Written by Don Hamstre from Schiavi di Don
  
  History and Myths: Ian Defley
  
  Ian Defley had a pretty nice career. He won a classic, won a Tour stage, and finished 10th in the overall rankings in Season 13. He was a very well-liked guy, and his team Dodge was very thankful to have a rider like him. However, this is not what Ian defley is known for. His final result was in season 19. He was 35 back then. But Ian had no intention of quitting. And so a legend was born. Season 20, 36yo, 2 top-9s. Season 21, 37, best finish 13th. Season 22, 38, best finish 28th. S23, 39, best finish 35th. S24, 40, best finish 24th. S25, 41, best finish 6th! S26, 42, 20th. S27, 43, 54th. S28, 44, 45th (neat). S29, 45, 56th. S30, 46, 61st. S31, 47, 67th. S32, 48, seems to be the end, but then, S33, age 49, 8 races, best finish 94th. S34, now 50, best finish still 93rd. S35, 51, getting better with age, 86th. S36, 52, slight setback, 99th. S37, 53, oh no, 105th! S38, 54, really feeling the bones now, 119th. S39, 55, only last places, 120th as best result. Defley was disheartened. He decided to take a short break to regain his powers. But in S46, age 62, he made a splashing comeback. He raced in Perm Tour, and did not finish last on any of the stages. Reinvigorated, he raced Race of the Minutemen in S47, age 63. Finishing 128th in the mountain TT. 16 riders finished behind him. These 16 riders were so ashamed that they appealed to OCM leadership. A rider this old should not be allowed to race! And the leadership listened. Ian Defley will now forever be the oldest racer to race a race.
  And yes, I probably got his age wrong by a year. But he’s as young or old as he feels! (currently 78)
  
   Ian Defley
  
  
   Younger Gun of the Month
  
   Vadimas Blekevicius
  
  An amazing climber on one of the best climbing teams in the game. What can go wrong for Vadimas? Of course manager Nooky is known for rotating his captains to get the most out of them, but he should still get plenty of opportunities to win. Is he good enough for Tours or Classics though? Time will tell.
  
  My predictions:
  Top-10 in the overall rankings in 1 season
  One CL classic win
  A sneaky YC win in an unexpected Tour
  
  Who would win?
  
  Lúcio Leme holding his Roubaix Trophy or Nicolau Oliveira holding his Bergen Rundtur trophy?
  
  The Travels of Fujimoto
  
  written by Finz
  
  Zambia, birthplace of man and home of the hippopotamus.
  The legendary chase of the hippopotami happened many milenia ago when the first men encountered the hippo’s of Zambia. Both being territorial a clash was inevitable. What we now know as Luangwa river was the start of the chase by the hippopotami.
  
  The riders start at the luxurious Mwaleshi camp and heading north with the famous Luangwa river close by. Always on the lookout for breakaways and sudden movements from the river.
  Reachin Chifunda community bushcamp the riders leave

the river behind and they are welcomed into the savanna of Zambia. A scorching sun replaces the hippo’s and when there was no race to be won the Chimbwe Pans region was a sight not quick to be forgotten.
  
  Northbound the terrain gets more green and the heat is more bearable. Imagine this ride with a group of hippos behind. We are blessed these days. Reaching Natwange the roads are less bad and some pace can be made. On the gravel stretch to Mukungulu breakaway can be formed. When you are in the lead you can benefit from the decent roads in town.
  The race leads through the green hills and mountains all the way to the finish line in Mpika.
  By then the riders could be referred to as “Scarlet runners” being all dusty with the red sand and named after the early mailmen that ran through the savannah in the early 30’s of the 20th century.
  
  The riders did the the chase of the Hippopotami and at the end deserved a nice cool drink. They do not think about the men many rains before them. If they did they would understand that without a bike it is not possible to stay ahead of the hippo. Reaching Mpika and finish the chase is these days the norm but back then it was impossible.
  
