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Tour of Utah Discussion
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 03-02-2014 18:39
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Tour of Utah stands as the final C2 stage-race of the season, and as such, one of the final chances for Continental teams to close in on their end-season goals.
A lot of variety in this 6-day event. Starting with a 3.7km prologue around Utah Olympic Park, then cruising through 2 days of plain ground, we reach the fourth day for another ITT this time of 19.8km around Miller Motorsports Park. Only then the road starts to incline. Stage 5 brings us a hilly course in Salt Lake City. If the climbers are still around by that time stage 6 is bound to bring major changes to the GC with the only mountain-top finish in Alta, literally ending this Tour on a high.
Such diversity of profiles, means a great variety in the startlist as well:
TTs:
As we’re used to  Oz dominates in this field with Ford and Olman.  Goddaert,  Rijntjes and  Sebright should also be cited as threats to the australians
Sprints:
Well there are only two flat stages, but everyone really really really seems to want to win them. I can’t bother to analyse all the sprinters individually, so just have this table:
| First name | Last name | Spr | Acc |  | Roman | Maksimov | 81 | 84 |  | Saulo | Lay | 79 | 81 |  | Anthony José | Brea | 78 | 76 | | Jake | Keough | 78 | 75 | | | Oleksandr | Polivoda | 77 | 77 |  | Geoffrey | Soupe | 77 | 75 | | Saïd | Haddou | 77 | 80 | | Georgos | Tzortzakis | 77 | 75 | | Héctor Fabian | Aguilar | 77 | 76 |  | Alex | Ciocan | 76 | 75 | | | Filipe | Cardoso | 76 | 75 |  | Mark | Renshaw | 76 | 75 |  | Isaac | Speirs | 76 | 80 | | Roy | Eefting | 75 | 74 |  | Iljo | Keisse | 75 | 74 |  | Abdalla | Ben Youcef | 75 | 76 | | Simon | Gaywood | 75 | 73 | | Steven | Tronet | 75 | 72 |  | Rahsaan | Bahati | 75 | 74 |  | Mohamed Harrif | Salleh | 75 | 76 |  | Marcos | Crespo | 75 | 74 |
GC candidates:
Pure climbers may have an opportunity if the race isn’t too decided before the last stage. Among these we have Moreno,  Nieve,  Alizadeh, Rodas, Lewis, Cabreira, Monsalve and Roman.
Then we have the all-rounders. On paper these are the best qualified to take the highest honors here. Rohregger, Larsson and Martinez probably being the best candidates to this race. Silva, Perez Sanchez, Kononenko, Westra, Fonte are also dangerous men and should be on the fight for a top10.
These are the names we’ll be looking out for during this week here in these mormon lands. Who’ll take the crown atop Alta? Will this be enough for anyone to change their fate this season? What's the meaning of life? All questions to be answered during the next few days (hopefully). Stay tuned.
Edited by Gustavovskiy on 04-02-2014 00:12
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 03-02-2014 18:42
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To close out the season we send Thomas?! Still at least i can happily expect nothing from this ace except a couple of breakaways and get on with my CT planning for next season. Second billing on the startlist was nice of the organizers though...
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 03-02-2014 18:45
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Stage 2 and 3 have Ciocan written all over them... First with a 2nd category climb close to finish which should be enough (hopefully) to avoid Maksimov and Lay fom fighting for the win. Then an uphill finish where Ciocan should do very good.
GC wise, Roman and Silva should eventually end in the top 10 and I hope to, altough very hard, to reach the goal of top 5. Btw, not to put pressure on you Gustavo, but I'm hoping for good reports for this!  |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 03-02-2014 18:46
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We've brought Alizadeh for the GC, though I doubt he'll do that well considering how poor his TT is, apart from that our prologue specialist Chavanne will get a chance to showcase his potential on the opening stage, I just wish there were more of them throughout our season.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-02-2014 18:48
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Great preview! Kinda waste of racedays for oz, except of the TTs, where we Need to score full points. Can't read the startlist properly (is it my mobile or too small?), but is Lewis really at the start here? Don't know his AVG right now, but i can't seem to spot him on the (for me too small sized) list.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 03-02-2014 18:49
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Nope, no start for Lewis here tsmoha. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-02-2014 19:12
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Miguel98 wrote:
Nope, no start for Lewis here tsmoha.
