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La Pomme Marseille
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| 547984 |
Posted on 09-12-2013 21:50
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5008
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Kwiatek is too beast to be doping.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar! |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 14-12-2013 13:24
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World Champion
Posts: 10121
Joined: 01-05-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Everything within the rules, of course!
Had a busy week; hence the lack of activity. The reporting pace should improve from now onwards, with holidays coming up!
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 GP Nobili Rubinetterie, Coppa Citta di Stresa
March 14th, 2014
Together with Katusha, we spend the day taking care of the pacemaking. No chance for the early breakaway.
Coming to the first climb of Massino Visconti, Antomarchi and GarcÃa finish their working shift. Koretzky picks up in their stead; almost instantly ripping the peloton to pieces!
Just over 30 riders - including all three of our protected riders - make it across the top together.
Our seemingly flawless plan takes a hit on the descent, however. Koretzky touches a wheel and crashes hard.
In lack of better alternatives, Kwiatkowski is forced to do the pace in order to prevent chasing groups from crossing the gap to the leaders.
A further elevated pace slims down the group even more before the end of the last climb, but a hard task still lies ahead for Kwiatkowski as riders start attacking out of the group down on the flat leading towards the finish.
With a show of brilliant strength, he manages to contain all attacks and set up for a mass sprint finish all by himself. It breaks out into chaos as the sprint approaches, however.
Siskevicius and Martinez both quickly start fading; tired from the climbs and being forced to find position without a leadout-man.
Instead, it looks like a two-horse race betwen Francesco Gavazzi and Alexey Tsatevich.
Indeed, it is Tsatevich who claims the victory!
Martinez and Siskevicius are 13th and 15th, completely exhausted. Kwiatkowski rolls home solo for 23rd, some 50 seconds off the back. Not a good race at all.
| 1 | Alexey Tsatevitch | Katusha Team | 4h16'57 | | 2 | Dario Cataldo | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 3 | Andrea Palini | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 4 | Marco Marcato | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 5 | Francesco Gavazzi | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 6 | Vyacheslav Kuznetsov | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 7 | Samuel Sánchez | Team Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 8 | Julien Simon | Cofidis, Solutions Crédits | s.t. | | 9 | Brent Bookwalter | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 10 | Bernhard Eisel | Sky Procycling | s.t. |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 14-12-2013 13:26
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World Champion
Posts: 10497
Joined: 23-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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You could tell that everyone hates your team... |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 14-12-2013 23:33
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Hope Koretzky didn't get too hurt in his fall  |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 15-12-2013 17:46
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World Champion
Posts: 10121
Joined: 01-05-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Milano - San Remo: Preview
March 17th, 2014
La Classicissima has over the past few years gone from a race mainly for the sprinters to one for the classics specialists. That trend is set to escalate this year, with the addition of the Pompeiana just before the Cipressa.
Some sprinters may still survive all the way - like Matthew Goss in 2010 - but it is going to be a struggle even for the punchiest of the fast men.
Peter Sagan has been the favourite to win this race for the past two years, and will be this edition as well. He didn't look particularly impressive in France however, and might once again have a hard time competing with Paris-Nice's dominant, John Degenkolb.
Pretty much all the other top tier sprinters have showed up too, but none of them should be able to contend the victory unless the race is ridden very slowly. Other teams, including us, will try to drop them early.
Instead, Sagan and Degenkolb should worry about some of the race's usual strong men. Fabian Cancellara and Philippe Gilbert tend to do very well here, as does Vincenzo Nibali. And who knows what Joaquim Rodriguez or even Kwiatkowski could do with an attack at the exact right moment?
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| 547984 |
Posted on 15-12-2013 21:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5008
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Dat Profile is so disturbing. 
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar! |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 15-12-2013 22:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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A very strong field for MSR  |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 16-12-2013 17:05
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World Champion
Posts: 10121
Joined: 01-05-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Milano - San Remo
March 17th, 2014
Due to the disturbing removal of Le Manie, practically nothing happens before the Capos. The only event worth mentioning is a more than questionable tactic from Argos to have Degenkolb work at the front of the peloton, in order to assist hill-hater Kittel.
To punish them for the stupidity, we let Koretzky try to drop Kittel and other weak sprinters by increasing the pace on Capo Berta.
Annoyingly, it has almost no effect on the size of the peloton. Cancellara therefore tries instead, on the Pompeiana.
Followed by a new acceleration from Kwiatkowski up the Cipressa.
Insanely enough, these huge accelerations barely even put the pure sprinters in trouble. Even freaking Kittel easily returns to the front with his Argos team when Kwiatek pulls aside after the top of the Cipressa.
Totally realistic, PCM...
Cancellara is also annoyed by the ridiculous situation, and decides to attack on the flat leading towards the Poggio!
At the bottom of it, he has established 30 seconds of advantage. Behind, it is interestingly enough Garmin's Navardauskas who is chasing.
Navardauskas links up with Cancellara already on the early Poggio slopes, while Sagan realises that he needs to do something to close the gap.
