We'll see a new GT winner in ICL history at the Giro. It is really surprising how weak the startlist is, last year all 82 climbers were present here this time the best climbers have 79. I expected to see at least Froome here again with 90 timetrial kilometres + TTT. Now Nibali will face him at the GP Sochi, where I think Froome has to be the favourite with the TT and the TTT where Feryn should be better.
At the Giro, I expect a battle between TVG and VDB for the win. Hopefully Aru also has something to say.
Dear god, Konig could've had a top 15 in a GT even
Tour des Fjords should hopefully be EBH's, he has good chances anyways. Not sure why I sent him to that Malmo ITT though. No clue who I sent to Romandie, probably not much... Top 5 at Cali should be possible with Hirt. Sklar and Budyak to dominate Valle d'Aosta.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
Giro d'Italia
Van Garderen, Aru / 79 MO
Van den Broeck, Pinot, Urán / 78 MO
Grand Prix of Sochi
Froome, Nibali / 82 MO
Majka, Bardet / 80 MO
Seems legit .
May Preview for CCC Sprandi Polkowice
Continental Tour Ranking | April | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 20th place (764 pts) 2017 - 21st place (675 pts)
Prestige Ranking | April | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 30th place (764 pts) 2017 - 32nd place (675 pts)
Tour de Romandie 05.02 - 05.07
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
AC
RC
Ulissi
Diego
75,9
75
78
72
67
78
73
Bodnar
Maciej
73,6
65
68
75
67
68
74
Dall'Oste
Daniele
72,9
74
72
65
65
71
68
Poljański
Paweł
72,8
66
74
67
68
71
68
Amgen Tour of California 05.16 - 05.23
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
AC
RC
Santambrogio
Mauro
74,6
75
75
61
64
73
74
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
68
71
70
76
73
68
Nowaczek
Mateusz
74,3
67
76
68
69
71
68
Dall'Oste
Daniele
72,9
74
72
65
65
71
68
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT 05.30
Team
AVG
FL
TT
PL
RS
Ulissi
Diego
75,9
66
72
74
69
Bodnar
Maciej
73,6
73
75
75
69
Silin
Egor
73,4
69
72
70
66
GP Moscow 05.31
Team
AVG
FL
SP
AC
ST
RS
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
73
76
73
70
67
Poljański
Paweł
72,8
72
68
71
71
67
Last year in May:
Amgen Tour of California: Ferrari 4th - stage 3, 3rd - stage 8; Marczyński 10th in GC
Tour des Fjords: Ferrari 5th - stage 4; Ulissi 5th - stage 3, 5th in GC
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT: Bodnar 13th
GP Moscow: Ferrari 5th, Komisarek 6th
This is very important month. As you can see by results I scored decent amount of points last year so hope for similar number this year also. GP Moscow is our first goal this year. Last year Komisarek was 6th, now he is better so it would be nice if he would be able to finish inside top 5. But I think it won't happen. An ITT is good chance for some points with Bodnar, Silin and Ulissi in it. California and Romandie are our chances for decent GC place. Second race for Diego this year is Romandie. After good Paris-Nice I hope for good GC place from him. California have very good route. Some flat stages for Komisarek, some hilly ones for Nowaczek, and all is okay for Santambrogio and Dall'Oste. I expect pretty nice results. Only problem is that ITT.
New feature in my previews: goals! Maybe in the future I will have more faith in my riders, but now, let's see if that even works.
Goals: ***
Tour de Romandie - 100 pts
Amgen Tour of California - 60 pts
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT - 40 pts (top 10)
GP Moscow - 48 pts (top 5)
**
Tour de Romandie - 60 pts
Amgen Tour of California - 30 pts
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT - 25 pts (top 15)
GP Moscow - 36 pts (top 7)
*
Tour de Romandie - 25 pts
Amgen Tour of California - 15 pts
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT - 15 pts (top 20)
GP Moscow - 24 pts (top 10)
First home race of the season for us with the Tour de Romandie. If I'm not wrong I think I basically sent our strongest team, so fingers crossed for some good results. Unfortunately the route doesn't completely suit Caruso, but I still had to send him here, as we want to provide some entertainment for our home fans.
Apart from that only Tour des Fjords and the Copenhagen-Malmö TT is on the menu, so overall a fairly quiet month.
Dunno what to think from the Giro start grid. The track isn't reall favoritising me. Hope we 'll see a great battle. Luckily I didn't take Modolo
BTW is anybody going to write a Giro preview, like Shonak and The Rider do every year?
Edited by krisa on 08-10-2016 22:11
Another month, this one has more Vanendert so hopefully we can return to the top 5.
Continental Tour CT.2
Tour des Fjords 25.05 - 28.05
Team
AVG
HI
TT
SP
AC
RC
Vanendert
Jelle
76,6
77
64
65
76
73
Bennett
George
74,0
76
68
67
71
67
I admit it - I went from memory of last year for this one and entered a race with GC hopes that had a TTT in it and only one other stage. Stage win and, I don't know, top 10-15 GC is the goal?
