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Tour de l'Avenir Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 25-06-2012 23:47
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The annual test of the best Under 23 riders has arrived, with a route that concludes with a summit finish up Mont Ventoux.
The past winners of this race are all now top riders - Robert Gesink, Aleksandr Pluchkin, Taylor Phinney and Justo Tenorio. The likes of Benat Intxausti, Rigoberto Uran, Serio Luis Henao Montoya, Jose Alarcon and Angel Madrazo have all podiummed here.
This year, the favourite is  Ryan Eastman, who has been California Giant's best rider so far this season. He was 4th overall last year (18th in 2010) and also recently took 4th overall in the Volta a Portugal - his 3rd Top 10 GC in a HC Stage Race this season. He will be favourite for all of the mountain stages, and the TT aswell!
He will be tough to beat, but leading the challenge is San Marino rider  Paolo Scarponi. Winner of the KoM at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya this season, and he also achieved the impressive feat of completing all 3 Grand Tours. He finished 35th in the Giro, 36th in the Vuelta and 45th at the Tour. Also riding for Wiggle is Luke Rowe. He is the leading sprinter in the field, although has had a poor season. His best result in Avenir so far was leading out brother Matt to victory and then taking 2nd in Stage 2 of the 2010 edition.
Onto Wikipedia with the leading French hope in the race,  Thibaut Pinot. He took 33rd in the Giro, and 49th at the Tour - giving him a 1-1 GT record this season against Scarponi. Wikipedia also have promising talents Andrew Talansky and Jay McCarthy - the latter will be on a high after scoring his first pro victory in a stage of the Volta al Portugal.
Riding in  Ferrari colours are a team from a few different continental squads. They are led by Venchi's  Peter Sagan. The Young Slovak who can sprint, climb hills and mountains - all to a certain extent. He will hope to take a stage win at least!
 Festina are next. Pendleton's  Tim Kennaugh rejected the chance to ride for the GB team to ride for Festina and will hope to emulate brother Peter, a stage winner last year. He could win this race in the future. There is also Michael Matthews as a challenger for the sprints, and Panagiotis Vlatos for the TT.
Future star  Rafael Reis leads Cerne, and he is in form - having recently taken his best result of the season, a 25th overall at the Vuelta a Burgos.
CT team Hollister have combined with Vesuvio, where team leader  Carlos Betancourt is currently on loan. One of the top hilly riders in the race, who was 9th overall last year. He arrives fresh from the Vuelta a Colombia, and finished exactly 100th at the Tour de France. Like Kennaugh, he will do better here in future.
Another race debutant team leader is Oz Cycling's  George Bennett. The highlight of his season so far was a victory in the final stage of the Tour of Japan.
Speaking of Japan, Meiji Fuji are next.  Chen Shikai is their man, and his season highlight was winning the King of the Mountains at the Tour of South Africa.
Focused Cycling are a team full of talents, with  Kenny Elissonde, Alex Kirsch and Toms Skujins. Avenir debuts for all of them, and they should all be back in future aswell. Of the 3, Kirsch has had the best GC result of the season - 11th overall at the Tour du Limousin - while Elissonde and Skujins have both come close to their first pro victories taking 2nd in a stage of Taiwan and Bayern Rundfahrt respectively.
This will be the one and only Avenir for Spyker's team leader  Nairo Quintana though and comes too early in his development for him to shine. He took 3rd in a stage of the Tour de San Luis.
The Vespa/B&O combination will expect  Michal Kwiatkowski to improve on his 98th overall here last year. Youll get good odds on that. The Pole has had a fairly quiet season though, 19th overall at the Transfagarasan GP stands out. Sam Bennett might feature in the sprints.
24th overall last year,  Ben Curfs leads the Bpost effort - and has plenty of teammates to help him. New teammates though, since he has been riding on loan at Carmeuse, gaining experience. 88th overall at the Giro, 97th at the Vuelta.
For Rapha Condor, the main focus is  Adam Blythe - hunting a stage victory in his final Avenir appearances. He hasnt exactly been good at winning this season though. Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay will see what he can do Overall - he was 18th overall at the Presidential Tour of Turkey.
