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Tour of Ukraine Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 07-07-2015 20:50
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Directeur Sportif
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 Tour of Ukraine
The Tour of Ukraine goes into it's second edition, again featuring five stages (two hilly) and a slightly hilly 45km ITT. The uphill finish on day three may again be the key stage, as Dan Craven (Venchi/now Project: Africa) stormed to a crucial gap with an outstanding attack there one year ago.
Of course the timetrial will be another key to any GC-success here, so it's no surprise to see packed startlist with most of the division's best allrounders.
The Startlist
The Favorites | Allrounders | HI | TT | Puncheurs | HI | TT |  Costa | 80 | 76 |  Kelderman | 80 | 70 |  Sanchez Gil | 79 | 75 |  Meyer | 78 | 69 |  Craven | 78 | 75 |  Boily | 78 | 70 |  Kangert | 77 | 77 | Bellis | 78 | 62 |  Bibby | 76 | 77 |  Mehr-Wenige | 78 | 63 |  Boom | 75 | 78 |  Zingle | 77 | 68 |  Hollenstein | 75 | 73 | Juul-Jensen | 77 | 67 |  Gerdemann | 75 | 73 | Hategeka | 77 | 66 | | Koren | 74 | 78 | Vakoc | 77 | 68 |  Nepomnyachsniy | 74 | 77 | Vogt | 77 | 65 | | Oliveira | 73 | 78 |  Sinkewitz | 76 | 62 | | Cornu | 72 | 81 | McEvoy | 76 | 65 | | Steensen | 72 | 77 | Hofland | 76 | 66 | | Kreuziger | 72 | 77 | Siskevicius | 76 | 65 |
Quite a packed startlist with several possible GC-contenders, but let's begin with those, who already did well in the race's inaugaral edition last year: the entire podium from 2014 is at the start this year, too! Defending champion Craven and runner-up Kangert will be definitely amongst the top-favorites again. Last year's third Gerdemann ain't getting younger and will need some very special days to reach the podium for the second time here.
The men to beat should be outstanding puncheurs like Costa and Sanchez Gil. Both strong against the clock, too. Guys like Kelderman, Meyer or Boily are "just" semi-strong against the clock, but definitely can be real threats, if they deliver big time on the two hilly stages before.
Bibby, Boom, Koren (6th last year), Nepomnyachsniy (5th) and maybe also Cornu can play their TT-strength towards a strong GC-result. The latter as the clear favorite for the TT at least and with the chance to limit the losses in those road races.
The Stage Hunters | Pure Chronomen | HI | TT | Sprinters | SP | ACC | | Dempster | 64 | 79 | Groenewegen | 80 | 79 |  Tennant | 69 | 78 | Ulanowski | 80 | 77 | | Janse van Rensburg | 68 | 78 | Kupfernagel | 80 | 80 | | Dumoulin | 68 | 78 | Nizzolo | 80 | 79 | | | | Demare | 79 | 79 | | | | Boeckmans | 79 | 81 | | | | Sobota | 78 | 78 | | | | Hoffman | 78 | 78 | | | | Fonseca | 78 | 77 | | | | Polivoda | 77 | 77 |
A few pure TT-specialists like Dempster or Tennant may hope for some success in the timetrial, even though those non-GC guys tend to be no real threats for a late TT. They will try anyway.
With also two flat stages to be raced, we see some strong sprinters lining up as well: Groenewegen, Ulanowski, FDB Eire-winner Kupfernagel and Nizzolo as the fastest here. Demare and Boeckmans as two more promising sprinters. We can expect some hard battles for line honours, if anything goes it's way.
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| roturn |
Posted on 07-07-2015 20:58
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Come one. Another Sprint win please. Groenewegen could get a train here theoretically but no single rider really suiting to lead him out.
Also Boom for top10 or due to the long tt even top 5. Quite surprised I did not nominate Schadlich here.
Edited by roturn on 07-07-2015 20:58
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| cio93 |
Posted on 07-07-2015 21:03
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World Champion
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Believe it or not, but I had spare race days for Kelderman and Demare, so this was the perfect fit to get some scoring opportunities for both of them.
I feel like this is a slightly more exaggerated Bayern with a slightly harder queen stage (+ one extra hilly stage) and a longer TT.
Stages 1 and 5 are clear opportunities for Demare, who even has a 77/77 train here in case the AI lets him have one.
Stage 2 is one I have big hopes in as we have a trio of suited riders in Kelderman, Felline and Demare, depending on how hard the hill will be raced. For some reason though, it really looks like a breakaway fuck-up will happen there...
Stage 3 is the obvious place to get rid of the better TTers, a yellow jersey into the TT could work wonders and would justify our participation, especially looking at how the Bayern TT went with some significantly underperforming allrounders.
All in all, a Top 10 for Kelderman is a must, and a couple of stage podiums should be very achievable too.
I don't really want to predict a winner here yet as there are way too many possible outcomes. It's pretty obvious though that I would kinda prefer if it isn't Costa 
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 07-07-2015 21:03
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Directeur Sportif
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roturn wrote:
Quite surprised I did not nominate Schadlich here.
