Got this one done at work today, slowly but surely CN tour progresses..
Tour of CN
Stage 4
From Avatars to Prediction Game
195km long
Previous Stages
Stage 1 --
Stage 2 --
Stage 3
Stage Description:
The first real col of the race, once the riders get over the Alto guess la break they descend into the punchy hills in the Prediction game region. Fireworks are a possibility, but stage 5 and 6 are expected to be the first indication of the strongest guys here.
Media outlook:
In overnight news bicing came out and said he looks forward to the games and fantasy region, where he can display his true ability. In particular he looks forward to Monte CQ Ranking where he hopes to leave his mark on this race. Meanwhile ACF slammed for Craig for his inability to finish a sprint. And Libertine said he looks forward to taking the Iberian train all the way to the finish on the biggest tests of the tour so far.
The Race:
At the start line the peloton was looking at an uphill battle, finally the first real climb of the CN tour was here. Immediately a large selection was formed, it appeared almost every team wanted some men in the break. Lupetto (mambo italiano) greenedge, aussiegoddess (team boomerang) roundabout, (stage thread creation team) kwibus, ak-zaaf, (Mafioso) race radio, (team Armstrong) André (team Belgium) redheaddane (Scandinavian cycling) jensattacks (pro-dope cycling) luckyboy, thirteen (team attack) usedtobefast, (bada$s cycling) onem@n@rmy, mewmewmew, (cat/dog/animal team) googalor, (team random) all present in the 16 man strong group. This was the first time the cat/dog/animal team (who was forced to merge into one team prior to the CN tour.. damn economy) had been seen in the race and they were pushing it hard on the group, half way up the climb greenedge and André were losing contact with the group, the pace was high. With just a few km remaining to the summit jensattacks - who overnight had said he respect daotec a great deal, and believed the organizers were fuccin’ fools for kicking him out of the race- was clearly struggling, he had lost roundabouts wheel, him along with googalor, usedtobefast and redheaddane who made the mistake of riding behind jensattacks were suffering and had lost contact with the now 10 man strong group. Redheaddane rode hard to make it back to roundabouts wheel, but came meters short when the elastic broke. Meanwhile in the peloton the head of state seemed content to tackle the first real col of the tour at a steady pace. Behind the autobus was already forming, with the entire Iberian bullies cycling team (excluding parullo) leading libertine up the mountain; many of the big sprinters present in the bus.
Back at the front the hustle for the KOM points had begun, world champion and current kom leader thirteen was unable to respond AussieGodess’s attack. However on Aussiegoddess’s wheel luckyboy, roundabout, Lupetto, Kwibus, Ak-zaaf and race radio had no trouble following. Luckyboy then launched in the dying meters piping aussiegoddess and roundabout on the line for maximum points. The damage to the riders struggling before the summit was minimal so they were soon able to bridge back on the descent. Again onem@n@rmy and mewmewmew worked like crazy on the front, with occasional help from roundabout and the goddess from down under.
Back in the peloton the climb had passed by uneventfully. Now as they approached the final of hills for the day the peloton finally started upping the pace, Mambo Italiano with a full train working ferociously to keep zamasailo in the purple jersey. The gap was down to just under 5 minutes. Hrotha was near the front surrounded by his Spanish armada -Hrotha of course had recently just signed a long term contract with the Spanish armada cycling team with the intention of building a fully Spanish squad. Of course nationalism was very important to Hrotha; it was his primary reasoning for wanting to win this race, for the glory of España!- Similarly just some guy was seen protecting The Hitch (stage thread creation team). Meanwhile further down in the peloton boomcie was seen with fire in his eyes as he rode behind DT, who of course ignored such things. There was tension building…
Back at the front the leading group of 10 had reached the final punchy hills of the day, at this point the peloton trailed by just over a minute. Immediately roundabout made his bid for victory powering up the short punchy climb, on his wheel the world champion thirteen was present along with ak-zaaf and Lupetto – who had just been following wheels all day long - onem@n@rmy and mewmewmew after all their work had been caught napping and missed the attack. But mewmewmew wasn’t prepared to wave their fury white cat flag, as she destroyed herself for onem@n@rmy, eventually bridging the gap for her teammate before swinging to the side in exhaustion. Back in the peloton they had also hit the final climbs, and to the surprise of many, leader of the race zamasailo had attacked the bunch. He of course was a punchy rider and naturally caused a reaction. Boomcie dark horse for overall was first to respond with team mate MVDB –as boomcie responded he ‘accidently’ struck DT while disposing of his water bottle, of course DT swatted it away asif nothing happened - parullo also responded along with ACF, harvetts, Ingsve and Lanark. At first the peloton was in a confused state surprised by the move, but soon the Spanish armada took the head of the peloton attempting to close the group. Meanwhile at the back of the peloton, Jobiwan - who was lucky to start the stage – was just barely hanging on, clearly struggling with his injuries.
