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GIPFELSTUERMER

GIPFELSTUERMER means PEAK-ATTACKER or ATTAQUANT DU SOMMET or simply call me GIPFEL or GIP.
Founded 22 July 2009.

HALL OF FAME

Grand Tours - Palmares (GC, Points & Mountain Jerseys)

Willem DE WIT - Maillot Vert 2021
Jacob JJ JEFFERSON - Maillot Vert 2020
Jacob JJ JEFFERSON - Maglia Ciclamino 2020
Jacob JJ JEFFERSON - Maillot Vert 2019
Jacob JJ JEFFERSON - Maglia Ciclamino 2019
Read the documentary about Jacob "JJ" JEFFERSON here.
Gipfelstuermer - Classement par équipes 2018
Fabio FONDA - Maillot Vert 2018
Fabio FONDA - Maglia Ciclamino 2018
Mateo MONTESINOS - Maglia Azzurra 2018
Oscar OLIVEIRA - Gran Premio de la montaña 2017


Grand Tours - Stage Wins (Total 58)

12 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON (2x Giro '19, 1x TDF '19, 5x Vuelta '19, 2x Giro '20, 2x TDF '20)
6 - Willem DE WIT (3x Giro '21, 3x TDF '21)
4 - Vittore VESPA (1x Vuelta '21, 2x TDF '22, 1x Vuelta '22)
3 - William WASHINGTON (3x Vuelta '17)
3 - Bartholomäus BRANDT (1x TDF '20, 1x Vuelta '20, 1x Giro '21)
3 - Alexis AÏNOUZ (2x Giro '24, 1x TDF '24)
2 - Fabio FONDA (1x Giro '18, 1x TDF '18)
2 - Magnus MARTINSEN (2x TDF '18)
2 - Bastien BOULANGER (1x TDF '20, 1x Vuelta '20)
2 - Joost ZEVENBERGEN (1x TDF '21, 1x Vuelta '21)
2 - Giacomo GERBI (1x Giro '22, 1x TDF '22)
2 - Marco MEDINA (1x Giro '23, 1x TDF '23)
1 - Anibal ALVES (1x Vuelta '17)
1 - Oscar OLIVEIRA (1x Vuelta '17)
1 - Carlos CHIMBO (1x Giro '19)
1 - Trevorvano THOMPSON (1x Giro '19)
1 - Esteban ECHEVARRIA (1x TDF '19)
1 - Matti MYYRY (1x TDF '19)
1 - Ole OVERBY (1x Vuelta '19)
1 - Sigurd SANDVIK (1x Vuelta '19)
1 - Pierre PAGIE (1x Giro '22)
1 - Aldo ABBIATI (1x Giro '22)
1 - Viktor VON GÖDRICH (1x Vuelta '22)
1 - Ilario MOSCONI (1x Giro '23)
1 - Pavlo POULNIKOV (1x TDF '23)
1 - Yotam OTTOLENGHI (1x Giro '24)
1 - Ivan BATISTELLA (1x TDF '25)
1 - Lucas PAPILLON (1x TDF '25)

Grand Tours - Days in Leader Jersey (Total 27)

13 - Alexis AÏNOUZ (2 days in Maglia Rosa 2024, 11 days in Maillot Jaune 2024)
8 - Fabio FONDA (8 days in Maillot Jaune 2018)
7 - Willem DE WIT (7 days in Maglia Rosa 2021)
2 - Mateo MONTESINOS (2 days in Maillot Jaune 2018)
2 - Bartholomäus BRANDT (2 days in Maillot Rojo 2020)
2 - Vittore VESPA (2 days in Maillot Jaune 2022)
1 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON (1 day in Maillot Jaune 2019)
1 - Joost ZEVENBERGEN (1 day in Maillot Jaune 2021)


Les Monuments (Total 5)
Cat. 6: Milano - San Remo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Giro di Lombardia

1 - Klaas KEMP (Ronde van Vlaanderen 2024)
1 - Marco MEDINA (Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2023)
1 - Pavlo POULNIKOV (Paris-Roubaix 2023)
1 - Vittore VESPA (Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2022)
1 - Gaspard GAGNEUX (Ronde van Vlaanderen 2022)


Les Classiques (Total 13)
Cat. 5: Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem, Amstel, Fleche Wallone, San Sebastian, Hamburg, Bretagne, Quebec, Montreal, Tours
Cat. 4: Omloop, Strade Bianche, De Panne, DDV, Brabant, Rund um den Turm, GP Bruxelles, GP Fourmies, Emilia, Piemonte, Tre Valli, Milano-Torino

2 - Gaspard GAGNEUX (E3 Harelbeke 2022, RVV 2022)
2 - Pavlo POULNIKOV (DDV 2023, Roubaix 2023)
1 - Klaas KEMP (RVV 2024)
1 - Marco MEDINA (LBL 2023)
1 - Vittore VESPA (LBL 2022)
1 - Enver ATABAY (DDV 2024)
1 - Viktor VON GÖDRICH (DDV 2022)
1 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON (De Panne 2020)
1 - Sigurd SANDVIK (Tre Valli 2019)
1 - Trevorvano THOMPSON (Strade Bianche 2019)
1 - Jose JANUARIO (Emilia 2011)


Most Race Wins (Total 361 | Riders with >5 race wins)

61 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON ★All-Time Nr. 4★
12 - Fabio FONDA
12 - Giacomo GERBI
11 - Esteban ECHEVARRIA
10 - Willem DE WIT
9 - Vittore VESPA
9 - Viktor VON GÖDRICH
9 - Ilario MOSCONI
8 - Sigurd SANDVIK
8 - Aldo ABBIATI
8 - Pavlo POULNIKOV
7 - Ole OVERBY
7 - Bartholomäus BRANDT
7 - Joost ZEVENBERGEN
6 - Bayron BOYCE
6 - William WASHINGTON
6 - Boas BERGSTEINSSON
6 - Bastien BOULANGER
5 - Oscar OLIVEIRA
5 - Trevorvano THOMPSON
5 - Dries VAN DER VEEN
5 - Severin SAVOIE
5 - Thijs VAN 'T WOUT
5 - Klaas KEMP
5 - Alexis AÏNOUZ


Most Points (Total 349,109 | Riders with >5,000 points)

24,214 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON ★All-Time Nr. 25★
16,516 - Fabio FONDA
15,691 - Willem DE WIT
10,151 - Vittore VESPA
9,064 - Esteban ECHEVARRIA
8,834 - Theo THORNQUIST
8,309 - Bartholomäus BRANDT
7,668 - Alexis AÏNOUZ
7,424 - Mateo MONTESINOS
6,801 - Bastien BOULANGER
6,580 - Aldo ABBIATI
6,456 - Marco MEDINA
6,372 - Joost ZEVENBERGEN
6,366 - Ilario MOSCONI
5,962 - Sigurd SANDVIK
5,680 - Yotam OTTOLENGHI
5,427 - Quirin QUATHAMMER


Most Races (Total 2,452 | Riders with >300 races)

383 - Matti MYYRY
371 - Kaapo KEMPPAINEN
363 - Paul POUDRIER
360 - Boas BERGSTEINSSON
348 - Oleksandr OUTSCHAKOV
344 - Klaas KEMP
342 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON
331 - Jairo JIMENEZ
325 - Magnus MARTINSEN
322 - Famara FAYE
318 - Vittore VESPA
315 - Matthieu MAJERUS
310 - Halvard HALVORSEN
307 - Chris COOPER
305 - Gaspard GAGNEUX


Rider of the Year Award
2024 - Klaas KEMP
2023 - Pavlo POULNIKOV
2022 - Vittore VESPA
2021 - Willem DE WIT
2020 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON
2019 - Jacob JJ JEFFERSON
2018 - Fabio FONDA
2017 - Oscar OLIVEIRA

2012 - Karim KHAIR
2011 - Jose JANUARIO

2009 - Carloe TEVEZ

January & February 2020 - JJ can't stop

Plan was to write only about important races (Cat.3 and higher) but for multiple reasons will write some general stuff:

Why general news and not only about important races?
1.) Very limited number of important races in Jan & Feb.
2.) Important races receive attention in Chat & Forum anyhow.
3.) Got inspired by the team presentations of FL, Allagen, Roby, Gala and others.

