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Tour de France Discussion
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-12-2016 10:15
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Ahhh, hi guys, i have been off the web some time, but nice to come back and see 9 stages of Tour already covered. It was a pleasure to read roturn, thanks for all the reports.
Bakelandts, Phinney and Swift the three main stars so far i would say, even when it was expected from Phinney to lead until this stage at least. I-GEN with solid race until this 9th stage, especially great job in TTs. Spilak really needs to imitate Gesinks Vuelta if he should have a chance against Schleck, so i can understand the frustration here, he has all the stats to toy with everybody here, so he should do it. I am not sure if Lecuisiner is not actually hurting him though...too strong of a domestique. We will see, all is settled for great second half of the race. Congrats to all the stage winners!
Now to Metinvest and what we have been doing here....fuck the TT randomness, i cant say more really, when it comes to TT and TTT stages done. Zmorka outside top5 in prologue? We came 22nd in a TTT, excuse me, WHAT??? Beaten by 10 seconds by PCT team Netia whose best time-trialist is 74 when we are lead by 82/80/79 trio? This game is a joke, dont even dare to say that TTs have okay gameplay.
But we also have two bright guys here in France, who are making us proud. First is Andrea Guardini, who is racking top5-7 placements almost in every flat stage, against worlds best sprinters, top notch job from a guy who is paid just 100k.
Second mention has to go to Denys Karnulin, who is sitting inside top10 now and is doing marvelous job in hilly stages. He will slide down eventually, but i hope he can fight for late top15, that would be something!
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-12-2016 10:38
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Btw. even when i am leaving after season, i would suggest (for better experience for all the players) avoiding TTTs in GTs which are under some 30-40kms. It just does not make any sense to have a 13km TTT in a grand tour race, because that way it is decided big way by random factors and it also creates close to no gaps. Longer TTT would be more decided by quality of teams and it would make better sense to risk a TTT heavy team, this way it does not pay off at all.
From realism point of view, 13kms long TTT in a GT is also a nonsense. 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 07:51
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| Selwink |
Posted on 30-12-2016 10:46
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Btw. even when i am leaving after season, i would suggest (for better experience for all the players) avoiding TTTs in GTs which are under some 30-40kms. It just does not make any sense to have a 13km TTT in a grand tour race, because that way it is decided big way by random factors and it also creates close to no gaps. Longer TTT would be more decided by quality of teams and it would make better sense to risk a TTT heavy team, this way it does not pay off at all.
From realism point of view, 13kms long TTT in a GT is also a nonsense.
Though I fully agree with your idea, your last point is not true
https://www.procyc...?id=139130
https://www.procyc...?id=149982 (admittedly the most ridiculous TTT ever though)
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-12-2016 11:24
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
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I wrote it even with these Vuelta opening TTTs in mind, as those are rather team/city presentations more than anything else.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 30-12-2016 13:34
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3215
Joined: 23-07-2008
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Obviously not fun to lose Yellow but managing to stay in the first group and be on the offensive is a great effort from Phinney one rest before three massive stages in the mountains to look forward too |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 30-12-2016 14:52
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
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Surprising riders in there are Karnulin for Metinvest and Abal for Mobistar, who normally does not like the hilly stages that much.
We got a new nickname! Lol Nice to see Abal's crash actually made him stronger on the hills. Bring on the mountains.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 31-12-2016 07:37
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2666
Joined: 31-12-2007
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Too bad Kritskiy couldn't keep up with the favorites group, but then again he "only" lost 1 minute against guys like Spilak; 82 hill, Kritskiy 75 hill. Eager to find out what Kritskiy can do in the mountains, but first another sprintfest to end the year!
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| SotD |
Posted on 31-12-2016 12:11
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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Good transportstage with no crashes. Also the sprinters seem to mix it up nicely, so no one is out of sight in terms of the points jersey. I hope this means that Spilak can compete for it in the end, having scored a few points here and there already. Although Phinney looks like a comfortable bet for the points jersey as he is also likely to win the final TT. Only 3 sprint finishes left and stage 16 could be difficult to control for the sprinter - Whatever might be left at that point after 3 difficult mountainstages. I suspect that the likes of Ciolek, Mohs, Guardini, Maksimov, Vantomme and possibly Goss can struggle to get through this race.
Have a happy New Year everyone. See you all in the '17, hopefully to a Spilak friendly end to the Tour de France.
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| beagle |
Posted on 31-12-2016 12:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4200
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Swift 3, Bewley 2, Degenkolb 0. GG 
Happy New Year everyone!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SotD |
Posted on 31-12-2016 12:14
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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beagle wrote:
Swift 3, Bewley 2, Degenkolb 0. GG
Happy New Year everyone!
