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Middle East Tour: Discussion Thread
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:16
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Wow, what a win by Lutsenko. Congrats MTN for the win and the leader's jersey. I have a feeling that this is going to be a weird race. |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:17
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A Top 10 is a Top 10 
And lost no time
Really strange AI, attacking late. As soon as that happened it was obvious a break would win the stage. Some good racing from a few fav's as well helped keep things tense.
All in all a nice start to the race
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 09:05
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:23
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Ohh, Kono! 
He's better on the hills compared to my leader Mestre and this pretty much shows that... Strange the AI seems to have picked him as my leader as Mestre was clearly working for him...
Poli got the first points, Kono gained some time and Hoelgaard was also up there.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:32
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Domestique
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That was an... auspicious start for our team, losing 40 seconds to Martinez and other top climbers is not exactly a great start. I did worry about the hilly stages coming in, so I'm not totally shocked. Hopefully we recover for the 2nd and 3rd stages
I'm also suprised that Belletti lost so much time, not that he was any sort of GC contender but, jeez.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:37
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Martinez has stolen some time
Shame Ndbri couldn't be up there but you can't have it all, and Chaoufi + Ghafari in the top 10 is a plus too as we'll as Martinez
A great start! |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:42
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Brilliant start from Alizadeh and Jiriakov, both of them are in teh top 10 and have already gained time on some of their rivals.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 17-02-2013 21:58
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Really weird stage in the sense that nobody attacked the first half of the race, and then suddenly 1/3rd of the peloton wanted to attack. Very pleasing to see Armavia joining the breakaways. I have a feeling that the breakaways is the place we may pick up some points in this race.
Very good reporting Pelizotti. Intense stage at the end there and you captured the drama |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 18-02-2013 00:55
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This looks to me like a very interesting race, which resembles the Tour of America on its first years, when the amount of race days exceeded its popularity. I hope this can grow into something similar to that of Tour of America, but meanwhile it'll prove to be a very good opportunity for any of the teams represented to have a go at stage wins and GC success.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 18-02-2013 06:13
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I was waiting for this race to start, i was thinking a lot about sending the team because of the region where it takes place, but in the end those race days are so many, so i will just follow great reports of Pelli.
Nice start for our Ukrainian friends at PrivatBank, with Polivoda stealing the sprints and Kononenko some seconds from the favourites with several others.
Congrats to Lutsenko and MTN! Insane riding from him.
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 18-02-2013 06:13
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 18-02-2013 06:57
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Mhh, should be very happy right now with Kono 2nd and Mestre 4th...
Still I need a stagewin to accomplish my goal..... Oh well, atleast Kono can use these seconds in the mountains to come as he's a decent time trialist. Top 10 GC in the make for him?
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 18-02-2013 07:09
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Huzzah a win for Armavia!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 18-02-2013 07:10
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It's all a bit defensive at the moment, but can hardly blame the riders with that 'Marterhorn' to come on stage 4. A few decent climbers lost time there so I guess that will open up the possibility of attacks.
Interesting to see Armavia out here - either preparing for life next year in the C2 races or perhaps sneakily building a points base?
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 18-02-2013 07:12
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Great win from Armavia, i loved their wins from the monster solo attacks last year and i love it this year also! Congrats.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 18-02-2013 07:28
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Five riders in the front group and two in the top 10. Nothing lost I guess.
Pelli, great report again but no Teams Classification?  |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 18-02-2013 09:08
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Its a great race so far, and what a win!!! I was on the edge of my seat...
Colorado and Parrar are still looking good, and Pavlin comes in last place
And quick fire reports is always a nice bonus
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| cio93 |
Posted on 18-02-2013 09:26
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Great effort at the front all day, strange peloton sprint though, they should've been much faster.
Nice to see one of those tries succeeding though
Edited by cio93 on 18-02-2013 09:27
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 18-02-2013 10:14
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Thanks everybody! My heart jumped when I saw the last picture with Suryadi crossing the line first! Wow, first win ever for PFG-Armavia in the Middle East, could almost not been better
That surely makes up for the loose of my biggest GC-hope Bakhin, who is now 10 minutes behind. Hope that means he is going to be aggressive as well 
I really like your reports Pelli, and the pace you are serving us them, you're doing a great job! |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 18-02-2013 10:19
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I knew Armavia was going get one, just one more to go then Bjartne
Edited by Alakagom on 18-02-2013 10:19
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 18-02-2013 13:21
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FroomeDog99 wrote:
Pelli, great report again but no Teams Classification?
Added now. Don't know how I managed to forget it for both stages.
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 18-02-2013 15:47
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Domestique
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That was a long breakaway win by Suryadi, which is fine as he isn't a GC threat in any way. We are in a tough spot as we can't push that hard on the hilly stages without potentially dropping Rohregger,
A decent stage for us as none of our big guns lost time, so we only need to survive one more hilly stage before we can hopefully make an impact in the mountains in stage 4
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