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Daniel Martin's Tour Diary
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 03-07-2015 20:38
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Utrecht, the Netherlands, July 3rd - 21:32
Riding a Grand Tour is never easy.
The intensity of the racing, the added pressure from the media, the stress of riding competitively for three weeks straight. But it's all a little more extreme at Le Tour. The climbs are a little bit tougher, the sprints a little bit faster, the cobbles a little bit rougher.
When I ride in Spain or Switzerland, the media don't care - they didn't get me to write this because I won a stage in the Tour of Poland!
I haven't had many good experiences at GTs, I'm the first to admit it. Crashing out of the 2013 Vuelta, breaking my collar bone on the very first stage of my home Giro, last year. But I did have some of my best days in the three week tours, winning stage 9 of the 2013 Tour or taking home 7th in GC in my last Vuelta.
Now I'm nearly thirty, it's time to step up my game. I'm going to France with full support from my team, aiming for a stage win and a Top 10 in the GC. And you'll be right next to me, reading my daily Tour diary right here.
Spoiler So, here we go again - Dippo's at it once more. Short story this time, I hope to upload each stage the day it's raced IRL too (might be too busy watching to play though, so it might take a little longer). DB is expansion pack, completely unedited. Not sure what exactly to expect, but the Huy stage is definitely a big target. Hope you enjoy following me noob around in my first ever attempt at non-be a pro PCM 15.  |
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 03-07-2015 20:39
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Reserved for on demand.
Feel free to post now.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 03-07-2015 20:40
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Good luck, sounds promising! Very interesting course for Dan.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| DiCyc |
Posted on 03-07-2015 20:54
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Sprinter
Posts: 1636
Joined: 09-03-2015
PCM$: 200.00
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Good luck!
Let's see what Dan can do!  |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 03-07-2015 23:10
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Very nice, good luck.
Will you be using a real startlist? 
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| emre99 |
Posted on 03-07-2015 23:12
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3332
Joined: 19-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Jesleyh wrote:
Very nice, good luck.
Will you be using a real startlist?
It is availbale on 2 threads down here  .
No ads, sorry.
Goodluck with that my 'Story-Game' mate 
#FREELANDA #FREELIA MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
emre99's stages
Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014
-Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world
PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece!
1 like 1 girlfriend
''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 03-07-2015 23:22
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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good luck Dippo
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 03-07-2015 23:37
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1090.00
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Very nice, should be a great addition to the Tour to have this everyday as a comparison, especially if you use a real startlist like Jesleyh proposed Looking forward to it!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 09:35
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| IP: None |
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 04-07-2015 12:13
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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@Jandal Agreed, should be a great route for him. Especially looking forward zo Huy and Mur de Bretagne stages.
@DiCyc Yep, hoping for a stage and maybe a stint in yellow, might be a little ambitious though.
@Jesley I will be, yes.
@Emre Thanks for the info, will definitely be using one.
@Croatia Thanks a lot mate.
@Cunego Thanks a,lot, great to have such a high profile follower. Really putting the pressure on though.
@ALL Stage 1 should come sometime this afternoon, most likely before or in the early parts of the rl stage, so stay tuned.
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 04-07-2015 15:09
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Utrecht, the Netherlands, July 4th - 20:18
Standing in the starting house, waiting to go out on course in tropical temperatures, I knew exactly what I had to do. I was one of the last to start, so I had good info what the course was like. Ryder and Andy both looked good for spots in the Top 10, so I didn't want to lose too much time on them either.
It was a disaster. I'm not sure where exactly things started to go wrong, but it was absolutely terrible. I couldn't find the right position on the bike, I couldn't take the corners properly, I couldn't hit my stride at all. I finished the day in 157th out of 198, 1 minute and 27 seconds behind yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara and over a minute down on Froome, Quintana, Nibali and Contador.
The atmosphere in the team hotel tonight was a little edgy, to say the least. Ryder got 9th, while Andy finished 12th, so now they both believe they should be leading themselves. Jonathan Vaughters told us after the race that we were still going for me, but I'm not sure they can be trusted to give all when they're needed most...
