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Tour of Slovenia discussion thread
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| Smowz |
Posted on 06-04-2012 18:56
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A stage race short in length focusing heavily on stage 3's 14 kilometre climb to the stage finish atop Krvavec. It's a climb that does level out towards the top but it should be hard enough for CTour's best climbers to slug it out.
The first two stages are lumpy enough though to worry the mountain goats, so the tension is likely to be high in these opening stages.
Fourteen teams have come to Slovenia, it's not particularly surprising to see the four Italian teams Vespa, Venchi, Pirelli and Ferrari come here and they are led by Giro podiumist  Domenico Pozzovivo, dangerous Colombian  Fabio Duarte and Battling Belgian  Jurgen Van den Broeck.
Ferrari however have opted to leave Italian champion  Gianpaolo Caruso out in favour of Polish rider Przemyslaw Niemiec
Of course everyone will fear last year's champion,  Jose Alarcon who is pretty tough to beat on mountain top finishes. His team look very much built around him here.
 José Rujano may be up for the challenge on the big finish on day three.
Other climbing big guns include  Marco Marzano and  Magno Nazaret
Spoiler | Vespa | | 1. D. Pozzovivo | | 2. N. Arndt | | 3. M. Cattaneo | | 4. M. Gavazzi | | 5. M. Kwiatkowski | | 6. A. Passalacqua | | 7. I. Speirs | | Pirelli | | 11. J. Van den Broeck | | 12. A. Bazajev | | 13. H. Dupont | | 14. A. DÃaz Corrales | | 15. F. Montaña | | 16. A. Saldarriaga | | 17. I. Santaromita | | Pokerstars | | 21. J. Rujano | | 22. G. Atkins | | 23. S. Dumoulin | | 24. M. Guillén | | 25. C. Kern | | 26. H. Raabe | | 27. J. Van Goolen | | Aker Solutions | | 31. J. Alarcon | | 32. J. Agudelo | | 33. H. Duenas Nevado | | 34. L. Haedo | | 35. O. Hirschlein | | 36. L. Nordhaug | | 37. M. Ortega | | Team VW | | 41. M. Marzano | | 42. R. Förster | | 43. W. Li | | 44. K. Predatsch | | 45. G. Preidler | | 46. D. Schorn | | 47. R. Zabel | | Tinkoff | | 51. V. Efimkin | | 52. M. Belkov | | 53. D. Galimzyanov | | 54. P. Ignatenko | | 55. S. Kolesnikov | | 56. E. Petrov | | 57. K. Yatsevich | | Export | | 61. M. Nazaret | | 62. JL. Augustyn | | 63. D. Kairelis | | 64. M. Karagobek | | 65. V. Orozco | | 66. F. Piamonte | | 67. C. Van Ooijen | | Venchi | | 71. F. Duarte | | 72. F. Aru | | 73. C. Cominelli | | 74. M. Corti | | 75. O. Haavardsholm | | 76. A. Santoro | | 77. D. Viganò | | Focus | | 81. R. Sicard | | 82. J. Adams | | 83. M. Drujon | | 84. B. Feillu | | 85. T. Meyer | | 86. A. Nechita | | 87. T. Thill | | Ferrari | | 91. P. Niemiec | | 92. T. Dall'Antonia | | 93. M. Osella | | 94. M. Possoni | | 95. E. Rizza | | 96. C. Salerno | | 97. M. Santambrogio | | Saab | | 101. T. Eltink | | 102. N. Aistrup | | 103. N. Brolin | | 104. F. Chicchi | | 105. E. Salgueiro | | 106. M. Van Aelbroeck | | 107. K. Van Hummel | | CSC | | 111. F. Colorado | | 112. A. Ajewole | | 113. C. Lewis | | 114. B. Lima | | 115. R. Maksimov | | 116. A. Talansky | | 117. E. Teruel | | Cal Giant | | 121. P. Stetina | | 122. T. Brandt | | 123. B. Colex | | 124. B. Jacques-Maynes | | 125. A. Jeannesson | | 126. B. King | | 127. T. Peterson | | UniCredit | | 131. S. Ortega | | 132. P. Andersen | | 133. A. Borrajo | | 134. S. Puccio | | 135. N. Quintana | | 136. T. Van der Sande | | 137. G. Visconti |
I am interested to see what jph makes of the odds here - for those interested in taking a bet I am intending on posting the first stage tomorrow evening about 2000 CEST
Edited by Smowz on 06-04-2012 19:03
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| jph27 |
Posted on 06-04-2012 19:01
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I still have another set of odds or two to do anyway, but may go for a GC and each stage here. Give me an hour or so.  |
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| Christer |
Posted on 06-04-2012 19:11
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Strong field. Glad I did not pick this race. Good luck, all.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 06-04-2012 19:13
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I can live with Maksimov being dropped on stage 1, I'm use to that. But he better make it to stage 4 and compete for the win otherwise this will be yet anther disappointing tour.