Yes, thanks. Now I see it as well. I was already wondering when reading the preview (and happy for a moment), but then remembered that he's unlikely to be eligible and that I had no hopes for a high GC-result, too 
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| Smowz |
Posted on 03-02-2014 20:03
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Yeah nice preview here.
Moreno is here and is slight favourite though Rohregger is on a roll for Magna at the moment and with the chrono may just tip the scales.
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 03-02-2014 20:11
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Well hopefully Rodas can surprise and steal the final stage!  Ha, but that's unlikely. Hopefully a top 5 GC for him, but top 10 is more realistic considering he's not really a TTer. I hope the ever-aggressive Ihlenfeldt will try something sneaky on the climbs as well. And then finally, maybe home-boy Craig Lewis can perform overall considering he's got the home crowd and a fair TT stat.
As for the TTs and sprint stages we can't expect much. The profiles probably don't suit Abdalla that much. I think Lutsenko will actually do well on some of the hilly (or hillier) stages - he's been quite handy this season.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 03-02-2014 20:30
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Liking the startlist, no big climbers and lots of TT'ing so Martinez should have a good shot at a podium or top five hopefully. That would hopefully secure a top ten ranking position for us in what is our last race of the season. |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 03-02-2014 21:13
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Ehm... yep...
Why is Maksimov here, where is Mestr???
Oh well, Maksimov's last chance to do something very nice here 
Edited by fjhoekie on 03-02-2014 21:15
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 13:57
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 03-02-2014 22:30
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Miguel98 wrote:
(...)Btw, not to put pressure on you Gustavo, but I'm hoping for good reports for this!
Can't possibly imagine why you would expect quality reports from a pseudo-newbie
Anyway, the plan is a report per day starting tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get this done with by the week-end
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 03-02-2014 22:55
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Oh boy what a startlist.
I expect Rohregger will be able to challenge for a top GC placing, but I hardly think it will be a sure thing!
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 03-02-2014 23:35
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Nice preview, and cool start-list.
Varied parcours brings together a wealth of diverse talent. Nice to see a full start-sheet rather than some of the (unfortunately) emptier C2 races.
Bon chance to all! |
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| fintas |
Posted on 03-02-2014 23:44
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Well our penultimate race of the season, we are represented by all types of cyclists but I have high hopes for any of them .. Maybe cabreira is one that gives me more hope if he does not lose too much time until the final stage.
Dennis is an expert in Time-Trial but the truth is it is not by far one of the best presents. Salleh does not have quality enough to enter the discussion of the stages.
Summing up everything that comes in terms of points will be optimal
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 04-02-2014 02:53
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Cool to see such a big number of teams!
We're going for stage success here. Nardin and Westra should be able to do well in some of them.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 04-02-2014 03:16
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Go Go Maksimov!
Finish the season on a high so I can sell you for more during the offseason.
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 04-02-2014 10:24
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AMEX brings a mixed team hoping to score some points along the way. Our sprinters are lead by Jake Keough who has already won a C2 stage and place well in others. Supported by two young German sprinters, he should be in the mix on sprint days.
Aubrey Sebright cannot out TT the OZ lads but he should be in the top 3-5 on the time trials.
The two uphill stages are more of a development as AMEX is sending two punchuers rather than pure climbers. Jan Dieteren (67/MT and 70/HL) is finishing his 1st pro season where he has progresses nicely. Matthew Busche is a veteran domestique (69MT/74HL).
Our final rider is Maher Hasnaoui a young stage rider who may surprise as he can hold his own each stage.
Last year in the D2 AMEX's Anthony Colby won the Tour of Utah. AMEX does not have a challenger in the GC, so look for them to put the pressure on in the sprints and the TT. On the uphill days Jan Dieteren has been given the Green Light to jump into the breaks.
All seven (7) of AMEX's riders are looking to impress the coaches to cement contracts for next season. Utah is not about winning it's about competing.
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 04-02-2014 19:10
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Kononenko 13th... Don't know if that's a good sign...
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 04-02-2014 19:22
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Decent start, with the quality of TT riders here. I'll take 6th and 8th. |
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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)
