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Tour of the Middle East Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 31-08-2018 18:29
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The Tour of the Middle East is making it's comeback on the MG calendar and comes with a reduced number of stages, with still the mountains as the key for any GC hopes though. Just four stages this year, where the race has earned HC status and should attract some of the division's best climbers that way.
The race kicks off with two flat stages for the sprinters and it's two easy profiles, really. A first key stage on day three then: a quite challenging hilly profile, that almost hits the 200km mark. It's some steep climbs there and a nasty downhill sector close to the finish climb, too. Definitely a stage, where less strong puncheurs can lose valuable time - allround skills on both mountains and hills are needed for sure. The queen stage is a classic mountain stage though: following on two brutal Cat1 climbs in the final third of the stage, the summit finish will surely shake up the GC once again. And while the hilly stage will certainly have an impact on the GC, the final stage should really decide over the overall winner here.
The Startlist
The GC contenders | Allrounders | MO | HI | AC | | Climbers | MO | HI | AC |  Pluchkin | 85 | 75 | 74 | |  Úran | 82 | 74 | 71 |  Denifl | 84 | 76 | 65 | |  Henao Montoya | 82 | 71 | 73 |  Velits | 82 | 75 | 67 | |  Shikai | 81 | 71 | 66 |  Monsalve | 81 | 76 | 73 | | Choi | 80 | 74 | 68 |  Kudus | 81 | 76 | 70 | |  Nazaret | 80 | 71 | 72 |  Berhane | 81 | 75 | 68 | |  Duarte | 80 | 68 | 73 | | Ji | 80 | 75 | 65 | | Carthy | 79 | 74 | 69 |  Talansky | 79 | 77 | 69 | |  Brenes | 79 | 73 | 70 |  Kwiatkowski | 78 | 79 | 75 | | Pantano Gómez | 79 | 71 | 68 | | Bennett | 78 | 76 | 73 | |  Garby | 79 | 70 | 70 | | Ndayisenga | 78 | 75 | 73 | | Puncheurs | | | |  Squire | 77 | 77 | 71 | |  Palini | 70 | 78 | 74 |  Poljanski | 77 | 77 | 71 | |  Mehr-Wenige | 66 | 78 | 67 |  Tvetcov | 77 | 75 | 73 | | Roux | 65 | 78 | 75 | | Augustyn | 77 | 75 | 68 | | Venter | 74 | 77 | 66 | | Roche | 76 | 78 | 69 | | Dieteren | 70 | 77 | 66 |
Let's begin with those GC contenders, who handle both mountains and hills pretty well: Pluchkin has to be named first. He needs to deliver in every stage race he enters and looking at the startlist, the final stage is the day, where he needs to put the hammer down. While he's not amongst the very best puncheurs amongst the GC contenders, he should be able to limit possible losses on day three. Just like Denifl, who's the second best climber and also solid in challenging hilly stages - obviously, his acceleration is a concern (as always).
The best allrounders should be Kwiatkowski, Talanksy, Squire, Poljanski/Roche. Kwiatkowski comes with the best package, it seems, and he's a proven force for stage races like this. If he delivers in the hilly stage, he surely will have a hard time to hang on with the likes of Pluchkin or Denifl - but he definitely could limit the damage in the queen stage. His fast kick will help him afterall.
Velits, Monsalve (who rode a pretty convincing Apex Mountain Classic last month), Kudus, Berhane and Ji as other riders, who combine both disciplines pretty well. Looking at their performance from the Apex Mountain, Monsalve surely has to be considered a favorite here - Velits, however, needs to bounce back from a rather disappointing showing. He's still amongst the best climbers though and has to target for the podium. With Bennett, he definitely has a nice support for a race with both mountains and hills.
Other premium climbers like Úran, Choi and particularly Henao Montoya, Shikai and Nazaret will fear the impact of the hilly stage. Úran and Choi are really not much worse than the earlier mentioned allrounders, but someone like Henao Montoya definitely could lose big time on a tough hilly parcours..
