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Vilnius GP Discussion
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 29-04-2021 10:36
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Grand Tour Champion
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 Vilnius GP
History
| Year | Team | | 2019 | OMV Petrom-albania.al | | 2018 | Adastra - Argon 18 |
The Continental Tour has a mandatory team time trial event. For the third year in a row it is held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. As this race is rated C2HC, even teams with no ambitions against the clock send over a squad, though only a few take the event serious. Adastra won the first ever edition but failed to win the race last year, with OMV Petrom taking the crown. Neither are back this year as the former is now in PCT and the latter has disappeared off the face of the earth, meaning we will see a new winner. Which team can claim the most prestigious title in the Continental Tour, that of being the best against the clock in a group of six to eight? Tune in to find out!
Profile
The lap around Vilnius is 42.6 kilometers long, about the length of an individual time trial and twice the length of TTTs in stage races. It contains a slight bit of climbing but that shouldn't have much of an impact. OMV Petrom required 51 minutes and 36 seconds on the exact same course last year, can we beat that time this year?
Startlist
| Podium favorites | AVG.5 | # | Star | TT | No.5 | TT |  Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | 77 | 8 | Cruz | 78 | Richardson | 75 |  Project: Africa | 76 | 8 | Laizer | 77 | Betilson | 75 |  Carrefour - ESPN | 75.6 | 6 | Li | 78 | Rowsell | 73 |  Carlsberg - Danske Bank | 74 | 8 | Quaade | 78 | Sulvaran | 71 |
Continental teams have smaller budgets and thus smaller squads, usually cutting costs on time trialists. While most teams sign one or two riders very capable against the clock, only a few go the extra mile and sign a few more.
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project lost the last edition by nine seconds, and are out for revenge. Cruz, Ford, Downey, Sebright and Richardson are five very strong time trialists and were part of the squad from last year, so have experience in riding with each other. They set up their entire squad for this event.
Project: Africa also has a strong focus on (team) time trials with riders like Laizer, Kiflay, Hamza, Gretsch and Betilson. Even the three extra elements, Reguigui, Tesfom and Munton are not dead weight. The Africans (and German) have been training very hard and are in top shape for this event.
Carrefour - ESPN consists of Li, Ghyselinck, Novak, Young, Rowsell and Nolf. Except for the last one, all accomplished time trialists. Their problem however is that this is their entire squad. They could have sent two more riders to do some work in the early part. The fifth rider over the line counts, so they can only afford to throw Nolf overboard, which might be a problem after forty kilometer.
Carlsberg - Danske Bank is the final podium contender, though beating Glanbia and Project: Africa is a tough ask. Quaade is their lead time trialist, with a very solid but not spectacular backup crew consisting of Warbasse, Eg, Belevics and Sulvaran. At least they do have a full squad.
| Making an effort | AVG.5 | # | Star | TT | No.5 | TT |  Trans Cycling Team | 71.4 | 8 | Ignatiev | 76 | Knox | 66 |  Team Europcar | 71 | 8 | Koren | 76 | Vink | 69 |  Centovalli - Fiat | 70.8 | 8 | Brüngger | 73 | Bissegger | 69 |  BNZ Cycling Team | 70.6 | 8 | Delgerbayar | 74 | Marryatt | 68 |  Eddie Stobart | 70.4 | 8 | Joeaar | 74 | Malacarne | 69 |  Nordica - Enel | 70.2 | 8 | Ratiy | 74 | Palini | 66 |
There is a huge gap of 2.6 top 5 average point between number four and five on the startlist, hence we can cut a clear line here. These teams might have a shot at the podium if everything goes their way and the teams above them have troubles.
Trans Cycling Team is carried by Ignatiev and Steensen, though they can't go full speed if the others want to follow. Being held back by worse teammates is a horrible feeling.
Team Europcar has Koren as best time trialist. The rest of the team isn't terrible, but not amazing either. You need more than one good time trialists to battle for the top positions.
