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Badaling International Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:00
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The ProTour riders are all here in China, adjusting to the smog of Beijing as we prepare for the 2013 season to begin. They will be keen to leave Beijing behind and reach the Badaling circuit for 7 laps of climbing and descending to determine the first winner of the season. The climb only averages 4% so while the length of the climb may suggest that Mountain stat will be favoured, that won't necessarily be the case.
Race History
Previous editions did not include the start in Beijing, it was climbing all the way when we were here in 2010 and 2011. A group of 8 battled it out for victory in 2010, 17 in 2011 - Samuel Sanchez and Frank Schleck being the race winners, while Damiano Cunego and Jan Bakelandts return here hoping to improve on their previous bests of 2nd place.
The descent makes it a hard circuit to really stay away so compared to a Fleche Wallone or Liege-Bastogne-Liege, this race could suit the sprint happy puncheurs a little - but that uphill stretch to the line balances things out nicely.
The Startlist
The Favourites
     
Before looking at who is here, it is interesting to note who is not. Three riders with 83 hill: Schumacher, Trofimov and Claeys.
Back to who is here, Edvald Boasson Hagen has improved over the off-season and hopes a change of teams to a Norwegian squad can rejuvenate him after a poor 2012.
It is status quo for Jan Bakelandts and the familiarity of his strong Pearl Adidas team. They are tipped for ProTour glory, and a good result today can really kickstart that.
Damiano Cunego is a favourite for any race that he starts, as he makes his debut in the Italian Tricolore clad jersey of Lotto-Cervelo. He ended 2012 with victory, and hopes to start 2013 in that way as well.
Defending champion Frank Schleck has some adjustment to make this year as he no longer starts as favourite in the races where he used to be the man to beat. That doesnt mean he cannot still win though!
Festina are showing more faith in Diego Ulissi this year by not partnering him with a co-leader - and the Milan SanRemo champion will prefer the finish to this race to other routes this season, assuming he is in contention at the start of the final descent.
Onto Wiggle, a team who are a big fan of the hills. Simone Ponzi is their leader, and their mission is simple: score as many ranking points on the hills as they can!
  
We don't yet have mini-jerseys for Wikipedia or Venchi-Sugoi. Venchi have not even bothered to create a jersey for this season yet - luckily their old ones have not been thrown away. Cesare di Maggio will have to show that laziness is not endemic in the team, as we start to find out if his CT form can be carried forward to PT. For Wikipedia, Tejay van Garderen seemed to find the pressure of being World Champion too much to handle. Without that burden, can 2013 be a better return?
Phillipe Gilbert's 2012 season at Pendleton's reached a high with victory in Amstel Gold. Consistency in hills was not present, and it might be needed this year - so here is his first opportunity.
UBS have seen the descents on the route and duly picked Vincenzo Nibali to lead them, while Koenigsegg put their faith in the hands of new signing Alejandro Valverde.
  
