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Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Discussion Thread
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| roturn |
Posted on 17-02-2013 10:46
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As last of the three parallel PT races the Volta Catalunya invites some of the best climbers to Spain, while the puncheurs already ride in France and Italy.
The Volta Catalunya starts this year with a medium team time trial but will be decided in the hard mountain stages with the queen stage surely being on the second last day. So it`s no surprise that most of the best climbers are here. 17 riders with a mountain stat of 80+ says enough I think. 2 former winners (3 if you count the Control Team), 3 other riders, who podiumed here once and 8/10 of last years Top10 will again participate. With such a quality it`s very hard to predict the winner.
So let`s begin with last years winner:
 Pluchkin is even stronger than last season and definitely belongs to the very best stage racers in the Pro Tour and obviously is one of the top favourites again. Without a real star elsewhere Team B&O has to hope for a lot of points by their leader.
 Andy Schleck might be the best climber and after one season away from cycling he is back at his best. The 2nd from 2010 could win his first race in 2013.
Coming to the home favourites, who surely want to win it again.
 Valverde won this race as last Spaniard in 2011 and will lead his team here. The moved up a division but surely wants to prove his worth on PT level again. His team mate Pedraza is capable to top 10 here as well as proven often in the past. His best result was a 4th in 2011.
 Tenorio finished the race as 5th last season and might be Spains biggest hope for the GC win here. The young stage racer did improve a lot over the last 2-3 years.
 Contador. The ageing star is still one of the very best. He had a lot of bad luck last season but also a lot of good moments. This here was one of his better races last season, where he finished 3rd.
 Intxausti was the runner-up in 2012. After changing teams to Bacardi only the 1st would be an improvement for him here.
 Gomez Marchante for wild card team ING leads maybe the strongest squad here. Together with Castano and Roche he surely wants to beat the bigger teams.
So much from the Spaniards. Now coming back to some more huge stage racers.
 Amador also belongs to the best climbers and stage racers after some training sessions in the winter. The Costa Rican might lack some experience in Catalunya but he will surely battle for the podium.
 Spilak is one of AKER`s big stars this year after losing Alarcon. The team can need every point but can Spilak deliver? The Slovenian is a very good allround stage racer and should be hard to get rid of.
 Rujano stayed with Pokerstars after promotion and will be a very interesting climber to watch this season. He loves to attack and he might need to in this race.
 Sella was last year`s runner-up in the Giro and riders for another newly promoted team in Simply Red Bull. Similar to Rujano he might need to attack here to distance the stronger stage racers.
 Sicard. Unbelievable that the French stage racer is not at his maximum yet. He alraedy belongs to the very good stage racers and should be a solid point scorer this season.
 Henao Montoya is another top climber. He needs to step up a bit to beat the other riders here but a top5-10 is possible.
Other riders with realistic chances to enter the top10 are  Kohl,  Van den Broeck,  Velits,  Denifl and  Eastman.
Outside favourites for a top result are  Costagli,  Lloret or  Brambilla.
With 3 stages possibly for the sprinters we can also present some fast men:
Guerao got a lot of training. So far he wasn`t able to deliver solid results.
Van Stayen might be the best puncheur of the top sprinters here. He surely wants to have an impact on these stages.
Holloway is another fast man from the USA.
Outside chances in the sprints for Meyer, Vanoverschelde, Forero, Van Avermaet, Croket, Bazayev and Blythe.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 11:12
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Another impressive startlist. A top 10 for Velits will be almost impossible.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 11:37
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Top 10 was my initial goal, but that requires some luck with that massive startlist.
Seems like some managers will be angry about how few points their supposed superstars will get from this race 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 14:56
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| ember |
Posted on 17-02-2013 11:42
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Hopefully Spilak can get inside the top 10. Though, it looks like he'll loose quite a lot on the TTT, meaning he'll have to gain time on other climbers to get inside the top 10. That's going to be tough.
Really competitive start list, Schleck is my favourite for the overall. Looking forward to the reports!  |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 17-02-2013 11:43
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Its a massive startlist indeed, will be fun to see how Andy gets on. Not the strongest mountain support he will get this season - but hoping the TTT can put him in a decent position compared to some of his rivals.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 17-02-2013 11:49
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Hoping for a decent GC from Sella here - though Pluichkin + Schleck, Amador, Spilak and the Spanish riders are going to be hard to beat.
Don't think the gaps will be huge in the TTT, so I'd be surprised if that is much of a factor. The climbs look brutal, stage six is a fantastic looking stage.
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 17-02-2013 12:00
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There goes any chance of points here
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| beagle |
Posted on 17-02-2013 12:06
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Very strong startlist, it would be miracle to sneak into TOP10 for Rujano.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SotD |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:12
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Jesus fucking christ. I knew the competition would be fierce, but a real chance not getting a top 10 from this race was never in the cards. Oh dear oh dear.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:29
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Not optimistic. |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:33
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Can't wait to see how the team will do in our first ever Pro-Tour race, I hope for a top 10 spot with Marchante but it'll be incredible tough!
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| Roman |
Posted on 17-02-2013 13:52
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Hopefully it was a good idea to bring Henao Montoya here, top 10 should be a realistic goal, I guess. Forero could do something as well, but I thought that in the last season as well and he did absolutely nothing. Nepo for a breakaway maybe then?
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| Kami |
Posted on 17-02-2013 14:10
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I really hope for a top 5, although a top 10 looks more realistic. Going to need a bit of luck.
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-02-2013 14:12
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Its a massive startlist indeed, will be fun to see how Andy gets on. Not the strongest mountain support he will get this season - but hoping the TTT can put him in a decent position compared to some of his rivals.
Looks like we have somewhat similar TT lineups. Should be very exciting!
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| SotD |
Posted on 17-02-2013 14:20
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This race should be an indicator on how well my season is going. Contador/Guerao combination is also for Vuelta a España. If they can compete with the best here I might get a super Vuelta, if not - I'm screwed!
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 14:56
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Coming in as massive underdogs with Blythe as my sub-top sprinter, and Costagli as a sub-top climber leaves me with the only options of either performing to expectations (ie getting points for riding around) or over-performing (ie getting any more than those mentioned "riding around" points).
I will be interested to see how the guys perform in the TTT though. I would, of course, prefer it if Costagli isn't dropped, however, if that then meant he was more aggressive later on, I guess I could cope with that. |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 17-02-2013 16:52
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What a stacked field. Top 5 for Amador would be an achievement, so I'll take anything around there.
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 17:12
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Santander have finally shown up this season, but we seem to have walked into a minefield. A top 5 would be good here. I'm interested to see how Tenorio gets on as leader.
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| SotD |
Posted on 17-02-2013 17:17
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mb2612 wrote:
Santander have finally shown up this season, but we seem to have walked into a minefield. A top 5 would be good here. I'm interested to see how Tenorio gets on as leader.
I think he should be doing just fine with his training...
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 17:21
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SotD wrote:
mb2612 wrote:
Santander have finally shown up this season, but we seem to have walked into a minefield. A top 5 would be good here. I'm interested to see how Tenorio gets on as leader.
I think he should be doing just fine with his training...
Hopefully, but I fear he will struggle to keep up with Schleck, Contador and Pluchkin
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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