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Viana do Castelo Discussion
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 09-11-2017 13:27
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Report will be Jandal's, but he didn't have the time to do a preview, so i'm the one doing the preview for this race
Welcome to Portugal for one of the most strange races in the MG calendar, and also one of the hardest. A cobbled race, but with cobbles only in the descent of the main climb of the day. To win this race you'll need a good combination of HIL and COB stats.
This leads us to have 2 great favourites for the win in this race. The first one, the best cobbler in the race,  Marcus Burghardt. Podium Ambition has sent here their full cobbles squad, clearly being the strongest team with Thomas, Hristov and Grashev helping the German and also going for decent places.
The other big favourite is  Jan Polanc. The Slovenian is not as good as Burghardt in the cobbles, but his better climbing abilities will give him a big advantage in the climbs, where he may drop the German rider.
In the second line of favourites, we have a few riders that should fight for the podium or even the win if the two big favourites fail.  Wisniowski is an incredible all-rounder cobbler who will be in the fight in every race situation.  Nolf should be a good enough climber to be in the fight, but his terrible sprint will make him to lose some places unless he arrives alone.
And then we go to the  Newton's duo. In one side, Altur, a great cobbler, with decent climbing and sprint abilities. In the other side, Tsatevitch, a not so good cobbler, but the best puncheur and sprinter of those who should be fighting for a good result today.
And the last of those riders who can fight for the podium is the only one from a CT team,  Van Keirsbulck
Other riders that could do well here but are either weak in sprint, cobbles or climbing are  Vanbilsen,  Daniel,  Albert,  Bush, Nepomnyachsniy or  Debesay
And finally we have a big surprise in the startlist with  Kwiatkowski. The Pole is similar rider to 2016 Gilbert, and the Belgian managed to finish in the top10, so the gamble that Netia manager took might prove to be worthy
| Rider | COB | SPR | HIL | Rider | COB | SPR | HIL | | Burghardt | 82 | 67 | 70 | Polanc | 78 | 67 | 73 | | Altur | 80 | 72 | 70 | Nolf | 80 | 63 | 66 | | Wisniowski | 79 | 73 | 71 | Tsatevich | 75 | 75 | 77 | | Daniel | 80 | 76 | 69 | Vanbilsen | 80 | 72 | 69 | | Van Keirsbulck | 78 | 70 | 71 | Albert | 78 | 63 | 69 | | Thomas | 79 | 74 | 60 | Kump | 73 | 80 | 76 | | Bush | 78 | 71 | 62 | Hristov | 77 | 66 | 63 | | Okbamariam | 76 | 72 | 65 | Breschel | 76 | 76 | 69 | | Kwiatkowski | 68 | 67 | 79 | Debesay | 75 | 69 | 73 | | Grashev | 75 | 65 | 69 | Nepomnyachsniy | 76 | 78 | 64 |
Veyhe, Tolosa and Van der Ploeg are also in the startlist for Netia, SanCor and Eddie Stobart, but the picture didn't allow them to be in it 
Edited by Aquarius97 on 09-11-2017 14:33
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| tastasol |
Posted on 09-11-2017 13:41
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Classics Specialist
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No Rowe here, so limited support for Wisniowski. I'm still looking very much forward to this. Wisniowski had a relatively good start in Gent-Wevelgem, and this should suit him even better. Another top 5 must be the goal, though I hope he can do a bit better.
Interesting to see what Kwiatkowski and Kump can do. Tsatevich another who is very well suited to the race. Had expected to see Generali with Theuns and Teunissen and perhaps Juul-Jensen, but a quite small starlist. Hopefully that means we can also pick up some minor points behind the best.
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| knockout |
Posted on 09-11-2017 14:27
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Grand Tour Champion
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Good written preview although I disagree with the content a bit. Imo the climbs will be nearly 100% hill / 0 % mountain. Also I think that Kump is a really strong option for this race.
Curious to see what Kwiatek can do here. I like the gamble of sending him here and I hope he can reward it.
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Posted on 22-11-2024 20:43
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 09-11-2017 14:31
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knockout wrote:
Good written preview although I disagree with the content a bit. Imo the climbs will be nearly 100% hill / 0 % mountain.
 I looked at the wrong stage when looking for the mon/hil ratio... I'll remove the mon from the table
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 09-11-2017 14:32
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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Marucs has to win this one right? please.... Such a great route for him being off the podium is a complete failure and another major blow to our season (we're already racking these up at a worrying rate). Not great for Thomas in support, but better for Grashev, the man who always surprises on such courses as this. Really not sure how the team will go in support, but we have to be contesting the win here!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-11-2017 14:34
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Kwiatek indeed an interesting choice. Could pay off eventually.
