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Tour Down Under Discussion
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| fintas |
Posted on 15-04-2014 10:17
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My first goal of the season was already gone .. But the truth is that with cyclists present would always be difficult to reach the top10 with McEvoy.
Now in the last stage I hope at least top10 from Allan Davis.
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 10:55
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Marko Kump did not do as well as we hoped and has slipped to 11th in the GC. Stage 6 looks to be interesting but it is unlikely he will push back into the top 10. Paride Grillo will get another chance to contest for a win, but without a top leadout squad that is also unlikely.
AMEXpc climbed up the team ladder 2 slots to 17th. We should continue to climb up on the final stage. Ending the tour in 15th would be a solid accomplishment.
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 15-04-2014 11:18
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As I thought this was a little bit of a lottery. 9th it's not so good seeing the riders we have ahead but it isn't bad either seeing the riders we have below. The real positive thing is that we almost secured the U25 jersey 
So if everything stays as it is I give a B to the race.
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| Kami |
Posted on 15-04-2014 11:24
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When looking at the overall picture, i can't complain with 3th overall (for now) for Ulissi. Still a little strange his sprint stat doesn't seem to be doing all that much, perhaps a bad form of the day.
A good result from Bilbao (and Mancuso) though. I didn't really expect Bilbao to end top 10 aswell, when more or less supporting Ulissi.
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-04-2014 11:55
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Still to write the report for the final stage this evening.
But pretty sure that the race will be finished today.
@Kami: I think Sprint start is pretty useless in uphill sprints as hill/mountain stats are the more important ones then. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 14:25
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 15-04-2014 15:44
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Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Alakagom wrote:
First to attack and first to finish, job nicely done today  Even 2nd in GC would be fine, a fine way to start the season if we don't crash tomorrow. Really didn't expect this though
Yeah, it is hard to expect 81 puncheur to win the hilly stage. 
Congrats
Anyway, nice report and great job from Rabon for Metinvest, sitting at 7th in GC and holding up there with the big boys bar Froome. It seems that his acceleration and fighter spirit can help him overcome hilly abilities deficit somehow. I hope we will not be strucked by disaster in last stage and this tour will be nice success with decent points from Rabon/Hoffman combo.
Well I guess I phrased the ending wrong, I didn't expect to take a lead here at all with enough advantage to be within a chance of winning the GC due to Van Stayen. Willunga is not always as selective in game as it was on this stage, but thankfully it produced a nice selection
Rabon looks like a very decent option for you indeed, did rather well here for sure!
Edited by Alakagom on 15-04-2014 15:45
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| tyriion |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:41
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This is ending in disaster for me I'm afraid.
Check out my ManGame team here
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| Smowz |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:49
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Van Stayen what an absolute beast. Sorry PCT I have unleashed a monster!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:51
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Well well. Guess it could have been worse. Goss with a stage and a good effort today.. Visconti 17th in a strong field. Had hoped for more, but okay. Nice reports all the way, van Stayen too beasty and our more important races still to come 
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:51
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I rather think it is the training that has made Van Stayen a monster! Blame Roman for throwing money at Sagan, or however else Venchi got their money this year
Two riders in the Top 20 is nice for Jaguar, but expected more than 13th for Dowsett. Especially irritating that he did nothing, while Bacardi got two in the Top 10!
Top marks for Bintunimana for making it around though!
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:53
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Deserved win for Van Staeyen with thee stages. Bit gutting to loose it on the final stage but Froome did as well as he could. His next race should suit him much more
Nice start to the season with an early win, onwards to February for us.
Great reports Roturn, thanks for the pace of the race too!
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:57
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Very nice race for us! Drujon, Simon and Vastaranta all got stage top 10s and 6th and 12th in the GC is more than we could have hoped for, with the startlist. Even snagged 3rd in the team classification for those juicy extra points .
Thanks for the reports roturn! The speed was excellent and the reporting perhaps even more so!
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-04-2014 19:59
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After 2013 it was again a good decision to start my reporting season with the Tour Down Under as I really like the race in the MG but also in real.
Once again a very close ending with a deserved winner obviously. Van Stayen with that training as SN said, indeed a huge beast and I can see him taking a lot more stages and eventually GC`s.
What I liked the most here? Julien Simon`s and Rabon`s performance. It gives me some hope that my weaker riders, who maximum will be mentioned as outside favourites in most races, will have a highligt from time to time. At least I hope so.
Also nice to see that on different days, different teams made sprint trains. While Venchi and Meiji organized them quite successful, RBC was at least a bit successful with a consistent Vanderbiest, while BelarusBank still needs to learn a lot there. Oz with a few nice attempts to form a train at least. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:00
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Smowz wrote:
Van Stayen what an absolute beast. Sorry PCT I have unleashed a monster!
