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Tour of Sochi Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 07-03-2013 23:08
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It's a  Russian stage race in the Management game - for the first time ever. And after Tour de San Luis, Thuringen Rundfahrt and Volta ao Algarve, is is the latest race to feature a time trial and hilly stage. But not only does the tt feature a couple of tough hills, but the hilly stage includes quite a tough uphill finish. Tough enough for gaps to form?
We have to start with the Russians, Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC. Kiryenka may have won Volta ao Algarve, but he is absent here - instead they will ride for  Timofey Kritskiy. He looks a very strong candidate for at least a podium, with hill support from Rovny, and the potential for Brutt and Ovechkin to time trial to strong results.
The strongest rider in the field however, is  Thomas Dekker. Mountains are his strongest attribuite - so it is a semi surprise to see him using race days on a non-mountainous race. But competition in the mountains is tough, and his strong hill-tt combination has not been overlooked by his manager! Thomas Lebas finished a surprise 10th overall in Paris-Nice - what can he do here in support of Dekker once again?
It is two time trial wins out of two for  Dave Zabriskie so far - and as he continues to avoid Michael Rogers, he will have every expectation of continuing the winning streak here. He will need to dig deep on Stage 3 though, while Assan Bazahev is here for the sprints.
Division leaders  Hollister look set to continue a great season to date here. They have the best sprinter in the field - and he is Russian. Aleksandr Serebriakov won't be on contention in Stage 2 with the hills along the way, but there is a chance for him to bookend the race. Hollister's squad doesnt stop there, with Hill/TT allround Ion Izagirre plus hills specialist Carlos Betancourt.
We have the team rankings leader here, and also the individual rankings leader in  Nolan Hoffman. He will be sure to have something to say about Serebriakov's stage winning chances, and the puncheurs will be really hoping he doesnt manage to take the race lead before the hill stage, after what happened in South Africa! Realistically though, Vitaliy Popkov is their rider for GC - and a Top 10 is certainly within reach.
Let's move on to the World Champion  Lars Boom. The hill/tt combination is well suited to this race, and he will be determined to show that his season will be more like Thuringen than Algarve. Speaking of Thuringen, Simon Geschke could be a dangerman in the sprints. Or he could not, given that Claudio Cucinotta is also here.
Thuringen Rundfahrt winner  Linus Gerdemann has had a bit of an inconsistent season to date - which Linus will show up here?. Top 10 should be the minimum expectation. And look out for Luka Mezgec in the sprints, and Jiri Hudecek as a secondary Gerdemann - with slightly weaker stats - who was himself 5th in Germany.
 Ian Bibby makes his season debut for Jaguar-Eritel, and he is one of many team leaders who should be well suited to this race. It's clearly not unique in PCT to have a rider who is strong both on hills and time trials!
CSC-Orbea will place their hopes with  Rui Costa, and after 2nd overall in Algarve, they have every right to be confident, even amongst this strong compeititon.
Better known for their sprinting qualities, AirBaltic are all about the climbing here.  Ignas Konovalovas is yet another in the hill/tt mould. In support is Rene Mandri.
Team Bintang's are more of a climbing than time trialling team. Their best hope is likely to be  Sergio Ghisalberti, who will need to climb well and salvage as good a GC position as he can afterwards.
A good GC position will also be tough for Meiji.  Yusuke Hatanaka should go well on the hills, but the less said about his time trialling the better. Sascha Modolo or Yukiya Arashiro could be outside bets in the sprints.
The second Russian ProContinental squad do not have a strong team here, and any chance of a ranking scoring result overall will lie with  Yauhen Sobal from Belarus.
Now to the Continental squads who will face a tough challenge here.
The hills are Iberia's friend in C2 races, but they are no longer the top dog when here in C1, and  Samuel Sanchez will have to ride well to remind us of past performances. And the TT may not be so fun for him.
The Volta ao Algarve was probably  Cesar Andre Fonte's best chance of a GC Top 10 in C1, and he couldnt manage it - but that won't stop him trying again here. Oleksandr Polivoda and Filipe Cardoso could go well in the sprints.
 Przemyslaw Niemiec would prefer Stage 3 to be a mountain stage - and while his mountain skills may help a little, it is still a hill stage at the end of the day. His time trial skills should help him achieve a good final position.
