Am I being blind or did Europcar not score any World Tour points before the Giro? and Giant Alpecin are going really well for a PCT team, this might be the AI not signing guys based on which division they are likely to be in but on which division they are currently be in taking an effect on their squad strengths though.
Yes, that seems to have been the case. Europcar will drop right back to PCT most likely, and I'm afraid we'll do the same, too.
Hopefully the team will up their game in the second part of the season. Just curious, what difficulty are you playing on?
Am I being blind or did Europcar not score any World Tour points before the Giro? and Giant Alpecin are going really well for a PCT team, this might be the AI not signing guys based on which division they are likely to be in but on which division they are currently be in taking an effect on their squad strengths though.
Yes, that seems to have been the case. Europcar will drop right back to PCT most likely, and I'm afraid we'll do the same, too.
Hopefully the team will up their game in the second part of the season. Just curious, what difficulty are you playing on?
Things are definitely looking better now (next post).
I had been playing on hard. But the transition to WT was tough and I've been switching back and forth a bit, now, since their development is slower than I expected (Olujimi only up like 3 MO points in season and a half, Sekibo barely 3 or 4 sprint)
Talent always finds its way to the surface. In the Giro d'Italia 2016, young South-African Farai Olujimi turned into the fan-favorite in no time. Three weeks was all he needed to conquer the hearts off all cycling fans.
After a troublesome start, Olujimi picked himself up and got himself in the breakaway of the day in stage 14. Two whole weeks had passed and that's when Olujimi starts to really kick in. His recovery is quite amazing.
Stage 14
Leaving behind his companions on the only climb of the day, Olujimi started his campaign of going for the Mountain Jersey. After his time loss early in the Giro, the Mountain Jersey was now what he coveted. 31 Points awaited him at the top.
The peloton gave the breakaway quite some time and Olujimi stood his own in the downhill. Pirazzi was the last one to give him trouble, but he cracked on the final 10 km flat.
Oluijmi crossed the finish line in disbelief. His first professional victory. Talk about making an entry!
1
Farai Olujimi
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:00
2
Stefano Pirazzi
Lampre-Merida
+01:32
3
Wilco Kelderman
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+02:56
4
Enrico Barbin
Bardiani CSF
+02:56
5
Rigoberto Uran
Movistar Team
+02:56
6
Mikel Landa
Astana Pro Team
+02:56
7
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+02:56
8
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+02:56
9
Damiano Caruso
Astana Pro Team
+02:56
10
Simon Spilak
BMC Racing Team
+02:56
Oddly enough, Olujimi finished one but last on the mountain time trial two days later. He didn't break a sweat. This must've been deliberate, or had he been celebrating too much the night before? Part of a greater plan?
Stage 17
1
Farai Olujimi
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:00
2
Leopold König
Team Sky
+00:34
3
Domenico Pozzovivo
Etixx - Quick-step
+00:34
4
Mikel Landa
Astana Pro Team
+00:34
5
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+00:34
6
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+00:34
7
Wilco Kelderman
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+00:34
8
Jakob Fuglsang
Tinkoff-Saxo
+00:34
9
Rafal Majka
Tinkoff-Saxo
+00:34
10
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Katusha
+00:34
And so it was! Olujimi was in an 8-men breakaway once again. Taking more mountain points and coming closer to that jersey, but to everyone's surprise the main group miscalculated and came half a minute too late. Olujimi celebrated his second Giro stage win. What a debut Giro for the young South-African.
At this moment, everyone wanted to interview Olujimi, wanted to see him, touch him. He had now conquered the hearts of many a cycling fan.
And, still... The Giro was not over.
Stage 19
Two days later. Who is part of the BOTD? It's Farai Olujimi. He still needs at least 60 mountain points to contest for the Mountain Jersey. Today there are many points to be earned. 32 for a cat 1, 40 for HC and 16 at the finish line.
With enough confidence, you can do anything. Olujimi went over the first 2 cols first, fending off attacks from De Gendt, who had his eyes set on the jersey, too.
The gap to the peloton kept growing. And so it seemed another breakaway victory was in the making.
Olujimi left De Gendt behind to take the Cima Coppi, and another 40 Mountain Points!
And it seemed as if all MTN's bad luck had been piling up and now it was being turned around in threefold. A third major victory in barely 6 days for Farai Olujimi. This looks like the start of an incredible career!
1
Farai Olujimi
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:00
2
Thomas De Gendt
Lotto Soudal
+02:31
3
Giampaolo Caruso
Team Katusha
+04:50
4
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+06:36
5
Adam Yates
Orica-GreenEDGE
+06:36
6
Wilco Kelderman
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+06:36
7
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+06:36
8
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+07:05
9
Rafal Majka
Tinkoff-Saxo
+07:05
10
Simon Spilak
BMC Racing Team
+07:05
Olujimi was now in 8th in the General Classification, thanks to his lead in these breaks.
On stage 20, however, Olujimi finally showed he, too, is just human.
