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Bahir Dar discussion
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| Smowz |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:13
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Team Leader
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Last year saw the first professional edition of this Ethopian cobbled classic and it proved to be a nice opening showdown between Continental tours 'rough road' powerhouses. It is a circuit based course with three cobbled sectors per a circuit that is repeated 16 times. Unique to a cobbled classic this race finishes on a nasty short 15% climb outside of the city, a sting in the tail that if a small group arrives together requires some punchy ability to clamber up.
Fitting that Continental cobbled kingpin  Pieter Vanspreybrouck would take the win. He of course is now where he arguably belongs in the Protour this year along with his partner in crime Niels Albert.
This opens things up with  Team Hornbach,  AMEXpc,  Quickstep,  Gazelle and  Allianz-BMW Cycling Team expected to fill the void left by outgoing Protour teams.
Editor of the Cobbler mhaley's team AMEX remain reliant on Breschel and Eisel who came good toward the middle of last years cobbled season. The analytical manager felt a third leader was surplus to requirements and so  Taillefour joined Kazzinc Procycling who also have a decent cobbled squad.
None of these three would be quite considered favourites here though with Italian Franzoi leading a strong Hornbach squad here. This is undoubtably the Belgian based squads best domain and they will be desperate to dominate here with the likes of Trentin, Veelers, Lindeman and Wynants all with a high cobbled ability they are likely to be all over these sorts of races.
Quickstep have been rated as one of the top PCT teams and carry a strong threat in Baugnies. His well known weakness is sprinting from a small group can he, experienced Steurs and young gun Vanbilsen concoct something to upset Hornbach?
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team and Gazelle have come up from the continental ranks and despite the jump up have got riders who can make an impact particularly with this courses finish. Nico Maes has decent support, whilst another PT cobbled veteran in Nuyens is a very dangerous cobbler with a good hills ability.
Outside of the mentioned riders there is a whole host of riders who can certainly feel they have chances.  Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling like to talk down their general chances this course does not look like one for Thomas but he may be given more freedom. It is a similar case for  Machado who like Thomas may need to ride in solo to win. The same is also true of  Seb Turgot who will be better suited to a flatter finish.
 Heineken-Cal Giant come down from the Protour and have sold their best cobbler from last year  Pozzato. However they still have Langeveld and have bought in Gaudin. They managed some good results with Pozzato last year and shouldn't be discounted. We should also mention the best of the African teams  Jaguar - Eritel who bring Bakari and the better all round option in Lagab. Expect this team to recieve the loudest cheers as  Team Kenya Airways are here but only with a small developmental team.
Two of the present CT crop have come here with their cobbled outfits, should be a nice run out for them with  Team Carlsberg - Danske Bank having Østergaard perhaps doing his own minu battle with  Risa - Ergon's De Haes.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:19
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
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Cobbles 
I would say how important cobbles are to the team, and how good performances here are a must if we are to avoid relegation but no! Either win or fail please. Winning means lots of points and good things for the rest of the cobbles, hopefully leading to a strong area and real thoughts of survival. Or fail, score no points and take a nice wage cut as we relegate.
7 of the same riders as we used last year on the cobbles. Eyes on Bolivar to see how he fits into the team. Grashev coming of a rare non-cobbled race so i hope he can adjust.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:33
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Team Manager
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It's Bakari time 
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:37
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World Champion
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Looking forward to the first classic. Good team here so hope for Vanbilsen or Steeurs to attack and Baugnies to follow right moves. Podium is the target. Should be a great fight.
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| roturn |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:37
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Team Manager
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SportingNonsense wrote:
It's Bakari time
I guess Lagab will be your better placed in the end though. 
This will be very interesting. Except for PCM13 Online I haven`t played cobbled races really.
But it will be a good indicator how PCM13 handles those classics, which of course is not unimportant for my team as well.
Baugnies for me here, but due to the shorter length in total, this could also be a good race for Amex` sprinters. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 14:45
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:38
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Domestique
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Bakari to win, obviously.