He catches up with them in order to form a leading trio, but with another brilliant AI show they refuse to work together and are pulled back.
Sagan is determined to claim his first monument solo, however. Kwiatkowski digs deep for energy to respond.
He can't find enough to break free, and has to sit back and let Cancellara try to shut down Sagan.
The task is too difficult for Spartacus too, though. Sagan wins!
Mass sprint for 2nd place is won by Alexander Kristoff in an impressively dominant way. Philippe Gilbert also sprints very well and claims 3rd in front of many better sprinters.
Kwiatkowski was empty after trying to drop the sprinters. 31st for him.
Such a disappointing race. For next year I think I'll create a new version and set it to hilly, in order to have a realistic outcome...
On top of everything, the results file has gone corrupt. Awesome!
| 1 | Peter Sagan | Cannondale Pro Cycling | 6h45'53 | | 2 | Alexander Kristoff | Katusha Team | + 46 | | 3 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 4 | Matthew Goss | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. | | 5 | Mark Cavendish | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 6 | Tom Boonen | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 7 | Greg Van Avermaet | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 8 | Heinrich Haussler | IAM Cycling | s.t. | | 9 | Ramunas Navardauskas | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 10 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Procycling | s.t. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 00:34
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 16-12-2013 17:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Yeah San Remo is always disappointing game play |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 16-12-2013 18:02
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Lots of weird AI decisions and strange racing going on indeed. Kwiatkowski with some good spirit to try to drop the sprinters and gain an advantage but sometimes your best just isn't enough. MSR has never been particularly fair to its riders, I think. Good performance by Sagan and Spartacus though.
Any idea why exported results went corrupt? It happened to me recently at Flèche Wallone too.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 16-12-2013 20:24
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World Champion
Posts: 10121
Joined: 01-05-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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It has bothered me for years, but I've never got around to make an own version. I'll look into that at some point, when my stagemaking motivation returns.
No idea as to why the results got messed up. Just a problem with the export occasionally, I guess.
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 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya: Preview
March 18th-24th, 2014
Following along the lines of the Tirreno, the Volta have also gone with a parcours heavily biased towards the climbers. With four stages offering the possibility to open gaps, we should a big spread between the riders at the end.
Stage 6 to Coll de la Creueta - with its 18 km long final climb - looks like the most decisive one, but the toughest finish in terms of slope is in fact the opening day - the 7% Coll de les Llebres.
Good form right from the start will be required in order to succeed here!
We were hoping for a relatively soft field, so the actual lineup came as a bit of a slap in the face. MSR-participants Nibali and Rodriguez are pretty much the only ones missing from the stage racing top tier!
In spite of the potential tension between Valverde and Quintana since the tactical disaster that cost them the Paris-Nice GC; Movistar start the race as the top favourites - sticking to racing the two strong climbers together.
Daniel Moreno defeated the dynamic duo in France however, and could certainly repeat that as he once again takes a captain's role for Katusha in Purito's absence.
In addition to Moreno, there's also two new opponents for Movistar in Richie Porte and world champion Carlos Betancur. Both have performed well in lower category races this season, but make their first appearance on the World Tour stage now.
I could go on and least a whole bunch of other contenders, but the list would just go on for too long!
Finally, the sprints. With three flat stages on the route, and a startlist with barely any sprinters, these could be quite interesting. Martinez could be rewarded big time for taking a late flight from Italy last night!
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 16-12-2013 20:25
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Looking forward to a challenging race in Spain |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 16-12-2013 21:09
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Gotta say it: Your previews are just the best there is.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 17-12-2013 21:19
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World Champion
Posts: 10121
Joined: 01-05-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Thanks a lot for that, Shonak! I'm very glad to hear.
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Volta Ciclista a Catalunya: Stage 1
March 18th, 2014
Right to the serious business, with the first of four mountain stages. The finale is in fact not uphill, but the tough Coll de les Llebres should do enough damage to prevent the easy finale from having much of an impact on the selection.
The race wont be won on these roads, but will any of the pre-race favourites fall out of contention already today?
Despite an ambitious long-range attack on the second-to-last climb from a strong group including Rui Costa and Cadel Evans; it is all back together right at the bottom of the last difficulty of the day.
Sky are the ones reeling them in, after spending most of the day at the front. An indication of confidence from Richie Porte, perhaps?
Confident or not, the Australian starts to get isolated after a few kilometers of climbing. David López and Sergio Henao remain in his service, but Robert Gesink has taken over the pacemaking for team leader Mollema, and has really stretched out the peloton.
Just moments later, the elastic snaps and an absolutely destroyed field is left behind by Gesink's inhuman pace.
No more than 11 riders - including Kangert and world champion Betancur - are staying with the tall Dutchman. Most notably missing are Richie Porte and the entire Tinkoff-Saxo team!
Gesink meanwhile shows no sign of weakness and continues the slaughter - forcing Kangert and a number of others off the back.
