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Taldykorgan GP Discussion
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| CountArach |
Posted on 04-09-2013 12:57
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Grand Tour Champion
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Welcome to Taldykorgan? What’s a Taldykorgan you ask? I’m glad you did, because my five minutes on Wikipedia has taught me that it is a small city in Kazakhstan populated mostly by, I guess, Kazakhs? Also they apparently have a football team. So there is that. So what has this got to do with cycling? Not a lot, but I thought you should know.
Today’s course is a total of 219.1km in length with the riders completing 15 circuits of a roughly 14.6km course to do that. Each circuit has two climbs. The first, creatively named Climb 1, is 2.8km in length with an average of 5.2% while the 2nd climb (can you guess the name?) is less challenging, at only 1.5km with an average of 5.4%.
So let’s have a look at who has made this epic trip out to Kazakhstan (did I mention that Taldykorgan has an airport? Because it does...). First up we have the Kazakhstani-registered team  Cisco. They come here not just as the home favourites but also as with the overall race favourite Aleksandr Efimkin. This puncheur’s talents are already well known and he can be expected to certainly fight it out for a win. Taborre and Salerno should provide solid support for him throughout the race and could well fight for decent positions themselves.
The second favourite listed is  Aleksandar Flügel. He isn’t quite as versatile as Efimkin and he will almost certainly have to win this with an attack but he will be a potent force to deal with the constant changes in gradient, particularly given his strong descending skills. Kessler is here as his main support and once again he will hope for a good place.
 Chris Froome is another rider who would likely have to win this with an attack given his general lack of sprinting ability. He will have to hope for a much more selective race. Perhaps here to help him to make that a reality is Alex Dowsett, the third Alex mentioned so far who has a real shot at placing well.
With the three biggest names out of the way we now move to those who will be aiming for a podium or at least a top 5.  Hassen Ben Nasser is the first of these. The Tunisian has a decent sprint on him but is also a top-quality puncheur. Speaking of a good sprint his teammate Kump could be one to watch out for if the race isn’t particularly selective.
Because Sinkewitz can’t lead in all of these races  Maurice Schreurs gets a turn to lead his team. He has a much stronger kick than most of the other contenders. His lack of top quality domestiques might hurt a bit, so he may find himself relying on other teams to do a lot of the harder chasing once the race kicks into gear.
 Jeremy Roy was an expensive signing in the off season for Alstom-RBC and these are the sorts of races where he really has to perform. The field isn’t as strong as it sometimes is so this is a great opportunity for him. He certainly has a strong team built around him here which could prove helpful.
One rider who might struggle with the distance is  Tommy Zaini, as he is much better in the shorter races and stages. His descending skills should help him, however. Another great descender who should be able to put in a great race here is  Fabian Wegmann. He is a great all-rounder – he can climb these short hills well, he can descend magnificently and to top it off he is one of the best sprinters amongst the favourites.
Now we move into those riders who will surely be aiming at a top ten place.  Oz Cycling bring a trio of riders like this - Giovanni Visconti, Matthew Lloyd and Pengda Jiao. Will this strength in depth and multiple options help to compete with the best? Another team putting faith in multiple leaders is the team of  Rui Costa, who also has Sergio Barrio as his co-captain.
Normally with  Vespa on the startlist you would assume that Ginanni is here as a favourite. On the contrary, Dario Cataldo is their leader and will be aiming for a top ten. Similarly with  Rothaus here you expect Bellis but Simon Geschke will lead their team. He will want a less selective race to allow his sprint to come into play.
Finally we have those who will just be hoping for a good result any way they can get it. These are the ones who might be able to pull a surprise if given a little bit of freedom.  Federico Rocchetti,  Cesar Andre Fonte and  Nino Schurter fall into this category.  Maky Roman,  Nariyuki Masuda and  Juan Sebastian Tamayo Martinez will all need a miracle to get a strong result but they come here leading their teams nonetheless.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 04-09-2013 13:24
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 04-09-2013 13:01
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World Champion
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Oh, the mistakes of coming here show. Well, at least I read this preview who made me laugh. 