The final time trial in Verona, ending the Giro, was a major thriller. Pinot was down 7 seconds on Nibali, could he still win this Giro? Olujimi was in 11th, but with König not too far off. Fuglsang, at 10th, seemed out of reach.
General Classification
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+00:00
2
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+00:19
3
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+02:15
4
Adam Yates
Orica-GreenEDGE
+02:44
5
Rigoberto Uran
Movistar Team
+05:00
6
Rafal Majka
Tinkoff-Saxo
+05:55
7
Simon Spilak
BMC Racing Team
+06:00
8
Wilco Kelderman
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+08:16
9
Mikel Landa
Astana Pro Team
+09:59
10
Jakob Fuglsang
Tinkoff-Saxo
+12:32
11
Farai Olujimi
MTN-Qhubeka
+14:40
12
Leopold König
Team Sky
+14:47
13
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Katusha
+14:55
14
Merhawi Kudus
MTN-Qhubeka
+18:54
15
Damiano Caruso
Astana Pro Team
+20:07
16
Louis Meintjes
MTN-Qhubeka
+20:35
17
Yury Trofimov
Team Katusha
+20:51
18
Darwin Atapuma
MTN-Qhubeka
+22:17
19
Davide Formolo
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+22:30
20
Jan Polanc
Lampre-Merida
+26:32
On the final podium, Olujimi got the loudest applaus of them all, except for national hero Nibali, of course. 3 stage wins and the Mountain Jersey. This 22 year old has just launched himself into an incredible story.
Mountain Points
1
Farai Olujimi
MTN-Qhubeka
215
2
Thomas De Gendt
Lotto Soudal
167
3
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
156
4
Mikel Landa
Astana Pro Team
114
5
Wilco Kelderman
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
98
Further North, our other young friend was racing in the Tour of Belgium. In the first stage, he managed a nice top 10, contesting in the sprint.
However, motivated by Olujimi's performances, Sekibo got himself into the perfect position in stage 2, finishing it off with a perfect sprint. His first of the season!
1
Mandla Sekibo
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:00
2
Gianni Meersman
Etixx - Quick-step
+00:00
3
Daniel Oss
BMC Racing Team
+00:00
4
Bryan Coquard
Team Giant-Alpecin
+00:00
5
Theo Bos
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:00
6
Edward Theuns
Lotto Soudal
+00:00
7
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team Sky
+00:00
8
Baptiste Planckaert
Etixx - Quick-step
+00:00
9
Lars Boom
Etixx - Quick-step
+00:00
10
Taylor Phinney
BMC Racing Team
+00:00
It looks like we've managed to turn the table, is this the beginning of something great?
Nibali taking the win without a stage victory. Pinot was impressive, getting back to a 7 second deficit on stage 20, but couldn't take back time on Nibali in the final time trial.
Now that you wont leak any stats, can you at least tell me(us) if he is better than Meintjes?
No, not yet anyway. Meintjes is at around 79 MO, while Olujimi is still at 74. Though Olujimi's REC is around 75, and that's better than Meintjes. The rest I'd have to check, don't know by heart.
Yes, we are an African team. In the long run, we want to have as many Africans to our team as possible. But let's not forget we're a World Tour team (well at least another few months, relegation seems to be coming closer and closer). So that's why we have riders like Boasson Hagen, Pauwels, Cummings...
And so we come to the new contract season. There's 85% chance we'll go back to PCT, but even so, with a good contract season, we might get back to WT on the long run. Especialy with our young talents.
We also signed 2 new South-African riders from our U23 team, one promising time trialist and another promising young rider with multiple qualities.
Even more great news, as we've managed to sign Daryl Impey!
Finally, the South African National Championships*. Impey is TT Champion, while Meintjes took the Road Jersey on a hilly profile. He'll wear it with pride.
Good news as Mandla Sekibo managed to get 2 stage wins in the Tour of Qinghai Lake. Stages 6 and 7 were hily-ish sprint-ish stages and Sekibo came out on top twice. This was enough to secure the Points Jersey for this Tour, too. A successful campaign in China.
Points Classification
1
Mandla Sekibo
MTN-Qhubeka
99
2
Miguel Angel Rubiano
Colombia
93
3
Nicola Ruffoni
Colombia
84
4
Nicolas Marini
NIPPO - Vini Fantini
83
5
Elia Favilli
Southeast
75
The final part of the season is now coming. Can we still fend off relegation? It seems far-fetched. But we'll try our best.
Also we give you the sad news that Serge Pauwels will be leaving us. We couldn't compete with Etixx- Quickstep for his signature. We'll miss him and wish him the best of luck.
Liking this "non" story Great writing Ian as always!!! I like these two riders as well!! Looking forward to more and more of this fantastic "non" story!!
Yes. He seems to like Italy. what's more, Italy seems to like him
Jakstar22 wrote:
Liking this "non" story Great writing Ian as always!!! I like these two riders as well!! Looking forward to more and more of this fantastic "non" story!!
Thanks a lot, Jak! Glad you're enjoying this!
