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U23 Division Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 20-12-2010 16:21
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When we get to July, the U23 Division of 5 races will take place. 150 riders take part, in a rare opportunity to show themselves to the managers of both PT and CT teams.
Races
GP Stad Zottegem (Flat classic, Belgium)
Sachsen Tour International (Stage race with flat, hills and tt, Germany)
GP du canton d'Argovie (Hill classic, Switzerland)
Brixia Tour (Stage race with flat, hills, mountain, Italy)
GP d'Isbergues (Flat classic, France)
Teams
Bacardi Colt 
Rigido Moscariello
Pier Graziano Sgrigna
Gianchiglio Tieri
Emiliano Rodomonti
Enrico Battaglin
Marino Prestia
The sprinting stands out here, led by Marino Prestia - who returns after close to 2 years in the Wilderness, having formerly ridden for La Gazzetta - with good support by Rodonmonti, formerly of Energie-Diesel. Mosciarello looks like a good mountains option, with Sgrigna and Tieri for the hills.
Cillit Bang      
Alfredo Ajpacaja
Shaibek Bekboliev
Hamad Afif
Phucong Sai-Udomsin
Ramiro Cabrera Gonzalez
Roman Dronin
A very multi-cultural team, but their best chance of results seems only to come from Qatari Afif in the Sprints.
Domina Vacanze  
Thomas Hasibeder
Hans-Peter Wurz
Marco Haller
Robel Tedros
Jasha Sütterlin
Nikias Arndt
Austrian Robel Tedros will lead this German-speaking team, and while having no specific strengths as such, Tedros can boast one of the highest stamina stats in the division - which could bode him well.
El Al 
Julien Poisson
Alexandre Bras
Fernando Mauron
Alexis Bodiot
Kévin Reza
Jocelyn Bar
This team looks set to be one of the strongest on offer - Bar and Bodiot sharing the highest stamina stats of the division at 70. They may struggle on the climbs - look to Bar to be the best there - but Mauron could challenge in the sprints.
Falcon-Husqvarna  
Christian Mathiesien
Frederik Jernov
Lars Tommersen
Mikkel Lund
Jesper Mørkøv
Mohd Shahrulnizam Che Samsudin
Lars Tommersen has ridden for British Airways in past, but it is Jesper Morkov in the sprints, and Mikkel Lund on the climbs, who should perform best for the team.
Festina - Corona 
Yannick Eijssen
Jan Van Epoel
Jochen Engelen
Jens Keukeleire
Rodric Callewaert
Julien Paquet
Will be pleased to have secured the servicies of sprinter Jens Keukeleire who will work with Engelen on the flat. Eijssen and Van Epoel are the men for the climbs, while Wiggle stagiare Paquet has been granted permission to ride here for Festina.
Jack Wolfskin 
Arnoud van der Ent
Fonne Woortman
Bas Stamsnijder
Jarno Gmelich
Geert Van der Sanden
Thijs Bezemer
The Dutch team will look for Woortman to do well in the Sachsen time trial, with Gmelich being their best hope for climbs, and Van der Sanden and Bezemer being here for the sprints.
Lipton Ice Tea   
Lluis Mas
Arsen Azizov
Jaffar Kashimov
Vyacheslav Fedorov
Fabio Coelho
Jaoa Costa
Lipton will no doubt be expecting much of their Spanish stagiare Mas, but the Portugese rider Costa may be their best source of success with his climbing attributes.
Mercedes-Benz 
Daddi Alazzawi
Arvin Moazzemi
Pasban Hamed
Far Saeed Navid
Abolfazl Gilanipoor
Behnam Khalilikhosroshani
A rare opportunity for the Iranian riders, and dont expect them to go unnoticed. In particular, Khalilikhosroshani and Gilanipoor on the climbs - Gilanipoor having taken 22nd in the 2010 U23 Worlds.
Milka    
Glenn O'Shea
Konstantin Klimiankou
Siarhei Papok
Patrick Bercz
Michał Kwiatkowski
Matej Vysna
Milka are able to call on stagiares Bercz, O'Shea and Klimiankonov in a multi-national squad - will Kilimiankov be able to harness experience gained riding for M&M last season?
