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FBD Eire Tour Discussion
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| matt17br |
Posted on 16-08-2016 19:29
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 FBD Eire Tour
7th edition, for the Man Game’s very own sprinters’ galore: the FBD Eire Tour, the stage race every PCT sprinter possibly dreams to win. 8 days, 8 flat stages – all pretty short as well, only one is longer than 148 kilometers and it doesn’t even get to 175 – for the sprinters in the best shape to win.
2 back to back stage wins were enough for  Kupfernagel to take the title home last year, and he’s back to defend it from the likes of  Ahlstrand, the biggest favorite on paper, and  Lo Cicero, who had a horrible 2015 but has started his 2016 in the best of the ways.
But let’s take a look at the rest of the favourites.
| Rider | SP | AC | FL | RS | Rider | SP | AC | FL | RS | | Lo Cicero | 84 | 78 | 72 | 63 |  Nizzolo | 80 | 79 | 73 | 67 | | Ahlstrand | 83 | 82 | 74 | 73 |  Bouhanni | 80 | 77 | 74 | 69 |  Avelino | 83 | 78 | 71 | 66 |  Ulanowski | 80 | 77 | 73 | 66 |  Guerao | 83 | 76 | 74 | 64 |  Rowe | 80 | 70 | 72 | 58 |  Thorsen | 82 | 85 | 61 | 56 | Coutinho | 79 | 80 | 72 | 74 |  Vantomme | 82 | 78 | 73 | 65 |  Van der Sande | 79 | 79 | 75 | 73 |  Vanderbiest | 82 | 77 | 74 | 69 |  Bennett | 79 | 79 | 71 | 68 | | Kupfernagel | 80 | 80 | 74 | 66 |  Richeze | 79 | 77 | 72 | 67 |
As we can see, Ahlstrand has got all what it takes to take a first win here. He certainly is not a criterium sprinter ala Thorsen, who can only win stages as long as exactly 30 kms, but I don’t think I’d be way off if I said he’s just as fast as him if not more.
Lo Cicero comes just behind the Swede according to the bookies, and that’s not because of what he won this year, but rather because of how he performed throughout the stages he was great at. The Sicilian might be a serious threat to Spotify’s flagship rider, but we do know consistency isn’t certainly his best skill, contrary to his main opponent.
Besides those two we have Avelino and Guerao, two of the most famous fatty sprinters. Both have issues when facing tougher opposition as far as we’ve seen, but they find himself fitting perfectly in races where they are the best far and away. It will come as bad news for them to know this isn’t one of those. Kind of the same goes for Thorsen who I’ve mentioned before, a rider that could take a win in one stage and literally struggle to top 100 in the next.
Vantomme impressed at Qatar earlier this year among the top PT names, and would have carried a lot of points for his team home if it wasn’t for the fact PCT teams don’t score in PT events. The Belgian was 3rd here last year and might look into repeating it or even improving it.
Speaking about French champion Vanderbiest, we do know that he is very inconsistent, and while easy stages like these might suit him, the fierce field he’ll have to face, that will certainly not give away any single chance for him to take advantage of, will certainly give him hell. Kupfernagel is here to repeat his magic 2015, and he’s exactly the contrary of the Visit Ukraine sprinter: he tends to overperform in strong fields and always stay among the top positions at the end of a stage. This might certainly help in a race whose format is very similar to Qatar’s if we don’t count the final epilogue.
Other sprinters, such as Nizzolo, Bouhanni, Ulanowski, Rowe, Coutinho, Van der Sande, Bennett and Richeze, can only be considered as outsiders. In a field like this they’ll have a hard time showing their skills, but everything is possible in a 8 stages long race, especially since most of them have already won something this year.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 16-08-2016 19:34
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So its finally here, Ahlstrands first races as maxed. We have waited years for that...
He got strong support so we should be able to create a nice train with Van Poppel/Kruopis/Vedel Kvist.
If we want to be up there this season we need to deliver in these races!
Lets get it started!  |
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 16-08-2016 19:44
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Would be nice to see Ahlstrand to do well here. 
He certainly got the stats for it atleast, and should be up there every stage.
