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Changing Al Jazeera's Image - PCM 2010 Story
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 28-07-2012 21:22
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13th December 2009
Sicard leaves for the East
Sicard riding for ORBEA
Basque Frenchman, Romain Sicard, turned down the opportunity to go to the Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi ProTour team to join new Arab Continental team, Al-Jazeera-Gulf Air.
Sicard had an unbelievable breakthrough year with the ORBEA team in 2009, winning the Under-23 Road Race World Title and the Tour de l'Avenir.
The 21-year old man from Bayonne may not be in the class of former winners, Miguel Indurain and Greg LeMond, but he is considered a hot prospect for the future in French cycling and his defection is a big blow on the European circuit.
Also signing for Al-Jazeera-Gulf Air are 18-year old Polish climber, Radoslaw Swiatek and 19-year old Belgium sprinter, Hendrik Van den Bossche. |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 28-07-2012 22:25
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13th December 2009
Al Qaeda squad chase Americans
The Al Jazeera Cycling team are chasing three Americans for their new team.
Al Jazeera, the TV station that broadcasts Osama Bin Laden videos, is looking to break into Cycling by backing a second-tier Pro Cycling team.
The biggest name player they are chasing is Tejay Van Garderen who could well join HTC-Columbia. The youngster, from Tacoma, Washington (named in 2006, women's magazine Self named Tacoma the "Most Sexually Healthy City" in the United States), has finished in the top 10 in both the last two editions of the youngsters version of the Tour de France, 8th in 2008 and 2nd to Romain Sicard (who was announced as a Al Jazeera rider today) this year.
The other riders being chased are American team, BMC, target, Chris Barton and former under-23 US Cyclocross champion, Bjorn Selander.
Edited by Welwyn on 30-07-2012 23:11
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 30-07-2012 22:29
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Thinking of creating a Qatari Domestique as there is no Qatar rider in the game...thoughts? |
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| miggi133 |
Posted on 30-07-2012 22:51
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Are you sure you ment to say Al Qaeda squad is chasing Americans? Really putting your team into the dark aisles of the city right?
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 30-07-2012 23:10
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miggi133 wrote:
Are you sure you ment to say Al Qaeda squad is chasing Americans? Really putting your team into the dark aisles of the city right?
Fair point, bit harsh on ESPN that, better change it to Fox. |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 31-07-2012 21:39
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14th December 2009
Presenter: "Welcome to those joining us from Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera English as well as to the journalists in the room. We are delighted to continue the formation of the Al Jazeera Racing team by making the penultimate announcement of team signings for the team. However before we do that, we have to announce that we will be looking into the articles published by the American website of Fox Sports. with particular reference to the language used in reference to the team and the links implied."
Scott Sunderland: "Right, I'm sure you understand our need to discuss these avenue. Anyway, the one thing they were right on is the identity of one of our new signings. Can you first welcome into professional cycling, 21-year old American, Chris Barton."
Scott Sunderland: "Also joining us from Slovenian team, Adria Mobil, is the 22-year old downhill specialist, Jure Zagar."
Scott Sunderland: "Finally comes our biggest signing of the day and someone we believe is a future Northern Classics specialist, Italian from Liquigas, Daniel Oss."
Scott Sunderland: "Right, I am now willing to take questions."
Is the signing of Daniel Oss a sign that you have done a deal with Liquigas that allows them to sign Peter Sagan?
Steve Moore: "I'll take this one Scott. Well, first can I say that the Liquigas team have been very co-operative in every part of the transaction involving Oss, but there is no hard and fast position over the future of Sagan. What I will say though is that we are now paying a decent wage to Oss because we believe he himself has great ability now and potential for the future. That is a wage we can't now use elsewhere and they can."
Are you worried about the inexperience of your squad? Only Rob Hayles is not eligible for young riders jerseys in 2010.
Scott Sunderland: "It is young yes, but if you go back to the mission statement, that is the point. We have to build together. I do take your point on board though and the three signings we have to come, including our 2010 Team Leader, will give us the necessary experience to impart on those young heads to improve."
Is the team leader one of the names outlined in the Cyclingnews website article of the 9th December?
Scott Sunderland: "That is almost entirely certain yes."
