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Tour of the Middle East Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 02-09-2018 19:29
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Very pleased to see my routing on the Wings/Flo zcts has led to a destructive stage, and a very interesting situation indeed.
Kudus very well placed now, which is great to see.
Various riders over and under performing, as can sometimes happen - certainly did in Eritrea's final stage last year. Never the most Pluchkin-y races on the calendar, though evidently he should have done better, now we have to see just how dominating he can be with his mountain advantage.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 02-09-2018 19:43
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Two pretty mundane stages from us, Squire at least doing enough so far to pretend to be a GC rider. Will have to see if he can continue to stay around the top 10.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 02-09-2018 20:36
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1'30 for Kudus is a bit too much, and 20 seconds to Pluchkin is not enough either. Then there are a few people close together for the final podium spot. Úran did reasonaly well to limit his loss here.
Good to see Esmaeli in the break (though it wasn't the stage in Qatar), but not good for Drapac to DNF although he probably wouldn't hang on to a good points classification.
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 02-09-2018 22:16
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Now a more calmed comment, after i had time to analize the last stage and the time gaps properly, and the overall scoring options for Kudus
Let's assume that Pluchkin wins the stage, because it's impossible that he loses it. The ideal scenario is to stay on his wheel the longest possible time, and finish in second place the stage, obviously within 1'30 to secure the GC win (I assume that Bennett won't be there to fight for the GC win, quite obvious with a 78 MON). That, apart from the U25 win which is more than safe in any race Kudus does this year, would secure the Points jersey by one point over Appollonio (given the Italian finishes within time limit).
Obvioulsy nothing is done yet, and if with just 1 point of diference in hills, Kudus put 1'41 on Pluchkin, i don't want to imagine what the Moldovan can do tomorrow with his 4-point gap in mountains
Also, we've brought to you exclusive footage of Kudus riding up tomorrow's final climb in his winter training 
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 02-09-2018 23:03
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Wow   What a win! Absolutely amazing stage for us, so much stuff better than I expected! From Areruya finally making the break, to Roux getting amongst it for the stage win (glad the old Roux-Bennett punch can still kick ass in the PCT  ) and Velits up there as one of the best GC guys even attacking behind himself! Worried about Kwiatek and Kudus, but surely a podium is in reach if it's a close day tomorrow, and two in the top 10 shouldn't be un-doable.
I thought Bennett was going to be caught for sure with such a small gap, but having th energy not only to keep going up the whole climb, but to attack Kwiatkowski and Kudus to win by 20+ seconds is just incredible Thanks everyone for the congrats, here's to an equally happy stage 4 
One downer is Henao's big time loss. Sorry for saying I didn't think he'd lose time Abhi  And another is Bennett couldn't celebrate but.. worth it The tiredness just shows how much he is amazing, big effort!
Bennett > Pluchkin by 2 minutes or more confirmed 
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 02-09-2018 23:08
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Two 6th places for Kraftwerk in stages 2 & 3 is more than I expected so already happy with this race 
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 02-09-2018 23:41
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Selwink wrote:
I knew it would be hard for Duarte, but he got beaten by the control team
Control team is OP this season, bring back Kostyuk, Manganelles and Isidiro
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| ryant |
Posted on 03-09-2018 00:30
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Safe to say this hasn't gone as well as hoped, didn't really expect Tvetcov to be dropped from the group of GC riders really but that's just our luck :/
Good surprise win for Bennett there, though - nice to see
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 03-09-2018 00:51
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Not surprised Nazaret got dropped along with the Henao group. Hopefully he launches a long range attack tomorrow to try gain some time back. One massive surprise is Enric Mas finishing 21st on that stage in a group with Plu and Monsalve and thus dragging himself up to 2nd in the Youth Classification. Would be amazing if he can somehow get a decent GC considering his MO & Hil are about 71
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 10:59
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 02:31
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Congrats jandal! That’s a pretty impressive victory for Bennett right there. Hopefully having him in yellow for the next stage doesn’t stifle Velits GC attempts though.
Great ride from Brenes to finish in front of some big climbers, and Augustyn sitting in the peloton. Going to be a very interesting stage coming up.
Thanks for the report!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 04:55
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ryant wrote:
Safe to say this hasn't gone as well as hoped, didn't really expect Tvetcov to be dropped from the group of GC riders really but that's just our luck :/
Good surprise win for Bennett there, though - nice to see
Hate seeing Meintjes maltreated by not coming here... I could have had a fourth top 11 rider on this stage and a third contending for top 10 GC 
@Eden - That's certainly a worry, hope our AI functions alright. I had a similar situation in Tachira last year when Anton got yellow, but Bennett crashed early the next day so I have no idea how this will play out
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 03-09-2018 05:58
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Congrats Jandal on the win Great result to make January disappear in a flash!
Our luck had to run out some time and it did on this stage. Was expecting Henao to lose time but not over 7 minutes! Hopefully, Te Brake stays Top 2/3 in the Points race after tomorrow. Pretty disappointing by Dieteren to be riding for himself on this stage and still only managing 30th. He has been the only downer of our season so far.
No sure how the AI will treat team leadership on the final stage with Dieteren 3 minutes ahead of Henao. As such, not really expecting much from this race anymore besides some minor scoring.
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-09-2018 06:38
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Congrats Jandal. Pretty cool to see Bennett win on this stage against tough competition. Quality rider!
With Velits also gaining time, a big stage for you and next stage though might now be super interesting of course with team tactics.
Some other teams also with decent stage such as SPAR and Denifl having gained a bit on many riders, whereas Popo4ever had a desaster here with Pluchkin that far behind and not even team`s best.
Still a wide open race in general with that mountain stage to come. |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 03-09-2018 06:38
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Congrats jandal, that's a huge result for Bennett, awesome acceleration!
I can't be too disappointed with 3rd, but Kwiat really should've won that, guess he's racing for the top 5 now, so I can give up our win goal. And we'll get you next time Kudus, you won't be able to take advantage of Kwiat's slipstream in the mountains! 
Awesome to finally see our team regularly joining breaks and Stachowiak in the KOM jersey, he's a rider who just keeps on delivering! Really hope he goes on the hunt to keep the jersey.
Thanks for the report tsmoha, really good coverage!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 09:38
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no
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 03-09-2018 09:43
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Shitty race.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-09-2018 09:51
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That's a bit harsh on Pluckin, isn't it?
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 03-09-2018 09:56
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No it's not harsh on Pluchkin. Not winning is fine, the final stage was decent for him... But how can he lose time to his domestique on stage 3, and how can that same domestique lose so much time on the final stage, losing a decent top 20...
2nd here may not be bad enough to get me relegated, but surely this wasnt needed.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-09-2018 10:06
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Was hoping Pluchkin would do more here. Yes, winning and gaining a lot on many is great. But feel like he should have attacked the Kudus/Signorini group and not waiting for the sprint.
Kudus though, wow. Great stage for him and deserved GC win this way.
Xero was weird. Bennett as 10th GC is nice but Velits? What happened there. Underperforming².
Uran doing what was expected from him, similar to Monsalve and Berhane with Denifl again a bit underperforming seeing he had a good hill stage even!
Talansky again a nice result same as Kwiatkowski then with Nazaret, Henao Montoya or Ju again on the bad side performance wise. Not the most ideal race but still expectations surely were higher. |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 10:10
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MERHAWI KUDUS
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