In Algarve and Mallorca we probably again have to rely on breakaways as best scoring chance, as our hilly guys are just not good enough to regularly finish in the top 10.
In San Luis we've got Caruso, so I'm hoping for a podium and a stage win.
Big big big month for the lads, Vanendert and Nieve both GC favorites but both will be decided by one stage (or a TT - ewwww) - bit of a gamble there (and Algarve will be decided by bonuses if he can't win solo - luckily no EBH). Elsewhere Bennett gets a shot at leading in Mallorca and Ochoa and Rivera have a free role in San Luis. At PureBlack JAV gets his first leading race. Elsewhere Appo leads in Nat Cap and in our previous happy hunting ground Algarve.
Edited by jandal7 on 14-09-2016 23:17
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
A couple of days late but thanks for all your comments on my preview
The Rider wrote:
#1 would be fantastic: can't see it happening with Carbonsports being very much the team to beat for me: we should be thinking about the podium at the least though.
I think our teams are very close to each other together with another (overperforming team) and i picked you on top because 1) you won the rankings last season and don't look any worse this year 2) i don't like to predict myself so high 3) I know i fucked up the planning for Kittel (see: Toowoomba :roll.
Shonak wrote:
I definitely agree that brewers has assembled a fine squad and probably will challenge for a Top 3, especially seeing fair bits of the startlists. With the Yatesies he also has two of the best future riders whose price will increase sharply though due to success. Leopard also did well to promote from CT and WT and got quality riders in Quintana and Uran. A really fine balanced squad imo, although maybe a bit of a too wild mix of various talents and nationalities.
Completely agree with you. While Brewers mainly took his improvement from the development, it was imo (Leopard)-Evonik who won the transfer season. No team has improved so well.
Bikex wrote:
Great preview knockout, I especially like the picture you have chosen for Italo.
Did I have any other option with an Italian - Kazakh team build around Nibali and great depth behind it?
Croatia14 wrote:
A fantastic preview so far! I highly like your predictions on both overall and my team. Evans is only there to help Nairo with his experience on his GT(s). I like your Bazhkou prediction a lot, and he'll have plenty of space to show off in C2 like he did in NZL. You're still unbeatable though
I think Bazhkou with his current stats has the opportunity to overperform big time and being able to ride c2 you could massively exploit that.
I understand the decision to sign Evans and could have mentioned someone else but simply picking the lowest AVG guy would be boring and Evans simply has more of a complain history over Sami S. and Scarponi.
brewers90 wrote:
I can guarantee you right now. If we finish 3rd in the rankings, I will not complain at all.
The Star: Every German top team must have a German top sprinter and Degenstache is Celesio's top man. He's yet to win a monument but four second places prove that he is always someone to watch closely - no matter if it's in San Remo, Roubaix or Flandern.
The Wasted Wage: Davide Villela. He's good but his wage could have been used to attract another leader or speed up the development of one of their countless top talents.
The Future: Celesio spent years investing in their future and now it starts to pay of. They will be even stronger next year and even more the year after as Jungels, Mohoric and Herklotz will hit super star status.
The Prediction: #7. Degenkolb and Martin are supported by an awesome depth. Nerz, Jungels and Herklotz are good options for solid point scoring in every race and Mohoric will be a very interesting rider to follow in CT.1 races.
The Bold Prediction: Mohoric will win 4 stages.
#8 Illes Balears
The Star: Alberto Contador. His Giro win was three seasons ago and he may have had the worst production of the Big 4 but Shonak has once again tried everything to bring an excellent support.
The Wasted Wage: Mario Gonzalez. Not good enough to make any TTT team he will only be a squad filler in races where the team has no ambitions at all.
The Future: The short term future is still mainly connected to superstar Alberto Contador. Contador still has 2 years on the highest level in him and Shonak better find a replacement till he declines. Mathieu van der Poel is by far the most promising talent contracted to the team.
The Prediction: #8. The gamble on Quintana hurt the team a lot. Losing Purito will cost them a lot and they have no option in sprints and on the cobbles. Altthough some doubters say that they hadn't options with Styby either. Last season's 6th place in the Prestige Ranking was the worst finish position in team history and the fall will continue. If Contador does not improve again then a position in double digit places is on the card.
The Bold Prediction: Contador will wear the yellow jersey for 10 days.
#9 Hoffenheim - Bianchi
The Star: Michal Kwiatkowski. He's one of the best allrounder of the world. In past seasons he always had a terrific production rate and it can be expected that he will continue to perform well.
The Wasted Wage: Sylvain Chavanel. He's past his prime and you could sign better helpers for the same money. Sometime loyality isn't good as well.
The Future: SAP's future mostly depends on future signings as their talents won't be anything more than solid okayish WT leadouts (Roinas) or possibly part of a mountain train (Tillegen). Somewhere in the far future Spagnoli and Niemi look like very gifted sprint talents but they're years away from being useful. With Terpstra, Turgot, Nordhaug and Chavanel getting older, this team will have lots of budget available though so expect them to make a major move for a star rider next season!
The Prediction: #9 Last season SAP fought hard against relegation and the signing of Kwiatkowski should allow them a rather calm season. Being far away of both relegation spots and the title fight it will interesting where the team sets its focus: Prestige Ranking, World Tour events or possibly the newly founded World Cup where Kwiatkowski looks like a hot pick for the overall win?
The Bold Prediction: Kwiatek will win the World Cup.