Edited by Welwyn on 31-07-2012 21:42
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 02-08-2012 13:35
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20th December 2009
Steve Moore: "Welcome to this last Press Conference to announce the completion of the Al Jazeera-Gulf Air team for 2010, including our team leaders. Starting with the last three domestiques. The first of whom is former Thuringer Energie rider, Karsten Heß."
Steve Moore: "Our second rider is Oleg Berdos, Moldavian 22-year old who won a stage in last years baby Giro."
Steve Moore: "Now we come to the much needed experience for the team, starting with the former Team Designa Køkken, 34-year old Rene Jørgensen. Over to you Scott."
Scott Sunderland: "Thank You, well now we come to our team leaders, starting with our first team leader. This man is a guy who has won multiple stages at both the Tour and the Vuelta as well as a team time-trial at the Giro. A time-trial and prologue specialist who has also had two top 10 finishes in the Critérium du Dauphiné, including eighth last year. One of the most knowledgeable and deep-thinking riders on the professional circuit, David Millar.
David Millar: "Thank you Scott. First of all, before any of you guys ask about my leaving of Garmin, I want to address them here. I feel that my comments about Sky were taken out of context. I was not trying to engineer a move, I was making a point that a British team in the Pro Tour is a huge thing for Cycling in the country and was something I would have loved to have been there for when I came through, NOT NOW. However, I understand that with Garmin were troubled with the way it was reported, particularly with the situation they had with Bradley Wiggins as well. I still feel they could have handled the situation better than they did.
It was only when Garmin cancelled my contract that I had any contact with anyone from Team Sky. They made it clear to me that they wanted to not employ anyone with any links to doping in their history. A laudable idea and one that I would love to see come to fruition but one that unfortunately in our sport is practically impossible. If you are over the age on 33 or so, you will have encounter doping no matter who you are.
This had lead to this wonderful opportunity here. Where I can impart my wisdom to the young talented riders we have here. I will be a valued member of this team in the long-term quest for improvement."
Scott Sunderland: Now, unfortunately our other team leader is unable to actually join us today as he is sorting out the paperwork with his former team.
However, this man may be 38, but he has several years left in him. Nobody is has harder fighter, worker than the big German. A 5-times winner of the Critérium International, including winning each of the last three years and someone who has worn both yellow and polka dot at the Tour de France. I am absolutely delighted to announce that we managed to secure the signing of one of the most well liked riders of fans and fellow members of the peloton, JENS VOIGT!
So our team in full is as follows:
| Jens VOIGT (GER) | | David MILLAR (GBR) | | Gregory BAUGE (FRA) | | Romain SICARD (FRA) | | Daniel OSS (ITA) | | Timothy ROE (AUS) | | Johnnie WALKER (AUS) | | Jesse SERGENT (NZL) | | Cheng JI (CHN) | | Rob HAYLES (GBR) | | Peter KENNAUGH (GBR) | | Rafaa CHTIOUI (TUN) | | Muhamad OTHMAN (MAS) | | Hendrik VAN DEN BOSSCHE (BEL) | | Radoslaw SWIATEK (POL) | | Jure ZAGAR (SLO) | | Chris BARTON (USA) | | Karsten HEß (GER) | | Oleg BERDOS (MDA) | | Rene JøRGENSEN (DEN) | | Artem OVECHKIN (RUS) |
Edited by Welwyn on 02-08-2012 13:37
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 02-08-2012 13:57
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Nice mix of talent in the squad  |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 02-08-2012 17:50
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CHAT WITH MOORE - JANUARY
Presenter: "Here on Al Jazeera, we'll have constant interviews on the first of every month with our Cycling team's CEO, Steve Moore, previewing the month ahead for the Middle East's professional cycling team."
Presenter: "So, what's the plan for January?"
Moore: "Well we will look to get off to a positive start fitness-wise. We know that a big aim for ourselves and the sponsors is a stage win in our home tour of Qatar. With that being such an early season race, we know that we need to be ready more than other teams would be, early doors."
Presenter: "So it's a month of fitness training and training camps then?"
