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Tour of the Middle East - Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 22-11-2024 02:37
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 3262
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Welcome to the 11th, and possibly last, edition of the Tour of the Middle East. The riders arrive with rumors swirling that Malaysia has made a lucrative cash offer to the mangame UCI to bring back the Tour of Langkawi, and this race is on the chopping block. Of course, it’s all rumors and with new Middle Eastern teams in the peloton and the locals knowing a lot about lucrative cash offers things could still change.
The TOME started in 2013 but is only in its 11th edition because it took 2017 off. Since the last race this reporting team covered went by without a single McCormick reference, we will get it out of the way early here, by noting that Sepp Kuss one this race for McCormick in 2021. Since then, it has been won by Bjorn Tore Hoem and William Chiarello. Of course, everything was won by Chiarello last year. The race has some quality in its history with Kudus (twice) and Pluchkin as former winners.
The race is the essence of a stage race (minus an IT), with 2 sprints, 1 hilly stage and a big mountain to finish. This year it will have the honor of being the first to test the new bonus second system whereby riders finishing 4th to 8th on each stage will receive time bonuses (1st to 8th: 20-12-8-6-4-3-2-1).
 Jorgenson is this year’s Chiarello and he is looking to continue his dominance here. He has to contend with three 80 mountain riders.  Seboka is probably not a threat and  Carapaz didn’t come close to Jorgenson in Catalunya but with no TT’s on the menu  Bennett has to be a serious contender.
The lack of TTs also suits  Preidler and  Smith as well, both of whom should be good on the hilly stage, Smith will look to use his stronger finish to take bonus seconds on that stage.  Penasa and  Munoz will hope to make the difference on the mountain stage while  Lunke is not as strong an overall climber as those 4 but has strong secondary stats.  Iturria is another rider with slightly lower climbing capabilities but strong secondaries. He won stage 4 last year.
In addition to the riders shown below there is a very deep field of climbers both mountain goats and more hybrid riders.
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | RS | SP | AC | | Bennett | 66 | 80 | 75 | 73 | 64 | 72 | | Carapaz | 69 | 80 | 71 | 76 | 56 | 65 | | Seboka | 61 | 80 | 62 | 70 | 52 | 67 | | Jorgenson | 73 | 79 | 75 | 78 | 65 | 71 | | Penasa | 69 | 79 | 73 | 70 | 56 | 74 | | Munoz | 66 | 79 | 73 | 72 | 56 | 71 | | Preidler | 66 | 78 | 76 | 74 | 50 | 66 | | Smith | 69 | 78 | 75 | 74 | 66 | 74 | | Berhane | 65 | 78 | 72 | 69 | 59 | 63 | | Lunke | 69 | 78 | 72 | 74 | 60 | 65 | | Madrazo | 61 | 78 | 69 | 70 | 56 | 62 | | Manfredi | 69 | 78 | 65 | 73 | 62 | 73 | | Chamorro | 65 | 77 | 74 | 74 | 65 | 72 | | Rochas | 67 | 77 | 74 | 70 | 61 | 73 | | Iturria | 71 | 77 | 73 | 74 | 60 | 61 | | Pronskiy | 65 | 77 | 73 | 72 | 61 | 73 | | Schleck | 64 | 77 | 73 | 71 | 52 | 73 |  Munoz | 64 | 77 | 73 | 69 | 57 | 70 | | Borisavljevic | 68 | 77 | 73 | 74 | 59 | 65 |  Vanhoucke | 71 | 77 | 72 | 72 | 67 | 68 | | Ablenado | 66 | 77 | 66 | 76 | 50 | 64 |
A few punchy riders have shown up who won’t compete on the last stage but could steal the bonus seconds on the hilly stage (although a GC man has taken the hilly stage the last two years). They include:
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | RS | SP | AC | | Waeytens | 69 | 70 | 79 | 68 | 65 | 71 |  Morin | 70 | 65 | 78 | 73 | 69 | 76 | | Yates | 71 | 65 | 78 | 74 | 62 | 69 | | Lafay | 66 | 75 | 77 | 72 | 63 | 74 | | Zordan | 67 | 73 | 77 | 72 | 65 | 74 | | Serrano | 69 | 72 | 77 | 75 | 68 | 77 | | Skjerping | 67 | 70 | 77 | 67 | 58 | 65 | | Carr | 68 | 70 | 77 | 71 | 59 | 72 | | Izagirre | 67 | 70 | 77 | 66 | 56 | 58 |
Morin and Serrano are the best finishers in this group while Lafay might hope to compete in the overall.
