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Tour of Bulgaria Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 13-02-2018 12:29
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 Tour of Bulgaria
The Tour of Bulgaria, still a comparatively young race in the MG history, goes into it's 4th edition since Andrei Kashechkin took the first back in 2014. He was followed by Florentino Marquez (2015) and Sergei Tvetcov (2016) as the other two former race winners, with the latter being at the start again this year. The C2 event comes with 5 stages, of which 3 feature plenty of mountains with three summit finishes as well.
The race has seen some changes over the years and the same goes for this year's edition: the tour kicks off with a first mountain stage, that should already see some crucial results. The following 22km ITT will be another key day for all GC contenders: timetrial skills will be a factor for anyone with ambitions here. Though, with two more mountain stages to come (and the final stage featuring the longest summit finish of all three here), it's probably more important to save your best days for the mountains. A short flat stage gives the sprinters (or a breakaway) a chance to shine.
The Startlist
The GC contenders | Favorites | MO | TT | AC | | Outsiders | MO | TT | AC |  Eastman | 80 | 75 | 69 | |  Manfredi | 78 | 65 | 73 |  Suaza | 80 | 73 | 79 | | Medvedev | 78 | 63 | 72 |  Valls | 79 | 72 | 72 | |  Atapuma | 78 | 62 | 73 |  Penasa | 79 | 70 | 76 | |  Tvetcov | 77 | 74 | 73 | | Moschella | 79 | 69 | 62 | |  Salinas | 77 | 71 | 72 | | Anacona | 79 | 66 | 61 | | Antón | 77 | 69 | 74 |  Solis | 79 | 59 | 67 | | Mannion | 77 | 64 | 71 |  Karnulin | 78 | 70 | 70 | |  Bardet | 77 | 59 | 75 |  Cataldo | 78 | 69 | 73 | |  Belkov | 76 | 72 | 62 |  Campero | 78 | 69 | 71 | | Kebede | 76 | 66 | 72 | | Panayotov | 78 | 68 | 72 | | Roe | 75 | 75 | 74 | | Rujano | 78 | 67 | 70 | | Claerebout | 75 | 73 | 70 | | Bennett | 78 | 65 | 73 | | Degand | 75 | 71 | 73 |
As already mentioned, the defending race winner will be at the start again: Tvetcov as one of the most complete stage racers on the startlist, but surely not amongst the best climbers. After finishing 10th overall at the hilly Tour de San Luis (which came with a similar long ITT as well), he may still fancy his chances to at least fight for the Top-10 or Top-5 here in Bulgaria.
The top favorites will be others though: Eastman and Suaza as the premium climbers amongst all starters and both come with solid TT skills as well. With Valls and Penasa we have two of the best performers in CT stage races this year: the duo will surely be of danger for the two best climbers.
Moschella, Anacona, Karnulin, Cataldo, Campero, local favorite Panayotov, Rujano and Bennett as the next best climbers with at least not too shabby timetrial skills. They should lose on the top favorites in the TT though. The same goes, obviously, for guys like Solis (who may be considered a co-leader next to Rujano) and some other climbers like Bardet in particular. They would need some aggressive racing after the losses in the ITT.
The already mentioned Tvetcov, Salinas (who will actually outperform Bennett eventually), Belkov (though probably riding in a support role for Panayotov) and Roe as the better TT riders amongst the second-tier climbers. Tvetcov already proved, that he's capable of pulling great results. Opposing to Roe, who has yet to confirm that he's worth a (co)-leadership on this level: Campero should be the more promising bet for Garmin anyway.
The Stage Hunters | TT specialists | MO | TT | | | Sprinters | HI | SP | AC | | Robert | 57 | 79 | | | Rowe | 62 | 80 | 70 |  Bookwalter | 71 | 78 | | | Hochmann | 54 | 79 | 80 | | Tennant | 63 | 78 | | | Krieger | 62 | 79 | 79 | | Mullen | 62 | 78 | | | Croket | 65 | 79 | 71 | | Grabovski | 71 | 77 | | | Jones | 60 | 78 | 78 | | Ma | 55 | 77 | | | Giacoppo | 64 | 77 | 75 | | Hacecký | 53 | 77 | | | Belletti | 67 | 76 | 77 | | Kireva | 68 | 75 | | | Bole | 74 | 76 | 74 | | Ford | 68 | 74 | | | Murray | 64 | 75 | 77 |
Eastman also amongst the more promising contenders for the ITT on the second day here, but the top favorites will be some specialists: Robert to top the list, but Bookwalter and Grabovski may be considered even more promising with their decent climbing skills, that should help them to save some energy on the challenging first day.
Tennant, Mullen, Ma and Hacecký as possible threats for the TT win as well. Mullen disappointed in San Luis earlier this month, but Ma did quite well. Also Grabovski has to bounce back from a low-key performance in Argentinia.
If the flat stage on the penultimate day will be decided in a bunch sprint, we have Rowe as the top favorite. Hochmann, Krieger, Croket and maybe Jones or Giacoppo with a rare opportunity to get a notable result in a sprint stage. Bole as the best climber, but the flat stage doesn't exactly look like it would require puncheur skills. Still a possible threat for this stage.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 12:34
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Still in pain after last year. Go Anton!
