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Tour of America | Discussion
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 31-05-2023 07:59
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2933
Joined: 09-05-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Gutted that we didn't win the stage, but 2nd and 3rd isn't that bad either. Sure, it'd have been even sweeter if Fenn or Vine grabed the winning honours, but I'm fine with the way this stage ended. And it gave us some ranking points to boot. And actually this race didn't turn out that bad as I've thought - it wasn't BNZ or Tryg level (who may have the upper hand in the promotion battle; I've totally forgot about Tryg) and with an OK Herald Sun Tour where Ahmad Zamri finished 5th (though in the stages BNZ were better). Euskal seems a hit or miss for us (hope for some De Luna magic in the final stages) and don't have high hopes in Zurich either. Well, I'll wait for the provisional ranking update to see if this will be a promotion or bust.
Thanks Fabianski for the 21 detailed reports and congrats jandal7 for the overall win
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 31-05-2023 08:21
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Thank you very much for the great reports and congratulations to Jandal!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 31-05-2023 08:27
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1122
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 800.00
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First of all huge thanks to Fabi for reporting this ToA! Really enjoyed it 
Congrats to jandal with the GC and to Sykkel_Freak with the green jersey. Would have loved to see a real fight between all three sprinters, but that's the game 
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 21-11-2024 23:25
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Bot Agent
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 31-05-2023 09:13
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Thanks to Fabianski for your incredible reporting all race. I know it's been said so so much already but can't be said enough it's just quality stuff from beginning to end Especially doing a GT is so much work anyway.
A very very special moment for us. I'm not sure where it fits in the hierarchy of greatest Xero or Bennett moments (the latter is most of the former) - it could take the cake. His win on La Toussuire at the TDF after leading us from the CT to the PT and then on that stage was just an amazing cap on that journey for us, and now he pulls a three-week race win out in one of his last seasons at max. Just two great moments where either could be seen as him putting the icing on the cake of his career, and we still get two or three more years with him being competitive.
Fought so hard all race as mentioned in the reports and I was worried his aggression was getting too little reward for not enough gain, but there was really no other option with his TT deficiency and he had exactly enough left in the tank. He grabbed over a minute of bonus seconds throughout the race which says it all when two guys are within half a minute of you after three weeks! We can um and ah about if he should have won green or another stage or two or whatever but when promotion is gone this is just about the moment and the memory not the points, and the GC win is all that matters. Thanks to Philips and Popo for the very entertaining and high-quality battle - especially enjoyed the chance for the first Xero-Philips race in a long while even if it sucked to root against you Abhi!
Very solid job by the helpers as we were undermanned there, especially 73MO Kipkemboi seemed like he was absolutely on one until the last couple of stages where he was clearly exhausted. Love that from him ahead of him maxing out next season.
Congrats everyone who got something out of the race and redordead and Sykkel for the last stage success! |
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| MacC |
Posted on 31-05-2023 10:22
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Sprinter
Posts: 1594
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Thanks to Fab for the fab reports!
Bit of a blowout for Glanbia, devastated to lose our stage winning record in the ToA.
Mannion slipped out of the top 20 and in the end was nearly beaten by Brandt. Bennett never really got going either.
I was looking for Dunne and McKenna to attack but they had limited success. Our Top 10 goal missed here
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 31-05-2023 11:08
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11675
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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First of all, and once again, thanks to Fab for the great reports all through the race
Next, congrats to Jandal on an excellent win for Bennett, who played the perfect race w.r.t to his stats I don't think there has ever been a race where we both had top favourites before and more so both finished 1-2! Bennett was the more aggressive rider through the three weeks and was the deserving winner.
Coming to our team...
Choi rode within himself for the first two weeks and then pulled out two stages before the MTT when we thought he had it. But the MTT was uncharacteristically bad, especially considering his two nearest rivals finished on top. That is basically where we lost the GC and the time loss on Mt. Diablo would've been inconsequential. 2nd in the GC is still great though with a stage win and two podiums to go with it.
Van Asbroeck's last race as a maxed rider went as well as we could've hoped. He was the real shining star for us in the first half of the race and exceeded all expectations, winning two stages and holding the Green jersey on all but three stages. Tied 2nd in the end is also much better than we were expecting before the race.
Eenkhoorn was the disappointment of the race, and while he did well in the TTs, he was way below par as a domesrique and in the U25 classification, finishing 3rd after being the overwhelming favourite. This really forces us to rethink his training plans for the off season, especially with impending sponsor change incoming.
Barta and Velasco stepped up where Eenkhoorn failed, and were superb as domestiques throughout, both for Van Asbroeck, as well as for Choi. They have more or less confirmed their place in the team next season.
Xandri, Stoltz and Champoussin were solid throughout, but mostly stayed out of the limelight. We are glad to have been able to give Stoltz this swansong to a wonderful career.
This is only our second ever visit to ToA, and might remain our last for a few years to come, especially with the direction we want to go from next season. The last visit was not a sweet one but this one more than lived up to expectations, even though we just missed out on our Win Goal for the season! Glad to have been part of this great edition of the race.
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 31-05-2023 11:39
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2433
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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After the thrilling finish to the GC we had another close race for the green jersey. Congrats to jandal and sykkel and commiserations to Abhi, losing green on the last day.