Would surprise me alot of Kupfernagel manages to repeat his success here from last year, but im still with tons of sprinters up there, im predicting multiple different stage winners and a pretty close podium in the end, lets see how wrong I am when its over 
The break might be tough to control on stage 7 especially, will be interesting to see if the sprinter teams manage to work together to avoid a possible 'disaster'.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 16-08-2016 19:44
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Exactly the same team as in Qatar in a weaker field, but I still get the feeling we'll do badly here.
Will be interesting to see if Kupfernagel can win again, on paper he shouldn't, but he did the last two years, Ahlstrand looks pretty invincible though.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 16-08-2016 20:21
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Oh, a special microjersey for Vanderbiest, that may indicate he actually will do well here! That or Ulanowski will outsprint him 8 times.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| matt17br |
Posted on 16-08-2016 20:37
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fjhoekie wrote:
Oh, a special microjersey for Vanderbiest, that may indicate he actually will do well here! That or Ulanowski will outsprint him 8 times.
Yup for the rest of the season except I think Bulgaria all NCs will get fancy microjerseys based off their jerseys
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| weirdskyfan64 |
Posted on 16-08-2016 20:48
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I fancy Nizzolo here, although one break win and the entire race goes to pot.
Disclaimer- Most of my posts are me thinking aloud. And most of what I think is rubbish.
Winner of a FIFA Prediction Fair Play Award (a phrase becoming increasingly ironic)
"... Because he (me) has a sound tactical mind in general..." jandal7, at 9:30 am GMT on 12th May 2016
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 16-08-2016 22:49
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Hope Ireland can kick start Stobarts season  |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 16-08-2016 23:21
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This is one of the races Lo Cicero really needs to deliver so it will be interesting to see how consistent he'll be. Ahlstrand has to be the favourite for me
Looking forward to it as I've never looked forward to such a sprinters-fest before
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 17-08-2016 00:37
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Glad I didn't take a chance on Scully here, packed field 
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 17-08-2016 09:41
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Hope Ahlstrand can take it, also looking forward to watching Kruopis riding for his new team.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| MARSUPILAMI |
Posted on 17-08-2016 09:54
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PCT Race and we are one of the CT teams here. I hope Nizzolo can take at least a win in a chaotic sprint, because it is a race made for him... although there are many contenders
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 17-08-2016 09:56
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C1 races have gone bonkers this year, just look at that startlist! Insane!
I'm hoping to see Avelino avenge his last year disaster performance, but with the AI giving Coutinho the #1 bib I'm not exactly very confident.
If not Avelino then I'd like to see Ahlstrand take the victory as well. Home grown talent from a very likeable team. Los colombianos and the moomoo guys also very good bets for the overall.
Good luck everyone and thanks matt for another classy preview!
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| fintas |
Posted on 17-08-2016 10:25
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Back home after vacation...
I do not expect Kupfernagel to be able to repeat what he did in the previous edition, but still hope that the team can do better than it has done so far.
Top5 is the goal, a stage victory is the secondary goal.
Ahlstrand is the big favorite for me and It will be difficult take away his final victory
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| Shonak |
Posted on 17-08-2016 10:30
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Looking at it, I am not sure why I picked that race. Surely there must have been races with less competition hehe Hoping for some outside Top 10 and that's about it.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| ryant |
Posted on 17-08-2016 13:30
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well last season, this wasnt nearly as competitive and Rowe got 5th place and a stage win - I think I will be lucky for this to repeat.
I'll take some break aways and for Rowe not to be destroyed in the sprints lol
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 17-08-2016 18:12
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These sprints will be intense. Vanderbiest decent enough for today, and good to see a train forming for my team.
Also, Orlov <3
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 17-08-2016 18:17
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Well that train did not work perfect. But starting with a 2nd place is decent.
Why not Vedel Kvist in the train? Did I send one to many leadout here...
Congrats Atlantius.
Lo Cicero vs Ahlstrand 1-0.
Edited by viking90 on 17-08-2016 18:33
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 17-08-2016 18:19
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Sobota is still a sprinter that can top 5 in any race, CT, PCT or PT. Unfortunately today he was leading out Vantomme. 2 in the top 10 and 5th from Sobota is good but that 10th from Vantomme will be a challenge to overcome in terms of the GC, we did make a train though!
Thanks for the report Matt and congrats Atlantius.
Also Thorsen doing something!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 17-08-2016 18:21
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Thorsen surprises me here a lot
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