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Vuelta a Columbia discussion thread
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| Smowz |
Posted on 08-12-2010 22:28
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The second longest stage race in the C Tour is here. The Vuelta a Columbia is pack with climbing with plenty of lengthy 20+ km climbs to test the riders.
It is difficult to pick out an absolutely key stage with a lot of the hilly ones involving complicated finales and some of the mountain ones with fairly shallow long climbs. The Individual Time Trial on stage nine and the long climb on stage 12 will definately be important for the overall, but a bad day on any number of stages could be terminal.
Nine teams have sent riders here...
Spoiler LEGO
1. K.Gil
2. J.Allain
3. J.AramendÃa
4. J.Libert
5. A.Moschella
6. H.Schwab
7. A.Stauff
Benfica
11. J.Van den Broeck
12. F.Ardila Cano
13. J.Benitez
14. R.Costa
15. M.Krasnoperov
16. A.Saldarriaga
17. F.Terciado
Quiksilver
21. Y.Martinez
22. C.Betancourt
23. F.Cruz
24. J.Hicks
25. P.Mach
26. D.MartÃnez
27. R.Sambris
Pirelli
31. R.Hesjedal
32. S.Lagana'
33. I.Mayo
34. Z.Ndbri
35. I.Nozal
36. I.Santaromita
37. P.Tiralongo
Bimbo
41. V.Rodrigues
42. S.Barberi
43. J.Berard
44. G.Delise
45. M.Hofland
46. E.Popov
47. M.Portela
Red Bull
51. J.Rodas
52. J.Chacon
53. J.Ji
54. L.Laverde Jimenez
55. C.Manarelli
56. V.Orozco
57. E.Parra Bustamante
UniCredit
61. S.Ortega
62. D.Bragazzi
63. J.Grau
64. J.Mazet
65. R.Quaade
66. T.Valjavec
67. B.Vandborg
Yamaha
71. F.Montenegro
72. A.Bajadali
73. A.Cardoso Española
74. H.Martino
75. I.Parra Pinto
76. M.Rutkiewicz
77. I.Seledkov
YouTwit
81. O.Zaugg
82. L.Kirk
83. T.Last
84. E.Oliphant
85. K.Page
86. R.Serrano
87. F.de Romijn
Gil, Van den Broeck, Y Martinez, Schwab, Hesjedal, Krasnoperov, Rodrigues, Ndbri and Ortega stand out as probable GC threats. Though one of Red Bulls or Yamaha's Columbians could surprise in their home country.
Schedule:
Fri: Stage 1 (morn), Stage 2 (late eve)
Sat: Stage 3 (morn), Stage 4 (eve)
Sun: Stages 5 through to 7
Mon: Stage 8 (morn), Stage 9 (eve)
Tues: Stage 10 + 11
Wed: Stage 12 + 13
Thurs: Stage 13, 14 and 15 |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 09-12-2010 09:35
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Seems I really have a nice chance to score some points with Ryder and Ndbri leading a decent team compared to the others.
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| Heine |
Posted on 09-12-2010 11:47
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I like this course, regret that I didn't send a team for the simple fact that it would be much more interesting to read then. Anyway, looking forward to it. Seems like a race out of Benfica's wet dreams :-p
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| jack888 |
Posted on 09-12-2010 12:13
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My A team had to race in a 'goal' of mine that clashes with this  So i've sent my best guys available, i suppose we weren't much chance at GC so with the worst GC chances but with good attacking riders maybe we can sneak a stage or three 
Its going to be a good race though,it seems to be a majority of new teams, if only LEGO and YouTwit would go away! |
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| ltt |
Posted on 09-12-2010 12:13
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I'm hoping that Yasmani Martinez does well, but I've not sent a very strong team to back him up.
This was more a "send people who need XP" race for me. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 09-12-2010 14:31
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Well I have 4 columbians in my squad - Rodas, Parra B, Laverde and Orozco. Rodas and Parra Busta are pretty good GC men, but not of the quality of four or five of the others.
Benfica are pretty awesome in any climbing race, Van den Broeck though is key here - the man can TT AND climb.
Youtube: I am still waiting for Wiggo to reveal his 'grand plan'. |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 09-12-2010 14:37
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Smowz wrote:
Well I have 4 columbians in my squad - Rodas, Parra B, Laverde and Orozco. Rodas and Parra Busta are pretty good GC men, but not of the quality of four or five of the others.
Benfica are pretty awesome in any climbing race, Van den Broeck though is key here - the man can TT AND climb.
Youtube: I am still waiting for Wiggo to reveal his 'grand plan'.
