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Vuelta a Colombia - Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 04-12-2023 01:13
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Directeur Sportif
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 Vuelta a Colombia
The Vuelta a Colombia is one of the key stage races in the PTHC band. This one is all about the climbers with 4 mountain stages including 3 summit finishes. As is fitting with that profile, its winners includes some of the best climbers in the history of the mangame, including Alarcon, Madrazo and Amador. The latter's two wins is tied for the most with another great climber in Aleksandr Pluchkin. Last year it was won by  Tim Wellens, he is back to try for two in a row but the start list doesn’t seem to favor that as includes two of last year’s Grand Tour winners in  Lecuisinier and  Dombrowski.
In addition to the 4 mountain stages there are also two stages for the sprinters (1 and 4). More on them later but first a look at the top climbers:
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | AC | RS | RC | | Lecuisinier | 71 | 85 | 75 | 74 | 80 | 79 | | Dombrowski | 70 | 84 | 75 | 75 | 78 | 78 |  Padun | 67 | 82 | 77 | 75 | 74 | 76 | | Wellens | 72 | 82 | 75 | 68 | 80 | 76 |  Tenorio | 66 | 82 | 74 | 64 | 73 | 76 |  Olivier | 72 | 81 | 76 | 71 | 80 | 77 |  Bennett | 67 | 81 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 79 |  Barguil | 70 | 81 | 75 | 75 | 77 | 82 |  Choi | 71 | 81 | 74 | 68 | 76 | 79 |  Reis | 70 | 81 | 73 | 64 | 76 | 78 |  Novak | 68 | 80 | 77 | 76 | 76 | 77 |  Almeida | 69 | 80 | 71 | 71 | 78 | 78 |
Lecuisinier and Dombrowski are the clear favorites as they are a step above all the other contenders. Between those two, the edge, by a thin margin, goes to the Frenchman, as he is a stronger climber. The two are fairly even matched across all their other stats except time trialing, which won’t matter in this race. Lecusuisiner brings a strong support squad including Eenkhoorn, Foss, and Gavars for the mountains and Kurianov to protect him on the flats. But Dombrowski has a similar support structure with Carcueva, Sosnitskiy, and Karnulin in the mountains and Mundle for the flats.
Of the rest of the contenders Wellens seems like the favorite for the last podium spot. He is not quite as punchy as Padun but has much stronger energy stats while all his secondary stats are superior to those of the veteran Tenorio. While Olivier and Barguil are not as good climbing they both have strong all-around skills.
Almeida is not as strong as most of the other top contenders but will be the favorite for the U25 competition.
For the two sprint stages there are a small selection of mainly second tier sprinters. Look for one or two managers to be thrilled with picking up a high-quality sprint win.
| Rider | FL | SP | AC | RS |  Kennaugh | 75 | 80 | 78 | 68 |  Coutinho | 72 | 79 | 80 | 74 | | Afewerki | 73 | 79 | 80 | 70 | | Lutsyshyn | 70 | 79 | 80 | 73 | | Keough | 73 | 79 | 79 | 73 | | Ovsyannikov | 74 | 79 | 78 | 72 |  Nur Hasan | 74 | 79 | 78 | 74 | | Peak | 80 | 78 | 78 | 77 | | Mareczko | 74 | 78 | 77 | 73 | | Feiereisen | 74 | 77 | 78 | 68 |
Kennaugh has the highest top speed but Coutinho and Afewerki have better overall skill sets. Afwerki also brings a strong lead-out in the form of Feiereisen who is one of two ex-McCormick sprinters on the start list, Keough the other.
A relatively small field here with 19 teams at the startline, 7 PT and 12 PCT. All of them feature a full squad of 8 riders.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 02:27
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Can’t wait to see who triumphs in the battle between the two big guns  pretty even behind them, so it should be a fun race.
We’re hoping for breaks, would love to have a proper shot at the KOM. I hope Wibisono’s presence doesn’t mean the game throws him into the breaks instead of someone more suitable, but time will tell
Nur Hasan gets his first opportunity as a maxed rider to ride for himself! All the secondary sprinters are pretty much identical, so hoping for good luck in the lottery.
