Welcome to the 3rd edition of the Tour de Vineyards. The race was brought back on the MG calendar last year and we have it back again. It changes it's race category from C2HC to C2, so it is still primarily a CT race. The 7 day event remains the same except for the final stage. The 40 km ITT has been changed to a 20 km TTT, so those with lesser quality against the clock will be able to rely on their teammates. There are also 3 sprint stages on offer so some of the better sprinters are present, along with the time-trial specialists. They will look for glory on stage 1 and then support their leaders on the final day.
With that said let's look at some of the favourites:
GC
MON
HIL
RES
ACC
PRL
TTT
Pinot
80
74
79
69
65
71,32
Chamorro
78
75
76
74
64
70,83
Frankiny
78
76
75
75
67
65,32
Ranaweera
80
73
75
65
73
65,32
Keinath
78
75
75
69
74
66,35
Cort Nielsen
78
74
75
71
72
66,42
Marquez
79
70
77
79
69
63,27
Warbasse
78
75
73
65
74
68,22
Novak
77
73
73
65
76
70,83
Lunke
78
72
74
64
76
66,42
Hiratsuka
77
74
74
60
63
67,81
Battaglin
77
72
72
70
58
61,34
Moschella
79
69
70
62
69
61,59
Pinot is the premium climber here and he also has the best TTT support. He is favourite #1. Chamorro is next in line, in part due to Carrefour's reliable time-trial performances this year. His season has been up and down though so far. It was hard to separate Frankiny and Ranaweera, let's see how their tag team works this time. Keinath has been rock solid for Philips, no reason why he can't be again with his all round stats. Cort Nielsen is coming off an impressive victory in Chile, can he repeat that performance?
Marquez has been struggling lately, but this race should suit him much better. Warbasse is another rider who just gets the job done and with some good TTT support, he could exceed expectations yet again. Novak is a very good time-trialist so stage 1 will be very important for him. Lunke gives Tryg a 2nd option, he is also good on the shorter TTs and could be a good foil for Cort Nielsen. Hiratsuka doesn't get many chances to lead in PCT, but he has a nice chance to do something here. Duolingo didn't bring their entire famous TTT unit, but it's still pretty good.
Sprinters
FLA
HIL
RES
REC
SPR
ACC
Carsi
70
55
69
73
80
82
Coutinho
72
65
74
77
79
80
Kragh Andersen
77
64
74
78
81
77
Salleh
70
59
65
77
80
80
Krieger
71
62
74
75
79
79
Van der Sanden
73
65
69
77
78
79
Bouhanni
74
63
69
74
80
77
Lavoine
73
60
64
77
80
78
Manarelli
72
59
65
73
79
79
Pelucchi
74
68
70
75
79
77
Sobota
72
60
65
76
78
78
As we said, the sprinting talent here is rich. Carsi has shown his speed on numerous occasions and he is the fastest on the startlist again. Coutinho brings a strong leadout like always, but will it work? Kragh Andersen has been a mystery this year, but when he is on it, he is very fast. Salleh also had leadout troubles in his last race, have those issues been fixed? Krieger is as steady as they come, but he'd love to score a stage win this time.
Van der Sanden. Well let's just see if he decides to sprint. Bouhanni has been doing better recently and is in decent form. The same can be said for Lavoine and of course Pelucchi. Coming off his USPCC victory. Manarelli will try to recapture that early season form, while Sobota gives Duolingo an option in the sprints as well.
Puncheurs
FLA
HIL
STA
RES
SPR
ACC
Haas
71
76
76
72
68
73
Frankiny
69
76
72
75
61
75
Le Gac
70
77
73
74
64
69
Jang
67
76
72
70
66
74
Chamorro
66
75
72
76
66
74
Keinath
73
75
76
75
61
69
Schultz
68
76
74
80
58
71
Bru
67
77
69
65
66
72
Warbasse
70
75
75
73
60
65
Wahyudi
65
76
67
69
58
67
As expected the puncheur list here really isn't terribly impressive with some GC riders thrown in. There is one hilly rated stage on day 6, but it looks far from being selective. It may come down to a bunch sprint or perhaps more likely we see a breakaway allowed to have their fun. Anyhow these are some of the names that could feature on that day.
Stage 1 TT
TTR
RES
ACC
PRL
Hamza
76
73
68
79
Dumoulin
78
76
67
78
Sterbini
78
73
67
78
Li
78
68
75
78
Ghyselinck
77
77
68
77
Cornu
77
70
67
77
Downey
77
74
72
77
Oram
77
72
70
77
Sebright
77
70
51
77
Kiflay
76
70
69
77
The opening time-trial favours those that like shorter distance, but you still need to be a proper time-trialist to compete. So Hamza comes in #1 here. His manager hasn't been too fond of him lately, can he finally atone himself? Dumoulin is slowly finding his feet and should definitely be amongst the favourites. Sterbini is also in the managers dog house and needs a good result. The same can be said for Li, but Ghyselinck on the other hand has been very good. Cornu is a bit of a legend now, but he is still capable. Perhaps his last chance at a stage victory?