So how did the team develop in Jan & Feb 2020?

Important races: There were only 5 one day races with Cat.3. Our current superstar JJ won 3 out of 5 which is a pretty good quota: GP Letzebuerg, Boucles de Wallis & Cadel Evans. Especially GP Letzebuerg was nice with a last-km catch of the escape. Napier Bluff Hill Circuit and Laigueglia were hilly races as well, but without form these climbs were too steep for JJ...

Rider of the month: No question: JJ. 8 wins in January and 8 wins in February so far - and we have 6 days left in February. Might change this category into Rider of the year / Best Rider of all time for him. With 40 stage wins now, he is currently #15 of all times in RSF! Would need to reach 44 stage wins to enter the Top-10 of all times. Kralju Kralev (Ariostea) is currently #9, so JJ and KK could be #9/#10 together.

New Riders: Signed two young Belgian talents in February: Bastien Boulanger (49-58-71-51-75sp-58pavé-44reg) and Vic Vandenbroucke (47-74-53-46-61sp-70pavé-41reg). Both were signed as helpers for the ageing JJ (now 33 years) but both might have some chances to win races on their own, at least after JJ retires. Anyway, we have now signed 7 riders in 7 months: healthy distribution across ages and this was only possible due to good Finance situation (see below).

Finances: Quite healthy at the moment. Made ~5 million profit in the 4 off-season months from November to February compared to previously only ~4 million profit in the 8 on-season months from March to October.

Outlook 2020 Season: We decided not to sign a GC leader. Mainly for timing reasons. Questionable if we have time for the GT's and especially time to be online for all the stages. Giro is difficult because the manager tries to learn more about Finance (CFA Exam) and Le Tour is difficult because the manager wants to watch the race live in France from the street instead of watching it from the car...
Disappointing team without a GC leader? No way! Instead we signed the right guys for the Monuments, the Classiques and stage wins. Our armada of 60-80's (Boas, Adrian, Chris), pavé specialists (Adrian, Chris, Theo, Quirin) and hill sprinters (Theo, Quirin and JJ) should be a strong combination for many big races. Target is really to extent our footprint in semi-classiques (only 3 wins so far), classiques (0 wins) and monuments (0 wins). 10 years and 1,000 races without a monument win sounds really weak...
Although not sure how many monuments we participated, so I did some research (while 2009-2011 period is too long ago): Lombardia 2011, MSR 2012, Lombardia 2017, MSR 2018, PR 2018, MSR 2019, Flanders 2019, LBL 2019, Lombardia 2019.... So that's just 9 unsuccessful races... But still, definitely time to fill the gap in the Palmares! On top of that, we will try to win some Grand Tours stages. But depends on JJ's training if we have good chances or not. A dream would be to win one monument, a Giro stage and a Le Tour stage. Puts a lot of pressure on us to say publicly a monument win is a season 2020 target, but who gets motivated by small targets?

Very nice. To me it is always interesting to read through things happening in other teams and their plans for the future.

The game might not be improving but we still can make the experience better in having an active forum with lots of interesting stories.

I am a big fan of JJ. Hope he will not retire so soon. Your team is just too great for him. 50 is in reach I would say so try to get there
I wish you all the best and hope Betancur can get at least close to be such a nice and successfull rider as he is.

Monuments are always very hard to win. I am also still chasing a win for myself on such a race Maybe MSR is an option for JJ?

March 2020: JJ in love in Nice, but losing MSR by 1 pixel

Important races:
Month started very well with 3 stage wins and Points classification for JJ at (real) Paris-Nice. But afterwards, covid-19 pandemic came. It destroyed the real race calendar and the team maybe was too disturbed to be successful at the (fantasy) classics. Edvin 2nd place at Monte Paschi. JJ 2nd at MSR and 3rd at Harelbeke. Nothing at Gent-Wevelgem. We are hoping for real races in the future.

Rider of the month: We hoped to name somebody else here but JJ the only successful rider this month and 7 race wins should qualify for it. 3 of them at Paris-Nice actually quite good.

Statistic of the month: All-Time Top 10 Riders by Race Wins.

JJ now with 48 race wins after 254 races. So now he is on the same level as Laurent BRAM (Lorient) with 48 wins and in front of a famous rider like Yui Yuigahama (pokemonogatari) with 47 race wins. 5 riders in all time history still more successful than JJ and will be very difficult to reach any of these legends, as JJ started downtraining...grrr.

73 - Bernard BILLOURD (Trekken Racing, 2018)
59 - Ludvig QUIST (Wookie, 2012)
57 - Javier CORDERO (Team Franconia, 2011)
56 - Luis GOMEZ (RC Cost, 2019)
54 - Esteban TRUEBA (Alkworld, 2010)
48 - Laurent BRAM* (Lorient, 2020)
48 - Jacob JEFFERSON* (Gipfelstuermer, 2020)
47 - Yui YUIGAHAMA (pokemonogatari, 2019)
46 - Willi WOLLSCHLÄGER (RV Allagen, 2012)
44 - Kralju KRALEV (Ariostea, 2009)
* still riding

Training: JJ with the first downtraining. Let's hope he will stay in shape for some weeks, but will be very difficult. Theo THORNQUIST demanding the leader role now after good training in March. 73-80 with 77pavé and 64sprint is quite nice. Other training not really interesting. Quirin QUATHAMMER (25y, 69-78, 63sprint) and Vic VANDENBROUCKE (23y, 47-81, 63sprint) a bit disappointing currently. Bastien BOULANGER (23y, 57-66, 75sprint) looking quite good.

Retired Riders: Kaapo KEMPPAINEN (39yo) retires after setting a record of 371 races for Gipfelstuermer team. When he was young, he was allowed to attack and won a stage at Paris Nice 2019. Later he became one of the best helpers of JJ. He also was Finnish National Champion once. Kiitos, Kaapo KEMPPAINEN!

New Riders: No new riders for April 2020. Saving money for the time when JJ retires. That is when we probably need an entirely new team setup. Do we continue as a hill sprinter team? Do we build a GC team, eventually?

Finances: Only +951,703 this month as we wasted some money with expensive line-ups. Should be O.K. for the time being. But will really need a big budget in 2-3 months for big transfers.

Goals for April 2020: The goal for the year was to win a monument, so April will be the decisive month probably. Now or never. 3 chances. But there are other big classics, too. Amstel, FW, DDV, Brabant and Scheldeprijs all interesting classics. Then tours.... Pais Vasco used to be one of our favorite tours, but this year really boring profile, so not sure if we ride it. Tour of the Alps. More interesting, but would have to give up FW. Yorkshire, don't know, let's wait for the profile. Large problem for all the races: They are fantasy this year. Makes it slightly less fun. Good thing, however, participation has gone up with the lockdown in many countries in combination with attractive on-season races. Up to 90 active managers on one day is quite good, so makes a bit more fun at the moment.

Go go Gip

April 2020: When 5 race wins are not enough

Result: Div 1, Place 14, 9.643 Points. Surprising that we did not go back to Div2 this month after the bad results.

