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Herald Sun Tour Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-02-2017 08:03
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Team Manager
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8th edition already of the race in Down Under. The route has changed significantly from in the time of existing but became a sprinter/time trial event last year and remains on the same course. 4 flat stages, of which at least 2 have some hilly parts of the course, which could make it interesting and a pan flat time trial of 17km length.
Last year Kruopis won 2 stages and was able to stay in the GC lead ahead of the time trialists. A similar scenario is possible this year but the chrono men are definitely favoured.
A lot of pure sprinters here will try to repeat Kruopis` performance from last year.
| TT | Sprint | Acc | | TT | Sprint | Acc |  Nelson | 56 | 81 | 81 |  Manarelli | 57 | 79 | 79 |  Kip | 65 | 80 | 82 |  Krieger | 55 | 79 | 79 | | Drapac | 60 | 80 | 79 |  Napolitano | 53 | 79 | 77 |  Nizzolo | 57 | 80 | 79 | King | 67 | 78 | 73 |  Salleh | 57 | 80 | 80 | Szalontay | 67 | 78 | 77 | | Awang | 70 | 79 | 83 |  Boonen | 65 | 78 | 73 |  Von Hoff | 65 | 79 | 77 |  Corti | 62 | 78 | 76 | | Soupe | 65 | 79 | 77 | Krasnov | 61 | 78 | 77 |  Scully | 63 | 79 | 80 | Avila | 60 | 78 | 77 | | Clarke | 62 | 79 | 78 | Abdallah | 57 | 78 | 76 |  Mezgec | 60 | 79 | 77 | Manan | 57 | 78 | 78 |  Vanderaerden | 58 | 79 | 75 | Rasmussen | 73 | 77 | 79 |
They are challenged by some hill sprinters, who might grab the bonus seconds on 1-2 stages instead making it harder for the riders above.
| Hill | TT | Sprint | Acc |  Gavazzi | 73 | 61 | 78 | 74 | | Ewan | 69 | 60 | 78 | 77 | | Kreder | 71 | 57 | 76 | 77 | | Geschke | 74 | 56 | 76 | 76 | | Navardauskas | 74 | 76 | 75 | 70 |
But the big favourites for the GC are the time trialists and in especially the very best of this division:
| TT | Hill | | TT | Hill |  Yatsevich | 80 | 68 |  Zoidl | 76 | 74 |  Stannard | 79 | 55 | Tzortzakis | 75 | 63 | | Robert | 79 | 60 |  Stenersen | 75 | 66 | | Tennant | 78 | 69 | Wetterhall | 75 | 69 | | Steensen | 77 | 72 |  Petrus | 74 | 69 | | Johansson | 77 | 59 | Thill | 74 | 73 | | Sebright | 77 | 60 | Stoenchev | 74 | 67 | | Griffith | 76 | 56 | Rasmussen | 73 | 50 |  Navardauskas | 76 | 74 | Würtz | 73 | 68 |
Spotify as one of two PCT teams here with solid GC changes in Johansson, while Meiji mainly is here for experience.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 21-02-2017 08:16
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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The Nelson-Soupe-Ewan trio is back in action together! GC will be tough i think so i'll be happy with good stage results. We're just one away from our 10 Wins goals and it would be great for Nelson, or Ewan, to do it on home turf down under. Let's go boys!
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 21-02-2017 08:43
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Grand Tour Champion
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We have Kreiger here for the GC, with Ben Youcef and Drujon as lead out (I really hope they actually form a lead out for him...)
Our resident Greek Tzortzakis will be looking for a good TT ride.
Thanks roturn for the report
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 21-02-2017 10:16
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
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Three proper sprinters here, I hope they can coorperate well, but given PCM AI this might be one giant flop.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 01:06
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 10:46
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
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We need a 2nd place here for keeping our promotion ambitions alive somehow. The Russian is unbeatable but 2nd overall should well be possible. We are of course hoping for windy stages or a wild Mezgec to shine.
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 11:18
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Team Leader
Posts: 7295
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Von Hoff could get a win here. Hopefully we come away with a stage win.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:11
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
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Another top 10 GC is expected from Zoidl here, if we can grab a stage win as well along the way or if he could overperform on the TT it would be a massive help towards our promotion ambitions.
We've got the full train here should we be allowed to form one which might happen for a stage or 2.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:17
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Tour de France Champion
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I have no ambition for this race. Perhaps Steensen can have a good TT and push the issue on the hills and come out with a top 10. Maybe, idk. We're definitely not getting anything out of the sprints. And that's pretty much it. Maybe a couple of the young guys can get into the breaks. That's always fun to watch.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| matt17br |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:26
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Directeur Sportif
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baseballlover312 wrote:
I have no ambition for this race. Perhaps Steensen can have a good TT and push the issue on the hills and come out with a top 10. Maybe, idk. We're definitely not getting anything out of the sprints. And that's pretty much it. Maybe a couple of the young guys can get into the breaks. That's always fun to watch.