And then there are some puncheurs, who will particularly aim to shine on day three: Palini, Roux, Venter or Dieteren. It's hard to see that those guys would survive the queen stage for a decent GC result, but we've seen miracles before and if the hilly stage turns out their way (maybe with bigger gaps on some climbers), they could potentially snatch a notable result nevertheless.
The Sprinters | Favorites | SP | AC | | | Outsiders | SP | AC | | Guerao | 83 | 76 | | | Lay | 79 | 81 | | Nelson | 81 | 81 | | | Keough | 79 | 79 | | Appollonio | 81 | 78 | | | Stepniak | 79 | 79 | | Guardini | 80 | 82 | | | Vingerling | 79 | 79 | | Stauff | 80 | 81 | | | Willwohl | 79 | 78 | | Drapac | 80 | 79 | | |  Peeters | 79 | 77 | | Petit | 80 | 78 | | | Te Brake | 79 | 76 | | Serebriakov | 80 | 77 | | | Suryadi | 79 | 76 | | Rowe | 80 | 70 | | | Bonifazio | 78 | 78 |
Two panflat stages on the first two days? Yap, the sprinters will aim for stage-wins: Guerao as the big favorite, despite his well known lack of acceleration. With Suryadi as a solid final leadout man, he simply has to prove his superior sprint skills here.
Nelson, Appollonio, Guardini and Stauff as the next best sprinters then. They all managed to get some results here and then - this startlist surely offers another chance for good points in an HC rated stage race. A few more potential threats for line honours: Drapac, Petit, Serebriakov, Lay, Rowe, Keough or Vingerling. We know the drill: it's about good positioning, the will to actually sprint and a good daily form.
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 31-08-2018 18:41
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It might sound ambicious, but i want no less than a GC podium from this race.
Kudus has all the possible support in the team for the mountains, with Ndayisenga, Novak and Serrano. No support for the hills due to Pologne clash, but Ndayisenga is strong enough as a domestique for the hilly stage.
I know Pluchkin is around, but apart from him, i can only see Monsalve and maybe Denifl as real threats for a GC podium. I think the hilly stage will be hard enough to crack the likes of Uran, Henao, Velits, maybe even Pluchkin if in not his best day, but the mountain stage seems to be really really hard for a rider like Kwiatkowski to have a shot at GC podium. We'll see. An exciting race for sure
Thanks for the preview tsmoha! Can't wait for the reports 
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| maxime86 |
Posted on 31-08-2018 18:41
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Definitely brought a squad of stage hunters with Palini and Petit. I don't expect too much for Petit because although we have nice lead out men for him, he still isn't the greatest sprinter out there.
Also hoping Palini can be great on stage 3 and pull out a nice result there. Considering he's not a top tier puncheur, hopefully he can steal some points there as he seems to be the best puncheur here.
All that said tho, this has to be Pluchkin's race to win. Coming off his lost to Dombrowski in the Apex Mountain Classic, i full expect him to destroy everyone on the queen stage and come out with a victory. |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 31-08-2018 18:50
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Should be an easy win 
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 31-08-2018 19:33
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Grand Tour Champion
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PCT home race and a win goal. The latter might be difficult given Pluchkin's presence but I'm happy if Úran washes away the bitter taste after Apex.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 31-08-2018 19:37
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So yeah, did I mention my 7 races clashing? This will be the first and you can see how bad it is and how much worse it will get. In Dall'Oste we trust.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 31-08-2018 19:44
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Classics Specialist
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Stage win from Guardini and GC around Top 10-15 with either Roche or Poljanski is enough to make me happy with this race. Now comply! 
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| ryant |
Posted on 31-08-2018 20:08
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Small Tour Specialist
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In previous iterations of my race planner I sent Meintjes here, but we'll have to wait before we see how he performs as I've sent him elsewhere instead (Japan I think).
No expectations from Tvetcov, the competition is just too strong but Stauff and Rowe need to be in the mix during the flat stages, no other excuses tbh… What I am worrying about though is that this could be another low points scoring race, which is something I don't want to have/cant afford this early in the season! 
