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[PCT] Team Kenya Airways 2015
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 04-06-2015 18:37
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We can now also reveal the team's schedule for the coming season, after releasing two of our leader's schedules for the coming season. With 40 races in total and 140 racedays, we will ride every type of race possible, from TTT's and flat cobbled races to the high mountains.
We have 6/10 months with 5 races, which means we should be scoring consistently over the whole season. Of the other four, only 1 month drops below 3 races which is January where we will just race the Tour Down Under, where we start our season. Our season will finish in Japan for the Japan Cup once again.
| January | | 14-19 |  Tour Down Under |  | Stage Race | C1 | | February | | 03 |  Barcelona Classic |  | Classic | C1 | | 03-08 |  Tour of Eritrea |  | Stage Race | HC | | 15-20 | Volta a Catalunya | | Stage Race | C1 | | 25 |  Strade Bianche | | Classic | HC | | 25 |  Gisborne GP | | Classic | C1 | | March | | 07 |  Kenya Mountain Classic | | Classic | HC | | 14 |  Duo Differdange |  | Classic | C1 | | 27 |  E3 Prijs |  | Classic | HC | | 29 |  Seskin Classic | | Classic | C1 | | April | | 14-19 |  Tour of South Africa | | Classic | C1 | | 22-25 |  Tour d'Azerbaijan | | Stage Race | C2 | | 23-28 |  Tour of Romandie | | Stage Race | HC | | 30 |  Dutch Food Valley Classic | | Classic | HC | | 30 |  Interlagos GP | | Classic | HC | | May | | 04-09 |  Tour of Japan | | Stage Race | C1 | | 08 |  Volcan de Agua Classic | | Classic | HC | | 12 |  Scandinavian Open Road Race | | Classic | C1 | | 16 |  Berlin ProRace | | Classic | HC | | 27-31 |  Tour of the Czech Republic | | Stage Race | HC | | June | | 20 | Nelspruit Classic | | Classic | HC | | 24-27 |  Tour of Norway | | Stage Race | C1 | | 29 |  Monterrey TTT | | Classic | C1 | | July | | 05 |  Isle of Man ITT | | Classic | C1 | | 07 | Manx International | | Classic | HC | | 15 |  Tour of the Battenkill |  | Classic | HC | | 18-21 |  Tour of Bulgaria | | Stage Race | C1 | | 26-30 |  Post Danmark Rundt | | Stage Race | HC | | August | | 01-08 |  Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt | | Stage Race | HC | | 01 | Clasica San Sebastian | | Classic | HC | | 03 |  Melaka's Governor Cup | | Classic | C1 | | 05-15 |  Volta a Portugal | | Stage Race | HC | | September | | 07-14 | Tour of Britain | | Stage Race | HC | | 19-20 |  Grands Prix Cyclistes | | Stage Race | C1 | | 26 |  GP Plouay | | Classic | C1 | | October | | 01 | Milano - Torino | | Classic | C1 | | 01 |  Colombian Venteaux | | Classic | C1 | | 02 | Paris-Tours | | Classic | HC | | 09-13 |  Tour of Beijing | | Stage Race | HC | | 18 | Japan Cup | | Classic | HC |
Bold - Goal Race
Credit to aidanvn13 for the profile icons.
Edited by FroomeDog99 on 05-06-2015 16:50
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 00:34
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 05-06-2015 09:22
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Tour de France Champion
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Nice looking calendar mate, look forward to challenging you in a lot of these races  |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 06-06-2015 17:10
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Tour Down Under
| Rider | HI | SP | | Role | | Daryl Impey | 73 | 80 | | Leader | | Marco Marcato | 73 | 75 | | Domestique |  Bassirou Konte | 74 | 62 | | Domestique | | Stéphane Rossetto | 73 | 64 | | Domestique |  Tarik Chaoufi | 75 | 61 | | Domestique | | Pirmin Lang | 70 | 75 | | Domestique |  Lotto Petrus | 69 | 63 | | Domestique | | Hillary Kiprotich | 73 | 59 | | Domestique |
The season is almost underway now, so it's time to look at this month's races. Our only race in January is the Tour Down Under, which is a combination of flat and hilly stages. Making his debut for the team is Daryl Impey, who will try to get good results in the flat stages. The hilly stages aren't too tough either, so we're hoping that any time he loses there can be made up in bonus seconds, and a high overall position will be possible for him.
