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Vuelta a España Discussion
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 18-08-2015 18:34
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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Before starting to write about the less important things - how in the world did Majka finish 23rd in the final stage 
A fantastic Vuelta for Gesink and for the team all together. Two stage wins, podium in the GC, 5th in the points rankings, 4th in KoM and 2nd in the team rankings definitely makes this our best GT since Vuelta '11 or Le Tour '11. Actually, if I think again this one even topped those two.
It's great to see Gesink slapping me in the face for not sending him to a Grand Tour since 2011. The podium was a long shot, but in end he managed to do it and with two stage wins along the way as well. It was great to see him being in the mix in all the important stages except for the first mountain stage, but even that poor result turned into a spectacular one the very next day. Now, to go and win Dauphine
Thanks tsmoha for the great reports and the amazing amount of work you put into the ManGame!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:04
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Congrats, Avin. Must be a huge points haul with Pluchkin living up to the high expectations. Also gratz to Kami and alex for the podium. Gesink with a nice result in his last GT (?) for Project
Not too impressive stuff from Pozzovivo, but his second Top-10 in a GT this year should do. It's a pity that those riders around place ten don't battle for stage wins, but at least Gillett brought us our first GT victory. I fully expect Morton to do worse in the Tdf, so maybe he will be more active in later stages than our team here. Something like Pinot's stage win would be great 
Special kudos to Cunego for a great ride. Don't really know how he could finish as 7th "only", but several nice stage results will make for a nice points run anyway.
Edited by tsmoha on 18-08-2015 19:05
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| Smowz |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:05
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Team Leader
Posts: 6479
Joined: 09-04-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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As ever with GT's you have a couple of well known axioms.
1) They are hard work for a reporter. tsmoha has done a fantastic job here regurlarly giving us two stages a day for the last 10 days. That isn't always easy and the reports have maintained a good quality throughout. I really enjoyed following the last week as a nuetral - it was a good watch with some real drama.
2) There are big winners and losers in a GT. Here for me several guys really disappointed. I thought Amador had a good shot at a podium and he feel away badly at end. Guys like Gesink, Pluichkin, Cunego were big winners from what I could see. Dekker gave a decent account as did Phinney in the chronos before disaster.
3) Some teams get a fair bit of breakaway fortune. Ayubowen for me were there and Pendletons had a decent amount in the breaks too. Tinkoff managed the fluckey KoM prize.
For my team one year on from its greatest triumph with Alarcon we hit a real bum note here. My strategy of using Guerao with on loan train well actually he had Santos here has been seen to be a folly. I am at a loss to really understand why Guerao was unable to really get involved in sprints at this race. Then again several guys who could have been better on GC didn't turn up either so perhaps not the end of the world.
Congrats to Avin (on GT win) and tsmoha (on yet another brilliant race).
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 20:08
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| Forever the Best |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:09
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3803
Joined: 27-06-2014
PCM$: 400.00
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Gesink
Congrats Avin for Pluchkin's win and thanks for the reports tsmoha |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:15
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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Ok, who told tsmoha I'm planning to change my team's name?
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:19
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Sprinter
Posts: 1907
Joined: 07-02-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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Thank you tsmoha for a well-reported, fast paced, and exciting Vuelta. Congrats to Avin for the win. I think Pluchkin was definitely the strongest and it showed. Congrats to alex and Kami for making the podium as well.
I've taken our failures all year pretty well, but I'm a little salty over this one. Things were fine until the last 2 days, but then Amador somehow drops behind Abal in the GC and gets beat by Cunego in a TT. 
Whatever.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:22
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3999
Joined: 26-07-2011
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Fun race to read, kept up for most of it, little disappointing to not see either of my loanees here find a breakaway, but that was never going to be in the cards for Salinas who was part of the climbing train for Metinvest and race winner Pluchkin.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:33
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Another GT down. First off, hats off to tsmoha for his outstanding work (again).
I got decent performances from De la Cruz, Borges and Warbasse. Garby was okay in his GT debut but rather invisible for my liking. Fraile lived up to his potential, can't wait to see what he is like when maxed out. TVG just wasted a bunch of race days. Maksimov sprinted a few times just so I didn't get angry and leave him in Spain. And Ratiy was... I'll keep my mouth shut. I don't want to get banned from the forum for excessive profanity.
That said, the team finished 4th in the team competition. That's pretty cool. And we got our first GT stage win. Can't complain too much.
I'm a little nervous with a lot of relegation bubble teams scoring well here. I think we have been left behind a little bit. Which I was expecting, but hopefully it's not too bad.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 18-08-2015 19:37
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
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Gesink did! But he wants to stay with a 'Project'..
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 18-08-2015 20:02
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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tsmoha wrote:
Gesink did! But he wants to stay with a 'Project'..
Can't really blame him for going behind my back after the things I said about him prior to his Vuelta show.
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| Roman |
Posted on 18-08-2015 20:24
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4386
Joined: 29-05-2007
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A race totally to forget for us... Thanks for reports, congrats to Avin.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 18-08-2015 20:37
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7681
Joined: 19-02-2008
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That was pretty good considering the quality of our squad, Valverde fronted up well. Congrats to Avin for the victory and thanks to tsmoha for the top-nothc reporting.
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| ember |
Posted on 18-08-2015 22:32
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
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Thanks for your amazing work, tsmoha! Not much more to say about the nice reports that have come twice a day, thanks again.
Solid race from Guldhammer in the end, without doing anythiing spectacular, neither for the good or the bad, which means I'm happy with 8th. Definitely something to build on when taking his Giro into consideration as well, as it feels like he could one day climb onto the podium.