Next on the startlist is the control team. Compiled of 5 young riders who really cannot understand why no team - not even a D2 team - signed them this season. The likes of Romain Bardet will see how high in the GC they can get, without interfering in the race.
Like Rapha, Milka's main target will be the sprints, with Aussie  Leigh Howard. He took 36th overall in the flat that is the Tour of Qatar.
More than anything, Rothaus are here for the race experience. 6 of their team have no CT ranking points - the standout individual performance being  Daniel Vesely's 13th at the Criterium Hainleite.
The German national team has riders from VolksWagen, Koppert, Eurovision and Puma.  Rick Zabel could be a future Sprint stage winner here, while Jan Dieteren took 4th in a stage of Vuelta a Leon.
East Block represents Pivovarna Laško, Metinvest - Slovnaft and Serbia Telecom. Most likely to do something is probably the Qatari  Ahmed Albourdainy.
Another experience hunting team are Saab-Scania.  Glenn Likhaya was 2nd in the KoM competition of the Tour du Limousin.
The only D2 team competing under their own colours here in Avenir are Armavia. But their team leader  Jurkha Arabuli only has 59 Mountain, so it could be a tough race - breakaways will be the target.
And finally, the British team! 1 rider each from Cyclevox, Pokerstars, Dyson and Rapha Condor. Theyll also be hunting the breakaways.  George Atkins was 9th in GP Herning.
Spoiler Cal Giant
1. R. Eastman
2. A. Ablenado
3. M. Hasnaoui
4. J. Simon
5. D. Talbott
6. E. Weiss
Wiggle
11. P. Scarponi
12. A. Fenn
13. P. Locatelli
14. M. Moser
15. L. Rowe
Wikipedia
21. T. Pinot
22. S. Blanco
23. K. Eeckhout
24. J. McCarthy
25. A. Semple
26. A. Talansky
27. C. Verona
Ferrari
31. P. Sagan
32. E. Battaglin
33. G. Fonzi
34. R. Guillemois
35. K. Marchewka
36. A. Santoro
37. A. Scodeller
Festina
41. T. Kennaugh
42. M. Landa
43. M. Matthews
44. J. Steigmiller
45. P. Vlatos
Cerne
51. R. Reis
52. L. Afonso
53. A. Antunes
54. B. Borges
55. L. Coutinho
56. J. Insausti
57. A. Mourato
Hollister
61. C. Betancourt
62. R. Caminiti
63. T. Kuphaldt
64. P. Pereyra
65. T. Schwarmes
Oz
71. G. Bennett
72. H. Antoniou
73. F. Besada
74. K. Cheung
75. L. Durbridge
76. M. Othman
77. M. Vink
Meiji
81. C. Shikai
82. H. Fukata
83. T. Hayakawa
84. T. Scully
85. G. Yamamoto
Focus
91. K. Elissonde
92. J. Adams
93. B. Jungels
94. A. Kirsch
95. T. Skujins
96. T. Thill
Spyker
101. N. Quintana
102. M. Andersen
103. A. Kamyshev
104. E. Viennet
B&O
111. M. Kwiatkowski
112. A. Balloni
113. S. Bennett
114. J. Navarro
115. R. Quaade
Bpost
121. B. Curfs
122. M. De Bie
123. M. La Lavandier
124. J. Paquet
125. J. Polanc
126. J. Stallaert
127. R. Stenuit
128. J. Stuyven
129. W. Van Den Eynde
Rapha Condor
131. T. Grmay
132. N. Berhane
133. A. Blythe
134. Y. Reguigui
135. E. Rowsell
A
141. J. Kern
142. R. Bardet
143. M. Koch
144. M. Renault
145. D. Rinner
Milka
151. A. Delaplace
152. A. Domont
153. J. Hosek
154. L. Howard
155. T. Paprstka
156. T. Reinhardt
Rothaus
161. T. Koep
162. A. Krieger
163. M. Schachmann
164. F. Scheit
165. F. Schiewer
166. N. Schoch
167. D. Turek
168. D. Vesely
Germany
171. J. Dieteren
172. D. Klemme
173. K. Predatsch
174. C. Roth
175. P. Schachtner
176. R. Zabel
East Block
181. A. Albourdainy
182. D. Krneta
183. B. Puric
184. F. Rada
185. M. Sribar
186. M. Zmorka
Saab
191. U. Galiev
192. T. Azaltovic
193. P. Lavery
194. G. Likhaya
195. C. Løwenstein
196. A. Nehoray
197. J. Sørensen
Armavia
201. J. Arabuli
202. G. Arakelyan
203. F. Cappannari
204. O. Fabbro
205. I. Lagrou
206. D. Mkrtehyan
207. M. Palumbo
208. R. Zhilenko
Britain
211. D. McLay
212. G. Atkins
213. M. Gee
214. J. Perrett
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 25-06-2012 23:53
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Certainly excited to see how my riders do, but I'm not overly optimistic of anything. It seems even when we aren't the biggest underdog we still have no results 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 08:35
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| ember |
Posted on 25-06-2012 23:54
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Great, great preview! Will be interesting to see how the talents play it out, with Eastman as the obvious favourite. |
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 25-06-2012 23:59
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Seen as it's Wimbledon time - come on Tim! |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 26-06-2012 02:11
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Great preview SN. I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes for us. Some stage top 10s are all I am hoping for and maybe a top 20 from Curfs?
