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Tour of Qatar Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 16-10-2026 23:23
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-10-2026 06:41
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Vesely did alright here being involved in basically all sprints despite clearly no longer having it it packed fields.
Two things impressed the most.
1) His very good positioning at around 2-5km to go and
2) the unique skills of going backwards incredibly fast afterwards.
He always was just past the top10 except ones inside, which is totally right. Not giving me any points (expectedly) but might see him a bit further up scoring here and there in smaller competition.
The TT now will be similarly packed, so I can't really expect a lot but let's see about the daily form.
For the cobbles squad it was a nice warmup without anyone trying. But not a breakaway event anyway.
Thanks for the reports so far. |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 15-10-2026 11:56
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I suspect that coming 2nd to Kemboi on that last stage may prove to be the determining factor in the GC, as that 14 second swing would probably be enough to make Gaviria favourite.
Not a bad race after a rough start, with 2nd or 3rd the likely outcome and some solid stage results - I would always like to win of course, but if Kemboi finally wins Qatar that may be more pleasing from a personal perspective than any victory! |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 15-10-2026 17:18
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Tour de France Champion
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We don't have many flat prologues on our calendar this year, and so a 3rd place here for SKA is pretty damn disappointing. He's been pretty much infallible here previously, and with the range of RDC effects decreasing, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for and expecting more than 3rd place on the stage. Would be just our luck that SKA's reign of prologue dominance ends the year we spend big money to acquire him. The points difference between those stage wins and just top 5s is massive.
That said, obviously a very successful race for us overall thanks to Rodenberg. 6th place is awesome for him, plus SKA in 15th and Forssell also just outside the top 30. Can't ask for much more without a favorite.
Thanks for the reports cunego! And congrats to Knockout. Kemboi finally getting the win here is a worthy story.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| quadsas |
Posted on 15-10-2026 17:28
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Not the worst race, but could've been better. Gonna need to do more than that to survive
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| SotD |
Posted on 15-10-2026 17:55
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World Champion
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Such a dissapointing race. This was by far the race I was looking the most forward to all season. Atleast our PRL depth salvaged some points overall with just Gibbons being outside the top 50 here.
Would have liked to see a bit better from Uhiriwe and Varotsos to climb the U25 rankings, but 2nd from Moutsios was nice, Thanks to his bonus seconds from the attack.
We just have to put this behind us and hope out leadout works significantly better in the other races. Otherwise this is going to be a Long season…
Big Thanks for the solid reports nontheless, and congrats to all who Got what they come for 
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| knockout |
Posted on 15-10-2026 18:24
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Grand Tour Champion
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This was the most important race of the season for Kemboi and it working out so perfecty is just awesome. Also makes me glad that i decided to bring the leadout train even if it only was crucial for one of the stages.
Feeling for SotD, Farantakis should be all over the race. Not even being in the top 5 fight is way below expectations and i would have been annoying if Kemboi was in that position.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 15-10-2026 18:52
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Congrats to all the stage winners and especially knockout for taking the GC win!
Kopfauf with our first stage top 10 of the season, but 10th is still kind of disappointing. At least Brunel did fairly well and secured us a second rider in the GC top 25 (not that it'll be worth anything). But the (unexpected) highlight is actually finishing 3rd in the team classification in a sprinter/TT race, two disciplines we haven't been famous for so far.
And finally thanks to cunego for all those cool reports and all those shout-outs to those desperate breakaway attempts here! And although Renault probably won't be happy (in general) that it's still Ekoi - Le Creuset for you, it's probably the right season for them to ignore this kind of mix-up 
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 16-10-2026 06:57
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kandesbunzler26 wrote:
And although Renault probably won't be happy (in general) that it's still Ekoi - Le Creuset for you, it's probably the right season for them to ignore this kind of mix-up
Ha, old habits die hard it seems  I'll keep it in mind for any future reports 
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| ember |
Posted on 16-10-2026 07:24
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Thank you a lot for the reports and coverage, cunego! I’ve enjoyed the reports and the proper train battles and intense kilometers with sprint preparations and launches.
Congratulations on the GC, knockout! As you write yourself, feel sorry for SotD especially with a poor, poor race by Farantakis.
Also slightly surprised to see Kragh not win this epilogue… Clearly he must be missing his Aker magic and shirt 
For us, that epilogue effectively give us 0 GC points, which was fully expected. A useful note to ourselves for future seasons that De Lie will need about two stage wins worth of bonifications during the race to be in contention for a GC top 10 |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 16-10-2026 09:13
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Thanks for the nice reports, cunego!
The epilogue went about as expected for us. A stage win, the green jersey, 4th in GC and a couple of days in yellow is definitely a good outcome for us, and a nice improvement since 2024 when Dainese had zero top 10's
Congrats to knockout!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 16-10-2026 15:47
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Two stage podiums, overall podium and wearing the white jersey from day 1 with Kooij makes this a great race for us. Zijlaard in the top 10 makes it an excellent race for us. Only thing that could have made it better it would have been a stage win.
Guess it wasn't such a bad race for Gaviria after all. Really feel for SotD. Sprints are quite often a lottery, but it did feel harsh on Farantakis, especially given what happend last year.
Congrats, knockout! Back to back titles is on
Thanks for the reports!
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| roturn |
Posted on 16-10-2026 17:16
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Congrats knockout. Perfectly suited rider won.
Vesely is really awful in prologues. Not that I had expected anything but this was still a huge drop down.
Hessmann did okay. Nothing valuable and on a good day he might have been a bit stronger but the pan flat and short tts are not for him.
Next races will be better when it's going into hills.
Thanks for the consistent reports. |
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