sochi and Tour. The real surprise was Bananito's performances though. He took full use of the opportunities after Gilbert's decline and established himself as the best hill rider next to Barguil. This is all the more surprising bc Kwiatek should have been that guy by far. If he had performed to expectations, SAP would have been far in the safe zone. Hope that trek will strike back right away though.
Fernandez also delivered well, who knows what future has in store for him. VDP and Pulido on the right track. I don't have many high pot talents but I sure love to see their progress.
Many positives to take away from this season. The upgraded climbers really showed their presence, highlighted by two GT wins and Aru fulfilled his manager's big goal since he started (I think). New teams really made a huge impact, especially Vittel, Aviva, Wilier and Statoil (dat Tour). I hope that many teams remain but it looks like the future of Bunzl, TVM and Alitalia is undecided. Whilst Froome is about to decline, Nibali and Contador still have one more big season ahead of them. So next year will be thrilling to follow again.
Congratulations to all the winners and the promoting teams. Well done. The season was a blast, now finger crossed for some medals at the WC.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 26-04-2018 09:05
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Another season done than, great to see this game making it so far. Thank you Bikex and all reporters for your hard work!
Congratulations to all winners, starting with Vittel and their monster season. Welcome to the WT! Congrats knockout as well for all those wins. And Italo for somehow winning the team world cup. Suntory also deserves a mention with their dominating U23 team.
It hurts to lose the top 5 so late in the season, but 6th is alright I guess. It does hurt we were crap / had bad luck in San Remo, le Tour and Eneco, 2 goal races and the biggest race of the year. But the Ronde-Roubaix double was something unique, so it's definitely a good season. Not great, but good.
Edited by Ollfardh on 26-04-2018 09:15
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 26-04-2018 09:14
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
Joined: 04-07-2012
PCM$: 15345.00
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We started the final month just outside the relegation zone, but then Martin finally won a race, Il Lombardia, and we moved into safe haven. My commiserations to the relegating teams, and of course congratulations to the promotees. And to the champions of ICL, CarbonSports.
Thanks to bikex for running this so smoothly this season, a month about every week is a crazy pace. Also my thanks to all the reporters and everyone else out there. I might not be as active here as I am in MG but I nevertheless enjoy being a part of this
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| dominox |
Posted on 26-04-2018 10:11
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1452
Joined: 23-07-2014
PCM$: 5533.75
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It was one of the fastest season in cycling I have ever witnessed. Thanks to all reporters for all the job you did, and Bikex for organizing it! You all did an amazing job once again! Congratulations to all Grand Tour winners, ranking leaders and teams that will get the promotion. Once again CCC will be the first team to miss the cut! Or second, but nevermind... Like I said, no WT races next season.
AbhishekLFC wrote:
A mention of CCC is a must, who look to have just missed out on promotion once again!
Yeah, once again!
jandal7 wrote:
Commiserations to SAP for being screwed a little, as well as one of our long-term rivals and admired teams in CCC - hope you can go up next time finally! We will be biddng for Ochoa and Rivera though
Thanks for that! And no thanks for that
| Continental Tour Ranking | Prestige Ranking | | October 2016 | 7th place (3062 pts) | 26th place (3062 pts) | | October 2017 | 6th place (3736 pts) | 28th place (3736 pts) | | October 2018 | 6th place (4575 pts) | 19th place (5126 pts) |
AND IT STILL WASN'T ENOUGH...
Maybe it's a twist? Maybe we are saying we would like a promotion but don't want it? |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 26-04-2018 10:25
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
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Time to go 100% Caribbean
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 26-04-2018 10:45
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
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or go crazy on steals in an attempt to restart LIUCPBM3GCIPBT?
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:23
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Aquarius97 wrote:
- With Vittel, Credit Suisse and Aviva we have three absolutely awesome promotion teams
Please tell me that i'm not missing on promotion by less than 200 points 
Afair it's 600 points to Aviva since the CT ranking determines who is promoting, not Prestige?
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:26
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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Shonak wrote:
Aquarius97 wrote:
- With Vittel, Credit Suisse and Aviva we have three absolutely awesome promotion teams
Please tell me that i'm not missing on promotion by less than 200 points
Afair it's 600 points to Aviva since the CT ranking determines who is promoting, not Prestige?
Prestige Ranking decides who promotes
World Tour Rankibg decides who relegates
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Ripley |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:29
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3341
Joined: 25-11-2014
PCM$: 300.00
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That's right. It makes the continental rankings fairly useless, which is why I extracted the CT riders from the prestige rankings for my CT review.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:33
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Ah ok. I didn't know that. thanks.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:37
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11675
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Original WT manager problems
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:49
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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Well, if it was CT Ranking determining the promotions, no CT team would send their top riders to WT races
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:57
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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Hey, we're clueless about the game mechanics
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| nacho63 |
Posted on 26-04-2018 11:59
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Sprinter
Posts: 1944
Joined: 14-03-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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No need, just send Contador to everything = profit |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-04-2018 12:17
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Hope I'll never have any others
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ripley |
Posted on 26-04-2018 17:30
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3341
Joined: 25-11-2014
PCM$: 300.00
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Aquarius97 wrote:
Well, if it was CT Ranking determining the promotions, no CT team would send their top riders to WT races
I didn't anyway. 4 prestige points in the WT, yeah!
So, yeah, the CT rankings are necessary to show how everybody did in CT races, but you have to include WT performances when it comes to promotion, and that makes the CT ranking secondary. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but at least in the past the leader in the individual CT ranking got to wear a special (white?) jersey, so that's something. Would have been Herklotz pretty much all season long, but he always wore white or even yellow anyway.
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
