Tour de Suisse 15h

[team fl]

Who needs preparation for the Tour de France and doesn't want or can't ride the Critérium du Dauphiné? Well then, here it is, the Tour de Suisse! Very fortunately, it starts in Frauenfeld, only a bit more than an hour ride away from the Team FL headquarteres. And so it was clear that the Liechtenstein cycling team is going to start at the TTT on Saturday. The following riders will be sent to the start and hope for good results all over the place:

x1 Afshin Pirhashemi, Xerxes of cycling, GC leader
x2 Willy Attison, What a schlong, Helper
x3 Carlos Kaiser, El imperador, Afshins No.1
x4 Jung Gi "KJG" Kim, the living abbreviation, sprinter of the team (says a lot)
x5 Lukas Marxer, did a Marxer already at the Giro!, TTT and ITT hope
x6 René Ritter, rides roaringly, training for the TdF
x7 Kahlid Satour, DJ Kahlid, all he does is win..., tries not to get lost in the TTT
x8 Sandro Spaeth, surprisingly early all the time, lung of the team
x9 Juan Villafuerte, somebody has to be last in the line-up, Afshins No. 2

Goals are of course the GC and maybe a stage win. And as usual wasting a lot of money. But mainly this is really a test for the TdF. For the first time, Team FL's line-up is built around a GC leader instead of having something for every profile. We'll see how this works out...

[team fl]

Only 5 teams, but well, here's the favorite check:

General classement:

***** Luca Doncic (Allrad)
**** Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
*** ...
** Gulio Moscon (LombardInvest), Marvin Bagley (Allrad), Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
* a surprise rider

Points classement:

*** JungGi Kim (Team FL)
** Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
* Louis van Aarenberg (LombardInvest)

Mountain classement:

*** The one who wants it
** Another rider
* A surprise rider

Youth classement:

*** Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
** ...
* ...

Team classement:

*** Allrad
** Furpach
* Team FL

[Robyklebt]

Grrr, here is that damn Doncic. Was hoping to meet him in Italy. Strong guy.

[team fl]

Grrr, here is that damn Doncic. Was hoping to meet him in Italy. Strong guy.

I fear he will be too strong for Afshin, esp. with his support cast. Anyway, after the first stage it's 1:0 for Team FL, as SV Furpach put it. After leading until the last km Allrad lost the first position in the TTT on the last km to Team FL, who could win its first TTT ever. So its Juan Villafuerte in the yellow jersey for the moment. For the GC it's like nothing happened between Pirhashemi and Doncic. As the latter will win lots of time in the ITT, it's now on Pirhashemi to gain time until then. Or maybe there will be a lucky third? Who knows.

Stage 2 today won't be the one to decide the GC though, but is interesting in its own way. There are a lot of outcomes possible. Will KJG be able to keep up or rejoin for a final sprint? Will the teams with strong classic riders with sprint be able to dominate? Will there be a late or a successfull early attack? Will one of the GC favorites get time bonifications? Will the tour organisation manage to change the circuit profile after every lap like indicated? After 16:45 we will know more.

[team fl]

The Team FL streak goes on. After winning the stage 1 TTT, the Liechtenstein cycling team was also victorious at stage 2, even with a double victory. While Jung Gi Kim finished first, Afshin Pirhashemi gained important seconds right behind him. While the stage itself was not really action packed - only Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest) escaped early and got the mountain jersey as reward - it was pretty clear from the start, the the fight for the GC is on. While Pirhashemi gathered some bonus second at the second intermediary sprint, Luka Doncic balanced it again at the third. Also Vignir Svavarsson from SV Furpach jumped in and tried to catch some time bonifications. As the GC fight will only get tougher looking at the profile of the upcoming stages, it might also be more interesting in the fight about stage wins. Anyway, no classement is decided so far, although white is pretty save for Jacobus from SV Furpach it seems, and besides No Name Team, all teams seem to be active more or less. Anyway, let's have a look a the different classements after stage 2:

General classement

01. 00:00 Jung Gi Kim (Team FL)
02. 00:02 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
03. 00:08 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
04. 00:10 Lukas Marxer (Team FL)
05. 00:10 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)
06. 00:10 DeAndre Ayton (Allrad)
07. 00:10 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
08. 00:10 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
09. 00:20 Bernardo Sernedo (No Name Team)
10. 00:21 Henrique Rodrigues (No Name Team)

Points classement

01. 030 Jung Gi Kim (Team FL)
02. 029 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
03. 021 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)

Mountain classement

01. 020 Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest)
02. 003 Several riders


Youth classement

01. 00:21 Raul Peixoto (No Name Team)
02. 00:43 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)
03. 00:47 Mark Merklein (SV Furpach)

Team classement

01. 00:00 Team FL
02. 00:00 Allrad
03. 00:33 No Name Team

[Robyklebt]

Serial winner. I might boycott the Tour to avoid you!!!
Lazy Donkey asks: Does Doncic have a guy to pull him up the mountains?

