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Giro del Capo Discussion
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| CountArach |
Posted on 16-03-2012 13:26
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South Africa plays host to the next CT stage race, this time it is the 6 stage HC-rated Giro del Capo. On paper it looks like a course for the puncheurs with at least three fairly selective hilly stages, particularly the nasty fourth stages. However, none of these end with a really selective climb, so they might in fact not create the biggest time gaps. In all likelihood that is what stage 5 of this year’s parcours will do. A 6km mountain time trial that maxes out at over 10%. The distance isn’t too long, but it is not a stage that can be ignored. In addition there are 2 stages that could favour a sprinter who enjoys the tougher courses or, alternatively, could prove ripe hunting grounds for breakaway specialists.
 Luis Leon Sanchez comes into this as the absolute favourite and it is honestly harder to think of a course that would be better suited to his talents. He is a superb puncheur, an excellent climber and a great time trialist, meaning that the MTT will really be to his liking, as will the lumpier stages. The only big concern will be the strength of the Cerne squad. 5 neo-pros, a young climber and an all-rounder make up the rest of the team and it will be a real test to see if they can contain breaks. Their team manager surely needs a big result here to keep away from the bottom of the table.
There are several other riders in this year’s race who have all the necessary tools to win it.  Nicholas Roche is one such man. He is a very similar sort of all-rounder to LL Sanchez, but he has the advantage of a stronger team around him, meaning that Pirelli will be expected to do quite a bit of the work.
As with all hilly races  Team Bianchi have brought a fantastic squad. Lead by Philadelphia International winner Juan Jose Cobo, they also have David De la Fuente and Maxime Monfort who could fight for top GC positions. The rest of the squad is fairly weak, so it is likely that one or two of them will have to sacrifice their own chances to drive the pace.
 Red Bull are another team who have excelled at these sorts of stage races, and what a treat their startlist presents. Every man on the list is at least a moderately capable puncheur and they are lead by the French national champion, Jean Gadret. He will probably have to hope that he can stick with some of the others over the lumpy stuff and make up time on the mountain. In addition, Red Bull bring along Daryl Impey, the South African RR champion, who will really like the two sprinter’s stages that are tough enough to knock out some potential competition.
In terms of South African stars, how could one look past  John-Lee Augustyn? He is South Africa’s best chance for the overall victory and hopefully being on home soil will give him that extra lift that he needs to fight for a podium spot.
 Samuel Sanchez leads his team here and though he isn’t as good on the mountains as he used to be, he can still stick with the best on the hills. The MTT may be his undoing, but still expect to see his name well up the leader’s board by the end of it.  Pieter Weening is another man who will be looking to get some time gaps during the lumpy stuff and avoid time losses during the single mountain stage. He should be very much capable of a top 10 placing. Unicredit also have the card of Bernucci Lorenzetto to play, and he may well be able to net them a couple of strong results in sprints.
A couple of teams here are lead by riders who are more of the climber mould than being all-rounders.  Chris Anker Sorenson leads his WWE team, though Pineau could well be capable of a top performance on the hilly stages.  Gustav Larsson leads Aker, and he could well be the man who will take the MTT stage victory, which could set him up for a good shot at the overall. Both these men may struggle on the punchier stages, however, which could cost them valuable time. Indeed  Junya Sano is in a similar boat, and his team will most probably try to compensate through aggressive riding.
Some teams are here lead by a puncheur instead of a climber.  Francesco Ginanni leads his Vespa team, and will certainly be looking for at least one stage victory, though the lack of a hill-top finish may harm his chances. The MTT will be the real test of whether or not he gets a top finish or languishes in the top 20. Similarly,  Jelle Vanendert is here at the head of the BPost squad. He is far from as good a puncheur as Ginanni, but he should be able to avoid losing as much time in the MTT as Ginanni, and this may prove crucial. Indeed  Rui Costa could do even better, given his strength in TTing, which could prove crucial to make up time on any flatter sections.
Though all these riders will have their eye on the overall, some of the best prospects for stage victories are elsewhere in the startlist. Ferrari have brought  Eros Capecchi to have a shot at the sprint stages or any stage where he can finish in the front group and Saab have brought their tough man  Matti Breschel for the same reason. However, these two will have one particular name standing in his way.  Jonathon Bellis, the leader of the individual ranking, is here and he is greedily eyeing the downhill finishes on the lumpy stages. This season he has won 6 stages in South Africa and 2 overall titles. Who can possibly stop him from adding another couple of victories to his extensive palmares?
