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Clasico San Cristobal Discussion
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 10-04-2014 15:58
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 Clasico San Cristobal | C2
What better way to begin a season than in a sunny Cuba. Not sure the American teams will be cheered by the fans much though, but I think all should enjoy the race. Here's the official route:
No changes in the route from previous year. 5 circuits of two intense climbs with bit of descending skills needed too. With max slopes of 15% the favoruites will have to stay attentive as breaks in peleton can occur rather quickly. With a distance of 185km and an uphill finish to the finish only the strongest will fight it out. Will the pure puncheurs make it too the end? Or more all round climbers prefer the tough route?
That is one hell of a packed startlist. 22 Continental teams have decided to enter their first race ever as well as 2 ProContinental teams. Compared to only 12 teams last year this should exciting race with too many favoruties to mention all.
 The Serbian team will have the biggest support from the fans brining a local hero, Yasmani Martinez. While not the best puncheur, he makes up for being astounding climber. Depending on how the race progress he could be within a chance of a win here. Nordeus brings another card in Grega Bole who if the finish to the race ends up in a selective sprint would be the favoruite to win. Two nice cards for the team to play for, and with good support behind them a team to look out for.
 Jose Mendes is the pre race favourite being on paper the best puncheur in the division. Having led Prio Porto to promotion to PT, he'll try to do so for Bank of Ireland team too. With the Irish duo of McConvey and Kelly, Mendes should have the best support at times he'll need it most. Podium is the target, but Mendes is most capable to start the season with a bang.
 Groupa Nutresa brings another top gun in Aleksandr Kolobnev, while slightly lacking on the hilly ability to Mendes, he makes up for being a very strong rider overall, his ability to climb well on the longer climbs may prove very useful here too. With likes of super strong domestiques - Fonte and Valencia in the team expect Nutresa to control the peleton until the last or so ascents before attacks happen.
 Gracjan Lejman is as pure puncheur as you can get, steep hills is where he excels at meaning he should do well here. If there is one rider we'd expect to be seen on attack during the race, it might just be him. With Grau he has decent domestique that should help him till the final stages of the race. While Lejman might be unpredictable a Top 10 might be targeted by the team to begin their campaign.
 The second PCT team in the race doesn't bring a top favoruite, however they do have serious depth. All 7 of their riders have a hil lstat above 70 giving them plenty of options during the race. Their leader on paper will be Mauricio Soler, but likes of Galindo or Milan could lead the team easily in case Soler doesn't feel at his best.
 The favoruites to win the division want to begin the season with a bang, while their main star Haas misses out, they bring another leader in his place, Vegard Bugge. Equally capable of getting a result he'll be supported by Rake, Ollson and Hoem, with such decent support Top 5 will be the goal.
 It is quite a stepdown for Marcel Wyss from PT to CT, however it might just prove a great move for him. Wyss will be looking for a strong result to begin his team campaign and with likes of Montaguti behind him he should be capable of such result.
 Phillip Gaimon won't be exactly cheered by the Cubans on the road, but he'll be on a mission to score some decent points and kick off the team season in fashion. A small worry is the support for Gaimon, with Aulas, mainly a cobbler looking like his right hand man here.
 Bonsucro brings yet another top puncheur into the equation with Sergio Godoy. Borges could surprise too with his high sprint and acceleration. There is few cards to play in this team for this race and even a win possible.
 The Dutch team brings an American to lead the team, fairly similar in style to Gaimon, Duggan will try to get TomTom's season to a great start, the Spanish due of Toribio and Mate should prove a very good support for him.
 Chris Sorensen is not a most reknowed puncheur, but combined with his mountain skills he will be a threat here. His team doesn't have greatest support for him, but since he's not a top favourite he shouldn't need a very strong team. Mexincan Colex will surely try something out being so close to homeland.
