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Tour of Hellas Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-10-2013 22:22
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The August keeps being a great month for the climbers. This time their way leads them to Greece for another parallel race. But as it`s (actually) parallel to the Volta a Portugal, we won`t see the same climbers for obvious reason. So probably one of the very few mountain races without the mountain dominator Kritskiy.
The course is promising a lot of action as well. 3 mountain stages, that couldn`t be much more differential. One mountain top finish on the 2nd last day, where we might see the final GC decisions. A tough climb with a short descent on 2nd day and a mountain chain stage with a sprint finish after a long descent.
But also the hills might be important even though the only hilly stage doesn`t look too hard and in especially the final is very flat.
The sprinters have 3 chances on the paper. But the 1st and the last stage could become tough with some late hills, while the 5th stage is more or less absolutely flat.
So who are the favourites? More or less all teams have climbers here but obviously there are huge differences.
Top favourites are  Taaramae,  Pozzovivo,  Popovych,
 Dekker and  Alarcon. All of them avoided Kritskiy here but probably the competition will be harder than in Portugal as we see far more riders, who can be expected to win the race. Not only these four. Also the next row of riders has realistic chances as their aren`t much weaker.
 Gomez Marchante,  Kiserlovski,  Ratiy and  Lövkvist.
Their difference to the first mentioned is pretty small here and the tactic might become important as also the team strength.
More outsider favourites, who could be expected to mix the top favourites a bit are  Ji,  Agudelo/Vasquez,  Anton,  Devolder,  Kolesnikov/Kunshin and  Efimkin.
Then we have the teams without any topfavourite. Those have to hope for a surprise to enter the top10 or at least a top15-20 like  Peraud,  Morabito,  Ruijgh or  Bakhin.
And different to the parallel HC race in Portugal, where some CT teams really mixed up, we don`t have any wildcards here.
Sprinterwise we see some good sprinters even though the lack of chances.
Top favourite surely Allan Davis, one of the best sprinters in the PCT. He will be challenged by Ferrari and Modolo or in case of the hills having huge impact eventually Bole, Anderson or Capecchi.
Edited by roturn on 25-10-2013 09:03
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| CountArach |
Posted on 24-10-2013 22:50
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Oooh, tough line up to call. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Pozzovivo.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 25-10-2013 05:41
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Ouch, Popovych missing completely from the preview,despite being rated as third favourite.  
We have a top5 goal and i hope Popo will be able to just do that on some 4th,5th place, fingers crossed. Should be a nice battle against usual suspects. 
Also are we waiting for Burgos outcome, or the reports will be not connected to it? Thanks for the nice preview Roturn (except that Popovych leftout) 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 02:29
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| roturn |
Posted on 25-10-2013 09:07
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Must have forgotten him after Pozzovivo, probably due to the names. Added him. Belongs obviously to the favourites.
The reports will start today/tomorrow. Burgos will be continued later when SN has more time.
For my team it`s one of those wildcards where I have no ambitions. I should have known earlier that Bellis signs with me, then I would have set other priorities for the HC races.
Now it`s at least a chance for Rob Ruijgh to perform in the mountains.
Sprintwise I can only hope for Van Heerden to make the top5-10 eventually. So breakaways are needed.
Edited by roturn on 25-10-2013 09:07
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-10-2013 09:13
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Ain't expecting anything, so any result with some points will do. Peraud had only one decent race for Oz so far, maybe he will prove me wrong now and performs better than predicted. A stage-win out of a break would be nice, too, if that's okay with you, guys
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| roturn |
Posted on 25-10-2013 16:24
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The Greek fans unfortunately can`t sheer for many of their rare Greek riders.
As only one Pivovarna Lasko nominated their sprinter Polychronis Tzortzakis. So a lot of pressure will be on him.
Alstom-RBC haven`t nominated Georgos Tzortzakis and as Evian and Magna don`t participate at all, there were no more Greek riders eligible to ride their home race.
So it`s time to add/sign/encourage more Greek talents over the next seasons.  |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 25-10-2013 16:45
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ouuch, tough startlist!
Come on and get the points we need Lövkvist o co! |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 25-10-2013 20:10
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Really need a good result here! Haven't had much of note lately, but the startlist looks so strong, so it will be tough to break that streak.
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 25-10-2013 23:05
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6th! Would have loved to see Dekker win this stage - would mean he's leading two stage races at the same time. Oh well, can still happen |
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| roturn |
Posted on 26-10-2013 17:00
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As if you had known it.
Congrats for this win.
For me not the best stage. First Voss missed the jump into the breakaway. Then Ruijgh couldn`t join the late attacks and in the end the top30 might be the only acchievable thing. |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 26-10-2013 17:06
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Well a 2nd place for Modolo is nice, and Ji now in the Top 10. Not too bad there. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they go against you, so to stay fairly neutral I think its not that bad.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 26-10-2013 17:23
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I knew I didn't have the strongest riders here, but seriously, all my climbers at least 17 minutes behind? My team should be considered eligible for double relegation to the mini man-game
Thanks for the great reports roturn! |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 26-10-2013 19:35
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Meh... Why can't Peraud or anyone else on my team just over-perform somewhere?! All i do read is "riders being dropped.... Peraud"
I should start planning for CT, this second half of the season is a total disaster for Oz so far.
Thanks for the reports, roturn! Especially since you are quite busy with reports atm
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 26-10-2013 20:16
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At least Anton hung on this time. We need the points over say... Peraud and tsmoha.  This relegation battle is going to go down to the final race I feel. 
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 27-10-2013 08:27
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Awesome. Dekker now leading in both Burgos and Hellas - he's that good Still very close, obviously. |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 27-10-2013 08:52
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oooh nice Lövkvist, what we needs
thanks for that report, please do them in the same success for us |
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-10-2013 18:40
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Had hoped for more of my team.
They did try to attack and Passeron would have been nice if he had made it.
But after the break was set a very boring race for my riders. Hope to get some better results soon.
Congrats to Metinvest for this win. Nicely done.
Also Swedbank slowly but steady taking some points.
Edited by roturn on 27-10-2013 18:40
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| viking90 |
Posted on 27-10-2013 19:11
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wooho! More points! |
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 27-10-2013 23:02
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We got through without any problems. Good enough. |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 28-10-2013 14:21
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Fingers crossed for a group sprint, stage 4 -> Kolesnikov!
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