 Team Venchi have brought a couple of stage winning prospects along to this event. First up is young superstar Cesare Di Maggio, though he may suffer from the same problem as Ginanni in terms of the lack of any finishing climb. Sergio Marinangelli will also be looking for a win on the two sprint stages, though once again Bellis may have something to say about that.
It seems likely that  Puma,  Oz and  Trilux will be looking for aggressive riding to net them some sort of result. Puma will hope for a decent MTT result from Rolland, but can’t expect much in the overall. Oz will hope that Haidar Anuawar can do something if the sprint stages aren’t ridden too fast. Trilux have several decent puncheurs who could look for breakaways and help to keep them away.
Complete Startlist:
Spoiler Cerne
1. L. Sanchez Gil
2. L. Afonso
3. A. Antunes
4. B. Borges
5. A. Cardoso
6. J. Insausti
7. R. Reis
8. R. Vilela
Pirelli
11. N. Roche
12. M. Busche
13. N. D'Andrea
14. D. Di Nucci
15. M. Iannetti
16. S. Lagana'
17. S. Masciarelli
18. F. Tizza
Bianchi
21. J. Cobo
22. J. AramendÃa
23. D. De la Fuente
24. R. Dennis
25. S. Locatelli
26. O. Martynenko
27. P. Mazur
28. M. Monfort
Red Bull
31. J. Gadret
32. M. Chérel
33. S. Gerrans
34. D. Impey
35. A. Jelloul
36. A. Moinard
37. D. Moreno
38. G. Veloso
Vespa
41. F. Ginanni
42. M. Bono
43. A. Cappelle
44. M. Cattaneo
45. D. Garbelli
46. O. Gatto
47. M. Quinziato
48. I. Speirs
Cal Giant
51. S. Sánchez Gonzalez
52. A. Ablenado
53. T. Brandt
54. P. Ghyllebert
55. B. King
56. L. Pasamontes
57. K. Reijnen
58. J. Simon
Export
61. JL. Augustyn
62. D. De Fauw
63. D. Kairelis
64. M. Karagobek
65. K. Seeldraeyers
66. I. Seledkov
67. C. Van Ooijen
68. T. Ziegler
UniCredit
71. P. Weening
72. L. Bernucci
73. J. Grau
74. M. Lorenzetto
75. S. Ortega
76. S. Puccio
77. N. Quintana
78. T. Valjavec
WWE
81. C. Sørensen
82. J. Becerra
83. L. Hoste
84. B. Mollema
85. J. Pineau
86. R. Sutherland
87. A. Txurruka
88. M. Vingerling
Aker Solutions
91. G. Larsson
92. J. Castroviejo
93. J. Jørgensen
94. J. Le Bon
95. A. Roux
96. J. Rovira
97. E. Viennet
98. J. Zrimsek
Bpost
101. J. Vanendert
102. C. Gautier
103. M. La Lavandier
104. W. Maesen
105. S. Poulhiès
106. J. Stallaert
107. T. Stubbe
108. W. Van Den Eynde
Meiji
111. J. Sano
112. J. Bauer
113. F. Beppu
114. J. Crawford
115. Y. Hiratsuka
116. S. Lagutin
117. T. Scully
118. Y. Suzuki
CSC
121. R. Costa
122. A. Ajewole
123. S. Blanco
124. J. Gelabert
125. J. Rodas
126. A. Talansky
127. C. Verona
128. C. Zaballa
Ferrari
131. M. Possoni
132. S. Agostini
133. E. Capecchi
134. P. Longo Borghini
135. M. Pozzo
136. E. Rizza
137. C. Salerno
138. L. Sterbini
Rapha Condor
141. J. Bellis
142. D. Appleby
143. A. Dowsett
144. T. Grmay
145. D. Jiriakov
146. Z. Ndbri
147. E. Rowsell
148. W. Sulzberger
Puma
151. P. Rolland
152. J. Bar
153. J. Bol
154. N. Bouhanni
155. T. Dumoulin
156. M. Egger
157. T. Martin
158. J. Sütterlin
Venchi
161. C. Di Maggio
162. F. Aru
163. M. Gonzalez Salas
164. O. Haavardsholm
165. P. Haugard
166. S. Marinangeli
167. B. Monterastelli
168. F. Reda
Saab
171. M. Wyss
172. M. Breschel
173. K. Ista
174. P. Lavery
175. G. Likhaya
176. A. Lund
177. L. Persson
178. P. Renäng
Trilux
181. S. Sousa
182. J. Barta
183. T. Criel
184. D. Devenyns
185. G. Rajala
186. A. Saramotins
187. R. Scholz
188. S. Tronet
Oz
191. S. Lewis
192. J. Bobridge
193. A. Gate
194. W. Gough
195. A. Haidar Anuawar
196. M. Khalmuratov
197. D. McConnell
198. M. Wolf
Edited by CountArach on 16-03-2012 13:26
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 16-03-2012 13:36
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Weird that Bellis is so far down the startlist. Looks like the startlist generator gave a lot of precedence to the short TT. I reckon the hills will be more pivotal.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 16-03-2012 13:39
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Weird that Bellis is so far down the startlist. Looks like the startlist generator gave a lot of precedence to the short TT. I reckon the hills will be more pivotal.