 Predominantly climbing orientated team they do have few options for punchier races. German Fahnert is one of those, being the best puncheur he'll likely lead the team, but with likes of Vitoria present they have another option if the classic doesn't prove selective enough and comes to a selective sprint.
 Team Ameriabank brings Firsanov as their leader offering him a very decent support. It's hard to predict with so many puncheurs present, but Sergey could finish anywhere from winning to finishing outside Top 10, such is the quality of the startlist.
 ONCE are one of the favoruites to win the division and comes here with a challenger, a Kazakh Nazar Jumabekov. If the racing gets tougher than expected they have another brilliant option in Kulhavy, having two strong cards will surely bring benefits in this rather unpredictable race.
 Chiquita has Bjorn Selander defending the jersey sacred bannanas, and with Jones and Esmaeli he has some good support to call upon. It's hard to predict where they can finish, but it should be a decent opener for the team.
 Dell brings their French star Feillu to lead the race. He is a capable climber and puncheur which could prove vital during the race. With likes of Lewis and Ospina the team has decent support for Feillu for search of Top 10 result.
 Azteca has several cards to play, although neither are the favoruites in any case. Marentes and Parisien will lead the team, with Ardilla called upon if the course proves too tough for puncheurs. Maybe not the strongest, but definitely depth is there allowing Azteca to be present in many vital moves. Or so should be the plan.
 Fulgencio Bru. The fans will be cheering that name, their rising star. One day he may come back to this race as the favoruite, but he may not be ready yet. Ronbison Chalapud looks like the team's best bet for this race, but it may be hard for them to reach Top 10 here with no real leader.
 Eddie Stobbart brings their Aussie, Cameron Wurf to lead the team in the debut race, he doesn't have much pressure to perform since he's not one of the favoruites, an element that could work in his favour. Agnoli, Earle and Edmondson offer some nice depth to the team and could take over if Wurf has a bad day.
 Wounded Warrior brings their big scoop of the window in Benjamin Dayball to lead the team. Maybe not the best puncheur, but well rounded rider certain to fight for decent result. With Devine, Ketele and Lammertnik the team has few options in the race to play with.
 Siam Lenovo brings a double threat of Sayar and Ito to lead the team. Certainly a smart move in such an unpredictable race, however it could cause some problems with no clear leader. We'll know the answer to this question after the race, but a decent result is on cards.
 Carlsberg brings no clear leader with few fairly decent riders that could well surprise. Bøchman, Schoffmann, Jansen or Ebsen offer plenty of options for the team. Attacks should be at centre of this team success here.
 Diego Rosa will lead this youthful team. With the trio of strong Belgians Rosa will have good support throughout the race and could surprise many in this race.
 Evonik possibly brings the weakest team into the race, but with still some chances of success. Bissinger and Mager offer some chance of success, but you'd think they will need to attack early to have a chance of success against other top puncheurs. This will be a first race for many of their youngsters and they will hope to learn from this experience.
And if you are causal viewer looking for quicker description of the favoruites, here's a very simplistic view of how things stand before the race.
Favorites
| Mendes, Kolobnev, Lejman | | Wyss, Bugge, Gaimon, Duggan, Godoy, Soler | | Selander, Firsanov, Jumabekov, Sayar, Sørensen, Feillu, Fahnert, Bole, Martinez, Rosa |
And trust me, even this list is missing mannny riders that could finish inside Top 10, or with some luck even win it. That's it for the preview. I'll see you in the race. Should be posted either late Friday, or Saturday. And excuse any mistakes, there was a lot of teams so there is bound to be some 
Edited by Alakagom on 10-04-2014 18:29
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| Selwink |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:07
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First race of the season. Not too high hopes, but we'll see. Looking forward to it
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:11
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Wow, really nice preview there, nice to see Mendes mentioned as (one of the) top favourite(s).
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 12:25
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:15
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Looks like a good race for Mendes, since Ilias did well here last year and Mendes is similar (and better!) than Ilias.