Important races:
These fantasy races during covid-19 are not good for the team! Theo 3rd in RVV, Edvin 3rd in PR, nothing in Amstel and nothing in LBL. Far away from the ambitions of the team. We totally risk our season goal of winning a monument. Most fun was watching Crazy Vikings fuck up in Tour of the Alps and watching Rohazon RC fuck up in Tour of Yorkshire. Says a lot about the month, that watching others fuck up was more fun than our own performance...
At least JJ with wins #49, #50, #51, #52 and #53. OK because he has no pavé skill (with pavé skill he would be Peter Sagan and not only the C4F-copy of Peter Sagan). But not really a good month for him after 8 wins in Jan, 8 wins in Feb and 7 wins in March. So 5 wins in April really shows he is getting old, unfortunately.

Rider of the month: I hoped to name JJ here, but with no surprisingly good results (5 wins not good enough for his skill), I rather name Sigurd SANDVIK! It's his last chance to be named because he will probably retire next month. His performance in helping JJ during Tour of the Alps to win 2 stages was just incredible for a 37 year-old. He is still in good shape. 65-80 is quite nice for his age!

Statistic of the month: Riders with most monument wins. A statistic, which is not shown directly in the "Statistics"-page. A statistic, where Gipfelstuermer riders don't appear. But it is the right month to praise the former riders:

3 - Sueito PURNOMO (Team Lulu - Lombardia 2010, MSR 2011, LBL 2011)
2 - Stefano BENNI (Team FL - Lombardia 2012, MSR 2013)
2 - Adrian BONILLA (Los Ticos - Lombardia 2009, LBL 2010)
2 - Humberto CARILLO (Liquigas-CND - LBL 2018, Lombardia 2018)
2 - Yossef GUTFREUND (RV Allagen - Lombardia 2013, MSR 2014)
2 - .... Max IMUN (Lorient - LBL 2018, Lombardia 2018)
2 - Koli KOKNOKA (Cycling Polski - RVV 2007, PR 2007)
2 - Moses MAIMONIDES (Alkworld - Lombardia 2014, LBL 2015)
2 - Andreas SANDER (r Sukuran Pokemon - Lombardia 2016, LBL 2017)
2 - Hugo SCHEICHELBAUER (Schappy - RVV 2008, PR 2008)
2 - JesusRafael SOTO (Alkworld - RVV 2018, PR 2018)
2 - Yui YUIGAHAMA (Pokemonogatari - MSR 2018, Lombardia 2018)

Interesting to see only one rider, who won 3 monuments! Also makes sense, the combination LBL & Lombardia and RVV & PR appears quite often.

Training: JJ continues downtraining, but actually 72-62-63-45-81 is OK at 35 years where his top skill ever was 72-65-67-47-84. Let's hope he will stay in shape for GIRO, but going to be very hard seeing the red percentages in the Training-tab now. Theo THORNQUIST on the other side becoming a training hero. Unfortunately only a training hero so far with his 74-80, 64sprint. No big race wins yet. Quirin QUATHAMMER acceptable with 71-78, 63sprint now. For the other young guys, we have to see. Bastien BOULANGER 61-66, 75 sprint looks interesting with 24 years, but actually don't want him to become a second JJ. He should remain a helper normally and only get his chance in some specific races as captain.

Retired Riders: Ole OVERBY (37yo) retires after 186 races for Gipfelstuermer team with 7 race wins (5th best Gipfelstuermer ever) and 4.688 points (6th best Gipfelstuermer ever)! When he was young, he was Norwegian champions once and later he won a stage during Vuelta 2019, 2 stages during Andes 2019 and 1 stage during Tour des Paves 2019. Also, he served as an amazing helper for JJ, together with his best friend Sigurd SANDVIK.

New Riders: Bartholomäus BRANDT joins the team! 55-71-76-50-61sprint, 71pavé, 59reg. He could become RVV winner 2021 or a good helper for the 2021 Grand Tours season.

Finances: -26,106 including Tour of Yorkshire this month. Ouch! We need to become smarter again to earn money.... but actually, earning money is only the goal for November - February, not at this time of the season!

Goals for May 2020: It's GIRO month! Biggest problem is we are not sure which time we ride. 2018 was afternoon. 2019 was evening. Actually both nice editions. Evening is easier for work, but afternoon easier on all the weekends and holidays and home office days for that time period. Goals for the GIRO? Stage hunting! Maybe also maglia ciclamino or maglia azzurra, but depends a lot on the opponents.

PURNOMO was a beast at that time. Too bad we cant see the skills he had. I think he was one of the "superclassics" with 76-8X.

May 2020: JJ first rider in C4F history to defend maglia ciclamino!

Result: Div 1, 17th Place, 8.256 Points. Successful Giro helps us stay in Div1!

Important races:
The "oldie but goldie"-team delivered for their captain JJ during Giro d'Italia. In a really nice, friendly and balanced Afternoon Giro edition with 16 teams, 2 stage wins for JJ are a success. We hoped for stages 6 and 12, but JJ won stages 9 and 13. Nevermind. Most importantly, JJ won the challenging fight versus the sprinters for maglia ciclamino! What a satisfying month for JJ and the whole team! It is also the third time in a row maglia ciclamino for Team Gipfelstuermer! All the details about Giro 2020 can be found in the race thread Afternoon Giro - The one and only.

Rider of the month:
No question! It is Jacob JEFFERSON. After beating the fabulous Laurent Bram (Lorient) in Giro 2019 points classification, JJ accomplished the feat to win his second maglia ciclamino! In a really hard but always fair fight, he finished with 242 points ahead of the super strong opponents Giorgio Tuttobene (Falkenbier, 236 points) and Eduardo Spohr (Team FL, 222 points). With 2 stage wins in the Giro, as a 36-year-old he was just as successful as with only 24-years last year. In GC, he even finished much better than last year. 20th place this year compared to 68th place last year. I dare to call him a living legend now:

★★★ 1st rider in C4F history to win 2x maglia ciclamino ★★★
★★★ 1st rider in C4F history to win 3x Grand Tours points classifications ★★★

Statistic of the month:
Riders with most Giro stage wins. Here I present the all-time legends of the Giro d'Italia stages. JJ is now among them with 4 stage wins, but a few others have reached 5, 6 and even 7 stage wins!

7 - OskarPall ELFARSSON (LibertySeguros, Giro 2011)
6 - Hans BLOCHER (francais, Giro 2013)
5 - Laurent BRAM (Lorient, Giro 2019)
5 - Jonathan GOOD (Rockstar Inc, Giro 2014)
4 - Jacob JEFFERSON (Gipfelstuermer, Giro 2019 & 2020)
4 - Jesse RYDER (Liquigas-CND, Giro 2018)
4 - Connor WILSON (Mosca Cicli Italia, Giro 2017)
4 - Alberto VELASCO (stevens, Giro 2013)
4 - Rodrigo ESCOBAR (Team LunaLounge, Giro 2009)
4 - Leonardo PIEPOLI (Mangahns Mannen, Giro 2008)

Training: JJ now 71-60-61-42-80 after his top skills ever were 72-65-67-47-84. Still good for somebody who turns 37 years-old! Pressure is off now for his upcoming downtrainings. A stage at Le Tour would be a dream, but difficult with 38-years then. Quirin QUATHAMMER now 72-78, 63sprint. Could be a nice combination with Theo THORNQUIST's 74-80, 64 sprint after the retirement of JJ. Bastien BOULANGER with 64-65, 75 sprint another helper for JJ, who has some potential for the time after JJ's retirement.