Centovalli - Fiat has a team of relatively equal riders. Unfortunately they are all mediocre, but they might operate strongly as a team and surprise the field.
BNZ Cycling Team brings four reasonable time trialists, but it's the fifth one which counts and that could become a problem for them.
Eddie Stobart brings Meyer in the hope he can carry the team over the hills. Perhaps a golden gamble from the manager, though one could doubt this is optimal race day allocation.
Nordica - Enel is led by Ratiy as best time trialist, who also happens to be their best climber. Being multifunctional is a good attribute, if only the other seven riders had the same.
| Here because the MGUCI forces them | AVG.5 | # | Star | TT | No.5 | TT |  Tryg - Ritter Sport | 69.2 | 8 | Norsgaard | 75 | Kron | 65 |  Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | 69 | 8 | Knotten | 71 | Hulgaard | 67 |  McCormick Pro Cycling | 68.8 | 8 | Mostov | 71 | Brown | 68 |  Sauber Petronas Racing | 68.4 | 8 | Liphongyu | 74 | Hibatullah | 62 |  Guave's Sunlight Cycling | 68.2 | 8 | Oram | 77 | Hagen | 65 |  Philips | 68 | 8 | Dumoulin | 78 | Schelling | 63 |  Strava | 67.6 | 6 | Mygind | 72 | Gaudin | 64 |  Los Pollos Hermanos | 67.4 | 8 | Sterbini | 78 | Ruiz | 62 |  Sotto il sole di Riccione | 65.2 | 8 | Maccagli | 75 | Monaco | 60 |  Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes | 64.6 | 8 | Chokri | 71 | Mugisha | 61 |
The final ten also-rans have no aspirations, and probably drew straws to determine which riders had to fly to Lithuania. There are teams with one superstar held back by seven noobs, teams which bring the best they have which turns out to be hilariously bad, and teams who leave it at six and hope they reach the finish line before nightfall. The battle for the red lantern might be just as exciting as the one for the top step of the podium.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 29-04-2021 10:54
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
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At this point I feel like I'm just bullying Bru and Quispe  We got nothing to lose in this race indeed.
Thanks for the preview, and good luck to everyone!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 10:55
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Lithuanian cycling AND TT focused, have we found the world’s worst race?
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| MacC |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:02
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Sprinter
Posts: 1594
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Ah it's my annual "why the hell wasn't this my Win goal race?"
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| quadsas |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:03
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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jandal7 wrote:
Lithuanian cycling AND TT focused, have we found the world’s worst race?
Thank Gods the master of wrong opinions has blessed the greatest race to ever grace the Mother Earth.
Truly a visionary.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:15
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
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quadsas wrote:
jandal7 wrote:
Lithuanian cycling AND TT focused, have we found the world’s worst race?
Thank Gods the master of wrong opinions has blessed the greatest race to ever grace the Mother Earth.
Truly a visionary.
8 minutes, that’s even quicker than I expected
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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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 01:24
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Bot Agent
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| quadsas |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:20
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
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jandal7 wrote:
quadsas wrote:
jandal7 wrote:
Lithuanian cycling AND TT focused, have we found the world’s worst race?
Thank Gods the master of wrong opinions has blessed the greatest race to ever grace the Mother Earth.
Truly a visionary.
8 minutes, that’s even quicker than I expected
we are watching
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:20
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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Great preview, I would definitely make the bottom part of the list.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:28
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1090.00
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So this is definetely a race we're participating in. That's all there is to say for us, I think 
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 11:44
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Team Leader
Posts: 5897
Joined: 30-11-2006
PCM$: 1500.00
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Heres hoping for a miracle breakaway win!
