dominox wrote:
Btw. I want Kittel to win his 4th Palm Classic, it could be... Classic.
!!!
As usually for me in every ICL (just as also in MG) season my team is set for a kickstart of the season. Marcel Kittel will try to go four glory in UAE with all possible leadouts available: Ciolek, Ewan, Selig, Willwohl. May PCM pick the highest daily form riders to deliver another fantastic leadout for Kittel.
Toowoomba is the next highlight as I send both Betancur and Kittel to have the favourite on 4 stages. Due to sending both Betancur and Kittel as well as attempting to give Betancur a good TTT team to his side Kittel will have his only (?) race with only one proper leadout in Selig (who can TT a bit as well).
Tropicale looks like the perfect race for EBH but my own Ciolek looks like one of the ideal men for this race so i brought him as well to tackle as many stages as possible.
The start of the U23 tour looks like a nice fit for Geissler. But didnt we agreed to use #VW instead of VWX as abbreviation for my team
matt17br wrote:
If Moser doesn't win Tropicale I fucking swear
very surprised that you sent your best rider to a race that can't get you points in the battle against relegation...
Kittel should be unstoppable of course, but I hope for a result from Alaphilippe at Bongo and maybe even Meersman in Toowoomba...
Bazhkou there in CT2 to bully the hilly classics, first chance in NZL
Gotta root for Celesio, Specialized and Santos now as well of course. It will be interesting how the idea of avoiding Palm Classic with Degenkolb turns out, as that was out of many the classic least fitting to him.
Bongo and Akeroa for EBH, both seem like very good scoring chances for him, and Indonesia with Konig and Tastevitch will be interesting as well! The U23 guys don't have a shot in their first race, we need mountains for them
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
matt17br wrote:
If Moser doesn't win Tropicale I fucking swear
very surprised that you sent your best rider to a race that can't get you points in the battle against relegation...
Sort of a brain fart - got confused between MG and ICL ranking system, that happens when you sort planning out at 4-5-6 am - but I'm sorta doomed anyway
Three races already for us in January with Tropicale, Indonesia and Christchurch-Akaroa.
We've got Caruso in Indonesia, hoping for a top 5 and a stage win in the mountain time trial, but the way time trials have been working in PCM 15 this one's really unpredictable.
In the other two we are basically dependent on breakaways.
A quiet January for us with only the Tour of Indonesia lined up. Monfort starting but not among the favourites shows that we aren't expected to be faring very high up in the GC. Hoping for a few surprises then
I was working on a WT preview as well but got a bit surprised by the quick season start and also i hadn't a lot of time lately so I'm struggling to get it finished. Hope to have everything written and posted within the next 12 days as i prefer to have everything posted before the July ranking update. Hope you enjoy!
#1 Feryn Bikes
The Star: Christem Froome. The reigning Tour de France Winner is the most succesful GT rider in ICL history as the only guy to have won the career triple crown (all 3 GTs). Considered perhaps the strongest of the Big 4 he will try to continue his series of winning a GT in every season.
The Wasted Wage: Pascal Hossay. A cobbler way to worse to make the cobble squad at the age of 30 without any potential to improve or skills on other terrains is a waste of a roster spot in his 20 or 21 race days this season.
The Future: This squad is in Win-now-mode. No WT roster spot is given to young prospects and all the top guys are over 30 - some of them going into their last season as world class riders. A rebuild might be necessary within the next two seasons. Their development team though features a couple of super talented Africans: Joel Kweuke and Alemayo both have the ability to reach world class abilities by 2022 and should be cornerstones to build around.
The Prediction: #1. A team with two of the top 3 riders of last season's final prestige rankings has to be considered the favourite for the ranking crown. Add last season's Vuelta podium finisher Van Den Broeck, a decent sprinter in Goss and a great team for the cobbles and you have a team that's difficult to beat. The Runner will have a lot of fun with his team.
The Bold Prediction: Purito will win 2 of the 3 Ardennes classics.
#2 CarbonSports
The Star: Marcel Kittel. He's the fastest sprinter in the world, has dominated the sprints in recent years and has a strong leadout.
The Wasted Wage: Mark Dzamastagic. Seriously, why would one sign him to a WT contract? Also doubtful: Skujins & Vosekalns.
The Future: The future is bright. Van Avermaet and Ciolek come closer towards the age of decline but are ready to be replaced by ever improving youngsters. Future great Senechal, young rocket Ewan, wonderkid Geyer and DT aces Peiffer and Geissler are only some among equals.