Stage 7 TTT
Avg TTR
Avg PRL
Avg TTR+PRL
Project: Africa
71,13
71,63
71,32
Carrefour - ESPN
70,88
70,75
70,83
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
67,88
68,75
68,22
Duolingo
68,25
67,13
67,81
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
67,63
68,00
67,77
Trans Cycling Team
66,38
69,75
67,70
McCormick Pro Cycling
66,25
66,88
66,50
Tryg - Ritter Sport
65,88
67,25
66,42
Philips
66,25
66,50
66,35
Eddie Stobart
65,75
65,38
65,60
Sauber Petronas Racing
64,88
66,00
65,32
Los Pollos Hermanos
63,13
63,50
63,27
BNZ Cycling Team
61,63
65,75
63,25
Polar**
61,65
61,95
61,77
Nordica - Enel**
61,35
61,95
61,59
Sotto il sole di riccione*
61,34
61,34
61,34
Guave's Sunlight Cycling
60,25
62,25
61,04
Strava*
60,39
61,34
60,77
* - only 7 riders 5% avg deduction ** - only 6 riders 10% avg deduction
Project: Africa are top dogs here as expected. Carrefour are a worthy rival though and Carlsberg will try their best to get amongst them. Duolingo, Glanbia and Trans seem long shots to win this, but let's give them a mention. For the rest, it will be simply trying to limit the losses for their GC men.
Wow, great preview with a lot of nice tables! Both Marquez and Sterbini haven't really performed superbly in there latest outings indeed, I hope they can both redeem themself a little bit here. Sterbini hopefully with a top-3 in the opening time trial, and the Spaniard with a top-5 in the GC.
I have to admit, however, that a top-5 might be tough, looking at his results so far and taking into account we will lose time in the TTT. Top-10 should be more realistic, even though it could just as well be worse again.
Manarelli our man for the sprints, and he hasn't disappointed so far in the few chances he got. He has several chances to score, one stage podium should be a realistic goal as well, he's probably our biggest chance of actually winning a stage.
If one of those flat stages (also counting the hilly one) goes to the breakaway, it would actually be nice to have Quicibal in the break. A strong rouleur, who might be able to finish it à la Katrasnik. Maybe we won't go in the break however, if the game considers Manarelli to be one of the biggest favourites. Bru or Ulloa could also go in the break and score like they did recently, but I still think Quicibal is our biggest shot at breakaway success. First race for stagiaire Novakowskyi, but just as for Gonzales he shouldn't really do anything crazy.
Decided to sit this one out since both Ndayisenga and the team as a whole are too bad in time trials to justify 7 race days. But looking at what some of the teams brought, we might not have been that far down the list in the TT Still, I don't mind watching from the sidelines. Pinot should have this, but maybe Ranaweera has a chance if Sauber can muster a decent TTT. Great preview, looking forward to the reports
Awesome preview redordead! You've been absolutely killing it recently, and it's much appreciated!
Honestly shocked that despite not sending our full TTT squad here, we're still 3rd in average. Seems like in general the amount of flat stages compromised people's ability to wholly go for GC and stack time trialists. It also helps that both Warbasse and Eg are their own advocates against the clock. Still, we've kind of underwhelmed in TTT's this year, and I don't expect that to change.
Larry and Niklas will be without Fabbro in the mountains, which judging by our recent results should not be an issue, especially considering there's only one mountain stage, and it's a standard _____/ affair. The game seems to have them work well together when it's just the two of them. Doubt the hilly stage will amount to much, but it'd be nice if it did.
Not much to say regarding AKA at this point. He'll either sprint or he won't. Can't count on it, so just expect nothing and take any points as a bonus.
Thanks for report. You're very generous to mention Haas but here's hoping.
If Craddock can limit losses on the mountain maybe he can sneak a top 10.
Otherwise we'll be hoping for a break away unless Downey can bring home the TT, he's due one. Not sure why our TTT here is weaker but overall it shouldn't harm Craddock.
Too many TT KMs and not enough mountains so decided to have Kuss pass on this one. Keough might have had a shot in the opening TT so maybe he should have been here, one for next year.
As it is the McCormick young guns will be looking for the breaks. Maybe McNulty can put together a decent performance in the U25 as the TTT team isn't terrible considering the competition.
roturn wrote:
Hoping for a successful race from our former riders Keinath and Van Der Sanden/Krieger. All should be capable to win a stage or high results here.
Keianth yes, but you have more hopes on VdS than I have left! You missed Dumoulin by the way
Will be all hands for Keianth mostly after the Prologue is out of the way. Not much expectation from Van der Sanden anymore. Let's see if Keianth can live up to his billing.
Great write up! Probably our last real chance to win a race this season. I'd hoped the field would be a bit weaker and the opening prologue might prove to be a bit of a challenge for Pinot. Suspect tohgb competition from Warbasse, Ranaweera, and all the usual suspects. Hope he can make it up on the mountain stage. A lot of flat days which is why I brought JvH Ah, foolish me.
Given it's our last major scoring chance, expectations are high:
- Win overall
- Win opening prologue (looking at you Hamza)
- Win TTT
Hofer scored 403 points in this race last year. Yet noone picked up for a massive bag. His spirit will be haunting those who passed on the greatest rider in Vineyards history
quadsas wrote:
Hofer scored 403 points in this race last year. Yet noone picked up for a massive bag. His spirit will be haunting those who passed on the greatest rider in Vineyards history
That would be a weird amount of points from his 151 points in total last year.
redordead wrote:
Well that's it all the big names have done their ride. No surprises popped up in the end. Tom Dumoulin is the stage winner.
Wait... no! The judges have changed their mind?! We now have official word and Sean Downey is the stage winner.
This is so annoying, happens to me all the time, too I really don't get why they can't get the results and the display during the stage properly synced.
Tour de Vineyards 
Still, I don't mind watching from the sidelines. Pinot should have this, but maybe Ranaweera has a chance if Sauber can muster a decent TTT. Great preview, looking forward to the reports 
Ah, foolish me.
I really don't get why they can't get the results and the display during the stage properly synced.