The whole team is built around the South African, with two riders in Marcato and Lang to lead him out, and the rest of the team here to try and help him over the hilly stages and minimise any time lost. Hopefully we can get our season off to a great start!
Edited by FroomeDog99 on 11-06-2015 18:21
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 06-06-2015 17:17
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World Champion
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Sort of a gamble not brining Ben Nasser, I wonder if it will pay off. Willunga is quite selective nowdays but if Impey can get leader jersey before it he stands a decent chance. Certainly will be interesting.
Edited by Alakagom on 06-06-2015 17:17
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 06-06-2015 17:22
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Alakagom wrote:
Sort of a gamble not brining Ben Nasser, I wonder if it will pay off. Willunga is quite selective nowdays but if Impey can get leader jersey before it he stands a decent chance. Certainly will be interesting.
It was a choice between this and South Africa for Ben Nasser and I thought Impey would have less chance of getting a good GC there than here, where he should hopefully be able to get a good advantage of bonuses before Willunga. That could easily go wrong though if it's very selective.
Edited by FroomeDog99 on 06-06-2015 17:23
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 06-06-2015 17:29
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World Champion
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Yea seems like a no brainer choosing ToSA over Down Under if that was the choice especially with your strong TT core as well should give him nice advantage.
Anyway Impey is ideal Tour Down Under guy, definitely should do well, stage win should be definitely within his realm and well good GC could be a nice bonus 
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 06-06-2015 17:53
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Classics Specialist
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Impey will surely add a few notches to his wins-wall at Down Under. Will be interesting to see how he does overall and how good ol PCM AI will handle it if Impey is high up on GC with Konte/Chaoufi's higher Hill stats. Lang/Marcato pairing serves for some strong back up for Imps.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 06-06-2015 20:03
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aidanvn13 wrote:
Impey will surely add a few notches to his wins-wall at Down Under. Will be interesting to see how he does overall and how good ol PCM AI will handle it if Impey is high up on GC with Konte/Chaoufi's higher Hill stats. Lang/Marcato pairing serves for some strong back up for Imps.
Would be great if he could get a few wins, but would much rather have a great overall. Hopefully Impey will be much higher in the overall than them at that point with some bonus seconds, but if he isn't there could be problems. Overall it's a bit of a gamble letting him lead but I'm hoping it'll pay off. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 06-06-2015 22:27
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Definitely the right decision to send Impey here over Ben Nasser imo. If he can get the race lead after Stage 2 then he could be quite dangerous. He may not quite have the hill stat if the race turns quite hard, but it is the best race on the calendar to take that chance.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 10-06-2015 17:56
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SN - Unfortunately Willunga was indeed too much for him, but a good race for the team anyway.
Tour Down Under
The opening race of our season, we came into our only race in January with optimism. New leader Daryl Impey lead a team looking to get the season off to an ideal start Down Under, in a race made up of of hilly and flat stages.
Things got off to the perfect start on stage 1, when Impey won on the first day of our season (above) to take his maiden win for the team! That was his only victory in the race however, as some stages proved a bit tough for the South African and the others were unfortunately taken by breakaways, with his best other result coming on the final stage when he finished 3rd.
Impey managed to finish 7th overall and take the points jersey, in a good first race for the team. A bonus on top of those results was Rossetto's performance in the mountains competition, where he managed to win the jersey to make it 2 jerseys already for the team this year. With a good haul of 143 points, overall it was a good start to the season.
Results
| Stage 1 | Daryl Impey | 1st | | Stage 4 | Daryl Impey | 5th | | Stage 6 | Daryl Impey | 3rd | | Points | Daryl Impey | 1st | | Mountain | Stéphane Rossetto | 1st |
GC
| 1 | Cesare Di Maggio | Team Vontobel | 18h31'32 | | 2 | Martin Reimer | Swedbank-PEAB | + 5 | | 3 | Francisco Ventoso | Buff - Polska | + 12 | | ..... | | 7 | Daryl Impey | Team Kenya Airways | + 40 |
Edited by FroomeDog99 on 21-06-2015 20:11
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 10-06-2015 18:13
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For a race that fits Impey so well, this must be a little frustrating...
