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Tour of Romandie Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:07
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 Tour of Romandie
The Tour of Romandie is back for it's 11th edition in the MG history, an iconic race on the schedule. Formerly held as a ProTour event, the race is part of the PCT since two years, still featuring an illustrous honour roll with guys like Thomas Dekker (who won the race twice, in 2016 and 2012) and Luis Leon Sanchez Gil winning the past two editions. Other big names on the winner's list are Simon Spilak (2014), Andy Schleck (2013), Robert Gesink (2011), Aleksandr Pluchkin (2010) and Janez Brajkovic (2007).
The route offers pretty much everything a stage race could offer: the opening TTT is followed by two rather challenging flat stages, a tough hilly stage, the queen mountain stage on fifth day and concludes with an 8km epilogue, where we may see a thrilling battle for decisive seconds. The queen stage is one brutal profile with six challenging climbs and a tricky and fast flat finish. Everything's set for an entertaining six-day event in Switzerland.
The Startlist
The Favorites | Stage Racers | MO | HI | PRL | | Climbers | MO | HI | PRL |  Sicard | 82 | 78 | 76 | |  Henao Montoya | 82 | 71 | 71 |  Schelling | 79 | 75 | 71 | |  Duarte | 80 | 68 | 75 |  Barguil | 79 | 75 | 70 | |  Marquez | 80 | 71 | 70 |  Talansky | 79 | 77 | 72 | | Nazaret | 80 | 71 | 65 |  Roglic | 79 | 76 | 70 | |  Pantano Gómez | 79 | 71 | 54 | | De la Cruz | 78 | 75 | 74 | |  Brajkovic | 79 | 74 | 76 |  Kwiatkowski | 78 | 79 | 75 | |  Van den Broeck | 79 | 74 | 73 | | Chiarello | 78 | 75 | 71 | |  Contador | 79 | 73 | 71 |  Cunego | 77 | 76 | 65 | |  Solis | 79 | 60 | 59 |  Roche | 77 | 79 | 71 | | Elissonde | 78 | 73 | 63 | | Zardini | 76 | 77 | 72 | |  Signorini | 78 | 69 | 65 |  Kebede | 76 | 76 | 66 | | Rujano | 78 | 70 | 67 | | Sanchez Gil | 75 | 77 | 73 | |  Iino | 77 | 73 | 68 | | Fernandez | 75 | 75 | 65 | | Kolesnikov | 77 | 72 | 72 |
Two former race-winners feature a packed startlist: Sanchez Gil and Brajkovic, who's won the very first edition of this race ten years ago! While Sanchez Gil would need a special day in the queen stage, Brajkovic could actually be a real threat for the following top-favorites.
Sicard looks like the man to beat here: best climber, amongst the best puncheurs and amongst the best GC contenders in the race against the clock. Of course there are some dangerous contenders for him though: Schelling, Barguil, Talansky, Roglic, Roche and - of course - Kwiatkowski are amongst the most complete GC contenders. They all should do well in the tough hilly stage as well as the queen stage.
Speaking of the mountain stage, we obviously have the premium climbers hoping for the queen stage to be the crucial one: Henao Montoya, Duarte, Marquez/Nazaret, Brajkovic, Contador or Van den Broeck. Those guys may fear the hilly parcours, but given the slightly mountainous touch of that stage, you can't count them off, obviously. Behind those names, there are several other possible dark horses or riders, who can surprise the favorites on a very good day. Cunego, De la Cruz, Kolesnikov, maybe Rujano or Zardini? We will see soon.