Most of the real top favourites have been named, but never rule out hopes for an outsider triumph and in these 3 cases all leaders are riders making their debut for the team. Anthony Roux for Bacardi, Luis Leon Sanchez for Project 1t4i, and Hassen ben Nasser for PCT wildcards Pivovarna Lasko.
Elsewhere Puma, B&O, Milka, Simply Red Bull, Heineken, Pokerstars and Santander don't hold out too much hope of a high result - challenging the Top 10 would certainly be a surprise for these teams.
The riders are ready for the season to begin - but who will leave China with the biggest smile on their face?
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:04
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As said, consistency is needed Phillipe! Fantastic presentation, can't wait for the season start. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 17:59
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| roturn |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:05
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Nice to see the promoted teams Aker and Lotto with that strong squads. I absolutely have no clue how this will end.
If it`s a bigger group like in 2011 I think Boasson Hagen will be the strongest. But I expect a smaller field in the end and maybe even a solo win or a sprint of 2-3 maximum. |
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| Heine |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:15
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Pro Tour season starts as well  I'm not looking at the riders now, but got a feeling a rider with a great downhill-stat can take this
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:18
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I miss the ProTour already...  |
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| ember |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:24
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If a favourite wins, my guess is Ponzi. His sprint might prove useful. But I do suspect an early move to make it. We really need to cover those, eventhough we've got one of the favourites for the race.
Hopefully Boasson Hagen can position himself well, and challenge the others. But most of all, it'll be thrilling to the see the results of the first race in the season. |
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:36
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Hopefully it'll be one of those races where the lieutenants attack 50km out and make it to the finish. Rabottini please! Or just Ponzi to win. I'd settle for that. |
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| kumazan |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:39
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It's here! Really good to see it's finally starting. The field is way too strong for Ben Nasser, but I hope to upset some favourites and get a top 10, it'd be nice.
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| Roman |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:43
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The tough life without Efimkin in hilly races beggins..  Hopefully Rabon will be able to do at least one big suprise result in one of this year's hilly classics.. 
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| cio93 |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:47
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rjc_43 wrote:
Hopefully it'll be one of those races where the lieutenants attack 50km out and make it to the finish. Rabottini please! Or just Ponzi to win. I'd settle for that.
You really should have one rider in such a move with your depth.
Maybe VDB will join one of those and surprise, but more realistically, he'll get dropped sooner or later, but hopefully rejoins with empty domestiques dropping from the front group.
In that case, Top15-20 would be great, Top25 is more objective. If the MO stat matters a bit more, he might climb a fair few places.
I nominate Ponzi for the win, he possesses the perfect hill/sprint/downhill mixture.
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| fintas |
Posted on 20-01-2013 12:56
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Well in my opinion this will be for Bakelants or Schleck
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| jph27 |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:00
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Cunego or Ponzi pour moi. |
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| Kami |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:02
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Let's see how Roux will perform in these hilly classics.
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| p3druh |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:18
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Cunego or Schleck for me. Mountain/Hill ratio looks to be pretty high so they are likelier to get away. And even if they don't, it ends on an uphill sprint.
Anyway, bring on the season!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:23
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p3druh wrote:
Mountain/Hill ratio looks to be pretty high so they are likelier to get away.
I really really hope that too, is there a way to know it exactly in this year's edition?
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| p3druh |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:30
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cio93 wrote:
p3druh wrote:
Mountain/Hill ratio looks to be pretty high so they are likelier to get away.
I really really hope that too, is there a way to know it exactly in this year's edition?
I don't think so. I think that in PCM 2012 the game defines it automatically.
Edited by p3druh on 20-01-2013 13:30
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:41
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p3druh wrote:
cio93 wrote:
p3druh wrote:
Mountain/Hill ratio looks to be pretty high so they are likelier to get away.
I really really hope that too, is there a way to know it exactly in this year's edition?
I don't think so. I think that in PCM 2012 the game defines it automatically.
Well, if you have the original stage-files, you can check the stagedata.
Or, much easier: use the stageviewer to do the same 
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:46
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I reckon Cunego will win, this is his sort of race.
Santander have a long slow build up to their season. I fully expect to be in last place at the end of April.
 [url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| p3druh |
Posted on 20-01-2013 13:52
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tsmoha wrote:
p3druh wrote:
cio93 wrote:
p3druh wrote:
Mountain/Hill ratio looks to be pretty high so they are likelier to get away.
I really really hope that too, is there a way to know it exactly in this year's edition?
I don't think so. I think that in PCM 2012 the game defines it automatically.
Well, if you have the original stage-files, you can check the stagedata.
Or, much easier: use the stageviewer to do the same
Well, I stand corrected then 
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| Smowz |
Posted on 20-01-2013 14:57
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The hilly classics will not be SRB's terrain this year, though with mainly young squads racing them there is a lot of excitement there for our loan clients and indeed ourselves.
I am sorry to our Rothaus friends but we found Kreiger simply was not riding the climb well enough to include - upon closer look at our planner we realised that Jelloul will indeed be riding here instead.
I'm going to go for Bakelants to make a move before the top of the last climb and take the win.
Great Preview as well SN.
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