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2016 Olympics Discussion
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 23-01-2017 14:44
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Tour de France Champion
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A new Olympic champion for road racing and time trialling is crowned each 4 years in road cycling: the Management game has seen two editions of the Olympic Games unfold in 2008 and 2012, respectively in the cities of Beijing and London.
Just like the previous two times, the route heavily favours puncheurs, and similarly to four years ago's edition, a hilly circuit is followed by a long flat section leading to the finish line.
None of the past winners, which is to say Samuel Sánchez and Filippo Pozzato for the road race, and Vladimir Karpets and David Zabriskie for the Individual Time Trial, are present here. In fact, only one of the past medalists, Jerome Coppel, has been selected, which just goes to show how long a four years wait between one edition and the other really can be!
We will see a new champion in both specialities then: the real question is who they will be. No rider has stood out above all the others in neither hilly classics nor in hilly time trials this year, in fact there's been quite a variety of riders coming out on top at World Tour level in different races.
The Road Race starts at the Copa... Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana. Passing through Ipanema, as we pass each one goes "ah". Onto Barra, but we won't be seeing too much of the biggest beach in Rio. Reserving energy through the Reserva Maripendi, nice to be friendly on a bicycle here. Four laps of the Grumari circuit then back east towards the climax.
The Vista Chinesa will punish any remaining legs. It's a sharp hard climb up, and the descent is no easier. There will be no room for error on the Four concluding laps.
Then we finish back at the Copacabana. Hopefully with a showgirl named Lola.
The Time Trial uses the Grumari Circuit from the Road Race, primarily. Starting and ending at Tim Maia Square, whilst tackling the Grumari and Grota Funda climbs. 54km kilometeres that could go to any of a number of riders.
History:
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | | 2012 |  Filippo Pozzato |  Tom Boonen |  Allan Davis | | 2008 |  Samuel Sánchez |  Michael Boogerd | Karsten Kroon |
Startlist:
History:
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | | 2012 |  David Zabriskie | Michael Rogers |  Jerome Coppel | | 2008 |  Vladimir Karpets |  Jaroslav Popovych | Rubén Plaza |
Startlist:
| Country |  |  |  |  | | Spain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Russia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Australia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Ukraine | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | France | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The Road Race will come first, on Friday. The Time Trial following over the weekend.
credit to matt for writing most of the preview for me
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 23-01-2017 14:49
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Only 2 riders from our team will take part. Yevgeni will need a lot of luck if he wants to contest the first places, however Cunego has decent chances to do well, most likely with an attack about a lap before the absolute favourites start riding. Slightly disappointed Ukraine won't be taking part in the RR, would've liked watching Prevar ride here as well.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Selwink |
Posted on 23-01-2017 14:54
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Grand Tour Champion
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Only two riders here on the startlist. Jani will probably have to work for Spilak, who's definitely among the biggest contenders here. Seems like there's no chance for us in the RR then, but that was to be expected.
In the ITT Spartacus seems past his prime. Even something in the range of top-15 would already be nice here.
Probably Trofimov and Phinney for the wins here.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 23-01-2017 15:21
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Classics Specialist
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Roche and Froome in the RR is our only chance of having a Olympic champion, so that is already next to impossible. Though I do fancy seeing how they do versus the PT giants. Bialoblocki and Bodnar are there only for the chance to show the national colors, so hope to get an screenshot of that 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 15:57
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| knockout |
Posted on 23-01-2017 15:31
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Grand Tour Champion
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Quite cool to have plenty of riders in the start list. Having my own Latvia team is awesome and Van Stayen and Gold Van Avermaet are also cool options for this race. 
Thanks for organising !
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| ember |
Posted on 23-01-2017 15:44
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Definitely fancy Boasson Hagen's chances here with such a non-complicated looking finish. Will be interesting to see how the AI handles the hills, as they're definitely more than difficult enough to see a select group or even a single rider go clear, but with the final downhill and long flat, we could see a pretty passive race as well.
Nice to see Bystrøm be part of the Norwegian line up as well. If Boasson Hagen wins it, I guess his lack of success in the classics so far this season can be explained by the lack of Bystrøm 
And thank you for running this and the work behind it, TheManxMissile. Looking a lot forward to see the race on Friday! |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 23-01-2017 15:51
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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ember wrote:
And thank you for running this and the work behind it, TheManxMissile. Looking a lot forward to see the race on Friday!