[team fl]

Serial winner. I might boycott the Tour to avoid you!!!
Lazy Donkey asks: Does Doncic have a guy to pull him up the mountains?

1.) That's the plan, to avoid Zafzaf, Aeschlimann and the poor loser climbers from Liquigas-CND by showing the strength (or wiliness) of Team FL at the Tour de Suisse

and

2.) Yes, Doncic has a climber to pull him up the mountains. The bastard is called Michael Hammer (84-65-77). Grrr... Btw, he also has Bagley (78-67-78)..

[team fl]

Well, what a day. First, Pirhashemi wins Stage 3 and then he also decides that he needs a better mountain skill, leaving him at 85 (for the moment!). This leaves Team FL with three stage wins in this year's afternoon Tour de Suisse. And Pirhashemi in yellow (and green), 18 secs in front of Bagley and 19 secs in front of his main GC opponent, Luka Doncic. Another contestant who could gain a lot in the ITT, Norberto Mendes from No Name Team, has already lost 01:17 and will lose more time of the course of the tour, most likely. Besides that Bojan Mladenovic looks like the main rider to watch for the mountain classement, as he is 23 points ahead of everybody else already. This won't change today, as stage 4 doesn't offer many GPMs to gain mountain points. Due to it's profile - flat at the beginning with a little hill right before the finish - this could be a stage that Team FL won't win, actually. Anyway, here are the numbers after stage 3:

General classement

01. 00:00 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 00:18 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
03. 00:19 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
04. 00:21 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
05. 00:31 DeAndre Ayton (Allrad)
06. 00:33 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)
07. 00:45 Carlos Kaiser (Team FL)
08. 00:49 Willie Luan (SV Furpach)
09. 00:55 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)
10. 00:58 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)

Points classement

01. 049 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 034 Jung Gi Kim (Team FL)
03. 029 Luka Doncic (Allrad)

Mountain classement

01. 028 Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest)
02. 005 Several riders
...

Youth classement

01. 00:58 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
02. 01:13 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)
03. 03:57 Raul Peixoto (No Name Team)

Team classement

01. 00:00 Allrad
02. 00:09 Team FL
03. 02:03 SV Furpach

[team fl]

The story continues during stage 4. From Gansingen to Gstaad, there was almost no activity besides a move from SV Furpach for a couple of km to keep helpers form Allrad, LombardInvest and Team FL away from their leaders. the end, the GC favourites sprinted in the main group for the stage win. And very surprisingly, it was Afshin Pirhashemi again, who crossed the finish line first, gathering another 10 bonus seconds for the GC. Willie Luan and Kali Jacobus finished right behind him, both riding for SV Furpach. So after stage 4 the numbers look like this before the first mountain stage of this year's Tour de Suisse:

General classement

01. 00:00 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 00:27 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 00:28 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
04. 00:31 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
05. 00:43 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)
06. 00:53 Willie Luan (SV Furpach)
07. 00:55 Carlos Kaiser (Team FL)
08. 01:04 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
09. 01:05 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)
10. 01:19 Vignis Svavarsson (SV Furpach)

Points classement

01. 069 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 046 Jung Gi Kim (Team FL)
03. 042 Willie Luan (SV Furpach)

Mountain classement

01. 028 Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest)
02. 010 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)
03. 009 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)

Youth classement

01. 01:04 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
02. 02:51 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)
03. 05:35 Raul Peixoto (No Name Team)

Team classement

01. 00:00 Allrad
02. 00:09 Team FL
03. 02:03 SV Furpach

[team fl]

It's quite a story, and it even sounds weird to me: Afshin Pirhashemi also won stage 5... This means 5 stage wins for Team FL after 5 stages at the Tour de Suisse. And this also means that Afshin is sitting comfortably on top of the GC, 46 seconds ahead of Luka Doncic from team Allrad (who will still win the overall GC most likely) and 52 seconds ahead of Martin Hammer, also team Allrad (place 4, Marvin Bagley, also team Allrad...). Because of his winning spree, he is also leading in the points classement in front of, guess who, right, Luka Doncic, while KJG is still defending a podium placement there. Besides this classement, it's maybe the youth classement that's already decided, with Kali Jacobus having an advantage of over 10 minutes to his next opponent, his own team mate Roger Soler. But as the tour is not over yet, who knows what happens. And the most happens, at least at the moment, in the mountain classement. While Bojan Mladenovic has a decent advantage in mountain points, it seems that SV Furpach joined the fight for red with Willie Luan and others. Also Afshin and Juan Villafuerte from Team FL, currently on place 2 and 3, may have chances, although their team will focus on stages and the GC most likely instead of going for GPMs. Overall, it's these little contests that make the Afternoon TdS interesting and not the fight for stages so much, as that has been one-way street so far. But enough of this talk, let's have a look at the standings after stage 5:

