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Tour Down Under Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-07-2016 21:27
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Team Manager
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The Tour Down Under is traditionally the first stage race of the season. It`s a race for puncheurs and sprinters and even better if you combine both a bit as bonus seconds also can be crucial.
In all 8 editions so far the difference between winner and runner-up was never more than 1min. And actually last 3 editions it was s.t., +2s and most recently +5s difference. So the stage position on the final day could still change everything.
No rider did win the race twice so far but this year it might change as last years winner  Di Maggio is here to defend the title and belongs to the very best again.
His main competition is coming from the former PT riders.  Froome as best leads the Arrinera squad, while  Flügel and  Gautier remained with their relegated teams.
 Ulissi as next former PT star and former MSR winner can`t be ignored, in especially as he combines the sprint skills which might help him in the fight for bonus seconds!
Other than those  McCarthy is the big home rider star here. He is one of the strongest here and will surely be extra motivated.
Those and more strong puncheurs can be found in the list below:
| Hill | Sprint | Acc | | Froome | 82 | 54 | 75 | | Di Maggio | 82 | 64 | 75 | | McCarthy | 81 | 63 | 74 | | Flügel | 81 | 68 | 74 | | Gautier | 80 | 68 | 77 | | Ulissi | 80 | 74 | 75 |  Zaini | 80 | 65 | 70 |  Vogt | 80 | 62 | 61 |  Betancourt | 79 | 67 | 74 | | Barrio | 79 | 65 | 67 |  Caruso | 78 | 70 | 77 | | Roy | 78 | 63 | 65 |  Barbin | 78 | 71 | 75 |  Mehr-Wenige | 78 | 66 | 67 |  Landa | 78 | 61 | 69 | | Mendes | 78 | 68 | 65 |  Palini | 78 | 68 | 74 |  Gilbert | 78 | 66 | 72 | | Vanendert | 78 | 56 | 72 |  Reichenbach | 78 | 62 | 69 |
Then there are guys, who can`t climb as good as the guys above but therefore sprint really well and can go for bonus seconds. Last year many of those were in the top10 actually. Reimer (2.), Ventoso (3.), Pozzato (8th) and McEvoy (9.) in 2015.
| Hill | Sprint | Acc | | McEvoy | 76 | 75 | 79 |  Reimer | 75 | 77 | 80 | | Pozzato | 75 | 74 | 74 | | Ventoso | 74 | 76 | 74 | | Jans | 74 | 74 | 74 | | Mørkøv | 74 | 74 | 70 |  Juarez | 74 | 74 | 74 | | Theuns | 73 | 77 | 76 |
And last but not least the sprinters, who will have 3 realistic chances to fight for a win. Hence the list is long and quite prominent as well. Guerao, Vantomme, Zabel, Appollonio all come down from the PT and are the best sprinters in the race.
Add to those  Impey, who was even 7th in the GC last year. Then Haussler, Vanoverschelde, Lavoine or Castañeda.
One interesting rider here is Kump. The Slovenian is a potential winner of the race even seeing his skill sets. Basically a winner of sprint stages on any day and also a potential winner on the hilly days. If he can gain some bonus seconds before Willunga Hill, he might be able to hold on there.
| Flat | Sprint | Acc | | Guerao | 74 | 83 | 76 | | Vantomme | 73 | 82 | 78 | | Zabel | 74 | 81 | 79 | | Appollonio | 74 | 81 | 78 | | Impey | 74 | 80 | 81 | | Haussler | 73 | 80 | 76 | | Vanoverschelde | 72 | 80 | 75 | | Lavoine | 73 | 80 | 78 | | Castañeda | 71 | 80 | 79 | | Kump | 74 | 79 | 80 | | Petit | 76 | 79 | 78 | | Richeze | 72 | 79 | 77 | | Bennett | 71 | 79 | 79 | | Gatto | 71 | 78 | 72 | | Modolo | 74 | 78 | 81 | | Kruopis | 73 | 78 | 77 |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-07-2016 21:33
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great preview! if Kump gets yellow after stage 2 (which suits him best) he could win this, otherwise I have the felling that he won´t have a shot on winning...stage 3 always let´s a couple of puncheurs away, and one of these should win the Tour imo...my bet is on Ulissi, but I´ll be rooting for Kump!
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 21-07-2016 21:40
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Hopefully Vantomme has some better luck than in the DUC or maybe our team can make a train with a less stacked sprint field? He is one of the best sprinters here, so hoping for a stage win at least from him and anything from Palini or Mørkøv would be a bonus as I don't expect much from them.
As for the GC, I'm picking Mccarthy to take a home win.
