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Tour of Northern Europe Discussion
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| SotD |
Posted on 20-03-2018 11:43
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Pre-race 6th was definately good. Looked set for 4th at one point though...
Losing Coppel isn't too bad. He haven't performed well in this race for a couple of seasons, and his low cobble stat will make him lose 8-15 minutes in the cobbled stage anyway. He is here to win the TT and to make top 50 GC.
Tom David, Pieter Jacobs, Jérémy Roy and Julien Taramarcaz was basically the riders I wanted in the front group. Could I switch Vlatos and Coppel it would have been perfect, but that really is a minor thing. It's not like we lost Bakelants, Haugaard Jensen, Bilbao, Kelderman or Trentin...
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-03-2018 12:29
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Good to Vanspeybrouck in a rather good GC situation after the TTT. Hope we do better in the ITT though.
Nice to see Cance in the lead, btw 
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| cio93 |
Posted on 20-03-2018 13:33
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7th is certainly a good result in this unpredictable TTT. Kelderman's 20-something seconds really won't matter. Congrats Aker, although that's obviously not ideal for us.
I'm not confident that the game takes good care of the leadership roles in our team, and thus can only hope that Blythe survives stage three well enough for a good overall result.
Alternatively, Kelderman may not lose too much time on the cobbles if they're ridden soft, but then again the hilly stages probably won't suffice.
Maybe we should've only brought Declerq who has the theoretical skillset for a decent result overall, both other options will probably only harm him. Last year was a disappointment, and trying the same strategy again could backfire.
GC aside, we have a rider here for every single stage, so I would really appreciate a stage win or several podiums.
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| ember |
Posted on 20-03-2018 14:15
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That's definitely a win that's both sweet and salty 
Actually succeeding and taking the win is brilliant and somewhat mission accomplished regarding the transfer season stuff I did. On the other hand it's really unfortunate to see Trentin dropped, especially as I suspect this will force him into a passive mode on the hilly stage 3, as Kristoff sits in a much better place in the GC now. I fear we really needed him at the same time as Kristoff going into that stage, as it's difficult to see Trentin do well there as long as Kristoff is in front of him pre-stage in the GC.
Hopefully AI proves me wrong though, and makes Trentin the rider he should be on such a stage in such a field, following riders like GVA, Boom, Gerts and Summerhill.
Though, what's great about this race is that it's easy to look forward to every stage, as they can all be key to the overall. Hopefully Kristoff can mix it with the best sprinters and fight for a podium on the upcoming stage, as those bonus seconds might prove key for an overall podium/top 5 if he's indeed chosen as our GC leader. |
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| beagle |
Posted on 20-03-2018 16:25
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Congrats ember, nice win!
Regarding to my team, 4th place (no Shonak, your team finished just behind on 5th place ) seems ok. Kluge won´t defend his title from last year for sure, but can possibly fight for nice GC result again. Also stage win in one of upcoming flat stages would be great bonus.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| knockout |
Posted on 20-03-2018 16:41
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I was quite disappointed with the result on first glance but on second look its okayish at least. Bewley is behind GVA and some big contenders like Trentin lost contact to their teams.
Bakelandts though 
Already looking forward to the cobbled stage. With Bewley and GVA so far behind our teams should have quite some intentions to make that stage hard 
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Roman |
Posted on 20-03-2018 17:56
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knockout wrote:
Already looking forward to the cobbled stage. With Bewley and GVA so far behind our teams should have quite some intentions to make that stage hard
+1
Worse result than expected. I hope it wasn't a big mistake to not send here my best TT riders...
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 18:03
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 21-03-2018 05:42
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What the..?
Yeah. Let's just lose two minutes on a train or whatever this group was. That's rather bad news with Strava landing a big win. Bewley with a big day as well. Weird stuff.
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| knockout |
Posted on 21-03-2018 06:09
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On the one hand im super happy for Strava for a great victory. On the other hand this stage was very bad for my own team. If only i had some good flat guys to either stop or join such an attempt...
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-03-2018 06:20
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PCM AI is gifting the win to those sprinters today...and having stupid impact on the whole GC...
Really annoying in such race that could have been a lot more interesting with a normal flat stage. If only it was a wind echelon split at least... |
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| SotD |
Posted on 21-03-2018 06:21
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Well that is one way to hand over the GC win to Bewley...
The only positive to come from this is that Moser only scored 15 points and not 40 already. But us going from a likely 10 points to 0 points in the final run-in of the TTT makes that combination a not too good one.
Bewley and Degenkolb in a great spot for 1-2 in the GC.
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| ember |
Posted on 21-03-2018 07:14
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Kind of hoped the yellow jersey would prevent anything like this happen for us, with more riders being alert near the front, including both Kristoff and Trentin. But having Cancellara there and thus not wanting to chase the group, is just silly, especially when Cancellara also was dropped.
It makes me worry even more for the hilly stage, but at least we don't have the yellow jersey anymore. Fingers crossed it frees Trentin!
Big congratulations on the stage, Shonak! Degenkolb and Bewley also making serious gains considering the GC. Especially Degenkolb must fancy his chances there now compared to before the stage, while Bewley is still the obvious favourite, just even more now. |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 21-03-2018 07:23
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Very welcome stage win for us, hope it isn't the last one in this race. Would have been even better if Jan was part of the break but alas. Who knows how the leader jersey will work out on the cobbled stage.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 21-03-2018 07:51
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Big day for Bewls, lovely win for Strava too
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."
[PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Roman |
Posted on 21-03-2018 08:06
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Wow, what a weird stage, but what a good stage for us. 3rd place is decent and expected, but that gap is amazing, it is almost like that bad TTT did not happen for us at all. Also a great stage win for Strava, congrats!
Now we need to survive first hilly stage, I hope Vakoc can either score for himself or more likely will be a great helper for Bewley.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-03-2018 11:11
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Great one for Strava, couldn't have imagined a better outcome than this victory + yellow jersey bonus for them!
knockout wrote:
If only i had some good flat guys to either stop or join such an attempt...
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-03-2018 12:47
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Pffff 
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| viking90 |
Posted on 21-03-2018 15:15
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Well, Haugaard Jensen lost much on that TTT.
But hey Broers lets go for the KoM jersey! |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 21-03-2018 16:57
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David  Rather strange result and it's a shame that Vanspeybrouck lost time, when Saber and Feng managed to stay in the front group. Could well f*ck up our AI for the cobbled stage. Won't complain about Saber in the front group, but would rather see Vanspeybrouck doing that stuff.. Feng though could be a nice backup scorer here, his allround package is solid enough.
Well. I didn't expect much from here. Our team just don't have "it" this season. Hoping for Vanspeybrouck and Durbridge to deliver on their terrain now though.
Congrats, SotD and thanks, Abi!
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| viking90 |
Posted on 21-03-2018 17:08
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Wait what? Haugaard Jensen loosing almost two mins on that stage, he really needs to do something on the other hill stages.
Broers loosing his advantage in that KoM jersey aswell, bad stage and bad race so far., can Stallaert change that on the next stage? |
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