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 31-08-2018 20:12
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Tour de France Champion
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Appo is our main guy here, despite what the startlist says. I want top 10's in both and at least a top 5 in one of the two stages, which I think is reasonable. Obviously I have no GC ambitions, but Stuyven getting a minor placing on the hilly stage and Garby the same on the mountain stage would certainly help. Oh, and of course, I want to see somebody in a breakaway!
We have modest goals, but a lot of them. Hopefully we can complete a few.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 31-08-2018 21:10
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Pumped for this race, gotta be going for the podium even though I doubt we can create gaps to Uran or Henao, and Monsalve at the least can be better than Velits in the mountains from the 80-81 guys. Would love it if we tore up the hill stage though, could even mean that Venter ended up with GC points. Would like Roux to try go for the stage win but I think it'll be too MON-influenced and go to Kwiatek, with most climbers in the first big group. Also with that brutal mountain stage I don't think it'd matter too much
Oh and... #1 Dossard for the team is highest AVG? Right? RIGHT?
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 31-08-2018 21:46
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I've just gotta hope that Nazaret can limit his losses on Stage 3 and get us a decent result and GC on Stage 4. He'll have Borisavljevic to support him and also have his own ambitions of a decent result in the Youth classification. Also brought Vingerling here who obviously isn't one of the best sprinters on paper but I still hold hope that he'll be up near the front and actually put up a fight for a stage win.
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 31-08-2018 21:52
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Small Tour Specialist
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Anything for Kraftwerk will be a bonus!
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 31-08-2018 21:57
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World Champion
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Hoping for Choi and Shikai to both be in the Top 10. I think theres a good shot atleast one of them can, but both Im not so sure. If it comes to a bunch sprint on stage 3, Im hoping Kuboki can be up there.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 31-08-2018 22:02
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More avoiding for Eastman here, another wise decision I think. There is a little joy every time you see Plu and Velits in the lineup for a race your top climber isn't attending.
Once again any points will be welcome points for this lineup.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 31-08-2018 22:08
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Kentaurus wrote:
More avoiding for Eastman here, another wise decision I think. There is a little joy every time you see Plu and Velits in the lineup for a race your top climber isn't attending.
Once again any points will be welcome points for this lineup.
I am very happy you say "Plu and Velits" like Velits is one of the top 2 in the division 
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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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 31-08-2018 22:34
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jandal7 wrote:
Kentaurus wrote:
More avoiding for Eastman here, another wise decision I think. There is a little joy every time you see Plu and Velits in the lineup for a race your top climber isn't attending.
Once again any points will be welcome points for this lineup.
I am very happy you say "Plu and Velits" like Velits is one of the top 2 in the division
Meant Denifl and his 84 Mo, but Velits not exactly good for me to see either.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 31-08-2018 22:50
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Who knows? Maybe the hilly stage will prove tough and give Pitbull a little something to work with, and if it does hopefully the AI will respect a good GC placing up the big mountain finish.
And if not, at least Ricki should be able to get himself in and around the Top5 on the first two days, although i'd like to think he'll contest the win.
Fingers crossed, this was a nice race for us many years ago at our last attendence
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| Booker |
Posted on 31-08-2018 23:30
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Pleased not to be here, but will be watching closely, and hope our Polish friend Michal can pull out a strong result
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| beagle |
Posted on 31-08-2018 23:32
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Another zero pointer is coming for us
Pluchkin seems to be clear favorite, but with last year´s ToC in mind, things might develop by different way in hard hilly stage.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 01-09-2018 05:58
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The preview's not looking too good for Henao. Need him to not lose too much ground in the hill stage. Hopefully he can repeat what he did up the mountain in Basile. The Top 5 expecattion is looking shaky for sure. Let's see if Te Brake can do anything at all against better sprinters. Good to have Dieteren mentioned but I'll be surprised if he gets much out of stage 3.
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Tour of the Middle East
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
