baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
The wind strength remains low, but this stage could still be tricky. With two steep climbs featuring near the end of the race, some sprinters might find it difficult to contest the stage win.
Just like yesterday, the breakaway is made up of three riders - one of which is KoM-leader Pichot. His lead in that competition will be more clear tonight, since neither Bobbie Traksel nor Jay Thomson can steal maximum points from the Europcar rider atop the first climb.
Around a minute afterwards, Jules pulls the peloton over the top after setting a hard pace on the climb to tire the pure sprinters in favour of Martinez.
Coming down towards the final climb of Al Jissah, it is quite obvious that our tactic has yielded result, since the sprinter teams are trying to slow the pace to let their riders recover as much as possible before going up again.
However, this allows the breakaway to start increasing their lead again - something we aren't happy with. Taaramae takes Kangert to the front to set him up for an attack.
As soon as the climb begins, he is off!
In no time, he catches and blows past the dead tired escapees - triggering a response from Spilak.
Spilak is soon joined by Mollema.
And believe it or not - Andy Schleck!
Someone must've forgot to tell him which Tour this is...
As more and more riders try to accelerate, the elastic snaps for many riders and the peloton is reduced to no more than 22 riders!
Nizzolo, Goss, Modolo and Martinez are all hanging on, but Greipel and many other sprinters have been unhitched. None of the best climbers are missing, on the other hand.
Anyway, Kangert goes over the summit 12 seconds ahead of Spilak and Mollema, who are 15s ahead of Schleck. The 22-rider group is 15s behind Schleck, a total of 42s down on Kangert!
Only a quick descent remains, but Mollema is chasing hard...
They do come close enough to annul any time gap for Kangert, but they can't stop him from slipping away with the stage win!
Spilak beats Mollema for 2nd, with Schleck a few metres further back.
Annoyingly, Nizzolo speeds past Schleck in the very last meters, making sure that Kangert wont gain any time on the reduced peloton - bonus seconds aside. Frustrating, but at least we got the stage win!
Nizzolo retains the race lead, but Kangert is now 2nd - on the same second.
Thanks. I was really positively surprised by the gameplay. GC contenders usually don't bother doing anything on stages classified as flat, so I didn't think they'd respond when Kangert attacked.
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Tour of Oman: Stage 3 February 13th, 2014
Another unpredictable finish, especially when considering how yesterday's stage played out. The late climbs here aren't quite as hard, but an uphill finish makes up for that. The stage win could go to any rider, really.
Doesn't look like the breakaway will make it today either. Orica-GreenEdge and Lampre keep them in control throughout the stage and reduces the gap to less than a minute with more than 10 km to race.
The break fights back hard, however. Under the 5 km to go-banner, Dekker, Arashiro, Saramotins and Gretsch have broken clear of the initial breakaway formation and still hold around 45 seconds of advantage.
At the head of the peloton, GreenEdge are desperately trying to bring them back with Keukeleire and Impey leading out Goss.
Martinez is in fact the rider closest behind the two leadout-men, however. With some impressive bike-handling, he managed to squeeze himself in front of Goss. Nizzolo and Greipel are next in the line.
An amazing acceleration from Impey does take the sprinters back in contact with the breakaway at the kilometer-mark, but Latvian champion Saramotins has shot clear of the others and remains slightly ahead.
It's going to be a close call as Greipel opens...
Too late again! Saramotins retains a few meters of advantage and denies Greipel another stage that he probably should have won.
Nizzolo takes 3rd and extends his overall lead to 8 seconds on Kangert.
Martinez still doesn't have the form to compete with the best, and finished down in 8th. Everyone except Drapac's Davison finished together.
Good to see you back with this, pelli! Love the screens and detailed reports, so quality as always! Also love the new shirt by aidan, looks quite cool!
And of course great win for Kangert there I recently played a flat stage with GC-contenders attacking, too, which is nice if it ain't happens all the time
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
In spite of a surprisingly decisive second stage, the top of the GC is still quite closely packed together. For now that is, since we will surely see some big changes today. Kangert will try to defend his current place on the overall podium, and has a good chance of doing so with an improved race rhythm.
