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Benelux Challenge - Discussion
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| quadsas |
Posted on 06-04-2023 03:08
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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We on da JUICE, hope it doesnt run out.
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-04-2023 06:57
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Brought Eriksson here for this stage or KOM hunting. I hoped for better than 5th place when reading the report, but it's something. Siric and Penko add a few points.
Monster ride from Fred Wright who was in the breakaway and still finished in the first group. I already love him and he's still at lvl 1 
I still have no idea what to make of the race. In theory we have Penko and Eriksson in a good position, but no idea if they can get over the cobbles. Maybe the latter can. Hopefully we find a way to score some more points.
Commiserations to the teams who's supposed leaders got dropped here 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 06-04-2023 07:37
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
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Wow, amazing win for Staffbase, congratulations! Also conmiserations to the several leaders getting dropped because the game has trouble realizing what a leader is :/
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| Ezeefreak |
Posted on 06-04-2023 07:38
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Domestique
Posts: 555
Joined: 06-07-2009
PCM$: 300.00
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Uhm... Excuse me? Plapp what are you doing here?!
I think we all can agree that I and probably everyone else didnt expect that. A huge W for Plapp and also our team. Our rookies know how to impress, a few weeks ago Van Dijke and now Plapp, awesome. In general great driving ensuring this win.
These results show me that my "senses" for young drivers may be not that bad since Van Dijke and Plapp where my top targets last transfer/signing season. Also congrats to Knockout for this since his team will have a nice driver in the future with him.
Also a great ride by sunderland during this stage. Overall I am more than happy you can imagine.
Thanks for the report and congrats to all others with satisfying results here.
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 06-04-2023 08:02
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Protected Rider
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Good stage for us with Kung and Hagen in the front group. Congrats Ezeefreak with the victory! 
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 06-04-2023 08:02
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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Great ride by Plapp, congrats to Staffbase!
But WTF was going on in the Peloton with leaders dropping like flies and sprinters staying comfortably?
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 12:27
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Bot Agent
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 06-04-2023 08:19
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
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Sprinter can't sprint on sprint stage, puncher can't punch on hilly stage. No point of this race anymore.
Congrats to Staffbase and thanks for the report
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-04-2023 09:15
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
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If this is supposed to be a stage race for cobble specialists and the only >75 COB riders who are within 4 minutes of the lead are Bewley and Saber because they were treated as sprint favorites on a hill stage (at least that's how I interpret what was going on? Would make it additionally frustrating that Stallaert isn't recognized as a sprinter ...), then yeah, this race doesn't quite serve its purpose ...
I figured Stallaert would be in trouble when he wasn't in the first 30-40 positions in any of the early peloton pictures. It's not great, but I could understand and appreciate it if the stage played out as a proper puncheur stage, but then what is going on with Benoot, or Meyer, or Guldhammer? But oh well, that's the AI we're working with, sometimes you benefit, sometimes you don't. At least the team showed guts in trying to bring him back.
Bewley has to be the top favorite now. I could see Kung keeping up on the cobbles, but Bewley has multiple opportunities to gain enough bonus seconds. Saber also not looking half bad. For us, if Stallaert can take a stage win on one of the next two stages, we could still leave with a good feeling.
Congrats Ezeefreak on the win! That much at least was enjoyable. Good stuff by Debesay in the breakaway, too. And thanks for the nice report UU!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 06-04-2023 09:47
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
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I was talking from our own point of view. Knew we were in trouble the moment TvA got leadership.
Whether the race needs to remain or not is something to look into in the off season, and only after the final result.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-04-2023 10:07
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Team Manager
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Ah, the way you phrased it I read it as a more general statement. I guess we'll see how it turns out in the end, and yes it's not a consideration for right now.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 06-04-2023 10:14
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
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For a team going after stage wins, we sure have little interest in stage wins
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 06-04-2023 13:22
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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cunego59 wrote:
If this is supposed to be a stage race for cobble specialists and the only >75 COB riders who are within 4 minutes of the lead are Bewley and Saber because they were treated as sprint favorites on a hill stage (at least that's how I interpret what was going on? Would make it additionally frustrating that Stallaert isn't recognized as a sprinter ...), then yeah, this race doesn't quite serve its purpose ...
