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Vuelta al Tachira Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-08-2018 06:31
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Team Manager
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10 days climbing and sprinting in Venezuela. Some hard stages and a pretty solid C2 peloton here. Couple of riders from last years top10 are back for another attempt to win this race such as  Bardet (3.),  Cataldo (4.),  Atapuma (6.) or  De Marchi (8.).
Yet again they should belong to the best, though the competition might be even harder than last year when Valls won the race ahead of Mannion.
Top favourite here is the very best CT climber probably in  Pinot. He has a pretty fast going down from PT to PCT to CT level. Though winning chances will improve surely. The next 2 top climbers  Ratiy and  Costagli are questionmarks as they are great climbers but hate basically the flat pieces or hills in between and hence might not be the percect riders with all the high-speed sprinter stages and 2 hill stages as well.
More of a challenge for Pinot clearly  Warbasse, Elissonde or the already mentioned riders from last year`s top 10.
| Mo | Hi | TT | | Mo | Hi | TT | | Pinot | 80 | 74 | 65 | Hacecký | 77 | 70 | 68 | | Ratiy | 80 | 70 | 74 | Nakane | 76 | 70 | 63 | | Costagli | 79 | 71 | 70 | Baltazar | 76 | 71 | 64 | | Warbasse | 78 | 75 | 74 |  Aasvold | 76 | 75 | 65 | | Campero | 78 | 70 | 69 | Henao | 76 | 76 | 63 | | Atapuma | 78 | 73 | 62 |  Lewis | 76 | 67 | 62 | | Medvedev | 78 | 64 | 63 | Anguilet | 76 | 74 | 63 | | Elissonde | 78 | 73 | 63 |  Contador | 76 | 70 | 68 | | Bardet | 77 | 74 | 59 | Heider | 76 | 72 | 65 | | Cataldo | 77 | 74 | 68 |  Briceno | 76 | 70 | 64 |  Hoem | 77 | 72 | 67 | Quintana | 76 | 71 | 70 | | Potocki | 77 | 72 | 70 | De Marchi | 76 | 74 | 65 | | Brajkovic | 77 | 72 | 74 | Khripta | 76 | 75 | 65 | | Grmay | 77 | 74 | 65 | Lundberg | 76 | 71 | 64 |
Not in the list above but one of the top riders due to great allrounder skills is Teuns (75mo/78hi). Not sure if 10rd in Tachira are well spend with 2 hill stages only. But if he can gain some time there and then hang onto the best in the mountains, it might have been worth it. Though there are quite a few better climbers in this race, even in his team he is only #5 with Costagli and Grmay being best climbers.
Nevertheless in the hilly stages he is the clear favourite with no real other puncheur being here.  Simon as amateur of Festina or Umerbekov of Eddie Stobart might be mentioned for the final stage maybe while the stage racers otherwise are the best hill riders as well.
Sprinting wise a very interesting field as there is no outstanding favourite and like 7 favourites for the 4 flat stages plus some more to have a chance on a good day.
And also it`s a race CT sprinters vs. Amateurs as no less than 3 amateurs are within those 7 sprint favourites with Kip being the fastest on paper even ahead of Von Hoff as best CT sprinter.
Modolo probably as best palmares wise but the totally flat stages 1-3 might not be to his biggest advantage.
| Sp | Acc | | Sp | Acc | | Kip | 80 | 82 |  Jones | 78 | 78 | | Von Hoff | 79 | 77 | Sonnery | 77 | 71 | | Modolo | 78 | 81 | McLay | 77 | 76 | | Keough | 78 | 75 | Opie | 77 | 77 |  Brus | 78 | 78 | Tleubayev | 77 | 77 | | Bogdanovics | 78 | 77 | Cano | 77 | 74 |
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| redordead |
Posted on 24-08-2018 07:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
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Excited for our 1st race of the season 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 24-08-2018 07:16
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Team Leader
Posts: 6795
Joined: 21-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Only C2 race without me this season. Enjoy 
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 24-08-2018 07:58
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
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Don't worry guys, this is a great opportunity to make up points on Vali-oh wait. 
