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Tour de Suisse - Discussion
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| ember |
Posted on 23-03-2021 21:19
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Herklotz delivering what was expected. Always good to see.
Also another good try from us! Happy to see Pedersen and Castrillo join the breakaway. Hopefully we can continue putting riders in breakaways, and anyone should be trying seeing our lack of GC positions. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-03-2021 02:58
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That ride was worth staying up for! 
Cool as a cucumber, Herklotz never looked troubled by any premature attacks, identified which move was the decisive one to follow, and made his only effort of the day stick to the line.
A brilliant show of strength that does alleviate a lot of the misfortunes the team had as a whole this season, as well as his somewhat unsatisfying personal performances in Hallstatt and Liechtenstein, and certainly motivates us even more for the remaining stages ahead and the Tour on the horizon.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this gap on Madrazo will suffice for the mountain TT regardless of the potential daily form difference, and then it's all about whether being in yellow helps us repeat this performance one more time on a stage that has more climbing, but easier gradients.
Tomorrow's a rest day with hopefully no major news, ideally Herklotz can defend green against Holloway, and maybe the yellow jersey positioning bonus helps add a few points to his tally as well with another finish just outside the top 10.
(ember, tastasol and SotD, thanks for the congrats on yesterday's win!)
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| SotD |
Posted on 24-03-2021 07:18
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I would have liked to see Giannoutsos in the break rather than Osorio, but the latter did a great job keeping Aidan ahead of the pack for a very long time wtihout using too much energy, so when he was indeed left alone he could use his fighting spirit to limit losses and keep the U25 jersey for another day.
Herklotz will obviously steal all jerseys from this race (congrats btw again cio!), but maybe we can somehow get 2nd in the KOM if we can put Giannoutsos in the final stage break. I guess we have to put Aidan there too to have a shot at defending a good U25 position - but I don't think it's realistic. Gidich will take the jersey after the TT obviously, and it seems very likely that Roman will also move past him. But 3rd overall U25 could be realistic.
For once Bongiorno doesn't surprise us in a negative way and if he can actually finish inside the top 15 while our other riders keeps doing their shinanigans then it will be very nice indeed. Time to rest our legs for a day I suppose - although keeping on trying to join breakaways is easily our best chance for succes!
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-03-2021 07:33
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It was a good attempt by Velits. The much needed one as well seeing his previous performances.
Not ideal that he attacked with 34km already with stronger riders i.e. Carapaz in the group.
As the peloton decided to go for it, it didn`t matter a lot in the end.
Surprisingly low once more Ciccone. On a mountain climb behind Koep and Vliegen! Before I thought, he might have protected someone in the peloton, this time he was the strongest of the team there and still failed to do a top50. Not the best season for him.
Talansky a rider, this season really likes it seems. Quite a few results by him this year beating stronger riders. Morton then again on the other side unfortunately for tsmoha. |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 24-03-2021 08:08
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At least Aru tried something this stage.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 24-03-2021 09:24
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Not a good race for my team so far. At least Reis didn’t loose too much time already but seeing him drop in the middle of each mountain stage is really annoying |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 24-03-2021 10:18
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Herklotz is in a league of his own. So I'm glad that we managed to reel in the breakaway, that Madrazo finished second and that he won time on everyone else.
If he grabs two more stage podiums and finishes second in GC, we'd leave Switzerland satisfied. Fingers crossed.
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| ember |
Posted on 24-03-2021 14:28
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Thank you for your reports, Ulrich!
Another good try from our team. Seeing Pruus and Vangstad up front was great, simply facing stronger climbers and getting dropped due to that is normal.
Herklotz and Puma having a brilliant race here! These week-long mountainous stage races tend to work out fairly well GC wise regarding the AI, and this is another one of those. |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 24-03-2021 14:54
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Very good from Iturria again. Really solid so far and cool to see him on the attack today. Herklotz looking super strong, congrats on another win, cio!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-03-2021 15:20
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DubbelDekker wrote:
If he grabs two more stage podiums and finishes second in GC, we'd leave Switzerland satisfied. Fingers crossed.
I wouldn't give up on this race yet if I were you, we've seen Herklotz get cocky and lose the Giro against Spilak last season when simply covering the moves would've sufficed to stay in contention.
Madrazo still can come from behind and pounce on the last kicker of stage 9, I definitely won't sleep soundly just yet.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 08:10
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 25-03-2021 01:45
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Another great report Ulrich Ulriksen, thanks!
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| SotD |
Posted on 25-03-2021 05:58
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Another very good Stage for us. Bouglas is really kickass this season. I was really doubting whether or not it would be worthwhile to pick him up, even when being greek. I must admit that I’m very happy with that decision! He is making a fool Nizzolo.
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| redordead |
Posted on 25-03-2021 07:11
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Always nice to see Groselj stretch his legs on these flat stages
"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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| knockout |
Posted on 25-03-2021 07:24
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4th by Eislers is very solid. More results like that and I'd be far more happy about his recent performances.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 25-03-2021 08:51
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Holloway and Contreras remain annoying and continue to keep another two teams ahead of us that we were expecting to beat comfortably before the season.
Let's make sure to correct this tomorrow and retake green for good while retaining yellow with a strong MTT.
Of course Madrazo is suited better to both the flat and uphill parts of it, so with strategy not playing any role, it's all about taking second place on the day and conceding as little time as possible.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-03-2021 09:31
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Morton needs to step up his game here. The first mountain stage was not ideal. Anything but a stage podium in the TT would be disastrous. Simply as that.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 25-03-2021 22:38
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Not a bad TT from Shikai. If my own team hadn't been the likely cause of him losing 3 minutes on stage 5, he'd be in a respectable GC position. Atleast Kratochvila is in the Top 30, as team leader...
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-03-2021 22:49
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Meeehh.. I already see Morton throwing away the minimum goal podium.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 26-03-2021 00:08
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I'm very happy with that time loss, that's within the margin I expected.
It's now a simple equation in a direct duel on the last mountain of the race.
Assuming we can at least secure third place on the stage with such a MO gap to the rest, that gives us 53 seconds to play with.
We're stuck in between a rock and a hard place regarding whether to reel in the break tomorrow, as having no bonus seconds left at the finish would help our GC quest, but Herklotz would lose the opportunity to sweep all jerseys by adding KoM points.
But obviously, our main focus is winning this race. So let's get on the road and do that!
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| ember |
Posted on 26-03-2021 05:42
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The final stage looks like one for the breakaway. Hoping to see us get up front and join it, eventhough we shouldn't be strong enough to land a stage result from it. Can't happen if we doesn't try, though.
Pretty big gaps in that mountain TT, but Herklotz still defended well. The GC should be secured by now. It will take a very weird final stage for that to change. |
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