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Tour of South Africa Discussions
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 04-12-2023 09:31
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Classics Specialist
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Thanks again for the great report, Imladrik.
Good that Higuita tried something, but these finishes are just too easy to get rid of Demare, who's winning so easily it seems like he's on a training ride. 1 min lead already for the Tryg rider, with more bonus seconds incoming he could score a crazy amount of points here, congratulations to Tryg!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 10:16
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World Champion
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Lovely to see Arnaud doing so well for Tryg, these first two stages couldn't have been designed better for him and he delivered both times. 
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 10:38
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A good-looking start and iffy follow-up from Houle, but no bonuses will make the GC ambitions tough. Him completely being ignored by the AI in TDU continues to get weirder but glad it's not continuing at least.
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
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 04-12-2023 11:59
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So you're trying to tell me that fucking Luke Rowe makes the cut, but Turgis and Meurisse doesn't, aight pcm stop smoking.
Congrats to lief on another demare win though and thanks for the reports!
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 04-12-2023 20:26
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Whew... On a positive note, Errazkin was active today and even scored our first points in the race. Mostly bonus seconds lost so far, except for those 15" on the stage 1 top trio - hopefully he can continue to be just solid.
But the rest of the team, wtf... Masnada losing over two minutes here is just ridiculous, that guy is just not caring at all whenever Errazkin comes ahead of him in the pecking order. 6 RDs thrown out of the window, if he doesn't go mad and wins stage 5 and the KoM from a breakaway... But with his stinker, we don't have any backup option for the GC now, so the team better don't drop Errazkin in the TTT...
Today was one of those random splits, can't really figure out why e.g. Affini would be up front, but Küng or Brunel wouldn't. Guess because we don't have an 80+ puncheur? Looks like that's the actual criterion for selection, not rider skills (looking at Turgis, Meurisse and many other good puncheurs missing out as well)... Although we've been successful and often well-treated so far, that's a behaviour that's not fun at all to watch (be it as a participating team or just viewed from the outside). But I guess that's what we've got - still having difficulties getting to deal with that tbh.
Overall situation isn't looking too bad. I've never liked Démare, and I'm liking him even less this year to say the least, but I guess he's the logical winner again. Congrats.
Thanks for the report, Imladrik, you covered that hectic finale really well
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 04-12-2023 20:28
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Good enough so far, if we could not drop De Plus on the TTT now, that would be great.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 20:48
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Fabianski wrote:
I've never liked Démare, and I'm liking him even less this year to say the least, but I guess he's the logical winner again. Congrats.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 04-12-2023 20:48
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Fabianski wrote:
I've never liked Démare, and I'm liking him even less this year to say the least, but I guess he's the logical winner again. Congrats.
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 05-12-2023 00:15
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Directeur Sportif
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Not a great stage but not a bad stage as it never seemed likely to yield many points. Splits worked in our favor. McCormick was on the front in one of the last pictures so my guess is Affini benefited from being that rider and held on to make the split - he also has excellent back ups. Not sure it helps that much as he won't make Stage 5 but good for the teams comp I guess.
Thanks for the report. More Demare tomorrow and then S4 and S5 will be decisive I would think.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 05-12-2023 07:03
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Nothing much again except for Benoot being attentive in the finale. Was hoping he'd be a bit more active on the hills but nothing so far. Would've been good to have got some time before the TTT but seems unlikely now.
Congrats to lief again and thanks for the report Imladrik!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 29-09-2024 00:15
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-12-2023 13:37
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While it`s cool to see Demare dominating here as he should on those kind of stages, it`s frustrating to see Vansevenant just don`t care. I mean, he should at least be in the top20 more regularly but he is always just sitting in the back, being dropped in splits, not careing it all.
Probably this will be over next year when maxed, but it feels like a lost year, where he surely should have been a decent scorer.
e.g. Pidcock (while trained totally different and might be more ready yet) can fight for wins even, Vansevenant at least not being ignored would be nice to see.
At least Van Hooydonck gave it a good try here.
Thanks for the report. |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 05-12-2023 13:48
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Good to get 2nd on the stage and move up to 4th GC but god damn Demare. Can you relax  TTT tomorrow may help us but it also might not. It’ll be interesting. I want a top half of the teams finish and to keep Bobridge in a good position GC wise as he is obviously performing!
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 06-12-2023 02:50
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A few more points picked up, always solid positioning. Now be interesting to see how we handle the TTT, hopefully we come out of that with some solid GC positions.
Thanks for the reports. Congrats to Trieg again.
I wonder if this is a race that should use the sprint bonus seconds given it isn't that selective in this version.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 06-12-2023 09:33
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At least Demare won't win stage four, right?  Congratulations lief
Good to see Higuita still up front, also scoring his first minor points now. Next two stages are crucial of course, let's see what our TTT squad can do and whether Higuita stays with them.
Thanks for another great report, Imladrik
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 06-12-2023 11:38
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6th in the TTT is not really bad TBH, but the race was over for me anyway. What surprises me is that LPH were way down in the order (11th I think) and they've had their strongest TT riders. Looks like depth was important after all.
Thanks for the report Imladrik
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-12-2023 11:45
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Dropping the weaker TT riders might be a 'feature' in this game version.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 06-12-2023 11:52
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Very good TTT from the team! Unfortunately Gesbert came in 6 minutes behind the rest… Chaves is in a good position though, fortunately. Hopefully he can minimize the losses on the final stages.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 06-12-2023 11:56
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ivaneurope wrote:
What surprises me is that LPH were way down in the order (11th I think) and they've had their strongest TT riders. Looks like depth was important after all.
Not sure what the team did today. They seemed like they were kind of waiting for Higuita, but then in the end totally not. Horrendous result for us, with nobody having a shot at a decent GC after everyone except Higuita losing time on the easy second stage. Guess the pcm gods can't always be in your favour, but this is looking scary for the other TTT races we have coming up.
Thanks for the nice TTT report, Imladrik, and congratulations to Fab on the important win!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 06-12-2023 12:09
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Yeah, I'm done with this. I know we had to drag De Plus along but dead last with 4 good TT'ers shouldn't happen. I mean even Saeco beat us with that squad.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| MacC |
Posted on 06-12-2023 13:05
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Well, a great result for Glanbia , except our GC guy lost 4 and a half minutes!
Definitely seems the AI prioritised stage result over everything else, probably for the best in my case.....
Let's see if Main can get a decent GC.
Congrats to the unbeatable Jura!
Thanks Imladrik
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