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Scandinavia Open Road Race Discussion
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:22
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Joined: 25-07-2010
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Welcome to Sweden, the country of beautiful women, IKEA and Husqvarna. The latter is actually based here near the finish of this race in Huskvarna. The finish itself is located on top of a hill which will have to be conquered no less than 12 times. Ok, it may not be toughest of climbs, but add this to the total of 214 kilometres to be races it’s certain most riders will be in pain for a few days after the race.
The first three editions of the race were flat, and back then the race was called the Scandinavian Race in Uppsala. Unfortunately the organisers couldn’t find a way to organise the race in 2012, but in 2013 the race regained a spot on the calendar, renamed to the Scandinavia Open Road Race, with a new parcours which should suit the puncheurs.
Talking about the riders, we have a field of 19 teams present here, of which 4 are from the Nordic Countries.
 Swedbank – PEAB are the obvious home favourites, with Swede Lövkist and Latvian Skujins both being potential leaders. Their depth is good too with riders like Hoogerland and Hermans
 Risa – Ergon is the most interesting CT team present here, led by Haas and Bugge.
 Team Live Nation also has quite a strong duo for a CT team, and have outside chances with Cioban and Sarabia.
 Team Carlsberg - Danske Bank is the fourth Nordic team, without a real leader. Schoffmann is their strongest rider, but they will have to hope for a breakaway to make it.
If we now move to the favourites it becomes clear 3 teams are slightly above the rest.
 Quickstep are here with Froome leading the team. Serry is his strongest helper and a top 3 should certainly be possible for the team.
 Venchi – Ferranti have the famous Cesare Di Maggio, often called a one trick pony, the man should still be considered a strong favourite for this sort of races.
 Bacardi Limited have Ulissi as their designated leader, and they probably have the strongest overall team with domestiques like Bilbao and Mancuso.
Behind those favourites there are a lot of riders who will be fighting for a top 5, being
 Roy,
 Betancourt,
 Monfort,
 Ben Nasser,
 Gautier,
 Efimkin,
Zaini,
 Bellis and
 Bobridge.
 AMEXpc and  Magna – Ryanair both have a sprinter who can get over hills with relative ease, and if they can survive they’ll be favourites to win. They are Kump and Vastaranta, and both also get a decent helper being Taborre and Ilias.
Then there are two teams left unnoticed:  Karcher-Adira Racing will hope McEvoy can pull off a miracle and  Team Puma – SAP have Kelderman and Vogt to fight for a top 10.
Full startlist:
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:26
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Do I expect to do something? Nope.
Only reason I showed up was because it's Scandinavian.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:37
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3215
Joined: 23-07-2008
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Come on bellis the length of the race should suit and i believe this is a win goal for the team but we will see of it goes Ulissi will be hard to beat. |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:38
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Team Leader
Posts: 7339
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Gautier will hopefully get a top 10 here. Ulissi should be the favourite with his great stamina, while Di Maggio and Roy might struggle. |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:38
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
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Probably Gautier....
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:41
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Team Leader
Posts: 6690
Joined: 11-10-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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I am cheering for Roy. Payback (ToSA) time. 
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 17-05-2014 19:58
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
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Tough one for Bobridge, especially since he already struggled in Gisborne. Anything but a Top-10 would be disappointing though. Del Nero can't be our best scorer with his 7th place on cobbles! Time for our puncheurs to deliver
Gautier as the obvious pick for the win though 
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| jph27 |
Posted on 17-05-2014 20:01
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Team Leader
Posts: 7339
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Stop trying to curse my team, De Panne has been bad enough   |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 12:33
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 17-05-2014 20:01
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World Champion
Posts: 10891
Joined: 19-11-2010
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With what's happing with the team now If I could I would strongly back Froome to fall somewhere or just fail. Our run has to continue.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 17-05-2014 20:14
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Team Leader
Posts: 6795
Joined: 21-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Thanks for the mention. I don't expect a lot but dream of the boys making a mark on this race!
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| roturn |
Posted on 17-05-2014 20:15
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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Gautier and Bellis had good results so far.
But with so many hills I expect Froome to do better actually.
Froome vs Ulissi it is. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 17-05-2014 20:36
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
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jph27 wrote:
Stop trying to curse my team, De Panne has been bad enough
Just trying to put pressure off Bobridge But you're right, I may need to find a new "target", just for the fairness
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 17-05-2014 21:02
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Domestique
Posts: 506
Joined: 15-09-2012
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Yeah, not expecting much from this race - this was one of my last race choices, and it was better than a couple of the alternatives, scheduling wise.
Vastaranta should get a few points, beyond that, getting in the break would be nice.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 17-05-2014 22:53
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
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Go Maxime!
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| fintas |
Posted on 17-05-2014 23:10
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
Joined: 21-03-2008
PCM$: 1200.00
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My expectations?? Froome to win and my team to go totally unnoticed
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 18-05-2014 08:48
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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Will be interesting to see how the length affects Di Maggio's performance. It will be hard to beat the likes of Ulissi and Froome, but a top 5 should hopefully be possible.
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 18-05-2014 09:48
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1036
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This is a hard race to handicap. AMEX's hope is that Marko Kump can be with the leaders closing in on the finish and use his speed for a top 10 finish.
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 18-05-2014 10:25
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4573
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Ben Nasser has been amazing so far so I think a top five is a real possibility. I'd take that, would keep up our decent run of form so far.
Froome should have this I think. Has looked strong so far this year. |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 18-05-2014 11:43
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4032
Joined: 24-01-2009
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Win goal for us, dont think that will happen but I can always hope for it |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 18-05-2014 13:53
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2889
Joined: 11-09-2010
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Very few race days in Scandinavia this season, so I obviously had to participate here. Olsson "overachieved" here last year and came in with the first group. I hope we can do something similar this year. Top 10 would certainly be a great result.
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