The Stage Hunters | Puncheurs | MO | HI | PRL | | Prologue | MO | HI | PRL | | Juul-Jensen | 70 | 78 | 67 | | Ford | 52 | 55 | 81 | | Bratashcuk | 71 | 77 | 58 | | Cornu | 67 | 72 | 81 |  Jiao | 72 | 76 | 65 | | Sergent | 65 | 69 | 80 | | Hatanaka | 71 | 76 | 63 | | Viennet | 54 | 67 | 80 | | Yates | 70 | 76 | 71 | | Kwok | 54 | 62 | 79 | | Selander | 68 | 76 | 63 | | Viviani | 60 | 66 | 79 | | Passalacqua | 63 | 76 | 58 | | Dillier | 51 | 63 | 79 | | Krizek | 74 | 75 | 66 | | Brändle | 76 | 71 | 79 | | Shushemoin | 74 | 75 | 62 | | Kuboki | 65 | 73 | 78 | | | | | |  Martin | 68 | 72 | 78 | | | | | | | | | | | Sprinters | HI | SP | AC | | TTT Favorites | | | | | Appollonio | 66 | 81 | 78 | | Team UBS | | | | | Silvestre | 67 | 80 | 81 | | Generali - EDF | | | | | Lavoine | 60 | 80 | 78 | | Isostar - Adriatic | | | | | Drapac | 53 | 80 | 79 | | Orange Pro Cycling | | | | | Bertilsson | 69 | 79 | 77 | | | | | | | Stepniak | 67 | 79 | 79 | | | | | | | Matthews | 64 | 79 | 79 | | | | | | | Hayakawa | 64 | 79 | 79 | | | | | | | Kuboki | 73 | 77 | 77 | | | | | |
With a good mix of different terrains, the Tour of Romandie attracted many specialists to have a shot at single stages. If we begin with the puncheurs, there's names like Juul-Jensen, Bratshcuk, Jiao or Yates, that should be named. They all will aim for the first hilly stage and actually ain't too shabby in mountain stages either. Obviously, they would need to heavily overperform, if they secretly hope for a shot at a notable GC result.
The TT guys won't only support their teams in the opening TTT (where Generali and UBS look like the clear favorites), but may hope for a result in the concluding epilogue. Given the tough stages on the two days before, it ain't given that guys like Ford or Viennet will still be a part of the peloton though. Cornu, Sergent and particularly Brändle though should be promising riders, as they are significally stronger than those GC favorites.
And last but not least, the sprinters: two challenging flat stages on the menu, so a few sprinters at the startlist. Appollonio (who's been impressive in the SAA Tour d'Afrique) as the obvious favorite for those stages, with also a great leadout (Bertilsson). Silvestre may be his biggest contender, while guys like Lavoine and Drapac should fear the profiles. Stepniak and Kuboki should be interessting sprinters on those days.
Edited by tsmoha on 29-11-2017 16:14
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| matt17br |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:14
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I'm not saying that Roglic is expected to top 3 this one if he keeps the pace of the team in the opening TTT, but Roglic should absolutely top 3 here. Should be an interesting fight between us and UBS in the opener, surely a nice anticipation of what's to come in Monterrey I guess, even though Grieg aren't there.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:21
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A stage race and we're not in it 
Sicard should have this one, wouldn't be bad either if the big teams take the big points.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:27
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Oh, looks an interesting race. Sicard should be the big, big favourite here.
Well, we're not here matt, but you did smash us in Pais Vasco, so don't let that come in your way of the "Monterrey preview" 
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:33
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We brought a well rounded squad here and actually have a some really good favorites here with the weak startlist.
Goals then:
Appollonio and JJ are not here to suck up race days. Appo is expected to get some top 5's at the least. He's the best in the field and has the best leadout out there. Of course, favorites hardly win sprints in PCM, but these race days were a risk, and he needs to capitalize on them or it will be a complete race.
Juul-Jensen goes likewise. I don't quite remember why he is in this race over a couple of hilly classics, but he's the best puncheur here on paper (Ofc Kwiatek and Roche would argue). Stage 4 needs to be a top 5 minimum I think, or a crazy attack on the tough flat stages if somehow we are to make this race worth anything. Maybe I underestimated him before the season and that's why I thought I'd take advantage of a weak startlist, but now I'm regretting it after his early season performances.
And of course there's Contador. I have much less expectations for him. Only Lundberg is here as a domestique for him and his backups are quite weak at this point. A top 15-20 would suffice, although the weak startlist opens things up a bit if he's on a good day.
Overall, I'm really looking forward to the race!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:34
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Thus far the Talansky experiment has worked well, this is a big stage race test for him. Got a good shot at a high GC placing, a Top10 would make us happy at Podium Ambition. Yates and Ivanov can do ok as well, so hopeully we can actually get an ok points haul from a stage race... please... we need some luck...
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| weirdskyfan64 |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:40
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Excellent result for Vandewalle. Doubt he'll keep his position, but here's hoping.
Disclaimer- Most of my posts are me thinking aloud. And most of what I think is rubbish.
