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GP Miguel Indurain: Discussion
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 03-04-2013 17:58
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The C2 hilly classics have been a great source of good racing so far this season, so we hope for that trend to continue as we take a look at the next race in that line.
The Basque town of Estella hosts this race in honour of Spain's five-time Tour de France winner Indurain. After a variety of different loops around the area, the riders will climb up to Basilica del Puy for a short but steep uphill finale. Lots of climbs overall, so a race purely for the classics specialists.
In terms of riders, it's mostly about three teams.
 Team Gazelle
Being widely tipped to promote doesn't seem to have damaged the Dutch squad's strength so far in the season, and they're looking to continue that trend today. Team leader Pieter Weening is surely keen to take his first classic of the year after last month's surprise win in Volta a Galicia. He is as usual flanked by an all 70+ hill squad, ready to steer the race to their desired scenario.
 Iberia - Comunidad Valenciana
At the end of January, they were already halfway down Promotion Avenue, but their trip was hindered a bit when the team failed to meet the highly set expectations in GP Postojna. An aging Sammy Sanchez couldn't handle the pressure of leading the team, and has now been degraded to second in line, as main captain Purito Rodriguez takes back the leading seat - looking for his 2nd classic of the season.
 Kappa-ENI
A so far very strong Michele Scarponi leads the last of the three big teams. The Italian has been roaming both C1 and C2 races, and hasn't left any race without a podium. With help from high-quality domestiques like Failli, Mori and Maisto, everything looks set for him to keep going that way.
The other teams will also have a say in the discussion, though.
 Kenya Airways - Barclays
Another team with a really broad force, including no less than five 70+ puncheurs next to frontman Tarik Chaoufi. He is still pretty untested in a race like this, as we've only really seen him in the Middle East Tour, which didn't suit his characteristics at all. The true definition of dark horse.
 Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
Ex-Warner Bro Yannick Talabardon was a bit of a revelation in the San Cristobal season opener with a fourth place finish in a strong field. That surely strengthened the odds of him leading the team once again, especially considering that a bleaching Kim Kirchen couldn't quite hang with the best in Cuba. The speedy Matteo Carrara must also be watched carefully.
 FC Barcelona
A bit too aggressive riding early in Postojna costed Jordi Grau a good result at the finish, so he must try to save his legs a bit better if he wants to make up for that today. 10th in San Cristobal could be seen as a bit of a benchmark for what to expect, as the finale there is quite similar to this one. Mikel Nieve will also be a big danger, as they'll both have great support from the Spanish home crowd.
 Vattenfall Cycling
The Swedish outfit will probably struggle to match the strongest teams today, but they have plenty of capable outsiders if they feel like staging an early move of some sort. Veteran climber Alexander Gingsjo is probably their best card, together with the swift Simon Galle. A top 10 is definitely within reach, but it'll be difficult for them to reach further than that.
 CSC-Orbea
The C1-allergic Sergio Barrio makes another visit to the lower division with his Spanish team. He seems to be enjoying these less contested races as seen by a 6th and an 8th place in San Cristobal and Kathmandu, respectively. Perhaps time for a top 5 now, with help from the home crowd?
 Team Credexbank
With neither Przemyslaw Niemiec nor Michal Golas present for the Belarussian team, this will be tough. Adrian Honkisz, Stanislau Bazhkou and Alexei Tsikhanau will try to make the best out of the situation for them, but even a top 10 for them will be difficult.
The full list of starters:
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 02-05-2013 20:00
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-04-2013 18:01
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Yet another race where I miss Mehr-Wenige.
Although he is doing quite well in the C1 races I think he could have scored more by getting several podiums in C2 races. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 03-04-2013 18:02
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We're back racing again 
Hopefully Chaoufi can do something here, hoping for a top 5, maybe even a podium. Ibeira will be very hard to beat on home turf, I think Rodriguez will take this.
Great preview Pelli! |
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 03-04-2013 18:05
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A Spanish race and we haven't won since early January so the goal is simple! The win!
I'm looking forward to see what the Rodriguez - Sanchez combo can do. Sanchez was quite a letdown in San Cristobal when Rodriguez was racing as well though a race scenario like that would definatly be fine for me.
I think Barrio will prove the hardest opposition here for our guys.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 04-04-2013 00:28
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Come on, Weening! I want to see some smart racing from you this time.
I don't expect a win because Iberia should excel on these Spanish roads. One man on the podium and another in top 10 should be possible though.