Retired Riders: Sigurd SANDVIK(38yo) retires after 236 races for Gipfelstuermer team with 8 race wins (4th best Gipfelstuermer ever) and 5.962 points (5th best Gipfelstuermer ever)! His biggest successes were to win a stage at Vuelta 2019 and to win Tre Valli Varersine. Also, he served as an amazing helper for JJ!

New Riders: No new riders given difficult financial situation of the team.

Finances: -1,194,167 due to an expensive Giro d'Italia. We really need to improve the performance here if we want to build a good team for the 2021 season.

Goals for June 2020: Dauphine could be an interesting tour over 8-days. JJ wants the team to ride for him again, after he won 2 stages of Dauphine in 2019. But some team members would really like to be allowed to escape instead of riding for their ageing captain... Then we have the National Championchips in the middle of the month, but always difficult to know if we even have time for that. And Le Tour starts end of June. First 4 stages fall into June, but I guess will rather treat Le Tour as if everything was in July. So no goals for Le Tour, yet.

JJ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 2020: Difficult Dauphine, Waiting for La Grande Boucle

Result: Div 1, 17th Place, 7.329 Points. 12 seasons in a row staying in Div1!

Important races:
The calendar did not offer a lot for this year's June. Even Dauphiné was only possible with the calendar cheat of delaying it one day. In a group, which looked to be dominated by 88-59 Artur Wasas (Bonebreakers) and 84-72 Lokke Rasmus (Bonebreakers), somewhat surprisingly 88-58 Marco deLuca (Los Galacticos) took the win and confirmed his ambition for Le Tour after 2nd place at Giro. One reason why Bonebreakers lost GC, he was riding too much for stages, but his 3 stage wins also destroyed some of our plans. At least JJ won stage Nr.4, so all good! Anyway, everybody was waiting for La Grande Boucle to start on June 27! TDF results will be discussed in the July 2020 post.

Rider of the month:
Grrrr.... no other rider was able to win a race, so it is again Jacob JEFFERSON. At least it was deserved for our 37-year-old captain with his stage win at Dauphiné and two more race wins in the boring Pre-TDF programme.

Statistic of the month:
Riders with most Stage Race Wins! I already have cool statistics in the pipeline for July to December, but it was hard to come up with something for June. It's kind of a boring month in WorldTour calendar. Therefore, I picked a nice statistic to remember some old heroes in RSF. It is surprising that the very successful guys were riding between 2010 and 2012, normally a time with very high competition. Perhaps there were lots of small tours available, while today we sometimes have a gap in the calendar? It is nice to remember riding with Peter LEUPOLD, although in 2009, when I joined, I did not know he would remain on top of the list for such a long time. Skullz with 3 riders in the list also impressive! Finally, this is also to honor Lutz Neumann (Team-Mojabahs) for joining the list just last month.

21 - Peter LEUPOLD (Elbcoast Riders, 2010)
18 - Jinichi NASAWA (Samurais, 2012)
15 - Stephen MANIC (EXOCDS, 2011)
14 - Yericho CHRISTIANTOKO (Tdor rainbow, Tulpengeneral, 2013)
12 - Jason NADIA (Skullz, 2008)
12 - Paquito ORTIZ (Liquigas-CND, 2016)
11 - Carlton MYERS (francais, 2010)
11 - Ruben LINARES (Skullz, 2011)
11 - Mario SCHLECK (Skullz, 2012)
11 - Alejandro SANTOS (Team Gismo, 2015)
11 - Martin KRASNY (Erzgebirge, 2018)
11 - Naomi BROWN (RideforMoney, 2018)
11 - Lutz NEUMANN (Team-Mojabahs, 2020)

Training: JJ now 67-56-59-40-78 after his top skills ever were 72-65-67-47-84. His dream remains a stage at Le Tour, but would be kind of incredible with 38-years now. In fact, Bastien BOULANGER, our young sprint starter, is now maybe even stronger with 66-66-71-50-76. Random training by 30-year-old Adrian ARVIDSSON to 60-87 let him join TDF in the last minute. Same for 25-year-old Vic VANDENBROUCKE who is finally a decent flat rider with 47-86. Our 22- and 21-year-old newbies Bartholomäus BRANDT (63-78) and Dries VANDERVEEN (50-60-55-53-77) also O.K. for now, but their important trainings are still coming.

Retired Riders: Matti MYYRY (39yo) retires after 383 record-breaking (!) races for Gipfelstuermer. His helper skills made him a very valuable member of the team during past 20 months. 4 race wins and 1.703 points are OK for a helper like him. Matti was Finnish national champion in Dec 2018, but his biggest succes was winning stage 12 of Le Tour in 2019.

New Riders: Dries VANDERVEEN (Starting values 48-59-55-53-74, 44reg ) joins the team. He is a young talented Sprinter, although it would surprise us if he becomes a real leader for sprint races. As such, he is there to support JJ and Bastien in sprinting and to ride for money

Finances: +265,882 without considering first 4 stages of Le Tour. Good to have a positive result after losing money in April and May! We are on the right way out of huge financial problems after superstar JJ accepted a salary cut.

Goals for July 2020: Just two important races: Le Tour from June 27 - July 19 and San Sebastian on July 25. For Le Tour, our ambitions are relatively low, mostly having fun with a relatively cheap team. Of course we demand 1 stage win from the team, ideally from JJ. He could reach 60 wins, which would mean All-Time Nr. 2 in RSF! Everything else depends on the peloton. JJ, Bastien and Dries all dream about maillot vert, but for a TDF with 8 stages would be surprising if no real sprinter team shows up. Also, JJ is the most successful sprinter in RSF Grand Tours history already without Le Tour 2020! Defending maglia ciclamino at the Giro was a dream, but defending also maillot vert sounds impossible with 38-years.

Fun Fact: I think about re-naming the team after the JJ era. New possible team names:
- Gipfelstürmer (Who knew that 'ü' doesn't cause bugs?)
- Gipfel
- Gip
- Talstürmer
- JJ Okocha
Other ideas?

Gipfel 04 (Schalke/Leverkusen, Vizekusen)

Mangahn wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:39 pm

Gipfel 04 (Schalke/Leverkusen, Vizekusen)

Pah, you know I was born in Dortmund? Gipfel 09

Gipfelstuermer wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:50 pm

Rider of the month:
Grrrr.... no other rider was able to win a race, so it is again Jacob JEFFERSON.

Why do you insult your own riders? Your most important stage win of June wasnt by JJ.

Hanse wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:13 pm

Why do you insult your own riders? Your most important stage win of June wasnt by JJ.

Ah, nothing against Bastien! Especially after today he started the sprint for JJ again I plan to discuss TDF results in July summary! But seems too confusing with these tours that go over two months.... mhh... so should probably do it differently in the future and even discuss stages of races which go over two months. So Bastien BOULANGER rider of the month June, if taking into account his stage win on June 29 at TDF!!

JJ - The sprint will decide.
A documentary about the unique hill sprinter Jacob "JJ" Jefferson

The last day of Le Tour is always emotional but when the peloton of the 107th edition reached Paris, it was particularly emotional as this was JJ's last professional race. After winning stage 5 and 12 of this year's edition, JJ entered the Champs Elysees wearing the maillot vert for the best sprinter of Le Tour. The 38-year-old once more surprised the experts with a formidable performance during La Grande Boucle! His performance had been so strong over the previous 20 stages, that mathematically nobody could steal the jersey from him in the final stage to Paris (358 points vs 274 by Bogarin). No other rider in the history of RSF has ever defended a Grand Tours points classification and JJ does it twice, at the Giro and at the TDF! JJ collected staggering 61 race wins in his career, but defending the maillot vert is surely the peak of his career. It is the end of an era.

