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Volta ao Algarve discussion thread
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| Smowz |
Posted on 25-02-2013 20:55
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The Algarve has become the usual Ctour time triallers first port of call in the European stage races. However attacking riding from the likes of Jurgen Van Den Brouck in 2011 and Luis Leon Sanchez Gil in 2012 show that the medium hills around the Algarve can upset the pure chrono men.
Nethertheless the presence of a relatively long time trial will always attract a strong bunch of testers.
We start by looking at  ING Cycling project whose star TT man David Zabriskie has already got off the mark with a race win at the usually more selective Tour de San Luis. His teammate Van Winden joins him, though the Dutchman is more likely to struggle on the hilly par ours early doors.
 Lars Boom of Rothaus was narrowly beaten by Sanchez Gil last year and will target at least a podium here once more with a decent back up squad.  Dominique Cornu of Bpost is a similar sort of rider who dropped down to the Ctour for exactly this sort of race he so enjoyed back in the days of Jack Wolfskins promotion season.
 Vasili Kirylenka,  Pedro Nicacao,  Vitaly Popkov and Home favourite  Rui Costa certainly shouldn't be discounted as all have good time trial skills but may need a buffer before that final stage as they don't quite have the power too match the really big guns.
There is quite a few hilly specialists who will surely look to make the hilly first three days count especially the 'summit' finish on stage 3's Malhao climb.
 Roy,  Mehr-Wenige,  Scarponi,  Huzerski,  Gerdemann,  Fonte and  Richardson are all in this one on what looks a fairly evenly matched climbing field.
Not many pure sprinters here as you would expect. Romian Feillu is probably the headline sprinter with homelands hero Santos, former Bpost man Van Loocke, Lardass Ismael Kip, Rothaus sprint outsider Cucinotta, CDiv2 sprint king Haddou and early season stage winner Cardoso possibly his biggest rivals.
A nice mix of PCT's and CT's that should give a nice five days of riding.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 25-02-2013 20:57
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Meh. As long as I get points, I'm going to be a happy men. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 25-02-2013 20:57
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No such thing as a gap on a hilly stage, so an easy win for Zabriskie 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 08:05
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| cio93 |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:01
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Sorry to say that, but this is a big fail of an introduction.
You forgot to mention the rider winning stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 named Geschke
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:02
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Nice preview, i like the picture too.
Looks like a good one for Zabriskie again. Puts some pressure on Rogers though. And a bad feeling that i've chosen races that won't be too easy to win overall. On the other hand, every TT without Zabriskie is good for Rogers.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:03
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No Efimkin in the preview?
Looks like a nie race. I think Costa will take this one with the home bonus, but if the AI messes up Zabriskie has got this one. |
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| fintas |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:05
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First goal of the season, top 10 it will be very difficult to achieve. Again everything is on Mehr-Wenige but I think it will be almost impossible to make a difference in the hills, to compensate for the time lost in time trail. Still hope to get good results in the first three stages
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:06
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FroomeDog99 wrote:
No Efimkin in the preview?
Looks like a nie race. I think Costa will take this one with the home bonus, but if the AI messes up Zabriskie has got this one.
No worries. This is how this race will turn out:
1st Stage: Everyone attacks but in the end Geschke wins.
2nd Stage: Same story
3rd Stage: Everyoen attacks, but this time Geschke loses because he fell during the stage
4th Stage: A breakaway win's
5th Stage: Zabriskie win's and takes the GC |
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:13
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This would have been a great race for us on PCM 11 with Roy having the best hill stat here and being a decent TT rider (73 in TT) but now there's no chance so anything is a plus |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:18
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tsmoha wrote:
Nice preview, i like the picture too.
Looks like a good one for Zabriskie again. Puts some pressure on Rogers though. And a bad feeling that i've chosen races that won't be too easy to win overall. On the other hand, every TT without Zabriskie is good for Rogers.
And every TT without Rogers is great for Zabriskie, so I really hope that he'll do the job just as good like in San Luis.
Stage 3 should be the only stage where there is a chance for gaps, but since the TT is even longer than the one at Argentina, then I will be rather disappointed if he won't at least finish in top 5 and with a stage win to his name (Cornu could be a factor though).
Kip should be able to sit over the hills on stage 1 & 2 and participate in a possible sprint finish, though I'll be hard to beat Geschke
Looking forward to this, your reports are always enjoyable to read Smowz.
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:32
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PrivatBank meets Metinvest for the first time 
Fonte for a top 10 GC, Cardoso for a stage win and Cunha for the breaks.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:45
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Anything less than a podium finish would be considered a failure. Hopefully Feillu can take a stage along the way given that this course suits him perfectly.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 25-02-2013 21:48
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Come on Costa! I need a pick me up after what happened in Trentino. 
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| kumazan |
Posted on 25-02-2013 22:25
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One for the TTists for sure. No way Malhão makes enough of a difference for the puncheurs. So the Captain America me thinks.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 25-02-2013 22:51
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I agree. After what happened in San Luis, I think it isn't too bad to assume it'll go to Zabriskie.
On my side I'm hoping for a top10 by Nicacio and maybe a stage win with Santos.
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| roturn |
Posted on 26-02-2013 04:59
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There is my win goal...Should have picked another race even though Reus and Rogers aren`t here. Can`t see anyone else but Zabriskie to take this one. And then even Costa and Gerdemann could do better than Boom.
And I hope Geschke will do well again. But I am not too sure as I nominated Cucinotta and Geschke might not always go for the sprint. |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 26-02-2013 05:53
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fjhoekie wrote:
PrivatBank meets Metinvest for the first time
Yeah, here it comes and it is very prestigious for our team. 
I am afraid that we wwill have Geschke will win three stages, Zabriskie overall, no time gaps boring race, but i hope for some bigger selections (foolish thought, isnt it?). Popkov is here to score top 10, but it will be hard. Maybe he can grab some nice stage results, when he is not working also on Hoffman this time.
And Vitoria can maybe do something in the first two "hilly sprinter" stages, also i hope for some attack from Pakthusov and decent TT for Haijun Ma.
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 26-02-2013 05:54
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 26-02-2013 19:40
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A time trialist usually wins here in my careers on PCM12, but there is always the possibility that a strong puncheur will be able to create enough of gap to hold on to the overall title. I'll tip Durasek for a good result here.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 27-02-2013 20:18
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I'm starting to doubt Juan Mora capacities. I wonder if the game classifies him as sprinter and because of that he doesn't fight for stage's like this. Still, both Criel finished 24th, wich show's me that he maybe will do something, at least for scoring points. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-02-2013 20:21
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Good to see that the stage was quite selective even though it didn`t look too hard.
Van Winden as first big time trialist to be out of the GC.
Boom within the pack is good but I had hoped for a better positioning by Geschke. 8th is decent but I think a podium would have been possible today.
I am not sadistic. Just made a few mistakes by nominating stronger sprinters than Geschke/Bellis in some races and this might have been one reason for Geschke not position himself a bit better. |
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