However he did do well and you can say, that you've had a better start than the majority Can't wait to see Kwiatek in action, but is probably a little early for him to start?
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 10-06-2015 18:46
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sgdanny wrote:
For a race that fits Impey so well, this must be a little frustrating...
However he did do well and you can say, that you've had a better start than the majority Can't wait to see Kwiatek in action, but is probably a little early for him to start?
Yeah, your breakaway wins didn't help. 
Congrats on a great first C1 race for you though. I'm happy with how things went, 20+ PPRD is always something to be happy about even if Impey could have done better in the GC.
Kwiatek's season starts pretty soon, in Eritrea. If you want to see his calendar it's on the previous page. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 11-06-2015 18:21
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Barcelona Classic
/ 3rd Feb
| Rider | SP | ACC | Role | | Daryl Impey | 80 | 81 | Leader | | Marco Marcato | 75 | 73 | Domestique |  Maciej Bodnar | 67 | 65 | Domestique | | Bassirou Konte | 62 | 71 | Domestique | | Tarik Chaoufi | 61 | 58 | Domestique | | Pirmin Lang | 75 | 75 | Domestique | | Lotto Petrus | 63 | 65 | Domestique | | Hillary Kiprotich | 59 | 58 | Domestique |
February begins in Spain with the Barcelona classic, a flat classic which should provide another opportunity for Daryl Impey, who after a good Tour Down Under comes here with hopes of a win. There is plenty of climbing on the route despite the flat profile, which should suit him and with a team fully supporting him we're hopeful for a great result.
Tour of Eritrea
| Rider | MO | HI | Role | | Michał Kwiatkowski | 77 | 78 | Leader | | Mwangi Samwel | 79 | 70 | Free Role | | Merhawi Kudus | 75 | 72 | Domestique | | Simon Kimeli | 74 | 71 | Domestique | | Stéphane Rossetto | 71 | 73 | Domestique |  Clovis Kamzong | 73 | 72 | Domestique |  Bonaventure Uwizeyimana | 69 | 68 | Domestique | | Hussein Manfred | 69 | 68 | Domestique |
Our first African race on the calendar is the Tour of Eritrea. New signing Michal Kwiatkowski leads the team, and will hope to use his hilly ability to his advantage in order to get a good GC position, despite not being the best climber. Mwangi Samwel also rides the race, and we hope he will attack on the mountain stage and show his ability there whilst helping Kwiatkowski fight for the GC on the other stages.
Volta a Catalunya
| Rider | MO | HI | TT | Role | | Michał Kwiatkowski | 77 | 78 | 70 | Leader | | Mwangi Samwel | 79 | 70 | 61 | Free Role | | Brent Bookwalter | 72 | 72 | 79 | Free Role | | Merhawi Kudus | 75 | 72 | 68 | Domestique | | Maciej Bodnar | 59 | 68 | 77 | Domestique | | Simon Kimeli | 74 | 71 | 66 | Domestique | | Stéphane Rossetto | 71 | 73 | 72 | Domestique | | Hussein Manfred | 69 | 68 | 54 | Domestique |
Another one-week stage race follows, where we are once again lead by Michal Kwiatkowski at the Volta a Catalunya. This race doesn't suit him as well as Eritrea, with plenty of climbing and a long ITT meaning he may not do as well, but a decent finish should be possible. Mwangi Samwel once again rides in a supporting role, and will look to attack on the mountainous stages. Brent Bookwalter is also here to try and get some good results in the two flat ITT's.