Pearl Adidas
Jordi Simón
Pablo Lechuga
Gabriel Cerveira
Domingos Gonçalves
Ivo Fernandes
Vasco Pereira
5 stagiares on show here, with Cerveira being the odd one out. They are all solid, if not spectacular, riders, and it will be interesting to see how well they will be able to do.
Pendleton's Twicer      
Bassirou Konte
Charles Anguilet
Matt Cronshaw
Hillary Kiprotich
Ali Moussa
Bryce Moore
Stagiare Cronshaw is the odd one out amidst this African team. He will hope to do decently in the hills, alongside Kiprotich, while Anguillet, Moussa and Moore will certainly look to be at their best on the Brixia mountain stage.
Pokerstars.com 
Grégory Joseph
Klaas Lodewijck
Joris Wagemans
Sven Vandousselaere
Jakub Novak
Ondrej Belohoubek
The mix of Belgians and Czechs could lead to a strong performance, with Belohoubek for the mountains, Vandousselaere for the hills, and both Wagemans and Joseph for the sprints.
Quiksilver-Kraft  
Jason Valente
William Goodfellow
Frederic Boivin
Andrew Hunt
Taylor Kuphaldt
Dadley Corwin
Canadian Frederic Boivin looks like one of the stronge all-round climbers in the division, with Quiksilver also including their stagiare Kuphaldt and two riders with previous man-game expereience, in Hunt and Corwin.
Red Bull 
Timothy Roe
Casey Munro
Stephen Vicelich
Damion Drapac
Shane O'Neill
James Williamson
The team have gone for the Oceanic option of Australia and New Zealand. Drapac could be a real strength in the sprints, while Williamson, Munroe and Roe are picked for their climbing.
Santander
Miguel Minguez Ayala
Mikel Landa
Garikoitz Bravo
Vincente Garcia De Mateos
Salvador Guardiola Tora
Jesús Herrada
Unsurprisingly Santander have picked an all-Spanish squad, and at first glance appear another example of solid but not spectacular - but keep an eye on how well Mikel Landa does in a race such as Brixia Tour.
Sony Ericsson  
Per Ole Skogen
Tom-André Enæs
Christian Nygren
Niklas Gustavsson
Johan Nystrand
Mikael Lehtomaa
With most talented Scandinavians having already been snapped up by teams, these races could be a steep learning curve for the Sony Ericsson squad - but who knows what surprises they could bring.
Telenor-Sas
Mads Gjerde
Ingar Stokstad
Sondre Sørtveit
Vegard Stake Laengen
Johan Ziesler
Ken Sebastian Vassdål
Will be keenly anticipating the time trial in Sachsen Tour, widely viewed as their best chance of success through Vassdål. The Norwegian rode for Team Ultimate last year, and delivered a strong 13th in the World U23 TT Champs.
Tinkoff Credit Systems - Rosneft 
Viktor Shmalko
Konstantin Kuperasov
Gennadiy Tatarinov
Maxim Toporishchev
Victor Manakov
Spartak Denaturaev
Another team with 5 stagiares, but could the Russians best bet actually lie in non-stagiare Denaturaev in the Sprints?
UBS-Annie Chun's 
Christopher Juul-Jensen
Christian Schaffer
Bernd Roduit
Roman Stricker
René Pedat
Alberto Jeanneret
Jeanneret will lead the team on the climbs, as UBS will also hope to see a strong showing from stagiares Juul-Jensen and Stricker.
Vesuvio-Accumalux 
Bob Jungels
Kim Michely
Yves Da Luz
Tullio Tenzon
Danilo Milioni
Andrea Crudeli
A mix of Italians and Luxembourgs, with Crudeli for Sprints, Tenzon for the Mountains, and Control team rider Michely hoping to do well in the hills.
Wikipedia
Nathan Brown
Cheyne Hoag
Ben King
Kenny Tiffany
Elijah Hubert
Francis Zachary
Hubert looks to be the best bet for the Americans on the climbs, whule Zachary may be able to get somewhere in the sprints,
Yamaha - Greenpeace     
Sérgio Entino
Juan Cancino
Jarlinson Pantano Gómez
Andrés RodrÃguez
Nico Gauer
Yonathan Monsalve
The only team with 3 70+ sprinters, Pantano leads the way with support from Entino and Cancino. Monsalve and Rodriguez are their best bets on the climbs, as stagiare Gauer rounds off the team.