And a great final TT from Stake Laengen, which made me happy.
Congratulations to the big winners in this race, and especially to Avin! That's another year in PT secured, I think, and a Tour win on top of this should see Metinvest at least go into the top 10, challenging for even better. |
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| beagle |
Posted on 18-08-2015 22:33
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4200
Joined: 06-10-2007
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First of all, thank you tsmoha for all your great work!
2 stage wins, couple of podiums - I think I can´t complain. My sprint train worked pretty well in several stages, eventhough we didn´t come with best possible lead out men.
Ion Izagirre was pleasant surprise for me, decent in time trials and involving in several breaks is what I want from him. Keinath though was too inconsistent. Final 15th place is a little worse I was hoping for.
Congrats to Avin, but also Kami and Alex.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SotD |
Posted on 19-08-2015 06:58
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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Poor, as in really poor performance here. Lecuisinier in 13th is OK, although just one spot up would have been where he should be looking at the race.
The problem, though, was the lack of intent here as we did absolutely nothing. We are looking to make a bit of points on Becherovka, lose a little to AKER, but lose A LOT to Vesuvio and Tinkoff, which is not good. Especially losing 300 points or more to Vesuvio in a race where they only have Swift as a decent rider (deducting Suaza who did dreadful, and dropped from the race) hurts a lot. As Becherovka won the cobbled race I suspect that I am 3rd at this point 2-300 points behind both Vesuvio and Becherovka, with Tinkoff probably in 4th.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 19-08-2015 07:16
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
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First, thanks for all the congrats guys, it is truly a special moment for our team and dream coming through. Winning a GT was one of our ultimate longtime goals, seemingly unreachable just a few months ago. What a twist of fortune with lucky promotion to PT and having a chance on getting Pluchkin into our ranks. Achieving this with an eastern european rider is a key moment, as promoting this cycling area was an idea which Metinvest was built on.
Chapeau tsmoha for the top notch reporting all the way, both pace and quality were perfect and what you are doing for us and this game cant be repaid. Amazing job!
I cant wait to see how many points we actually got from the race, but i know it will be cool number with 3x stage win, GC, points jersey and 3rd in KOM + several other top8 placements with Pluchkin and Guardini. Whole team did great to protect Pluchkin, special thanks to Azteca for work of their loanee Salinas.
Congrats to those who feel that their Vuelta was good, Kami and Alex can be happy i guess, Tinkoff with decent showing also, aswell old man Cunego for Meiji.
Next goal? Yeah, the Double! But before that, lets go party!
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 19-08-2015 10:26
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
Joined: 08-03-2007
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Swift holding on for tied 3rd in the Points competition is pretty good considering he 'only' won 2 stages. But then again he was 2nd in that competition last year with 1 stage win, and it's always unfortunate for a sprinter to lose out to a GC rider.
The rest of the team was a write off really (besides the leadouts and break chasing). Suaza I think the only one to attack - besides Swift on that hilly/flat day - only to then be one of only 2 team leaders to crash out of the race. It was the weaker of my GT lineups, but it would have been nice to see something.
Congrats to Avin, Kami and Alex for the podium spots, while Oleg also had quite a strong all-round race. Metinvest are proving to be a great grand tour points-scoring team!
And of course thanks to tsmoha for all the reports. Great quality considering how fast I think you went through reporting them at the time! The reliability of the report posting is also nice.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 19-08-2015 15:21
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Glad Garby finished his first GT, but I don't know if he did enough for his team. He wasn't seen in the race even once.
Tsmoha reporting another race. Do I hate to say I can longer be impressed? Fantastic job tsmoha!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| The Rider |
Posted on 21-08-2015 10:10
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4543
Joined: 29-02-2012
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Massive thanks to tsmoha for covering the race, so well. 
It was our first GT but, to be honest, I wished we hadn't even bothered. Contador climbing like he has 77 MNT at best, just what you expect after two podium finishes the two previous Vueltas  , in what was probably the worst MG Vuelta ever for the Spanish. At least he attacked on stage 19, so we have that memory. Castaneda (14th on stage 1), who finished the race, being our only other highlight.
We were crippled by the AI really. An AI which doesn't allow those big 10+ early breaks getaway, didn't even make one early break, not to mention Contador failing for no logical reason. Really black spot in the history of Bonsucro this was, probably lead to me getting the flu! Well, at least it is over now.
Oh well, to leave on a positive note, nice to see Avin take the win. Great to see reactions like that, which is what the game is all about. |
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| Crommy |
Posted on 22-08-2015 10:24
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World Champion
Posts: 10018
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 200.00
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For Bouygues, just having Jurgen Roelandts was a win in itself, and then to actually get that stage win on stage 15 was sweet reward after the disappointing Giro, and achieved our objective here.
But we had lots of other nice bonuses, with tons of top 10s (we were in the top 10 of 10 stages, and even had a rider in the top for every stage but one up to stage 7).
The biggest surprise for us was Tim Wellens, and to a lesser extent Jan Bakelants. Tim taking 2nd on stage 15, then finishing 12th overall AND winning the U25 jersey was a very happy bonus for us (and beating Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, who because I had rejected bids for him and I'm childish and infantile, becomes our teams great rival), and Jan coming 19th overall shows once again why he deserves to be in Grand Tour teams.
As to the rest of the Vuelta, it's been an odd one, with Phinney's early rise and capitulation, and old man Cunego showing the difference between having the home bonus. But congrats to Metinvest with Pluchkin, he showed his class with a very consistent performance
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