This is the only explanation and tracks with Lander being my only guy in the front group besides 73 cobble and poor climbing.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 06-04-2023 18:45
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World Champion
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We really needed a tougher stage then this, the peloton was way too big. We will only lose time on the cobbles, not gain, so this could go south really fast.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 06-04-2023 19:26
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
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Great reporting as always Ulrich!
Must admit I am a bit dissapointed but not surprised by the outcome of the stage, Riesebeek in a good position now but unsure how the race unfolds for us now. This is a huge kick in the nuts for us points wise, feel like this is the second time we're massively fucked due to some AI stuff, but it is the name of the game and there's nothing wrong with what's going on.
The route is always interesting but you never know what you're getting and that can be an issue to some and idea might be to have the hill stage after the first cobble stage so that the GC has settled a bit but the fact that David, Benoot, Daniel all lost a ton of time is weird.
Was banking on this race to secure us a good amount of points and now most of my depth scoring is gone because I fear the cobble stages are not hard enough to put my riders back into contention, but maybe it frees up Daniel to do some breakway work.
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 06-04-2023 22:26
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Domestique
Posts: 570
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PCM$: 5800.00
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Wow. I did not expect this. While it is sad that Saber couldn’t finish the teams hard work in stage 2. The podium in stage 3 makes up for it. I expected to score some points here, but not like this. With Saber and Vliegen moving up into the top 20 in GC and the cobbles and the sprint stage still to go I’m feeling confident, even if it was pretty glitchy up until now. Great work from my team in a wildcard race, and congrats to the winners.
Thanks for the reporting Ulrich
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 06-04-2023 22:55
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Directeur Sportif
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Wondered how folks would react to this. I think it is a little weird so far but I don't have a huge problem with the way this worked out. I think what this shows is consistent with the last stage of the Tour of Lithuania. The game doesn't rigidly assign hill favorites to hill stages any more. Hill stages that aren't that hard will be ridden for sprint leaders. Because if it going to come down to a small bunch sprint anyway - who do you want there? I think this is an improvement over all the sprinters getting dropped just because it is classified hilly. And the weaker sprinters like Guardini and Guerao did get dropped.
I do think Phillips and some others got screwed on bad daily form as Van Asbroeck should have survived. Benoot and Guldhammer were treated as domestiques and got dropped as a result. Stallaert wasn't that far from surviving but his hill and secondaries aren't great and his poor GC position hurt his positioning versus Bewley.
I also wonder if team mattered - Saber, Bewley, Lander and Haller also all had at a 74+ hill rider to help them (which admittedly didn't save Van Asbroeck.
I think probably the biggest AI victims were guys like Vanbilsen and Breen. They were perfectly capable of surviving these stages but didn't get position because they aren't sprinters or considered GC riders.
I have more thoughts on this race but will hold them until it is finished.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 06-04-2023 23:11
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Directeur Sportif
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Joined: 02-11-2010
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redordead wrote:
Monster ride from Fred Wright who was in the breakaway and still finished in the first group. I already love him and he's still at lvl 1
I too love Fred Wright - was kind of hoping I could get you to sell him back to me this offseason. Guess not.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 07-04-2023 00:05
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
Joined: 07-08-2011
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Thanks for a great report! Very hectic stage with action all over the place, thankful that Rowe managed to make it back after being dropped.
Also congratulations to Caja Rural on a great stage win!
Think this stage was a lot more consistent with what we would expect after yesterday's stage.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 07-04-2023 00:24
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Thank god maybe the constant bitching will stop now
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| quadsas |
Posted on 07-04-2023 05:06
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
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I'll add another thing, it's something Ive made a point of not doing and that's commenting on previewing, reporting, PCM or DB (sorry if it bothers you, but I wouldve lost my god damn shit long time ago if I didnt).
Dont know if that was a conscious effort by Oldfart or not, but I am 100% in favor of completely eliminating stats from previews. Not only is putting stats up tedious, but it also clearly fucks with some peoples minds, and I'll make a separate post on all that sometime later.
Just wanted to say that I think that was a good decision whether intentional or not and would prefer going statless moving forward
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