Tour de l'Avenir 2018 - SPOILERS

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  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Joseph Areruya (Rwanda) rides for Marseille and got some heavy duty miles in his legs last year - it looks like it is Samuel Hakiruwizeyes first race in Europe.

    Bon courage!
    Indeed. They will need it.

    Incidentally, Samuel Hakiruwizeye was one of the four eliminated. The other remaining rider is Samuel Mugisha, winner of this year's Tour of Rwanda and who rides for Dimension Data for Qhubeka. He has raced a few times in Europe this year and won the mountains jersey at the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta Mont Blanc. He has no pedigree as a time trialist though whereas Areruya is the Rwandan national champion.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    They were due off now but they're not on the start ramp.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm wrote:
    Joseph Areruya (Rwanda) rides for Marseille and got some heavy duty miles in his legs last year - it looks like it is Samuel Hakiruwizeyes first race in Europe.

    Bon courage!
    Indeed. They will need it.

    Incidentally, Samuel Hakiruwizeye was one of the four eliminated. The other remaining rider is Samuel Mugisha,.

    Thanks for the correction
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    According to Twitter, it seems that Rwanda turned up super late for their start but are being allowed to start after the Russians. Bizarre.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Sosa and Colombia lose 1 minute 14 seconds to USA who are the leaders in the clubhouse.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    edited August 2018
    Rwanda finished in 24:42 which is only 5 seconds behind Ecuador. A creditable performance but they could still be disqualified due to their late show.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    GB currently in 5th with plenty of teams still to finish.

    A l'arrivée :
    1 ETATS-UNIS 22'36''20''
    2 RUSSIE 22'47''74
    3 CENTRE MONDIAL DU CYCLISME 22'53''48
    4 AUTRICHE 23'02''59''
    5 GRANDE BRETAGNE 23'11''42
    6 POLOGNE 23'19''44
    7 PAYS DE LA LOIRE 23'32''77
    8 ESPAGNE 23'47''97''
    9 COLOMBIE 23'50''31''
    10 AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES 23'57''25
    11 JAPON 24'29''00
    12 EQUATEUR 24'37''51
    13 RWANDA 24'42'' (non-officiel)
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Looking like Magnus Bak Claris will be in yellow. Denmark 13 seconds up on France at the intermediate.

    Or the Norwegian? Norway blast the second half of the course and are second with only the Danes and French to come.

    Nope. Denmark smash it. They win the stage (surely) in 22'11'49''... Magnus Bak Klaris va prendre le maillot jaune sauf si la France finit très très très fort!
    But wait. Drama! Claris didn't arrive with his team.

    Hakon Lunder AALRUST (Norvège) is the new maillot jaune !!!
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Classement non-officiel de la 4e étape :
    1 DANEMARK 22'11'49'
    2 BELGIQUE 22'24''74
    3 NORVEGE 22'27''37''
    4 PAYS-BAS 22'30''32''
    5 ITALIE 22'33''48
    6 ETATS-UNIS 22'36''20''
    7 FRANCE 22'39''16''
    8 SLOVENIE 22'43''81
    9 ALLEMAGNE 22'44'73''
    10 RUSSIE 22'47''74
    11 CENTRE MONDIAL DU CYCLISME 22'53''48
    12 SUISSE 22'54''14
    13 IRLANDE 22'56''06''
    14 AUSTRALIE 22'57''39
    15 AUTRICHE 23'02''59''
    16 GRANDE BRETAGNE 23'11''42
    17 PORTUGAL 23'14'97''
    18 LUXEMBOURG 23'18'90''
    19 POLOGNE 23'19''44
    20 PAYS DE LA LOIRE 23'32''77
    21 ESPAGNE 23'47''97''
    22 COLOMBIE 23'50''31''
    23 AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES 23'57''25
    24 JAPON 24'29''00
    25 EQUATEUR 24'37''51
    26 RWANDA 24'42'' (non-officiel)
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • Globalisation : Joseph Arueruya Rwanda still mid table GC ahead of a Yank and a Mongolian :wink:
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    DeadCalm wrote:
    Rwanda finished in 24:42 which is only 5 seconds behind Ecuador. A creditable performance but they could still be disqualified due to their late show.
    They've been shown leniency and allowed to stay in the race so Sam and Joe ride on. No word on quite why they were so late to the start.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Globalisation : Joseph Arueruya Rwanda still mid table GC ahead of a Yank and a Mongolian :wink:
    :D And he somehow gained a place during the TTT.

    Oh, and you inspired me to google Tegsh-bayar Batsaikhan. A nice story.

    http://www.uci.ch/track/news/article/uc ... -champion/
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,200
    Danish team looks decent. Mikel Bjerg is the u23 TT champ, Magnus Bak Claris won a jnr Roubaix a few years back. Could do quite well on the team TT.

    Ahem.

    Shame Magnus Bak Claris didn't finish with them for the yellow though.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Danish team looks decent. Mikel Bjerg is the u23 TT champ, Magnus Bak Claris won a jnr Roubaix a few years back. Could do quite well on the team TT.

    Ahem.

