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Giro d'Italia Discussion
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| Shonak |
Posted on 28-12-2017 19:53
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15579
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Glad this race is over. Gratz to all the winners, most of all dev who has literally secured next season pt with a single race. Thanks for all the great reports, SN, a great, superb and high quality read throughout the tour. Ferrero team of the race for me, incredible for a pct squad.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 28-12-2017 19:58
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11786
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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So this is it. Our best GT ever and probably the best for a long time either  3rd in the GC plus the long lasting (and obviously well deserved) U25 lead/win should make for some valuable points. Of course it hurts, that Morton had his best days when the stages went to breakaways, but eight Top-5 results in stages at least give us some good points as well. I could not have expected such a GT result prior to the season, so I can hardly complain about the lack of stage-wins from Morton.. at least we took the TTT here. It's still a pity that Velits had this one big day in Alacorn's company. I feel like a 2nd in the GC could well have been possible without such a result from Velits particularly in that stage. But well. As said before: a GT podium should always be a good thing  (and only one crash from Morton in 21 days!!)
Congrats to all who did well. And of course to dev for another huge points haul. A dominating win and given the team's strength in comparison to Jayco here, it's a deserved winner (and boy, he proved his dominance too often here)! Also Moser with a great result.
Last, but definitely not least: a huge thanks to SN for some outstanding quality with the reports. It's so much work to put up GT reports on such a level. Great stuff with a huge highlight on the penultimate stage. Of only you could have reported a Morton victory for once 
Alright. Nuff said. Next GT won't be as fun as this Giro. So I will soak up the Giro sun for now.
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 28-12-2017 20:32
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2276
Joined: 13-03-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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It's official!
Firstly, thanks for all the nice congratz everyone
First GT as a PT-team and we get exactly what we hoped for. An adventure for sure!
Feels really good that the guys I've had from lv.1 in Benito, Herrada and especially Carapaz did such a wonderful job for Alarcon throughout the race! Also Ablenado impressed me for the first time in 3 years and what an area to do it in aswell!
Having a GT-contender is something I've always wanted in MG and hence 90% of the talents I've signed was to support such a rider. And it seems we managed to find such a rider in Alarcon without sacrificing any strength on the hilly terraign is simply a wonderful feeling!
Congratz to remaigning podium finnishers in Morton and Velits. Both would have deserved a consolation win especially as the remaigning top 5 atleast got one stagewin each.
The remaigning GTs for me wont come close to this obviously but still hope for some great racing allround and some fun attempts from my team without a designated leader to protect.
Thanks for the show SN. The first GT of the year could hardly have been any more entertaining.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 28-12-2017 23:16
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9137
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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An awesome result, big one for Roman and Dev, who look set for maybe the best season in their teams history.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 28-12-2017 23:30
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World Champion
Posts: 10616
Joined: 29-10-2007
PCM$: 500.00
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What a Giro for us. Decent results for Ciolek to kick it off, nothing spectacular for a 83 sprinter but again this wasn't a race high on his priority list in the first place.
Then came the mountains and slightly disappointing stages for Bongiorno that added up to a rather bad GC position, which then in turn allowed for his incredible escape and stage win. 8th in GC is still taking a while to realize and will hopefully revitalize our season.
We were very lucky to achieve our sponsor goal in that way, but then again I've been waiting to be on the right side of these 79mo breakaways in GTs for quite a while.
It's a gamble, but one that can pay off so well in the end. (Here's hoping Arndt can emulate this in the Vuelta)
Overall, we've seen interesting sprints, boring hilly stages and a dominating and very deserving GT winner in Alarcon. Big congratulations to dev for a season-saving month and for getting the most out of a rider with the skills like Alarcon this way.
Furthermore, congratulations to everyone taking major points from this race, through stage wins, high jersey positions and a GT podium or Top 5.
And last but certainly not least, thank you SN for providing brilliant reports of a great race. You are still the embodiment of the ManGame.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 29-12-2017 00:19
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World Champion
Posts: 13561
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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Great to see we formed a train again even though it didn't put Grosu in a perfect position. Still, I think following Van Poppel's wheel helped him save a lot of energy for that final push which brought him the win.