Your negativity is impressive, no way Steensen won't at least top 5 
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:32
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
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matt17br wrote:
baseballlover312 wrote:
I have no ambition for this race. Perhaps Steensen can have a good TT and push the issue on the hills and come out with a top 10. Maybe, idk. We're definitely not getting anything out of the sprints. And that's pretty much it. Maybe a couple of the young guys can get into the breaks. That's always fun to watch.
Your negativity is impressive, no way Steensen won't at least top 5
I'd say top 5 on a good day but more likely to be 7th or 8th, that's still the kind of result that keeps your fight for 4th ticking over and I'd expect you to gain points on the Minions in the head to head fight in this race.
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| matt17br |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:39
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Directeur Sportif
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Robert, Stannard, Johansson, Sebright, Griffith are all horrible puncheurs and there's no way they'll survive in stage 2 or stage 4. I only see Yatsevich, Tennant, Navardauskas and Zoidl capable of competing with him. But we'll see
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:39
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Directeur Sportif
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Lord please give me heavy winds in this race! |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 14:48
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Classics Specialist
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matt17br wrote:
Robert, Stannard, Johansson, Sebright, Griffith are all horrible puncheurs and there's no way they'll survive in stage 2 or stage 4. I only see Yatsevich, Tennant, Navardauskas and Zoidl capable of competing with him. But we'll see
I think the hills are too far out on stage 4 and that only the cat 4 will matter on stage 2, I don't think the bigger climb will be ridden hard as it's too far out to be a springboard for the punchers as any attacks there will be too hard to hang on to, and I could see the bunch getting strung out on the cat 4 but I doubt the time gaps will be given judging by how other stages have gone this season.
The fact both stages were given a flat rating instead of a hill one also makes me think they'll be less selective than they otherwise could be.
Still I'd love to be proved wrong and have Zoidl do better than I'm expecting and fight for the top 5 as he would do if you're right.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 15:18
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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matt17br wrote:
baseballlover312 wrote:
I have no ambition for this race. Perhaps Steensen can have a good TT and push the issue on the hills and come out with a top 10. Maybe, idk. We're definitely not getting anything out of the sprints. And that's pretty much it. Maybe a couple of the young guys can get into the breaks. That's always fun to watch.
Your negativity is impressive, no way Steensen won't at least top 5
A couple of weeks ago I would have said that there was no way Garby wouldn't get top 15 in USAPCC or Tatranska, but I've learned to not make assumptions anymore. My pessimism is a coping mechanism. If I keep thinking I'm going to do well and get disappointed, I'm just going to sink further into insanity.
Might as well go in with modest expectations. The game has repeatedly proven to me that stats don't mean crap sometimes.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 19:27
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World Champion
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When you made a stage goal specifically for the sprint, prologue and hill but your best sprinter is incapacitated and there isn't a prologue or HTF... Always check the profiles kids!
Clarke needs to over perform because I didn't bring Jams! Kim Ok Cheol also making his debut here, hope he can be a good leadout for Clarkey!
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
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 21-02-2017 23:31
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World Champion
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Looks like I'll have to hope for some breakaway luck! Mostly came here for the experience, but it happens to fit into the Asian calendar so that is nice! If anyone is to do something for us, Im guessing it'll be Shirota or Arashiro.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 22-02-2017 09:01
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Small Tour Specialist
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Clashing with ToA means WCC field a real hodge-podge line-up. We have no one that can be considered as a sprint or TT threat (not one rider mentioned in the preview - justifiably). In pre-season planning this race was necessary as it fit XP needs for our development cadre, and alternative options were very limited. Team management also held out some early season hope that breakaways and/or strong flat riders with late attacks might be a formula for success with this years MG AI, but hasn't been the case - or at least not for WCC. More fighting for scraps then - pretty much our team motto!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 22-02-2017 12:54
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Directeur Sportif
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our first proper leadout of the season! I mean, Mezgec fucked it up royal again but at least we sprinted decently - know please do it again on the next stages guys!
and drop the pure time triallists |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 22-02-2017 13:03
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No lead-out despite our full train being here, and Kreiger comes from a long way back for a nice Top10 result.
Thanks for the report roturn and congrats Paul
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 22-02-2017 13:04
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indeed, Löbau can really use the points 
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