Winner of a FIFA Prediction Fair Play Award (a phrase becoming increasingly ironic)
"... Because he (me) has a sound tactical mind in general..." jandal7, at 9:30 am GMT on 12th May 2016
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| Selwink |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:42
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I like the look of this field. A good chance for Duarte to grab points if he doesn't mess up stage 4, and maybe a stage win for Ford is possible too.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 09:09
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:46
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We have 2 shots here. One is former winner Brajkovic, who looks set for a Top5. He's good enough to keep up on the climbs and the hills, while in the ITT and TTT he should make the crucial seconds. The second shot is Brändle. Hopefully he can hang on well on the climbs, to use his advantages on the final stage for a big result. Go lime!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 29-11-2017 16:47
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weirdskyfan64 wrote:
Excellent result for Vandewalle. Doubt he'll keep his position, but here's hoping.
Wrong thread, I guess 
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 29-11-2017 17:04
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Quite scared of this race.
Went abysmally for us last year, although this time round we'll come with a better squad, still everything hangs on luck. We've based our squad entirely around the TTT, so we lack strength on the hills and mountains, although we are stronger than Eritrea at least.
Our TTT line up is 74 - 74 - 73 - 70 - 70 - 69 - 69 - 68, there were slightly weaker squads losing less than 50 seconds on Pais Vasco's 28km TTT and using that rate of time loss, you'd expect us to be about 30 seconds in arrears at the maximum, but this is PCM, so we're expecting at least 1 minute.
Of course this stage will mostly be decided by what PCM thinks on the mountain stage, mostly daily form, so planning for the TTT probably wasn't the best tactic.
Sicard should be almost certain to win, but if Roglic can get into yellow I don't see why he should lose it. Talansky also looks like a real dark horse as well.
Thanks for the preview tsmoha! 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 29-11-2017 17:11
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baseballlover312 wrote:
Appollonio and JJ are not here to suck up race days. Appo is expected to get some top 5's at the least. He's the best in the field and has the best leadout out there. Of course, favorites hardly win sprints in PCM, but these race days were a risk, and he needs to capitalize on them or it will be a complete race.
I agree, with PCM it's not a complete race unless the favourites fail to capitalise.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 29-11-2017 17:15
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The good ol' mix of climber/punchers, TT'ist and Sprinters packed in an 8 man squad. I would gladly trade bad sprints for a spot on the podium. Think Sicard will take this one and Kwiatek will go 2nd, while we could try and fight for 3rd.
A Top 5 is the goal for us here and I surely hope Roche will start his point scoring in this race or we will struggle in the rankings for sure. Roche is among our 3 best TT'ist, so therefore I'm certain he won't be dropped. Lets Go!
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| knockout |
Posted on 29-11-2017 17:51
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This looks like a rather weak startlist to me. Hard to see anyone beating Sicard here. Also fancy Kwiatkowski, Schelling and Brajkovic for this race.
Sending such a strong puncheur like Juul Jensen is a very interesting gamble but I think the hill stage will have a big mountain stat impact so I don't think it will be succesful.
Gonna cheer for the two teams with former race winners attending!
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 29-11-2017 18:53
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I've got multiple riders who should have chances to shine here. Zardini making the list of favourites thanks to his MO/HIL combo and I look forward to seeing what he can do. VDB should be active on the Mountain stage and has a half decent hill stat to potentially hold on for an okay GC. Ruben Fernandez should be a solid helper with his MO/HIL combo as well. And I have to hope Cornu can take the final prologue and also lead the team to a decent TTT performance.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 29-11-2017 19:05
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I'm going in here with no expectations. It was a toss between Eritrea and here for Úran's final six racedays and chose the former due to our weak TTT squad. It didn't go to well but I don't think he would've scored much better here. The hills are too high for Drapac but I'd give it a go anyway.
Better be in some breaks to score any kind of points here.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 29-11-2017 19:09
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With a 0 pointer in Bayern, I sure hope to get something from this.
Not expecting a lot but just some sort of uplifting experience
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 29-11-2017 19:32
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Cunego for the win! 
Realistically, a top20 is within reach, and something less i'll be very disappointed. Dreaming for a +5 in the mountain stage to get a top10 
We have a weak TTT squad, so in 18km 1 minute to the best should be guaranteed. Also, i hope for some breakaway action
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 29-11-2017 19:33
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Was hoping for a slight bit of luck/overperformance when planning this race, but with how the season has been going, im not expecting much here now.
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 29-11-2017 21:02
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Will be hard to get a result here with this startlist, also the TTers are all in Bayern so the TTT will also harm us.
Realistically we can only hope for a solid run in the 5th stage, and a long-range attack or a break for some success.
Anyway I see Sicard as the big favourite obviously, if it's not a wild race he's got this one. Great preview tsmoha and good luck to everyone!
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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)
