For the Time Trial, Ive gone for the best 10 and then a vote for the rest.
Each of these nations has at least 1 rider with a TT stat of at least 73, please choose up to 9 of them to vote for and PM me your choices.
You can Vote for the remaining 9 Spots by PMing Me. Choose your 9 teams from the choices below (Each Nation has at least 1 rider with a TT stat of 73 or above):
Argentina
Belgium
Brazil
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Moldova
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
South Africa
Sweden
Ukraine
What kind of time trial stat does Eltink have. I would think the World ITT champion Gesink is better at it then him, even Clement is probably better then him i would think.
stemple wrote:
What kind of time trial stat does Eltink have. I would think the World ITT champion Gesink is better at it then him, even Clement is probably better then him i would think.
63.
I have no idea why I wrote Eltink instead of Gesink
If you havent voted yet, please do. Its very tight with only 2 teams looking guaranteed as qualifiers as they are 2 votes clear of 3rd. But 3rd is only 2 votes ahead of 15th so it can all still change!
With 7 votes each, Denmark and Sweden are the first qualifiers for the Olympic TT. Thomas Lovkvist and Brian Vandborg will lead their challenge for the medals.
The next 5 through all received 5 votes: Hungary, Norway, France, South Africa and Belgium. Laszlo Bodrogi, David George, Thor Hushovd, William Bonnet and Leif Hoste will therefore be amongst the action.
But the final 2 slots are tied between 5 countries who all received 4 votes. Brazil, Luxembourg, Colombia, New Zealand, and Ukraine. Im not yet sure as to how to choose the lucky 2.
Lithuania, Czech Republic and Finland received 3 votes. Argentina, Portugal and Poland received 2, while Latvia and Moldova received 1.
Im doing a TT Playoff between the 5. The 12km circuit which ends in a velodrome. A TTT to start and end plus 4 TTs inbetween. Each countries strongest TT team is there.
Victor Hugo Pena won Stage 2, but Pedro Nicacio took a surprise 2nd, with Botero down in 7th. Popovych lost just 1 second on Nicacio and this could become a battle for 2nd between Ukraine and Brazil.
Stage 3 brought a complete different top 3.
1 Dmitri Grabovski UKRAINE 20'51
2 Nick Clesen LUXEMBOURG + 3
3 Santiago Botero COLOMBIA s.t.
4 Victor Hugo Peña COLOMBIA + 6
5 Jaroslav Popovych UKRAINE + 8
6 Andrei Grivko UKRAINE + 9
7 Pedro Nicácio BRAZIL + 10
8 Ed Clancy BRITAIN + 14
9 Christian Poos LUXEMBOURG s.t.
10 Hayden Godfrey NEW ZEALAND + 19
11 Bogdan Bondariew UKRAINE + 21
12 Kim Kirchen LUXEMBOURG s.t.
13 Logan Hutchings NEW ZEALAND s.t.
14 Marcio May BRAZIL + 22
15 Luis Tavares BRAZIL + 24
And as a result, Grabovski moves into the best non-colombian position/
Stage 4 has all but secured Ukraine's passage to the Olympics along with Colombia, as Nicacio and Clesen 'struggle'.
1 Santiago Botero COLOMBIA 21'54
2 Victor Hugo Peña COLOMBIA + 1
3 Jaroslav Popovych UKRAINE + 4
4 Dmitri Grabovski UKRAINE + 7
5 Timothy Gudsell NEW ZEALAND + 11
6 Luis Tavares BRAZIL + 19
7 Logan Hutchings NEW ZEALAND s.t.
8 Hayden Godfrey NEW ZEALAND + 20
9 Nick Clesen LUXEMBOURG + 21
10 Pedro Nicácio BRAZIL s.t.
11 Sergei Matvejev UKRAINE + 23
12 Andrei Grivko UKRAINE + 25
13 Christian Poos LUXEMBOURG s.t.
14 Marcio May BRAZIL + 28
15 Kim Kirchen LUXEMBOURG + 30
1 Victor Hugo Peña COLOMBIA 1h25'18
2 Santiago Botero COLOMBIA + 22
3 Dmitri Grabovski UKRAINE + 50
4 Jaroslav Popovych UKRAINE + 51
5 Pedro Nicácio BRAZIL + 1'14
6 Nick Clesen LUXEMBOURG + 1'15
7 Logan Hutchings NEW ZEALAND + 1'44
8 Luis Tavares BRAZIL + 1'45
9 Hayden Godfrey NEW ZEALAND + 1'48
10 Timothy Gudsell NEW ZEALAND + 1'49
Stage 5 secured Colombia and Ukraine's passage to the Olympics, with Kirchen coming close to a podium and May beating Nicacio as best Brazilian.
