Written by Team Oasis at 12:36 10/1-2026
I never imagined to be calling myself the number 1 of OCM one day, but today is that day. To be quite fair I never strived for it. Just as in real life I have no ambition to be the main leader, I rather do a smaller thing well and stay somewhat in the shadows. My terrain is (climbing) tours, downhills and added climbing to the palette later in my OCM carreer. My ranking at the end of the season was just a result of my team's strenght that grew over time.
In fact I thought that my team was already in decline looking from a ranking perspective. Many of my riders are quite old and past their prime. Never imagined that just one rider, Vestgeir Sebastiansson, could spark an Indian summer. A wave that also Ferdinand Kapp was able to catch later in the season when it was much necessary.
Tourist
The truth is that I just bumped into the battle for first position. There was no plan behind it and no planned top forms for this purpose. One could say i was just a tourist for most of the season. It just all happened before my eyes. A few luck factors helped. Blekevicius his injury during ZBZ, though costly from points perspective, gave room to Sebastiansson to become the main leader. Then Kapp got injured on day 35 and Sebastiansson took over the role as leader in Vuelta de los Castillos. Kapp was able to keep his form for Germany Tour and rode in between the two tours.
Only from day 50 onwards i really engaged myself in the battle when i still was ahead of Opium Fueled and Yuri SuperTeam. I had to make a few decisions what to strive for and what to prioritize. I gave up two national jerseys for instance. Both teams caught up along the way and this increased the tension. There have been moments that i lost believe in a positive outcome, like my 0 score in Mexico on day 73 and on day 77 at Kasseler Hügel due to very bad luck. Eventually i had luck on my side after all when at day 85 Berlin the two other teams hit both 0 points.
Unique season
From a points perspective this season has been nowhere near being exceptional. Many teams before me reached top position, often with (alot) more points than I managed to gather. I also have a very thin margin over two rivals. For my own kind of team it's a special achievement since i'm still involved into downhilling and have no TT-squad to score much points.
Nevertheless the season is unique in another way and thats the combination with some other achievements. My team managed to win the GC in TBBT, Vuelta and GT in one season for instance. The other one is that I have also delivered to no 1 rider in the ranking this season. Two other nice things were winning Vuelta without TF and grabbing Criterium La Provence.
Special Thanks
A few works of praise is what remains to do for me now. First of all to my rider Nidal Ar-Ribaty who performed solid without any topform and came close to a surprise win at Drozd Cup. Secondly to Vadimas Blekevicius who didn't choke at Picos de Asturias when we really needed those 150 points. I wish you good luck at the World Championship.
Then i also have to thank many befriended teams here in OCM. A few deserve to be mentioned. Firstly Don Hamstre with whom I talked alot over the years (and i was smart enough to neglect his advice mostly, since he ain't a proper manager ;), he really made the game nicer to play. Chili for his humor in the chat and developping all sorts of tools. Thirdly to Alpine with whom I've had a true rivalry for some main prizes in division 1 for a large number of seasons. This rivalry kept me sharp and made me make decisions that ultimately led to a more dominant team than I used to have. I probably never achieved being no 1 without those. Lastly a praise to some of my other rivals in the past as well, such as AnnoDomini and Jubalon ProCycling. Rivalries push you further.
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Comments
Congrats! Now comes the hard part, staying on top :).
Congrats on a great season. Lovely write up too.
Thanks all, @HogBay: Yes i eventually tried to grab all main ones. It was at the cost of lesser points/results eventually for Vestgeir but Vestgeir wouldn't be able to win GT, even with TF questionable to achieve. I also dropped the national jerseys of Blekevicius, Mugeni and the possibility for Yusuf or Leao.
Congrats!
Congrats, well deserved, Nooky! Such a well written and humble post too
A big congratulations from Norway :)
Massive congratulations! We were discussing which goal you should go for and you instead went for all three, awesome work! :)
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