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Tour de France Discussion
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| SotD |
Posted on 02-01-2017 08:15
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The 12th stage and the first HC climb I think.
The first HC climb was on stage 11  - It was won by Taaramae ahead of your own Keizer, I think 
Lecuisinier showed exactly what I brought him here for and saves the day for Spilak. But I suspect stage 13 will see us lose the jersey. Dombrowski and Schleck are definately the ones to look out for, but also Taaramäe can hurt us here and we need to attack him.
I'm very happy to see that Yuriy Vasyliv keeps fighting for the team GC, as Novak is clearly not strong enough. I know he is working, but I guess the others are too, and he is ending up in 73rd here losing more than 7 minutes. To have hoped for him to actually do a low end top 30 in the GC just isn't realistic.
Our goal of having Spilak in the leaders jersey for 5 stages seems very difficult with two riders capable of outsprinting Spilak for the jersey - The strongest GC competants as it seems right now. And only 30 seconds for the ever aggressive Dombrowski aswell.
If we can somehow keep the jersey after stage 13 is ridden, then 5 days in the leaders jersey for Spilak is doable as we then have a flat stage before the final hilly stage of the race. We absolutely need him to attack there!
So far we are still happy with the race, especially seing Phinney being now 3'30 behind. Another 1'30, and I would think we are safe from him in the final TT. Kritskiy did well to stay in touch today, but I suspect he will lose a bit here and there so he is around 5-6 minutes behind before the TT, which should easily be enough. Where he is at now is a bit dangerous, but should be OK for us.
Can't wait for the next stage although it is evidently the most dangerous for us in a while.
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Posted on 25-11-2024 09:44
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| SotD |
Posted on 02-01-2017 08:20
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Oh, and I completely forgot to say it. Huge congrats to Kenya for that amazing win. Grmay did well helping us to the Pro Tour crown last season, so to see him take a win on the biggest scene of all makes me very happy! Deserved win and a day in the Polka dot jersey is so cool. Schleck is obviously a real danger for the Polka dots right now, as he is always attentive and wants to attack. Stage 13 is the perfect stage for him to clear the plate.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 02-01-2017 08:30
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Big win by Grmay, congrats FroomeDog! Disapointing though for us missing out on the stage winning break, also the inevitable loss of the KOM today. 
On the plus side the hillarious GC pursuit of LLS can't believe that he is going for it and is in the top 15 still! 
Thanks Roturn
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-01-2017 08:39
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Novak is always your first mountain guy to work. Already on the flat parts together with Bouet/Coppel. So expecting a top30 for him is not realistic as 5th or 6th guy only in your team.
Your other mountain riders are used a lot later and far less than him.
Probably wrote the two reports with several days in between. Wasn`t aware of the earlier HC, though Keizer wasn`t behind Taaramae there...Keizer ight have attacked but definitely was not around at the finish area as he is usually just losing time. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 02-01-2017 09:15
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roturn wrote:
Novak is always your first mountain guy to work. Already on the flat parts together with Bouet/Coppel. So expecting a top30 for him is not realistic as 5th or 6th guy only in your team.
Your other mountain riders are used a lot later and far less than him.
Lecuisinier and Vasyliv I'm expecting when you say this. Novak is my 4th guy, not my 6th. I have Bernaudeau and Vlatos who are clearly not working in the mountains. Bouet must be very early and Coppel too.
But yes, I probably expected too much from him, but it hurts to see Andy Schleck having Suaza, Kirsch, Aru, Goos and Frank Schleck ahead of him. I suspect that some of them have been working too. So atm he is climbing with Vesuvios 6th best climber (74MO), while similar statted rider, Marc Goos is in 9th in the GC climbing to almost the same level as Lecuisinier.
But it should be possible atleast... Vesuvio is currently having 2nd, 9th, 27th, 37th, 47th and 67th. Their riders are all climbing the GC. Mine are fading - Well except for the three best, who seem to perform reasonably well so far. Vasyliv better than anticipated clearly. I just have to hope that Novak can keep inside top 40 as we need every point we can get. Coppel seems likely to end up somewhere in the region of 70-100 which is fine by me as it gives slightly more than being outside the top 100 Bouet might survive to get 10 points, but Vlatos and Bernaudeau are soon out of the race I think. Both within the worst 20 - To be expected though.
Do they work on the flat parts, or are they just drifting back from the start? Just so I know whether or not they are actually useful in such a race or only for the early week.
Probably wrote the two reports with several days in between. Wasn`t aware of the earlier HC, though Keizer wasn`t behind Taaramae there...Keizer ight have attacked but definitely was not around at the finish area as he is usually just losing time.
Okay it just looked like him in the screenshot:
Especially looking at the text also:
This really thinned out the peloton a lot and we see lots of small gaps coming to the top.
Taaramae and Keizer the only remaining attackers in the lead.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 02-01-2017 09:41
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Shame Dombrowski's a crap descender because he's been climbing so well, can't imagine him finishing higher than 4th though...
Cheers for the reports.
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| SotD |
Posted on 02-01-2017 10:04
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wackojackohighcliffe wrote:
Shame Dombrowski's a crap descender because he's been climbing so well, can't imagine him finishing higher than 4th though...
Cheers for the reports.
