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Tour d'Azerbaijan Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 14-01-2015 19:17
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Directeur Sportif
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 Tour d'Azerbaijan
The CT makes it's visit to Azerbaijan, where the second edition of this mountainous stage race will kick off soon. Being run as a PCT-event last season (with Meiji's Jianhua Ji taking the overall victory), the tour is one of the most prestigious races in the CT this year and will see a packed startlist in this HC-band.
The opening TTT will already make some differences, even though we may not expect the biggest gaps on this 18km-parcours. You probably won't lose the race here, but you can gain valuable seconds.
The three more crucial stages follow right away: while the first mountain stage features a downhill and flat sector to the finish, the next two days are likely to produce gaps with two challenging summit finishes. Both pure climbers and puncheurs may fancy their chances there, it will be interesting, which type of rider will go for line honours. The tour concludes with a flat, but tricky circuit through Baku. Definitely not a day, where to take a rest from previous efforts!
The Startlist
The Favorites
| Rider | MO | HI | TT-Rating |  Arroyo | 79 | 73 | * |  Rodrigues | 78 | 73 | ** |  Ochoa Quintero | 77 | 73 | * |  Schwab | 77 | 72 | * |  Sorensen | 76 | 74 | ** |  Jeannesson | 76 | 71 | ** |  Martinez | 76 | 72 | * |  Alizadeh | 76 | 72 | * |  Raisin | 76 | 67 | ** | | Castano | 76 | 72 | * |  Rodas | 76 | 71 | * |  Ardila | 76 | 71 | * |  Zurita | 76 | 69 | * | | Orozco | 76 | 66 | * |  Montenegro | 76 | 66 | * | | Fernandez | 75 | 72 | ** | | Saggiorato | 75 | 72 | * |  Rudaskov | 75 | 72 | * |  Nicácio | 75 | 70 | *** | | Di Gregorio | 75 | 70 | * |  Landa | 75 | 67 | *** | | Beltran | 74 | 74 | * | | Paulinho | 74 | 73 | *** |  Richardson | 74 | 73 | * |  McConvey | 74 | 73 | * |  Rosa | 74 | 73 | * | | De Greef | 74 | 72 | * | | Zoidl | 73 | 73 | * | | Haga | 73 | 71 | * |  Firsanov | 70 | 74 | ** |
Arroyo and Rodrigues top this quite packed list of premium climbers. Both should be rated the top-favorites, wherever they appear, and especially Rodrigues definitely could live up to his potential so far this season. Arroyo though just comes off a great win in Burgos, so looks in-shape. An ever dangerous Nutresa-squad will be led by Ochoa, while Beltran just had a stellar Tour de Pologne to prove he's dangerous on this kind of terrain.
Schwab, Sorensen, Jeannesson, Martinez and Alizadeh may be the most promising competitors behind those names. Sauber and Euskaltel with pretty strong climbing squads and several threats for the GC, while Sorensen and maybe also Raisin will rely on a better TTT-performance on first hand.
We should expect a close fight though, as there are several more possible GC-threats on that list. Make your own choice.
The Sprinters
| JJ Haedo |  Gavazzi |  Teruel |  Sabatini | | Schinker | | Clavero |
Hard to predict, wether this final stage will offer those few sprinters a realistic chance to go for line honours. If it does, Haedo should be the clear favorite.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 14-01-2015 19:21
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
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Not the least important race for us, so our strongest climbing squad is here. Not that I really expect much of that, but that at least means the team can show some fighting spirit again.
Last stage should probably provide us with the best chance of a win, hopefully the hills are tough enough to drop the other sprinters so Pozdnyakov can go for a win.
TTT will be interesting for us, considering I brought Khatuntsev, Velits and Barta, so hopefully the team can surprise there as well.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-01-2015 19:31
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
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This is the first edition of the race 
Last year's similarly named race was in Iran.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 14-01-2015 19:48
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
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SportingNonsense wrote:
This is the first edition of the race
Last year's similarly named race was in Iran.
The race's thread in the profiles forum is kinda misleading then Sorry for this mistake, anyway!
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 14-01-2015 20:04
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2282
Joined: 13-03-2011
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THis is a goal race for us. So very important that Arroyo continues his good form. Hope we wont lose too much in the TTT and hope for a similar race like Burgos where Castano also delivers. Really suprised too see Inglinsky missing again too. A C2HC race with 2(almost 3) mountain stages is a no brainer for me really.