CT races tend to be pretty chaotic and without a 'Gazelle' to be the top dog on the hill, any number of riders could take the victory.
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:15
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Nice preview Alak Not expecting anything here just thought it would be cruel not to let Bru race in his home country
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:17
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I'm really looking forward to see how Lejman will do to these trips to the CT.
It's very important for us that he scores some good points. Top 3 is the minimum expected.
Edited by ggDonovan on 10-04-2014 16:17
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:20
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Supporting Martinez, missed a trick by not sending him here last year. Mendes should crush the competition though I think. |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:20
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yes yes yes let's go 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:27
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Really looking forward to starting the season here! Hoping for the climbing stat has something to say, otherwise I might have wasted a few of Kulhavi's race days during the season. Anyway it should provide to be a great race!
Great preview btw!
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:28
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Ofcourse supporting Kolobnev here. Fonte should be able to help him towards a win
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:41
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Just want the team to feature in an attack somewhere. Other than that no real ambitions in the opener.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 10-04-2014 16:57
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Nice preview, excitement grows! (as if this is possible)
Tried to send a well-mixed team, to get a successful season start.
A podium seems far away here, but with strong support Marcel Wyss should be capable to end in good single digits.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:09
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Looking at the profile, I expect the mountain stat to have some influence. This could benefit guys like Kolobnev, Godoy and Bugge. In an uphill sprint Mendes should definitely be the quickest though. I also like Gaimon's stats for this race.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:20
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Excellent preview Alak, and a stacked start-list for day one of the new season. As stated in team HQ, hoping for Kolobnev in the top 5 (would be a little surprised if he made it on the podium, although I'd be very happy ), and some of his back-up to feature in the lower reaches of the point scoring positions - even a single point for 25th is as valuable as any other point!
@ Fjhoekie Thanks for the support! Fonte is a key lieutenant here. One of the advantages of being a MG veteran must be the fun that can be derived in following ex-riders when not present yourself.
Finally a query: I may be totally incorrectly interpreting the rules here, but surprised to see our Colombian compatriot Mauricio Soler on the start-list, I though he would have been ineligible as a PCT rider with a high average - is it the average of the whole team rather than individual that counts?, need to go and find the original thread that explains, as I obviously need to re-read!
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:24
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Scorchio wrote:
Finally a query: I may be totally incorrectly interpreting the rules here, but surprised to see our Colombian compatriot Mauricio Soler on the start-list, I though he would have been ineligible as a PCT rider with a high average - is it the average of the whole team rather than individual that counts?, need to go and find the original thread that explains, as I obviously need to re-read!
Ah, that is a handy reminder that I need to check PCT squads for CT races.
Whatever Soler does in this race will be irrelevant, he will be disqualified.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:26
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I was just cross-checking, and indeed I don't see why Soler would be eligible to race here.
Zabel'd 
Edited by cio93 on 10-04-2014 17:27
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:36
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Scorchio wrote:
Finally a query: I may be totally incorrectly interpreting the rules here, but surprised to see our Colombian compatriot Mauricio Soler on the start-list, I though he would have been ineligible as a PCT rider with a high average - is it the average of the whole team rather than individual that counts?, need to go and find the original thread that explains, as I obviously need to re-read!
Ah, that is a handy reminder that I need to check PCT squads for CT races.
Whatever Soler does in this race will be irrelevant, he will be disqualified.
Sorry Repsol, I'm obviously going to get a reputation as a self-confessed MG rules nerd from here on in  .
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:47
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Nothing to be sorry about, it is Repsol's fault for submitting an invalid rider!
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:50
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Nothing to be sorry about, it is Repsol's fault for submitting an invalid rider!
Just to doubly confirm, PCT riders racing in C2 races, must have an average below 72 and no primary stat above 77.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 10-04-2014 17:56
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Correct
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Joaquin Rodriguez
Dietmar Mehr-Wenige
Perikles Ilias
