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Vuelta al Tachira Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 28-10-2017 00:24
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As the racing continues down under, the Continental circuit is rocking up in Venezuela for their own first stage race of the season. A number of riders are flying south from Cuba after opening up at Clasico San Cristobal, more are here ready to start their opening race of the season.
After 8 seasons as a C1 race, this year we see it as a C2, and that does mean a change in the way this race should be viewed. In the past it may well have been one for the pure climbers, but compare it to others on the C2 calendar this year and that's not so much the case - for Tachira offers hill stages as well as mountain stages. The first may be a mountain stage in disguise, but the 2nd could certainly punish those weaker on the short stuff.
And if that does happen, then these riders could be the ones battling for the victory:
| | | | MO | HL | RS | RC | AC |  | Valls | Rafael | Repsol - Honda | 79 | 75 | 77 | 78 | 72 |  | Anacona | Winner | Team Reddit | 79 | 74 | 72 | 74 | 61 |  | Penasa | Pierre Paolo | Kulczyk - DMTEX | 79 | 73 | 72 | 77 | 76 |  | Bennett | George | Xero Racing p/b Octagon | 78 | 76 | 74 | 79 | 73 |  | Cataldo | Dario | Campari - Super Dry | 78 | 75 | 76 | 75 | 73 |  | Karnulin | Denys | The Balkan Cycling Project | 78 | 74 | 75 | 77 | 70 |  | Atapuma | Darwin | Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo | 78 | 73 | 72 | 68 | 73 |  | Bardet | Romain | Philips - Continental | 77 | 74 | 70 | 71 | 75 |  | Pozzovivo | Domenico | Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes | 77 | 73 | 75 | 75 | 69 | | Salinas | Jonathan | Xero Racing p/b Octagon | 77 | 73 | 74 | 70 | 72 | | Battaglin | Enrico | Philips - Continental | 77 | 72 | 72 | 67 | 70 | | Antón | Igor | Xero Racing p/b Octagon | 77 | 72 | 74 | 71 | 74 |  | Mannion | Gavin | Azteca - NBCSN | 77 | 71 | 76 | 65 | 71 | | Kebede | Estifanos | Campari - Super Dry | 76 | 76 | 70 | 71 | 72 |  | Khripta | Andriy | Telia-Brussels Airlines | 76 | 75 | 72 | 70 | 69 | | Destribois | Alex Ariya | The Balkan Cycling Project | 76 | 75 | 69 | 74 | 75 | | De Marchi | Alessandro | Telia-Brussels Airlines | 76 | 74 | 71 | 74 | 71 |
Of course, in between the two hill stages are four mountain stages. These riders will be hoping it is only there where the selections will be made:
| | | | MO | HL | RS | RC | AC |  | Suaza | Jaime | Eddie Stobart | 80 | 65 | 76 | 67 | 79 | | Moschella | Artemio | Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo | 79 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 62 |  | Solis | Óscar | Andorra Cycling Project | 79 | 60 | 78 | 76 | 67 |  | Diaz | Daniel Ricardo | SanCor | 78 | 70 | 73 | 71 | 68 | | Rujano | José | Andorra Cycling Project | 78 | 70 | 77 | 70 | 70 | | Stetina | Peter | Azteca - NBCSN | 78 | 67 | 74 | 74 | 65 | | Manfredi | Andrea | Team Reddit | 78 | 65 | 73 | 72 | 73 | | Medvedev | Dmitri | Eddie Stobart | 78 | 64 | 77 | 72 | 72 | | Hacecký | Martin | Telia-Brussels Airlines | 77 | 70 | 76 | 76 | 75 | | Pereyra | Pedro Pablo | Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo | 77 | 67 | 74 | 66 | 64 | | Camier | Jean-François | Team Reddit | 77 | 67 | 67 | 75 | 62 |
The verdict? Valls and Penasa will start as favourites, closely followed by Bennett and Cataldo. Acceleration will be the big question for Anacona, as hills will be for Suaza. There are multiple candidates to finish in the final Top 10, and many of them could certainly be overall contenders too.