Tour de France
It's getting quite scary, but we're at 95% certain of going back to PCT. But that's no reason to panic. We'll bounce back from it next season, I'm sure. Especially with our young riders developing so well. But to save us this season, we'd need a miracle.
Well, at least we're doing better than Europcar...
Anyway, our Tour was clouded in obscurety. We couldn't do anything there, really unfortunate. We did watch Van Garderen take the two long time trials and keep his lead over Quintana and Froome to win the Tour, very surprisingly!
Yeah he did the impossible 2 amazing time trials and hanging on in the mountains was enough for him!
I've slowed down a bit, now, because of a late - rather unexpected exam coming up next week.
I'm doing some simulation every now and then, riding a stage when I have 15 minutes.
Tour of Poland was rather successful for Olujimi, ending in a 7th spot or so. I'll get back to the results and post them when I've also finished USA Pro Challenge.
We have been in a lost position for a few months now. We never really got into a good rhythm this season and it has left a mark.
But the Giro certainly stirred things up. Olujimi's three stage wins and the KoM jersey motivated the entire team to train harder and do even better.
The Tour was another disappointment. But there's more to life than the Tour. Our squad showed its mental strength by coming back from all the bad luck we've had this season. This is what's been happening lately:
Eneco Tour: After getting in the right break, Sylvain Chavanel was right up there in the GC. In the hills and on the cobbles, they didn't quite break him and he finished 3rd in the General Classification in the end. A great result for an aging Chavanel!
USA Pro Challenge: Olujimi's final big goal of the season. He did quite well, but Kudus did even better. The young talent rode away on the big mountain stage and took the lead in the GC. In the 6th stage, he lost his lead, but kept a second position. Olujimi was our second rider in the top 10 here!
General Classification:
1
Lawson Craddock
Trek Factory Racing
+00:00
2
Merhawi Kudus
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:04
3
Simon Spilak
BMC Racing Team
+00:26
4
Andrew Talansky
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+00:33
5
Matthias Brandle
IAM Cycling
+00:33
6
Edoardo Zardini
Bardiani CSF
+01:01
7
Yury Trofimov
Team Katusha
+01:03
8
Farai Olujimi
MTN-Qhubeka
+01:05
9
Igor Anton
Movistar Team
+01:07
10
Michael Albasini
BMC Racing Team
+01:13
But our greatest performance is yet to come...
Vuelta a España: Atapuma is showing us why we brought him in the team. On stage 3, he forced a break, finished the stage 2nd and got himself in the leader's jersey! He's been wearing it for 4 stages already. We think he can go a long way. Maybe there's an amazing achievement in the making for our very own Atapuma!
GC before stage 8:
1
Darwin Atapuma
MTN-Qhubeka
+00:00
2
Peter Stetina
BMC Racing Team
+00:09
3
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Team Sky
+00:25
4
Tejay Van Garderen
BMC Racing Team
+00:30
5
Mikel Nieve
Team Sky
+00:39
6
Bart De Clercq
Lotto Soudal
+00:39
7
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+00:45
8
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+00:45
9
Daniel Martin
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+00:47
10
Diego Rosa
Astana Pro Team
+00:56
Battle for Relegation!
And those performances have brought us closer to Lampre. In the CQ Ranking, we're 400 points shy of avoiding relegation. It's still a considerable gap but we've been way further down the ladder. This gives us hope, and another 2 months to catch Lampre and stay in the World Tour. Can it be done?
We'll need everyone to up their game and pick up points where they can.
Atapuma will need to keep performing like he's been in the Vuelta. If so, he can bring in plenty of points.
Sekibo, but also our other sprinters, still have Plouay coming up. It seems suited to the punchy sprinter that is Sekibo. Can he finally make that last step forward and play with the very best?
All the others will still have opportunities as well. Can we use them and stave off relegation?
Remarkable: Team Europcar is still without a single UCI (WT) point this late in the season. Can they still score a point in the WT before sinking back harshly to PCT? At least we still have a fighting chance.
Plouay was an amazing experience. We scored 2nd, 4th and 5th place. Sekibo was a nice 4th! Chavanel was 2nd and just stayed ahead of the sprinting peloton. (Well, a broken peloton)
But then things went downhill again. Atapuma lost 6 minutes in the Vuelta after a time trial, dropping back to 21th place. With only one mountain stage left, he did his best to get back but finished 18th, same as in the Giro. He deserved more from this Vuelta, wearing the leader's jersey 6 days.
Van Garderen made history by taking the Vuelta as well. His big help? Another major time trial in this one. Belgium scored surprisingly well with 3 riders in the top 10 of a Grand Tour. This has been ages ago.
And then, our team fell apart. No noticable results after that. It seemed everyone felt beaten down. Sekibo was so out of form he wasn't even picked for the World Championships.
And so it is done. MTN-Qhubeka will relegate back to the PCT...
Probably a small season review coming up later and then it's on to season 3 for our young talents. MTN back at PCT is a blow, but opens up opportunties, too. Let's make the best of it.
USA 