Thanks for the great preview Roturn. 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 03:03
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| The Rider |
Posted on 21-07-2016 21:51
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The season starts here for Flores. Saw Mehr-Wenige got a 10th in GC here last season, and am fully expecting the same here. No GC will be better suited to him with his above-par flat stat. Could figure in the sprints, but our best hope is to show well in the breaks.
Stobart enter their first of many wildcards here. After a while, it might seem like they were never relegated! |
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 21-07-2016 21:59
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Could be great, could go south. Goal is top 3 here, jugding by the results here last year and the year before, it should be doable!
Hope the supporting riders I have will be useful, otherwise im due to a long season.
Bit more top puncheurs here than expected, guess quite a few managers fear hillier stage races whom include a tt?
CT team ferrero could do well here with two capable riders for the top 10 here, wouldnt be the first CT team do 'dominate' down under atleast 
Thanks for the preview and look forward to our season debut!
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 21-07-2016 22:01
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Sprinter
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The Rider wrote:
...
Stobart enter their first of many wildcards here. After a while, it might seem like they were never relegated!
Yeah wasn't it van der Ploeg who won the Willunga Hill stage?
Di Maggio obviously returning with last year in mind... though competition seems to be a lot tougher than in 2015. Hope Appollonio can generate some buzz in the first two stages.
Thanks for the amazing preview, roturn!
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 21-07-2016 22:10
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Ah yeah, good memories from last year getting 2 stage wins, a 2nd place on the last stage and an okay GC result! I do fear Ulissi and Kump the most, so Froome has to attack early and hope to hold home unto finish. Lucklily he has a good Acceleration, so I do feel confident he will!
We have possible stage winners each day, which is just fantastic and with riders like Matysiak and Zielinski it might be worth to set the expectations high here. Really strong lineup and well now is the time to make our stand!
Good luck to everyone and I know that roturn has some good reports in the wake
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 21-07-2016 22:53
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First C1 race. No idea what to expect. Looks like sending Pozzato here was not a bad choice with stage 3 in mind. Also have some good breakaway riders
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| fintas |
Posted on 21-07-2016 22:57
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if all races of the season have this type of start list I'm screwed.....
Vogt It is at a disadvantage due to its poor acceleration when compared to the other top riders...
A stage victory and the top 10 would be a good race
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| jph27 |
Posted on 21-07-2016 23:44
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Gautier having the best ACC and second best SP of the top puncheurs gives me hope that we could get a top 5 here if things get selective.
Petit is here for the sprints though I don't expect too much, and then there's the 6 unmaxed riders I had to send here for XP who will hopefully get into breakaways and make themselves useful - including future Sri Lankan GT winner Ranaweera  |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 21-07-2016 23:47
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World Champion
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Froome to make it 2/2 for Quickstep this season.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-07-2016 23:58
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Tour de France Champion
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All I can do is hope and pray  |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 22-07-2016 00:01
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Sprinter
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Thanks for the race and preview roturn. I'll take Ulissi for the win here, I don't think it will split be very selective. The field is stacked for puncheurs as well as sprinters, and our leaders are below the top tier in both categories so we will need to get lucky to get any sort of result.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 22-07-2016 06:51
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Wow thats a stronger startlista then I hoped for, will not get near as good result as last season when Reimer had some good stages results plus 2nd in GC. Hope my depth with one 76 and two 75 Hill riders could put 3 guys in decent GC spots. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 22-07-2016 07:33
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I am intrigued to see how that fat git Guerao gets on. I always fancy a hill type sprinter such as Impey here.
But ultimately a hilly guy should be able to prise open a gap on Old Willunga - Froome would be kinda timely with the lead bots TdF performance.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 22-07-2016 08:17
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Tour de France Champion
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Stage win plus a Top 10 would be ubersweet. We have riders for each stage so it could work out well. Modolo with a surprisingly high start number
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| matt17br |
Posted on 22-07-2016 08:29
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Directeur Sportif
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Both Ulissi and Theuns have GC/Stage Win chances here I'd say, so expecting no less than a podium here to start the season off in the best way. Ulissi needs to live up to what he costed me, and this is certainly one of his best chances to do so.
Looking very much forward to this, and it's great Kinoshita isn't here
Picking Froome for the win here.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 22-07-2016 09:47
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Tour de France Champion
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We really need a pick-me-up after the Down Under Classic  |
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| MARSUPILAMI |
Posted on 22-07-2016 09:54
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Team Leader
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I will for some reason cheer for that guy named Juarez! 
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 22-07-2016 10:15
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Team Leader
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Maybe we can get a surprise result like last season. Let's go team!
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