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Grand Prix Plouay - Discussion Thread
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 25-06-2012 18:14
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The former world championship host city of Plouay welcomes us to northwestern France for my premiere as reporter. The very tough circuit course suggests that it will be a day for the puncheurs to shine. And to make it even harder, also the length, 232 kilometers, will be a difficulty. A great stamina will be required for those seeking victory in this race.
 Luis Leon Sanchez
The recent winner of Volta a Portugal is, according to the bookmarkers, the main favourite. Possibly arguable, although his strong stamina should give him an edge over those of his rivals who are more of pure puncheurs. The Spaniard's main weakness will be his team. The lack of climbing strength there could isolate him.
 Dimitri Claeys
In pure terms of strength on the hills, the Belgian is probably the best. Also has the advantage of having strong team mate Gil alongside him. A recent fourth place in San Sebastian showed that he can do well also in longer races with more climbing, however his low stamina is a questionmark.
 Jérémy Roy
Roy will be one of the home nation's two big hopes. Similar to Claeys, the Frenchman's main ace is on the climbs, while he has shown in earlier races that he suffers in the longer races. Wales being a good example. Not to talk down his chances thoug. He should be one of the strongest thanks to the nationality bonus.
 Anthony Roux
Aker's promotion hunt continues, with this being a good opportunity to snatch a few points. Cheered on by the home crouds, Roux will be looking to repeat the kind of performance he pulled off in Wales. And while he lacks a bit in terms of climbing towards the likes of Claeys, he is favoured by the length of this.
 Franco Pellizotti
Another team that possibly looks ahead to a promotion is Venchi, in this race led by Pellizotti, who, after a fierce battle with Sanchez, was shoveled down to second place in Portugal in the final time trial. A sweet revenge over Sanchez would probably taste good for the Italian, who has to be seen as a bit of an outsider.
 Alex Dowsett,  Sylvain Calzati,  Vasil Kiryenka
These can be seen as dark horses, although they normally should struggle against the absolute top favourites. However, while Calzati has the nationality bonus, Dowsett and Kiryenka could be motivated by leading their respective teams. Those kind of things could possibly give them a chance to overperform a bit.
Startlist:
Spoiler Cerne
1. L. Sanchez Gil
2. A. Cardoso
3. A. Carvalho
4. G. Cerveira
5. N. Oliveira
6. M. Portela
7. B. Silva
Bianchi
11. D. Claeys
12. R. Dennis
13. K. Gil
14. J. Hochmann
15. G. Lequatre
16. S. Locatelli
17. F. Odebrecht
Aker Solutions
21. A. Roux
22. L. Haedo
23. J. Le Bon
24. A. Lund
25. L. Nordhaug
26. J. Rovira
27. J. Zrimsek
Venchi
31. F. Pellizotti
32. V. Agnoli
33. F. Aru
34. M. Bodnar
35. C. Cominelli
36. M. Corti
37. P. Haugard
Focus
41. J. Roy
42. D. Beatse
43. J. Debusschere
44. D. Gaudin
45. F. Morizot
46. A. Nechita
47. C. Pineau
Red Bull
51. S. Calzati
52. M. Chérel
53. S. Gerrans
54. A. Moinard
55. M. Priamo
56. B. Sonnery
57. E. Vorganov
Rapha Condor
61. A. Dowsett
62. C. Anguilet
63. M. Hussein
64. D. Jiriakov
65. D. Lloyd
66. R. Partridge
67. E. Van Wyk
Tinkoff
71. V. Kiryenka
72. E. Krivoruchko
73. I. Rovny
74. A. Timofeev
75. K. Yatsevich
76. N. Zharoven
Puma
81. M. Delage
82. M. Egger
83. K. Hnik
84. W. Kelderman
85. O. Le Gac
86. J. Thire
87. M. Vogt
UniCredit
91. L. Bernucci
92. P. Andersen
93. W. Bonnet
94. D. Bragazzi
95. M. Brändle
96. S. Ortega
97. A. Signego
Koppert
101. O. Freire
102. H. Dekkers
103. P. Ligthart
104. J. Ockeloen
105. A. Reuvers
106. W. Stroetinga
107. L. Westra
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| Smowz |
Posted on 25-06-2012 19:00
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I'd like to think my four Frenchmen squad will get something from this race - Venchi and Aker are beginning to threaten my team position so it is important to go well here.
Calzati hasn't really produced any stand out moments a top 5 is his target here.
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| ember |
Posted on 25-06-2012 21:28
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This race has both the length and the profile to be an epic classic. Hopefully Roux can prove himself on home soil, though, it will be a very tough task against Roy, Pellizotti, Claeys and LLS. The hills look pretty steep, which I think favours Pellizotti and LLS, as they've got the mountain stat on their side. A top 5 will be good. We've also sent a strong team, though, nowhere near the average quality in Jayco - Red Bull, but I hope we either put a rider or two in the breakaway, or chase all day long for Roux, meaning he'll most likely be well positioned in the peloton.
