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Tour du Faso Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 12-01-2018 06:37
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The Tour du Faso is a pretty special event on the calendar. Just 3 days, mainly pan flat, short ~125km stages and most interesting though the amount of cobbles. Already a very long late section on day 1 but it`s the final day, that is usually the big GC stage. Different to other cobbled stages, the amount is up side down. Mainly cobbles on ~70% of the day and hence a stage for the specialists.
Only on day 2, the peloton gets some kind of calm day with a flat sprinter stage, though slightly uphill towards the end.
Most recently in 2016 it was Geraint Thomas winning the race, back then teh CT top cobbler. This year he no longer was eligible to race here due to their promotion but the field has it all for another spectacle.
As C2HC event all 24 CT teams are starting and hence all the CT top cobblers hope to win.
 Van Keirsbulck,  Bush,  Drucker or a bit behind those three also  Thwaites,  Lindeman or  Havik combine the needed cobbled strength with a decent sprint. In a 3-day race like this, the combination of both might be important as bonus seconds always can play a big role.
But with such amount of cobbles seeing lots of gaps, which make them unimportant is also possible. Hence  Grand,  Vandenbergh or former winner  Flaksis as also  Verbist and many more must not be forgotten when talking about the top favourites.
| FL | COB | SP | ACC | | FL | COB | SP | ACC | | Van Keirsbulck | 72 | 78 | 70 | 68 | De Vreese | 74 | 74 | 70 | 70 | | Bush | 74 | 78 | 71 | 73 |  Gaday | 67 | 74 | 68 | 71 | | Drucker | 74 | 77 | 74 | 75 | Wyss | 73 | 74 | 72 | 73 | | Grand | 72 | 77 | 65 | 65 |  Schoonbroodt | 72 | 74 | 68 | 72 | | Vandenbergh | 75 | 77 | 61 | 62 |  Aulas | 73 | 73 | 74 | 72 | | Flaksis | 70 | 76 | 61 | 62 | Harrison | 72 | 73 | 78 | 81 | | Verbist | 76 | 76 | 57 | 66 | Hamilton | 71 | 72 | 65 | 70 | | Thwaites | 73 | 76 | 78 | 76 |  van der Poel | 71 | 72 | 70 | 72 | | Lindeman | 73 | 76 | 74 | 76 | Vanthourenhout | 73 | 72 | 68 | 68 |  Corwin | 68 | 75 | 55 | 56 | Van Emden | 76 | 72 | 73 | 73 | | Lebris | 73 | 75 | 71 | 63 | Matzka | 69 | 72 | 74 | 77 | | Havik | 73 | 75 | 79 | 76 | Per | 73 | 72 | 68 | 73 | | Fouquet | 74 | 75 | 68 | 64 |  Marcato | 72 | 72 | 74 | 71 | | Richardson | 68 | 74 | 60 | 61 | Zafferani | 71 | 72 | 69 | 67 |  De Vocht | 73 | 74 | 61 | 65 |  Konwa | 68 | 72 | 63 | 67 |
Then there`s the one stage for the sprinters and on 3-days only many decided to come here.
Thorsen on paper, Meyer and Rowe following the top favourites most likely.
Though with the cobbles in their legs it`s Havik, Croket, Thwaites, Harrison or Farrar that must be named as well. All decent cobblers and also Haussler, Vingerling or Kruopis are decent.
Palmares wise it`s probably also Bennett or Hochmann that need a mention as they used to win those kind of stages in the past.
| FL | SP | ACC | | FL | SP | ACC |  Thorsen | 61 | 82 | 85 | Hochmann | 70 | 79 | 80 | | Rowe | 72 | 80 | 70 | Thwaites | 73 | 78 | 76 | | Meyer | 72 | 80 | 76 | Harrison | 72 | 78 | 81 | | Havik | 73 | 79 | 76 | Farrar | 71 | 78 | 76 | | Croket | 74 | 79 | 71 | Kruopis | 73 | 78 | 77 | | Haussler | 72 | 79 | 75 | Kreder | 73 | 78 | 80 |  Vingerling | 71 | 79 | 79 | Angarita | 72 | 78 | 77 | | Vanderaerden | 72 | 79 | 75 | Bogdanovics | 73 | 78 | 77 | | Krieger | 71 | 79 | 79 | Jones | 72 | 78 | 78 | | Von Hoff | 71 | 79 | 77 |  Sonnery | 69 | 78 | 73 | | Bennett | 71 | 79 | 79 | | | | |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 12-01-2018 07:46
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With Jakstar being gone for a while now, I will cheer for Garmin in his abscence. Hopefully Von Hoff will be a factor in the sprint stage.
