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Tour of Vancouver Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:43
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Directeur Sportif
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 Tour of Vancouver
The Tour of Vancouver has made a name for itself in the PCT, now going into it's third edition. Previous winners are Timofey Kritskiy (2013) and Janez Brajkovic (2014), who both won't be at the start this year - for different reasons. Surely a race, which every of the division's best climbers would love to win.
Kicking off with a prologue, it's actually already a stage for those climbers. Three flat stages, all featuring some difficulties, will also provide sprinters a couple of chances to shine. Timetrial skills will come into play for the concluding TTT, where we may see some interesting battles. Afterall, this race has seen a more than thrilling fight for glory last year (Top-3 all within 4 seconds in the final GC).
Key stages will be obivously those summit finishes up the 'Cypress' and 'Mt Seymour': not too long in it's distances, but with challenging slopes.
The Startlist
The Favorites | Rider | MO | TTT | Rider | MO | TTT |  Intxausti | 82 | **** |  Valls | 79 | * |  Contador | 82 | ** |  Talansky | 79 | ** |  Keizer | 81 | *** |  Pantano Gómez | 79 | * |  Abal | 81 | * |  Lövkvist | 78 | ** |  Van den Broeck | 81 | ** |  Pedraza | 78 | * |  Sella | 81 | * |  Panayotov | 78 | * |  Eastman | 80 | ** |  Nepomnyachsniy | 77 | ** |  Nerz | 80 | * |  Garby | 77 | * | | Kiserlovski | 80 | * |  Hacecký | 77 | * |  Marquez | 80 | ** |  Navarro | 77 | * |
Intxausti and Contador as the best climbers (on paper) here: Contador coming off a good Corsica International, where he finished 3rd overall. Intxausti (once again) not at his best - finishing 10th. This time, there's surely some heavy pressure on him in particular: not only that he lost Vancouver by just two seconds last year, his new team RBC lines up with a ridicolously strong TTT-squad. All for Intxausti, all for the overall win.
Also Keizer with a very strong support for the concluding TTT, while Van den Broeck, Abal and Sella should be all capable of fighting for the victory here. VDB showing some good shape in Corsica, so definitely someone to watch out for.
Eastman, Nerz (both invisible in Corsica), Marquez, Valls, Talansky and Pantano Gómez as the next best climbers then. A few of those names certainly with some shocking results this season. It's a good race to bounce back.
Of course it's not only a special race for Canadian based RBC and it's ambittions with Intxausti, but also for (partly) Vancouver based Lululemon/Bulgaria Blackfish, which will hope for Panayotov to pull a miracle here.
The Sprinters | Sprinters | SP | ACC |  Avelino | 82 | 78 | | Guillén | 81 | 82 | | Keukeleire | 80 | 79 | | Granjel Cabrera | 80 | 77 | | Demare | 79 | 79 |  Awang | 79 | 83 | | Soupe | 79 | 77 | | Bennett | 79 | 79 | | Aberasturi | 79 | 78 | | Hoffman | 78 | 78 |  Brea | 78 | 76 |
Three flat stages here, so obviously a few of the division's best sprinters taking part: Avelino, Guillén, Keukeleire and Cabrera as the fastest..
Demare will love to see some rather tricky profiles here, same goes for Hoffman. We can expect some interesting bunch sprints.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Would be nice if Lövkvist could fight for top 10 in GC other then that the team should try to get in some breaks and maybe going for KoM Jersey?
Edited by viking90 on 19-07-2015 21:51
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:48
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World Champion
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Would be nice a top 10 for Walter, and maybe a stage win for Cabrera. |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:48
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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I'm hoping that without a flat ITT or major hilly stage, Garby can assert himself here as a decent force, especially from the young guys, as well as get Movistar some of the points they deserve. The start list is way weaker than Corsica, so he has a chance. 
If he can do at all well here in HC now, I'm hoping that's a good sign for CT when maxed in 2016.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Bikex |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:50
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Team Leader
Posts: 7255
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I have both my strong climbers Sella and Kiserlovski here so a good result is a must. The top 5 goal should be achieved but I want to see Sella on the podium. I have my strongest TTT squad as support here which still isn't strong but will be able to limit time losses. |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:51
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Well, that's a stronger field than I was hoping for, and it could be very difficult to get something out of it to be honest. Nepomnyachsniy isn't a top class climber, but together with his TT skills and the TTT setup we have here, including 2 other decent climbers who shouldn't be too exhausted, a top 10 could still be very much possible. Don't know much about the other team's TTT strenght when it comes to surviving the climbs, but I do hope to have a small edge on most there, but that said, Gruzdev didn't look even half decent in earlier races...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:54
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World Champion
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tsmoha again...... 
You can't find a better race for Demare to shine in, but his biggest advantage might very well also be the biggest obstacle as PCM tends to miscalculate the chasing on this kind of flat stages...
