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Giro d'Italia Discussion
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 21-02-2020 09:32
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Tour de France Champion
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More good stuff from my guys, would be great if we can keep the top 20.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 01:56
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| jph27 |
Posted on 21-02-2020 09:54
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Team Leader
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Not the worst couple of stages for us - Yates appears a little weaker than he has been, but with his only time loss being to Schleck it's nothing too concerning. He should have the measure of Kruijswijk, and with Haig losing time that nullifies his threat in the TT, so the question now is surely whether he can hold off Hirt for 5th (barring Alarcon suddenly finding form). |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 21-02-2020 10:21
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
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Nice to see Iturria in the fight for the stage win. His sprint is far from his best skill, so not a big surprise that he didn't manage to really go for it in the end. Another good stage for Nesset, so looks good for our two guys so far.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-02-2020 11:03
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Directeur Sportif
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PCM$: 2100.00
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Not enough for us, we need more time on the couple before the ITT.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-02-2020 11:27
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World Champion
Posts: 10616
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Now, while we benefited from the break taking the bonus seconds today, it's still infuriating how the team has not tried ONCE to try to gain time back on Spilak by reeling in the breakaways and setting up Herklotz for daring attacks (today) or for the flatter sprints with bonus seconds still on the line(the three stages before).
And again, this doesn't just lead to s.t. across the board, but we also again allow a rival like Bennelong to score better than us on the day.
But congrats tsmoha, that's not on you. And I mean, I knew what we were getting ourselves into with PCM 18 regarding breakaways in GTs.
At least, we finally take back the teams classification from Gazelle with solid riding from Vasyliv. We need to monitor their breakaway appearances very carefully.
Croatia14 wrote:
Not enough for us, we need more time on the couple before the ITT.
Nah you don't.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 21-02-2020 11:57
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3587
Joined: 18-03-2014
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not even a glimpse of hope
this race is gonna erase our pprd
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 21-02-2020 12:00
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11786
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Sooo. I've been reading the reports, that I missed, over the last days and a stage win seems to be the perfect moment to finally leave a comment (that a reporter alone always deserves). So, first of all, thanks for picking up this GT, roturn, nice job as always!
Howard and Haig with a few very solid stage results early into the Giro. Howard obviously could have done better and it's interesting, that he performs better, when he's not amongst the favorites.. Haig with a promising start, too, but struggling today and also in the last couple of harder stages. If he limits his losses in the next two key stages, he hopefully will repeat his great TT performances and keep this Top-10 spot. Not sure, if anything better than his current 7th place is realistic, but it would be a pleasant GT result for us.
Smith finally joining a successful breakaway then and this stage win is really nice. That's what I was hoping for him here. Makes it easier to live with Haig struggling, so thanks to our Kiwi.
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| ember |
Posted on 21-02-2020 15:47
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Team Leader
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Thank you for the steady pace the reports come with, roturn 
And now let's have a final go at a sprint here. I just can't accept that we're going to get it right only once with such a team and against such opposition (no offence, anyone  ) I still believe, Swifty! |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 21-02-2020 16:58
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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Congrats on the stage win tsmoha.
Just two more mountain stages for Kruijswijk to survive. If he can manage to stay in top 10 that would already be a huge accomplishment.
Hope Kangert will stop working and help us win the TC. Nice battle with Puma.
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| matt17br |
Posted on 21-02-2020 19:35
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This didn't look like a particularly dangerous stage but I'm glad Gesink was looking so sharp. The end is closer and closer now and he's holding onto that top 3 very nicely.
Congrats on the nice win tsmoha, and thanks for the great reports roturn!
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 21-02-2020 20:42
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 17833
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Not that anyone is paying attention, but the race for Last has been thrilling over the last few days. Backing Edmo to survive the last few days, but not certain he'll loose enough time to claim our first GT jersey win...
Also over 8hours behind in the team competition, gotta be close to the MG record if we hvn't smashed it...
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| roturn |
Posted on 22-02-2020 05:56
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Team Manager
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If you are not Kemboi, Manninen or maybe Gaviria, your Giro as a sprinter really was a huge disappointment.
Already not good from Vesely in total, neither from Howard or Van Poppel but really feel sorry for ember here as it should have been much better for Swift.
I know though that one manager will be over the clouds when reading the reports. Quite a performance to potentially score decent with that team lineup.  |
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| ember |
Posted on 22-02-2020 07:16
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Team Leader
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Felt like it was perfect to let only four riders go up the road, which should be easy to control later on. Don't get why we didn't chase or tried to chase, seeing which riders we used to chase at earlier stages. Should be no reason to not make use of Oss, Yzeiraj and Tvetcov/Lunke.
Swift did well in the sprint, but that doesn't help us when we're not able to chase and commit for a sprint finish earlier.
Looking forward to see how the GC battle plays out now. Gaps should be made, with two proper mountain top finishes and a tricky hilly/mountainous TT. |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 22-02-2020 08:45
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15025
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Gotta feel for Swift here, but yeah Podium Ambition.. Seeing how overly optismistic TMM was previously, I guess he'll be in full complain mode now about increased wages for next year?
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 22-02-2020 08:54
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 17833
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I mean... we're back under 8hrs now... what was Supa-Nova thinking?!! Not how i wanted to win our first GT stage, but i'll happily take it as it massively smashes my expectations for all GT's this season
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-02-2020 10:29
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Directeur Sportif
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Yap. Kinda expected a breakaway win here. We had a solid start with Howard here, but to not win a stage in this field, is still kinda disappointing given his performances so far this year. Well, don't want to complain. He's been performing much better than Bobridge and also better than what I've could have hoped for, so I'm okay with his low key performance here. Still a pity, that he couldn't repeat his stellar GT outing from last year's Vuelta
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| tastasol |
Posted on 22-02-2020 11:02
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Well, stupid not going for the free points in the break. Cool to se Mads P in the mix in the sprint. Congrats TMM!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 22-02-2020 12:59
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World Champion
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Congrats TMM! Really irresponsible to not see your other 7 riders drop from the peloton to make up for the time lost in the break though.
Great breather stage for us, nobody important got points from this and Herklotz increased his ciclamino lead by 2, now with a gap of 31 points there I'm finally confident we can wrap this one up.
Of course it sucks for the sprinters yet again.
Now for the last two stages where we can put pressure on Spilak! I barely tolerated our passive racing since losing the big chunk of time to him knowing that these two days provide enough opportunities to gain back time if we play it well.
First of all, we have to chase the breaks as the bonus seconds need to be available on the line to enhance any time gains finishing ahead of Spilak would bring.
And then we have to be very focused to have as many riders around Herklotz as possible late into these climbs to support him and keep a variety of strategies viable. That's also crucial if we want to win the teams classification.
Don't go down without a fight!
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| tastasol |
Posted on 23-02-2020 08:36
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
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Good stage from Nesset! Would have loved to see the break battle for the stage win, as Nesset looked strong today, but nevertheless a good result for him. Nice battle for the stage win and a little bit more open heading into the last two stages.
Hopefully Nesset didn't use to much of his energy here, as you don't want to crack early on the stage tomorrow! His GC position have been good and steady for the last few days, so another steady stage tomorrow please! Iturria with a bit weaker stage today and on the wrong side of the early split. Hopefully just a bad day, as it's quite close on the places around him.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 23-02-2020 08:41
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Tour de France Champion
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Ugh, what a ride from Stepniak! Praying he doesn't make the cut tomorrow and we can sneak inside to steal the last place.... long shot though... 9hrs is not going to be in reach either, but we'll be close!
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