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Tour of the Middle East - Discussion
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 01-05-2023 08:40
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Protected Rider
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 [C2] Tour of the Middle East
Welcome to Oman for the 9th edition of the Tour of the Middle East.
The race consists of 4 stages. The first and second stage should be for the sprinters as they don’t provide any topographical obstacles. The 3rd stage is more challenging, given some smaller hills and an uphill finish. The final stage will decide the GC as it contains some proper mountains, including the final climb of more than 20 km up the Jebel Shams.
The Tour of Middle East is part of the Continental Circuit since its inaugural edition in 2013. Originally consisting of 12 stages until a hiatus in 2017, it came back the following year shortened to its current length of 4 stages.
The sole record winner is Merhawi Kudus with two wins in 2018 and 2020. The most stages (3) were won by MG legend Aleksandr Pluchkin. None of these riders is here to improve their records. As none of the other previous winners is at the start either, we will add a new name to the palmares of this race.
Previous winners:
Spoiler
| Year | Winner | Points | KoM | U25 | Team | | 2021 | Sepp Kuss | Michael Vingerling | Sepp Kuss | Erick Herrera | HelloFresh | | (McCormick Pro Cycling) | (HelloFresh) | (McCormick Pro Cycling) | (Volcanica - Fox) | | | 2020 | Merhawi Kudus | Mark Padun | Mark Padun | Mark Padun | Kraftwerk Man Machine | | (Repsol - Netflix) | (Team Popo4ever p/b Nemiroff) | (Team Popo4ever p/b Nemiroff) | (Team Popo4ever p/b Nemiroff) | | | 2019 | Aleksandr Pluchkin | Jonas Ahlstrand | Juan Ernesto Chamorro | Marcus Faglum Karlsson | Team Popo4ever p/b Nemiroff | | (Team Popo4ever p/b Nemiroff) | (Volvo acc. Spotify) | (Carrefour - ESPN) | (Volvo acc. Spotify) | | | 2018 | Merhawi Kudus | Merhawi Kudus | Gian Piero Signorini | Merhawi Kudus | World Cycling Center | | (Repsol - Netflix) | (Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ) | (Repsol - Netflix) | (Repsol - Netflix) | | | 2016 | David de la Cruz | David de la Cruz | Marc Christian Garby | Marc Christian Garby | New Balance | | (Team Ticos Air Costa Rica) | (Team Ticos Air Costa Rica) | (Carlsberg - Danske Bank) | (Carlsberg - Danske Bank) | | | 2015 | Trent Lowe | Kamil Zielinski | Gian Piero Signorini | Jan Hirt | Compal-Merida | | (Compal-Merida) | (Fablok - Dunlop) | (Indosat - ANZ) | (Severstal-Mercator) | | | 2014 | Vitor Rodrigues | Maxim Iglinski | Vitor Rodrigues | Silvio Herklotz | Maloja Mountain Nomads | | (Siam Cement - Lenovo) | (Maloja Mountain Nomads) | (Siam Cement - Lenovo) | (Team Puma - SAP) | | | 2013 | Thomas Rohregger | Yasmani Martinez | Andreas Landa | Hossein Alizadeh | Sauber Petronas Racing | | (Magna-Ryanair) | (Kenya Airways - Barclays) | (Evian-MIAT) | (Sauber Petronas Racing) | |
2021 results:
Spoiler
| 1 | Sepp Kuss | McCormick Pro Cycling | 14h16'21 | | 2 | Kenny Elissonde | HelloFresh | + 27 | | 3 | Tomoyuki Iino | Trans Looney Tunes | + 41 | | 4 | Enric Mas | Aramco DP | + 45 | | 5 | Jonathan Salinas | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | + 1'48 | | 6 | Jaime Roson | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | + 2'27 | | 7 | Daniel Martin | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | + 3'14 | | 8 | Daniel Ricardo Diaz | HelloFresh | + 3'33 | | 9 | Andrei Amador | Volcanica - Fox | + 4'23 | | 10 | Daniel Alexander Jaramillo | Tafjord Kraft | + 5'02 |
As we are at a C2 race, the startlist is not that surprising: 6 PCT teams join the 15 CT teams. As there are 3 different kind of stages, we will look at the favourites in the chronological order of the stages: first the sprinters, then the puncheurs and finally the climbers.
