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Vuelta al Tachira Discussion
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 11-11-2019 10:29
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 Vuelta al Tachira
First mountain race of the season, and it's one of the prime stage races in the CT calendar, if only for the lenght and the calendar situation. This will the 11th edition of Vuelta al Tachira in the MG-era, with 9 winners in 10 editions so far, Florentino Marquez being the only one to repeat a GC win (2010 and 2013)
The race consist of 10 stages, starting with an easy first half, including 4 flat stages for the sprinters, and a hilly stage to start the GC fight. But it's the second half of the race the one that will decide the GC winner. 4 brutal stage in a row, starting for a summit mountain finish, followed by a Mountain TT, a multi-climb stage finishing in descent and a final showdown in another summit finish. And as every year, the final stage will be the hilly circuit in San Cristobal
| Winner | Second | Third | | 2018 | Thibaut Pinot | Lawrence Warbasse | Dario Cataldo | | 2017 | Rafael Valls | Gavin Mannion | Romain Bardet | | 2016 | Tiago Machado | Daniel Martin | Vitor Rodrigues | | 2015 | Emanuele Sella | Jose Rujano | Florentino Marquez | | 2014 | Jocelin Maillet | David De La Fuente | Andrey Kashechkin | | 2013 | Florentino Marquez | Franco Pellizotti | Vitor Rodrigues | | 2012 | Jose Alarcon | Julian Rodas | Carlos Castaño | | 2011 | Richard Ochoa Quintero | Yeison Delgado | Francisco Colorado | | 2010 | Florentino Marquez | Evgeni Petrov | Juan Miguel Mercado | | 2009 | Tom Danielson | Jose Chacon | Manuel Medina |
We have two riders that clearly stand-out as race favourites. In one side, 2018 GC winner  Pinot, who is looking to be the first rider to win the race in two consecutive years. Last season he absolutely dominated the race, but this year he has some company for that spot of the podium.
 Intxausti is CT's latest addition, as the best climber in the field, and should surely enjoy the mountain timetrial. His big weakness is the hills
As a podium candidate we have  Kiserlovski. Very solid stage racer, as we saw in 2018 CT, but it's yet to be seen how aging affects him.
And that's it for the true GC favourites. After that we see a handfull of capable riders that either are one-dimensional climbers or more complete riders but weaker in pure climbing skills.  Faiers,  Squire,  Atapuma,  Elissonde and  Cort Nielsen are the most promising from that group
But riders such as Vinhas,  Giogieri, Diaz,  Saggiorato or 2017 runner-up Mannion shouldn't be counted out yet, if at least for stage hunting, as they probably will struggle to keep a high GC place against the previously mentioned riders
| MON | REC | HIL | ACC | STA | RES | | MON | REC | HIL | ACC | STA | RES | | Intxausti | 81 | 75 | 70 | 69 | 77 | 77 | Faiers | 78 | 78 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 75 | | Pinot | 80 | 75 | 74 | 69 | 76 | 79 | Giogieri | 78 | 70 | 73 | 67 | 71 | 74 | | Kiserlovski | 79 | 72 | 74 | 65 | 71 | 74 | Atapuma | 78 | 68 | 73 | 73 | 71 | 72 | | Vinhas | 79 | 70 | 69 | 60 | 72 | 73 | Squire | 77 | 76 | 77 | 71 | 70 | 70 | | Stetina | 78 | 74 | 67 | 65 | 67 | 74 | Mannion | 77 | 65 | 71 | 71 | 72 | 76 | | Signorini | 78 | 73 | 69 | 74 | 66 | 72 | Solis | 77 | 71 | 58 | 64 | 65 | 75 | | Manfredi | 78 | 72 | 65 | 73 | 68 | 73 | Saggiorato | 77 | 73 | 73 | 72 | 72 | 74 | | Diaz | 78 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 69 | 73 | Potocki | 77 | 75 | 72 | 64 | 74 | 71 | | Elissonde | 78 | 79 | 73 | 66 | 76 | 77 | Cort Nielsen | 77 | 74 | 74 | 71 | 76 | 75 |
Now we move into the sprinting category. One rider is the main favourite to pick several wins during the race, and that one is Mohs. He's so superior in this field that it makes you wonder why he wasn't sent to other races with probably better scoring options. GCN makes a huge bet on taking GC + several stages bringing both Pinot and Mohs will good support both. Potential disaster?
Keough, Awang, Perera should be the fastest sprinters behind Mohs, and probably the ones looking to exploit any mistake that Mohs has in the sprints.
Other options can be Altanzul,  Korzh
 Angarita, Bogdanovics or Cisse.
| SPR | ACC | RES | HIL | LLA | | SPR | ACC | RES | HIL | LLA | | Mohs | 82 | 80 | 62 | 64 | 74 | Angarita | 78 | 77 | 65 | 62 | 72 | | Keough | 79 | 79 | 73 | 62 | 73 | Bogdanovics | 78 | 77 | 69 | 62 | 73 | | Perera | 79 | 80 | 73 | 64 | 71 | Cisse | 78 | 77 | 67 | 63 | 74 | | Awang | 79 | 83 | 62 | 52 | 64 | Korzh | 78 | 80 | 65 | 59 | 74 | | Altanzul | 78 | 75 | 73 | 69 | 72 | Dzervus | 77 | 77 | 72 | 66 | 73 |
And for last, some minor puncheurs have come here to try fight the two hilly stages. Probably they aren't good enough to out-perform the GC riders, but they'll give it a fight for sure. So this should that is the big favourite for the stage wins in S4 and S10
| HIL | ACC | MON | SPR | | HIL | ACC | MON | SPR |  Mehr-Wenige | 78 | 67 | 66 | 66 | Honkisz | 76 | 69 | 68 | 63 | | Squire | 77 | 71 | 77 | 61 | De Vos | 75 | 69 | 75 | 62 | | Weiss | 76 | 74 | 63 | 73 | Gaspar | 75 | 67 | 75 | 61 | | Ziesler | 76 | 65 | 70 | 69 | Godoy | 75 | 63 | 74 | 58 | | Bravo | 76 | 70 | 70 | 65 | Durasek | 75 | 59 | 71 | 60 |
Edited by Aquarius97 on 12-11-2019 11:58
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| quadsas |
Posted on 11-11-2019 10:33
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Let's go, great chance to score a massive amount of points, bringing both favorite climber and sprinter, let's see if Intxausti can pull it off
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 11-11-2019 10:53
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One of only two C2-races we will participate in this year. We have big hopes for Atapuma here, that he can achieve a top 10 and possibly also a top 5. Time will show, great preview Acqarius, this will be an interresting race to follow  |
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-11-2019 11:26
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Team Manager
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GCN with a huge squad here. Pinot likely the top favourite, which could be a nice pick.
Mohs though hugely surprising spending so many race days for rather few chances on C2 level only. He better delivers big time with 3-4 wins.
The hill backup of the CT stage racers is rather weak. This makes it difficult to judge really. But surely next to Pinot/Kiserlovski also riders such as Squire (if having freedom) could surprise here. Surely a big questionmark for the hill AI with such favourite weaknesses on that terrain.
Intxausti surely can`t be ignored as his climbing is best of all and the opponents aren`t much better puncheurs neither.
Looking forward for this early season CT climbing test. |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 11-11-2019 11:46
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Time for the Amateur incarnation of the World Cycling Centre team co-managed by BBL and myself to see the light of day. Fingers crossed our selection is good enough to sight the jersey most if not every day. We have a competent sprinter in Angarita, Zeisler for the hilly stages, Godoy a good hill/mon option who is probably our main GC option (although ambitions therein are realistically low; maybe scrape into a low point scoring position given the level of competition), and some potential KoM candidates in Lundberg and Agudelo if they get involved in BotD on what look like the key stages 8 and 9 in that competition. Look forward to seeing the full start-list, and even more towards the race kicking off .
Fun to be in attendance at what must surely be considered the closest thing the C2 races have to a GT!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 11-11-2019 13:23
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Well the first step in Azteca's strategy is working, planning to avoid Intxausti. Something I'm sure other teams aren't going to like as that means the two monster CT tour riders split racedays over all events. The 10 days this event takes is essentially 1/4th of the racedays these guys get. So there are other spots now he can't be.
The other side of that coin is using the depth my team has to put up several guys who could be top 5 or 10 finishers to still allow my team's impact to be felt. Squire is a very capable CT leader in his own right, with other high end climbers around him in Stetina, Mannion and Solis. Should there be a bad day from any one, the other 3 could take over, especially Mannion who is at least reasonable on the hills as well and took 2nd here two years ago.
Another big plus, to get Keough in a race where he has a shot at several top 5 finishes allowing our weakest discipline to generate some value as well.
On the non-Azteca notes, really excited to see if Pinot can defend his title here against the giant. Will be a big test to see if that 4 points of hill stat makes much difference in a GC race, also curious how the two hilly stages will play out, not sure if Squire has a real shot since he may be in the peloton as a GC leader rather than a breakaway which should win those stages.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 11-11-2019 13:38
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Feels like quite a risk to send Intxausti here, probably needs a dominant win to make the points gain worth the race day commitment - and to reduce the risk of that final stage, which certainly has punished weak hill riders in some previous editions.
Nice for Tachira to have a high profile GC battle though.
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| Azerbaijan |
Posted on 11-11-2019 13:39
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Neo-Pro
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We come here with very little ambitions. We are hoping that Giogieri or Weiss might snatch some stage results, but that is it.
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 11-11-2019 13:55
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Very excited to see Kiserlovski in action here! Hoping for a top 3 but I would just like to see him put the other riders to the test!
Also nice to see Altanzul mentioned as a top sprinter! Hopefully he can do something here!
Good luck everyone and I look forward to the race!
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 11-11-2019 15:00
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Interesting race,
Will GCN's Sprinter/GC rider setup be an advantage or a not ?
Will Intxausti and Faiers better TT matter in the mountain ITT. ?
surely will follow.
Good Luck
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 17:18
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 11-11-2019 15:11
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Was not expecting Mohs to be sent here. Madus with rather limited support here for the sprints but hoping for at least one stage win. A little bit of a tougher field for the GC than I was expecting, Hopefully Faiers smashes the MT ITT tho.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 11-11-2019 19:15
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World Champion
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Was hoping not to have to come here with Signal Iduna, but I can't not be excited for the launch of the Evonik-Xero amateur team! Hopefully we can get amongst the breakaways and even have a stab at some stage points!
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."
[PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| knockout |
Posted on 11-11-2019 20:06
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Grand Tour Champion
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jandal7 wrote:
Was hoping not to have to come here with Signal Iduna, but I can't not be excited for the launch of the Evonik-Xero amateur team! Hopefully we can get amongst the breakaways and even have a stab at some stage points!
Oh yeah 
Not a single mention in the preview for our team. Everyone is underestimating us. Just wait until you see the Signal Iduna jersey celebrating
Luis "The Killa" Mansilla ain't waitin for ya!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 11-11-2019 20:30
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Can't wait to see our mountain trio Manfredi - Signorini - Saggiorato in action for the first time! Even though we probably won't be able to challenge the top climbers, I hope the depth will help us score some good points.
Cissé is our man for the flat stages, and Thièry will hopefully do some nice things on the hilly stages. We'll see...
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 11-11-2019 20:42
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Tour de France Champion
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Excited for our team debut! No, not for Carlsberg, those guys have had quite the extended offseason. World Cycling Centre starts now!
Breakaways, breakaways, breakaways. Show the jersey. Angarita, Zielsler, and Godoy are all capable of a minor result too. However we can get it done. Let's have some fun!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| liefwarrior |
Posted on 12-11-2019 02:49
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He may only be an outside candidate but we have faith in Cort Nielsen. If we can hold on to the favourites in the mountains, and gain back as much time as possible in the hills. An exciting start to the season for our only Danish leader. |
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| Azerbaijan |
Posted on 12-11-2019 11:35
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Wow, surprising fifth place for Weiss there. Excellent result, but so weird that we decided to do a train for him.
And Balkan in the U25 jersey...great success
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 12-11-2019 11:37
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An absolute shit day at the office. Perera gets dropped, gets pulled back and then ends up 56th. On the brighter side Faiers didn't lose any time.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 12-11-2019 11:37
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An absolute shit day at the office. Perera gets dropped, gets pulled back and then ends up 56th. On the brighter side Faiers didn't lose any time.
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| roturn |
Posted on 12-11-2019 11:41
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No. 1/4 for Mohs. So far so good for GCN. |
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