The race will open on flatter terrain, with three stages ideal for the pure sprinters, before a fourth that could be more of a test for the hill-haters in the group. Time will only tell how this sprinters field compares to other races in the season, but with only 6 of the 22 79+ sprinters in the division here, this would appear to be a good opportunity.
| | | | HL | SP | AC |  | Salleh | Mohamed Harrif | Sauber Petronas Racing | 59 | 80 | 80 | | Kip | Ismaël | Team Reddit | 56 | 80 | 82 | | Mezgec | Luka | The Balkan Cycling Project | 67 | 79 | 77 | | Haussler | Heinrich | Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes | 69 | 79 | 75 | | Hochmann | JÃri | Kulczyk - DMTEX | 54 | 79 | 80 | | Awang | Azizulhasni | Sauber Petronas Racing | 52 | 79 | 83 | | Sonnery | Blaise | Telia-Brussels Airlines | 70 | 78 | 73 | | Gatto | Oscar | Campari - Super Dry | 74 | 78 | 72 | | Kreder | Michel | Philips - Continental | 70 | 78 | 80 | | Angarita | Marvin Orlando | Azteca - NBCSN | 62 | 78 | 77 | | Andriato | Rafael | SanCor | 64 | 78 | 76 | | Richeze | Mauro | SanCor | 62 | 77 | 76 |
As for other riders to look out for, there are a number of hill specialists here, hoping to preserve energy for the final stage, or perhaps feature in breakaways early on.
| | | | MO | HL | AC | | Diggle | Tom | Xero Racing p/b Octagon | 65 | 77 | 70 | | Vichot | Arthur | Kulczyk - DMTEX | 65 | 76 | 80 | | Hugentobler | Gregory | Sauber Petronas Racing | 68 | 76 | 76 | | Othman | Muhamad Adiq | Sauber Petronas Racing | 68 | 76 | 76 |  | Taborre | Fabio | Statoil Pro Cycling | 67 | 76 | 72 |  | Rybakov | Alexander | Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack | 65 | 76 | 72 | | Nzeke | Geremie | Xero Racing p/b Octagon | 72 | 76 | 68 | | Wahyudi | Nandra Eko | Sauber Petronas Racing | 72 | 76 | 67 |
And there are 28 U25 riders. No sprinters, so hard to call who will take that jersey initially, but these are the main names to look out for through the race:
| | | | Age | MO | HL | RS | RC | AC | | Manfredi | Andrea | Team Reddit | 25 | 78 | 65 | 73 | 72 | 73 | | Pereyra | Pedro Pablo | Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo | 24 | 77 | 67 | 74 | 66 | 64 | | Lemus Davila | Luis Enrique | Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo | 25 | 75 | 71 | 69 | 66 | 62 | | Ahmad Zamri | Muhamma Afif | Sauber Petronas Racing | 25 | 75 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 69 | | Manfred | Hussein | The Balkan Cycling Project | 24 | 74 | 73 | 65 | 69 | 67 | | Ikibe | Sota | Campari - Super Dry | 25 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 72 | 65 | | La Lavandier | Maxime | The Balkan Cycling Project | 25 | 74 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 66 |
Full startlist:
Expect the race to begin Sunday afternoon/evening.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 28-10-2017 00:27
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Wow much stronger startlist then I expected to see here. Thought this might be a decent place to steal some points with my secondary riders, clearly will not be the case ... any points from here will be hard fought.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 28-10-2017 00:30
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Obviously hoping that Kulczyk will win both the GC and some stages with Hochmann, that I think looks like to be the best sprinter here
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| knockout |
Posted on 28-10-2017 00:35
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Kentaurus wrote:
Wow much stronger startlist then I expected to see here. Thought this might be a decent place to steal some points with my secondary riders, clearly will not be the case ... any points from here will be hard fought.
Isnt the CT calendar so short that every climber can ride all the mountain races? Hardly surprising to see such a start list then ... 