This brings the leading group down to 8 riders: Gesink, Mollema, Quintana, Valverde, Moreno, Hesjedal, Ulissi and Betancur
The Dutch destruction continues all the way to the summit, where the group remains intact - however everyone but three riders - Quintana, Mollema and Moreno - seem to be in grave difficulty.
Valverde is even forced to leave a gap a little gap to Moreno!
That bikelength quickly grows when Gesink makes another push after the top. Down to four they are!
The sprint for bonus seconds is on between them, and it's Mollema who gets the jump on the others under the kite.
However, it is Moreno who adds yet another win to an already brilliant record in a fast three-way sprint against Quintana and Mollema.
A tired Gesink drifts off the back of these towards the end, and actually ends up saving Valverde's group from losing any actual time today - strange as it may seem considering the visible gaps!
Kangert follows the second group solo; unfortunately losing more than a minute today. We'll have to hope for better daily form later in the race.
That's not the most disturbing thing, though. He also becomes a victim to PCM's wonderful gap system by being robbed of the gap he had on Jakob Fuglsang and the other 30 riders that followed some 20 seconds behind him. Always good to be rewarded for fighting on alone!
| 1 | Daniel Moreno | Katusha Team | 3h54'12 | | 2 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 3 | Bauke Mollema | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | Robert Gesink | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 5 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 6 | Ryder Hesjedal | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 7 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 8 | Carlos Betancur | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 9 | Tanel Kangert | La Pomme Marseille | + 1'21 | | 10 | Jakob Fuglsang | Astana Pro Team | s.t. |
Spoiler | 11 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 12 | Warren Barguil | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 13 | Samuel Sánchez | Team Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 14 | José Herrada | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 15 | Rui Costa | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 16 | Romain Bardet | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 17 | Franco Pellizotti | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 18 | Julian Arredondo | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | 19 | Igor Antón | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 20 | Alberto Contador | Team Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 21 | Andy Schleck | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | 22 | Bart De Clercq | Lotto-Belisol | s.t. | | 23 | Peter Stetina | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 24 | Valerio Agnoli | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 25 | Darwin Atapuma | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 26 | Yannick Eijssen | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 27 | Janier Acevedo | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 28 | Yury Trofimov | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 29 | Jurgen Van den Broeck | Lotto-Belisol | s.t. | | 30 | Sergio Pardilla | MTN - Qhubeka | s.t. | | 31 | Robert Kiserlovski | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | 32 | Haimar Zubeldia | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | 33 | Johann Tschopp | IAM Cycling | s.t. | | 34 | David López | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 35 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 36 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 37 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 38 | Beñat Intxausti | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 39 | Kanstantsin Siutsou | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 40 | Sergio Henao | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 41 | Thomas De Gendt | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | + 2'54 | | 42 | John Gadret | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 43 | Sergey Chernetskiy | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 44 | Lawson Craddock | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 45 | Tony Martin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 46 | Giovanni Visconti | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 47 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 48 | Chris Anker Sørensen | Team Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 49 | Adam Yates | Orica - GreenEdge | + 3'45 | | 50 | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Daniel Moreno | Katusha Team | 3h54'02 | | 2 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | + 4 | | 3 | Bauke Mollema | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | + 6 | | 4 | Robert Gesink | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | + 10 | | 5 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 6 | Ryder Hesjedal | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 7 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 8 | Carlos Betancur | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 9 | Tanel Kangert | La Pomme Marseille | + 1'31 | | 10 | Jakob Fuglsang | Astana Pro Team | s.t. |
Points
| 1 | Daniel Moreno | Katusha Team | 25 | | 2 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | 20 | | 3 | Bauke Mollema | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 16 |
Mountain
| 1 | Martin Elmiger | IAM Cycling | 23 | | 2 | Moreno Moser | Cannondale Pro Cycling | 22 | | 3 | Robert Gesink | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 16 |
U25
| 1 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | 3h54'06 (1) | | 2 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | + 6 (2) | | 3 | Carlos Betancur | AG2R La Mondiale | + 6 (3) |
Team
| 1 | Movistar Team | 11h43'57 (1) | | 2 | Garmin - Sharp | + 1'21 (2) | | 3 | Astana Pro Team | + 2'42 (3) |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 17-12-2013 21:24
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Wow, that's definitely the biggest gap not being rewarded i've seen in a while especially in a mountain-top-finish... Some PCM-frustration lately, but better times will come again! Still a great fight by Tanel, who's really doing good things for La Pomme so far.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 17-12-2013 21:27
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World Champion
Posts: 10497
Joined: 23-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Always good to get trolled by PCM.  |
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| 547984 |
Posted on 17-12-2013 22:27
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5008
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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PCM logic 
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar! |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 17-12-2013 22:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Unfortunately for La Pomme the Big guns are already showing there intentions |
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| krisa |
Posted on 18-12-2013 10:48
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3962
Joined: 12-04-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Unfortunately |
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 18-12-2013 11:18
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8389
Joined: 08-09-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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Clearly they don't want Kangert to have a decent result in this race. |
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