Orica-GreenEdge and Lampre take a break from making the pace in the peloton today to save themselves for the final flat stage, so the task of keeping the early breakaway within reach is instead handled by Trek, Belkin and Katusha. Schleck (how?), Mollema and Spilak must be feeling confident again!
The actual catch of the breakaway is performed by us, however. Taaramae and Rossetto bring Kangert to an advanced position just before the final climb, shutting down all escapees right at the base of the last climb.
Almost right away, the first serious attack is launched by Van den Broeck.
Taaramae keeps the Lotto-rider in control quite easily, but steps aside to leave the road open for Kangert when GC's 3rd Spilak counters.
Pozzovivo, Martin, Van den Broeck and Niemiec also respond.
But Spilak's acceleration is absolutely brutal! The others are forced to sit down and watch as the Slovenian opens a gap.
Behind, a select group of pursuers is formed by those who tried to follow the attack. Realising that this group is starting to go clear of the rest, Mollema jumps across.
The man from Belkin doesn't stop there, though. He quickly makes his way to the front of the chasing group and tears it to pieces while trying to claw his way back up to Spilak.
Van den Broeck and Niemiec appear most troubled by the acceleration.
With 2 km left to climb, Kangert, Martin and Pozzovivo are also forced to let go as Mollema continues to narrow down Spilak's lead.
Inside a madly steep final kilometer, the gap is coming down apace!
But Spilak hangs on!
Mollema's brisk pace on the second half of the climb almost got him back in contact, but he couldn't quite close the last couple of meters and loses 11 seconds plus bonification.
Pozzovivo is the strongest behind and takes 3rd, 18 seconds ahead of Kangert and Martin. Van den Broeck and Niemiec follow a little further back.
Behind them, the riders are scattered all over the road ahead of a few different gruppettos. Nizzolo lost over 7 minutes and is now completely out in the GC.
The new leader is, obviously, Spilak. Mollema is looking like the only threat to him, whereas Kangert is now 4th, 6 seconds behind Pozzovivo. We'll try to get that podium back on tomorrow's hills.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
That hard win will make up for the rest... now that peloton and races are looking more extreme to knock down, i´m liking more to read... keep it up, Kangert is doing great.
Thanks for the nice words! It's a whole lot more fun to play when the results are harder to achieve too!
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Tour of Oman: Stage 5 February 15th, 2014
Unless something dramatic (read: echelons) happens tomorrow, this is the last chance for the GC contenders to shake up the positions at the top of the overall table. Our goal is to get Kangert back on the podium.
For the first time in the race, we get involved in the early breakaway. Chevrier is given a free role and joins Dekker and Arashiro up the road right from the start of the day.
All three of them are a long way behind Spilak in the overall, so Katusha are quite happy to let them eke out an advantage of more than 7 minutes.
The trio might in fact get to contest the stage win, since the gap remains the same by the time we reach the first ascent of Bousher Alamat.
A fast descent later, the road turns back up again and Dan Martin decides to make a move to climb in the GC.
The Irishman started the day only 20 seconds back on Kangert, so he is forced to chase, with help from Taaramae.
Martin absolutely flies up the climb, however!
He crosses the summit a mere 1'30 behind the breakaway. Kangert follows next, but lost almost two minutes to Martin on the climb! Spilak and the other favourites are even further back.
Realising that Martin is on his way to become a threat to his position in the GC, Mollema attacks on the technical descent and brings Spilak away with him.
Kangert has meanwhile stabilized the gap to Martin at around 1'45. Is the effort perhaps starting to wear him down?
Possibly. He still catches the breakaway just as they begin the final climb.
With the stage win out of reach due to Martin's entrance in the group, Chevrier slows down and to help Kangert instead. Spilak and Mollema have meanwhile almost made it back up to him.
Back at the front, Dekker is using his last reserves to set the pace and let Martin recover for a little while. Arashiro is just about hanging on.