You checked last year's results and saw that Rogers only finished 10th (or even worse) on that stage. I assume, you did 
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| roturn |
Posted on 07-07-2015 21:17
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No I didn't.
I guess his race days were gone. |
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| knockout |
Posted on 07-07-2015 21:21
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Grand Tour Champion
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Very important race for Evonik. These are the kind of races where Lulu Sanchez is expected to shine. Once again he has most of his strong support around him with Siskevicius and Mohoric here.
I once again expect Costa to be the main rival but so did I say ahead of Bayern. But with the more random results in PCM 2014 a lot more riders are capable of winning.
As usual Strava is at my c1 races as well. I swear you: They are shadowing me!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| The Rider |
Posted on 07-07-2015 21:27
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Interested to see how the results pan out compared to Bayern, the hills before the TT this time.
That 1st cat. climb in the middle of stage 2 looks a biggie, maybe the MNT stat might show its head on that stage? |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 07:26
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| fintas |
Posted on 07-07-2015 21:32
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I have no hope for a good final result in this race, McEvoy and Vakoc lack the ability in the TT's, Gerdemann no longer has the ability to repeat the result of the previous year.
All my hope is in Kupfernagel for stages 1 and 5, Silvestre, Vakoc and McEvoy should offer good support. I also think that the Stage 2 fits perfectly in McEvoy, that with 76HI and 75SP should be a favorite to this stage.
Loved to watch my team to be present on the breaks especially Chiarello which has given quite well in this early season.
I bet my money on Kangert for the win
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 07-07-2015 22:15
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I think Bellis had race days left here so I decided just to scatter him in with Boily in the hope of getting point everywhere do not expect him to be that high overall then added a strong team behind them both with all having plus 70 hill and TT apart from Van Zyl 69 TT so quite hopeful of a good showing |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 07-07-2015 22:25
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Maybe Sobota can pull off a good sprint or Sinkewitz can have a good stage or we can have some luck in a break, not expecting much though.
Thanks for the preview. 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 07-07-2015 23:54
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Sprinter
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Several leader options here, but probably none strong enough for a GC top10. At least one of the few chances Armindo Fonseca can contribute ...if we can sum it up to 10 PPRD it'll be a success.
Thanks for the nice preview and the diligent work all over man-game and pcmdaily.com, tsmoha!
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 08-07-2015 06:24
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None of my riders mentioned here, which makes sense really
All we can hope for is breakaway success I guess.
In the GC I'll have to cheer for Nepomnyachsni. One day, one lovely day, he'll be riding in our colors.  |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 08-07-2015 07:15
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You can't even spell his name right, so there's no doubt I will never sell him to you, Bjartne  . Nah, Nepo is very important in my team, and should I relegate I would like him to completely wreck the CT
For this race I have a win goal, and brought riders enabling me to theoratically win every stage. Ulanowski could win the sprints, Prevar, who isn't mentioned, can win the hilly stuff and last year Nepomnyachsniy won the TT, so...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Heine |
Posted on 08-07-2015 08:18
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Looking at how long the TT is this should be a race for the time-trialist/allrounders. My guess is Cornu or Boom to win this, even thought there are many strong riders with the TT/Hill combo here. Also depends on daily form of the TT, as we have seen already this season
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| tastasol |
Posted on 08-07-2015 09:15
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Classics Specialist
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Hunting stage wins here. Hopefully Steensen can do something in the GC as well.
Meyer has a decent TT and he looked good in TDU as well, so a little surprised to see Juul-Jensen as our #1 in the startlist.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 08-07-2015 09:28
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Aiming for a top 5 here with either Kangert or Koren.
Both can do well, so we'll see which of them has the form.
This race has an interesting clash with Duo Differdange. That probably caused the low amount of pure TT guys at the start.
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-07-2015 10:12
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DubbelDekker wrote:
Aiming for a top 5 here with either Kangert or Koren.
Both can do well, so we'll see which of them has the form.
This race has an interesting clash with Duo Differdange. That probably caused the low amount of pure TT guys at the start.
Excellent indeed. Boom and Dumoulin not within my top 2.
So it's nice to see that guys like Cornu won't be in DD. |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 08-07-2015 12:15
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I'd like Costa to raise his game to the standards layed upon him. However our recent form seriously makes a good result difficult to expect here...
As my pick for the win, I'm choosing Kangert. Gazelle have been massively well-succeeded this season so far, so that's where I'm going.
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| fintas |
Posted on 08-07-2015 18:59
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Yes another victory
Kupfernagel is the man of the moment, its current form is something extraordinary..
As I expected great leadout by my team, although I think it should be Silvestre, the last to launch Kupfernagel.
I am clearly pleased although I know that the jersey will change hands in the next stage, and yet I fear the aspirations for the general can be further disadvantaged in trying to defend the yellow.
Thanks for the report tsmoha, short but tremendously effective to demonstrate the essential
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 08-07-2015 19:07
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8th 9th and 11th... I know we lack a seriously good sprinter, but with a train this strong Maciej just has to do better...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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