The real question is: Are there any top climbers in the division who are not here?
Never been a fan of the route due to the mix of pan-flat and heavy mountain stages but I'm looking forward to see all those new teams in action 
Also hoping that Kreder can win some sprints 
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 28-10-2017 00:43
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knockout wrote:
Kentaurus wrote:
Wow much stronger startlist then I expected to see here. Thought this might be a decent place to steal some points with my secondary riders, clearly will not be the case ... any points from here will be hard fought.
The real question is: Are there any top climbers in the division who are not here?
And the answer to that is:
Eastman, Krasnoperov (80 MO); Campero, Panayotov (78 MO); Squire, Tvetcov, Cunego (77 MO).
So yeh, Tachira could be a strong indicator for the rest of the season, as the majority of top climbers are all here.
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| knockout |
Posted on 28-10-2017 01:05
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SportingNonsense wrote:
knockout wrote:
Kentaurus wrote:
Wow much stronger startlist then I expected to see here. Thought this might be a decent place to steal some points with my secondary riders, clearly will not be the case ... any points from here will be hard fought.
The real question is: Are there any top climbers in the division who are not here?
And the answer to that is:
Eastman, Krasnoperov (80 MO); Campero, Panayotov (78 MO); Squire, Tvetcov, Cunego (77 MO).
So yeh, Tachira could be a strong indicator for the rest of the season, as the majority of top climbers are all here.
Thanks for the answer
Spoiler Hmm. Tvetcov, Squire, and Cunego are versatile enough so they wont have to use so many RDs here. Krasnoperov, Campero and Panayatov then likely @America and Eastman probably goes to PCT races instead. 
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 28-10-2017 01:32
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There is a strong chance of us getting a stage win or 2 at the start or the race judging by the sprinter field here, hopefully Salleh can deliver and start his season off with a bang. Only 1 leading man in Awang might be a problem though for his positioning going into the sprint as there's a chance the train won't be strong enough.
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| Booker |
Posted on 28-10-2017 01:40
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sgdanny wrote:
Obviously hoping that Kulczyk will win both the GC and some stages with Hochmann, that I think looks like to be the best sprinter here
Me too 
Vichot is being sent here as a stage hunter, and to potentially take some pressure off Penasa with his combativity.
Really looking forward to this race, as it's the kind of duel for the GC that will reveal a lot about the promotion contenders and pretenders. I'm just glad Eastman has been left at home!
Hochmann has no semblance of a train other than Eryk Laton (in training to resemble a part of one), so I tend to agree with Sammy, I could see Salleh holding the points jersey for a couple of days. Hoping for that breakaway from someone in the Kulczyk stable to foil anyone's plans; perhaps debutant Tao Geoghahan Hart will be a shocker.
And thank you for the report SN, brilliantly put together!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 28-10-2017 02:01
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Thanks for a very informative preview SN! Big race for us as we hit our first goal early. Pleased with the star list without Eastman or a few other dangerous climbers so Bennett should get the top 5 we need. Podium is the hope, anything more is a bonus with the big two Penasa and Valls here. Main other rival Cataldo should come down to daily form as they are basically the same rider Diggle was a last minute addition over Clarke who may have done better but would have spread us too thin. Hope I'm wrong that stage 10 is for the break. Would love to see Salinas or Antón spice things up or secure a top 10 but putting Bennett in the right place.
New team watch: Will be cheering for Philips or Kulczyk in the sprints. The latter also with a big race in store with three great leaders, can kickstart their campaign to make me some PCM$ Also Repsol ofc could be looking very good in the rankings if Valls lives up to expectations after a nice CSC. Also like the squads from Balkan and Reddit. So hyped for this race!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 28-10-2017 06:37
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Rooting for Mezgec in the sprints and GB of course. Also Penasa a nice captain to have, hope he can do well as Karnulin may sneak into the Top5 as well which would be nice.
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| weirdskyfan64 |
Posted on 28-10-2017 07:10
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Quietly confident- this race should justify why we spent the money we did.