We do need a selective race for that. A mass peloton sprint worked out well for us in GP Postojna, but it might just as well turn out to be a disaster this time. So I hope for strong attacks from the favorites.
Nice intro, Pelli. I like the added context from describing the top contenders' season and how they did in the previous C2 hilly classics.
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| fintas |
Posted on 04-04-2013 00:36
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roturn wrote:
Yet another race where I miss Mehr-Wenige.
Although he is doing quite well in the C1 races I think he could have scored more by getting several podiums in C2 races.
I have to agree with you, but unfortunately this first season made ​​some mistakesplanning and will pay for it .... This was undoubtedly a good race for him ..
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 07:42
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 04-04-2013 00:41
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Come on Barrio we got to keep our Spanish fans from those C2 teams 
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| CountArach |
Posted on 04-04-2013 00:54
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The flat finish looks like it was just made for Purito.
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| Stevenag |
Posted on 04-04-2013 06:42
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Finally a real race again. Scarponi should fight for the victory, but a top five should be accepted. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 04-04-2013 07:17
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Scarponi has a pretty good finish, as does Rodriguez of course. One of those two for me, unless we get some sort of tactical meltdown of course - but that does not seem to happen quite as much in the hilly classics.
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 04-04-2013 08:03
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CountArach wrote:
The flat finish looks like it was just made for Purito.
It's far from flat, actually. The final few hundred meters are on a quite steep gradient. 
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| CountArach |
Posted on 04-04-2013 09:41
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Pellizotti2 wrote:
CountArach wrote:
The flat finish looks like it was just made for Purito.
It's far from flat, actually. The final few hundred meters are on a quite steep gradient.
Okay, I still think that a small group will arrive together and that's going to suit Purito anyway
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 04-04-2013 10:22
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I'm always in no man's land... Not good enough to be a contender not bad neither to be free to go.
Grau tends to be over aggresive, I like that, but sometimes, if the field is too strong, he is not able to mantain the effort until the end and struggles when the favs attack.
I just hope he just keeps position and attack when the favs do it. On the other hand, Nieve should try to put some kind of long range attack because he's not one of the favs. That was the idea when I planned the hilly races with those two leaders.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 04-04-2013 12:30
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The problem for the high quality mid-stage attackers (like for example Grau) in the C2 hilly classics so far is that they are being chased by a horde of domestiques that are almost as good as them.
Iberia has 74, 74, 74, 72, 72, 71, 70, 70, 70 to choose from. They also have a 76 for emergencies.
Gazelle has 74, 73, 73, 73, 73, 73, 73, 70 to choose from and a 75 for emergencies.
Adira has 70, 70, 70.
If Scarponi is in the race, Kappa also becomes a chaser and that adds 74, 74, 71 to the mix.
That is hard to stay away from.
About the finish of this stage; let's not forget that downhill right before the sprint. It might give Samuel Sanchez the edge. Nino Schurter would've been awesome here for that reason.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 04-04-2013 18:07
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From what Pelli said, Purito might have the advantage here. Still, my bet here is Weening, mainly because I don't think that he wants to sprint. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 05-04-2013 10:11
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Really bad tactics from us, not even attacking when all the favorites had gone. Chaoufi is having a terrible season 
Congrats to Kappa, really establishing themselves with Gazelle and Ibeira at the top of the division. I fear we have fallen back now after this terrible month.
Great report Pelli, as always. |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 05-04-2013 10:13
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What the hell is that car doing there???
Great race, shame I decided to sign up for some C1 races instead of letting Vorganov and Fonte ride these sort of races...
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 05-04-2013 10:19
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That again were good tactics from the team though we made one small mistake. It should have been Rodriguez who should have followed the Scarponi attack as Sanchez already spended a lot of energy earlier. Still he did a great job holding of Weening for the second place. Good points here!
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| ANFreeman |
Posted on 05-04-2013 10:19
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Great race to follow -congrats to Kappa, and Iberia who get a great points haul, too.
But, man of the day: Barrio. Hoped he'd pull off the win all along.
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 05-04-2013 10:32
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Grau is such a fidget arse... Why he can't just sit until the favs make the move?!?! Always the same, he just arrives to the final part completly exausted... And Nieve... Please you showed everybody that you were doing nothing just sitting in the peloton... you could try an attack at least one day...
After my rage attack, a 7th, 9th and 20th is a good result for us. 28 points is above our average per day so I'm happy.
Congratulations to Kappa and thanks to Pelli for the report. 
Edited by ggDonovan on 05-04-2013 10:32
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