Results Stage 1
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | 16'50 | | 2 | Tom Dumoulin | Team Giant-Alpecin | + 3 | | 3 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Etixx - Quick-step | s.t. | | 4 | Matthias Frank | IAM Cycling | + 5 | | 5 | Rohan Dennis | BMC Racing Team | + 6 | | 6 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | s.t. | | 7 | Tony Martin | Etixx - Quick-step | + 8 | | 8 | Lars Boom | Astana Pro Team | + 9 | | 9 | Ryder Hesjedal | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 10 | | 10 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | + 11 | | ... | | 157 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1'27 |
GC after Stage 1
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | 16'50 | | 2 | Tom Dumoulin | Team Giant-Alpecin | + 3 | | 3 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Etixx - Quick-step | s.t. | | 4 | Matthias Frank | IAM Cycling | + 5 | | 5 | Rohan Dennis | BMC Racing Team | + 6 | | 6 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | s.t. | | 7 | Tony Martin | Etixx - Quick-step | + 8 | | 8 | Lars Boom | Astana Pro Team | + 9 | | 9 | Ryder Hesjedal | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 10 | | 10 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | + 11 | | ... | | 157 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1'27 |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-07-2015 16:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Meh no worries. Plenty of time to kick back |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 04-07-2015 16:48
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Terrible
Frank 4th? What the fuck
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| SSJ2Luigi |
Posted on 04-07-2015 16:49
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World Champion
Posts: 11971
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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only 10 seconds slower than in real life, however best time was 2 minutes quicker 
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 05-07-2015 17:34
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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@Ian Indeed - maybe losing a little time early on will even be beneficial for attacking on the next few stages.
@Jes That's what you get when you simulate.
@Luigi Who are you saying was quicker, Dennis IRL or Cance here?
@ALL Stage 2 will be up in an hour or two, already played it. Some drama there too, but not quite as much as IRL.
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 05-07-2015 20:23
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Anvers, Belgium, July 5th - 21:43
The aim for today was simple: Conserve energy. Things were still a little tense between me, Andy, and Ryder, but there wasn't any way to resolve that before we enter the Pyrenees, so I'm preparing for a rather intense week in the camp. The stage itself offered a little more drama than was expected, thought thankfully we managed to stay out of it.
While our three "captains" stayed close to the front all the time, some weren't so careful, and with 20km to go, they paid the price. Someone in the middle of the pack hit a pothole at full speed, taking down 20 other lads with him. The main casualties of the fall were my cousin Nico Roche, my main opponent for the hilly stages Alejandro Valverde, and French GC hopeful Romain Bardet. Whilst Nico and Piti could at least finish the stage (losing 3'08" ), Bardet broke his tibia and is out of the race before it even entered his homeland.
Results Stage 2
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Etixx - Quick-step | 3h17'38 | | 2 | André Greipel | Lotto Soudal | s.t. | | 3 | Alexander Kristoff | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 4 | John Degenkolb | Team Giant-Alpecin | s.t. | | 5 | Nacer Bouhanni | Cofidis, Solutions Crédits | s.t. | | 6 | Sam Bennett | Bora - Argon 18 | s.t. | | 7 | Michael Matthews | Orica-GreenEDGE | s.t. | | 8 | Davide Cimolai | Lampre-Merida | s.t. | | 9 | Armindo Fonseca | Bretagne - Séché Environnement | s.t. | | 10 | Bryan Coquard | Team Europcar | s.t. | | ... | | 89 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | s.t. |
GC after Stage 2
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | 3h34'28 | | 2 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Etixx - Quick-step | + 3 | | 3 | Tom Dumoulin | Team Giant-Alpecin | s.t. | | 4 | Matthias Frank | IAM Cycling | + 5 | | 5 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | + 6 | | 6 | Rohan Dennis | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 7 | Tony Martin | Etixx - Quick-step | + 8 | | 8 | Lars Boom | Astana Pro Team | + 9 | | 9 | Ryder Hesjedal | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 10 | | 10 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | + 11 | | ... | | 149 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1'27 |
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 06-07-2015 20:41
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Seraing, Belgium, July 6th - 20:37
Tthe big day. The Mur de Huy, one of my favourite hills. I was second here in 2014, fourth in 2013, sixth in 2012 - the climb definitely suits me. Even Andy and Ryder realised that today was my chance. I stayed near the front all day, putting some of our lads on the front to help pull back the break.
As we reached the last KoM before Huy, with the break nearly caught, we had a big attack. Purito, Contador and yesterdays crash victim Valverde gave it a go with 6km from the finish. We didn't panic - attacks like this don't normally work in Fleche Wallone, so why would they here? But as they linked up with Boom from the early break, they pulled out a bigger and bigger gap.
They dropped Boom after a while, then hit the Mur with a minute over the pack - we knew we were fighting a losing battle. In the end, Piti made up for his bad luck yesterday, winning on the Mur for the second time this year.
My positioning wasn't great going in to the finale, so I was boxed in when the sprint started. I tried my best to fight my way forward, but in the end 19th was all I could get. I was best on our team, but they're doubting me more than ever now. I'm still convinced I just need to gain form, but Ryder and Andy don't seem to see it like that.
