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Tour du Faso Discussion
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| The Rider |
Posted on 22-02-2015 12:38
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Welcome folks to the Tour du Faso, the longest race in October! In store here we have a, 1 KM, prologue, 6 pan flat stages, a TTT and two flat stages - with cobbles! Whereas stage 3 may do little to wet the appetite of the cobblers (with the short cobbled section coming at the beginning of the stage), stage 9 sees over 15 continuous kilometres of cobblestones starting with around 20 kilometres to go. The terrain is there for the cobblers certainly.
Which way will this one go? Will the GC be decided by someone who is good against the clock, a sprinter who mops up the bonuses in the sprints or a definitive move by someone on stage 9?
Prologue Favourites:
 M Ford | | M Olman |
Difficult to see past these two, however, you never know. Will the uniquely short prologue throw up big surprises?
Sprint Favourites:
| SPR | ACC |  Ciolek | 83 | 79 |  Cavendish | 82 | 81 |  Napolitano | 82 | 82 |  Vantomme | 82 | 78 | | Goss | 82 | 78 |  Vanderbiest | 81 | 77 |  Maksimov | 81 | 84 |  Castaneda | 80 | 79 |  Serebriakov | 80 | 77 |  Lavoine | 80 | 78 |
Most, if not all, of the above bring quality sprinters from their respective teams. That long list isn't even the end all. Surely we will also see the likes of  Hoffman and Hochmann mixing it up in the ginormous amount of sprint finishes. Plenty of stages for the quick men, however, can they, will they also be fighting out the GC?
TTT Favourites:
| Oz Cycling Project |  Kazzinc Procycling | | RBC Pro Cycling |
Oz Cycling Project will enter this 12 KM TTT as overwhelming favourites, they bring a solid TTT train amidst one of the weakest startlists for a TTT in a race all season.
Cobble Favourites:
| FLA | COB | | Franzoi | 77 | 81 |  Thomas | 75 | 79 | | Maes | 80 | 79 |  Nuyens | 77 | 79 | | Veelers | 74 | 78 | | Taillefour | 77 | 78 |
That cobbled stage 9 could well be the one to decide the GC. This is where the race really alights as the two cobbled favourites are from rivals in the relegation battle, Team Hornbach may have the strength in depth but Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling will surely be the fan favourites. A battle that might well be concluded at the climax of this race.
What effect will the fact that the cobblers don't usually race 10 day races have for these riders?
Aside from those already mentioned quality rouleurs like Del Nero and Steegmans also make the startlist, a good route for them?
Project: Africa, virtually the home team, will certainly relish racing in Burkina Faso, will Maksimov finally deliver for them?
So many questions - 10 stages and all will be answered.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 22-02-2015 12:42
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Grand Tour Champion
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Last race of the season for Serebriakov here, and in fact for all my riders present here. Although I'm not very confident about a stage win, I hope Serebriakov does prove he might earn a renewal by getting some podiums. The cobbles will be a horror for my team here, but well, maybe breaks will do there.
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 22-02-2015 12:45
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World Champion
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Great preview. Should be a great race from the relegation perspective. Lavoine, Veelers and Franzoi present.. I think Boeing will have hard time outscoring them here, if I am truly honest they would do well to only stay 81 points behind after this race finishes. Hoping Maksimov will do well for Africa they deserve some success.
Looking forward to quality reports as ever 
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 22-02-2015 12:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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Hoping that Thomas sprint capabilities can make the difference here, because it certainly won't the be the TT's. Simple task all things considered, BEAT HORNBACH! They lead us by 81pts and we have to cut as much of that as possible here. Ideal world: Stage 9 Win for Thomas leads to a GC victory. If we are going to survive the work will be done here in this race...
Time for the next big notivational speech:
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 22-02-2015 12:54
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We will lose plenty of time in the TTT. Hope the cobble stage is very selective! It should be, because that is a very long cobble section.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 13:07
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Classics Specialist
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LOVE friday night lights TMM
In terms of this race hope Vanderbiest can hit a few points and that will make me happy |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 28-11-2024 02:56
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| cio93 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 13:46
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Great memories of this race, so great expectations as well.
Although...remember when there wasn't a single 80+ sprinter in this race? 
At least the startlist tells me we should have the most competitive train here, if we get around to constantly use that fact to our advantage and actually form one.
The cobbles can be horribly selective or horribly unselective, it would be really important to be in the Top 3 in the GC before that stage for sure to have the advantage of AI positioning.