Kraftwerk couldn't defend the title but with 4 stage wins and 9 days in yellow it was still rewarding and a great race to follow.
Sprinters teams were too worn out to catch the break on stage 21, congrats to Cedevita.
Next year its Haller's last season before decline, not sure how to select a team to maximise his chances of getting the most stage wins? More leadout riders, no leadout riders, more rouleurs? How does PCM22 AI handle sprints? Any opionions welcome as I don't have much of a clue!
Huge thanks to Fab for the brilliant reporting and to UU for a course design that gave us such great racing. I don't think it would be a massive spoiler to say see you next year
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 31-05-2023 12:03
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Team Leader
Posts: 5895
Joined: 30-11-2006
PCM$: 1500.00
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First off, Congrats Jandal and thank you for the amazing reports Fab
For us, a bit of a disaster. We went heavy on the GC and only got a 9th and 18th out of it. No stage wins and basicly under performing all the way from start to finish.
This might be what relegates us in the end..
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 31-05-2023 16:21
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Dunno what to say about the reports and the effort, you put into this, Fab! And that's a compliment. Huge in every possible was. Thanks for that!
Congrats to jandal and Bennett-boy, who deserves to have such a title in his palmares. Always kinda cool (though sometimes it hurts, too) to see a former rider pulling a great result, but there's sometimes those special ex-es, who you still love for a reason. Bennett definitely belongs here, since he's 1. cool and 2. one of our first (big) signings (alongside Bobridge) back in 2013 (?) in our debut season.
As for our team, things went pretty good in the second half of the race, too! As the summary said, we may not had the best stage results (except of a always nice stage win), but our guys did pretty great with three inside the Top-30, the fight for KoM, the dominating team's classification and ofc the 10th place for fan and manager favorite Hamilton, who just continued his stellar season! I got really pi**ed, when we lost him in the renewals, so we went after him quite hard in off-season and his success makes it a worthy move, obviously.
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 31-05-2023 19:32
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Domestique
Posts: 570
Joined: 13-07-2022
PCM$: 5800.00
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congrats to all the winners and especially Jandal, great race with an entertaining finish. Thank you for all the beautiful reports Fabi, truly amazing.
Our ToA wasn't all that as expected. But hopefully the damage to our promotion run isn't too bad. All in all, I have been entertained!
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 31-05-2023 21:34
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1119
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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First of all thanks to Fab for the great reports (though not for our riders). Especially the last two stages were a great tour trough San Francisco and brought back some memories. All in all your reports took me some hours of sleep but were well worth it
Next thing: congratulations to all the jersey winners, stage winners and all those whose expectations were met or even surpassed. It was a thrilling race in the GC as well as the points and KoM classifications. Apart from that the race wasn't really good for us, but at least we got a podium from Boivin and were in most of the breaks, though without big results. Maybe we'll get better next year.
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 01-06-2023 00:35
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 3259
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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First to echo all the thanks to Fab for the great reports and doing justice to some great stages. As a stagemaker there is nothing better than seeing your stages come to life in a race. Fab - Hope you don't mean that hint about your last GT. Take next year off maybe and then come back.
Pleased with how the course played out, it was pretty much what I was aiming for. Opportunity for the puncheurs and punchy sprinters in week 1 followed by a slow build in the GC with decisive stages in 16 and 17 but it all to play for in Stage 20. Stage 21 was also a risk to go to the break, I wanted it flatter but San Francisco is a hilly kind of town.
For McCormick probably our least interesting ToA. 2020 featured Kuss' surprising run to 4th and 2021 had Chaiysombat's gallant KOM performance. But this was the best overall team performance, by far, with 2nd on the Teams, and our boys being present on the front on a number of occasions, plus 2 Americans in the top 20 and 4 in the top 50. The team strength is a good omen for next year as there still hasn't been an American winner of the Tour of America and we might just have a rider in mind to take a run at that.
A word for Sepp Kuss, who was never a suitable leader for this race but took it on and did his best. In 13th he seems to have found his true TOA position since the average of his prior two results was also 13th.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 01-06-2023 10:31
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1090.00
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Didn't have a ton of time recently so I wasn't able to follow super regularly, but as a neutral observer and admirer of great reporting, I wanted to leave some compliments for Fabianski as well. I especially loved the intros, which transitions nicely to another big compliment to UU for a fantastic route. Both of you made this a really great edition!
I was rooting for Pluchkin to complete the GT collection a bit, but I'm always here for Xero success, too, and Choi rounds out a really likeable podium. Congrats to all!
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| rajkumar09 |
Posted on 02-09-2023 15:42
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Amateur
Posts: 1
Joined: 30-05-2023
PCM$: 100.00
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AbhishekLFC wrote:
Great ride from Choi, have to admit! Wasn't expecting it after two poor stages. In the end, if he didn't have a bad day in just one of stage 17 or 19, the result would've been different (or if the final sector was also flat  ). Bennett did enough in the last week prior to this stage to overcome whatever disadvantage he has against the clock. Was definitely not expecting Choi to turn it around on Pluchkin though.
Congrats to Kraftwerk on yet another stage win and thanks for the report Fab |
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| Thor Hushovd |
Posted on 02-09-2023 17:23
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Under 23
Posts: 94
Joined: 07-05-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Is there a way to download this race? |
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