The Prediction: #2. In recent years this team was all about sprints and cobbles. The loss of Kristoff will hurt a lot but they added another super star in Carlos Fatancur who creates completely new options for the team. The team has now 3 potential Top 10 individual rankings performers although i expect that Kittel and Sagan will not be able to repeat their production due to a changed calendar (Kittel) / the signing of Fatancur ( Sagan)
The Bold Prediction: CarbonSports will win 3 monuments.
#3 Bunzl
The Star: Taylor Phinney. One of the best TTers of the world and he is also the best cobbler and sprinter in his team.
The Wasted Wage: Tao Georg Hart is a very talented climber but his current ability are in no relation to his wage.
The Future: The team has slowly developed from a bad WT team to mediocre (11th WT Rankings in 2015) to the team they have now and I expect that the team will improve further with every year. Simon Yates might be the upcoming super star amongst the puncheurs and Van Garderen and Phinney are young enough to enjoy a couple more seasons at the prime.
The Prediction: #3. The days of being mediocre are over as Bunzl has developed one of the best depths in the world tour. Phinney, Van Garderen, S. Yates and Thomas are strong WT leaders and too many riders too list them all are good enough to work as good co-leaders for them on every terrain aside of the sprints. They also have a ridiculously strong TTT team if they unite their leaders. The team will perform strong and surely has everything it needs to finish top 5 - but that will not stop brewers from complaining about them in every race.
The Bold Prediction: Simon Yates will score at least 1400 points.
#4 Allianz
The Star: Warren Barguil. French cycling fans are always on the search for a french tour winner and Warren Barguil seems to be the hottest bet.
The Wasted Wage: The team could not afford to pay for any other Bikes than seen above for Will, Möller, Owen, Pavek, Dick, Fatjul, Santos, Hanzel, Roe after spending too much on the wages of guys like Chamorro and Landa.
The Future: Greipel will have to be replaced at some point but the team has enough top class talent to build a future WT winner around. IF they can replace the handicapped idiots with solid riders.
The Prediction: #4. Last season a guy like Alexander Kristoff was all that was missing to enter the podium of the world tour. Having signed him they have plenty of point scorers but they lost a couple of solid domestiques and replaced them with crash test dummies who wont score a single point all season.
The Bold Prediction: Juan Chamorro will score less than 50 points.
#5 Italo
The Star: Vincenzo Nibali is an elite stage racer who alone makes this team a top 5 contender again. He won the Giro last season and a repeat wouldnt be surprising.
The Wasted Wage: Marco Haller is paid 200 too much for his skill set which is very much wasted because they have 3 complete leadout trains. Even without him. For only one lead sprinter: Viviani. And he will not get a single one in most races.
The Future: Nibali and a couple of other strong riders are aging soon and the window for titles looks closed for now. However, they have one of the most talented dev teams around and Pin ... Pintzop .. that greek freak and former CarbonSports sprinting hope Langlois are a promise that it will go up again in the future.
The Prediction: #5. Nibali is still strong enough to dominate and a fantastic depth will bring points wherever this team will go.
The Bold Prediction: The team will form a leadout train exactly once all (WT) season long.
#6 Leopard - Evonik
The Star: Nairo Quintana signed a record contract this summer and thus, the expectations are sky high. After two Tour de France wins in 2014 and 2015 he was beaten by Froome last season and most experts expect that he will try to take revenge this July.
The Wasted Wage: Cadel Evans. It is no secret that this guy was, is and always will be useless and it is a little surprising that there is still a team willing to sign him at the advanced age of 54 years.
The Future: Despite selling Mr. Panama Papers this team invested massively into their youth ranks. Boileau, Buchko and Preciado are just a few amongst other talented youngsters and the team is rumoured to trust Kelderman to develop further despite years without any signs of improvements. Julian Alaphilippe might well be the next super sprinter and will be green jersey favourite for years while Quintana and Vanmarcke both have some more years in them. This team has the potential to dominate the next couple of years.
The Prediction: #6. The team with the fantastic sponsor Evonik had a fantastic transfer season after their promotion and will push into the group of top teams immediately. A top 5 finish looks possible if Quintana's performance will match the expectations set by his wage. Vamarcke, Alaphilippe and Uran are fantastic assets as well.
The Bold Prediction: Bazhkou will win a stage race and a classic.