Pinot's to lose - though I'd love to see Bardet make things hard on his countryman. Will cheer for Von Hoff in the sprints  Also would enjoy some Swisslion scoring here
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 19:40
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 24-08-2018 08:47
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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I hope this is a great race with the new route, and we get a worthy succesor to Rafa Valls. I'm really looking forward to the mountains battle this season, and specially to the mountain timetrial late in the race
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| SotD |
Posted on 24-08-2018 08:59
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
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This was exactly why I decided to go for Kip and also picking this race. If the leadout works (which it probably does not) then this could be a very good opening race for us.
Also very cool to see Alberto Contador in the pre-race favorite list. If he can battle for top 10-15 it would also be a great show from one of the amateur teams.
I can't wait to see if I actually form a sprint train with Simon, Tleubayev and then Kip for the final launch will work or not, as basically my entire season is build on it. If it does we could get up to 3 stagewins and a leaders jersey here, but likely we will see Kip getting a few top 5s instead - Which is also OK btw!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 24-08-2018 09:29
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
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Here we go! One of the more interesting races for Mitchelton, so I definitely look forward to this event. If Jones tries to at least join the sprints, he may get himself a notable result somewhere. But what I want most, is for our climbers to show our colors now. Breakaways or maybe fighting for a good GC? Mat Senan at least ain't too far behind the best here. Can't accept our guys being as invisible as we've been at the TDU so far!
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 24-08-2018 10:22
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
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Looking forward to this, interesting to see what the now "old" Cataldo can do.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 24-08-2018 12:33
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2907
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We expect a top 10 placement by Atapuma here, and possibly a podium and top 5 GC if he's in super form. Really looking forward to this race!  |
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| quadsas |
Posted on 24-08-2018 12:43
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
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Good luck to all PCT teams
Edited by quadsas on 24-08-2018 13:09
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 24-08-2018 13:07
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Team Leader
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I think we can do really well here!! I’m excited for this stage race!!!
Good luck everyone!
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| Vien |
Posted on 24-08-2018 13:43
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2322
Joined: 16-06-2008
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Kip won us a stage here last season. Hope he can repeat that. |
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 24-08-2018 14:26
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Team Leader
Posts: 5897
Joined: 30-11-2006
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Wow, we are according to PCM the "best" team here, giving startnumber 1 to Modolo.
Pressure!
Here we go! Good luck guys
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| st_jonh |
Posted on 24-08-2018 14:39
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Under 23
Posts: 83
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The first race for my new team, and I am excited!
If all works well, than Ratiy might have a chance for a TOP5 GC and maybe even a stage-win. The Mountain-TT should really suite him well.
Good luck to all competitors! |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 24-08-2018 15:28
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Newton Foundation reborn. A Top 15 from Contador with Igor Anton being his helper would be pretty cool. Other than that, breakaways!
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 24-08-2018 15:44
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2809
Joined: 16-04-2013
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Really excited to start the season here, last season we had a very special win here with Rujano who will be back but with a very different goal.
It were too many rd to bring Kiserlovski here so it's a perfect opportunity for Warbasse to take the lead, I had expected many leaders missig due to the ammount of days. Realistically Warbasse can target the podium, it's the goal for the race as he should be part of the strongest on the hills and up to a certain point the TT should also benefit him. Plus althouygh only 6 riders here, he's got good support for the mountains.
Pinot seems the obvious favourite, Ratiy is a bit unknown, he can easily be fighting for victory or scrambling for a Top10 place, though I think the first is more likely. Costagli and Brajkovic should also be clear contenders to the Top5 but much will depend on the influence the flattish zones may have in the TT.
Also interesting to see the amateur teams bringing up some nice riders here, although it may bug the plans of some (obviously including me ) it will be interesting to see what they will do, specially Kip who can have a real big influence on the first half of the race.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 24-08-2018 16:44
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Come on the Eddie boys let's see what you are made of |
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| redordead |
Posted on 24-08-2018 17:18
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
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Let's see how our tri-pronged combo of Brajkovic, Briceno (homecoming ) and Seibeb do here.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 24-08-2018 20:52
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
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Here we go. First big one of the year for Pinot. Pressure on him to perform and I hope his mountain team lead us to glory.
Thanks for preview roturn
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 24-08-2018 21:46
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
Joined: 07-08-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Always enjoy following Tachira, a very interesting race that generally speaking sets the bar for most of the C2 stage race season.
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