Spilak and Mollema finally make contact with Kangert again after descending down from the climb. The leaders are too far ahead to catch, but Spilak can still keep the lead if their gap is reduced.
Final kilometer for the leaders. Dekker is still leading to help Martin win the stage in addition to a potential GC lead.
Unchallenged, he wins the stage against an empty Arashiro. That's 20 bonus seconds, which means that Spilak must reach the finish within 1'25 of him. Let the counting begin...
Here they come! Spilak leads the next group across the line, but how long has it been since Martin celebrated the stage win?
Spoiler
1'53 - Martin pulls on the leader's jersey as well!
Almost two minutes later, Cancellara comes to the finish as 8th. Van den Broeck finishes a few meters further back, but is given the same time by the jury.
Behind him, there's another little gap to Voeckler and Pozzovivo, who will drop a few places in the GC today.
What a stage! The big riders all reached the finish completely exhausted and spread out all over the place. You gotta give it to Garmin after some masterful tactics. Well played, Vaughters!
We may not have reached our goal, but 4th really was the best Kangert could achieve. Martin, Spilak and Mollema were simply too strong.
Spilak looks to have peaked early this season, racing the TDU as well, so Tanel did well here to get 4th. Mollema and Martin are both great riders as well uphill.
A good start to the season for La Pomme then, long may it continue. The results are more realistic now as well, which is always good.
Thanks, all. It was one of the most exciting stages I've played in a long time, so I hope the report did justice to it!
In general, the AI has surprised me in a positive way in this race. I'm really enjoying the fact that there's no one dominant rider that's clearly above the rest, which I feel is usually the case in PCM.
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Tour of Oman: Stage 6 February 16th, 2014
One more stage for the sprinters before Martin is crowned the overall winner. The points jersey is still up for grabs though, and Nizzolo will surely try to gain the 4 points needed for him to take it back from Spilak. Would also be good to have Martinez come out of the race with a fine result.
Just when you were starting to think that the riders would get through the entire week without any strong winds, they appear.
It wasn't noticeable early on, but when the sprinter teams start speeding up the pace towards the end, the effect is quite clearly visible!
Luckily for those overall top 20-riders who were positioned a long way towards the rear end of the peloton, echelons never occur before the riders reach the finish circuit and some leeward from the wind.
Instead, it is the sprinters who are starting to struggle as they tackle the final little hills. All three of them are short, but steep enough to put anyone who doesn't enjoy climbing in a bit of trouble. As a result, the sprinter teams try to temporarily ease up the pace.
This gives a well-positioned Kangert the chance to try an attack over the top of the second little hill. Martin has no intention of letting him go, though!
Spilak, Mollema, Cancellara and Pozzovivo also join - establishing an escape group ahead of a still slow peloton.
Kind of a pointless attack really, since the the stage win is out of reach for them anyway with all-day breakaway member Konovalovas further up the road.
Solo victory for the MTN-rider, having left only companion McCauley earlier.
McCauley is swept up by the Kangert group in the final kilometer, but stays ahead to take 2nd place at the finish.
Of the others, Martin is the quickest. With another 8 seconds added to his overall lead, there's even less doubt who has been the best rider of the race!
Goss leads home the rest of the peloton almost a minute and a half later. He's bound to be pissed at his team for letting the stage win escape him.
Another man who's probably not too happy with the day is Nizzolo. With Spilak up the road, he fails to reclaim the points jersey.
1
Ignatas Konovalovas
MTN - Qhubeka
3h21'42
2
Gordon McCauley
Drapac Cycling
+ 1'12
3
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
4
Bauke Mollema
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Fabian Cancellara
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
6
Simon Spilak
Katusha Team
s.t.
7
Tanel Kangert
La Pomme Marseille
s.t.
8
Domenico Pozzovivo
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
9
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEdge
+ 2'38
10
Daryl Impey
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
Celebration time at the Garmin camp! Their strategy on stage 5 was practically flawless, so you can only applause the deserving winner!
Tour of Oman: Stage 2
I recently played a flat stage with GC-contenders attacking, too, which is nice if it ain't happens all the time 