Roturn and Matt have also done a lot of the work, i'm mostly just the guy doing the reporting
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| matt17br |
Posted on 23-01-2017 15:53
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Directeur Sportif
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1 rider in the RR with Ulissi - who has reasonable chances with his awesome stamina and very decent sprint, but will obviously not be preferred over Ponzi sadly - and 1 in the TT with Ghyslinck, who has 0 chances to do anything of note, not that he has disappointed this season.
Looking forward to some amazing racing and close battles!
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 23-01-2017 16:08
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Grand Tour Champion
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A few guys in the startlist but nobody likely to be playing out the win. Shame it's not teams of 5 like IRL however still looking forward to some interesting racing.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 23-01-2017 16:09
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Tour de France Champion
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Team of the year with zero riders present 
Thanks for reporting tmm
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 23-01-2017 16:30
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Only one rider, but it is LLS, but he's shown he doesn't go so great in the PT field, will be interesting support Spain for once at least.
Thanks TMM, Matt, Roturn, etc.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 23-01-2017 17:05
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Classics Specialist
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4 in the RR, all on the Anuar Aziz support train so hiopefully he can do something.
It's a bit of a shame Austria didn't qualify for the TT as I thought Zoidl would have a decent chance to repeat his top 10 from the world's TT last season, which I think was on a hilly course.
It will be interesting to see if it's won by someone young enough that they can still have a good chance of defending it in 4 years time.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 23-01-2017 17:34
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World Champion
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Was hoping Waeytens would get a spot but alas
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 23-01-2017 17:42
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Classics Specialist
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Hopefully Phinney can keep the dream year going and add Olympic Gold to the dauphine, Herbies and Praha thanks for all the work behind these guys |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 23-01-2017 17:43
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Tour de France Champion
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Tbh i'm more than happy to have even one rider here. Thiago Duarte Nardin prepping the home nation in style.
Now.... just imagine if he won.... and imagine if his manager was the reporter.... anything could happen....
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 23-01-2017 18:48
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Small Tour Specialist
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3 riders present here. All with very, very outside chances here. Just cool to be present though
Gotta be a top class puncheur taking this one though. Phinney for the TT aswell.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 23-01-2017 19:01
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Grand Tour Champion
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Got a handful of riders here, so that's nice to see. Looking for a strong showing from TVG and will be interesting to see how my TT guys (Fraile and Bookwalter) stack up as well.
Good luck boys and thanks for organizing. 
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| SotD |
Posted on 23-01-2017 19:32
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World Champion
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I didn't even know that this many former Festina riders had won an Olympic medal.
In the road race I have had both winners, Samuel Sanchez and Filippo Pozzato aswell as bronze medal winner Allan Davis.
And in the timetrial I have had Vladimir Karpets and Jaroslav Popovych and currently have Jerome Coppel. So 50% of all Olympic medalists have been at my team. That is quite a nice percentage
Let's hope Coppel can take another medal here. The TT should suit him with it's slightly hilly nature, but clearly Phinney is the main favorite, and riders such as Gesink, Taaramäe, Tenorio, Fiedler, Kritskiy, Cornu and Pluchkin can never be ruled out of a time trial like this. I fancy the odds of atleast bronze though.
For the roadrace Spilak is definately my best option, but having both Koretzky and Lecuisinier for France is also nice. I'm really sad that Jerome Coppel haven't made it though as he would have been a much better option than Lecuisinier. He could probably have done better than Pichon and Gautier also in a finish like this that reminds a lot of Milano San Remo where he is often a top 20 rider despite not being the leader. I would also have liked to see Vasyliv here instead of Herklotz who will get his time soon enough.
A medal here aswell would be very nice. But definately not a given. Seeing how Bakelants performed at the Tour de France I would say he is among the biggest favorites, but Ponzi, Trofimov and van Garderen can never be ruled out. EBH? I can't see that happening, although it would make me happy.
Oh and if I am to get 50% of the medals from current or former riders I need riders like Ricco, Ulissi, Demare, Pichon, Contador, Madrazo, Paillot, Furdi, Smukulis or my current riders to deliver one more (except for the Spilak and Coppel one that is atleast somewhat likely).
Looking forward to the spectacle for sure
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 23-01-2017 21:09
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Looking forwad to this despite not having anyone in the road race and Paillot in the ITT only expected to test the route for Coppel.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 23-01-2017 21:48
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Classics Specialist
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Two riders present, with Meyer and Howson. Should be hard to get a good result for both of them, so I'll just cheer for Boasson Hagen and the Norwegian team
Looking forward to the races, should be fun.
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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)