This documentary is a detailed look behind the scenes of Team Gipfelstuermer and tells the story of the greatest hill sprinter of all time. We are going back in time from JJ's early career as a youth rider and bike courier in New York to his biggest successes at the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2019 & 2020. The documentary brings you as close to the team as possible through interviews with team manager Gip, with former team mates of JJ and with JJ himself. And for the haters, we are also looking at his biggest defeats at the Vuelta 2019 vs. Laurent Bram and at MSR 2020 vs. Ticio Bogarin. The sections of the documentary:

A) Team build-up for the 2019 season
B) Giro d'Italia 2019
C) Le Tour 2019
D) La Vuelta 2019
E) Off-Season 2019
F) Team build-up for the 2020 season
G) Spring Classics 2020
H) Giro d'Italia 2020
I) Le Tour 2020
J) Final Statistics
K) The future of Team Gipfelstuermer

A) Team build-up for the 2019 season
"Do you remember Team High Flyer?", asks Gip, the team manager of team Gipfelstuermer, "They had this Finnish hill sprinter in 2018. His name was Magnus Jüssi, 63 mountain, 68 flat, 86 sprint, really nice type of rider. We saw him win a few races, including the Belgian classic Scheldeprijs. It was impressive. We started looking for a talented rider like him. But we never knew what a monster we were about to add to the team... "

The scouting department started their search in Scandinavia, where Team High Flyer had found Magnus Jüssi. They found many talented riders. They signed the Finnish domestique Matti Myyry and the Norwegian classics Sigurd Sandvik and Ole Overby. Especially Overby and Sandvik would later become fantastic helpers who created dozens of hill sprints for their leader JJ... But back to the scouting: No hill sprinter was found in Scandinavia. Gip remembers: "Scandinavia was nice, but we had to think out of the box. Where could we find a strong sprinter, which we could then train in the mountains?" The idea was to search among bike couriers in the U.S. and JJ was finally found among an insane group of bike couriers in Brooklyn, New York. With starting values of 50-55-67-47-81, it was clear that JJ had some deficits in the mountains. Training only on the flat island of Manhattan, that was no surprise. How were they able to transform this young rider into a hill sprinter?

In February 2019, JJ joined the team Gipfelstuermer, at that time a team without direction. They had just lost their best GC rider Fabio Fonda, who finished on podium at Le Tour 2018. They had no real plan and they needed a new captain. "JJ was just new in the team, when we went to the yearly spring training camp in Sicily.", explains JJ's former team mate Ole Overby, "We could not believe it. Every day, after 5 or 6 hours in the saddle, JJ asked if he could go climb the Etna. Just for fun. I mean, born and raised in New York, this kid had never seen such a mountain before! He loved it! I think he really brought back the winner's spirit into the team". With good mountain training ongoing, JJ had his first of 61 race wins at Paris-Nice 2019 with only 22 years old. That was part of his Giro d'Italia preparation where he would have his Grand Tours debut:

B) Giro d'Italia 2019
That first Grand Tours for JJ set the tone for his future career. With only 24-years, JJ started the Giro with 63-64-67-47-83. In a 19 teams field , with experienced teams like Pokemonogatari and Lorient, JJ collected two stage wins! The fight for maglia ciclamino was with Miki Matsubara (Pokemonogatari) and legendary Laurent Bram (Lorient). Gip remembers the young Bram: "What an excellent rider he was! But he was young at the Giro. He wanted too much. Rosa, ciclamino, azzurra, all mountain stages,.... that was a bit too much even for Bram." This Bram later became 3rd best rider in RSF by eternal points but in this Giro Mariya Takeuchi (Pokemonogatari) stole the maglia rosa from him and JJ stole the maglia ciclamino from him. It was only the first of multiple exciting fights between JJ and Bram for a points classification.

JJ's race win counter: 4

C) Le Tour 2019
After winning maglia ciclamino and training up to incredible 70-64-67-47-84, Le Tour was a totally different race. JJ started as one of the favorites for maillot vert. Among the 12 teams, Laurent Bram (Lorient) was again the strongest contender for the points classification. As a very positive surprise, JJ won the first stage (the Grand Depart) in Bruxelles, which allowed him to wear the maillot jaune for one day. JJ's team mate Esteban Echevarria remembers the evening: "Man, we had so much Champagne that night. I think it hurt our performance for the rest of the tour. But it was so nice for our team to have a rider in yellow." Afterwards, JJ kept collecting points at flat stages, hilly stages and IS. No additional stage wins for him but the he took home his first maillot vert. The grown up Bram took home his maillot jaune.

JJ's race win counter: 7

D) La Vuelta 2019
JJ continued training well and reached insane 72-63-67-47-83 before the start of La Vuelta. He dreamt of winning all three points classifications of the three Grand Tours, a challenge which has never been completed by any rider in RSF! Main reason being that Le Tour and Giro usually provide a lot of mass sprints while La Vuelta often has so many mountain arrivals that it is impossible for sprinters to win the maillot verde. In a group of 14 teams, Bram and JJ dominated the whole group. 6 stage wins for Bram, 5 stage wins for JJ. The whole group? No. Again Mariya Takeuchi stole the maillot rojo from Bram. "I couldn't believe that Laurent again put so much effort in the stage wins but so little in GC.", complained JJ in an interview after both riders finished with the same number of points. Same number of points meant that Bram wins the maillot verde. Today JJ feels different about it: "La Vuelta is La Vuelta. Unfortuantely, the maillot verde is made for climbers and a climber won it. I understand that Bram had so much fun winning stages. Takeuchi also had a very strong team and manager, so it is understandable that Bram went for stages instead. In addition, this small defeat gave me the power to prepare for another season 2020 mentally."

JJ's race win counter: 14

E) Off-Season 2019
Gip is very honest about financials and the motivation at the end of the year: "The end of the year is tricky. Every serious team has to ride for money for the real season, but the Campeonato and the December Tour are actually nice races, so makes fun to bring a good team, too." The team took part in a number of interesting races. The healthy Bram vs. JJ rivalry continued at the Campeonato de los Andes, the most prestigious off-season race, where JJ collected 3 stage wins but Bram took home GC and points classification. In addition, the team participated in the December Tour "Philippines Tour" and many one day races. JJ collected victory after victory after victory.

JJ's race wins counter: 24

F) Team build-up for the 2020 season
"Let's be honest. January and February are really the boring months of RSF. Normally it is all about saving money for the real season.", confirms former team mate Kaapo Kemppainen, "but that year was different. JJ, Sigurd and Ole were all at their top skills late as they joined our team so late in 2018." The team continued to take part in races, mostly one day races. JJ continued to collect victories.

More importantly, the manager had the challenge to re-build the team around JJ for 2020. The most important classic riders of 2019 (Sandvik and Overby) were about to retire and it was clear that JJ might downtrain at some point, so we needed an even better team around him. So the team needed new classics: Theo Thornquist and Quirin Quathammer were signed (less downhill but more sprint than Sandvik & Overby). Moreover, Adrian Arvidsson and Chris Cooper joined to become 60-85 helpers for creating those mass sprints without flat sprinters. "Our strategy was clear: If JJ downtrained, we needed strong 60-85's to bring him back after a sieb and if we were not able to bring him back, we would at least have Theo or Quirin in front to steal the win."

Newspapers also had rumours about the team signing a young climber to become a GC team for 2020, but Gip explains why that never happened: "We were in talks with some young climber talents, but these guys are spoilt these days! They have something like 71-54-60 and want a big lamborghini plus the leader role... that was not possible with a living legend like JJ in the team!"