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 06-04-2012 19:19
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I think Niemiec will have a hard time matching the top climbers.
My main hope is that we can finish near the top on stage two. Should be a perfect one for Dall'Antonia if it comes down to a mass sprint, or Salerno / Santambrogio if there are some successful attacks.
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 06-04-2012 19:21
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I had modest expectations for this race. Then I saw the field 
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 06-04-2012 20:44
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It's tough to know what to think. Should be a very hard fought battle for the podium between Pozzovivo, Van den Broeck, Alarcon and Rujano.
Stage 2 looks as if it will be one of those silly hilly stages with a downhill finish. If it works out well I would hope Pozzo could gain some time on it.
Stage 3 though looks steep enough for Alarcon or Rujano to make a difference. Hope Pozzo can hold on. Having said that alot of these flat stages with just the one climb to finish don't always result in big gaps.
Just hoping we get a 'decent' race and the best rider wins. Don't want to be pulling my hair out over the AI. |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 06-04-2012 22:00
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Just hoping we get a 'decent' race and the best rider wins. Don't want to be pulling my hair out over the AI. [/quote]
Word.
I hope VDB will shine, though top 3 and a stage win would make this race more than a success!
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| beagle |
Posted on 06-04-2012 22:08
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much stronger field than I hoped for!
could be epic battle in stage to Krvavec, hopefully AI won´t let go some decent climbers too much away in stages 1&2...
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| viking90 |
Posted on 07-04-2012 08:15
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beagle wrote:
could be epic battle in stage to Krvavec, hopefully AI won´t let go some decent climbers too much away in stages 1&2...
If someone gets a way I shore hope it´s Eltink or Salguiero 
Don´t have high hopes for that thought, but I hope that Kenny Van Hummel and Chicchi can do something in stage 1 or 4 if it gets down to a bunchsprint. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 04:09
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| ember |
Posted on 07-04-2012 14:22
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Stage 3 has an epic profile, the final mountain looks incredible hard. This is a win goal for us, which will most likely prove very tough, as there's quite a start list. Hopefully Alarcon will survive the hilly stage, that's kind of key for him. If he manages that, he should be good for a podium overall.
I'll cross my fingers! |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 07-04-2012 17:19
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What the, I don't even understand this... the lottery never ends.
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| ember |
Posted on 07-04-2012 17:23
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Ouch, that was a terrible start. I suspect narrow roads was quite a factor.
Good thing is that Haedo was up there, he has been doing good the whole season. But Alarcon.....I guess I have to forget about winning the race now, but hopefully he can hang on on the next stage. Don't know if I'm looking forward to it or not, bring on the real mountains! |
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 07-04-2012 17:57
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fenian_1234 wrote:Just hoping we get a 'decent' race and the best rider wins. Don't want to be pulling my hair out over the AI.
Here we go a f@#king gain..... 
Behind though Pokerstars have surprised virtually all the GC favourites by forcing a selection on this tame looking climb.
We all know this didn't happen. Everyone apart from Rujano was shafted by the narrow roads. He in fact got lucky through a double whammy from the AI failing again and having him on the front working for his 'leader'...
Having said that, I liked the screens and the report was a good one to read. Just wish the game itself would perform to the same standards as the reporting this year. |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 07-04-2012 18:10
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Haha Maksimov made it to the finish and none of the climbers did. First time in man-game history? 
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| beagle |
Posted on 07-04-2012 20:24
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Looks like I´m today´s winner in PCM11 lottery hopefully it won´t turn out in upcoming stages...
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| viking90 |
Posted on 08-04-2012 08:42
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That tastes good! What we hoped for in this race.
Replay on stage 4? Or maybe Chicchi there |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 08-04-2012 08:46
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A shame that Niemiec missed that first group.
However, apart from that, it was a great day. Best result from Rizza so far this season, by a mile. Hope he continues like that in the remaining races.
Congrats to viking90! At least a Swedish team won!
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 08-04-2012 10:45
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viking90 wrote:
Replay on stage 4? Or maybe Chicchi there
Maksimov (I can only hope right?)
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| ember |
Posted on 08-04-2012 15:48
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Oh well, and this was our first win goal. I do fear, to make things even better, that Alarcon will work for Agudelo on the Queen Stage aswell now, which would be the icing on the cake
Good ride from Agudelo though, just hope he won't lead the team on stage 3. |
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