    Shame Magnus Bak Claris didn't finish with them for the yellow though.
    Yes. Good shout. Apparently, he punctured just after half way and they decided to sacrifice his shot at yellow for the stage win.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    145km flat stage today. A break of two, Filip MACIEJUK (Poland) and Ziga HORVAT (Slovenia), have a couple of minutes over a peloton headed by France and Norway with 121km to go.

    3:35 with 37km to go. Can they hang on?

    Crashtastic finale helping the break. 1 minute with 8 km to go.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Matthew Gibson of Team GB takes the stage!

    That is a big win for the 21 year old from JLT Condor. That's as much as I know about him. Anyone know any more?

    Hakon Aalrust crashed and came in almost 15 minutes down so Alan Riou of France moves back into yellow.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • lyn1
    lyn1 Posts: 261
    DeadCalm wrote:
    Matthew Gibson of Team GB takes the stage!

    That is a big win for the 21 year old from JLT Condor. That's as much as I know about him. Anyone know any more?

    Hakon Aalrust crashed and came in almost 15 minutes down so Alan Riou of France moves back into yellow.

    Bit more in this report.

    https://www.velouk.net/2018/08/22/team- ... lt-condor/
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    lyn1 wrote:
    DeadCalm wrote:
    Matthew Gibson of Team GB takes the stage!

    That is a big win for the 21 year old from JLT Condor. That's as much as I know about him. Anyone know any more?

    Hakon Aalrust crashed and came in almost 15 minutes down so Alan Riou of France moves back into yellow.

    Bit more in this report.

    https://www.velouk.net/2018/08/22/team- ... lt-condor/

    Excellent. Thank you. I saw an interview with him in French earlier which I'll link to when I've got more time.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Sounds like an exciting finish t today's stage with the remnants of the break finishing 5 seconds ahead of a rapidly approaching peloton.

    Top 10:
    Rnk Rider Team UCI Pnt Time
    1 COVI Alessandro Italy 12 5 4:00:29
    2 DOWNEY Mark Ireland 8 2 ,,
    3 GUGLIELMI Simon France 4 1 ,,
    4 MOSTOV Zeke United States 0:02
    5 GREGAARD WILSLY Jonas Denmark ,,
    6 KANTER Max Germany 0:05
    7 BJERG Mikkel Denmark ,,
    8 DAINESE Alberto Italy ,,
    9 TOUZE Damien France ,,
    10 OLIVEIRA Rui Portugal ,,

    GC largely unaffected. Sadly, former yellow jersey wearer Hakon Aalrust did not start as a result of injuries suffered in a crash yesterday.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    DeadCalm wrote:
    lyn1 wrote:
    DeadCalm wrote:
    Matthew Gibson of Team GB takes the stage!

    That is a big win for the 21 year old from JLT Condor. That's as much as I know about him. Anyone know any more?

    Hakon Aalrust crashed and came in almost 15 minutes down so Alan Riou of France moves back into yellow.

    Bit more in this report.

    https://www.velouk.net/2018/08/22/team- ... lt-condor/

    Excellent. Thank you. I saw an interview with him in French earlier which I'll link to when I've got more time.

    My rough translation of the interview made with the aid of google translate follows. Apologies but my French is horribly rusty. Link to the original French language article (which has some photos) is at the end.

    DirectVelo: How did you find the stage?
    Matthew Gibson: It was very flat, it was an easy stage with a breakaway of two riders who got away relatively early. The day was over quickly. I stayed hidden until 4 km from the finish when I went back to the front of the peloton. It was pretty windy in the end.

    Where were you at the time of the big fall 20 km from the finish?
    When the fall happened, I was right next to it but on the other side of the road. I managed to squeeze by. Unfortunately, one of my teammates was caught in it. I also heard that Max Kanter, the green jersey, was involved in the fall. I would have liked to have raced him, he could not compete in the sprint which is a shame.

    How was the finale?
    7 km from the finish, my team-mate Mark Donovan did a great stint to bring back the last escapee. From that moment, my team led the bunch with the Danes. They did a great job. Previously, we'd let other teams do the work during the stage. It was a bit confusing. At 500 meters from the finish, a Slovenian went to the front and took me up to 200 meters from the line. Then, I started my sprint and I managed to hold on despite the headwind.

    Since the start of the Tour de l'Avenir, you haven’t had much luck ...
    Indeed, I came down on the first stage a hundred meters from the finish. During the second stage, I fell during the finale and it was too late to get back for the sprint. And finally on stage 3, the last bump was too hard for me.

    What does this victory mean to you?
    This victory means a lot to me. This can help me to find a higher level team (he usually rides for JLT-Condor, Ed), I do not know yet what my future will be. I am a 4th year junior. Last year, I didn't have the chance to ride the Tour de l'Avenir.

    How do you judge your season?
    It's a good season, definitely my best. I won stages on the Tour de Normandie, the Tour du Loir-et-Cher and the New Zealand Cycle Classic. I rank my victory in the Tour de l'Avenir above that of the Tour de Normandie even if there were bigger teams in that race.

    What will you do after the Tour de l'Avenir?
    This is my last race of the season, so I'll give it everything. Tomorrow (Wednesday), I'll see what happens. I'll try to get back into the sprint again if I have good legs. Then I will help Stephen Williams and Mark Donovan, who are our two best cards in the mountain, as best as I can.

    https://www.directvelo.com/actualite/68 ... -victoires
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Profil-E7-Tour-de-lAvenir-2018-737x421.jpgAnd so the climbing begins with a ridiculously short stage. 35 kilometres!
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    And they are off on stage 7. Sosa apparently prepared with an extra-long session on the rollers and Colombia are setting a fierce pace from the gun. Plenty have already been dropped including, unsurprisingly, Matthew Gibson and our Mongolian friend whose name I'm not going to attempt to spell.

    Edit:
    6km gone and the peloton is down to about 50 riders.

    Edit:
    They are on a false flat before they get to the second and final climb. Colombia lead followed by a trio of Danes including Mikkel Bjerg. Can he hang on and claim that elusive Danish yellow jersey?

    Edit:
    Incidentally, Ide Schelling of Holland who was leading the KOM was first over the climb. Glad to see he is taking that competition seriously.

    Edit:
    They are on the final climb. Five Colombians at the head of a much reduced peloton. The yellow jersey has been distanced.

    Edit:
    No attacks so far. Nobody seems able to do so with the pace the Colombians are setting.

    Edit:
    The junior TDF will not be joining the grown-up version in South Wales. Stephen Williams has blown
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    11 left in the front group with 4 km to go.

    Attack! Four riders off the front including Sosa and Hirschi.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Sosa puts paid to Hirschi with a violent attack. Sosa, McNulty (USA) and a Slovenian are 8 seconds ahead of a group of eleven riders.

    Edit: Make that 20 seconds ahead of ten approaching the final kilometre.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Violent attack!?
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Sosa pips McNulty on the line to take the win in a sprint described as "crazy".

    Edit:
    Or did he? It is going to a photo finish.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Violent attack!?

    Lolz. That was a direct translation from the French which can be a colourful language. Their description, when Stephen Williams and some others were dropped was that "ils ont donc pété" which literally means that they had already farted.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    Sosa wins the stage but, oh no, it seems McNulty had his hands up as he crossed the line. You have to feel for anyone celebrating prematurely.

    Still waiting on time gaps but Tadej Pogacar will be in yellow. Notable performances from young Thymen Arensman in 8th, Eddie Dunbar in 9th and Mark Donovan in 14th.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,099
    DeadCalm wrote:
    Sosa wins the stage but, oh no, it seems McNulty had his hands up as he crossed the line. You have to feel for anyone celebrating prematurely.

    Still waiting on time gaps but Tadej Pogacar will be in yellow. Notable performances from young Thymen Arensman in 8th, Eddie Dunbar in 9th and Mark Donovan in 14th.
    Just seen a video of McNulty's "celebration". He realised the error of his ways as soon as his hands were up and he brought them back down again pronto.

    Top 20 on GC is as follows:

    Classement général :
    1 POGACAR Tadej SLOVENIE SLO les 836,1 km en 18h52'56'' (moy. 44,4 km/h)
    2 MCNULTY Brandon USA USA 07''
    3 ARENSMAN Thymen PAYS-BAS NED 12''
    4 BATTISTELLA Samuele ITALIE ITA 27''
    5 VLASOV Aleksandr RUSSIE RUS 31''
    6 DUNBAR Edward IRLANDE IRL '
    7 GREGAARD WILSLY Jonas DANEMARK DEN 40''
    8 BJERG Mikkel DANEMARK DEN 44''
    9 MÄDER Gino SUISSE SUI 45''
    10 CHAMPOUSSIN Clement FRANCE FRA 51''
    11 ALMEIDA João PORTUGAL POR 57''
    12 VANHOUCKE Harm BELGIQUE BEL 01'04''
    13 SOSA CUERVO Ivan Ramiro COLOMBIE COL 01'07''
    14 RIES Michel LUXEMBOURG LUX '
    15 FOSS Tobias S. NORVEGE NOR 01'12''
    16 BAGIOLI Andrea ITALIE ITA 01'14''
    17 ARCHIBOLD Franklin CENTRE MONDIAL DU CYCLISME PAN 01'19''
    18 HIRSCHI Marc SUISSE SUI 01'21''
    19 OSORIO CARVAJAL Alejandro COLOMBIE COL 01'23''
    20 DONOVAN Mark GRANDE BRETAGNE GBR 01'26'

    As predicted, Sosa climbs the leaderboard but will the damage done in the TTT be too much to overhaul McNulty?

    Super impressed by young Thymen Arensman in third. He's the second youngest rider in the race and has barely raced this year because he's been studying for whatever the Dutch equivalent of A Levels are. He looks to be a proper talent in the making.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    DeadCalm wrote:
    Violent attack!?

    Lolz. That was a direct translation from the French which can be a colourful language. Their description, when Stephen Williams and some others were dropped was that "ils ont donc pété" which literally means that they had already farted.

    A classic French idiom is 'poser la galette' which is something like to put down/place a pancake. I.e vomit. Usually when drunk.