YouTube - Twitter
Sebastian Batchelor
Matt Green
Rhys Lloyd
Mike Rudling
Tom Snape
Simon Holt
Entirely British, Batchelor has been honing his skills riding for the control team this season, with Simon Holt perhaps their best hope in the sprints.
What theyre racing for
The U23 ranking system will hopefully be tightly contested, and uses the CQ points scales for 2.NC and 1.NC events - and the best 5 teams on the standings guarantee the teams a place in the Tour de l'Avenir.
XP!
XP is gained based on results, and as follows:
| Stages/Overall Points/KoM | Stage Race GC | One Day Races | | 1 | 5 | 20 | 18 | | 2 | 4 | 16 | 15 | | 3 | 3 | 14 | 12 | | 4 | 2 | 12 | 10 | | 5 | 1 | 10 | 9 | | 6 | | 9 | 8 | | 7 | | 8 | 7 | | 8 | | 7 | 6 | | 9 | | 6 | 5 | | 10 | | 5 | 4 | | 11 | | 4 | 3 | | 12 | | 3 | 2 | | 13 | | 3 | 2 | | 14 | | 2 | 1 | | 15 | | 2 | 1 | | 16 | | 2 | | | 17 | | 1 | | | 18 | | 1 | | | 19 | | 1 | | | 20 | | 1 | |
Edited by SportingNonsense on 19-01-2011 15:16
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| untal |
Posted on 20-12-2010 16:31
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Sprinter
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Baaah, I completely forgot about this. |
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| Kami |
Posted on 20-12-2010 16:35
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Classics Specialist
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Prestia should get some good results in the sprints, will be fun to see  .
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 13:17
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| beagle |
Posted on 20-12-2010 17:04
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Grand Tour Specialist
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great preview
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Heine |
Posted on 20-12-2010 17:30
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4467
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Gogo Time Trial!
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 20-12-2010 18:05
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I think cronshaw will standd out quite seriously in the races.
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| Deadpool |
Posted on 20-12-2010 19:52
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I never thought I'd say this.
Go France! |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 23-12-2010 14:12
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I will be very interested to see how the races pan out with the young six man teams. Though the Crit series with five man teams does seem to result in sprint finishes on the flat stages.
Sprinters
My own Damian Drapac ranks pretty highly on sprinting perhaps just behind Bacardi's Prestia in terms of pure sprinting ability. Of course sprints do not just come down to that, first I have to hope that he gets there, Drapac like Prestia cannot climb at all and also that he gets a decent lead out - by someone else or by one of our own Williamson would be a goodish one.
Bacardi have a great squad really however the two flat classics are in Belgium and France. Pokerstars and Festina will have good chances in Belgium and El-Al with Bar (and a brilliant lead out) have a good squad for that one. There are possibly two chances in the two stage races for sprints stage 3 in Brixia who Bacardi would be favourites if I didn't think they will be all over the GC and a long 219km opening one in the Sachsan. That stage could be the one for Drapac - if (a big if) there are no hills!
A couple of other riders to look out for in sprints are Pantano Gomez of Yamaha (almost as bad a climber as Drapac) and Hunt of Quiksilver.
Time Triallers
I note that the Sachsen Time Trial is 45km long and with the other stages only rated as flat or hilly this one will be pivotal to the race. Vassdal of Telenor has the highest TT stat in the division but is not the best climber by any note. Vandousselaere of Pokerstars maybe a mouthful to say but has the look of a rider who could very well dominate this race in a similar fashion to an Ignatiev or a Phinney. Boiven of Quiksliver looks an interesting one with a flat stat of under 60 makes one wonder if he will not lose energy on flat stages.
Aussies with track backgrounds tend to be good against the clock and Vicelich is my TT ace - though I considered not picking him to give Shane O'Niell the best chance but ultimately I felt it was silly to overlook Vicelich - you never know both may get in the top 10!