  The Sound of OCMusic
  
  This time, Phil from TeamTVM shares his favorite song with us!
  ‘I hesitated with a song from Arcade Fire's first album : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vN2vqaEBhM
  but in the end had to pick up this Oasis Classic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx1Bh8ZvH84 ‘
  
  Bank Of Broken Pockets Ch.03
  
  Written by Williamson of AmstelFlanders
  
  Greetings OCM. After the curious Award Ceremony, it’s time to focus our eyes on what’s happening in our often insane and crazy Transfer Market. As the great Jintseng always mumbles after big reflection, “The key to a very sustainable and successful team is overpaying. Tons of cash.” That’s surely one of the biggest facts in the cycling business, now let’s get started on what we’ve witnessed in the last days.
  
  *Not this time…
  
  We all know the Five Basic Rules of OCM, the tab is between Manual and Chat. Well, there’s also a Sixth (unwritten) Rule that says, “Always interrupt any Private Deal (PD) of Yuri SuperTeam”. Managers and random people have seen countless interruptions, complains and other kind of nice arguments when it comes to interrupt any Yuri’s PD (Gil Faria’s is one of my favourites). Joris Van Groessen was concerned of this OCM Millenary Law and spent extra hours training and doing yoga to be prepared for the long wait… but the 24h passed without the scary Red Balloon Alert.
  
  Yuri sighed in relief after many seasons, “Not this time,” he surely mumbled in triumph. Joris leaves Jorcoweb and moves to Portugal for 520k plus small add-ons of publicity in the from page. The young Dutch climber will have a key role in the next target of former sprint team in Porto and maybe VdLC, and we will see if his CL-TT are good enough to make him a potential tour winner in the near future. Or at least score his first result (winks).
  
  *My First Big Sale
  
  Every new team has that special moment when it comes to the first big sale. Sahara thought the same way when he spotted the second Portuguese

for his team in short time. A cobbler talent that has a decent set of skills with the right support and the blessings of OCM Script Gawrshes, can overcome the boring cobble calendar (ruled exclusively by Benjamim Fontes).
  
  The auction went up and high really quick and after brief confusion with the deadline, Tomé Saloio will join Spanish team Megaman, not the famous hero; for a humble fee of 300k. An amount of money that should help the selling manager solve his “external” agreements with OCM Authorities in the form of nice and (fat) yellow envelopes. And what about Tomé? Here you can see his potential.
  
  Stats:
  CL: None (28)
  DH: None (30)
  HL: None (29)
  SP: None (33)
  FR: None (33)
  CB: None (28)
  TT: None (45)
  TQ: None (28)
  
  Average Skill: 32
  
  Release value: 33.783
  Potential:
  CL: Small
  DH: Very good
  HL: None
  SP: Small
  FR: Very good
  CB: Incredible
  TT: Average
  TQ: None
  
  High starting AV, sadly a born time trialist, which means he will need all possible points to reach his best potential. For a 260+ talent, a fair ground price although 50k higher than expected on what manager Williamson would offer considering his low CB and the VG FR that would need at least 47 points… but it’s not our money (winks). Anyways, best wishes for him in his new team.
  
  Getting too comfortable and enjoying? This is over, so better move on to the next paragraph and next segment. We’ll be back when Don says so and post the next article in the front page. Need Market Advices from the best? Message Jintseng, author of worldwide famous best-sellers “Economy for Dummies", “How to waste your money in one transfer", “Scout like a beast, bid like a freak" and many others.
  
  
  Hemorrhoid Corner
  
  Gavrill Leptokaridis crashed out of the opening stage of Vuelta de los Castillos. His team denies him being under the influence of any opioids during the race.
  Rumours are being spread that training TT’ers will give you a terrible curse that will injure them both at the same time. OCM Mythological beings denied this when asked.
  
  The Dark Side
  
  The latest news in the TT-world! More and more teams are being convinced to train TT’ers as Tour Riders. Will this come back to haunt them? Probably!
  
  The Final Straight
  
  OCM route designers have travelled around the globe to explore options for future World Championship routes. This will cause a huge increase in diversity in the World Championships.
  
   If you have ideas for your own section, or for new sections for us to write, or even if you want your rider mentioned in one of the sections, you can contact main editor Don Hamstre through PM. Especially input for Hemorrhoid Corner and The Final Straight is welcomed!
  
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