Moore: "Well, it is a possibility. Racing is the only way to get true race fitness though. We believe that because we have Tim (Roe) and Johnnie (Walker) from Australia as well as Jesse (Sergent) from New Zealand, we have a good chance of a wildcard into the Tour Down Under. We believe that although the pair of them are not in the top echelon of Aussie riders, a top 10 in the Australian Championship preceding it will help with that."
Presenter: "So what would your aims be in the Tour Down Under?"
Moore: "To be a pseudo-training camp in essence, for the tours of Qatar and Oman. They have very similar terrains to Australia so it is the perfect lead up."
Presenter: "So expect the same line-up for both?"
Moore: "I wouldn't say exactly the same but I think there will be large similarities certainly."
Presenter: "Thanks a lot." |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 03-08-2012 09:30
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The racing is getting closer |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 03-08-2012 11:10
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FAVOURITES ALLOW BREAK TO STAY AS BROWN WINS TITLE
Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Richie Porte and Michael Rogers were all caught out by the days breakaway at the Australian National Championships.
Jack Bobridge and Brett Lancaster were the biggest names in the 6 man breakaway that pulled out a lead that stabilised at around 7 minutes.
As all the big names started to wind the pace to pull things all together, the puncture to Gerrans seemed to confuse the peloton. Suddenly, the break that was down to 5 minutes was out to double that with 35km to go.
It was then that it was realised by the majority that Radobank sprinter Graeme Brown was sitting at the back of the breakaway doing no work.
Bobridge and Jason Christie had several goes to attack out of the breakaway group but failed to manage it and Brown inevitably won the sprinter finish.
YOUR NEW AUSTRALIAN CHAMPION!!!!!!!
Al Jazeera thoughts:
We did think about trying to get one of Walker or Roe in the breakaway for the exposure but felt against the power of the likes of Evans, Porte and Rogers we would have a better chance of a top 10 if Roe protected Walker until the original breakaway was brought back. It never happened and then when those three and Gerrans went off the front on the last climb to fight for 7th we had no chance of catching them.
Worse was to follow when we told that night that we would not be required for the Tour Down Under.
We will stay down here and have a pretty heavy training camp before heading to the Middle East. We will go via Europe for a couple of races first though. |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 03-08-2012 11:18
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TOUR DOWN UNDER HIGHLIGHTS:
Fabian Cancellara won the Tour Down under ahead of his teammate Matti Breschel thanks to their breakaway victory in Stage 5. However, the undoubted star of the show was Mark Cavendish of HTC. The Manx sprinter won an incredible 4 of the 6 stages of the tour. |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 03-08-2012 12:09
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CHAT WITH MOORE - FEBRUARY
Presenter: "Once again we are joined by Al Jazeera-Gulf Air CEO, Steve Moore, as we preview the big tours of Qatar and Oman."
Moore: "Of which we are hopeful."
Presenter: "Of course. First of all, bad news not having the Tour Down Under, how badly has that affected fitness levels?"
Moore: "Not as badly as first thought. We had a hugely impressive training camp and we have a stage race in the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria and a couple of one day races to prepare for Qatar where we obviously are after a stage win with Bauge and I think we can get a tour general classification top ten with David Millar."
Presenter: "This will be the first month of road racing Gregory Bauge has ever had, are you sure you can get a win with him in Qatar?"
Moore: "There is no race more flat on any Cycling calender than those in Qatar and Oman. If he could ever win races on the road it would be here so yes, I do believe he can win races here."
Presenter: "Will Bauge do both Qatar and Oman then?"
Moore: "He's our best chance of stage wins in those races and his best chance of stage wins for some time so definitely."
Presenter: "You also mentioned that David Millar is the GC hope for Qatar, does that mean that we won't see Jens Voigt in Qatar?"
Moore: "He might ride the Tour as an introduction to home fans, maybe even as part of Bauge's leadout. Scott (Sunderland) hasn't divulged the final line-up to me as of yet. He will definitely be riding in at least one of Qatar or Oman to get him into the season. What I do know is that with the only chance to gain time in GC being the Time-Trial, Millar is our best hope of that purely because he is the better time-trialist."
Presenter: "And what results do you need to produce in the European events to show good form for the Middle-Eastern tours."
Moore: "That doesn't come into it, we purely need to get our race legs on beforehand."
