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Nokere - Koerse Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 07-03-2013 22:20
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There's two C2 cobbled race on at the same time, with Nokere-Koerse alongside Trofej Porec. This one has a slightly lower proportion of cobbles, but it does have the ManGame history, and presumably that is the key factor in attracting the stronger field of the two races. The last 3 years has seen a solo winner, will that continue?
The leading three CT cobbled riders are all here.  Geraint Thomas has the support of Martin Grashev and Jamie Sparling for Boeing, and will hope to better his previous best result here of 8th - which has happened twice!
It won't be easy though, as he faces competition racing on home soil.  Nikolas Maes had a great start to the season with 3rd in the C1 Bahir Dar and is clearly relishing the leadership role after being wastes as a domestique for Team Bpost last season.
But if the race comes down to a sprint finish, the man to watch will be  Gert Steegmans. He probably did not expect to be leading a squad of Costa Rican climbers here, pre-transfers, but that is how it has turned out!
Only 3 riders have turned up for Gazelle, but they will have high hopes of a result nonetheless from  Roy Sentjens.
Sentjens is but an outsider compared to the lead 3 favourites - and the other 4 teams here will have to be increasingly optimistic to battle for the podium. Vattenfall will hope for  Guytan Lillholt while Ekspla have  Christopher Stevenson. ANC will be led by  Richard Tanguy, and Belgian squad  HTC-Nieuwsblad are here to fly the flag for PCT, experience hunting. Tom Van Asbroeck is their best rider on the cobbles here, but 22 riders have a better cobbled stat than him.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 07-03-2013 22:37
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I can't see these cobbles being selective enough so Steegmans will take this I feel.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 08-03-2013 00:16
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Cool that the big three have all chosen Nokere-Koerse. This means that I might have one of the strongest line-ups in Porec.
I'm not sure what to expect of Sentjens here. He's definitely one of the better cobblers. But those cobbles might not be selective enough, causing him to get swamped in a sprint.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 08-03-2013 00:41
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I wonder whether the small field size will lead to problems, and the Porec startlist has to be really interesting with the best riders here!
I also back up Steegmans, though out of a select group of the three best plus a few other leaders.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 08-03-2013 06:24
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Steegmans or wild break taking it. 
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| jaxika |
Posted on 08-03-2013 06:30
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Maes with a long attack |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 08-03-2013 08:08
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Top 10 would be great with this young squad here possibly, and an excting race as well hopefully.
Edited by Alakagom on 08-03-2013 08:08
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| cio93 |
Posted on 08-03-2013 11:21
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Alakagom wrote:
Top 10 would be great with this young squad here possibly, and an excting race as well hopefully.
Nice to see you're taking the Puma approach - half of the races used for xp gaining only 
(mind you I got ~4 stage wins that way  )
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 08-03-2013 19:14
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Big expectations here. Anything but victory will be a dissapointment here.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 08:11
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 08-03-2013 19:22
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Just a better result that Bahir Dar will make me happy.... Sort of...
If we finish outside the Top10 i'll be angry, in the Top5 and i'll be ecstatic.
Small startlist will cause problems, but the fact its cobbled means the AI works differently. It won't be a random break, but it will probably be the first or second set of attacks by the main guns/outsiders.
Of course the favorites are Steegmans and Maes, especially with nationality bonus. But if Mihaylov and Thomas are there at the finish they can sprint rather well.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 08-03-2013 19:23
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Let's see how the race will play out. My bet here... Thomas, just because. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 09-03-2013 14:11
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I think it is time for Nico Maes to show himself, though beating Steegmans will be very tough. Hard to believe Thomas will win in Belgium, that said Cancellara did
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| MrDemus |
Posted on 09-03-2013 15:15
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I do not have much faith in Stevensons abilities here. With a bit of luck and all everything can happen, but I am not counting on anything.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 09-03-2013 20:31
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A fire rocket into the air for race tactics. |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 09-03-2013 20:35
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Goddamit....
But still happy with the result, and ecstatic with the performance from Thomas!
In fact just happy with BVP in general.
The break made it, which really messed things up behind. Congrats to the winners
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 09-03-2013 20:46
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8th and 11th, I guess that's quite nice considering we didn't have anyone special here. Asboreck showing bit of class winning that sprint was also nice.
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| jaxika |
Posted on 09-03-2013 21:02
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A little bit sad because of Maes, he really missed hes helping mate, Coyot, to make the race a little tougher, but in the other side, Coyot bring home a win in Porec Congrats for the winner and thanks for the nice report. |
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| baggieboys32 |
Posted on 09-03-2013 21:03
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very happy to get 9th thanks to Robby Squire, good performance from the team in a race where we had no real expectations
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 09-03-2013 21:19
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No idea why the cobble AI sometimes decides that as soon as the favourites go away everyone else just stops :/ |
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 09-03-2013 22:19
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dev4ever wrote:
Big expectations here. Anything but victory will be a dissapointment here.
I take that back.  Still no victory for Steegmans, but two guys on the podium is just awesome. Especially from Meul until he decidet to lead-out Moren.. If only radio-contact were allowed.
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
