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Trofeo Luis Puig Discussion
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 29-01-2013 18:21
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Trofeo Luis Puig Preview
January 31, 2013 : Europe C2 :  Spain
We are here for a bike race, not a vacation.
Starting in the Benidorm (above) the riders will quickly encounter the harsh slopes of Puig Campana nearby. If they can survive that then it's a long flat run in towards the finish in Valencia. So signs point towards a sprint finish. With just 10 teams (7 CT and 3 PCT) contributing to 70 riders, makes this start list rather weak meaning more points to people that showed up.
The Favourites:
 JÃri Hochmann of Die Berg Komt Er is the leading name on most of the betting cards around town, most likely due to the fact he will have a great supporter in  Igor Abakoumov. Or perhaps they might switch roles, either way both are contenders for the win. Oh and they also bring another good sprinter in  Sébastien Chavanel as well.
The home crowd will have to split their bais between three teams;
PCT CSC-Orbea, and CT teams Iberia - Communidad Valenciana and FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm:
Their best hope is probably Saulo Lay (Iberia) not only because he is the best sprinter represent from Spain here today but also because he brings with him a decent supporting cast. Eloy Teruel will represent for the PCT Spanish fans, and FC Barca need a lot of luck as they bring a Frenchman to represent them in front of the Spanish fans, Geoffroy Lequatre.
 Bruno Santos should also be mentioned as it looks like a few Portuguese fans have crossed the border to come cheer on the PCT sprinter from Prio-Porto.
Magna have also been drawing in some attention with their sprinter's duo in
 Manuel Belletti and  Isaac Speirs. If they play their cards right they could come out of Spain with the win.
Names further down on the radar include:
 Borut Bozic (Pivovarna Lasko)
 Nico Schinker (Kenya Air)
 Simon Galle (Vattenfall)
 Thiago Duarte Nardin (Gazelle)
All of which will need a bit of luck, but as shown so far this season,
positioning can sometimes be more important then the sprinters abilities.
Full Start List:
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| jaxika |
Posted on 29-01-2013 18:29
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Hmmm... my team isnt here, but i wait this race. I though first time a breakaway have chances... |
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 29-01-2013 18:34
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Our home race! 
A decent supporting cast? Never thought that would be said about my team in a flat race.
Lay should be the fastest here looking at Sp/Acc. Anton Martin should be a great lead out rider if we form a leadout train. Nationality bonus aswell. A podium should be in his reach and I'm hoping for the win to make the second sponsor very happy.
Someone in the break would also be nice.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 29-01-2013 18:40
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Die Berg and Iberia to form trains, Lay to use the home bonus and continue Iberia's success with another win.
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| Vien |
Posted on 29-01-2013 19:12
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Aah, finally, we're racing again!
Seems like a lot of people didn't dare to join this because of the first hills. I'm 99,9% sure no one's gonna drop there.
I never found out how the AI picks the main sprinter, it seems to be totally random. But I have the feeling that they pick the one who's in best shape. I also rarely got more than 2 of my riders sprinting, in fact Abakoumov attacks before the 5km mark most of the time I have >2 sprinters, so I'll be happy with two top 10 spots here.
Edited by Vien on 29-01-2013 19:13
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| kumazan |
Posted on 29-01-2013 19:32
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Good to see the small startlist, hopefully that will mean we can get some "easy" points from here.
Vien wrote:
I never found out how the AI picks the main sprinter, it seems to be totally random. But I have the feeling that they pick the one who's in best shape.
All riders are in the same shape. 
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 29-01-2013 19:38
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Hoping for Schinker to pull out a surprise, but I think no more than a top 5 should be possible with the strong startlist
Looking forward to the race  |
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| Vien |
Posted on 29-01-2013 19:44
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kumazan wrote:
Good to see the small startlist, hopefully that will mean we can get some "easy" points from here.
Vien wrote:
I never found out how the AI picks the main sprinter, it seems to be totally random. But I have the feeling that they pick the one who's in best shape.
All riders are in the same shape.
At the finish line
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 06:49
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 29-01-2013 19:46
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Kind of lucked out in this race as this is not really a strong start list.
Lay is the favourite with the nationality bonus, I do wonder about Iberia's lead out, Francisco Anton Martin is a great leadout but who is going to get those two to the front? Could get ugly. Die Berg could put together a pretty awesome train, even if Hochman gets tired by the hills.
I think it's a very interesting race as I don't see any obvious sprint trains aside from maybe from Die Berg, and maybe from my team? So it could be a truly chaotic finale. I also don't have the slightest clue if the hills will play a role; I would say no, but who knows.
I believe that Beletti and Speirs could both finish top 10 and Demare in the top 25 and maybe Haller could sneak in a top 25 as well
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| kumazan |
Posted on 29-01-2013 19:50
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Vien wrote:
At the finish line
Thought you meant from the start. Then I think you put too much faith in Cyalogic. 
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 29-01-2013 20:27
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If I'm in the breakaway, I'll be satisfied.
Seems repetitive but Iberia's fav again
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| Smowz |
Posted on 29-01-2013 20:48
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Should be an interesting little race, I'm predicting an almighty Iberia screw up with Santos taking the win and Lay finishing off the podium.
Plenty of flavour with the Spanish squads very well represented.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 29-01-2013 21:04
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This is Santos' chance to prove I was wrong on betting so much on Avelino in Táchira. With this startlist and the support he's getting he should be able to get a podium. Anything less will be a fiasco.
I agree with the opinion that the climbs won't have an impact on the outcome given they're so far from the finish. Anyway, you never know how much that will work in favour of high HIL stat sprinters like Belleti or Bozic or even puncheurs like Galle or Nardin.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 29-01-2013 22:40
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Picked this race because I had some team race days left, but no leader race days to justify picking a C1 race that suits my qualities more. So I'm going in with zero expectations.
It would be nice if my team would try to attack a lot though. If a breakaway can make it, that would be awesome.
And Nardin might indeed be able to steal a top 10 if it's going to be a sprint.
Also, I hope someone beats Iberia.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-01-2013 06:38
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Rather small startlist should make a nice chaos in the finishing area, i think almost everybody has a chance to win, but i think Lay will not make it to the podium. My dark horse is Bozic.
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| MrOBJ |
Posted on 31-01-2013 07:50
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I´m looking forward to my first race ever. Finally we are starting!
My chances in this race, may not be the greatest, but hopefully Pujats or Scheit can be a part of the breakaway. Jiri and Igor seems to be the race favorites, but we hope to see either Galle nor Tiainen in a good finish! |
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 31-01-2013 13:06
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Quite boring race... wasnt' it?
We didn't catch the BA but at least we appear in some pictures pulling the peloton for some km and quite happy with Lequatre being the 10th.
January is over for us.
Congratulations to Schinker and Kenya Air.
Thanks Mresuperstar for the report
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 31-01-2013 13:08
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Can't be unhappy with second. Nice to see the team forming a succesfull leadout train. Actually Mre, was Nesset my third lead out rider? Cause he finished as 3rd from the team. Big up to both him and Anton Martin then if that was cause Nesset is certainly my weakest rider.
Congrats to froomedog! His team is starting the season quite strong maybe pushing him into promotion contention.
And some cool screens Mre!
Edited by Spilak23 on 31-01-2013 13:15
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| Vien |
Posted on 31-01-2013 13:20
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3,4 and 8.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 31-01-2013 13:27
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Pretty uneventful race, but still nice report and pictures. Congrats to Kenya, they have great start to the season, same with Iberia of course. Also great for Die Berg with three in top 10 and our rider Bratashscuk loaned to them finished 21st, nice!
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