Looking very much forward to read this race, I'm expecting lots of attacks! |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 25-06-2012 21:37
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I fear the team may indeed be an important factor with only Cardoso to support LLS in the last quarter of the race, so if it gets too much chaotic, it'll be very hard for my team to control it.
But I think we have a big chance here. This will be interesting definitely.
Edited by Gustavovskiy on 25-06-2012 21:50
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| Rin |
Posted on 25-06-2012 22:00
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I think the hills are too short so the mountain stat isn't that needed, so thats why I sent Claeys here..
As a backup Gil could perform good as he got a good mountain/hill ratio if it's needed, but I think Claeys will enter the Top 3 here if there isn't a crazy breakaway attack with 80km left..
But my team got 3 riders who performed unbelievable with that tactic:
Gil -> Spanish Championship 8 times over the Angliru I think winning over the likes of Madrazo or Valverde
De la Fuente -> Can't remember which race it was, so I don't want to say anything wrong
Lloret -> Vuelta a Burgos
Gil should do it again or Claeys should try it
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 26-06-2012 18:05
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Rin wrote:
I think the hills are too short so the mountain stat isn't that needed, so thats why I sent Claeys here..
Yeh, you're right. The mountain stat is set to have zero impact.
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| ember |
Posted on 26-06-2012 18:45
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Oh well, suddenly I got bigger expectations to Roux. The mountain stat having zero impact should mean Roux will be able to fight for a podium, and it makes me think we'll have a French winner, with Roy taking the win. |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 27-06-2012 15:44
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There you go!
I hope you think the report is ok. 
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 27-06-2012 15:46
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-06-2012 15:48
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I liked the report.
Very surprising winner here. Had expected a favourite win. |
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| Rin |
Posted on 27-06-2012 15:52
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What a bad race from Claeys just 9th.. :/
I would say the report is ok for your first time, but there are too many pictures for 2 sentences to be honest.
Edited by Rin on 27-06-2012 15:59
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| CountArach |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:01
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Great report and absolutely beautiful pictures. I'd say there were just the right amount for a hilly classic.
Congrats to Puma. They are just creeping into the top 15...
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| cio93 |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:04
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Delage, you monster! 
Awesome. Although the field was relatively weak, I expected Red Bull to get them back.
So that's the third time he saves us a sponsor related race all by himself. Very well invested 85.000€.
Also a great effort from Kelderman, 15th is quite above my expectations, nice to see he tried going with the big guns. Wait two years and you'll ride them off your wheel, Wilco 
Good report Pelli, kept track of a somewhat hectic race and gave us some beautiful pictures as we know from you. Thanks
PS: Thank you Count, I'm not sure where we'll end up. Bennati still has 4 races left, but apart from him, we need some luck to get results.
Edited by cio93 on 27-06-2012 16:09
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:05
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Thanks. I felt that I may have used too many pictures, but I figured such a long race deserves some detail.
Also, I've removed the spoiler from the results. It's a thing I do automatically after doing it in my stories. 
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:07
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A good report, but dissapointing that Dowsett missed the Top 10
Nothing wrong with having plenty of pictures, I tend to do that aswell - but if you decide to do less in future, then maybe dont need as many early on with the forming of the breakaway.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:07
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Pellizotti2 wrote:
Thanks. I felt that I may have used too many pictures, but I figured such a long race deserves some detail.
I've found that the best thing to do is just write the report as you want. Some people are going to like shorter and faster reports, whereas some are going to like the excruciating detail. As long as you are happy with it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:23
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Delage comes through with a good win for Puma.
Really do need a very strong team to keep the break on a tight leash.
I thought you got some nice shots of the race - the winning shot was great. |
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| kumazan |
Posted on 27-06-2012 16:34
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Great report Pelli.
The race was pretty interesting as well, very well played by Delage to get the win in an impressive fashion, while Rovny looked strong all the way, but probably wasted too much with his attacks, but then he had to get rid of the faster French for the last few flat meters.
Edited by kumazan on 27-06-2012 16:34
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| ember |
Posted on 27-06-2012 17:24
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Great report, Pellizotti!
Good racing from Roux, clearly being one of the strongest of the favourites, riding himself back after the split, only to be very aggressive on the final kilometers. But that was some bad team tactic, it's Nordhaug who should chase breakaways, not Lund
Congratulations to cio93, great win, Delage looked to know his abilities well, and won it in a nice way. |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 27-06-2012 17:36
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Well done to Puma and nice report Pelli. I didn't expect Delage to stay away there, but he did. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 27-06-2012 18:05
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Well Calzati gave it a go - I guess like everyone else I wonder why just one of my riders couldn't have gambled on the mid stage attack.
70 points though is nice with a sickening six riders making the top 20, that is the JRB mark! We outscored Bianchi and Rapha dare we believe?
Thanks Pellizotti, enjoyed the report.
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