Fancy the chances for Polanc, Kump, Tsatevich. But I am rooting for Burghardt, obviously. It will be a tough race and I would love to see Visconti back at his prime here. Should be fun anyway.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 09-11-2017 14:36
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50 MO for Vanbilsen, would've been very bad, so I'm glad for the change in the preview
It would be nice to get a good cobble result after the first two disappointments. But yeah, he did bad here last year iirc, so we'll have to see.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 09-11-2017 15:04
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Nolf is not a good puncheur, so that's not a great sign. Still, hopefully the small startlist makes a top 10 possible. Otherwise, this would be the perfect route for De Maar to go out on long range attacks if he decides he's feeling good.
I quite wanted Juul-Jensen to race here, but obviously he's in Pologne and I didn't want to take the risk with how hard the cobbles are.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Roman |
Posted on 09-11-2017 15:06
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Expect huge things from all Kwiatkowski, Kump and Polanc. Love the profile of this race.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 09-11-2017 15:32
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This is the one perfect one-day race for us. If we don't win here where else? We have 2 of the main protagonists for this race, and a great supporting cast of hilly/cobbles riders. We are looking forward to this race for a long time now, and expect Kwiatkowski and Tsatevich to be our main opponents.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 09-11-2017 15:45
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Fun chance to gamble with Kwiatkowski but seeing that Dahl-Olsen becomes our first Faroe to wear a #1 bib I don't think it will pay off (which is doubly weird because Kaspa is actually more suited to the profile than Dahl-Olsen )
Beautiful race profile and I'll support anybody who breaks the pure cobblist mold, a win from Isostar if Kump makes the finale would be epic ,so too if Polanc attacks, while it'll be cool to see what Tsatevich does as probably the #1 favourite for me. Also, Wisniowski would be amazing for Poland, possibly the only moment to see Poland's two biggest start together in action together! 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 09-11-2017 15:47
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Come on Minions, give me a decent result 
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 09-11-2017 19:13
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Will be very interesting to see how this one unfolds. I have high hopes for Tsatevich, but really this could be anyones race.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 09-11-2017 19:35
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Second C1 outing in a row for WCC, and as will be the general pattern in C1 races for us, more cobbles on the menu. This parcours is a completely different kettle of fish, soup and tea all combined together rather than the more traditional format of G-W. Hence not quite sure what to expect here, as this was the only cobbled event in C1 that we did not race in our debut WCC season. Although Bush is the titular leader of our cobbled unit, the hills here might be too much for him, and hence we may be looking towards the veteran campaigners Visconti and Armee to feature more prominently for WCC with decent hill/cobbles combos. Then again, with this route, almost impossible to forecast. At the very least expecting this race to make more of a toll on the peloton than was the case in G-W.
Good luck to all riders, and I feel special pity for Daniel Thorsen being made to pin a number on here with his limited abilities in, well anything other than sprinting (!), but cobbles, hills and downhill being particularly poor means he will do well not to pull a sickie on race morning 
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 09-11-2017 19:55
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Tour de France Champion
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I love this race the most, hoping for a stravalike wreckfeast by some teams, eg isoatars. Imo kwiatek is a perfect choice, align to Gilbert last season. You can kill those heavy cobblers on the hill. Polanc for the win.
Edited by Shonak on 09-11-2017 19:55
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 09-11-2017 19:55
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One name: Biondo  |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 09-11-2017 20:44
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This race went well last year, so hoping it can match that - Debesay the most likely of my two options with the hills
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| Booker |
Posted on 09-11-2017 21:08
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Big race for Poland, and Kwiatek is probably the firm favourite here, really sneaky decision by trek to send him
Looking forward to this one, and to seeing if any of the CT teams can make some noise. WCC had a couple nice finishes at Gent-Wevelgem, perhaps Bush this time round?
Van Keirsbulck is clearly the one with expectations, but it will be interesting to see how/if his teammates get him through the hills.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 09-11-2017 21:18
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Most interesting for me in this one is Newton's two so different stars, one strong up the other strong down, can they use that ! (or rather can the AI)
Edited by Tamijo on 09-11-2017 21:33
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-11-2017 21:20
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World Champion
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Don't break immersion!
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."
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