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Hong Kong Challenge Discussion
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 11-11-2021 14:19
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Not great nor terrible from Warbasse and Roe. We're set up with two potential top ten finishers, which would be awesome, although I'm a bit worried about Roe finishing better than Warbasse both days, and being ahead of him on GC. Roe is a significantly worse climber and puncheur, and I can't help but thinking that when push comes to shove,, the team may prioritize him now, knocking both of them out of the GC. Hopefully the game is smarter and Aranburu helps again.
Congrats to Aker on a win for their new addition, and congrats to Red Bull on a dominating showing in the GC rankings so far. They're set up to control the race tomorrow.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| tobiasandersen |
Posted on 11-11-2021 19:25
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Free Agent
Posts: 125
Joined: 25-04-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Not a good race for us with Juul-Jensen being dropped. Good to see Hacecky and Vogt offensive and going in a break tho unfortunately the outcome wasn't the best |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 11-11-2021 20:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4670
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
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Some mixed feelings on that stage:
- Rekita (77TT) and Balloni (78TT) did a decent job, taking 10th and 17th
- Brunel (73TT) - already pulling off a good result in his first prologue - had a great day, lost only 1" to teammate Rekita and finished 11th
- Masnada (73TT as well), our GC hope, lost 28" to Brunel who should normally do worse due to slightly inferior support stats
Had Masnada done the same great job as Brunel, he'd now be 4th, which would sound way better than 9th. He definitely didn't have the best of days, losing a few seconds to many similar/weaker TTers. But well, if he can again pull off a great show tomorrow, we should be good for a Top 10 GC result, which would be a big step forward after last year's failure.
With Basso currently in 21st position, we might even score some depth points. Schmid has moved up to 4th in the U25 standings and might score some points as well.
Overall, definitely a good race for us until now, especially given that none of our main team leaders are present here 
Congrats to Aker for the stage win and to RB for a huge GC result on the horizon!
And thanks to roturn for the report!
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 11-11-2021 22:49
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
Joined: 03-07-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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Slagter isn't too far back but he needs another good stage to recover after the TT loss.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 26-11-2024 01:18
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| quadsas |
Posted on 12-11-2021 09:44
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
Joined: 18-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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We'll take that. Kept 3 extra riders in top 30, and we'll be getting around 200 points from here, that's wassup, haters in SHAMBLES
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| MacC |
Posted on 12-11-2021 10:03
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Sprinter
Posts: 1594
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Craddock outperforming expectations here.
Well done to reporter and winners. Glanbia happy
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 12-11-2021 10:22
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1090.00
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Really encouraging stage and race for us! 13th and 20th for Rosskopf and Hadi isn't some huge haul of points (though every little bit counts this year), but the simple fact that the AI seems to acknowledge Rosskopf as a serious contender, and that our team is strong enough to ride accordingly, gives me a lot of hope for similar races this year. And it's also just fun to see
In general, I have to say I really enjoyed the AI in this, especially coming off the TdU with its murky racing on hills. Beltran, Slagter (and now Kwiatkowski) clearly the strongest, but also riding aggressively. And realistic time gaps, too, allowing exactly the kinds of riders to succeed here that should. Thanks to roturn for the report and congrats to both red and quadsas for a really strong race!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 12-11-2021 10:27
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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Sucks that Spilak is seven seconds away from like 6th/7th after he was quite prominent and it feels like three wasted RD`s as Zmorka also underperformed. Should have sent Manninen here for a top-3 GC
Congratulations to redordead on a deserved victory and thanks roturn for the great reports!
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| redordead |
Posted on 12-11-2021 10:34
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4882
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| 2 stage wins | CHECK | | Overall win | CHECK | | Points win | CHECK | | U25 win | CHECK |
Someone tell me I'm not dreaming?! 
 2019 BELTRAN IS BACK!!!
Well back for this one race at least 
Where to start with this? Obviously there was a chance Beltran can win the overall today with a gap and/or bonus seconds. Kwiato looked pretty good when he attacked and I was a bit worried that Beltran didn't react. Joke's on me
He managed his effort and the length of the climb to perfection. Used his MO stat to just claw Kwiato back meter by meter, then attacked for the stage win and also managed to extend the gap to the favourites behind. Just brilliant 
Still great to see hybrids like Kwiato, Slagter and Spilak coming in afterwards. Hopefully we can have a few more battles between us this season and leave the pure puncheurs behind
Kudos to Red Bull also. Absolutely dominated the race with two riders joining Beltran on the final podium and winning the team classification. Looks like you'll have a great season
And finally again Ardila manages to defend his U25 jersey. I guess when you look at the list of the other young riders it's not a massive surprise, but still he comes away winning quite comfortably. I never even thought about his U25 chances here at all
I might have come away with 200 points from here which is crazy for a 3 day C1 race
Thanks for the reports roturn! I'm extremely biased, but I loved them all
"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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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 12-11-2021 10:47
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
Joined: 04-07-2012
PCM$: 15445.00
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Positives first: Ivanov easily takes the KoM. Looking forward to see him in more and more breaks this year.