My bet: mr. Rothaus, Geschke. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 04-09-2013 13:05
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Directeur Sportif
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Desperately needing a good result here! Hoping for our depth to pay off like it did earlier this year - don't remember the race i'm referring to  but everything but a Top-10 would be a disastrous result, which we really can't "afford" right now..
Also great preview! Made me smile here and there. Guess the name of the second climb is "Taldykorgan main climb", right?! 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:18
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-09-2013 13:40
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Bellis can`t be in every race.
And as Geschke is seen as sprinter by the game, I won`t have any chance here for a few points. ;( |
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 04-09-2013 13:45
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Brilliant preview Countarach!! |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 04-09-2013 14:05
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Grand Tour Champion
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Ah that first paragraph, great stuff Count. 
Don't expect much but at least I have two options for a good result. 
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 04-09-2013 15:01
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World Champion
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Brilliant preview! As the creator of the race, I quite enjoyed the first few paragraphs.
I'd very much like to win on home turf, but I'm lowering my expectations for the same reason I didn't pick this as a goal race - I tend to believe we'll end up with a sprint finish. Flügel, Ben Nasser, Schreurs and a few others may create problems for Efimkin.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 04-09-2013 15:17
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I'm not realy sure what to expcet from this one, If Schurter is tehre in the lead group at the finish (which I suspect could be 15-20 riders) then his DH stat should get him a good position for the sprint, that said I'm not sure if he's good enough to be there with the best at the end.
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 04-09-2013 16:58
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Ehm... Why Fonte and not Vorganov? I'm an idiot
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 04-09-2013 17:08
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Go Koretzky! |
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| Heine |
Posted on 04-09-2013 17:54
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I really hope Flügel takes this, I feel his results have been down lately
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 19:53
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Hope that Roy can take advantage of a slightly weak field to take some good points for us! |
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| kumazan |
Posted on 05-09-2013 20:20
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A top 5 is very realistic here, but with Roche and Ginnani resting (thank god ) I think we can dream with a victory. A podium would be good enough, anyway.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 06-09-2013 02:46
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World Champion
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I really enjoyed that preview Adding humour to it like you did makes it more enjoyable as a reader.
I hope you are wrong about Zaini and the distance, of course.
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| kumazan |
Posted on 06-09-2013 15:41
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And a top 5 it was. Bole saves our ass here, and it's not the first time. Ben Nasser keeps underperforming, but I guess the lack of selection in most hilly races is hurting his chances. Oh well, I think I can be satisfied with this.
Great report Count!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 06-09-2013 15:44
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Directeur Sportif
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First of all: great read!
Pretty satisfied with Visconti finishing 7th, even though i had hoped for Lloyd and Jiao to add more valuable and needed points. But i obviously can't complain, when beating Flügel in the sprint to the line, so i can live with it. Anyway, i'm definitely NOT looking forward to the new rankings
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 06-09-2013 15:45
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YES! What a win! I so needed that, I'm in shock.
Barrio in 11th too, it's unbelievable. Thanks for the great report Count.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 06-09-2013 15:56
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Roy so close but Anderson's 4th and Durasek's 12th mean it's not all bad well done CSC though Costa did well there to win from a strong group.
Great report Count as well made for a good read |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 06-09-2013 15:56
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Grand Tour Champion
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Mresuperstar wrote:
YES! What a win! I so needed that, I'm in shock.
Yeah after it happened the first thing I did was check the previous ranking updates and I realised how big this win was for you. This is the sort of win that could spell the difference between relegatin and keeping yourself afloat.
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| tyriion |
Posted on 06-09-2013 15:57
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Sprinter
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Great reporting on a thrilling race. And congratulations to CSC, they could really, really use that.
Now I can start dreaming too
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