Thanks for the preview!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 04-12-2023 06:17
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Directeur Sportif
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Choi starts his season and we have a strong support team with him here. Hopefully he can do better than the preview mentions. Will be satisfied meeting the Top 10 goal for this race but hoping for a bit better for sure. Some depth points won't hurt either.
Thanks for the preview Ulrich
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| SotD |
Posted on 04-12-2023 07:03
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World Champion
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It didn’t go so well for Lecuisinier when I had him here. He lost to a rider worse than Dombrowski (at the time). Will be interesting to see if the new version treats him as he should. He is a better rider than Dombrowski, even without the TT’s.
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| knockout |
Posted on 04-12-2023 08:09
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Grand Tour Champion
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Was a nobrainer decision to go here with Lecuisiner as that was easily the best way his limited race days worked out. Let's hope that he can deliver big. He got almost everything in terms of support. Foss+Eenkhoorn is a lieutenant duo that should be excellent.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-12-2023 08:09
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Team Manager
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Let`s see how good Olivier is in this version. Can`t be much worse than last year I guess. Time to recover and challenge the better climbers as also former team mate Wellens.
Top5-10 is the goal here, ideally being best of the 81 climbers.
Need him to perform really for promotion, so this is a good start here. No TT, not as much hills as ideal though.
Lecuisinier with the easy win here imo, Dombrowski might challenge but I doubt so really. |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 10:40
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World Champion
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And finally Bennett is making his season debut in a tough field. Don't think he's been to a pure MO stage race since 2018 or actually probably 2017 back in the CT - certainly not since his training from 78MO. Shows how the calendar has changed I guess but also I'm hoping he'll do well and it'll show that I should have started trying it sooner 
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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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 04-12-2023 12:12
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Team Leader
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Have high hopes of success here! Wellens should really be pushing for the podium, if not then at least a Top 5. He has one of the stronger supporting casts that we'll be giving him this season so it's all in! Would be disappointing if he ends up further down than that.
Ovsya with a decent opportunity for some sprint results too given the field is pretty even! No support for him though so it'll be down to his race craft.
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 04-12-2023 12:16
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Domestique
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Welp, Reis making his debut lets see how it goes. The field is definitely strong but hoping he can pick some points here and there. Thanks for the preview
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 14:00
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Tour de France Champion
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Mildly weaker field than I would have expected here. Almost regret not going (but not really ). A few PCT guys with a real shot at a huge top 5 here.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-12-2025 17:02
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 04-12-2023 15:11
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Classics Specialist
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Decided to not send Monsalve here. Instead we're focusing our efforts on stages and hopefully a top 30 GC or two! Thanks for the preview, looking forward to the battle between PHL and Dombo!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 04-12-2023 16:29
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Directeur Sportif
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Kennaugh for the sprints and other than that hoping for our third-tier climbers to fill the breakaways every day
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 04-12-2023 20:32
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Tour de France Champion
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Not an easy startlist for Novak, but he needs to make up for his performance in Portugal, so he'd better get that top 10.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 04-12-2023 21:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Just here to have fun watching the Lecuisinier vs. Dombrowski fight
Really stacked climber field in general, with many riders targetting the final podium spot - can Padun continue P4E's strong run this year?
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| redordead |
Posted on 05-12-2023 07:00
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Team Leader
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Awesome solo effort by Katrasnik in the breakaway 
"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 05-12-2023 07:06
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 12681
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We were not expecting anything there and are happy to have remained out of trouble.
Congrats to Lierse and thanks for the report Ulrich
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-12-2023 08:06
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11786
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Lame Kennaugh.
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 05-12-2023 09:13
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Domestique
Posts: 674
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PCM$: 5800.00
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Well I'll be damned. I for sure thought it was in the bag. No biggie, we go again tomorrow.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 05-12-2023 09:46
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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Go Dombro!
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 05-12-2023 12:23
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2543
Joined: 07-07-2013
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Flat beast Cherkasov in 4th & Ho 2nd in KOM saving Kraftwerk from a zero pointer.
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