I was actually very surprised to see him descend so poorly as he is easily the best of the GC riders.
He is 72 while a rider like Schleck (who caught him) is 64. Spilak is 68 and Lecuisinier is a bit better with 70, but still Dombrowski should be the better GC rider in that aspect.
I think there's a reasonable chance that he will actually take a podium this season. His stats are remarkably similar to Andy Schleck, although a bit worse, but instead he is usually attacking a bit earlier. If he can cooperate with Schleck and possibly Spilak, then he could take time on Taaramäe I think.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 02-01-2017 10:32
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SotD wrote:
wackojackohighcliffe wrote:
Shame Dombrowski's a crap descender because he's been climbing so well, can't imagine him finishing higher than 4th though...
Cheers for the reports.
I was actually very surprised to see him descend so poorly as he is easily the best of the GC riders.
He is 72 while a rider like Schleck (who caught him) is 64. Spilak is 68 and Lecuisinier is a bit better with 70, but still Dombrowski should be the better GC rider in that aspect.
I think there's a reasonable chance that he will actually take a podium this season. His stats are remarkably similar to Andy Schleck, although a bit worse, but instead he is usually attacking a bit earlier. If he can cooperate with Schleck and possibly Spilak, then he could take time on Taaramäe I think.
I know but every time he goes clear he gets caught on the descent, I think that's about the 3rd time this year. Fingers crossed for GC then, it might even be one of my goals, who knows?
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-01-2017 11:02
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@SotD:
Ah on top of it it was Keizer indeed, yes. But he is crap descender and then lost contact quickly.
In the finish he lost time.
Vlatos and Benaudeu also work in the beginning. Together with Novak already most times. Your other mountain helpers only work on uphill and on late mountains. Novak working all day basically.
Vesuvio`s riders also work. Just not as much as yours due to the yellow jersey duty for you. Hence Goos, Suaza etc. are a bit less exhausted in the end and perform better than Vasyliv for example. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 02-01-2017 11:10
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roturn wrote:
@SotD:
Ah on top of it it was Keizer indeed, yes. But he is crap descender and then lost contact quickly.
In the finish he lost time.
Vlatos and Benaudeu also work in the beginning. Together with Novak already most times. Your other mountain helpers only work on uphill and on late mountains. Novak working all day basically.
Vesuvio`s riders also work. Just not as much as yours due to the yellow jersey duty for you. Hence Goos, Suaza etc. are a bit less exhausted in the end and perform better than Vasyliv for example.
Alright thanks It's nice to know what PCM actually does as it's not always easy to spot if what you think they should do with your riders is actually what they do. Especially not the helpers.
Can you also tell me how many sprinter points Spilak have? I can see Schleck have moved into top 10, but I would expect Spilak to be not much behind him.
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-01-2017 11:12
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All just outside top10:
Spilak 55
Taaramae 51
Ponzi 43
Dombrowski 38 |
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| ember |
Posted on 02-01-2017 13:32
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Very interesting stage, with Lecuisinier showing how important he could be this race. Well done to get Spilak back to Schleck and Dombrowski there, as it looked like a significant time loss at the summit.
Huge congratulations to Kenya! Very nice stage win, and Ponzi also looks like he wants to try his luck in the GC, where he can potentially do a top 15 if he's a bit lucky in the mountains and take maximum advantage of the hilly stage.
Great report again, roturn! |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 02-01-2017 13:43
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Ashamed of my lack of comments - that said bar some Laporte style sprinting from Chen (that being sitting in the bottom end of top tens where he should be) we have done pretty much nothing of note other than putting our weaker riders in breakaways. Sort of vaguely hoped for Diaz or Destribios to get in a few promising breakaways but no such pendlefluke for us here.
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| knockout |
Posted on 02-01-2017 15:38
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Sorry for my lack of posts during the tour. was busy the last couple of days...
My team completely fulfills my expectations again which is a negative thing for once.
They're not joining enough breaks which was my main hope for this race but i guess they are still hopeful that Koch can achieve the sponsor goal and thus, protecting him all day long...
The fight for yellow looks really intense and it's cool to see some of my favourite MG stage racers (Spilak, Taaramae) in the mix.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 02-01-2017 16:13
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Very cool stage and report, it looks like we are going to have a fight between 3 mountain goats and 3 TTers (Schleck/Spilak/Dombrowski and Taaramäe/Phinney/Kritskiy).
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| Roman |
Posted on 02-01-2017 16:24
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Bewley The Climber is almost better than Leopold König The Climber Alert. LOL.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 02-01-2017 17:23
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Smowz wrote:
Ashamed of my lack of comments - that said bar some Laporte style sprinting from Chen (that being sitting in the bottom end of top tens where he should be)
You're describing Sagan style sprinting, Laporte style sprinting describes graciously helping your teammate win when you could yourself.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 02-01-2017 18:51
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Well obviously that's more disappointing from Phinney the race is starting to catch up now and his lack of recovery obviously hurting him could be just the one week tours from now on |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 02-01-2017 20:37
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Come on, Henao. At least go for that stage win.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 03-01-2017 07:23
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Karnulin dropped to 15th, that was expected...now the main goal for next week is hold onto that precious spot.
Thanks for the reports and congrats FroomeDog!
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