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Giro del Trentino Discussion
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 02-06-2014 19:42
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Giro del Trentino 2014 is here, and the finest climbers in the Pro Continental Tour have come for the fight in Italy!
The route, like most editions of the race, features climbing stage along with a team time trial. however, unlike last year, there are 5 stages instead of 4 for the GC to be fought out!
The race starts with the flattest road stage, with only 1 climb topping over 10 km from the finish. The gaps shouldn't be too big there.
Stage 2 is the team time trial. Depending on the team, some contenders will want to gain time, while other just won't want to lose it.
The 3rd stage is perhaps the most decisive of the race. I tis over 200 km long and the finish should set up the GC fight for the remainder of the race.
Just because stage 4 isn't a mountain top finish doesn't mean it won't be extremely selective. The day features 6 categorized climbs in only 159 km that will eat at all the riders.
And the final stage will decide who wins the race this year! By the summit of finishing climb "Sega di Ala," we will have the champion.
As far as contenders are concerned,  Domenico Pozzovivo looks to make it 3 years straight that he has won this race. In the past two years he has shown a liking to the parcours of this race, which despite the obvious variety stay mainly true to their origins again. he once again is one f the best climbers in the race, and has teammate Marco Marzano to be his lieutenant in the mountains. Kappa doesn't have the best or worst TTT team, so they will hope to just be in the thick of it going into the mountains.
The biggest opposition for him will be  Rigoberto Uran. he is perhaps the best climber in the race, and has teammates to help him with it. But he is also the only rider on his team's squad that can time trial, which could lead to finding himself down overall on the other climbers going into the peaks.
 Janez Brajkovic and his team Heineken probably has the TTT chance of all the GC contenders, and has planned accordingly. To do this, the team had to sacrifice mountain strength. he has a couple of decent domestiques but for the most part he will have to count on his own legs and TTT gains to win the overall.
Leading Venchi is  Fabio Duarte, fresh off his amazing performance at the Kenya Mountain Classic. His TTT lineup is pretty good, and if he can hold on to his good form, he will be a force to be reckoned with in the mountains, even if he once again won't have much team help.
Repsol have gone all in for this race, bringing both  Kiserlovski and Kashechkin, along with ample mountain support. The younger of the two looks destined for leadership, but if they work together the other teams would be hard fought to stop them.
Then there is  Magno Nazaret. While he is one of the best climber sin the race, his TTT squad is almost without a doubt the worst in the race. Even with t he short distance of it, he could easily lose a lot of time. Therefore, he might be better off targeting a specific stage to win and not focusing on GC.
At the Kenya Mountain Classic,  Jaroslav Popvych was the biggest loser of the day for the contenders, without question. He looks to bounce back here for Metinvest and show he really isn't too old. He'll have a good TT squad but little help for the mountains, therefore he'll have to freelance on the decisive stage and hope for the best.
29 year old  Mwangi Samwel leads Kenya Airways. He is a talented climber who will have teammate Zakayo Ndbri to help him over the climbs, which will give an advantage to him over other riders of his caliber. However, he is disadvantaged in the TT. It shouldn't be as bad as Quickstep, but it could get pretty bad for them nevertheless.
 Dario Cataldo won't be the strongest, but Magna bring a solid team for both the climbs and TTT, along with Rohregger, which will aid his chances at a good GC placing.
 Thomas Lovkvist is a good pick, a pretty strong guy., but his team consists mostly of second rate climber, with no real right hand man to help, which will make it tough in the final kms.
Jaguar have brought a very good squad for  Berhane. He has what could be the best TTT squad in the entire race, as well as a mountain goat in Morton. This will help him gain time on the stronger climbers off of the many steep slopes.
 Dominique Nerz will lead Puma. The young German has a lot of talent that could produce a good results, especially in the -25 classification. As long as he can keep his positioning better than the Kenya Mountain Classic, he should be able to put in a good ride.
 Vladimir Karpets gets the first bib number for Karcher. The veteran will not get much help though, and his climbing style does not suit freelancing as well as a punchier rider.
CSC - Orbea might find struggles in the fact that they left Abal on his couch. This leaves them with the trio of  Serpa, Plaza and Cobo. Serpa would have better chances if he had more secondary attributes, but he lacks them. With no clear leader, this leaves the team in a precarious position. Their best bet is probably to use their numbers to their advantage when attacking.
The first Continental team to apply for this race are the Maloja Mountain Nomads, and despite the division the team lies in, leader  Maxim Iglinski is capable of riding with the best in the PCT. However, staying true to their name, they live in the mountains and don't go down on their TT bikes much, so they'll have to make the race a bit more interesting for the GC.
 John-Lee Augustyn may be capable of a good result, but his chances might be slim. After all, quite a few teams have domestiques that can climb just as well as him. He won't let that phase him though. The South African could do better inherently simply by being a leader.
 Agudelo is also in that situation, where how he feels on a certain day could mean a top 10 or a complete failure. He has some decent help on his team, but will struggle to stay with the really strong teams.