In front the purple jersey group was only a short distance away as the stage leaders hit the final climb before the uphill finish. The concern on thirteen’s face evident as she looked over her shoulder, Ak-zaaf the cheeky Mafioso rider took this moment of uncertainly to launch his attack, he flew up the hill taking a big gap, roundabout who had seem the strongest all day in the front couldn’t match the attack and quickly feel behind thirteen’s wheel as they were absorbed by the purple jersey group. Immediately Lupetto hit the front working hard to bridge his leader to ak-zaaf. But the Dutchman had gone over the top of the hill and was taking massive risks on the short descent. Finally when he flew under the 1km to go banner and did a right hand turn to face the final 800m of false flat. But he was determined and powered on like a machine, he rounded the final corner got out of his saddle and celebrated an epic victory, and becoming the third different leader of the Tour of CN.
Behind Lupetto opened up the sprint to launch his leader zamasailo. The Italian was quick, but Michielveedeebee was lurking in the shadows and waited until the last possible moment and passed the Italian stallion for 2nd place. Behind thirteen battled to a disappointing fourth place, clearly upset at the missed opportunity as the curse of the stripes continued. The peloton followed the purple jersey group a short time later with El pickle piping a devastated DT to the line. Hrotha looked calm obviously content with the time lost today. Meanwhile other groups rolled in and dribs and drabs, Jobiwan conceding another 40 seconds to his main rivals after injuries become too much in the final km.
Results:
Stage:
1. Ak-zaaf
2. Michielveedeebee 3. Zamasailo 4. Thirteen 5. Parullo 6. Onem@n@rmy 7. Ingsve 8. ACF 9. Lupetto 10. Havetts 11. Lanark 12. Boomcie +22sec
13. El pickle 14. DT 15. Moose McKnuckles etc [BASICALLY ALL TEAM LEADERS AND BIG NAMES IN HERE] +45sec
Notable time losses: Jobiwan +1.25sec, Krebs + 1.11, Ryo +1.11
Purple Jersely: 1. Ak-Zaaf, 2. Zamasailo 3. Michielveedeebee 4. Ingsve 5.Parullo 6.ACF 7. Havetts 8. Lanaark 9. Boomcie 10. Lupetto
KOM: 1. Luckyboy 2. Thirteen 3. Aussie Goddess
Sprinters Jersey: 1. Libertine 2. Zamasailo 3. Craig 4. Dim 5. Ingsve
White Jersey: 1. Zamasailo 2. Lupetto 3. Spine Concept
Teams: 1. Mafioso 2. Mambo Italiano 3. Team Belgium
Post Race Comments:
Libertine:
Just happy to make it to the finish with that traitor parullo up the road.
Craig:
I’m pretty sure I saw libertine holding onto a car…
Jobiwan:
This has been a difficult race for me so far. Hoping my fortunes can change soon.
ACF:
I.. Want.. My.. Mommy !
Ryo:
The peloton are a pack of chumps, I pity them all, I will show them what a real man does in the mountains.
And finally, Ak-Zaaf on today’s stage:
"In this country, you gotta make the form first. Then when you get the form, you get the confidence. Then when you get the confidence, then you get the victories."