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Tour of Bulgaria Discussion
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| Vien |
Posted on 04-04-2019 06:23
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Small Tour Specialist
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 Tour of Bulgaria
The CT peloton continues their journey through the 2018 season in Bulgaria, for what is one of the purest MO/TT-races on the calendar. The Tour of Bulgaria features five stages, three of them relatively short mountain stages that all finish uphill. These stages are surrounded by a 22-kilometre time trial, forcing this race's winner to have some capabilities against the clock, and what's probably this race's biggest novelty: A 74-kilometre hilly sprinter stage. Though this day will probably be regarded as a rest day for the leaders!
Last season, Juame Suaza won the race, in front of Rafael Valls and Ryan Eastman in what was a showdown of pretty much all CT climbers. This year will be a little bit different though: Due to this race clashing with the Sakartvelo GP, managers had to choose between sending their leaders there or here. This means there will be a slightly weaker field, opening some chances for the outsiders. But let's look at the top riders who made it here first, shall we?
From a first sight, it becomes clear that three riders can be labelled top favourites: Kiserlovski, König and Ratiy. Of those three, Kiserlovski probably stands out the most with the best mountain/acceleration combo. König is a weaker climber, but excels in time trials and has slightly better substats that should allow him to challenge Kiserlovski. Ratiy has the best MO/TT combo, but you'll always have to wait and see if he shows up with his lacklustre acceleration.
Behind them, Pomoshnikov is the only rider who should be able to follow the top three in the mountains. His problem however is his weaker time trial, meaning he has to come up with a plan if he wants to win.
Diaz is also a very respectable climber with good time trial abilities. This gives Oberfranken two riders that can challenge the top spots, a rarity in this thinned out field. Because of this, their tactics will be interesting to follow.
Then a shoutout should be in place for Panayotov in Adastra's home race. As one of the biggest overperformers in the CT this year, he will certainly be a name to look out for. With his average TT stat though, he will have to do it by attacking.
Lastly, two more riders have an interesting package too: Brajkovic and Kennaugh, the latter coming from the PCT. These two are certainly going to appear in the reports and are hoping for an upset this week. All other riders seem to be looking for a top 5 or best, but since it's cycling, you can never be too sure.
The time trial also caught the attention by some specialists, who are looking to spend their race days here. And due to the lack of favourites with a very good TT skill, one of them is likely to win the stage. Motton is the favourite, but an argument can be made for Tony Martin as well due to his higher ability to climb the TT's tiny hills. All others will need to save their energy more wisely on the first stage and hope for a very good day.
The rather wacky flat stage seems to have scared of a lot of top sprinters. And perhaps rightfully so, as the stage ended in a breakaway victory last year. Anyway, should the stage finish in a sprint, Carsi and Ulanowski will be the ones with the highest top sprint. But since the stage is rather hilly, Brus and Krasnov should be giving themselves a good chance, too.
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| redordead |
Posted on 04-04-2019 06:43
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Team Leader
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Last goal race of the season, hopefully Brajkovic delivers a top 10 or more 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 04-04-2019 08:45
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Directeur Sportif
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go Jani!!
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 04-04-2019 16:17
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Tour de France Champion
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With no recognized sprinters in our squad all our hopes rest with Medvedev  |
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| ryant |
Posted on 04-04-2019 17:45
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Small Tour Specialist
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This is an interesting race for us here, even with less point available here, we still have an interesting option at the GC here, hoping for a top 5 overall and some good stage results but we will see.
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 05-04-2019 07:00
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Team Leader
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Might not have been the most interesting stage finish from a neutral perspective.
Luckily I'm not neutral and seeing Lehtinen grab a win like this really is something special!
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| jaxika |
Posted on 05-04-2019 07:02
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So-so |
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 05-04-2019 07:16
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Go Panayotov
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 20:10
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| redordead |
Posted on 05-04-2019 08:07
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Team Leader
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A boring stage with no gaps is good for Brajkovic
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 05-04-2019 19:42
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Failed to notice the preview, the start wasn't the best with what seems like a bad taste joke seemingly taking the win from Kiserlovski  But good signs overall, lots of riders in front and a good performance, TT will be crucial with no gaps today.
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 06-04-2019 11:41
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Awesome win, Mottin really coming up this season! I was nervous with Kiserlovski's TT after seeing so many GC riders having a bad one, he held it together and now he's just gotta attack the mountains, at least get in the podium.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 06-04-2019 12:06
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Very happy with the TT. König in the GC lead and Lehtinen defends the youth jersey as well.
Couldn't have hoped for a better situation at this point!
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-04-2019 13:29
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Tour de France Champion
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Glad to see the back of the time trial  |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 07-04-2019 09:15
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Grand Tour Champion
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Roe has done really well the last 2 stages! Hopefully he can keep it up for a strong GC position!
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 07-04-2019 14:27
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Kiserlovski turning it around  Thanks Vien for the report!
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 07-04-2019 14:37
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Horrible, horrible stage 
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| ryant |
Posted on 07-04-2019 18:58
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Small Tour Specialist
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Wirtgen!!! I know he's not *my rider but what a win!!! Very happy for him taking his first win of his professional career in our colours! 
Kennaugh also just doing enough to keep in with a shout of a top 5 GC but he hasn't been so strong/in with the favourites really. Not great but a good last stage would be good enough for me, with our pedigree in this race, and the relatively small time gaps, everything is still to play for!!!
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 08-04-2019 08:13
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A bittersweet race for the team - Panayotov finished outside Top 10, but the team was in Top 3 on two stages and Nakane winning the KoM. So far only Panayotov and Nakane are meeting expectations. Zaraliev, who was in stage Top 3 twice could be the as well, but not sure whether he should stay or not.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 08-04-2019 08:16
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Eddie Stobart are on fire! Valio are already promoted more or less, no surprises there 
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| jaxika |
Posted on 08-04-2019 08:17
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Classics Specialist
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Finally a nice ride from Pomoshnikov |
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