Fourteenth place for Uran is not the end of the world but that last stage was abysmal. Sure, he might not have followed Beltran et al. but he should be in that +31 group easily. Then he'd be seventh in the GC which I would consider good enough. Poljanski with a little bonus in eighteenth.
Thanks for the reports roturn and congrats redordead!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 12-11-2021 11:21
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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Hell yes! Beltran is back 
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 12-11-2021 12:44
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
Joined: 12-06-2013
PCM$: 500.00
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Seemed a pretty good race from a AI actual racing perspective which is pleasing to see and great reports as always Roturn.
For us, a good 1st stage with 5th from Paez but then Castrillo disappointing in the TT which probably had too much hill for his liking and then a little disappointing from Paez on the final stage. He comes away with a Top 20 which is acceptable given the field here.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 12-11-2021 14:27
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Stage 2 - Good ride by Zoidl to get himself into the Top 10. Kelderman with an ok ride, pretty much living up to his TT stat, so can't complain too much.
Stage 3 - Be it CT or PCT, PCM 18 or PCM 20, Kelderman does not change unfortunately. One push and he's gone in what should a suitable mountain. Just our luck that Zoidl is one of the two leaders to lose time, and that makes it a bad race for us.
Seriously speaking, can't say I'm too surprised with how Kelderman did, he was having a tough time beating 78 and 79 hill riders last season. Not sure which stat controls this weakness. Didn't bring this up in the off-season but his OVL increase is clearly a mistake, while someone like Beltran got a decrease.
Thanks for the great repots roturn, nothing against you on that! Great race for Cedevita and Red Bull
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 12-11-2021 15:03
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Beltran on fire right now, dominating win. Congrats to redordead as well as quadsas, two extremely successful races for your teams.
Obviously I cannot complain about anything here. 7th for Roe is way above my expectations for him at his stats, and Warbasse will get the split for 10.5 place, tied on time with the top 10. Having two guys up there is a very nice points haul. We weren't as visible as other races, but we didn't bring a squad here to do that. Once the team decided to play for the TT and have Aranburu be a helper, it was always about following wheels and not losing time. Mission successful I'd say. Plus, the dual leadership (along with Aranburu sticking around today) nets us 2nd in the teams classification. Almost had a shot to win it, if not for Red Bull's two headed monster. But overall, quite happy with this race.
Thank you roturn for three awesome reports!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 12-11-2021 16:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4670
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
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Good race by Masnada, although just outside the points on the final day. But 3rd and 9th on the hilly stages is definitely great for him!
He may have lost 20" too much in the TT compared to similar TTers, but then again he was lucky to take 3rd on stage one, including a small gap. I hoped to see him end up somewhere between 10th and 15th, so 9th is definitely a nice result
Basso lost 4 spots today, but someone with his skillset ending up 25th is still a good performance. On the other end of the scale, we have Pernsteiner, who was an absolute no-show on both hilly stages. Completely inexplicable for me, but well...
Instead, Mauro Schmid did a great job in his first ever race, gaining two more spots in the U25 standings to finish runner-up. Great start to his hopefully long and successful career
If my calculations are right, we take something like 47 points from this race - which is obviously close to nothing compared with the two dominating teams, but it's the first race where we actually scored those target 14 PpRD. It's definitely not in a C1 race where we have to make up for the bad HC races...
Congrats to red and quadsas, great race for both of you! And thanks to roturn for the reports, must have been much more of a pleasure to write those compared to the messy TDU 
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| ember |
Posted on 12-11-2021 16:15
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
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Good try from Kwiatkowski. And purely looking at this stage, that was a good result. Though, it does indeed feel like less seeing him down in 12th overall, which is an underperformance. Points wise we can't be satisfied with this race, and it continues our difficult start to the season.
Very nice to see other riders perform, though, both Lammertink and his stage win, and especially Laengen and his GC. That's encouraging for what's to come
Thinking of the whole season, it's also good to see hybrid riders like Beltran and Slagter do very, very well on the hills. It bodes well for Kwiatkowski, when he gets clear leadership from the very start of a race, as I think these results show there's room for hybrid riders to excel this season.
Thank you for the reports and the pace you put them out with, roturn!
Congratulations on the GC win, redordead! Great ride all race from Beltran. Also a brilliant race for quadsas taking both 2nd and 3rd, proving they're serious about promotion this year. |
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| tobiasandersen |
Posted on 12-11-2021 21:14
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Free Agent
Posts: 125
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We should have been more patient so we still could have been there on that final climb but i love the active offensive riding our riders bring |
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 13-11-2021 07:01
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2933
Joined: 09-05-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Well that was dreadful from us
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 16-11-2021 14:31
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
Joined: 06-11-2010
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I had hoped for a bit better but honestly I’ll take it. I do still think it was sub par by Bobridge’s standards and I hope it’s not a precursor to the rest of his schedule.
Thanks for the reporting - was pleasant to catch up. Good few days for the Red Bull lads
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 08-12-2021 11:17
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4476
Joined: 25-07-2010
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Meh, knew I should've sent Padun here..
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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