Well I agree with Illes Balears. Shitty transfer seasons, the third in a row, me on holiday during it, not much help. I have talked enough about Quintana, I'm sure Ollfardh feels the same about it.. You risk some, you lose some. However it's not my loss because I could invest heavily in training and I look forward to what Herrada can do. VDP is definitely my hottest upcoming rider for some years now, hopefully I can fasttrack his development a bit too.
lol at hoffenheim - bianchi. Very quality signing by Kwiatek, he'll be a monster for trek erm I mean trekbianchi
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
It seems every month is a big big month now, but whatever. Obviously inspired by dominox and his excellent previews.
Continental Tour CT.1
Clasica di Tirreno - Adriatico 03.03
Team
AVG
FL
HI
SP
AC
ST
Appolonio
Davide
76,4
74
71
77
77
68
Waste of race days most likely but a home sprint classic for our Italian is what he wanted. Top 10 is the goal.
Roma Maxima 07.03
Team
AVG
HI
SP
AC
ST
RS
Vanendert
Jelle
76,6
77
65
76
76
72
Bennett
George
74,0
76
67
71
71
66
Bit dumb of me to select this race ahead of harder CT.1 races but still the goal is the top step of the podium. Realistically top 3.
Continental Tour CT.2
Clasica Iberica 02.03
Team
AVG
HI
SP
AC
ST
RS
Vanendert
Jelle
76,6
77
65
76
76
72
Bennett
George
74,0
76
67
71
71
66
Win this thing or face consequences.
København Byrundtur 25.03
Previous Results:
1
2
3
2016
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aidis Kruopis
Evaldas Siskevicius
Team
AVG
FL
HI
CB
SP
ST
Siskevicus
Evaldas
74.6
73
71
68
75
71
He earned the right to be our cobbled leader last year and he's back to the race where he took a surprise podium in the reduced bunch dash. Top 10 would be nice but it'll be an unpredictable season on the pavè.
All depends on how we TT, but podium and stage should be the goal as in Nat Cap. Hoping for a wild Garikoitz Bravo again.
U23 Tour
Paris - Roubaix U23 27.03
Team
AVG
FL
HI
CB
SP
ST
Jacobsen
Sverre
68,3
68
68
66
68
68
His great all-around abilities would be helpful in RVV, but not so much Roubaix. Top 10 could be nice but there's no real weight on his shoulders.
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
Anyway: These hilly startlists are the best thing since sliced bread for me. Henao focusing on the mountains an EBH in the WT for some reason means only wild Welshmen and WT wonderkids (god damn Ws) stand in our way.
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
Hoping for much better on the cobbles this season. It can't really get much worse than last season. *Instantly regrets typing this*
No idea what will happen at the other WT races but Dombrowski and Phinney at least have some chance of success. I guess we'll find out whether Simon Yates can handle WT one-day races this year as well.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
The first big month for us. Porte starts off as top favourite in Paris Nice while it is a surprise to see Atapuma among the favourites at Tachira, being a World Tour race. Two cobbled races for Boom to start his season, but it'll be hard to predict any high finishes. He needs to stick to attacks and be attentive at the right moments. Monfort gets another chance to lead a race in the Criterium International. After his unexpected brilliance in Indonesia, I'm hoping for something similar here.
Continental Tour Ranking | February | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 16th place (288 pts) 2017 - 16th place (289 pts)
Prestige Ranking | February | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 24th place (288 pts) 2017 - 27th place (289 pts)
And now I have this part of a season when my team isn't riding in many races. Only 4 in March, I think only 2 in April, but I hope I will have amazing second half of the season with Ulissi riding many one day races and scoring really well in one-week races. Also I have scored one point more than last year at this moment. That is a little surprise to me especially when my results weren't the best. Last year I already had 2 stage wins (Ferrari & Ulissi). This time my highest place is 3rd so far.
Clasica Iberica 03.02
Team
AVG
HI
SP
AC
ST
RS
Nowaczek
Mateusz
74,3
76
69
71
72
68
Poljański
Paweł
72,8
74
68
71
71
67
Hilly classic here. Poljański, Nowaczek, you have one job here! And it's top 10.
Clasica di Tirreno - Adriatico 03.03
Team
AVG
FL
HI
SP
AC
ST
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
73
71
76
73
70
"Flat" classic. Komisarek should do top 10 here, but field is really strong. I don't think he can manage to score ANY points here. Especially when Bodnar was higher on flat stages in National Capital Tour than Komisarek.
Roma Maxima 03.07
Team
AVG
HI
SP
AC
ST
RS
Santambrogio
Mauro
74,6
75
64
73
74
72
Nowaczek
Mateusz
74,3
76
69
71
72
68
Silin
Egor
73,4
73
64
70
71
66
Another hilly classic. Most important is, that this team have 3 not bad riders in it. Plan A is high place from Nowaczek. Plan B, Santambrogio. Do your job guys!
Paris - Nice 03.11 - 03.18
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Ulissi
Diego
75,9
75
78
72
67
73
Santambrogio
Mauro
74,6
75
75
61
64
74
Bodnar
Maciej
73,6
65
68
75
67
74
Dall'Oste
Daniele
72,9
74
72
65
65
68
Now we are talking. Diego Ulissi will made his 2017 debut in a race which he's defending winner. Santambrogio and Dall'Oste will made an impact as they should help Diego to retain his 1st place from last year. It could be our first big race, so absolutely minimum is top 5 in GC here. Minimum!
Omloop het Nieuwsblad 01.03 
Vuelta a Tachira 09.03 - 18.03 
København Byrundtur 25.03 