So do I, personally. I think time bonuses are going to make a huge difference here, given the lack of a really decisive hilly stage. Maybe that's why the MTT is going to be crucial, because it forces time gaps?
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 16-03-2012 13:41
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We need some better results... now!  Previous races have been far from satisfying for Oz Cycling.
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| Christer |
Posted on 16-03-2012 13:59
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Go go go! Epic Team WWE winning time! At least I can hope, right? 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 01:51
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 16-03-2012 15:25
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Will be satisfied if Roche can end in top 5 - so many strong riders gathered here...
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| beagle |
Posted on 16-03-2012 16:50
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what a startlist, it´d be epic race!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| ember |
Posted on 16-03-2012 17:01
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What an amazing line-up. I don't know what to expect from this, I'm dreaming/hoping we can cover the breakaways, and then Larsson can have the ride of his life on the MTT
But more realistically I'll be satisfied with a couple of top 10 placings, a top 10 in the GC looks out of reach, but it would be nice if we can fight for a stage win. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 16-03-2012 18:35
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Big startlist - as you would expect and hilly parcours so anything can happen. I think the parcours are tough enough for the favourites to shine, a couple of riders in the top 15 is my expectation.
Of course there is some chances for a breakaway to win as well. Can Impey shake off that underperforming feel?
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 16-03-2012 21:50
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I'm hopeful the TT won't be that disastrous for Ginanni. Time gaps so far this season have been mostly meaningless in TT's.
He has a MO stat of 71 or 72 and it's 'only' 6km. Hope that means doesn't lose anymore that 30 seconds or so. |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 17-03-2012 12:03
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Expecting nothing, hoping for everything 
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| viking90 |
Posted on 17-03-2012 12:15
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Mresuperstar wrote:
Expecting nothing, hoping for everything
couldn't said it better myself |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 17-03-2012 12:27
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viking90 wrote:
Mresuperstar wrote:
Expecting nothing, hoping for everything
couldn't said it better myself
Then we're three. I really need to rebuild my team next season.
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| Christer |
Posted on 18-03-2012 13:54
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Horrible! Just horrible!
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| viking90 |
Posted on 18-03-2012 14:05
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I´m already satisfied with this race a podiumspot in the first stage  |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 18-03-2012 14:10
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Very frustrating, it feels like for a sprint you need at least 30km of flat at the end of a stage.
Pleased at least to see Red Bull keen to get involved and I guess with Impey utterly nowhere we can at least try things - fingers crossed for breakaways.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 18-03-2012 14:54
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I wonder if theres a way in game to get teams more interested in chasing breakaways in the HC races
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| ember |
Posted on 18-03-2012 14:56
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That was quite disappointing, not a single attempt from our team to get in the breakaway, we'll need to improve for the coming stages. |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 18-03-2012 15:33
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I should expect getting nothing from every race. Hopefully this is a good sign for stages to come.
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 18-03-2012 15:35
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Why u no attack, my riders?! 
But nice to see Capecchi winning the mass sprint!
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