Rank Name Team Time
1 Victor Hugo Peña COLOMBIA 21'03
2 Dmitri Grabovski UKRAINE s.t.
3 Santiago Botero COLOMBIA + 1
4 Kim Kirchen LUXEMBOURG + 14
5 Jaroslav Popovych UKRAINE + 16
6 Marcio May BRAZIL + 17
7 Nick Clesen LUXEMBOURG s.t.
8 Christian Poos LUXEMBOURG + 20
9 Pedro Nicácio BRAZIL + 22
10 Ed Clancy BRITAIN + 25
11 Juri Krivtsov UKRAINE + 26
12 Rigoberto Úran COLOMBIA + 27
13 Logan Hutchings NEW ZEALAND + 28
14 Bogdan Bondariew UKRAINE + 29
15 Hayden Godfrey NEW ZEALAND s.t.
In Stage 6, Luxembourg stunned Ukraine and Colombia to win.
Each team in the TT has 2 riders who must also ride in the Road Race (Apart from Hungary, Sweden and Ukraine who are only in the TT).
I have therefore tried to come up with team selections which are accurate to the Olympics (No dopers, past or present) and that provide each countries' strengths for both disciplines.
Some choices depend on whether a rider is picked for the Tour de l'Avenir or not. Gesink, Ciolek, Grabovski and Van Heerden will all be replaced should they ride in France, while Cornu would be removed from the reserve list. Cavendish, Goss, Intxausti, Duarte and Hagen will almost certainly be in Avenir so have not been included.
These team lists are subject to chance, please suggest any changes that you feel would be better than what I have got.
RR Spain : Oscar Freire , Samuel Sanchez , Oscar Pereiro , Ruben Plaza , Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver . Reserve: Juan Antonio Flecha Italy : Filippo Pozzato , Damiano Cunego , Alessandro Ballan , Vincenzo Nibali , Paolo Bettini . Reserve: Paolo Savoldelli Russia : Vladimir Efimkin , Denis Menchov , Vladimir Gusev , Vladimir Karpets , Mikhail Ignatiev . Reserve: Nikolai Trusov Australia : Cadel Evans , Michael Rogers , Stuart O'Grady , Robbie McEwen , Allan Davis . Reserve: Simon Gerrans Luxembourg : Frank Schleck , Andy Schleck , Kim Kirchen , Benoit Joachim , Christian Poos . Reserve: Jempy Drucker Germany : Andreas Kloden , Stefan Schumacher , Sebastien Lang , Gerald Ciolek , Fabian Wegmann . Reserve: Marcus Burghardt France : Tomas Voeckler , Christophe Moreau , William Bonnet , David Moncoutie , Jimmy Casper . Reserve: Sylvain Chavanel USA : George Hincapie , Bobby Julich , Levi Leipheimer , Dave Zabriskie , Chris Horner . Reserve: Fred Rodriguez Netherlands : Thomas Dekker , Robert Gesink , Michael Boogerd , Karsten Kroon , Bobbie Traksel . Reserve: Pieter Weening Belgium : Tom Boonen , Philippe Gilbert , Stijn Devolder , Leif Hoste , Jelle Vanendert . Reserve: Dominique Cornu Slovenia : Janez Brajkovic , Borut Bozic , Tadej Valjavec , Matej Mugerli . Reserve: Grega Bole Norway : Thor Hushovd , Kurt Asle-Arvesen , Alexander Kristoff , Mads Kaggestad . Reserve: Stian Remme Switzerland : Fabian Cancellara , Alexandre Moos , Markus Zberg , Aurelien Clerc . Reserve: Martin Elmiger Colombia : Ivan Parra Pinto , Victor Hugo Pena , Mauricio Ardila , Leonardo Duque . Reserve: Santiago Botero Mexico : Julie Alberto Perez Cuapio , Fausto Esparza , Rodolfo Fernandez , Francisco Matamoros . Reserve: Hector Hugo Rangel South Africa : Robbie Hunter , John-Lee Augustyn , Juan Van Heerden . Reserve: David George Denmark : Matti Breschel , Lars Bak , Alex Rasmussen . Reserve: Brian Vandborg New Zealand : Julian Dean , Logan Hutchings , Gregory Henderson . Reserve: Heath Blackgrove Britain : Jeremy Hunt , Charles Wegelius , Bradley Wiggins . Reserve: Steven Cummings
Reserve: Steven Cummings
TT Australia : Michael Rogers , Cadel Evans Belgium : Leif Hoste , Stijn Devolder Colombia : Victor Hugo Pena , Ivan Parra Pinto Denmark : Alex Rasmussen , Lars Bak France : William Bonnet , Christophe Moreau Germany : Sebastien Lang , Andreas Kloden Great Britain : Bradley Wiggins , Charly Wegelius Hungary : Laszlo Bodrogi , Tamás Lengyel Italy : Vincenzo Nibali , Filippo Pozzato Netherlands : Thomas Dekker , Robert Gesink Norway : Thor Hushovd , Kurt Asle-Arvesen Russia : Vladimir Karpets , Mikhail Ignatiev Slovenia : Janez Brajkovic , Matej Mugerli South Africa : Robbie Hunter , John-Lee Augustyn Spain : Ruben Plaza , Oscar Pereiro Sweden : Gustav Larsson , Magnus Backstedt Switzerland : Fabian Cancellara , Alexandre Moos Ukraine : Dmitry Grabovski , Yaroslav Popovych USA : Bobby Julich , Dave Zabriskie