Continental Tour CT.2
Tour de Romandie 02.05 - 07.05
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Vanendert
Jelle
76,6
76
77
64
65
73
Here's the first of two races I am so excited for - I think Vanendert has every chance of winning if he can get some hill gaps, which is why I didn't sent a mountain leader. If the mountain stage is very decisive I could accept just some stage succeses and top 5-10 but really we're going for the win with hopefully aggressive racing.
Amgen Tour of California 16.05 - 23.05
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Nieve
Mikel
76,1
78
75
63
64
75
Vanendert
Jelle
76,6
76
77
64
65
73
I was considering making this a goal race: Vanendert. And Nieve. In a stage race together. With hills and mountains and please please please work. Obviously the second of my hard on races.
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT 30.05
Just kidding.
GP Moscow 31.05
Team
AVG
FL
HI
SP
AC
ST
Appollonio
Davide
76,4
74
71
77
77
68
Podium is the goal - this race is hopefully a turnaround for Appo to find some consistency.
U23 Tour
Rund um den Finanzplatz U23 01.05
Team
AVG
FL
HI
SP
AC
ST
Alday
Raymundo
67.8
66
56
69
67
65
Jacobsen
Sverre
68.3
68
68
68
67
68
No idea what will happen here. Top 10?
Giro Valle d'Aosta 09.05 - 14.05
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Ventura
Juan Ángel
70.1
69
71
64
64
65
Jacobsen
Sverre
68.3
67
68
68
68
67
Again, no idea what to expect here.
Rutland - Melton 26.05
Team
AVG
FL
HI
CB
SP
ST
Jacobsen
Sverre
68.3
68
68
66
68
68
Lesser goals this time, top 15?
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Just 3 races for us, but 2 have Porte and 1 has Boom (with a formidable startlist though). Definitely a chance for Porte to pick up a good amount of points. Let's hope he can change 2nd to 1st in May.
On the other hand, maybe I should've sent the team led by Porte to the Giro
AbhishekLFC wrote:
On the other hand, maybe I should've sent the team led by Porte to the Giro
Yeah, get out of Romandie, California and Portugal if you're there
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Interesting to see such a weak field in the Giro, seems like it was the right choice to send Talansky there. The route suits him better than the other two as well I think. Hopefully he can score a GC top 5 here. His weakest climb support is Del Mar with 71MO, so hopefully our massive climber depth pays off. Hopefully Styby can continue to perform in the UK as well.
Seems like sending De Gendt to the Giro was the right decision. Has one of the best TT stats and not far from the top in terms of hl. Maybe if he gets through the first week (particularly stage 5) near enough to the contenders he could ride for a good GC, although maybe I'm being a bit optermistic though and will be disappointed given his low mo
In some ways this Giro represents also the dynamic of last year. A ton of GT riders were present there and gained little, so this time around, a complete turnaround happened. Not one 80 to 82 MTN rider is present, which is pretty horrible to say the least. Not even once had the Vuelta such a weak field. I think that next year the GTs should be more balanced again tho.
For me, I definitely want to have Contador at the Vuelta, so it was down to between Tour and Giro. Eventually I decided for the Tour because Contador already had ridden this season's Tour route once and did expectionally well there with 81MT back then. In hindsight, well..
Also Verona got the nod over Herrada because I decided that Herrada should be top dom at the Tour to get maximum goal points, that's now sorta awkward and bad planning but the decision mostly lies in the U25 classification for Verona and that Herrada and Verona were pretty wasted two years ago when they did dual leadership. Frankly, both are stronger now, so the more you know.
I'd love to see Aru on the top step, although I think he lacks the recovery for three weeks.
At least in terms of sprinting, the stages should be a goodie with Kittel, Demare & Co present.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Pretty sure it was said before the last Vuelta (where he finished 3rd!) but VDB will never have a better chance of winning a GT! To be on the podium, which he should do, would be fantastic. But to win: oh, if we finish 5th or below in the final rankings, that would make our season. Won't begrudge a win from Gaerne or Bunzl too though!
Stage win min - for the month. Froome: win in Sochi and we can put the previous races this season down to 'training' runs!
Neither seeing Nibali nor Froome at the Giro is a disgrace for their pro's and con's...Froome has his perfect fit here, and Nibali should've taken this as this is the only tour where he would possibly have a chance to win. Like this it's gonna be one surprise winner and 2 times Contador...
Froome looks like underperforming, Nibali has chosen the wrong GT's in my eyes (looks like 2 GTs, and the Vuelta would be a clueless choice as it is the best fit for Contador and Quintana this season...) and Quintana is completely fucked cause I expected Froome and Nibali at the Giro --> tough time for us with the worst of the 4, might be double digit placement at the end of the season...
If Aru can perform at the Giro this could be the promotion key...
University of Lincoln GP 05.05 
Giro d'Italia 09.05 - 29.05 
Grand Prix of Sochi 17.05 - 21.05 
Tour de Romandie 02.05 - 07.05 
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