The relegation fight really climaxes here with the strong cobbles lineup, that will be a fun thing to watch, Faso loves to decide promotion/relegation situations
Oh, and could anybody confirm if Sütterlin really is the third best TTer here? Would be amazing to get some points in stage 1, and it's surprising considering a good TTT can give you loads of minor GC points...
Edited by cio93 on 22-02-2015 13:51
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| jph27 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 13:53
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As long as none of my rivals for 9th score ridiculously well I'm happy. And boy am I happy that Amex aren't here
Hope for Ciolek, Vanderbiest and Maksimov to do well in the sprints, and Thomas to do well on the cobbles and in the overall. Watching with interest as I plan to be here next season if it's still on the calendar  |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 14:27
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Sorry DubbelDekker, I've got to hope for a poor performance from Gazelle here so we can win the Africa tour and complete our goal. 4/5 goals and one near miss would be amazing for next year's budget. |
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| Deadpool |
Posted on 22-02-2015 14:42
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Ugh, this race was always the bane of my existence. Both seasons I ran I contested it with good teams, both seasons I got jack shit. Better luck to you all. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-02-2015 15:12
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Directeur Sportif
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Stage-wins as the goal, obviously With the TTs and Goss we definitely need to make an impact here. No excuses for Goss to not score a victory.
GC-wise, well... Del Nero should be capable to survive the cobbles. Not sure what to expect overall, guess it's hard to predict anyway.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 17:08
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World Champion
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If anyone's interested, I calculated the average TT stat of all teams for the TTT. It's indeed a very weak lineup in that regard, let's see how it plays out in reality and how much it affects the GC.
I didn't take PRL into account so it's not exactly what the game will use.
Spoiler  Oz | 70,28 | | Kazzinc | 68,42 | | RBC | 68,00 | | Puma | 67,28 | | Hornbach | 66,14 | | Project: Africa | 66,14 | | Ameriabank | 66,14 | | Boeing | 65,14 | | Meiji | 64,42 | | Belarusbank | 64,14 | | Quickstep | 62,57 | | Nordeus | 62,42 | | Gazelle | 62,00 | | Metinvest | 61,85 | | Allianz | 61,28 |
I can't believe that despite having horribly few TTers in my 2014 roster, I'm 4th there
Edited by cio93 on 22-02-2015 17:14
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-02-2015 17:17
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Directeur Sportif
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Go Oz!
Thanks for this, cio. No race to bring all good TTers, so kinda expected averages there, imo.
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 17:37
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Wow - tied 5th for best TTT team! Good luck, boys
I really didn't expect such a strong sprint startlist, so I don't think this race will be our saving grace. Furthermore, for once I'm hoping PCM AI will mess up the cobbles, we have a decent TTT and Maksimov grabs some stages and a strong GC. Not that likely  *cries*
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 22-02-2015 22:37
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Fond memories of this race - Jaguar have been a presence pretty much every year til now, often to much success, particularly when we had Blythe but also Hammond way back in the day.
cio93 wrote:
Great memories of this race, so great expectations as well.
Although...remember when there wasn't a single 80+ sprinter in this race?
After Roelandts dominated so much last year, contributing a lot to Bouygues' promotion, I guess this race was fresh in the mind in race planning as a sprinter's haven!
Would be good to see Maksimov shine here, for the sake of African cycling!
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 22-02-2015 23:01
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World Champion
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A stage win or two, please.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 22-02-2015 23:44
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Small Tour Specialist
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jt1109 wrote:
LOVE friday night lights TMM
Me to, was a cool show, nice memory TMM.
This looks a fairly bonkers race, with its concentration on sprints, TTs and some cobbles, doubt this will feature in the Nutresa race programme in 2015 unless something out of the ordinary happens during the off-season.
Good luck to all (active), and down with any others!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Ste117 |
Posted on 23-02-2015 01:03
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We need stage wins here and with Cavendish we should have a good chance although we don't have the strongest sprint train here for a change.
MG Team manager Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
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| jaxika |
Posted on 23-02-2015 05:45
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We need the points from Maes on the cobble stage and the GC. Maybe Castaneda may grab another little points too
Edited by jaxika on 23-02-2015 05:45
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 23-02-2015 06:51
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Oh, such a strong startlist here. I would swear that those like Napolitano,Maksimov, Goss or Vantomme were present in every single flat race this year, where they steal all that race days for such a long race?
I was hoping for Hoffman being top5 sprinter here, but with this startlist any stage top5 will be great. we have no one for GC, so we need some breaks and solid stage results.
Good luck to all, Steegmans is my dark horse for this race.
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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)