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 13:31
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Excited for this one!! Go Garmin!!
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 13-02-2018 13:38
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Guess I'll stick to just hoping for the standard, a top 10 finish and Best Young rider. Seems to be about all we can ask of Eastman.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 13:43
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Final race goal of the season for us, having here a Top5 Goal. Nothing indicates that we won't achieve it unless of a crash, so if anything goes normal, we'll get 5/5 on Goals in our first season, something that likely no one has done in their first season since CT was created in 2013
Eastman or Suaza should win this according to their stats and the route, but i think that if Valls can win the opening stage and have the leader bonus in the TT, so he keeps the leader's jersey after the TT, he can take another GC win.
And looking at the "strenght" of the field for the TT, i should have left home Valverde and bring here Kneisky. I don't think i've made too many planning mistakes - although if i had considered HC races i could have optimized Valls' RD's and points - but most of them are related to Kneisky, sending him to random races instead of trying to ride all the TT's in CT. That's something that i'm looking to improve in my second season 
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 13-02-2018 14:09
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Hard to know what to expect. Solis and Rujano will do good in the mountains im sure, but how good? Plus Solis will be destroyed in the TT.
Would be nice to see a standout performance by Baltazar or Claerebout (he can TT so I still have hopes of it).. Kireva is very strong but not the strongest in any terrain..
It's a shot in the dark to bet here but it'll be an exciting race. Especially to see if Eastman/Suaza can match their expectations or if this will be another Valls (and maybe Penasa) battle.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 13-02-2018 14:42
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Thanks for a great preview 
Cataldo should be in top 10, but have to hope he will do better than that.
Kebede have not been able to perform in races when Cataldo have done well, let's hope that changes in this one.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 13-02-2018 14:46
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Just glad not to be here  .
For me 'go Eastman', has been underperforming/crashing, and hence hindering a very well put-together squad that should for sure promote; time for him to finally get on track!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Vien |
Posted on 13-02-2018 18:11
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Not expecting anything special from my team here; Anacona will likely be consistent as ever but he won't be able to fight for the win, especially with the TT. Hoping to do well in the TT with Ma or the sprint stage with Croket.
As for the GC, anyone but Valls please. Also if there's one stage race Suaza can win it's probably this one, so I'm rooting for him the most. |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 18:13
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I think after last year we all know Salinas > Antón here
Speaking of still in pain, please get a podium here. The mountains have been awful so far especially Andorra, and if we want to promote doing well here is key.
Salinas (who will actually outperform Bennett eventually)
I want to laugh and I want to cry 
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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| sutty68 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 18:21
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Hopefully Suaza can finish this one and not be beaten by the dreaded crash curse |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 18:23
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Vien wrote:
As for the GC, anyone but Valls please. Also if there's one stage race Suaza can win it's probably this one, so I'm rooting for him the most.
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| Vien |
Posted on 13-02-2018 18:26
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Aquarius97 wrote:
Vien wrote:
As for the GC, anyone but Valls please. Also if there's one stage race Suaza can win it's probably this one, so I'm rooting for him the most.
Oh stop it. You've won way too many mountain races already. Give the others a chance to celeberate too |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 13-02-2018 18:28
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Vien wrote:
Aquarius97 wrote:
Vien wrote:
As for the GC, anyone but Valls please. Also if there's one stage race Suaza can win it's probably this one, so I'm rooting for him the most.
Oh stop it. You've won way too many mountain races already. Give the others a chance to celeberate too
I strongly disagree that Valls has won too much this season
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| Booker |
Posted on 14-02-2018 00:17
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Our win goal on the season will have to come to fruition in the face of top competition: Valls, Eastman, Suaza, Tvetcov all in the startlist.
As always, we're quietly confident in Penasa's chances, but he and his helpers (Pozzo, Cieslik) will need to be at their best to bring the win home from the neighbouring Eastern European nation.
And I'm with Vien on the disagreement re: Valls
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 14-02-2018 04:48
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Same old same old for us in the mountains, hoping Bardet can keep up his consistency and catch others out on bad days. The TT won't help his cause. Also hoping Battaglin takes a cue from Costa in the hills and decides to contribute some points, if a high GC is not possible for him.
As always, someone from the top four favourites will win. And thanks for the preview tsomha
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 14-02-2018 08:04
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Tour of Bulgaria is our flagship event and in it we've assembled our best team yet. With Tour of Andorra proved to be successful for the PBD (Panayotov, Belkov, Degand), I am expecting the same from them in our backyard. Also new main sponsor announcement comming closer
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| Vien |
Posted on 14-02-2018 11:16
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Alright, fine start for us. First in the team GC is pretty interesting too. Hope we can keep that up.
Sorry for Booker and Penasa... |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 14-02-2018 11:34
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Shame for Booker with those crashes. Feels horrible. Hopefully Penasa fights back.
Congrats Aquarius, again
As for us, 8th is on par with expectations. Would've been good if Grabovski could've joined the break. Thanks for the report
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 14-02-2018 11:36
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Fine start by the team with Top 5 - Double P is in shape in this stage. Degand is in pretty respectable place, but I'm not happy with Belkov - he needs to put himself up.
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