General classement

01. 00:00 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 00:46 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 00:52 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
04. 01:04 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
05. 01:36 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
06. 01:37 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)
07. 01:40 Carlos Kaiser (Team FL)
08. 01:54 Vignar Svavarsson (SV Furpach)
09. 02:21 Louis van Arenberg (LombardInvest)
10. 02:37 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)

Points classement

01. 084 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 052 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 046 Jung Gi Kim (Team FL)

Mountain classement

01. 039 Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest)
02. 026 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
03. 025 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)

Youth classement

01. 01:36 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
02. 12:41 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)
03. 23:42 Raul Peixoto (No Name Team)

Team classement

01. 00:00 Allrad
02. 01:35 Team FL
03. 11:35 SV Furpach

[team fl]

Uff, what a stage we had yesterday. After a group of four riders, not dangerous for the GC, attacked, it was SV Furpach who blew the peloton in pieces in the first climb. A concequense was, that Yellow in person of Afshin Pirhashemi was isolated in front. Fortunately for Team FL, Allrad with Doncic was not eager to exploit the situation and so he got helpers back right befor the second climb of the day. In the end, Pirhashemi had enough power to win another stage with a punch on the last km. But still, the GC seems to be set if nothing big chances in stage 7, as Doncic only lost 8 seconds (with bonifications). So, will there be another stage win for Team FL, who wins the mountain classement and is it already safe to congratulate Doncic for the GC win? We will see. What we can already see now, are the standings after stage 6:

General classement

01. 00:00 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 00:54 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 01:09 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
04. 01:21 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
05. 01:45 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
06. 01:54 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)
07. 02:11 Vignar Svavarsson (SV Furpach)
08. 02:16 Carlos Kaiser (Team FL)
09. 02:54 Louis van Arenberg (LombardInvest)
10. 03:11 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)

Points classement

01. 099 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 064 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 056 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)

Mountain classement

01. 039 Willie Luan (SV Furpach)
02. 039 Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest)
03. 036 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)

Youth classement

01. 01:45 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
02. 13:41 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)
03. 01:03:32 Mark Merklein (SV Furpach)

Team classement

01. 00:00 Allrad
02. 02:09 Team FL
03. 12:18 SV Furpach

[team fl]

Short summary: Afshin won stage 7 as well . Nevertheless, the GC will be won by Luka Doncic most likely. The current advantage of 1 min 19 secs, even with some bonification at stage 8, won't cover Luka's TT advantage during the 33 km long ITT in stage 9. But then again, all the stage wins, points and mountain classement is not bad either. But back to stage 7: It was again SV Furpach, like in stage 6, who did most of the action. Even Kali Jacobus was into it. Also LombardInvest invested some riders for attacks and escapes, but in the end, the whole Team FL worked for Afshin's 5th stage win in a row. So before the final two stages, a flat stage today and the ITT tomorrow, the standings look like this:

General classement

01. 00:00 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 01:19 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 01:30 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
04. 01:40 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
05. 02:36 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
06. 02:41 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)
07. 02:48 Vignar Svavarsson (SV Furpach)
08. 03:13 Carlos Kaiser (Team FL)
09. 04:33 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)
10. 05:08 DeAndre Ayton (Allrad)

Points classement

01. 114 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 073 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
03. 062 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)

Mountain classement

01. 056 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
02. 039 Willie Luan (SV Furpach)
03. 039 Bojan Mladenovic (LombardInvest)

Youth classement

01. 02:36 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
02. 31:06 Roger Soler (SV Furpach)
03. 01:19:03 Mark Merklein (SV Furpach)

Team classement

01. 00:00 Allrad
02. 03:23 Team FL
03. 15:39 SV Furpach

[team fl]

Last two stages finally had different stage winners! At stage 8, it was Sixto Barrera (SV Furpach) out of an early escape group who finished only 3 seconds in front of the next Team FL rider. Finally, the best time trialist in the group, Giraud Riquier (LombardInvest) won the 9th and last stage of this years' Tour des Suisse. And it also ended, as expected, with a GC win by Luka Doncic, who got second in the ITT and finally led by 1 min 21 seconds over Afshin Pirhashemi, the "cereal" winner of the tour. To conclude it, here are the final results:

Team classement: Allrad

Youth classement: Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)

Points classement: Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)

Mountain classement: Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)

General classement:
01. 00:00:00 Luka Doncic (Allrad)
02. 00:01:21 Afshin Pirhashemi (Team FL)
03. 00:04:23 Marvin Bagley (Allrad)
04. 00:05:25 Kali Jacobus (SV Furpach)
05. 00:06:02 Michael Hammer (Allrad)
06. 00:06:23 DeAndre Ayton (Allrad)
07. 00:06:42 Giulio Moscon (LombardInvest)
08. 00:06:56 Vignir Svavarsson (SV Furpach)
09. 00:07:57 Carlos Kaiser (Team FL)
10. 00:08:41 Juan Villafuerte (Team FL)