Rather be sorry that he's not mine!
Congratulations Venchi for being ridiculously lucky and then doing the worst thing in training him further...
Gutting for Quickstep, but they'll promote nevertheless.
Edited by cio93 on 15-04-2014 20:02
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:01
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And thanks to roturn being quick with the rankings information, here is an update.
TDU scores show that despite a packed field, only Compal-Merida left with nothing.
| 1 |  | Venchi - Ferranti | 257 | | 2 |  | Quickstep | 138 | | 3 |  | La Vie Claire | 131 | | 4 |  | Bacardi Limited | 128 | | 5 |  | Magna-Ryanair | 81 | | 6 |  | Team Kenya Airways | 65 | | 7 |  | Team CSC - Orbea | 61 | | 8 |  | Metinvest-Emirates | 51 | | 9 |  | Oz Cycling Project | 47 | | 10 |  | AMEXpc | 45 | | 11 |  | FCB - Polska | 43 | | 12 |  | Meiji - Cannondale | 35 | | 13 |  | Gazelle | 31 | | 14 |  | Jaguar - Eritel | 24 | | 15 |  | Kappa - ENI | 16 | | 16 |  | Karcher-Adira Racing | 15 | | 17 |  | RBC Pro Cycling | 15 | | 18 |  | Swedbank-PEAB | 9 | | 19 |  | Risa - Ergon | 8 | | 20 |  | Allianz-BMW | 8 | | 21 |  | Team Hornbach | 7 | | 22 |  | Kazzinc Procycling | 3 | | 23 |  | BelarusBank Pro Cycling | 2 |
And here is how that affects the PCT standings. Venchi move straight to the top, dethroning Karcher.
| 1 | | Venchi - Ferranti | 257 | | 2 | | Karcher-Adira Racing | 187 | | 3 | | Meiji - Cannondale | 171 | | 4 | | Quickstep | 138 | | 5 | | La Vie Claire | 136 | | 6 | | Bacardi Limited | 128 | | 7 | | Oz Cycling Project | 110 | | 8 | | Magna-Ryanair | 97 | | 9 |  | Team Puma - SAP | 82 | | 10 |  | Project: Africa | 70 | | 11 | | FCB - Polska | 66 | | 12 | | Team Kenya Airways | 65 | | 13 | | Team CSC - Orbea | 61 | | 14 |  | Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo | 61 | | 15 |  | Privatbank - Nemiroff | 58 | | 16 | | Metinvest-Emirates | 51 | | 17 | | Jaguar - Eritel | 50 | | 18 | | AMEXpc | 45 | | 19 | | Gazelle | 42 | | 20 | | BelarusBank Pro Cycling | 40 | | 21 | | RBC Pro Cycling | 30 | | 22 |  | Heineken-Cal Giant | 30 | | 23 | | Allianz-BMW | 18 | | 24 | | Team Hornbach | 17 | | 25 |  | Repsol-Cativen | 17 | | 26 | | Kappa - ENI | 16 | | 27 | | Swedbank-PEAB | 9 | | 28 | | Kazzinc Procycling | 3 | | 29 |  | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 0 | | 30 |  | Compal-Merida | 0 |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:04
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2nd is okay, atleast from a points standpoint.
Probably should have won that stage though, and extremely disappointed with Efimkin.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:06
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ooh, never thought we would be this bad in this race.
Atleast it was not our absolute leaders who throw their race days away. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:13
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Gasparotto useless once again. At least Ben Nasser retained his high GC finish, happy we managed to get into the top five in a packed field. Bodes well for the season ahead and gives us some solid early points at just over 10pprd. Nice to be in the top half.
Van Staeyen did it! I thought he might, congrats to Sykkel. He will be a beast this year. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:13
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That points haul is pretty disappointing for BelarusBank, I hope that kind of performance won't hit Ciolek sooner or later as well...
Apart from that it's far too easy to read too much into the rankings of course, but I like how some of our possible direct opponents scored (or rather not scored) here.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:44
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That was a brilliant race to follow. Van Staeyen was just a beast, but Froome really surprised me with 2nd. The TDU is not particularly hilly and i fully expected it to be a lot less selective counting him out of the top places. Venchi and Quickstep off to perfect starts in their promotion campaigns, and it's hard to see them slowing down much either.
Bottom end interests me more. Belarusbank were tipped by everyone as a team to struggle and, unfortunately, they bore that true. Going to give some more lower end teams hope that diversity might be the better way to go. Expected Kazzinc to go better than that, but it's not a great worry for them at the moment. Compal look to be joining Belarus in early troubles with a poor showing. I want to see how they move onwards from here and how quickly they can turn things around.
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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)