JJ's race win counter: 41

G) Spring Classics 2020
While JJ was too young in 2019 and basically missed the Spring Classics, it was clear that he would compete in some races in 2020. The main goal for the team was MSR, while races like LBL, Amstel, Scheldeprijs, De Panne or Harelbeke were also a fit for a guy like JJ. Unfortunately, most of the races were too difficult for the team: "You know, we had one big problem in these races. JJ had become too much of a focus points for others. Everybody focussed on him, the team had to work extremely hard from km1.", remembers Gip, "maybe we did some mistakes, too... we should have let other favorites work in the peloton or bring a second leader to these races." A good example is MSR 2020. The team controlled 291km all alone, while other hill sprinters like Bogarin (Big Donkey) and Söderberg (Liquigas-CND) even send some of their team mates in escape groups. Maybe with a more aggressive style, the team's sprint train could have been stronger and somewhere save that 1 pixel that was missing for JJ vs. Bogarin. But at least JJ was able to secure one spring classic win: De Panne, the most underrated UCI world tour race. (So underrated that it was put in kat3 in the palmares although in previous years it was kat4 as every WorldTour one day race...grrr) JJ has its own view on that: "Being 2nd in San Remo was frustrating, but that is cycling. Look at real life cycling. Sagan never won MSR, although he is an incredible hill sprinter, too. And for De Panne I am more than happy, that I won this race. My name is next to real life guys like Chavanel, Gilbert, Viviani and Groenewegen who have won this race in recent years."

JJ's race win counter: 53

H) Giro d'Italia 2020
Riding the afternoon edition, this race was really well covered in the forum and chat by Big Donkey, Team FL and Feiting Siebing, all friendly and communicative guys usually. JJ started with skills of 72-62-63-45-81. It was the first time that JJ competed mainly versus flat sprinters for a Grand Tours points classification, which made it a very different race as compared to the Bram vs. JJ fights. In a group of 16 teams, the sprinters Eduardo Spohr (Team FL) and Giorgio Tuttobene (Falkenbier) really stood out and delivered a super tight race vesus Gipfelstuermer's hill sprinter team. The fight for maglia ciclamino was open until the last mass sprint (stage 19) and JJ eventually won with 242 points ahead of Tuttobene (236) and Spohr (222). The remarkable part really was that JJ did this with 36-years. "I have to thank Bastien Boulanger. He is an incredible launcher and I am really happy that we had him in the team for all the mass sprints."

JJ's race win counter: 55

I) Le Tour 2020
With more and more downtraining (JJ now 67-56-59-40-78) and 38-years, Le Tour was supposed to be a relaxed Grand Tours for JJ, but the peloton with 9 teams had "only" 4 stronger sprinters, all of whom with less mountain skill than JJ. "It was fantastic. After defending maglia ciclamino, I had zero pressure from the team. With less weight on my shoulders, riding and sprinting felt much easier.", describes JJ. The truth is probably that the young guys Boulanger and VanDerVeen (both excellent sprint launchers) made it possible for JJ to beat the flat sprinters. Interestingly, JJ had a contract with Gipfelstuermer until 31 August 2020, but Gip explained why he allowed him to quit earlier: "Obviously, a guy like him with 60+ mountain and 70+ sprint could still be helpful to the team, but there is very limited time until the start of Vuelta and it would not be O.K. to downgrade JJ from captain to a launcher for Bastien or Dries." So after two stage wins and defending maillot vert at Le Tour 2020, JJ can happily leave the peloton for more free time: "It is the right time to say goodbye. Of course I would have liked to ride the Vuelta 2020 and the World Championship 2020, but RSF rules do not allow a 40-year-old guy like me. Probably it is better for my health!"

JJ's race win counter: 61


J) Final Statistics
Jacob "JJ" JEFFERSON
Starting Values: 50-55-67-47-81, 45reg
Best Values: 72-65-67-47-84, 45reg
End Values: 65-54-57-39-76, 45reg
Bought: 01.02.2019
Retired: 19.07.2020
Races: 342
Eternal Points: 24,214
Race Wins: 61
Grand Tours Stage Wins: 12
Classic Wins: 1
Points classifications: 9
Grand Tours points classifications: 4

RSF Records broken by JJ
★ First rider to win 2x maglia ciclamino
★ First rider to win 2x maillot vert
★ All-Time Nr.1 in Grand Tours points classification wins (4, no rider has 3, many have 2)
★ All-Time Nr.1 in Grand Tours with stage wins (5, no rider has 4, many have 3)
★ All-Time Nr.1 Sprinter in eternal points (24,214 vs. 21,177 by Ludvig Quist (Wookie))
★ Oldest rider to win a Grand Tours points classification (38 years and 19 days)

Team-internal records broken by JJ
★ Most race wins (61 vs. 12 by Fabio Fonda)
★ Most Grand Tours stage wins (12 vs. 3 by William Washington)
★ Most points (24,214 vs. 16,516 by Fabio Fonda)

Selected RSF records not broken by JJ
- Bernard Billourd (Trekken Racing) remains rider with most race wins (73 vs. 61 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 2)
- Taiga Aisaka (r Sukuran Pokemon) remains rider with most points (35,537 vs. 24,214 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 19)
- Laurent Bram (Lorient) remains rider with most Grand Tours stage wins (18 vs. 12 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 5)
- Ludvig Quist (Wookie) remains rider with most points classifications (12 vs. 9 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 8)
- Thomas Dressen (Team Trojer Vellau) remains youngest rider to win a Grand Tours points classification (23 years and 27 days vs. 25 years and 2 days by JJ)

--> Statistics in the first post are updated of course.

K) The future of Team Gipfelstuermer
"I hope they sign somebody for GC", said JJ, "The team has done a phenomenal job in supporting me. Gip has learned how to build a team, how to control a peloton. I hope they find somebody who can compete in GC, and not only points classification " Gip himself is smiling about that comment. "It could be an option. It is time to go after the big wins perhaps. Boulanger could be the guy for MSR 2021, Brandt could be the guy for RVV. But we still need somebody for the Grand Tours. Big goals for 2021!"

To all other managers, please comment on JJ's career and tell me your suggestions on what riders to buy for 2021. Classic with TT? Mountain with TT? One or two climbers? Wait until Giro 2021 and TDF 2021 route are released?

A fantastic rider deserves a great documentary! Really impressive this JJ! I hope he will remain close with the team!

I would start with a climber 73 mountain and minumum initial skills for flat, downhill, TT and reg as per below:
73-52-70-50 48 reg

Congrats to JJ for a uncomparable career! He was my favorite since my comeback. Sad to see him retire but he chose the perfect moment.

As for a new team leader I can't see this team as a climber's team but you might want to chose some variation after all these months of sprint sprint sprint. So go for whatever your instincts tell you.

It´s done! After all this work he can retire. And his team, too.
Nothing more to win!

Auf der Expo 2000 in Hannover gab es im deutschen Pavillion (bzw. einem der Pavillions) gab es eine Reihe von spektakulären Aussagen. Unter anderem diese vom Leiter (?) des Patenamtes München am 31.12.1899 respektive am 1.1.1900:
Alles was erfunden werden kann ist erfunden.

Was also gibt es noch zu tun? Für das Patentamt? Für Gipfelstürmer?

Wenn Du nochmal auf GK gehen willst, dann geht das wohl nur mit Favoriten. Schau mal, dass Du einen züchtest!

Finally its over - Congratulations for JJs wonderful career and thanks for the nice documentary - Time to reach out for new aims now!

July 2020: End of the JJ era. Youngstars start to perform.