Good luck everybody 
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 12:24
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
Joined: 06-11-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Well, it's a close match between us and Glanbia. Unfortunately for Carrefour I think the reduced numbers will hurt a lot. Considering we built a team around this event, I really want to win. At least it will be easy to achieve our Top 5 goal 
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 29-04-2021 12:25
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2907
Joined: 15-07-2007
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Hahaha, I've never not been among the weakest TTT-teams, maybe we finally can get a top 10 here |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 29-04-2021 13:22
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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This is the most important race in our calendar. Period! The importance of this race can be clearly seen by the fact that we brought such a strong team here and have been given the No. 1 jersey 
Our only hope from this race is to see the DK Zalgiris manager on the side of the road, cheering us on. That would be dreamy
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 14:21
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Team Leader
Posts: 7294
Joined: 11-04-2012
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The fact we get a mention that isn't putting us in last place for a TTT is a good sign
Good luck everyone!
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 14:21
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Team Leader
Posts: 5897
Joined: 30-11-2006
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hillis91 wrote:
Heres hoping for a miracle breakaway win!
Good luck everybody
Nobody giving me the laugh for that one?
Oh well, still, good luck
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 29-04-2021 14:48
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Thanks for previewing every team!
I decided to send my stage racers here with their last 2 race days since they're all in my top 8 TTists. I don't (yet) regret it. We have underperformed a tiny bit in TTT's this year, but this is a different beast and a different team since we didn't balance it with sprinters and such.
Given the startlist, top 4 is a must for us. We should get it, and if we don't, it's a failure. Glanbia and P:A will clearly be the battle for the win, but I think we have a legitimate shot at 3rdcompared to Carrefour with 6 guys because of the length . We only sent 6 to previous TTT's this year, and I do think it hurt us. Those losses in theory should be exacerbated by the length of this one, but who knows?
If in doubt about the bumps, a good portion of our guys here can climb decent too, so maybe that will come in handy. Not sure.
I presume we'll go first since we're last on the startlist. Honestly I have no idea what metric PCM used to determine Gregaard as our leader. I think he's the worst time trialist we sent. In any case, not the ideal place to be riding without a benchmark, but we'll do our best!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 29-04-2021 15:10
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
Joined: 04-07-2012
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hillis91 wrote:
hillis91 wrote:
Heres hoping for a miracle breakaway win!
Good luck everybody
Nobody giving me the laugh for that one?
Oh well, still, good luck
You're the fourteenth starter. Good luck overtaking thirteen teams
baseballlover312 wrote:
I presume we'll go first since we're last on the startlist. Honestly I have no idea what metric PCM used to determine Gregaard as our leader. I think he's the worst time trialist we sent. In any case, not the ideal place to be riding without a benchmark, but we'll do our best!
PCM's startlist is a big mystery as the order of riders and teams is completely random, you're actually the twelfth team to start . The only thing which seems right is Philips being the last team.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 29-04-2021 16:49
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4669
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If we get a Top 10, as we should according to the preview, it's a good race for us. We don't have a superstar to pull the team - but at least most riders should be strong enough to keep up (and work) until the end.
Does anybody know the points distribution for that one, by the way? I think I already asked last year but didn't get exact numbers... The points scales file only has Copenhagen and Monterrey, but no Vilnius.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 30-04-2021 14:41
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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I have no idea how TTT's work to be honest.
Good win by Project: Africa, congrats to them! Carrefour just crushes it again, actually gaining in the second half despite bringing 2 fewer guys. And Glanbia very deserved for the podium in third.
Then things get kind of weird. No offense to Guave of course, I'm just scratching my head at how his team managed to beat us here. Like, it doesn't just seem unlikely, it seems impossible when we look at stats. They didn't just leapfrog us, they leapfrogged the vast majority of the startlist. Gotta find out what their secret is I guess! Admittedly, I'm happier to see them overperform than our immediate rivals at the top of the standings.
5th place is still fine, only one spot below expectations and two behind what we hoped for. Unfortunately, that one place difference provides us fewer points, and points matter. Next year I gotta spend some time testing PCM and seeing what the hell kind of team construction does well in a TTT besides just using the best TT guys. There has to be another factor I've been missing.
Thanks for a very well organized report!
Edited by baseballlover312 on 30-04-2021 15:06
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 30-04-2021 14:55
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
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Yeah that's about right.
Thanks for the report Marco and congrats to Aidan
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