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Paris - Nice Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-02-2013 21:37
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The three clashing ProTour races of Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and Volta Ciclista a Catalunya always brings a selection dilemna to ProTour managers. Tirreno had attracted many of the best Puncheurs and Sprinters in the peloton, while Catalunya will see many of the best Climbers. Paris-Nice meanwhile is very much the little Brother of these races this year - which is great news for those who have turned up here!
We have a prologue and 3 flat stages in the route - although the pure sprinters will have to fight hard to get something out of two of those three stages. There is plenty of tough climbing on our 4 hills stages, but many downhill finishes - with the exception of the stage to Mende.
It's the sort of route that might favour a rider who is strong on the hills, with a good sprint stat - which makes it all the more surprising that so few of them have turned up. Bakelandts, Hagen, Ponzi, Ulissi and Pozzato could all have gone very well here - instead theyve all gone for the race with more uphill finishes in Tirreno.
Of the 16 riders in the ProTour with an 80+ Hill stat, only two are here. It really is quite incredible.
It goes without saying therefore, that  Yuri Trofimov is a big favourite to do what no other rider has done in ManGame history - and win Paris-Nice for a 2nd time. Some of these stages are reminiscent of the first week of last year's Tour de France, where Trofimov tore up the race with ease. And with Santo Anza, he can count on some strong support.
His main rival will be  Stefan Schumacher. 4th last year, he will surely be able to improve that to a podium at the very least. He has never really managed to secure a big win in the ManGame, and this is surely the best opportunity he will get.
If all goes how paper would suggest, those two should be the ones on the top steps. Behind them, there is a great opportunity for some of the second tier punchers to deliver a great result.
There is  Luis Leon Sanchez for Project 1t4i, who will hope that some of the hill stages will actually be slightly more suited to those with a good mountain stat. Then there is the  Lotto - Cervelo pairing of Maxime Monfort and Juan Jose Cobo. An unlikely chance for them to lead in a hilly stage race and do well, with the team's better two puncheurs both in Italy. They will also have David de la Fuente to support them.
For Bacardi,  Anthony Roux has a chance to do well and will have the backing of the fans out of the road, while developing talent  Ben Gastauer gets his first opportunity at team leadership. And those are the only 7 riders in the race with 78+ hill.
 Taylor Phinney is more suited to mountains than hills but given the field, a good result is quite possible here - particularly if he can win the prologue and enter the hill stages with the race lead. With a similar skillset, [img][/img] Thomas Dekker makes his only ProTour ride of the year with a wildcard for Vueling Airlines. He almost won the race 6 seasons ago in 2007, finishing 2nd to Vinokourov.
As usual  Wiggle have gone all in for Tirreno-Adriatico, but could still get a good result here with Tom Diggle and Mikhail Ignatiev.  B&O are worth a mention too. Domenik Klemme will lead the team - with good support from Nico Keinath, who take a surprise 6th last year.
Lastly in our look at GC contenders, are a couple of team leaders who would find it face a challenge to win a C2 hill classic, but couple be capable of Top 15 finishes here:  Jukka Vastaranta, a stage winner last year, and  Dan Craven.
Onto the sprinters, and the stand out name is Ben Swift, who won the main bunch sprint in last year's race. We've already seen his leadout team of Merino Criado and Caethoven in action, and this time they will be the strongest train! Koenigseff are bidding to win every single stage though, and Tour de France stage winner Raul Granjel Cabrera is here.
The French challenge is led by another Tour stage winner Romain Vanderbiest, and look out for  Festina. Could we see Anthony Lavoine being led out by French road race champion Benoit Sinner?
Other contenders are  John Degenkolb, and the Argentine duo  Juan Jose Haedo and Maximilliano Richeze. And look out for  Daryl Impey on Stages 3 and 6 in particular.
The last rider we need to mention is  Jerome Coppel. He will be full of confidence following his Chrono des Herbier win at the end of the last season, and will be fully targeting the prologue here.
Even in this relatively weak PT field,  Pendleton's and  Simply Red Bull will face a tough time to score well. Perhaps they can exploit the fact that many of the leader's teams do not have a full strength squad of 8, and really target those breakaways?