A decent Giro after all. Not very happy with the way things went in the GC but keeping last year's form with 2 stage wins is definitely great.
The points we got here won't probably put out of the relegation zone just yet but there's still two very important races for Gesink left and Boswell might be able to pull off some surprises in the Ardennes.
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| knockout |
Posted on 29-12-2017 00:22
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8237
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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I felt very disappointed the entire second half of this race after crashes by half my team, Vosekalns' drop in GC and Siskevicius no-show but i shouldnt forget how lucky i was with Vosekalns stage win, stint in Giro and Potts break show. These achievements are amazing and i would be a fool if i would not be satisfied with that.
Congrats to dev, Alarcon has been a force and the expected dominant winner after seeing the startlist.
Also congrats to Moser, Jayco and Wiesenhof for getting the (pre-season) unexpected great GT results with their leaders.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| ember |
Posted on 29-12-2017 07:14
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Team Leader
Posts: 7059
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
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Racing wise this felt like a brilliant GT, obviously very much helped by the monster stage 20 turned out to be. Though, it was just as much helped by the great reporting. Every stage was a treat, be it a flat sprinter's stage, breakaway success, or GC riders having a go at each other in the high mountains. Thank you again, SN!
Very happy with that final sprint from Holst Enger. Second place in such a field is great, and it feels like he's doing his best to show for future GTs that he only gets better and better throughout the three weeks. Congratulations, alexkr00!
For the race as a whole, I must admit we've performed below what I both expected and hoped for. Though, Galta's and the team's racing in the final mountain stages was very nice to follow, but 11th place is always going to be bittersweet at best when a top 10 seemed very realistic pre-race.
Except for the final second place from Holst Enger, we weren't really close for a stage win neither, which I hoped for before the race. Especially I fancied the chances of Stake Laengen or Nesset in a breakaway. But as it turned out, Stake Laengen weren't strong enough to cope with fellow breakaway riders when he tried his luck, and Nesset chose to sit tight in the bunch, which I must admit was kind of okay seeing the cool racing he produced on the Queen stage
Huge congratulations on a big, big race, dev! As Shonak says, it should make you at least safe from relegation, and I with such a points haul, there shouldn't be anything wrong for aiming for at least a top 10 overall as well |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 04:10
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 29-12-2017 08:00
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4368
Joined: 25-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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A whole lot of nothing here for us... Missing a stage win, missing the top 20 and most shockingly, missing the will to attack more often...
Hope the Tour will be slightly better, otherwise we may just give up already.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| SotD |
Posted on 29-12-2017 08:07
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World Champion
Posts: 12631
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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Would have liked a better sprint result in the final stage, which suited Coquard great, but I guess those crazy tough stages before had taken it's toll, so he didn't have the strength to carry on.
That said, I definately can't complain with getting 350 points from this race looking at my lineup. It obviously isn't good for our chances of re-winning the PT, that Moser had a huge GC result (The best they've ever had I think), but we can't complain about others doing well, so huge congrats Roman for a great effort.
My guess is that Hugo Boss will move into top 3 atleast and well safe of the relegation battle. This GT will make them stay up easily.
In the other area Tinkoff and Nemiroff had some bad races, while also Iberia and Strava started to fade. The latter will have a good ardennes, while the first will start to struggle I think.
Thanks for a very strong effort on the reporting, SN.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 29-12-2017 09:14
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Team Leader
Posts: 7366
Joined: 19-02-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Thanks for the reports SN, sadly Nibbles fell short of my expectations but he's clearly not that good at cycling.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 29-12-2017 10:53
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2798
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Congrats dev! Deserved victory.
And thanks for the amazing reports SN. Top quality stuff.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 29-12-2017 11:18
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Team Leader
Posts: 7374
Joined: 20-03-2010
PCM$: 900.00
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Not a terrible race for us, and a goal completed - first time we've achieved that in the PT. I would have taken 6th for Monsalve at the start of the race, but losing a top 5 on the final mountain stage is definitely a bitter pill to swallow. Still, it's a result that helps our survival hopes immensely. Now to see what Monsalve can do in a likely tougher field at the Vuelta.
