heywoodu

Roglic is the moral winner of the day, that's a big step towards the final win.

Why do basically all British cyclists have the very ugliest styles of riding imaginable?

Vingegaard

And apologies for entering a tragic tale like that of the Hidden Village into this otherwise festive event, but I really couldn't let TOISC at the Veluwe go by without giving it some attention. I've picked my bike and went there a few times and even though the village itself is really not big (there's three or four of these reconstructed living quarters I believe), walking around there really makes one think about times long gone.

Delegation location 9 - Vierhouten We go up north from Apeldoorn once again and find ourselves not very far away from Staverden in yet another small location: Vierhouten, a little and pretty quiet town in the woods. The name literally translates to something like 'four woods', most likely this name came into existence because of the four forests surrounding it. It's a bit of a touristic place, since it's located in the forests and next to what's apparently called heathland in English. For a very long time, Vierhouten was a typical farmer's village, which lasted until somewhere in the mid-20th century. A lot of the centuries old farms disappeared, were rebuilt or burned down - basically only one, built before 1820 and possibly already in 1650, is still intact, although not really operating as a farm anymore, but as a holiday house instead. De Jonge Stee, the main former farm still in existence in Vierhouten There is one main thing around Vierhouten and that has to do with relatively recent history: a few kilometers outside of town, there is the 'Hidden Village'. During the Second World War, a relatively large amount of people were hidden from the German occupiers there, including Jewish people, resistance fighters and a British pilot who was shot down not far away and escaped being caught. Entrance to one of the rebuilt living quarters in the Hidden Village The Hidden Village, sadly, has a tragic ending, but in between all the fun stuff, I do think it's an important story to tell for history's sake: one day a young boy was getting some water, but when crossing a small opening in between the trees, a German soldier spotted him. He got some reinforcements and the hidden village was hidden no more. A total of 78 people managed to escape, but eight were caught and all of them were executed basically immediately - apart from one elderly lady, who died due to sickness. Part of the village has been rebuilt, so one can go there and enter the (rebuilt) living quarters while walking around in the forest. Inside the forest, next to one of the forest roads, a small monument has been made for the Hidden Village inhabitants who were caught and executed in October 1944, six of them at roughly this location To close out Vierhouten, we would like to point out there is of course not just tragedy there - otherwise we wouldn't place anyone in the town. There's a hotel which was often used by the royal family when going on their hunting vacations - not to worry, they're not doing that anymore. The main positive thing about Vierhouten is it's market in the autumn, when the new season starts for all kinds of meat - deer, boar and so on. They are majestic animals indeed, but if numbers are not controlled to some extent, the entire ecosystem is endangered, especially the boar can be...destructive. The end of summer and the beginning of autumn is an excellent time in Vierhouten! Delegations in Vierhouten Denmark Mexico Israel

The first major race of 2021 has been cancelled: there will be no Tour Down Under (and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race) next year.

Why do you think I'm hiding in the Veluwe forests?

Just noticed it now, but are you sure that wasn't Annemiek van Vleuten?

It's not going to be close enough for that to be interesting.

[hide] Week 2 - Stages 7-12 Stage Top 3 Riders Vitoria-Gasteiz - Villanueva de Valdegovia Stage 7 October, 27th 1st: Omar Fraile 2nd: Alex Aranburu 3rd: Jonathan Lastra Robert Power Tim Wellens Michael Woods Esteban Chaves Ricardo Carapaz Remi Cavagna Guillaume Martin Nans Peters Dan Martin Jetse Bol Rui Costa Primoz Roglic Willie Smit Omar Fraile José Herrada Enric Mas Luis León Sánchez Alejandro Valverde Logroño - Alto de Moncalvillo Stage 8 October, 28th 1st: Primoz Roglic 2nd: David Gaudu 3rd: Enric Mas Michael Woods Esteban Chaves Ricardo Carapaz David Gaudu Guillaume Martin Dan Martin Davide Formolo Wout Poels Rui Costa Aleksandr Vlasov Primoz Roglic Enric Mas Marc Soler Alejandro Valverde Sepp Kuss B.M. Cid Campeador. Castrillo del Val - Aguilar de Campoo Stage 9 October, 29th 1st: Pascal Ackermann 2nd: Sam Bennett 3rd: Jasper Philipsen Jasper Philipsen Gerben Thijssen Magnus Cort Mihkel Raim Lorrenzo Manzin Emmanuel Morin Pascal Ackermann Max Kanter Sam Bennett Jakub Mareczko Matteo Moschetti Dion Smith Jon Aberasturi Castro Urdiales - Suances Stage 10 October, 30th 1st: Pascal Ackermann 2nd: Sam Bennett 3rd: Jon Aberasturi Jasper Philipsen Gerben Thijssen Magnus Cort Mihkel Raim Lorrenzo Manzin Emmanuel Morin Pascal Ackermann Max Kanter Sam Bennett Jakub Mareczko Matteo Moschetti Dion Smith Jon Aberasturi Villaviciosa - Alto de La Farrapona. Lagos de Somiedo Stage 11 October, 31st 1st: Sepp Kuss 2nd: Wout Poels 3rd: Guillaume Martin Felix Grossschartner Michael Woods Esteban Chaves Ricardo Carapaz David Gaudu Guillaume Martin Hugh Carthy Dan Martin Davide Formolo Wout Poels Aleksandr Vlasov Primoz Roglic David De La Cruz Enric Mas Mikel Nieve Marc Soler Alejandro Valverde Sepp Kuss La Pola Llaviana/Pola de Laviana - Alto de l'Angliru Stage 12 November, 1st 1st: Wout Poels 2nd: Richard Carapaz 3rd: Dan Martin Felix Grossschartner Michael Woods Esteban Chaves Ricardo Carapaz David Gaudu Guillaume Martin Hugh Carthy Dan Martin Davide Formolo Wout Poels Aleksandr Vlasov Primoz Roglic David De La Cruz Enric Mas Mikel Nieve Marc Soler Alejandro Valverde Sepp Kuss [/hide]

It's fascinating how organizers publish profiles of climbs that just are not right. For example today's Alto de la Mozqueta, the second to last climb, it never goes over 10% (apart maybe for the inside of a turn here and there, but that's only a few meters), yet the profile shows a whole big piece at 12%.

I very strongly disagree.

Go back to the beginning of the year...who thought there would be an election-like feeling...but for mass testing for a virus?

Welcome to the Hotel California! Edit: I have no idea why I just posted that here, it's the walkon song playing currently for the boxing. I think I got carried away.

I have being fulfilling my duty and entering the votes into my sheet every evening

I hope the mention of Jacques Brinkman made up for it.

Wait, you're reading it wrong. I mean the boring part from now on is that - for me - there is no competition anymore: the battle is over, I know who won, so the excitement in terms of 'who will win?!' is already over

Both awesome and a little boring because for me there's no excitement in terms of competition anymore

It's a fun thought that I am literally the only person in the world who knows whether or not this is true. And who knows the actual winner. Which may or may not be the same. Who knows?

I can not thank you enough for your help man, wonderful job!

Still here, but to avoid any confusion, I'll withdraw from making picks until further notice

And rightfully so. Earlier this week a KLM Boeing 747 landed for the very last time

You're playing for the team of the very best town of the Veluwe

Boats that were used for fishing on the sea (Zuiderzee), but since the sea was turned into a lake by blocking it off, the type of water and so fish living in it changed and the whole fishing thing - while definitely still existing - became a lot less massive of an industry. Most cities and towns at the sea had their own kinds of botters, Elburg still places a high value on them (there are even the Botterdagen, or Botter Days ). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJsselmeer