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Tour du Faso Discussion
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 23-03-2020 10:30
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Grand Tour Champion
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 Tour du Faso
History
| Year | Winner | Team | | 2018 | Eugert Zhupa | Swisslion Cycling Team | | 2017 | Sam Harrison | World Cycling Centre | | 2016 | Geraint Thomas | Podium Ambitions | | 2015 | Andzs Flaksis | Evonik - ELKO | | 2014 | Bert-Jan Lindeman | Team Hornbach | | 2013 | Remco Broers | Team BPost | | 2012 | Tomas Vaitkus | Cyclevox | | 2011 | Adam Blythe | 100% Me | | 2010 | Niels Albert | Jack Wolfskin | | 2009 | Luke Rowe | Wiggle - Premier Inn |
Tour de Faso is a three-day stage race in Burkina Faso, Africa. The stages are in the remote desert and quite short, perfect for the continental division. The list of winners contains names who have gone to be accomplished riders in higher divisions, and for anyone on the startlist it would be a honor to be added to the list. Then they looked at the profile, and realize Burkina Faso's road network is not well maintained, and wish they hadn't been selected for this race.
Profiles
The first stage is flat, but the final twenty kilometer are cobblestones. Stage two is completely flat, but many riders will fear the third stage. Roughly two/thirds of the stage is cobbled, including the final twenty-five kilometer. Either you love it and finish at the front, or hate it and wish your legs still function after the stage.
Startlist
| Favorites | COB | FL | ACC | Outsiders | COB | FL | ACC |  Kasperkiewicz | 79 | 74 | 66 |  Kluge | 76 | 77 | 73 |  Maes | 78 | 79 | 66 |  Nepomnyachsniy | 76 | 74 | 76 |  Taubel | 78 | 73 | 64 | Young | 75 | 74 | 77 |  Van Keirsbulck | 78 | 72 | 68 | Kolev | 75 | 74 | 67 |  Richardson | 78 | 71 | 61 | Kumara | 75 | 74 | 67 | | Orue | 78 | 69 | 58 |  Abraha | 75 | 72 | 72 |  Manamalage | 77 | 81 | 56 |  Lagab | 75 | 72 | 72 |  Jacobs | 77 | 72 | 62 |  Ruiz | 75 | 71 | 58 | | Corwin | 77 | 69 | 56 | Minoungou | 75 | 70 | 68 |
Kasperkiewicz is the top favorite. A lot of pressure on the young Pole's shoulders, lets see how he handles it.
One of his main rivals will be Maes, who is quite handy on the flat besides the cobblestones. A skill which might be useful at some point in the race.
The strongest team is undoubtedly Azteca, with three podium contenders in Richardson, Orue and Corwin. They could either focus on one rider getting the win or all three getting a top classification, depending on how the race goes.
Other podium contenders are Taubel, Van Keirsbulck and Manamalage. If the legs work, you can get a good result.
The highest ranked rider from last edition is Kluge, who finished third behind Zhupa and Breen. Jacobs finished eighth. They are looking to replicate if not improve on that result.
Nepomnyachsniy and Young are good on the cobbles and good sprinters. With bonus seconds at the finish they might get dangerous as well.
| Sprinters | SP | ACC | COB | Outsiders | SP | ACC | COB | | Thorsen | 81 | 83 | 56 | Young | 78 | 77 | 75 |  Guillen | 81 | 82 | 61 | Cisse | 78 | 77 | 63 | | Boivin | 79 | 80 | 59 | Szalontay | 78 | 77 | 62 | | Vingerling | 79 | 79 | 68 | Bogdanovics | 78 | 77 | 60 | | Krieger | 79 | 79 | 63 | Nepomnyachsniy | 78 | 76 | 76 | | Manarelli | 79 | 79 | 61 | Keough | 78 | 75 | 57 | | Suryadi | 79 | 76 | 58 | McLay | 77 | 76 | 72 |
The second stage is flat, without cobbles, so should under normal circumstances go to the sprinters. This assumes the riders in question finish the first stage. The likes of Thorsen, Guillen and Boivin are known to struggle. Vingerling is capable enough to survive the cobblestones, as one of the few non-GC sprinters.
Reiterating, Young and Nepomnyachsniy are favorites for the stage. McLay another rider who will surely survive stage one in reasonable shape. The bonus seconds at the finish line are 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1, so a win here could help them in their GC fight.
With stages one and three being very tough, the riders might use stage two for rest. In that case, we should not be surprised if a breakaway wins.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 23-03-2020 10:37
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Classics Specialist
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One of my favourite races! Gonna be interesting to see how the AI juggles GKV and Boivin here. Thanks for the preview!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 23-03-2020 10:49
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Directeur Sportif
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This race will hopefully be complete carnage 
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 23-03-2020 11:09
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Team Leader
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Ya, looking forward to se 70+ km of Roubaix cobblestone and maybe a sandstorm.
Lets just hope we won't see anyone die from fatigue and dehydration.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 23-03-2020 18:29
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Small Tour Specialist
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I expect to be disappointed
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 23-03-2020 18:37
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This is my best chance at some high end points in the cobbles, it is very flat for my riders who don't care much for the hills, and the last stage is great for my guys who are predominately good on the cobbles even more than the flat roads.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 23-03-2020 22:04
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Directeur Sportif
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Third stage might be too hard for Manamalage with all those cobbles, not much flat and his poor resistance, although no hills is good. First stage suits him better I think.
Exciting to have McCormick get a preview mention without Holloway riding.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| quadsas |
Posted on 24-03-2020 14:22
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Small Tour Specialist
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Looks like the trick to not chat my guys up. While the tour is tailor made for Nepo, S3 may be the death of his GC hopes. 0 pointer avoided
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 16:15
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 24-03-2020 15:28
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Directeur Sportif
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Big win for Zalgiris, congratulations! A shame to have GCN puncturing and loosing their numeric advantage  Faso also with some very good AI again, I like that!
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 24-03-2020 15:49
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Classics Specialist
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Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling has announced that due to the low number of riders left, the team will withdraw from the race its remaining riders - Troels Vinther, Michal Kukrle and Valentin Stoenchev
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 24-03-2020 18:59
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World Champion
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Nice to see Habtemichael breakawaying as usual 
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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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 26-03-2020 00:24
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Directeur Sportif
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Might of been a day to be more cautious given he missed the time cut. But good to see the young guys in the break twice. Would have been nice to have one of them in the S2 break.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 26-03-2020 06:17
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Pretty disappointed that Paez couldn't get the win there as he was clearly the strongest rider in the breakaway. He and Gaudi should have worked together better but oh well. 2nd and 5th isn't too shabby.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 26-03-2020 15:20
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7775
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You are absolutely correct
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| quadsas |
Posted on 26-03-2020 15:49
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2728
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well as expected Nepo just couldnt handle cobbles that long. 8th is not acceptable though, hes lucky hes from our focus region, otherwise he would go back to playing Borat impersonator
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 26-03-2020 15:50
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Crazy last stage 
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 26-03-2020 16:20
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DAMN is this what happens when I dontr ace here? I think Bakari would have loved to be here so badly
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 26-03-2020 18:21
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3991
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HOLY! What a race! I think my depth on the cobbles finally really paid off as Maes throughout the race either had Orue or Richardson chasing him down, perhaps both in the time later in the race they were in the same group and possibly allowed Richardson enough time to recover for the strong finish.
By pure magic Azteca is now 2 for 2 on its win goals this season. This one felt much much more risky than picking Eastman to win Tour de Vineyards.
Fantastic job reporting one of the most hectic races of the season!
AZTECA - NBCSN |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 26-03-2020 19:38
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Team Leader
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Well I've got to be happy with Batman's efforts to take 14th in the GC and 3rd in the Youth classification.
Definitely disappointed I lost out on the Points classification points due to Paez not finishing the final stage but can't be too annoyed given only 31 riders managed to make it
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| liefwarrior |
Posted on 26-03-2020 20:43
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Well we *should* be happy with that result. Maes coming second in the GC in one of the best performances he has come up with on the cobbles this season. Still, one second! One second after he had been riding solo out front for so long. The frustration. Congratulations to Kentaurus though, it did seem that his depth strategy paid off.
Also, much thanks for an amazing report. |
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