Everyone else is just fighting for 2nd place
#HailBakari
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| CountArach |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:53
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Grand Tour Champion
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It will be interesting to see who fills the void my promotion has left - without my team to work on the front all day someone else will have to. Quickstep look like the obvious candidate and certainly Baugnies is capable of the win. Once again though, he will have to try to attack because his sprinting is woeful.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 29-04-2014 18:54
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Small Tour Specialist
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Looking forward to this! The high amount of cobbles plus that hill at the end make this very good terrain for Nuyens.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 29-04-2014 19:19
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Team Leader
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Top 15 from Turgot would be nice, maybe a surprise from Boroš as well. With the season I'm having, anything is possible though  |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 29-04-2014 19:36
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Tour de France Champion
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You're right about that mini duel. Time to kill Dehaes.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 29-04-2014 19:50
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Directeur Sportif
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This race was fun Last year. Several attacks and all the action was hard to put in a proper report. Though the finish sprint was kinda meh with no real change of positions and Sieberg grabbing a huge win for VW, iirc. Or Bouygues?
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 29-04-2014 20:06
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Grand Tour Champion
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The fact Ventoso didn't get a mention scares me. 
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| CountArach |
Posted on 29-04-2014 21:09
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Grand Tour Champion
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tsmoha wrote:
This race was fun Last year. Several attacks and all the action was hard to put in a proper report. Though the finish sprint was kinda meh with no real change of positions and Sieberg grabbing a huge win for VW, iirc. Or Bouygues?
Look at the second paragraph of the preview
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 30-04-2014 11:01
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That final climb last year was tough and nobody had the legs to make a position altering sprint. AMEX's cobblers rely on that finishing speed, so a podium finish here would be a surprise. More likely we are looking for 2 riders in the top 10 and a 3rd scoring points.
Matti Breschel is the new cobbled leader for AMEX with veteran Bernhard Eisel easing back into the secondary but very key support rider. The young American cobbler Robert Bush is still improving and will earn the team some points in 2014. Newly signed Stijn Devolder will ride part time with the cobble squad. A solid experienced cobbler with some uphill skills. Bahir Dar looks to be a good track for him.
AMEX has supplemented the standard cobble squad with Spaniard Carlos Barredo (CB/67, ST/74, HL/74 and FGT/82). Barredo looks to be a threat for a late attack.
A podium finish for AMEX will be a reach for Bahir Dar, but a team strong effort is demanded. Two in the top 10 Breschel and Eisel then a 3rd rider scoring points - most likely Stijn Devolder. A great day would have a 4th rider Bush or Michael Kurth also scoring points.
Nick Nuyens or Jerome Baugnies look like the favorites from our team bus. Bahir Dar should be a good fair judge of cobble team strength on the PCT.
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 30-04-2014 11:05
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Classics Specialist
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Time to see what Machado can do expecting little maybe a top 10 would be nice little points earner |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 30-04-2014 11:05
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Directeur Sportif
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CountArach wrote:
tsmoha wrote:
This race was fun Last year. Several attacks and all the action was hard to put in a proper report. Though the finish sprint was kinda meh with no real change of positions and Sieberg grabbing a huge win for VW, iirc. Or Bouygues?
Look at the second paragraph of the preview
Uh... Sieberg came 2nd, yes Sorry Count, how could i forget about Vanspeybrouck?
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| tyriion |
Posted on 30-04-2014 17:10
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Sprinter
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We need a result here, preferably several to make up for every other race so far. About 2 in the top 3 would do
Check out my ManGame team here
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 30-04-2014 18:13
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Bikienga for victory! Had 2 spare race days and thought this would help us towards our Africa tour goal, so a single point would be a success.
That probably won't be possible though, so i'll watch from a neutral perspective. Baugnies will win this I think. |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 01-05-2014 21:23
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Team Leader
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Back to anonymity for us, it feels good. Turgot hanging on is a good sign for the flatter races though. Thanks for a top class report Smowz |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 01-05-2014 21:24
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World Champion
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Did Nepomniachsy actually sat up?  My god PCM, why you so dumb?
Well, congrat's to Team Hornbach for the win. |
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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)