Climbers
It looks very even for that mountain stage in Brixia with 15 riders with a mountain stat between 66 and 68 inclusive. Actually there is just one with 68 and that is Gilanipoor the Mercedes Iranian. But with three Italians on 67 (admittedly two from the same Bacardi team) in Tenzon, Tieri and Sgrigna it will be tough to call. But given the stage is after the hilly one perhaps a more all round climber could do something (as we saw with Valverde in the Vuelta). Boiven (quiksliver), Costa (Lipton), Landa (Santander), Eijsson (Festina) or intriguingly Khalilikhosroshani (Mercedes) are rated high in that regard.
For me Roe is a low hope in Brixia, it is hoped he doesn't get anywhere near to leading out the stage 3 sprint so this is possibly a good thing.
The hilly classic is very open I would say - though I am pretty sure my riders will not feature there - though maybe Williamson can get up there. For me though Pokerstars Belgian Vandousselaere and El Al's Bar are the type of riders that I would say are best suited though it is highly dependent on the parcours. If it is a hill ending one (which has some mountain element required) then the names mention above in the Brixia tour will come into play.
Teams
With a little luck I am hopeful that Red Bull can feature in every race giving me optimism for a top five spot. I would predict Festina and Pokerstars will go well - those buggers in green have the looks of a great lead out again! Hard to see Bacardi not being somewhere near the top of the rankings, other than that one great result may be enough to see a team like El-Al (with Bar) or Lipton (with Costa) through. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 23-12-2010 15:06
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Looking forward to seeing this. I have NO idea what to believe, as these "shitty" riders are just too close. It will be down to day form, and share luck to get a good result I imagine. I only have one rider to believe in a half-consistent result and that is Jens Keukeleire. He might be a consistent sprinter in this pack...
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| Deadpool |
Posted on 23-12-2010 15:53
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Team Leader
Posts: 6727
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If Bar does well I don't think I'll be able to resist picking him up this offseason. |
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| jack888 |
Posted on 23-12-2010 16:15
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Hopefully Nico Gauer can lead out my sprinting riders to pick up some places. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 24-12-2010 09:36
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Team Leader
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By the way, I do not recall releasing the young Malaysian rider Shahrulnizam to the Falcon team.
Admittedly he is the type of rider for this company, unless there is another rider of a similar name... perhaps Falcon meant to select Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn the control team rider (usually the best one on mountains)
But Mohd Che Shahrulnizam is one Red Bull's fully paid to 'promote the Red Bull brand' (i.e. sit on arse and not race) brigade! [Actually he has raced a couple of criteriums] |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 03-01-2011 17:10
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Actually Smowz, your guy is Mohd Che Shahrulnizam - Falcon's is Mohd Shahrulnizam Che Samsudin
Looking at the DB, they are meant to be the same person, but he has managed to be added to the DB twice - with a slightly different name, and different stats. (Jelle Wallays was similar, hence why there is now a Welle Jallays in the DB aswell as Jelle Wallays)
But yeh, I am dissapointed nobody went for Boonratanathanakorn, who could have done well
Edited by SportingNonsense on 03-01-2011 17:11
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 07-01-2011 19:56
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Now if only Pozzatto would do that...
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| Smowz |
Posted on 07-01-2011 20:30
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Not exactly a promising start for my squad, Williamson 15th but then I had a feeling that these 'flat classics' would not be flat enough for Drapac.
Still I hold far greater hopes in races to come - I have my doubts that Sony and Mercedes will be that consistent in this though one never knows could be the division where breakaways rule the roost. |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 07-01-2011 20:30
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Hope the rest of the team can look and learn from the youngsters and can take some podium places in the rest of the season  |
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| Heine |
Posted on 07-01-2011 21:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Haha, none of mine managed to stay in the peloton :-p
gogo!
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| mattiasgt |
Posted on 07-01-2011 21:32
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Small Tour Specialist
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Oh second was not expected. This surely must have been a lucky shot.
(Previously) Manager of Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg: ( Media)
Livin' Loud |
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| Waghlon |
Posted on 07-01-2011 21:40
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124 Lars Tommersen Team Falcon-Husqvarna s.t.
I'm awesome at this "cycling" thing.
THE THOMAS VOECKLER PROPHET OF PCM DAILY
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| beagle |
Posted on 07-01-2011 22:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
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hehe, I won sprint for 11th place...sounds familiar to me 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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