Mobil - Aeropostal don't really have much to go by here.  Jaramillo and Torres are their best climbers, but some teams have 3 or 4 guys just as good as them. With a weak TTT squad, not much is expected of them.
Finally,  Team Nordeus fills the start list. As the second CT team they don't really have a leader. It is apparent that they are using this race more for breakaways and giving their young squad, consisting of rider 25 and younger, some useful experience in C1 racing.
19 teams line up at the start, but only 1 will host the winner in the 2014 Giro del Trentino!
Edited by baseballlover312 on 09-06-2014 03:49
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 02-06-2014 20:02
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Erm, Nazaret rides for FCB... 
Hoping for a top ten here, with the long stage especially suiting Samwel due to his massive stamina. Hoping there will be gaps here unlike the horrific Tachira.
Pozzovivo will be hard to stop on home turf. Looking forward to the reports. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 02-06-2014 20:05
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Berhane isnt the strongest in the mountains but is comparatively good on the hills, so hopefully that plus the TTT can fire him to a good result
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 02-06-2014 20:05
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Well, another race which is going to be horrible. Thank you PCM. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 02-06-2014 20:11
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Miguel98 wrote:
Well, another race which is going to be horrible. Thank you PCM.
Ehm..... Yes.... Thanks for your opinion....
Edited by tsmoha on 02-06-2014 20:13
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 02-06-2014 20:27
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I didn't mean to be rude. Sorry if I sound like it tsmoha.
I said that because I've played this stage race too many times and the outcome is pretty the same: sprint finish in stage 1, diferences in TTT, and the mountain will be somewhat selective, while stage 4 is for breakaways. |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 02-06-2014 20:38
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Normally I wouldn't send Duarte to a stage race where 40% of the stages are hilly, but since it is an Italian race I had to race it.
I hope a quite good TTT-team can make up for the losses on the hill stages. If so, I think he could fight for a top 5. Top 10 is perhaps more realistic, though.
Oh, and an amazing preview! Great read!
Edited by Sykkel_Freak on 02-06-2014 20:39
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| Stevenag |
Posted on 02-06-2014 22:32
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Domestique
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Our win goal for the season. Pozzovivo should be the one to beat, but there is a hard competiton for the top places. Hopefully Marzano will create enough trouble for the other top riders for Pozzovivo to get some gaps, and make up for lost time in the TTT.
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 02-06-2014 22:43
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Domestique
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Yeah figured if my highest paid rider is an Italian stage racer, I might as well bring him to Trentino.
I knew the field would be tough, but darn that is a deadly strong field. I hope the nationality bonus is worth a LOT!
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 02-06-2014 22:54
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Since we'll probably lose some time in the TTT, I really hope that Iglinsky can pull off some mid-range attack like Maillet in Tachira. That would be so great after a not-so-successful month so far.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 14:04
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| fintas |
Posted on 02-06-2014 23:32
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I'm waiting for another surprise, the style of what happened in South Africa...
The team is extremely strong on the mountain but should come out penalized in the TTT.
Top10 is the objective
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 02-06-2014 23:35
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Go breakaways!
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 02-06-2014 23:35
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My pick is Uran but I think Janez has a good shot.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 03-06-2014 06:08
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Nice preview bball, but this time, please dont let Popovych just sit there on sightseeing tour. 
Top5 is the personal goal with decent TTT squad (no sure about strenght of all of them) and top10 is the must, so fingers crossed. If our "bad luck" will continue, we are doomed for good.
I remember that last year, gameplay was great in first mountain stage and horrible in last two, hopefully we can benefit from that and send someone to break.
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| brownwm |
Posted on 03-06-2014 08:35
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This is a huge race for me, I sent my two big leaders mainly as they will help to limit time lost in the team time trial. Hopefully they work together in the mountains, rather than do the classic pcm and one of them to nothing.
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 03-06-2014 09:04
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I've been absent for a while, mostly due to exams and training. But I intend on updating my HQ and catching up in the next few weeks 
First race for Augustyn. Hope he can te a decent result, but I don't expect much. We don't have an amazing TTT squad either, but it's not that bad. Going to be a nice race to follow
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 03-06-2014 09:14
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I am glad to miss this race Cheering for Pozzo, Kappa need good result to get out of bottom and they should definitely be on top of their game here. Hoping Cataldo delivers too.
Will be interesting to see Repsol with their two leaders and see how they cooperate. Should be a great race for sure.
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 03-06-2014 17:56
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Win goal and 0 chances. This is the toll I have to pay for not signing the rider I wanted.
I wanted a top 5 but I don't know if that would be possible after the TTT.
Good luck!
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 03-06-2014 21:18
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admirschleck wrote:
Go breakaways!
Boy, this is too good to be true! All classifications are now in our hands (will be gone next stage, but who cares anyways)!
Edited by admirschleck on 03-06-2014 22:51
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| jph27 |
Posted on 03-06-2014 21:20
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CT teams winning in C1 races I'm not in? Good for me. |
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