It’ll be interesting to see how Sonnery fares withouut any train whatsoever.
Disclaimer- Most of my posts are me thinking aloud. And most of what I think is rubbish.
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"... Because he (me) has a sound tactical mind in general..." jandal7, at 9:30 am GMT on 12th May 2016
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 28-10-2017 07:58
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Straight into the heavy stuff to gauge the CT climbers! Will surely be a spectacular race which plays a large hand in clearing up doubts about who's good and who's not.
Supporting Xero's triple threat, of course, will seriously be awesome to see if Bennet, Anton and Salinas can collaborate to land the win or at least three names high in the top 10. Also would like the Poles to do well with Penasa and the bold choice of sending Vichot, as with Sauber sending all three puncheurs, the hill battles will be fun to watch!
Thanks SN for the preview!
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 28-10-2017 08:43
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It seems like you guys have no love for Valls  And he might really need it, as we have a Win Goal. I can't accept anything but a win here. We're the favourites and have a strong team around Valls.
Race plan is as follows: Stage 1-3, please remove them Stage 4-6 Eliminate Suaza from GC, obviously in S4. Stage 7, not likely to be any gaps with the descent, but be careful. At this time, the GC leader will be someone who has took some bonus seconds.
And then we go to the big mountains. Stage 8 and 9, win at least one of them and took the lead  And if not, pray for not being Bennett the one leading as it would be impossible to win it back in the final hilly stage
And great preview SN!
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| tastasol |
Posted on 28-10-2017 09:07
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Should be a good race. My money is on Bennett, hope he can have a good race.
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| Vien |
Posted on 28-10-2017 09:56
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Finally, our time to shine. Love how this race is some sort of a mini-season in itself. Should give everyone a good inpression of who will do well. As I said in my preview I'd be satiesfied with a few top 10's, though my eyes are mainly on Kip in the first 3 stages to see if he has a niche or will be a total flop.
The AI picking Kip as leader instead of Anacona is interesting, but not unexpected. It should guarantee some sort of a sprint train so I guess it'll work out fine.
Bring it on |
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| knockout |
Posted on 28-10-2017 10:02
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Vien wrote:
The AI picking Kip as leader instead of Anacona is interesting, but not unexpected. It should guarantee some sort of a sprint train so I guess it'll work out fine.
Bring it on
The startlist doesn't necessarily show who's treated as the leader. Often AI picks someone else
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| Vien |
Posted on 28-10-2017 10:06
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knockout wrote:
Vien wrote:
The AI picking Kip as leader instead of Anacona is interesting, but not unexpected. It should guarantee some sort of a sprint train so I guess it'll work out fine.
Bring it on
The startlist doesn't necessarily show who's treated as the leader. Often AI picks someone else
Aah, uh. Thanks, didn't know that. |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 28-10-2017 10:29
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With both Kaislavuo and Anacona in their line-up I'll be cheering for Team Reddit. Will be interesting how their no-acceleration mountain train will be handled by the AI.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 28-10-2017 11:15
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knockout wrote:
Vien wrote:
The AI picking Kip as leader instead of Anacona is interesting, but not unexpected. It should guarantee some sort of a sprint train so I guess it'll work out fine.
Bring it on
The startlist doesn't necessarily show who's treated as the leader. Often AI picks someone else
And in tours (especially beginning with a flat stage), sprinters are usually chosen over GC leaders.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 28-10-2017 11:33
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trekbmc wrote:
knockout wrote:
Vien wrote:
The AI picking Kip as leader instead of Anacona is interesting, but not unexpected. It should guarantee some sort of a sprint train so I guess it'll work out fine.
Bring it on
The startlist doesn't necessarily show who's treated as the leader. Often AI picks someone else
And in tours (especially beginning with a flat stage), sprinters are usually chosen over GC leaders.
Iirc, the "1" in a Stage Race is given to the rider with highest average, and the rest by alphabetical order. In one-day races, the "1" is given to the best rider in the terrain of the stage
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