Sprinters:
There is a bunch of sprinters here with a similar skill set. And while no one’s really the big favourite, we recommend keeping an eye on  Rajovic after his great results in the last races.
| | FL | SP | AC | |  Nelson | Ricki | 70 | 79 | 78 | Glanbia |  Suryadi | Bambang | 71 | 79 | 76 | Indosat Ooredoo |  Keough | Luke | 73 | 79 | 79 | McCormick Pro Cycling |  Willwohl | Willi | 73 | 79 | 78 | Staffbase - BHP |  Gibbons | Ryan | 75 | 78 | 78 | Bianchi - Panerai | | Rajovic | Dusan | 72 | 78 | 82 | BNZ-Superhero Racing |  Thwaites | Scott | 73 | 78 | 76 | HelloFresh - Lampre |  Aregger | Marcel | 73 | 78 | 77 | Jura GIANTS |  Prasad | Darshana | 74 | 78 | 79 | Pas Normal Studios - Mikkeller | | Bauhaus | Phil | 74 | 78 | 75 | Staffbase - BHP |  Waersted | Syver | 73 | 78 | 79 | Tafjord Kraft |
Puncheurs:
While the sprinters are quite balanced, there’s one puncheur sticking out: veteran Edvald Boasson Hagen. While he may have some disadvantages by being a pure puncheur, Tafjord Kraft has given him some strong support with Dyrnes and Paulus. From the GC riders  Schlegel should have the best chances to get an advantage in this stage.
| | MO | HI | ST | RS | AC | | | Hagen | Edvald Boasson | 66 | 81 | 75 | 68 | 73 | Tafjord Kraft |  Teuns | Dylan | 75 | 78 | 73 | 73 | 72 | Le Creuset | | Dyrnes | Kristian | 72 | 78 | 73 | 73 | 77 | Tafjord Kraft |  Vliegen | Loic | 67 | 77 | 76 | 70 | 74 | Colombini-Adler AP | | Schlegel | Michal | 78 | 77 | 71 | 74 | 75 | Tryg - Gobik | | Paulus | Daniel | 74 | 77 | 71 | 68 | 71 | Tafjord Kraft | | Besada | Felix Emilio | 63 | 77 | 74 | 74 | 77 | Pas Normal Studios - Mikkeller |
Climbers:
The race will be decided at the final stage and the winner will have to be a strong climber. The best climbers should be Stüssi, Schlegel and Warbasse, though given the results this season Fabianski and liefwarrior might dispute this.
| | MO | HI | ST | RS | AC | | | Stüssi | Colin | 79 | 73 | 77 | 73 | 66 | Jura GIANTS | | Schlegel | Michal | 78 | 77 | 71 | 74 | 75 | Tryg - Gobik | | Warbasse | Lawrence | 78 | 75 | 75 | 73 | 65 | McCormick Pro Cycling | | Kolar | Michael | 77 | 75 | 70 | 71 | 66 | Indosat Ooredoo | | Schleck | Jordan | 77 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 73 | BNZ-Superhero Racing | | Potocki | Pavel | 77 | 72 | 74 | 71 | 64 | HelloFresh - Lampre | | Hoem | Bjorn Tore | 77 | 72 | 74 | 69 | 62 | Tafjord Kraft | | Mäder | Gino | 77 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 64 | Jura GIANTS | | Schultz | Nicholas | 76 | 76 | 74 | 80 | 71 | BNZ-Superhero Racing |
Honourable Mentions:
The most middle-est riders (sorry for the pun) in the race are Binances  Sota Ikibe from Japan (regarding the arithmetic average) and / or Red Bull Zalgiris’  Kashyapa Siriwardena from Sri Lanka (regarding the median). Interestingly both not only have a medium OVL, but a pretty similar skill set as well, as they are both decent stage racers. And while you may think they’ll just be domestiques in this race, that’s not quite the case: While Ikibe might as well stand in for his teammates Antunes and Benito who are only slightly better than him, Siriwardena is indeed the best climber in his team and should get a free role at least.
Full start list:
Edited by kandesbunzler26 on 01-05-2023 17:11
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 01-05-2023 08:47
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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Great preview! The Jebel Shams looks like team support is vital for success to be protected when the flat stat has an impact, so I'm betting on the deeper teams. I can't look past Jura for the win.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 01-05-2023 10:19
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
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Thanks for another great preview. Covering all terrains, history and honourable mentions very efficiently, I really like your previews 
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| MacC |
Posted on 01-05-2023 10:21
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Sprinter
Posts: 1594
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Thanks !
Basically I just thought Dan Martin deserved one more race as leader
Pleasantly surprised too see Nelson might be competitive!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 04:53
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 01-05-2023 11:26
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4505
Joined: 05-10-2010
PCM$: 900.00
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Awesome preview, thanks!