Result: Div 1, 10th Place, 7,237 Points. (+2,986 points = 10,223 points if JJ did not retire). 13 seasons in a row staying in Div1.

Important races:
What a performance at TDF! 38-year-old JJ with 2 stage wins and his career finished on Champs Elysees as defending champion of the maillot vert. If you have not done so, read the documentary JJ - The sprint will decide. But also Bastien Boulanger and Bartholomäus Brandt with one TDF stage win each. So the youngstars and others in the team can now benefit from JJ's retirement. They are free to go in escape, attack and do what they want! Then, we failed San Sebastian like most classics this year... Quirin and Theo too optimistic there and without form... And finally, we decided to ride Vuelta a Burgos! First real race since Paris Nice after the Coronabreak and what a good decision! Quirin rode into yellow on day 1 and never gave it away! Who knew we could beat Lorient in a stage race?

Finances: +2,119,236 is a real money bonanza for the team. Best financial result since May 2018. Now going to continue making money and building the 2021 team!

Rider of the month:
Need to correct June 2020 rider of the month was Bastien BOULANGER due to his TDF stage win at end of June! But for July 2020, for the last time and for his 9th time, of course it is Jacob JEFFERSON thanks to his incredible performance at the TDF. First rider in RSF to defend maillot vert! I repeat that too often, yes... anyway, JJ now the team-internal record-holder of most rider of the month titles!

Statistic of the month: Riders with most TDF stage wins.
No Gipfelstuermer rider in this statistic... JJ now has 3 TDF stage wins (1 in 2019, 2 in 2020), but other riders have been way more successful in the past. Notable guys are really BRAM, ELFARSSON and GOOD who appear in the Top10 for Giro & TDF list for most stage wins.

8 - Noah KLINKHAMMER (Wookie, 2016)
7 - Laurent BRAM (Lorient, 2019)
7 - OskarPall ELFARSSON (LibertySeguros, 2011)
7 - Jonathan GOOD (Rockstar Inc, 2014)
7 - Georgi SVIRIDENKO (Freudenfeuer, 2019)
6 - Bernard BILLOURD (Trekken Racing, 2017)
5 - Jonatan CHRISTIE (Uhlsport, 2018)
5 - Michael HECHELHEIM (Team Franconia, 2012)
5 - Nadia SOUSA (superdragoes, 2015)

Training: Boring training this month, nearly nothing happened. Only relevant thing is that Brandt keeps preparing for 2021 season, keeps up mountain training, now 67-78-76. Keep going, Bartholomäus!

Retired Riders: Jacob JEFFERSON (38yo) says goodbye after 342 races with incredible 61 race wins, 2 maglia ciclamino and 2 maillot vert. Thank you for everything! We might offer you a role in the team in the future!

New Riders: Joost Zevenbergen (54-71-79-48-53, 53reg, 66pavé) and Matthieu MAJERUS (52-70-65-55-52,56reg,72pavé) join the team. Joost wants to become a famous classic rider, but we believe his role will be mainly a helper for GC riders. Matthieu wants to become a pavé specialist and we believe he can do it. So monument leaders 2021 can be Boulanger for MSR, Brandt for RVV and Majerus for PR. Let's hope they train well!

Goals for August 2020: Win GC at La Vuelta! We did it at Vuelta a Burgos, why shouldn't it work at Vuelta a Espana then?

Fun Fact: Not going to change the team name. Gipfelstuermer remains our main sponsor of course! They trust in our team! It is not like with other teams, who cannot maintain the sponsors. Look at Robyklebt/Petit Singe/Big Donkey or Gaurain rx/Feiting Siebing or r Sukuran Pokemon/Pokemonogatari.... I don't even know how to call these teams as they always change their main sponsor! So much better to keep the main sponsor and team name constant! But, going to change something else: The names of riders accepted are now broadened. In honor of Jacob JJ Jefferson we now allow our scouting team to buy riders with names, which are not an aliteration. It will make our team more diverse and interesting. So the next superstar of the team does not need to be an aliteration, nice, more options on the transfer market! Joost Zevenbergen the first new guy who profits from the new rule.

August 2020: Quathammer wins Vuelta a Burgos (but of course no Vuelta a Espana)

Result: Div 1, 14th Place, 8,488 Points. 14 seasons in a row staying in Div1.

Important races:
Quirin Quathammer with a really nice win of the 5-day Vuelta a Burgos, beating even Lorient's famous Duo of Fontaine and Nardi! Of course for a classic rider like him, that was not repeatable at the Vuelta a Espana, where he finished 18th, actually behind his teammates Theo Thornquist (10th) and Bartholomäus Brandt (13th). The latter as well as Bastien Boulanger both took a stage win during Vuelta, which was nice, too. However, Bonebreakers and Los Galacticos, not riding for their GC superstars Wasas and deLuca, went after the red jersey and stage wins, so that made it difficult to collect more. It's a shame they gave up GC without a fight, but of course Thomas Fontaine (Lorient) derved the GC win there, perhaps on his way to become the rider with most eternal points?

Finances: +408,288 which is O.K., because Vuelta a Espana only finished in September.

Rider of the month:
Quirin QUATHAMMER for winning the Vuelta a Burgos. It's the second-biggest stage race win of a Gipfelstuermer so far with category 3! The only other category 3 stage race was won by Mateo Montesinos in 2018, and it was also Vuelta a Burgos. Seems the manager performs well in Burgos!

Statistic of the month: Riders with most GT points classifications.
Finally a statistic, where our team leads, thanks to JJ's 4 GT points classfications! Also worth mentioning Leander Hediger, who this year became the first rider to win all 3 GT points classifications in one year. I have to say, Hediger was really not in the most difficult fields, and Hansa gave away GC ambitions during Vuelta instead... but after all, it is a big achievement! Interesting also, that only 11 riders won more than 1 GT points classifications, two of which from Gipfelstuermer team! (Let me know if I forgot anybody)

4 - Jacob "JJ" JEFFERSON (Gipfelstuermer; Giro 2019, TDF 2019, Giro 2020, TDF 2020; 12 GT stage wins)
3 - Leander HEDIGER (Hansa; Giro 2020, TDF 2020, Vuelta 2020; 4 GT stage wins)
2 - Peer PILS (Neutrogena; Giro 2010, TDF 2010; 8 GT stage wins)
2 - Michael HECHELHEIM (Team Franconia; Giro 2012, TDF 2012; 8 GT stage wins)
2 - Ewen McBRIGHT (BSE Marzahn; TDF 2007, Vuelta 2007; 6 GT stage wins)
2 - Niklas KOLOWICZ (RS Coesitz; Vuelta 2008, Giro 2009; 5 GT stage wins)
2 - Taiga AISAKA (r Sukuran Pokemon; TDF 2014, Vuelta 2014; 5 GT stage wins)
2 - Gasper KATRASNIK (SM Team; Giro 2016, TDF 2016; 5 GT stage wins)
2 - Jensen BORGMESTER (ritchie-sport; Giro 2007, Vuelta 2007; 3 GT stage wins)
2 - Szilveszter KOVAGO (SM Team; Giro 2014, TDF 2014; 3 GT stage wins)
2 - Fabio FONDA (Gipfelstuermer; Giro 2018, TDF 2018; 2 GT stage wins)

Retired Riders: Gabriel GARCIA (38yo) says goodbye after 268 races and an empty Palmarés, which is a bit sad, but at the same time he was a great helper in many many races. Gracias, Gabriel Garcia!!

Sold Riders: Normally this category don't exist, but Adrian ARVIDSSON (32yo) leaves for the team "Bugatti" after 115 races and 3 race wins in our team (St Sylv was a nice win on 31.12.2019). Good luck at your new team and thanks for the money! We needed it for our new arrival in the team!