With two sprint days out of 4 race days, a number of sprinters have made the trip:
| Rider | FL | SP | AC | RS | | Carsi | 70 | 80 | 82 | 69 | | Zariff | 70 | 80 | 80 | 67 | | Willwohl | 73 | 79 | 78 | 67 |  Riabushenko | 76 | 79 | 77 | 74 | | Welten | 76 | 79 | 75 | 71 | | Scott | 72 | 78 | 78 | 71 | | Gibbons | 75 | 78 | 78 | 72 | | Altanzul | 72 | 78 | 75 | 73 | | Zhao | 74 | 77 | 81 | 74 | | Barbier | 75 | 77 | 79 | 71 | | Hofstetter | 74 | 77 | 78 | 71 | | Van der Sande | 73 | 77 | 76 | 70 |  McLay | 73 | 77 | 76 | 72 | | Vingerling | 69 | 77 | 76 | 63 | | Houle | 76 | 77 | 75 | 68 |
Carsi and Zariff are the best on paper but neither of them is known for their toughness. Riabushenko is a much tougher customer and after a very poor 2023 he will be looking to make a difference this year. Not a lot of great lead outs but Willwohl has Reinhardt and Stalberg.
18 teams on the start line including 3 from the PCT in Benetton, Sony – Force India and Kraftwerk.
Startlist
 
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 22-11-2024 07:48
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Team Leader
Posts: 7294
Joined: 11-04-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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This could be where Bennett starts to makes his big dent into the CT. This race is really perfect for him and with his performance in both the hills and Mountains in Tachira he could do really well here! Jorgensen will be a tough competitor but it will be a really interesting race I think with no TT
Also hoping Scott can do well in the sprints as well!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 22-11-2024 08:55
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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First of two C2 races for us. Lots of chances for breakaways with no top contender anywhere. Lets see how it goes. Everything is a bonus.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 17:31
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| Booker |
Posted on 22-11-2024 10:15
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 875
Joined: 03-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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This is one of only a couple of genuine opportunities for Smith and others to challenge Jorgenson in the C2 calendar. Looking forward to seeing what he can do, as well as our sprint train (which has come in force) on the first two stages.
This is a prioritised race for us, though regrettably not a goal race.
Side note: if the Middle East (Oman, UAE, etc) is struggling to compete with Malaysia for cash, we must be living in an alternative reality 
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 22-11-2024 12:11
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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One of two stage races for Jorgenson this season without a race against the clock. Will be interesting to see if he can still find a way to win like the man he is trying to match from last season (Chiarello).
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 22-11-2024 12:44
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Team Leader
Posts: 5897
Joined: 30-11-2006
PCM$: 1500.00
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No time trail or team time trail for us to steal time.
Let's see if we can sneak away with a decent amount of points here.
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| Caspi |
Posted on 22-11-2024 12:47
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Posts: 370
Joined: 22-09-2022
PCM$: 10300.00
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Regrettably, this is a goal race for us.
Hope the team rides for Carpenter on S3, and that Manfredi or Seboka loses enough time to be allowed in the breakaway on S4.
I should have brought one more leadout man for Zariff, but he should still be able to podium at least once.
Excited to see how the race unfolds, despite our low expectations 
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| Imladrik |
Posted on 22-11-2024 14:03
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 810
Joined: 05-10-2021
PCM$: 600.00
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Hard to say what to expect for this one. We sure aren't favorites and should not repeat last season's feat, but Iturria has strong support.
Would like to see Hofstetter and Lafay take some points too!
Thanks for the preview, excited to see where it goes.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
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Tour of the Middle East 