I definitely agree that brewers has assembled a fine squad and probably will challenge for a Top 3, especially seeing fair bits of the startlists. With the Yatesies he also has two of the best future riders whose price will increase sharply though due to success. Leopard also did well to promote from CT and WT and got quality riders in Quintana and Uran. A really fine balanced squad imo, although maybe a bit of a too wild mix of various talents and nationalities.
PRetty sureFeryn Bikes won't be #1, unless Froome goes apeshit crazy in le Tour. Purito won't win an Ardennes classic imo but maybe VDB with more prestige points this season than last could make the turn around tho, so potentially a dark horse.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Outdone yourself knockout: what a start to the preview. Great quality!
#1 would be fantastic: can't see it happening with Carbonsports being very much the team to beat for me: we should be thinking about the podium at the least though.
Much of how we will do depends on how the tactic of sending Froome to just 1 GT comes off.
Great preview knockout, I especially like the picture you have chosen for Italo.
@The Rider: I have already noticed that Froome has more of a race calendar like I gave Nibali last season. Nibali will ride two GTs this time, like Froome last season. Let's see who will be more successful with the strategy switch.
From next season on Allianz probably won't have a team like that as I'm planning some changes for the minimum wage.
A fantastic preview so far! I highly like your predictions on both overall and my team. Evans is only there to help Nairo with his experience on his GT(s). I like your Bazhkou prediction a lot, and he'll have plenty of space to show off in C2 like he did in NZL. You're still unbeatable though
We had to go for that mixture of nations as we want to stay in the WT for any price. Next year more focus will be inconing, at least with domestiques for captains you can only use what the markt offers
Continental Tour Ranking | January | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 16th place (114 pts) 2017 - 26th place (34 pts)
Prestige Ranking | January | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 25th place (114 pts) 2017 - 40th place (34 pts)
Volta ao Algarve 03.02 - 06.02
Team
AVG
FL
HI
SP
AC
RC
Santambrogio
Mauro
74,6
66
75
64
73
74
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
73
71
76
73
68
Nowaczek
Mateusz
74,3
71
76
69
71
68
Silin
Egor
73,4
69
73
64
70
71
That could be pretty good race for us, but I'm not expecting this. Those 3 flat stages are reasons why Komisarek is riding here. Also 71 in hills can be a factor that he will not lose much time on 3rd stage. Santambrogio and Nowaczek are here for GC with a little help from Silin. My expectations? Some top 10 places would be nice.
Vuelta a Mallorca 13.02 - 16.02
Team
AVG
FL
HI
SP
AC
RC
Santambrogio
Mauro
74,6
66
75
64
73
74
Latour
Pierre-Roger
74,6
70
74
66
71
69
Very good line up for this race, so it will be hard for our boys to fight for GC. I hope for some breakaway TV time.
Tour de San Luis 14.02 - 20.02
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
68
71
70
76
68
Bodnar
Maciej
73,6
65
68
75
67
74
Silin
Egor
73,4
74
73
72
64
71
Dall'Oste
Daniele
72,9
74
72
65
65
68
This line up is also very good. Big chance for Silin and Dall'Oste to show us what they really got. I will be surpised if they manage to reach top 10 in GC. Maybe some breakaway victory? Who knows. Komisarek for 3 flat stages, Bodnar is for opening TTT, with better chances to not lose a big amount of time for our riders.
National Capital Tour 23.02 - 26.02
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
68
71
70
76
68
Bodnar
Maciej
73,6
65
68
75
67
74
Dall'Oste
Daniele
72,9
74
72
65
65
68
I don't think Dall'Oste will manage to finish this on acceptable place in GC. We are expecting a good ride from Bodnar on ITT, and like always, maybe top 10 places on other stages by Komisarek.
Vuelta a Mallorca will be Geschkes season start, hopefully he will get many important points for us, a second place is possible.
San Luis is the first race for Rabottini and top 10 should be possible, I'm not sure about more, as I'm a bit afraid the hill stage will screw our tactics.
The rest is about breakaways, maybe Thömel can add his first top tens to his palmares.
Kirchen's second account according to Spilak23, 21-07-2016 17:16
Another month with just one race for us. Frank starts off with his only race as GC leader all season. And again, he's not among the favourites but this time it was more expected. If he can get anywhere near to what Monfort achieved in Indonesia, I'll be very happy. Hopefully some riders will get into the breakaways in this race.
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco 22.02 - 27.02 
Tour de San Luis 14.02 - 20.02 
Tour of Bishkek 08.02 - 10.02 