I suspect that the nationality bonus will really give your columbians an important edge ahead of other riders...You got a fine chance to have 1 or even two riders ending between the best 10 riders of the GC, that wouldn't really surprise me. A stage win is surely possible especially if your guys will be participating in the early breakaways.
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| Heine |
Posted on 09-12-2010 14:41
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The TT is only 7 km though, it's the mountains that will decide this race. (I consider Mountain TT as mountain). But then agan VDB can also steal time on the hilly stages
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 10-12-2010 06:31
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Great start by Ryder and Nozal - loosing only 5 seconds to a guy like Van den Broeuck is more than I could hope for...good wind conditions or not Ndbri loosing 33 seconds could mean that he either will go on the offensive or do the lieutenant role for Ryder, both things would be fine.
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 10-12-2010 18:01
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That has to be the best win the team has got so far, even with the loss Ryder suffered after his failed attempt today. It's rare to see so many blue and black riders be in the final, but I hope it will continue since Ndbri did exactly as I hoped, attacking. That he got the KOM jersey for his efforts, and then even helping Mayo in the final, who clearly had an "Alpe d'Huez day", to an unexpected stage win was simply brilliant to see!
I don't really expect Mayo to fight for the GC now, but I'm sure Ryder will come back and with Nozal/Ndbri also showing good form is it really looking more than promising!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 10-12-2010 19:11
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It was strange two squads who had a pretty good opening TT (Benfica and Red Bull) had pretty rubbish days in the very next stage.
I guess leading the GC early is a curse  |
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| pangare |
Posted on 10-12-2010 19:24
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Domestique
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Great stage Rodrigues ! Just keep it up man  |
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| ltt |
Posted on 10-12-2010 20:48
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Can't complain, 2 people in the top 10 at the moment and leading the Young Riders comp as well  |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 11-12-2010 09:47
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Good stage, the team didn't have to push that hard thanks to having Ndbri out securing the KOM for another day and having Ryder chasing the big guns is fine, since Mayo should be fresh for the first real mountain stage of the race then. Stage 4 should suit both Hesjedal and Mayo, but they have to stay close to Broeck and Gil though. Benfica looks formidable and I believe it will be Broeck taking the top honours in front of Gil unless one of them have a off-day later in the race.
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| pangare |
Posted on 11-12-2010 16:53
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Domestique
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We keep going well. If we take Saldarriaga off, who will probably lose a min or two in the next mountain stages, the GC battle is really thight with 13 seconds separating 4 man ! |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 11-12-2010 17:29
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Damn it, nothing went well there but hopefully will the team bounce back after the next 2 flat stages. Hesjedal will have to try something since he clearly is my best bet for a top 5 position in the GC.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 11-12-2010 17:43
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Well the first mountain stage was a good one overall for Red Bull, though I was screaming at Julian Rodas. I realised that the AI would probably put a rider back to ride with Manarelli but he finished behind the Brazilian sprinter!
Anyway the GC leader for Red Bull is Parra Bustamante he seems to be able to ride well enough on the opening two hilly stages and is a decent TTer as he showed with an excellent 3rd on stage one.
Agreed net loser from these stages is Hesjedal (along with Ortega of Unicredit). I think Krasnoperov (mountain stat 80) being back in 20th is pretty surprising then again it is always difficult to predict how a second GC rider in a team will go. |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 11-12-2010 18:02
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The thing with Krasnoperov is that he is pretty bad on the flat (60) so I would suppose this make it rather hard for him just to stay in the peloton, but he might show something on the hardest mountain stages.
Indeed Red Bull had a great stage but it seems that the difference between the best GC riders and "the rest" ain't that strong, like their teams, so it wouldn't surprise me if more breakaways will run away with stage wins. That's why it's perhaps a blessing in disguise to lose the lead jersey, since this seems to slow down the attacking instinct for some riders.
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| Rin |
Posted on 11-12-2010 20:35
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it looks like Gil is popular in Colombia
Im looking forward to the stages 7 to 10 and 12, especially stage 12 with that long climb and I hope that Gil will gain some time as he is giving up the bonus seconds
Next stage will be funny with that long downhill I hope Stauff will make a Top 5 place in one of the 3 mass sprints
 Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| jack888 |
Posted on 12-12-2010 08:38
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Go Cardoso Española! Just one win out of his 70 odd race days will be more than enough to get him a contract next season.
Sucks to see Montenegro go down, he was my only GC hope. But maybe we will see more Yamaha attacking because of this, which will probably bring us more points than going for any jersey.
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