Avelino being here certainly won't help us, as well as having a couple other better sprinters around.
Not only because they obviously can outsprint Demare, but also because I sent Bar and Giaux here, hoping we'll get the chance to form a train (67 and 70 hill could help massively in getting an edge).
If Arnaud doesn't score here, he'll be rather useless this season. These are the kind of races his year is centered around.
Looking at the GC side of things, TTT's certainly are our big weakness at the moment, but I am hopeful the two massive climbs will help spread the Top 15 enough to not have those 18km decide too much.
Comparing pure climbing strenght is probably going to be irrelevant as we've seen in Corsica, so I can only hope Nerz attacks at the right moment. Top 10 is again the obvious goal that we should not risk to miss, especially because this is a HC race.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 19-07-2015 17:54
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Classics Specialist
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Either Awang needs to pull off a miracle in the sprint stages or we need to be active in the breaks here. I think I picked the majority of my strongest TTT lineup for this one in the hopes that we could get something out of that stage.
Hopefully Rohregger or Wohrer or Mat Senan will be able to get in a break on one of the mountain stages and get a decent result by hanging on that way.
Either that or we get someone in the break to challenge for KOM points on stages 2, 4 & 5 although we've not ben very good at that so far this year.
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 19-07-2015 18:17
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Small Tour Specialist
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Didnt bother bringing brajko and Anton here due to the teams lack off strength in the TTTs, might have been a mistake, but it was either this or Giro anyway!
I hope for an attacking team here who could maybe get something out of a Break-away I have basically given up on Pantano and Guillen performed once this year already so thats what I could expect of him already. Would really love some breaks and decent stage standings here.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 19-07-2015 18:18
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
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baseballlover312 wrote:
I'm hoping that without a flat ITT or major hilly stage, Garby can assert himself here as a decent force, especially from the young guys, as well as get Movistar some of the points they deserve. The start list is way weaker than Corsica, so he has a chance.
If he can do at all well here in HC now, I'm hoping that's a good sign for CT when maxed in 2016.
Not a good sign that he isn't listed as top rider for us on the startlist. Hopefully he can show his face and get us a few points. Otherwise, GO GO Newton! 
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Posted on 22-11-2024 09:40
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 19-07-2015 18:19
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I send some decent time - trialists here hoping I could have a chance in the TTT. I couldn't have been more wrong.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 19-07-2015 19:01
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3999
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Another mess of a stage race for us, will need to team to find a way to scrap out some points of this race. Either Brea pulling an upset in the sprints, or guys finding some time in the breakaway. Our team can't TT at all, so that will be a mess, and the GC isn't really an option.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| roturn |
Posted on 19-07-2015 19:22
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Team Manager
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The TTT on the last day is crucial.
Aru and Olivier will surely be of better TT support after the mountain stages. But not sure if Schädlich and Dumoulin are still in the race by then on the other hand.
So it`s going to be very interesting for sure.
Normally with my squad here, Keizer should finish in the top5 or actually I hope for podium tbh.
Thanks once more to...tsmoha...pure legendary what you report again. |
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| The Rider |
Posted on 19-07-2015 19:27
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Contador - win no.3 on the cards here? Hopefully, yes! Inxausti will be the closest challenger, maybe the favourite, but, bewilderingly like Roy, he has been in bad knick this season so you can't put no stock in him. Hopefully Contador will be motivated without Machado to beat!
Will be interesting, and great to see, the GC be decided on the final stage TTT, that would be rare! I do rate the Bonsucro TTT train pretty well, no stand-out riders, however, it is a solid team full of riders who can climb and get through a stage race well.
Not bringing Brajko just because of a TTT? You wouldn't lose more than 1'00 on a bad day there.
Another great preview to get me excited for the racing.  |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 19-07-2015 23:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8290
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I could have brought a stronger TTT line up but I didn't see the point with it on the last day. There's a chance some decent TTT guys just won't recover from the mountain stages and be useless anyway.
VDB aiming for a top 10 and a good MTT result which Keukeleire is aiming for a couple of podium places.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 20-07-2015 19:44
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World Champion
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I hope the game doesn't consider Raisin leader now. But still, a great result for him. |
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 20-07-2015 19:47
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Classics Specialist
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Good to see Buff finally taking a win
Also I can verify there is no motor, in the designed TT bicycles for Buff
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 20-07-2015 19:49
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Small Tour Specialist
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I get what I expected without Brajko, no suprises here. Nice to see Abal taking the win here after a though season start
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| Bikex |
Posted on 20-07-2015 19:51
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Team Leader
Posts: 7255
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Sella 
what a pathetic performance from him.
Nice to see Kiserlovski getting 4th though, hopefully he can take on the challenge and take over the captain's role and fulfill our goal. |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 20-07-2015 20:07
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Classics Specialist
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Okay now that that day is out of the way, lets go get some breakaways!
AZTECA - NBCSN |
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