Atleast Mohs got one 
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| beagle |
Posted on 31-12-2016 12:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4200
Joined: 06-10-2007
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Must have been mistake in Matrix 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| ember |
Posted on 31-12-2016 13:52
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
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Seeing Breen in the breakaway was fun, eventhough I thought it showcased Kristoff's lack of fighting attitude in the sprints, sending a possible leadout rider in the breakaway.
Then I was somewhat shocked seeing he was up there with 5 to go, realizing he was just about to give it a proper go. And I honestly thought he was going to bag our first ever Tour de France stage win, both under the flamme rouge and with 500 meters to go. But superman Bewley is not be stopped in those situations, and with Boeckmans also finishing well, that third place seemed to be the absolute maximum we could get from it. I'm just very happy Kristoff finally got it right in a sprint.
Congratulations, Roman! Two stage wins from Bewley must be considered good in this company, I think.
And thank you for the consistent reporting, roturn! Now it's all about the real stuff, with the GC riders having a go at each other in the mountains. |
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| Roman |
Posted on 31-12-2016 15:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4386
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Perfect stage! Perfect team work and the job completeled nicely by Bewley. 2nd stage wins is sure a decent achievement, agree with that ember and thanks! Also big thanks to roturn, amazing stuff as always!
Happy New Year everyone!
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| ember |
Posted on 01-01-2017 09:34
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
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Thank you for the report, roturn!
And wow, very interesting first mountain stage with none of the big gun holding much back. Perfect execution by Taaramäe, taking a huge risk and being rewarded. Though, on the other he was unlucky to not be rewarded with a gap as well, so seemingly Schleck and Spilak controlled him fairly well. Congratulations on the stage, Crommy!
Dombrowski also with a brilliant performance keeping up, and with four riders at only 38 seconds halfway in the Tour, this should be thrilling stuff. Another Taaramäe performance by anyone, and it's a lot of pressure on the other three. Very promising for the race continuation!
Really hoped to see Nesset in the breakaway there, but riding to 15th place is surprisingly strong, and it makes that huge time loss due to the crash annoying, as he would have been just outside the top 20 without. A bit worrying thinking of the upcoming stages that we seemed to have no interest in the breakaway, but hopefully we choose our chance carefully.
And Bewley climbing to 26th place... Is he chasing green jersey points in the mountains as well!? That must be THE performance on that stage  |
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-01-2017 09:53
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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A bit up and down here really. Taking time on Phinney and taking the leaders jersey is obviously very very nice, although I would have preferred that Spilak took the sprint for 2nd as we really don't want to lose the jersey to Schleck by him being faster in the sprints. He can attack if he wants to win!
Lecuisinier doing a bit worse than anticipated, but seeing how well he went for a long time I suspect he was used reasonably well and accepts his "losses. Butik sucks to lose time on Marc Goos who Seem to be overperforming yet again. He really knows his way around that...
Vasyliv did well to keep us in the Team GC fight while Novak was clearly working sooner/harder, which is OK. I only need one of them to put up a top 25 ride everyday in the mountains. We are all over the KOM, and hopefully the jersey means that Novak, Vasyliv and Lecuisinier will take more points with also Spilak in contention. We also need Spilak to keep endivie high in the stage points to go as high as possible in the points Jersey competition. We really want it all if possible. Atleast for as long as possible, so we can later accept to Lise a bit here and there.
Taramae puts up a great fight to be a winning contender, and Spilak and Schleck really needs to put time on him aswell, otherwise he will overtake them in the TT. But for now this is OK.
We had an intern goal of 70 points from this stage to hit the 500 point mark halways into the race, but we "only" managed 59, if we can keep 50-60 as a benchmark through the next 10 stages we might be able to hit those 2000 points in total, but with Schleck in this position we are likely to lose out on a lot of potential points.
Oh well. For now we have to be content with the situation, we asked for the leaders Jersey, and we got it. Stop complaining man!
Thanks for the read Roturn. It was nicely written and kept it exciting all the way.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 01-01-2017 10:00
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Team Leader
Posts: 7366
Joined: 11-07-2014
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Quite an exciting first mountain stage, Tarramae brave and it pays off. Congrats Crommy!
LLS racing for the GC - actually moving up to the top 15 is hilarious, must've been on a great day today. Better yet, Panayotov in the break, even if they missed the KOM points and Bernas just keeping the jersey - great stage!
Thanks Roturn for the fantastic reporting!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 01-01-2017 11:51
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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Henao pulling a reversed Giro on me. Smh.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 01-01-2017 15:47
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2666
Joined: 31-12-2007
PCM$: 450.00
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Not a good start of 2017 
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 01-01-2017 16:05
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3215
Joined: 23-07-2008
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Actually really happy with Phoney ride he was in the right place and his legs really are all that killed him add to that these are the stages he always struggles in (think it's his resistance or some other stat will look when database is to hand) and to finish 5th is a good little result hopefully he can keep near the podium now as tomorrow will suit him best |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 01-01-2017 16:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Bewley just beat Abal in a mountain stage... wtf. 
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