Big congratz to Rakuten and BBL for their great results here and jph for the great and quick reports throughout the whole race!
I'm quite happy with Machado finishing on that final podium Was a hard goal to target in the begining of the race there was strong competition, Shikai looked unbeatable and Warbasse really strong in some stages, Machado didn't have a bad day and kept his own throughout the whole race, getting on that podium early on and then keeping it till the end. Awesome performance by Seboka also on the MTT, I leave the race happy and hoping to be back with similar or even better ambitions next season.
Good race for us, although Gaviria second again is a bit unfortunate. Looking at the points hurts as well though, 150 lost on Carlsberg is probably too much and we also gain just a bit over Europcar who scored massively in the Balkans.
Congrats Rakuten and thanks for a great series of reports jph!
AKA, doing his characteristic "don't sprint until 400 meters left for no reason whatsoever." Figures.
All in all though, an immensely successful race for us. Warbasse overachieved in every way possible. My expectation coming in were a top 10 for him and maybe a top 20 for Garby. 2nd place is behind my wildest dreams. We might have an actual chance to avoid relegation now, although I'm not convinced. We'll have to see the rankings to get the full picture. This was our last real points scoring chance, so we'll need a buffer now, and I doubt we have it.
It wasn't all sunshine and roses, with AKA's failure being the top most. Garby may have helped Warbasse a bit, but definitely underperformed in GC and refused to go in breaks. Plus, I can't decide if the breakaway days were good or bad for us. They robbed Warbasse of stage results and points if he would have shined, but saved him if he would have cracked. We'll never really know.
In any case, the unexpected success of Warbasse on GC much more than makes up for those. I would never have imagined leaving here the second highest points tally. In this case, the risk was absolutely worth it, and a boatload of fun. Warbasse was a last minute ridiculous overspend to try to save my season - it might have somehow worked.
Congrats to Rakuten on a worthy, dominating performance. Thank you so much to jph for blessing us with two amazing reports a day. It's been awesome to have a report to wake up to in the morning, and another one to greet me in the afternoon.
Edit: A very underrated aspect of the ToA points the jersey wearing/podium holding points, if you can get there. That's a nice chunk of points for me here that for the top 3 can somewhat make up for only getting one GC points load for 21 race days.
Edited by baseballlover312 on 11-07-2020 14:08
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Thanks everyone for the congrats. It was a great race for us, leading for most of it, and taking several stages. I'm extremely happy with the result. I had hoped that the ToA would be a big scoring race for us, but I dont think I ever expected it to be this successful.
In my 9 seasons (I think) in the MG, this may have been my best bit of planning ever, and I never expected it to work.
Thanks very much for the reports, and amazing pace JPH. The work you have put in to the MG this season has been amazing.
First of all, thanks to jph for the amazing reports and consistency all through the event! It was a pleasure to read them
Coming to the race, it was a fun event to be a part of. We were in the mix for a lot of things throughout. Marquez ended up around where he was expected to be but losing out a place by a second was a big disappointment. I like how consistent Inkelaar was, especially in the second half of the race.
200 points from 21 race days isn't enough I'm afraid. More or less resigned to going down now. The gamble didn't quite work out.
Big congratulations to valverde on the big race and the huge promotion push. It's been coming for a few seasons now
So... I think I need to break this down into the 3 weeks... here we go.
Week 1:
Well where the hell did that ride from Anguilet come from in the Prologue!! Yellow jersey is nice to have on the back in a race where we are all about stage wins rather than GC. Stef Krul woke up on the right side of the bed, being very active in the early stages and wearing White for a stage.
The TT was a nothing stage as expected, so less of that the better I think. But stage 6... YES HATEGEKA! A great stage win and just continues the amazing start to the race. Jacobs nearly taking the win on stage 7 would have finished the first week in the best way possible.
Week 2:
Starting the 2nd week with Hategeka moving in Polka Dots... nice to see how many times we have seen in the breaks so this race. I count 5 different riders now I think. Looks like Malacarne and Scarponi will be given him a fight for the jersey however. And by stage 10 and 11, I think will be all Malacarne's. Very dominate from him out in the break and a massive lead for him now.
Away from the mountains, it is a great 4th place finish for McLay on Stage 12. Ever consistant, he has been a great guy for the sprints and lead out this season. The 2nd TT is a repeat of Week 1 - we won't talk about that at all. Hategeka with a strong finish to the 2nd week, with another great ride and sprint for 4th place.
Week 3:
Another great start from Cuming to the 3rd week and a great 2nd place on the Queen Stage but he then follows it with a Top 5 on Stage 16 as Vinhas wakes up in the race and takes a back to back 2nd place himself on 16 and 17 and a Top 5 on Stage 19. Amazing stuff from the team in this race to perform when a GC was never on the cards.
The final TT and last stage offered nothing for us, but what a race all round from the guys. 2 stage wins, many podiums, Vinhas sneaking into the Top 15 on GC and lots and lots of TV Coverage for the GCN channel. Sponsors are very happy indeed!
Well done to Chen Shikai and Rakuten on the GC victory. It was a dominance throughout really!
Thank you for the excellent reports throughout jph27
Was a hard goal to target in the begining of the race there was strong competition, Shikai looked unbeatable and Warbasse really strong in some stages, Machado didn't have a bad day and kept his own throughout the whole race, getting on that podium early on and then keeping it till the end. Awesome performance by Seboka also on the MTT, I leave the race happy and hoping to be back with similar or even better ambitions next season.
and Thanks to JPH for some Great reporting 