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 26-06-2012 03:16
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Very nice work SN, hopefully my 2 riders can help the Wikipedia boys and perhaps get their own chance to shine at least once in the 10 stages.
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| Heine |
Posted on 26-06-2012 06:26
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Go team Germany! Not much hope tbh, just want the riders to have a good time, go on some attacks
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 26-06-2012 07:32
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Go East block!
Hopefully we will be visible in some breaks and i hope for Ahmed to fight for top 25-30 in GC. With Alakagom as the team manager nothing can surprise us with his stolen Sky plans.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 26-06-2012 07:33
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I'd like to see East Block and Armavia do well, but I'm supporting Team GB here. Eastman is my tip for the overall.  |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 26-06-2012 08:00
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The parcours make this one quite interesting, the two American teams who to be honest have invested in young talent for some time will look to dominate. They just have to keep it together for the final stages.
Fascinated to see how this one turns out, always a nice race to follow.
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| roturn |
Posted on 26-06-2012 09:01
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Eastman for the win. No one close to him I guess.
My team will suck most likely but I hope to grab a win in a breakaway. |
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| kumazan |
Posted on 26-06-2012 09:13
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Eastman for the win, clearly thanks to the help of his two D2 domestiques.
Interesting race for sure, I hope to see our East Block do something in the breaks.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 26-06-2012 11:19
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Looking forward to what George Bennett will be able to do here..
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 26-06-2012 11:30
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This has to be the moment of the season for our youngsters. They have been looking forward to this race since early autumn and finally its about to begin. We have absolutely no goals here whatsoever. We just want the riders to enjoy the opportunity to race together with the most skilled youth in the cycle world. But of course, if we was to be in a breakaway, we will work hard and relay so that we could survive the chase from the peloton. Maybe we could co-operate a bit with Team East Block? |
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 26-06-2012 12:24
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AMEX is very excited to have two of thier riders teamed to support Ryan Eastman. Maher Hasnaoui has already collected 54 points in the D2. He will be good help on all but the pure mountain climbs. Maher is also aggressive and will make the jump into the occasional breakaway.
David Talbot is another all-around rider who should be a steady domestique for Eastman in all terrains.
Go Ryan! |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 26-06-2012 14:37
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Eastman will win this thing that's a fact. Otherwise I'll buy a hat and eat it.
This race is always interesting, so I'm eager to read some reports. I hope we can reach a top10 or maybe a top5 with Reis, but I don't really know how viable this expectation is.
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| Deda |
Posted on 26-06-2012 14:47
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Go East Block!
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 26-06-2012 15:08
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Gustavovskiy wrote:
Eastman will win this thing that's a fact. Otherwise I'll buy a hat and eat it.
If he doesn't win I want a video of this on youtube right away 
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| dave92 |
Posted on 26-06-2012 15:32
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Pinot should do well here, hoping for a strong showing all around from my combined squad with CSC.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 26-06-2012 21:23
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Well that was an exciting start. McLay in the break and a British 1-2 in the Sprint. Good times here at Team GB, even if Blythe and Rowe aren't with us. |
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