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Tour Down Under Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 31-10-2021 12:14
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Team Manager
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The Tour Down Under no longer is the first stage race on the calendar but still very early in January. It`s a mix of sprinter and puncheur race as both kind of riders have their stages and due to the sprinter classification system, the bonus seconds become more vital, which in especially for sprinters is a big thing when able to hang on to the better puncheurs on the uphill stages.
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | Stages | | Van der Sande | 1. | | | | | | | 1 | | Gautier | 97. | 3. | 1. | 4. | 8. | | 5. | 3 | | Ewan | | | 3. | | | | | 1 | | Schreurs | | 15. | 15. | 1. | | | | 1 | | Borges | 4. | 2. | | | | | | 1 | | McCarthy | | | 7. | | 5. | | | | | | | |
Having a quick lock on the 2021 starters and their most successful runs in the race history. Easily Gautier pops up being not only the most successful from the starters but he is on the decline and already showed huge weakness last year when his main showing came from a breakaway. This year he is only one of the teams puncheurs, so might be even harder for a free role or even leadership. Van der Sande after his surprise win last season is back after a team change though. Time will tell, if he can do it again or come close to it. Star sprinter Ewan is the top sprinter here and in 2018 he already was on the podium in the end, surely hopes to repeat this while Schreurs also had his best times behind it seems while Borges kind of likes this early season race as the last 2 years are showing. Similar as Edmondson actually and also McCarthy as next home rider or Prevar have done well here in the past.
Then there obviously are lots of riders here, who haven`t participated before or not in the leader role yet.
The Puncheurs
| | Hi | Sp | Acc | | Hi | Sp | Acc |  Skujins | 83 | 68 | 76 |  Bilbao | 79 | 71 | 75 |  Ponzi | 82 | 74 | 77 |  De Plus | 79 | 60 | 72 |  McCarthy | 81 | 65 | 74 |  Gebrezgabihier | 79 | 67 | 69 |  Van Garderen | 81 | 69 | 78 | Slagter | 79 | 61 | 71 |  Bakelants | 80 | 69 | 72 | Reichenbach | 79 | 63 | 69 |  Borges | 80 | 71 | 81 |  Watson | 78 | 62 | 72 |  Schreurs | 80 | 70 | 72 | Van Stayen | 78 | 83 | 76 |  Jensen | 80 | 66 | 76 | Gautier | 78 | 66 | 74 |  Betancourt | 80 | 67 | 74 |  Gaudu | 78 | 68 | 70 |  Prevar | 80 | 67 | 73 | Landa | 78 | 61 | 69 | | Müller | 80 | 66 | 72 |  Teuns | 78 | 66 | 72 | | Edmondson | 79 | 70 | 76 | Budyak | 78 | 57 | 68 | | Dowsett | 79 | 65 | 70 | | | | |
Some huge names here including B-World Champion Skujins or former monument winners and PT star riders Ponzi, Bakelants or Van Garderen. Many are slowly ageing and head towards the smaller divisions to remain competive. Though some of them clearly could have done well in the biggest monuments still.
McCarthy is the home favourite and the Aussies will hope to see him well, while Borges, Schreurs, Prevar, Betancourt or Jensen complete the list with Müller being a really strong domestique here for Ponzi.
Van Stayen is very interesting as he could get lots of bonus seconds while still being a very decent puncheur as well.
The Sprinters
| Sp | Acc | Hi | | Sp | Acc | Hi | | Van Stayen | 83 | 76 | 78 | Halvorsen | 80 | 80 | 65 |  Ewan | 83 | 81 | 71 |  Guardini | 80 | 82 | 64 | | Howard | 82 | 79 | 68 | Nizzolo | 80 | 79 | 64 |  Manninen | 81 | 80 | 66 | Van der Sande | 79 | 79 | 70 |  Kragh Andersen | 81 | 77 | 64 | Bouglas | 78 | 78 | 70 | | Van Asbroeck | 80 | 78 | 71 | Ackermann | 77 | 80 | 77 |  Liu | 80 | 80 | 67 | Alaphilippe | 77 | 77 | 73 | | Cullaigh | 80 | 81 | 66 | Oliveira | 75 | 78 | 76 | | Bonifazio | 80 | 80 | 66 | Luchshenko | 75 | 75 | 75 | | Haller | 80 | 79 | 65 | | | | |
Ewan vs Howard vs Manninen vs Van Stayen vs Kragh Andersen? At least those 5 look easily strongest on paper with some more being easily able to challenge them starting with Guardini, Cullaigh, Liu, Van Asbroeck, Bonifazio, Haller, Halvorsen or Nizzolo. Some new faces here as some talents might find their way towards the elite level this season.
The Aussies
Sprint wise chances are good for a stage with Ewan and Howard belong to the very best while GC wise most hope is on McCarthy with outside chances for Ewan or Watson.
With star Aussie Bobridge back to the PCT division, home fans were hoping to see him return as 2012 might be his last and maybe only appearance here. But without a TT his chances weren`t as good as in other races fair enough.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 31-10-2021 12:30
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Tour de France Champion
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*shrugs* It's a tougher starlist than i hoped for the sprints, but lets see how it goes. Hopefully some of our new punchier signings can make an early impression via breakaway?