Presenter: "Thanks a lot." |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 03-08-2012 23:54
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Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria - Stage One and Two
We toyed with the idea of sending Bauge here but even these early flat stages had several small climbs that he would never get up at this early stage of his career and with the one day race in Marseilles being much flatter, we felt it better to send him there instead. As a result we sent a lot of our second tier riders with the aim of getting in breakaways and raising the profile of the team right off the bat.
TEAM:
Spoiler Romain SICARD (FRA)
Daniel OSS (ITA)
Timothy ROE (AUS)
Rafaa CHTIOUI (TUN)
Muhamad OTHMAN (MAS) - as sprinter
Radoslaw SWIATEK (POL)
Oleg BERDOS (MDA)
Rene JøRGENSEN (DEN)
STAGE 1
We attempted at least three times to send Berdos up the road in the early stages but failed as several teams in the pack seemed to want to keep everything together early doors.
When a break did get away, we did have a man in it, having changed tack and sent Rafaa Chtioui up the road. Seeing as he was up the road at the first sprint, we thought we'd try and grab that and Chtioui found no other takers for that and costed home.
The lead reached around about 7 minutes and stabilised with Chtioui repeating the same trick at the first of three mountain sprints.
It wasn't until quite late on that the peloton ramped things up. By which time, our man had grabbed the second mountain sprint to secure a polka dot jersey on our first stage. It was as it appeared that the peloton would secure the catch that we felt the need to send Chtioui on the attack with Othman struggling but only succeeded with him hitting the wall just before the top of the final points climb and collecting 0 before rolling in with the pack as Daniele Bennati secured the sprint for the stage win.
STAGE 2
Despite having the polka dot jersey, we felt we should return to plan A and get someone in the break. This time we did get Berdos away in the BOTD. However, we ignored the intermediate sprint in order to reach the top of the big climb of the day, where we instructed the Moldavian to pick up the 5 points which he managed with ease.
With still 100km to go and the other mountain points coming about 10km from the finish it was always going to be tough to collect the other 5 points and get a share of the lead between teammates. So it was to prove with a Liquigas-lead peloton bringing it together with a monster pace that put Othman way off the back feeling awful.
Liquigas were desperate to set it up for Peter Sagan today and our Romain Sicard, staying close to the front of the peloton at all times to stay out of trouble ready for the real high climbing stages, decided he could latch on to his back wheel for an easy top 10 finish, which he did finishing 7th.
In terms of the win though, Sagan didn't count on Alesandro Petacchi coming through to pinch the win on the line.
As for the overall standings right now:
- The two stage winners lead by virtue of their stage win time bonuses.
- Rafaa Chtioui not only has a 5 point lead in the Mountains jersey, with Berdos among those 5 points behind him, but is in top 10 in GC thanks to his stage 1 sprint time bonus.
- Chtioui, Sicard and Berdos sit 3rd, 5th and 7th in the U-25 category.
Edited by Welwyn on 03-08-2012 23:56
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 03-08-2012 23:58
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Welwyn wrote:
miggi133 wrote:
Are you sure you ment to say Al Qaeda squad is chasing Americans? Really putting your team into the dark aisles of the city right?
Fair point, bit harsh on ESPN that, better change it to Fox.
Haha.
--
Enjoying the story a lot. Its just hard to find in the PCM 10 section unfortunately.
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 06-08-2012 13:21
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Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseilles
The plan was to always test out trying to control the field and force a bunch sprint. While the course is a lot flatter than the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria, it is still quite hilly although nothing like anything that would be categorised in a stage race. Plus the fact it is a one-day race means that everyone will be breaking away and it will be difficult to control and it will be perfect preparation as a result meaning it will be a big work out for our big names.
Team:
Spoiler Jens VOIGT (GER)
David MILLAR (GBR)
Gregory BAUGE (FRA)
Jesse SERGENT (NZL)
Rob HAYLES (GBR)
Peter KENNAUGH (GBR)
Jure ZAGAR (SLO)
Chris BARTON (USA)
So we planned to send Sergent, Zagar and Barton up the front early and save Voigt and Millar for around the halfway mark to help them out, with Kennaugh protecting Bauge and Hayles as the waterboy.
Pretty much everything went to plan at the front, but it took so much hard work to pull back the six or seven serious breakaways that tried to get control of the race that Bauge, racing in his first EVER road race of course, was in no position to get anywhere near the front of the peloton so really we had just set up a sprint for Bbox, who were the only ones making any attempt to help us over the 210km to bring Pierrick Fedrigo home but Candido Barbosa of Palmeiras got into the back of his train and launched past Fedrigo to leave Bbox clutching 2nd and 3rd with leadout man William Bonnet.
On the plus side, we fed the coffers with 11th and 12th thanks to Voigt and Millar leading home the non-sprinters in the peloton.
WINNER:
Edited by Welwyn on 06-08-2012 22:23
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 06-08-2012 16:40
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Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria - Stage Three and Four
Stage Three
Same plan as before to make sure we get someone in the breakaway, despite the fact that the Mountain points are dolled out really late on in the stage, by which point we expect Liquigas to have caught things to save things for either Bennati or Sagan in terms of stage and GC.
We managed that with Sicard who took the time-bonus and cash at the points sprint by virtue of being of the front of the group at an uncontested sprint. But even by that point Liquigas were ramping up the momentum and caught them halfway up the front climb.
Giovanni Visconti of ISD then attacked and managed to pick up eight of the 10 available mountain-points to put pressure on our man Chtioui going into the final stage. That was really an attempt to win the stage but was caught in the last 1km of the second climb and with Bennati dropped by the power needed to catch Visconti, it was Sagan it was set up for and Sagan that grabbed the win to lead GC and be 2nd on the points.
Stage Four
With two mountains points and the finish all having 5-3-1 points we knew that we couldn't live with Visconti at the end of the race and needed the points in the early two climbs.
Plan therefore to make sure that Berdos or Chtioui was in any break. It was Berdos that managed it after we tried to get Chtioui away and failed. Only Davide Ricci Bitti had one point of the other breakaway riders.
However, Ricci Bitti stole a march on Berdos to get to 6 points with Berdos grabbing 3 to go to 8. So we knew that a Berdos win at the second sprint would win him the Polka Dot if Ricci Bitti didn't finish second. But Martin Kohler of BMC flew away downhill and we were riding for second.
Again a Liquigas led peloton competing for GC stopped up and Berdos had nothing left trying his best to stay away.
We were hoping therefore that Visconti on 8 would not finish in the top two at the finish or Ricci Bitti won the stage, unlikely due to the fact he was in the break.
We were blown away over the final three-step climb and had nobody anywhere close to the front but with Visconti in the front group we were left hoping. Visconti and Karsten Kroon attacked and pulled into a front two but with Sagan sprinting to close the gap back to save GC, we had some hope.
Kroon won the stage but although Sagan closed enough to win the GC, he couldn't catch Visconti and the Italian's second meant he beat Chtioui by just one point.
GC, UNDER-25 & POINTS WINNER:
Best Al Jazeera Rider: GC & U-25 - Daniel Oss 4:55 (25th GC, 5th U-25). Points - Romain Sicard 17pts (11th)
MOUNTAIN WINNER:
Best Al Jazeera Rider: Rafaa Chtioui 10pts (2nd place) |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 06-08-2012 21:52
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STAGE ONE - TIME TIME TRIAL
Scott Sunderland (on team radio): "COME ON, COME ON, THIS IS EMBARRASSING STUFF! ORGANISE YOURSELF GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Al Jazeera-Gulf Air's home debut ends in epic failure as the good TT's (Artem Ovechkin, David Millar, Jesse Sergent and Daniel Oss) get separated from the rest (Rene Jorgensen, Rob Hayles, Gregory Bauge and Mohamad Othman).
Result:
51 seconds off the pace...over just 8km!!!!
Edited by Welwyn on 06-08-2012 22:24
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-08-2012 23:18
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Scott is not a happy chappy  |
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| Welwyn |
Posted on 07-08-2012 09:21
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sutty68 wrote:
Scott is not a happy chappy
I'm usually ok with team time trials. This one I thought it'd be better to carry the sprinters as it was only 8km but it just split the whole thing into a mess. |
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