Strade Bianche
/ 25th Feb
| Rider | HI | SP | Role |  Hassen Ben Nasser | 79 | 70 | Leader | | Daryl Impey | 73 | 80 | Leader | | Marco Marcato | 73 | 75 | Domestique | | Bassirou Konte | 74 | 62 | Domestique | | Stéphane Rossetto | 73 | 64 | Domestique | | Tarik Chaoufi | 75 | 61 | Domestique | | Pirmin Lang | 70 | 75 | Domestique |  Redouane Chaabane | 73 | 58 | Domestique |
Our first goal race of the season is the Strade Bianche, with the Italian classic being a race we are required to win. Last season Hassen Ben Nasser managed to finish second here, and we are hoping he can go one better this season as he leads the team once again. Daryl Impey also rides in case the race finishes in a selective sprint, and adds another option for the team as a rider who could also achieve our goal. A win will be tough here, especially with the HC status, but we'll hopefully be in contention.
Gisborne GP
/ 25th Feb
| Rider | HI | MO | Role | | Michał Kwiatkowski | 78 | 77 | Leader | | Merhawi Kudus | 72 | 75 | Domestique | | Simon Kimeli | 71 | 74 | Domestique | | Clovis Kamzong | 72 | 73 | Domestique | | Lotto Petrus | 69 | 54 | Domestique | | Hillary Kiprotich | 73 | 64 | Domestique | | Bonaventure Uwizeyimana | 68 | 69 | Domestique | | Hussein Manfred | 68 | 69 | Domestique |
Another hilly race on the same day as Bianche, Gisborne GP is a slightly tougher race and sees our 'B' hills squad ride, lead by Michal Kwiatkowski. This is the third race of the Pols's month and perhaps the one with his best chances, considering his good all-round uphill ability and especially being a good puncheur. Despite the race clash he is supported well and should be able to aim for a top 5 we think. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-06-2015 18:27
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You can beat me in Strade Bianche and win all other races. But Catalunya is mine.
Keizer will hopefully perform in this mountain/TT fest.
I like those small profiles actually. Would be cool if you find another one for mountain uphill finish.
Edited by roturn on 11-06-2015 18:27
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 11-06-2015 18:49
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Directeur Sportif
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Yap, those preview look cool with the profiles and stuff.
Can't comment on your team though, since I will report 3 of your races there  Anyway, an interesting roster you have with Impey and Kwiatek added.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 11-06-2015 19:29
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roturn - I doubt we can win all those races. Keizer should be well ahead of Kwiatkowski in Catalunya, where I would be happy with a top 10 to be honest.
Credit for the small profiles have to go to aidan, taken from his HQ last year. Not meant to actually recreate each profile with uphill finish etc, just a quick summary of the type of stage.
tsmoha - Thanks, especially nice coming from the manager of the best HQ! Understandable you can't comment, hopefully we at least do decently in those races. Not expecting loads from Catalunya and Eritrea though as I'm expecting huge climbing startlists. |
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| Forever the Best |
Posted on 11-06-2015 19:46
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Great team with great riders.
Impey,Ben Nasser,Kwiatkowski and Samwel.And Kudus,one of the biggest prospects.
Will follow for sure.
EDIT:And Kwiatek at Portugal,he should be definitely watched in Portugal.
Edited by Forever the Best on 11-06-2015 19:51
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 11-06-2015 19:59
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The Schleck Fan wrote:
Great team with great riders.
Impey,Ben Nasser,Kwiatkowski and Samwel.And Kudus,one of the biggest prospects.
Will follow for sure.
EDIT:And Kwiatek at Portugal,he should be definitely watched in Portugal.
Thanks, although there are plenty of better squads in the division. Samwel won't score much this year I think, and Kudus is using up plenty of the wage cap, so there is definitely room to improve for a promotion push next season.
Portugal will definitely be interesting. Kwiatkowski's good hill stat should work in his favour there, with plenty of hilly stages. Machado may be riding there though in his home race, who could be nearly impossible to beat. |
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| Forever the Best |
Posted on 11-06-2015 20:06
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Yeah,Kwiatek is racing for 2nd in Portugal because Machado is there. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 11-06-2015 20:08
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The Schleck Fan wrote:
Yeah,Kwiatek is racing for 2nd in Portugal because Machado is there.
That's actually the big question mark, will Prio risk using more than a third of his race days on a race with only one mountain stage?
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