Tough and interesting race, let's hope the AI does it properly. Hard to see past the usual suspects Van Keirsbulck and Bush, but I guess Drucker can do some damage with his sprint skills. Obviously, the same goes for Havik, Thwaites and maybe Lindeman.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 12-01-2018 08:05
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One of my favourite races on the calendar, shame it had to be C2HC rather than C2 as otherwise last year's 3rd place would be in attendance.
Break's to win the first two days, Drucker to win the last. Would be cool to see Vanderbergh have a good race as well. 
Thanks for the preview Roturn!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 12-01-2018 08:06
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Verbist should love this race with cob's right up to the finish line on the crucial final day. Dreaming of a top 5, but anything inside top 10 will be fine.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 12-01-2018 08:25
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Hopefully Drucker can keep his good form going. A bit worried about these kinds of races after having reported De Panne and seeing the damage caused by the first stage break. Hopefully, we get a race with the favourites dominating. Also hoping my cobbles depth comes into the fore.
Thanks for the preview
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 12-01-2018 09:01
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Do something guys! A breakaway for example 
Well, maybe Marcato can score a few minor points  but this is a forgettable race before even having started. Luckily it's only 3 RD 
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| Vien |
Posted on 12-01-2018 10:21
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Faso's always such an interesting race. Looking forward to some stage 3 drama for sure.
Still hoping we can reach our top 5 goal here, even though I don't see a single way for that to happen. If not, stage 2 with Meyer would be the stage to look out for. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 21:31
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 12-01-2018 11:37
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I sense a big race for Philips!
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 12-01-2018 12:50
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Great to have you in the reports roturn and it started off good!
Glad to be back racing, I expect minimum a top10, as Flaksis is a former winner and a good contender, I do expect a top5 tho
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 12-01-2018 13:07
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Major race for WCC, this is a sponsor WIN GOAL!!!.
Hopefully we have the talent on our roster to cope with all eventualities with the combo of Bush and Harrison being our main GC focus. This race has been a bit up and down in previous editions in terms of AI, so hoping nothing too bonkers takes place on the first two stages in terms of the BotD, as these short stages can be dangerous/difficult to control.
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 12-01-2018 13:46
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Hopefully Thorsen can prove his worth here  |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 12-01-2018 15:58
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Hopefully we can get a strong GC result out of this one, I guess we would need it to break up over the cobbles for that unless Wyss has some really strong sprinting legs after the cobbles.
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 12-01-2018 16:07
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We will be simply looking for the breaks...
Great preview sir
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| ryant |
Posted on 12-01-2018 18:04
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I hope that Thwaites can be successful here, we should be aiming for around a top 5 GC placement and good stage results across all 3 stages, but who knows what happens if the breakaway have their day here, lets hope that they dont
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 13-01-2018 06:35
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Three in the top 10, leading the team standings, can't really complain about that. Understandable for our trio to lose out to better sprinters. Glad that stage went to the favourites!
Congrats Scorchio and thanks for the report roturn
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 13-01-2018 08:09
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Decent Stage for Lufthansa, and also Vingerling very nice!
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 13-01-2018 08:16
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Marcato leading home the second group in 20th is a decent result, with Kneisky and Van Niekerk also in that group. Gives me hopes of minor points in GC 
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| roturn |
Posted on 13-01-2018 08:29
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Probably better to not mix MG with ICL, stories or whereever Lufthansa is coming from.
Just leads to confusion. |
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 13-01-2018 08:43
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Sam was strong in the sand , congratulations to Scorchio a perfect start.
For us Evert Verbist not losing time was fine, he just can’t sprint
Good that he attempted to get I the first group, a behavior very important for him at stage 3.
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| Booker |
Posted on 13-01-2018 09:43
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Though slightly underperforming, I’m quite happy with Havik’s performance. Surviving the cobbles without his top domestique (Jérôme) is a testament to his raw power. Blame the team manager on the planning phase, this was a rookie hiccup.
WCC seems to be running away with the title at this stage, consistently strong results on every terrain that matters so far. If Havik can pull off a top 5 GC result, I’ll be thrilled.
Thanks as ever for the preview and reports roturn, much appreciated
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