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Tour d'Andorra Discussion
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 27-03-2020 18:03
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The small country of Andorra continues its legacy in the Man-Game season with one of the most difficult tours a cyclist can face. 5 days of Pyrenees climbing in late spring, as the skiing has finally ended.
There won't be any days off, climbing won't begin in earnest until about 100 kilometers into stage one, but after that the riders will be going either up or down the entire rest of the race. After the opening flat-ish start to stage one, two climbs await, a category one for everyone to shake off any remaining rust in the legs, followed by the HC climb to the finish.
Stage two will be the easiest day for the riders, but no means fun, an early category one will quickly remove those who don't want to climb, the penultimate climb also a category one will surely trim down the bunch to only those with the best legs, and then a short but exciting category two should provide maybe the most attacking action in this race before a quick descent to the finish.
The climb out of Andorra la Vella on stage 3 will immediately ruin some plans as the HC climb is one of the biggest beasts a rider can face. A pair of fairly easy category one climbs should reduce the numbers going into the climb to Vallter 2000 and a finish in Spain.
We return to Andorra for the time-trial event, which is still a climb, just without the help of your team. Coll d'Ordino will provide the test as cyclists must make the 15.3 km ride up the mountain.
Finally we reach stage five, and a reprieve again for the riders as there are no HC climbs on the day, just four brutal category one climbs, with a very steep finishing climb that will certainly see riders cross one by one and look to see the rewards of their suffering over the past days.
Climbing will be the focus of every rider in the peloton, some resistance to handle the sustained amount of climbing will help as well and functional ability to downhill could prove decisive.
| | | | | | | | | Rider | MO | RS | DH | Rider | MO | RS | DH |  Uran | 82 | 81 | 62 |  Schelling | 80 | 76 | 72 |  Martin | 81 | 77 | 62 |  Penasa | 80 | 72 | 64 |  Berhane | 81 | 74 | 71 |  Suaza | 79 | 75 | 63 |  Marquez | 80 | 78 | 64 |  Medvedev | 78 | 77 | 75 |  Seboka | 80 | 70 | 84 | Machado | 81 | 69 | 58 |  Roglic | 80 | 76 | 71 | Ji | 80 | 69 | 69 | | Abal | 80 | 76 | 72 | De la Cruz | 78 | 76 | 73 |  Intxausti | 81 | 77 | 63 |  Carapaz | 80 | 76 | 61 |
Rigoberto Uran should be the top favorite for this race, he should be considered the best climber of the group and has exceptional resistance which may make enough difference for him to separate a nice lead over the rest of the field during these five days.
Behind him we see a pair riders Dan Martin and Natnael Berhane as the two I have most likely to join Uran on the podium, both carry top notch climbing skills, but then vary a little with Martin favoring resistance and acceleration while Berhane may be able to make up some ground in descents.
Just turning 32 on the eve of the race, Florentino Marquez will be another name to watch, I didn't highlight acceleration as a key component but he leads the field by a good margin and may be able to pair that with his good climbing and resistance into a very solid performance.
Another unique name to watch will be Matala Seboka, the Lesotho product riding for the local Andorran team is easily the best descender in the group and possibly can cause real damage on some of the downhill terrain while not giving away anything going uphill.
The last of my top favorites, Primoz Roglic and David Abal both come with elite climbing, good resistance and a solid ability to downhill. If needed Roglic does pack some punchy attributes as well which may be something to watch for on stage two and perhaps even stage five.
The list doesn't end there as several other riders are certainly capable of finding their way into the top 10, perhaps even top 5 of this race. And while time-trial is a component to the race, riding against the clock on a climb is vastly different to riding on flat roads and is likely to have a negligible effect on the outcome of the race.
Edited by Kentaurus on 28-03-2020 18:45
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-03-2020 18:29
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Tour de France Champion
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So Garby's our guy here? How many points are we gonna get? Say it with me everyone!
ZERO!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 27-03-2020 18:29
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Thanks for the preview. Martin, don’t let me down we want to score in this race.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 27-03-2020 18:43
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Will be a fun race for everyone except Benat cause he has to perform or its Gulag time
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 02:02
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 27-03-2020 20:09
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Surprised by the lack of top climbers, but all the better for us. Go Uran!
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 27-03-2020 20:50
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Here we go, Andorra! Team FULL of pure climbers, Machado (not in the preview) here to net some more good points, Pantano and Seboka in their perfect terrain, breakaways and KOM are a possible goal but we aim high here
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 27-03-2020 21:25
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Looking forward to an exiting race. Breakaway win is our top goal here  |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-03-2020 07:06
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Really really really need Marquez to live up to that 4th place in the favourites' list.
Also, this is a C1 race, so how are PT riders in the favourites' list table? The picture looks fine though.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 28-03-2020 09:16
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Look like a copy paste error in the 2nd row.
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| fintas |
Posted on 28-03-2020 16:10
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Win Goal in this race. The goal had been chosen according to Gesink, but with his departure Roglic will have that responsibility. It will be unlikely to happen but it is possible.
Still, less than a top5 will be a real disaster.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 28-03-2020 18:46
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Oops got that fixed now, the attribute were correct, just didn't move the names/teams overs.
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 28-03-2020 19:10
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Thanks for the preview Kent, didn't feature my man Nerz rightly as he has been a bit disappointing so far but thats about to change isn't it Dominik!
Or we could be hoping for KOM & Breakaways
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 28-03-2020 21:34
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DaveTwoBob wrote:
Thanks for the preview Kent, didn't feature my man Nerz rightly as he has been a bit disappointing so far but thats about to change isn't it Dominik!
Or we could be hoping for KOM & Breakaways
Nerz was either the first or second rider just off the list, a top 10 is certainly not out of reach for him. There were another 5-10 riders who aren't much different from the 2nd column of riders who easily could jump them.
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 29-03-2020 13:45
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Kentaurus wrote:
DaveTwoBob wrote:
Thanks for the preview Kent, didn't feature my man Nerz rightly as he has been a bit disappointing so far but thats about to change isn't it Dominik!
Or we could be hoping for KOM & Breakaways
Nerz was either the first or second rider just off the list, a top 10 is certainly not out of reach for him. There were another 5-10 riders who aren't much different from the 2nd column of riders who easily could jump them.
Fingers crossed, a top 10 would be fantastic
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 29-03-2020 19:46
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Hope Costagli can surprise here and pick up a decent result. Hasn't been great so far this year, but maybe this is his turn around.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 30-03-2020 01:22
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DaveTwoBob wrote:
Thanks for the preview Kent, didn't feature my man Nerz rightly as he has been a bit disappointing so far but thats about to change isn't it Dominik!
Or we could be hoping for KOM & Breakaways
Hell yeah, let's go Dominik 
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 30-03-2020 08:33
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De La Cruz 9th is decent. Not too far from the top either. Just hang on there buddy! |
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 30-03-2020 08:39
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Everything as we would like it to be.
Not to much fireworks at day one, but that is ok.
Thanks for a great report.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 30-03-2020 08:54
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Uran in yellow, let's keep it until the end!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 30-03-2020 09:13
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Bardet and Marquez finally doing what i hoped they'd be doing more of. 5th place is a good result for Marquez and with Bardet up there as well.
Thanks for the report. Congrats Marco
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