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| The Rider |
Posted on 14-01-2015 20:55
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Let's not beat around the bush, anything other than a convincing win in the TTT (which gives out decent points in a stage race, over 30 in total?) will be a disappointment. Team has shown it's depth time and time again so we have to be firm favourites for stage 1.
Ideally the fruits of stage 1 are the following:
- We hold the GC lead for a few days at least.
- Paulinho and Nicácio are well placed to both finish in the top 10 in GC.
A warm up race for the massive slog which is the Tour of America.  |
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| knockout |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:00
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Grand Tour Champion
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The Rider wrote:
Let's not beat around the bush, anything other than a convincing win in the TTT (which gives out decent points in a stage race, over 30 in total?) will be a disappointment.
25 points in a C2HC race. Second will get 10 points. Third will get 5 points.
+ Some points for leader jerseys.
Evonik want breakaways! Otherwise this could end as a 0-pointer...
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:48
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Classics Specialist
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Azteca isn't the strongest climbing team in the world, but with both of my climbers here we want to give this a fight. Stage 2 looks like a golden opportunity for Jackson Rodriguez who should get over the climbing (76mo) with the bunch and has a great sprint.
After that looking to just stay alive, perhaps get a breakaway chance, and then with JJ Haedo we must dominate the final stage of the race.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 14-01-2015 22:25
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Classics Specialist
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Ugh a TTT.... *shudders*
Other than that we have pretty much our strongest climbing squad here, minus Chalapud, so hopefully they will attack in the mountains and do fairly well there (a KoM jersey like Burgos would be nice, but unlikely to happen twice in a row)
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 11:11
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 14-01-2015 22:40
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Interesting mix of stages in this race. We have our mtn unit out in the shape of Ochoa Quintero supported by Beltran & Masuda. For the opening TTT wwe have brought along Zabalo, Herrera and Ibanez who are all quite decent TT riders (well in a CT context at least) to help the skinnies round, then they'll return to domestique duties for the rest of the race. Finally Golas for breaks or potentially showing his face on the final stage if it comes down to a sprint. Golas has intermittently popped up in results on rolling stages, but always hard to predict. Lack of concerted lead-outs from sprint favourites is usually good for him, so we'll wait and see.
Hoping for a good tussle between the favourites for the overall rather than a disappointing snooze-fest after a silly break on stage 2. Let's keep those points ticking over towards the promotion fight please!
Bon chance tout le monde
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 14-01-2015 23:15
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Tour de France Champion
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Looking forward to this race, hopefully Stobart will do themselves proud |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 14-01-2015 23:26
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Classics Specialist
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Why do I get the impression Zoidl might accidentally drop Alizadeh during the TTT?
Hopefully he can pull the squad round to a decent time so we don't start too far back going into the mountains.
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| maxime86 |
Posted on 15-01-2015 00:48
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Classics Specialist
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hopefullly a good result for rodas |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 15-01-2015 13:35
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Classics Specialist
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Looking for a win in the TTT here(hopefully they don't wait for Landa if he struggles). Hope that Olsson, Walker and Landa can challenge for top 20 or something around that area.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 15-01-2015 13:44
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Team Leader
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Hoping for a good TTT result. With the way CAS have ben riding in general we will need it...
Really hoping he pulls himself together and does something in this one.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 15-01-2015 17:48
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World Champion
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Hmmm, go breakaway bug?
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 15-01-2015 18:55
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
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That's actually a very decent result 
Now for the next 3 stages it'll require a miracle for me to win, but the less expected the win, the sweeter
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 15-01-2015 18:57
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Team Leader
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Somewhat disappointed. Especially since they dropped the captains...
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 15-01-2015 19:00
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2282
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29 seconds lost to the lead, definitely not unreachable for Arroyo and co. Only dropped Esquivel and Villegas in the TTT which is fine since I count all my GC-hopes on Arroyo and Castano. Now just pray for similar mountain AI as earlier!
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 15-01-2015 19:15
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Classics Specialist
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I'm surprised Jiriakov dropped before Alizadeh considering he's a much better TT rider, unless it shows how many pulls he took in comparison to Alizadeh who may have just followed to avoid getting dropped.
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