And you only need to look at the startlist to see why  Santander and  Puma-Sap have not merited a mention. Theyve sent only 4 riders to this race.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 17-02-2013 20:13
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| ember |
Posted on 14-02-2013 21:54
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I hope my team in general, and especially Juul-Jensen, will be on the attack through the whole race, looking for breakaways. A stage podium from Impey would also be really nice.
This could be an interesting race, depending on how the hilly stages plays out. Most of the stages look like they'll have a big group sprint for the win. |
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 14-02-2013 21:54
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Woohoo, back in the Pro Tour - and with an incredible cool team: Dekker + 7 French riders.
Lots of other races would have suited Dekker more than P-N, but this should be fun anyway with my aspiring Frenchies 
Edited by CrueTrue on 14-02-2013 22:03
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| Kami |
Posted on 14-02-2013 21:57
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This might actually be a good race for Roux, with almost all puncheurs being in Tirreno.
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 14-02-2013 22:13
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Looks like we are set up for a good result here. Can't wait to see Schumacher go head to head with Trofimov while everyone else is in Italy.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 14-02-2013 22:13
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The obvious plan for SRB is breakaway breakaway breakaway...
Should have sent Bobridge here of course, could have nabbed a top ten maybe. Still could have and outside chance of tat in this company!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 14:09
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| roturn |
Posted on 14-02-2013 22:20
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Probably the weakest of the three PT races.
Smart move by Lotto to send a strong trio here. They could get many points here.
Krieger and Ariesen both will be here. Hopefully with some breakaway appearance. |
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| Roman |
Posted on 14-02-2013 23:46
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Only a small annoyance that Phinney is here. Hopefully Coppel will be stronger this time than the last time when he was racing in France..
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| cio93 |
Posted on 14-02-2013 23:52
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Well, we're rightfully here without a mention.
Bennati was sealed for Tirreno, and hoping that the mountain/hill-ratio helps VDB a bit wasn't worth the gamble.
So with 20 riders, it's obvious why we have 4 of them here.
Breaks and some KoM points to at least score some points would make this a success.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 15-02-2013 06:35
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Surprise to see not so much great hilly men in the race, now it looks like Trofimov-Schumacher battle, my tip is Trofimov going on rampage and winning not less than four stages and GC!
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 15-02-2013 06:41
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My roster is pathetic Though maybe I can get a long break surprise with... *checks team* nope nevermind
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| SotD |
Posted on 15-02-2013 08:28
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Could be interesting to see if Lavoine could actually do something on one of the stages here. I expect Bernaudeau to break into the top 10 on the TT. Damn I should have trained him instead of Guerao, looking at how relatively poor the TT competition is this season.
Free role for Chris Anker Sørensen an Bauke Mollema, I can only hope they get into some attacks. Chris Anker could break into the top 20 here with a good performance.
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| Rin |
Posted on 15-02-2013 20:18
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roturn wrote:
Probably the weakest of the three PT races.
Smart move by Lotto to send a strong trio here. They could get many points here.
Krieger and Ariesen both will be here. Hopefully with some breakaway appearance.
I don't know how good it could turn out as I don't know yet how to rate each races with or for my riders
The planning was:
Catalunya mountain riders plus TTT and Flat support, 8 riders because of the TTT
Tirreno for Cunego and Claeys
Filling up Paris-Nice
Filling up Tirreno
 Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 12:59
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Good start by Sanchez. Also, Simon seems to enjoy riding on home ground.
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:07
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And we're off. Fine start by Dekker. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:37
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Bernaudeau did the top 10 I was expecting him to do. I would be loving it if he could performe juuust a little bit more every now and again. Those results doesn't give anything pointswise, but oh well.
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| Roman |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:46
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Hmm, congrats to Phinney and his manager. 
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| mattiasgt |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:52
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Good start by Trofimov. Bodes well for the rest of the race.
Edited by mattiasgt on 17-02-2013 13:52
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Livin' Loud |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 17-02-2013 14:09
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Briefly considered Cancellara here, but it was hard to fit in. He possibly would not have started with the later GC men. Preferred to go with California, TONE and Tasmania as his stage race options.
Phinney blasting to a win is a big one from him, I still think Trofimov though is a massive favourite with Schumacher probably the biggest rival. Stage two may reveal a possible 'Hoffman' style contender in Swift. Though I think Mende at least will be too tough for that.
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-02-2013 14:10
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Very good start from Keinath!
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