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 12:39
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Team Leader
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Excited for this race! Edmondson has done well the past couple of season so hopefully he can continue his form here. Although this field is insane!!!
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 13:12
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
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The TJ and TJ show doesn't happen too many times this season but I wanted to see how they do together in our first hilly race of the season, hopefully they can work together well.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 14:02
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Tour de France Champion
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I flirted strongly with not sending AKA here. The competition is always super stiff and stage points are not necessarily worth it. In the end with my other planning, it still made sense for him to race, so here we are, hoping his good form from from the DUC carries over to our next Australian venture. No idea what expectations are. The more points he can rack up the better. I guess I expect he should at least score a little bit.
No aspirations other than the sprint stages. Clearly not the type of puncheur stages for Aranburu, so we're without any sort of leader for the GC. Will be fully invested in the sprints and breakaways.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| knockout |
Posted on 31-10-2021 14:36
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Grand Tour Champion
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Very interesting race for me. Very curious to see what Skujins and Van Stayen can do here and the race should suit both of them well. Looking forward to it!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 31-10-2021 17:25
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Well, no Reinhardt and not Boudat in the sprinters' list probably means the race won't be worthwile to follow for me ^^ I still hope they can pull off some good results, though.
GC-wise, no big hopes. Lienhard and Thièry are here to attack and hopefully get the KoM jersey. Definitely not a race with high hopes, and even less so after reading the preview...
Thanks for taking on the race once again, roturn!
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 31-10-2021 21:00
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2433
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Hoping for Kraftwerk depth to provide some minor points.
Thanks for the preview roturn.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 17:21
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 23:18
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Interested to see how MVS does. Realistically he should be a shoe-in for the GC with his abilities, but it will be interesting to see if his low Acc (for a sprinter) will actually be a hindrance.
We have a strong setup for stages and GC with Howard and Jensen’s debut for us. It’ll be a lottery which punchers decide to perform aside from the top couple, so hopefully the AI gods are kind to us.
Thanks for the preview!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| quadsas |
Posted on 01-11-2021 01:00
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Small Tour Specialist
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ez dub. probably 6 stage wins too
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| ember |
Posted on 01-11-2021 05:55
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Team Leader
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We come here with a bunch of rouleurs. Hopefully that will show, as we should join breakaways and ride aggressively. There’s also stage 4 and possibly stage 3 that could suit Ballerini very well. Excited to see how he does, at least he should get freedom to try for some kind of result 
Curious to see how the hilly stages play out. MVS is my favourite for the overtall, as he should pick up lots of bonus seconds with the system applied here. Looking forward to the racing!
Thank you for the preview, roturn! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 01-11-2021 06:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
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It's another race where I don't bring a strong squad to, but I hope we can do better than in DUC and leave Australia with some points.
Thanks for the preview
"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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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 01-11-2021 06:33
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Directeur Sportif
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Interested to see how our dual leadership is treated! Kind of betting of Van Asbroeck to stick with the lead group if things are not selective, which has been a feature of this race in the past. Teuns is here for the hills but is way down the favourites' list and will need to attack at the exact time to make something happen.
Looking forward to the race. Thanks for the preview roturn
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 01-11-2021 08:21
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4476
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Scary race.. PCT hills are really quite loaded, and I am unsure if Prevar will be as good as het used to be in the past few seasons... That said, Ackermann is an outsider here, if the AI is kind to him..
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 01-11-2021 08:33
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Can´t expect too much with our line-up GC-wise, I just hope Manninen goes wheelsurfing and we don´t decide to form a train with only Quispe  Thanks for the preview, looking forward to the reports.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 01-11-2021 09:40
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Team Leader
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Hoping we can challenge for a podium place here with 2020's winner and 4th place within our ranks. Not sue if having both Van der Sande and Borges in the team will screw things up, but on paper this should be a solid squad.
That puncheurs field though is something to behold. Skujns, Ponzi, Bakelants and Van Garderen in a HC race is criminal!
Thanks for the savvy preview roturn!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 01-11-2021 10:10
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World Champion
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Manninen doesn't look like he's lost speed, hope this isn't a false dawn for him because that could be huge for Los Pollos! Like the second consecutive top 5 for TVA as well Thanks for the report roturn, looking forward to this one!
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
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 01-11-2021 10:20
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Team Leader
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Another promoted team finding early success. Manninen is such an efficient machine. He could probably wipe the floor with the opposition in the PT as well I reckon.
7th again for Tosh is reasonable enough. Borges doing well to finish within the top25. Keep it going guys.
Congrats on the win Nemo!
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 01-11-2021 10:57
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Tour de France Champion
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Aha, there's the return of Worlds Best Lead Out Man Ewan 
But i'm positive that Edmo & Julian could give him something of a decent guide to the final km, and that some other's appeared to struggle. Only one stage but maybe being the Lead Out can still deliver solid scoring.
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 01-11-2021 11:52
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Well that sucks. Early days, but trains not looking the goods so far.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