We actually have a realistic chance of getting results in a C2 race? Suryadi’s last season with us so it would be great for him to land a win. Kolar has been beyond awful for us this season, so hopefully this race is his redemption. I hope Schlegel and Stussi can do well herr.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| quadsas |
Posted on 01-05-2023 11:41
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
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Remco for GC, easy
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| fintas |
Posted on 01-05-2023 15:39
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
Joined: 21-03-2008
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It's a little strange that Amaro Antunes, who is coming off a great result in Tentrino, isn't even considered as a possible surprise. But even stranger is that my team doesn't even appear in the list of participants
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 01-05-2023 16:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4669
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I obviously hope you're right 
However, our roster isn't really deep, either, as we just have Mäder in support of Stüssi. The latter however *should* be the strongest on the mountain stage, but hasn't always been able to live up to that billing. If Schlegel can make optimal use of his skillset, I guess he should win this one.
Looks like many of CTs stronger climbers went to North America then, given that even some PCT riders are on the GC favorites list.
And also hoping for Aregger to not fall into that 4th sprinter trap once again - or even outside PCM's stage favorites at all. But yeah, GC obviously is the bigger goal than the sprints.
fintas wrote:
It's a little strange that Amaro Antunes, who is coming off a great result in Tentrino, isn't even considered as a possible surprise. But even stranger is that my team doesn't even appear in the list of participants
Well, I'd prefer him not to be there 
Yeah, something must have gone wrong with the startlist, as Bianchi (Gibbons) and BNZ (Rajovic, Schleck, Schultz) have riders on the favorite lists but aren't on the startlist.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 01-05-2023 16:45
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
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A race we enjoyed greatly last year, to be fair we enjoyed pretty much every race but this time around we're coming in with a weaker team, Vingerling obviously outside of the scope ratingswise but Thwaites has been looking good recently, maybe he can replicate the Dutchie's success from last year. I hope this is a field where Potocki can secure a top 10 finish in the GC to give us a few points to help pad our top 10 GC result!
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 01-05-2023 17:15
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Posts: 1119
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fintas wrote:
But even stranger is that my team doesn't even appear in the list of participants
It does now 
Fabianski wrote:
Yeah, something must have gone wrong with the startlist, as Bianchi (Gibbons) and BNZ (Rajovic, Schleck, Schultz) have riders on the favorite lists but aren't on the startlist.
I blame it on Caja Rural, suggesting they deleted the teams in front of them to be on top of the startlist 
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 01-05-2023 19:04
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Domestique
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Quispe is just here to win from the breakaway. Expectations are rather low, but we see Vliegen doing decent enough.
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 01-05-2023 21:20
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Team Leader
Posts: 7293
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I hope Rajovic can deliver again! I would also love to see Schleck and Schultz do something here as all season when given leadership it has been rather disappointing from them both. Hopefully we see a strong result from the team.
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 01-05-2023 22:51
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Directeur Sportif
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Warbasse here to try and defend our GC title. But Stussi and Schlegel are big threats. Also not much team support on the last stage with my climbers all at TOA. So I would be happy with a GC top 5 and some action from Keough.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 02-05-2023 12:30
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4505
Joined: 05-10-2010
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A good start from Suryadi, I would love it so much if he could bring home a stage as his farewell tour is well underway now. He's been a good servant to the team, I hope next season Nur Hasan can follow in his footsteps
Congrats Bjartne! Good win for your boys. Thanks for the report too Nemo
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 02-05-2023 12:58
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Grand Tour Specialist
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OK start from Aregger. Could have been better, could have been worse - I'll take those two points. At least he did sprint - something we haven't seen from our sprinters in the last two months or so.
Congrats to Tafjord on the stage win, great start for you! And thanks to UU for the report.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 02-05-2023 13:00
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
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Now that would be a conflict of interest
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 02-05-2023 13:04
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4669
Joined: 29-09-2018
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It'd take more than a 6th place to get the reporter name right
No, obviously thanks to you, Nemo
And commiserations to UU for another abysmal Keough stage. 4th sprinter I guess... 
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 02-05-2023 13:07
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Team Leader
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Podium in stage 1 is a good result for us. Hopefully we can turn that into a stage win at some point throughout the tour.
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 02-05-2023 14:00
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Domestique
Posts: 570
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A decent finish for Dzervus. I expected worse so I can only be happy. Thanks for the report Nemo and congrats to the winner
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 02-05-2023 15:47
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Team Leader
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Syver the man, love that.
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