New Riders: Kristian KAPUSTA (70-56-70-63-58, 51reg, 53pavé) joins the team. Could be our leader for the 2021 GT's! But depends a lot on his training and the route of the Giro and Le Tour to be presented later this year.

Training: Brandt up to 71-78-75, which is good for the 2021 season, our 21-year-olds Zevenbergen and Majerus also with a solid start to training.

Goals for September 2020: Win the World Championship! (not riding anything else really, instead having my vacation in France for the real Le Tour de France!)

September 2020: TDF in real life instead of RSF

Result: Div 1, 21st Place, 7 races, 5,859 Points --> Relegated to Div2

Important races:
Visiting the TDF in real life was a big event! Col de la Madelaine, Col de la Loze, beautiful.... Ah we are talking about RSF? Not much happened in this month for our team. Needed a break.

Finances: +784,092 thanks to Vuelta a Espana finished in September.

Rider of the month:
Theo THORNQUIST best placed Gipfelstuermer at the Vuelta and a 4th place at the Worlds.

Statistic of the month: Riders with most Grand Tours stage wins.

18 - Laurent BRAM (Lorient; 5@Giro2019, 7@TDF2019, 6@Vuelta2019)
17 - Paquito ORTIZ (Liquigas-CND; 3@Giro2016, 4@TDF2016, 10@Vuelta2016)
14 - OskarPall ELFARSSON (Liberty Seguros; 7@Giro2011, 7@TDF2011)
13 - Jesse RYDER (Liquigas-CND; 4@Giro2017, 4@TDF2017, 5@Vuelta2017)
12 - Jacob "JJ" JEFFERSON (Gipfelstuermer; 2@Giro2019, 1@TDF2019, 5@Vuelta2019, 2@Giro 2020, 2@TDF 2020)
12 - Jean COULIEU (Radler; 3@Giro2010, 3@TDF2010, 6@Vuelta2010)
12 - Carmelo PORTILLO (Tusnad Cyc Team; 3@Giro2013, 1@TDF2013, 8@Vuelta2013)
12 - Jonathan GOOD (Rockstar Inc; 5@Giro2014, 7@TDF2014)
12 - Georgi SVIRIDENKO (Freudenfeuer; 7@TDF2019, 5@Vuelta2019)

While JJ has the most Grand Tours points classification, some other riders have been even more successful at collecting Grand Tours stage wins! Impressive part however is, that JJ is the only sprinter in this list and the only guy who won stages at 5 different Grand Tours! All the others have been climbers and have only been successful in one season.

Retired Riders: -

New Riders: Vojtech VARGA (47-62-54-51-51, 40reg, 57pavé, 21years) joins the team. Cheap helper is needed!

Training: Brandt up to 73-78-75, which is good for the 2021 season, our young guys Kapusta, Zevenbergen and Majerus all with a solid start to training, but future months will be important

Goals for October 2020: Win Il Lombardia! We said we want to win a monument this season, so now it is time! How? No idea!

October 2020: Race Win #200 in an otherwise boring month

Result:
Races: 24
Race wins: 5
Points this month: 4,547
"Season points": 3,750
Division Result: #15 in Div2

Important races:
Quirin Quathammer with stage win #200 at the Tour des Paves. Wow! After 1,238 races, that's about every 6th race! Thanks again to JJ who contributed 61 (!) of our 200 race wins so far. Other than that... October always a boring month... except for Lombardia but we had no chance in this race playing from app and without a climber. Then the small tours Guanxi, Pavé and Sardegna all good for fun & cash, but really nothing is important about them. In Guanxi we brought Theo THORNQUIST on the podium, Joost ZEVENBERGEN the youth classement and won the team classement. For pavé tour, we brought Quirin QUATHAMMER the points classement, Matthieu MAJERUS the youth classement and won the team classement. During Sardegna, Vic VANDENBROUCKE collected one stage win and we got the third team classement of the month. Small tours, small successes!

Finances: +1,171,659 is O.K. for the start of the off-season. Need to make a lot of money to build a good team for 2021!

Rider of the month:
Quirin QUATHAMMER thanks to a stage win and the youth classement at the Tour des Pavés.

Statistic of the month: Riders with most Grand Tours victories.

3 - Gasper KATRASNIK (SM Team; Giro, TDF & Vuelta 2016)
3 - Paquito ORTIZ (Liquigas-CND; Giro, TDF & Vuelta 2016)
3 - Thomas FONTAINE (Lorient; Giro, TDF & Vuelta 2020)

Of course there are many riders with 2 Grand Tours victories, but these three obviously stand out! The Gipfelstuermer team will be happy, if we can get any one Grand Tours win in 2021.

Retired Riders: -

Sold Riders: The two classic/pavé specialists Theo THORNQUIST (33 years) and Quirin QUATHAMMER (31 years) have to leave the team after the real cycling season. Both with outstanding skills were missing a manager with outstanding skills. Theo's 3rd place at RVV 2020 and Quirin's successes at Burgos and Tour des Pavés were not enough to make them legends. However, both have been great helpers during 2020 for JJ, scored over 5,000 points and now help with cash for the new 2021 team!

UPDATE! New Riders: Willem DE WIT (76-56-80-51-57, 56pavé, 54reg, 22-years old) joins the team! What a last minute transfer on 5th Nov at 0:12am before training at 0:30am! Totally new strategy for the Gipfelstuermer scouts who search for talented riders all the time! Hopefully he'll develop well through off-season and into the 2021 season!

Training: Brandt up to 74-78-75, hoping for more from him. Kapusta now 78-61-70, hoping for much more to come!

Goals for November 2020: Andes 2020! Nice race designed by Tukh! Goal is one stage win and youth classement for Kapusta perhaps.

November 2020: Ok-ish but boring Andes

Result:
Races: 25
Race wins: 3
Points this month: 4,005
"Season" points: 6,675
Result: #1 in Div2 --> Now Div1 again.

Important races:
Joost Zevenbergen with two stage wins in the Andes, one of them with a 55km solo attack out of the escape! Kristian Kapusta won the youth jersey. Wasn't really the most exciting tour. 14 teams, of which noone, except us, ever tried to attack GC. So dominated by Lorient's team again, although he went for Paul Nardi instead of his superstar Thomas Fontaine. Then this Andra Pradesh Cat.1-Tour... normally not worth mentioning, but Bastien Boulanger winning the tour was quite nice!

Finances:
+431,002 because Andes was only +/- 0 with 14 teams. So not the best situation currently...

Rider of the month:
Joost ZEVENBERGEN after his two Andes stage wins and despit his horrible training, simply stopping at 66-79, missing 4x 63% mountain training...

Statistic of the month:
Teams with most Campeonato de los Andes victories.

5 - Alkworld (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
3 - francais (2011, 2012, 2013)
3 - Petit Singe (2011, 2012, 2013)
3 - Hansa (2013, 2014, 2020)
3 - Freudenfeuer (2015, 2017, 2018)
3 - Big Donkey (2016, 2017, 2018)

Retired Riders: -

Sold Riders: -

New Riders: -

Training: Horrible! Kapusta misses 3x 77% mountain, Zevenbergen misses 4x 63% mountain, Majerus misses 3x 48% Flat.... Was close to selling these young training losers... but I have no money anyways... so better to keep them and pray for good training.

Goals for December 2020: December Tour 2020! It's my own! Humuhumunukunukuapuaa! Can be a nice race, let's see Goal is to make money

Why Petit Singe and Big Donkey are counted as two teams, just so that RKL isn't on top?