Congrats to dev, that should be safety secured now! And what a fantastic job throughout with reports SN, really appreciated the effort you put into this race - great to have you back and able to be more active this season |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 30-12-2017 11:15
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Team Leader
Posts: 6178
Joined: 20-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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First of all: brilliant race! The winner was decided right at the first mountain stage, but the racing never disappointed!
Hugo Boss takes a giant leapfrog from Italy to the top of the standings most certainly, congrats Dev! Lots of other teams with very nice results here, like Moser, Wiesenhof and Jayco. Also Festina, RBC, Aegon and ebuddy witht heir multiple stage wins, should be happy with their teams' performances.
On the other hand teams such as Aker, Vesuvio maybe deserved a little more success here and particularly Spotify bringing Ahlstrand and leaving with no stage wins is quite unreasonable.
Looking at Porto - Prio I have to admit leaving Italy without a stage win it's underwhelming. Fiedler missing the prologue, Avelino missing the sprints altogether and the breakaways not really favouring our attempts is a shame given out stage wins in all GTs goal.
On the bright side though, taking 2nd in the TTT and shining in pink for a day was nice and especially seeing Reis blast most of the field to conquer his place in the top10 and 2nd for the maglia bianca was indeed satisfying.
And thanks so much for all the reports, SN!
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-01-2018 07:45
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Team Manager
Posts: 22043
Joined: 24-11-2007
PCM$: 3900.00
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First of all. Thanks a lot SN for very high quality reports. Loved the detail of all those including sprint stages and of course the mountain stages in especially the very last one with anything covered in extreme detail.
Then congrats to Hugo Boss for this dominant win. Clearly ahead of the others while Moser and Jayco got big points as well due to the weak startlist, which sees Velits and Morton on a GT podium. For first it`s a nice "finish" of his career, for later maybe the first of a few depending on other startlists.
Then the expected riders behind with my favourite Nibali being below my excectations with 9th only.
Regarding my own team. I am biased. Groenewegen`s 2 stage wins and 1-2 breakaways with Villella/Boom worked well and make this obviously a successful GT (seeing that I didn`t send my top4 riders here).
That said Groenewegen`s no-shows on couple other stages (including the very last the most) were a bit pity to see as I think he could have attacked the point jersey even with a better consistency. At least go for the point podium and 1-2 more stage top5`s. But it was nevertheless a very good GT by him of course and hadn`t expected 2 stage wins at all.
Regarding Olivier I feel a bit unlucky. Goal was the top10 with him (which wasn`t that easy of course as stat wise he was a little bit below). Hence 14th normally looks fine and also is.
But what I missed was his 2016 aggressive riding. He had 1-2 good mountain performances but didn`t went into the long range breakaways as seen last year and even got passed by others that did so. Bongiorno and König this way both passed Olivier making it -2 in the GC and the ~3min loss in the TTT when the team gapped him saw him being passed by Galta and Talansky. Hence top10 would have been possible with more luck. That said, 14th is still okay and with the early crashes I was fearing for less already.
Boom 44th and Koep 47th!!! make it a very nice backup with Craddock 82nd, Villella 103rd and Groenewegen (closely missing Lanterne Rouge) 121st also finishing the race.
So in total I am happy with the first GT of the season and hope for similar by Groenewegen, Keizer, Dekker, Swift in the next two. |
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| Roman |
Posted on 03-01-2018 14:51
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4279
Joined: 29-05-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Have to be really happy with this GT. Best ever overall result in the history of my team. Partially it was due to a really bad startlist, but Velits still showed some decent form to beat his competitors, what a great end-of-prime result for him. Dream season, so far.
Also a quiet decent result for Giogieri, was a decent helper for my leader in this race. Vesely also had a quiet decent race, overachieved quite a lot in sprints against a strong competition.
Big thanks to SN, huge quality reports, it was a pleasure to read them. And also big congrats to Hugo Boss, what a huge win for their season.
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