Tour of Taihu Discussion
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SportingNonsense |
Posted on 03-10-2012 20:40
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The Asian tour moves north, from Australia to China, for a flat one day race that does include a few nasty but short climbs.
Clearly the standout rider in the field is Bennati as Puma look to continue their late season charge. Once again, a strong team supports him.
Another team to watch are Pokerstars as they look to make the Top 5 in the rankings. Guillen is probably their fastest sprinter, but the likes of Kluge and Maaskant are certainly more powerful.
Battling for a Top 5 in the Asian standings meanwhile are Meiji Fuji - to be led by Japanese champion Yukiya Arashiro - and Oz Cycling Project, who have Baden Cooke. Other Australian sprinters present are Docker and Sutton - the latter hoping he and his team can keep Jayco in 2nd on the rankings.
Top of the rankings though are Bianchi, and Ciolek really should be featuring. Look out also for Feillu and Hushovd. Volkswagen and Hollister are here too, but could struggle.
Spoiler Puma
1. D. Bennati
2. M. Delage
3. E. Gasparotto
4. W. Kelderman
5. T. Kvist
6. O. Le Gac
7. G. Meersman
Bianchi
11. G. Ciolek
12. R. Dennis
13. J. Hochmann
14. G. Lequatre
15. A. Matzbacher
16. F. Odebrecht
17. P. Rooijakkers
Oz
21. B. Cooke
22. F. Besada
23. J. Bobridge
24. K. Cheung
25. M. Othman
26. M. Renshaw
27. M. Vink
Focus
31. R. Feillu
32. M. Andersen
33. D. Beatse
34. T. Meyer
35. F. Morizot
36. A. Nechita
37. C. Pineau
Pokerstars
41. R. Kluge
42. S. Dumoulin
43. A. Geslin
44. M. Guillén
45. M. Maaskant
46. N. Terpstra
47. K. Van Impe
Red Bull
51. C. Sutton
52. G. Brown
53. J. Giaux
54. A. Hansen
55. A. Jelloul
56. C. Manarelli
57. G. Tzortzakis
Saab
61. T. Hushovd
62. M. Brammeier
63. T. Gudsell
64. A. Lund
65. J. Pronk
66. K. Van Hummel
67. M. Westling
Meiji
71. Y. Arashiro
72. J. Bauer
73. Y. Hiratsuka
74. M. Lloyd
75. T. Nishitani
76. S. Park
77. C. Shikai
Cyclevox
81. M. Docker
82. C. Beyer
83. S. Casar
84. G. Heymes
85. R. Mandri
86. E. Oliphant
87. J. Perry
Team VW
91. A. Loddo
92. W. Anacona
93. G. Brenes
94. A. Flügel
95. W. Li
96. D. Schorn
97. R. Zabel
Hollister
101. Y. Martinez
102. R. Caminiti
103. D. MartÃnez
104. J. Mercado
105. P. Pereyra
106. R. Sambris
107. B. Selander
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cio93 |
Posted on 03-10-2012 20:51
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So, we need to perform amazingly here to keep the dream alive.
Thank god the start list is far worse than I feared.
I never prayed as much as now for a regular race and a regular mass sprint. But if these 7 guys can't do that, who else should?
Hollister seem weak enough here to still catch them, although a lot depends on the upcoming Faso stage. I suspect they are present in Japan as well?
For Venchi, we need 3 riders in the Top 7 at least besides relying on far too many other factors to waste any more thoughts on that. Damn.
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valverde321 |
Posted on 03-10-2012 20:52
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Really just hoping for a good result really. I probably should have brought a stronger sprinter, but I was expecting Arashiro to be a better sprinter than he's turned out to be.
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tsmoha |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:00
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It's getting frustrating to pray for Baden Cooke's first win But I still hope.. a bit concerned about the short, but tough looking hills though. If it's narrow roads here, we may fear some ugly splits Looking forward to our little nice battle, valverde321
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SportingNonsense |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:08
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@cio Hollister are in Japan yes, but theyre not a hills teams.
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cio93 |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:15
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SportingNonsense wrote:
@cio Hollister are in Japan yes, but theyre not a hills teams.
I've seen too many things happen in this game to write a team off only because of their lineup
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Heine |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:38
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I really hope for a late attack from Flügel or a over-achieving sprint from Loddo. I need this! Need to keep top 10 to reach my goal
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Posted on 24-11-2024 05:02
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ltt |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:40
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SportingNonsense wrote:
@cio Hollister are in Japan yes, but theyre not a hills teams.
That's the politest way of describing how utterly crap we are on hills |
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Smowz |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:42
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The Puma squad are a lock here, Bennati could mistime his sprint and still win I reckon.
I've just got to hope for a decent enough couple of guys in the top 10. Third place on the team rankings looks likely. I'll take that.
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beagle |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:47
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ltt wrote:
SportingNonsense wrote:
@cio Hollister are in Japan yes, but theyre not a hills teams.
That's the politest way of describing how utterly crap we are on hills
definitely not like my team
I don´t expect much from Guillen, with quite strong team here I can hope for some TOP20 places though. Really need it!!!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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ember |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:54
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I don't see why you really need that, beagle
Taking Faso into account, your 5th place should be safe
Though, I haven't tried to count your points, but I can't imagine you'll get less than 160 points when the cobbles and the race itself are done?
Puma has once again brought a great team around Bennati, meaning a breakaway is unlikely. I really can't see past Bennati for this one, just like in many other races this season. |
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beagle |
Posted on 03-10-2012 21:59
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ember wrote:
I don't see why you really need that, beagle
Taking Faso into account, your 5th place should be safe
Though, I haven't tried to count your points, but I can't imagine you'll get less than 160 points when the cobbles and the race itself are done?
Puma has once again brought a great team around Bennati, meaning a breakaway is unlikely. I really can't see past Bennati for this one, just like in many other races this season.
I counted and am still 14 points down atm
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jph27 |
Posted on 04-10-2012 09:27
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Bennati has to be the favourite here. If he wins with a few teammates in the Top 10 and Croket can sneak the win in Faso then maybe cio can begin to believe. |
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rjc_43 |
Posted on 04-10-2012 21:10
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I'd quite like to see Feillu take part in a sprint, but he'll probably attack with 5km to go and then get caught with 4km to go...
[url=cleavercycling.co.uk] [/url]
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Rin |
Posted on 05-10-2012 08:54
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I hope the Tour of Taihu will be a Ciolek show so we can seal the deal for the 1st place infront of Rapha.
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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cio93 |
Posted on 05-10-2012 20:44
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The tension kills me
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Heine |
Posted on 05-10-2012 21:04
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He's trying to be nice to me, so he rerun the race everytime one of my rider falls or get left behind in a split. Therefor we wont be able to read the report until sometime next month ;-)
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SportingNonsense |
Posted on 05-10-2012 21:20
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Heine wrote:
He's trying to be nice to me, so he rerun the race everytime one of my rider falls or get left behind in a split. Therefor we wont be able to read the report until sometime next month ;-)
26 attempts so far. Still no VW rider in the Top 10
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cio93 |
Posted on 05-10-2012 21:22
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Heine wrote:
He's trying to be nice to me, so he rerun the race everytime one of my rider falls or get left behind in a split. Therefor we wont be able to read the report until sometime next month ;-)
26 attempts so far. Still no VW rider in the Top 10
You can't demand anything if you line up Loddo
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SportingNonsense |
Posted on 05-10-2012 21:23
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Im actually replaying it until Puma pull off a 1-2-3 after their sprint train dropped everyone, just to see if cio will explode with over-excitement in response
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