Results Stage 3
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | 3h19'28 | | 2 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 3 | Alberto Contador | Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 4 | Rigoberto Urán | Etixx - Quick-step | + 26 | | 5 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | + 32 | | 6 | Pierre Rolland | Team Europcar | s.t. | | 7 | Peter Kennaugh | Team Sky | s.t. | | 8 | Simon Gerrans | Orica-GreenEDGE | s.t. | | 9 | Julian Arredondo | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | 10 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | ... | | 19 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 49 |
GC after Stage 3
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | 6h54'28 | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 10 | | 3 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | + 11 | | 4 | Jean-Christophe Peraud | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 14 | | 5 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Etixx - Quick-step | + 20 | | 6 | Lars Boom | Astana Pro Team | + 26 | | 7 | Rigoberto Urán | Etixx - Quick-step | + 27 | | 8 | Ryder Hesjedal | Team Cannondale - Garmin | s.t. | | 9 | Andrew Talansky | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 29 | | 10 | Michael Matthews | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 31 | | ... | | 36 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1'44 |
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| DiCyc |
Posted on 06-07-2015 20:48
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Sprinter
Posts: 1636
Joined: 09-03-2015
PCM$: 200.00
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Come on Dan, he can do it! |
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| emre99 |
Posted on 06-07-2015 23:01
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3332
Joined: 19-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Come on Dan!
Still a plenty of day to come!
Fabi on yellow
#FREELANDA #FREELIA MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
emre99's stages
Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014
-Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world
PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece!
1 like 1 girlfriend
''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 07-07-2015 17:21
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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@DiCyc I sure hope so, allthough form is still pretty bad tbh.
@Emre Yeah, he had a bit more luck here than IRL.
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 07-07-2015 17:47
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3904
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Arras, France, July 7th - 22:14
Cobbles. The big one. Today, except for an off day in the mountains, was the day most likely to end in heartbreak. Luckily we have a few good cobblers in our team, so our three captains were well protected. Until we reached the big cobbled sections everything went well. The breakaway was small, the gap manageable (allthough bizarely, Ian Stannard was part of it), and everyone kept out of trouble. Once we hit the last 45kms, we knew we needed to move forward. Then it happened.
Andy hit the deck hard, taking some big names like Porte, Kruijswijk, or Gesink with him. We all just looked at each other, but Jonathan shouted at us through the team radio to keep on riding, so we pushed on. Froome wasn't directly involved in the crash, but got caught behind it, so Astana, Tinkoff and Movistar pushed on. We didn't get directly involved, but we stayed at the very front, with Langeveld protecting me.
As we reached the last few cobbled sections, it became obvious Andy wasn't going to come back. So Seb set a high pace at the front, with me and Ryder tucked in behind him. This gave an almost immediate reaction, pulling the three of us plus Valverde clear of the rest. We tried to push on, but we were all getting tired, so eventually a small group containg Nibali, Contador and Quintana caught up with us. Whilst Cancellara won in the yellow jersey, ours was the next bigger group, taking over two minutes on the likes of Froome. This stage really boosted our GC standings, with Ryder 4th, me 7th, and Sebastian 9th. There are still some poor climbers ahead of us, whilst some semi-favourites are pretty much out of contention, so me and Ryder are looking good for a Top 10 finish.
Results Stage 4
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | 4h41'52 | | 2 | Ian Stannard | Team Sky | + 1'39 | | 3 | Sep Vanmarcke | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 1'58 | | 4 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Etixx - Quick-step | + 2'25 | | 5 | John Degenkolb | Team Giant-Alpecin | s.t. | | 6 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 7 | Vincenzo Nibali | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 8 | Sebastian Langeveld | Team Cannondale - Garmin | s.t. | | 9 | Damien Gaudin | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 10 | Ryder Hesjedal | Team Cannondale - Garmin | s.t. | | ... | | 14 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | s.t. |
GC after Stage 4
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Trek Factory Racing | 15h23'00 | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 2'35 | | 3 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Etixx - Quick-step | + 2'45 | | 4 | Ryder Hesjedal | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 2'52 | | 5 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | + 3'06 | | 6 | Vincenzo Nibali | Astana Pro Team | + 3'11 | | 7 | Daniel Martin | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 4'09 | | 8 | Ian Stannard | Team Sky | + 4'20 | | 9 | Sebastian Langeveld | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 4'24 | | 10 | Lars Boom | Astana Pro Team | + 4'46 |
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