Skip to main content

Stage 10 James Ross Island - Antarctica




After flying almost 13.000 kilometers southwest the TdM convoy landed at the James Ross Island in Antarctica last night. The cold weather was in stark contrast to the hotter temperature in Egypt, but overall, the scenery is pretty much the same. 

Even though the hills were less than what is to come, the GC guys didn’t miss an opportunity to battle it out. Once again, the 18.30 slot was by far the fastest slot, including 9 out of the 10 best-placed riders in the GC, only missing out on Blair Drader who did time slot 3. Once again though, as we have seen before in the TdM it wasn’t the GC guys that left with the honor of the stage win. That was a fiercely battled contest between two relative newcomers to the platform, Manuel Palmar and Maxime Saonit, where the latter did get away with the victory averaging an impressive 5.14 w/kg for an hour. Former amateur world champion Igor Kopse concluded the podium 1 minute and 30 seconds down from the winner.

The second hill was always going to be a decisive factor, the question was whether it would be able to split the favorites. A big group made it to the 13 km mark where the first rise was able to split the field into several smaller groups and a front group of around forty people made it to the big climb of the day. Steve Taylor was caught behind the front group but showed amazing strength on the hill, climbing his way to the front of the race. 

The second the front group hit the climb, the field was stretched out, and soon small gaps appeared. Most noticeable was number 2 overall in GC, John Sammut, struggling to hang on, sitting several positions down on fellow podium contenders Melville and Krajewski. He did contain the loss to only half a minute to Krajewski and one minute to Melville. Overall GC does, however, seem far away after tonight for Sammut.

 Minor moves within the top ten, noticeably Blair Drader dropping yet another place, probably due to the fast pace of the slot where the remaining GC guys were. Joris Schepers of Racio Racing dream of a top 10 overall result suffered a setback. He was caught in a group behind the leaders and dropped two minutes to current number 10 Paul Newton, meaning he is now almost three minutes outside of the top 10. Racio Racing already having one stage victory with Alex Pleger, will be looking for their second win in the TTT where they are the biggest favorites by far. A win there might help Schepers get some of the lost time back – but in the end, like most things, it will be decided on the Galibier. 

One thing that for sure will not be decided on the Galibier is the sprint competition. With only 400 points to go, it is rather limited who is still in contention, John Sammut cruising towards victory, showing strong form in both the hilly and flat terrain. Fellow Pocomotion rider and yours truly, takes second place, while 4th place in the overall GC Kenneth Vansina takes 3rd. It is all down to the TTT, where it is clear that team Pocomotion has both John Sammuts overall 2nd place in GC, together with the overall 1st and 2nd place in the sprint competition to ride for.  

In the mountain’s competition, Steve Taylor grabbed some important points and is now only 34 points behind Melville, who is leading both the GC and the KOM. No more hilly stages, only one last huge climb on Sunday, where Melville could take a tremendous double victory. 

Etiketter:

Comments

Post a Comment

Did you read this?

Rasio Racing - A force to be reckoned with

Imagine this. After the usual start, where everyone sprints out the pen, you've made the front group. The pace is high, but you are confident in the draft. Within limits now. You start to notice who else is in the group. And when you start looking around, not one, not two, but five or six riders are in black jerseys with orange helmets. And you realize you've ended up in a group where half the riders are in the same team. Not only that, they are coordinated, they attack in turns, and try to play to each other's strength. This scenario is becoming more and more frequent on RGT and is the reason why Rasio Racing is so difficult to compete against.  All of the team members are capable of winning a race, none of them are afraid to work for each other. Together they are harder to beat, than most individual riders on RGT. With the addition of Andrzej Krajewski, who ended third in the Tour de Monde, the team also has a top, top climber, and seems like the Team Ineos of the RGT pla...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wingman Cup Pre Race

A new format on RGT is unfolding tomorrow evening, as the first stage of the Wingman Cup takes place.  The competition is spread out over two time slots, GMT and EST, to include a larger group of riders. The format is simple but intriguing. Teams of two riders are battling out to get the best overall time. Only the time of the fastest rider will count towards the GC, which will put a lot of emphasis on the strategy. Should you work for your sprinter? Try to establish a breakaway? Or just wait and see what the other teams do, with the risk of losing out on the winning move. The Wingman Cup EST edition has a lot of strong riders sign up. With his win on the last Watts Up Crit Series, Connor Willson and his teammate are surely the favorites with their team Lakeshore Cycling Club. Benoît Dufour, finishing second, and Maxime Turcotte, finishing third, will team up as Happy Enders to fight for the overall win. This series will bring to the platform some new riders coming from Team Siboir...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pedalers

After breaking the news of the new team "The Pedalers" yesterday, RGT pressroom has managed to get a few comments from the team on their organization, goals, and future on RGT. "We got to know each other riding the same time slots quite often during TDM. We were often in the same group or breakaway and logically worked together to stay away or catch the others." The team says on how they initially met up. Like most teams on RGT, they did not know each other beforehand but met in the virtual environment on the platform. "This somehow created a connection which we re-inforced after TDM. As free riders, feeling the disadvantage during stage 11 of TDM, (which was a team time trial, that you had to ride as an individual if you were not participating with a team ed.) we thought it would make sense to team up. RGT is also very well suitable for teamwork during rides. This was the beginning of 'The Pedalers'." The Pedalers include as mentioned yesterday s...
Post a Comment
Read more