Last of all are the Continental division leaders Kappa-ENI. Victory in the Vilnius GP could spur on  Francisco Lasca to try to punch away his weight in the sprints, but otherwise it could be a fairly anonymous race.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 07-03-2013 23:09
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| CountArach |
Posted on 08-03-2013 00:57
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Zabriskie would be my first obvious choice to take this one but that third stage looks immensely tough. So I'm going to go for Dekker to pull this off, but it should be close.
EDIT: and I had been banking on Rogers coming here because it looks like an amazing course for him. Tougher climbs and a long TT. I really don't know where he is going given the number of strong races for him that he has missed.
Edited by CountArach on 08-03-2013 01:00
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| cio93 |
Posted on 08-03-2013 01:04
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That hilly stage probably has a comparably high mo/hil ratio, making Dekker my favourite together with Kritskiy, who is a really interesting rider by the way.
Still, if that stage ends with a ridiculously big group, which is far from unlikely with no standout puncheurs present, Zabriskie might take the overall.
Surely that talk is only about second place though, as we all know what will happen with Nolan Hoffman present 
CountArach wrote:
EDIT: and I had been banking on Rogers coming here because it looks like an amazing course for him. Tougher climbs and a long TT. I really don't know where he is going given the number of strong races for him that he has missed.
Vantomme syndrome 
Edited by cio93 on 08-03-2013 01:05
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 08-03-2013 05:35
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cio93 wrote:
CountArach wrote:
EDIT: and I had been banking on Rogers coming here because it looks like an amazing course for him. Tougher climbs and a long TT. I really don't know where he is going given the number of strong races for him that he has missed.
Vantomme syndrome
Too early cio i don't remember his whole schedule and don't have access to my planner due to a broken laptop. Tbh, i already wondered why he was nowhere to be seen yet, but i know i spent a long time considering to bring him here. I guess i've chosen some races, where i thought Zabriskie wouldn't be there. Given Zabriskie's so far success, it looks like some mistakes have been made 
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 08-03-2013 05:52
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Great preview, looking forward to this race. Honestly, i did not expect such a brutal startlist, especially Dekker and Kritskiy are the big surprises for me (but i am happy they depleted their race days here and will have less against Popovych). 
But these two are my favourites, even against Zabriskie.
Popkov is aiming to the placement between 5th and 10th once again, but it will be tough, i hope stage 3 will be really selective, but judging from earlier races, dont know. Maybe Hoffman is targeting that stage?
Just kidding,he cant survive this one (it was the national bonus imo). But he can challenge likes of Serebriakov and Bazayev for the stage win hopefully, at least some podiums. Stage 2 can be ideal for his qualities.
And there is also another chapter of our special national goals. Beating Fonte again in GC and Polivoda in the sprints.
I love the common races with our "rival" and "comrades" from PrivatBank (also with our two loaned-in riders,thanks for guiding them Fjhoekie,you will meet your Prevar too).
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 08-03-2013 05:59
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 08-03-2013 07:42
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Just hope Fonte can get a top 15 GC and Poli a top 5 sprint.
Oh and it'd be a bonus if we'd beat Popkov
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 28-11-2024 01:03
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-03-2013 08:21
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I really hope that Geschke will go for the sprint on the second day. Cucinotta will probably perform the same on the other two sprint stages than him, so I just failed to have a chance on the point jersey...stupid sprinter plannings...
For the GC I hope that the hill won`t be too hard, then Boom should make a top 5 here or even a podium. |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 08-03-2013 09:10
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I just hope that Zabriskie won't mess up like in Algarve, though I doubt he can stay in touch with the best on stage 3.
A podium finish is therefore the target + perhaps a stage win for Assan. Will be great to watch, thanks for the preview SN.
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| tyriion |
Posted on 08-03-2013 16:16
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I'm not racing here, but I'm happy there's a big startinglist. Let's see what they think of my stage 3
Check out my ManGame team here
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| Ste117 |
Posted on 08-03-2013 19:04
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Hoping Niemiec can go well here, he hasn't really got a strong team around him, as Papok is here for stage 1 and with Golas at Trofej Porec split responsibilities upon the team.
Edited by Ste117 on 08-03-2013 20:28
MG Team manager Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 08-03-2013 20:02
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Really wanted to go to Sochi but unless I sent Rohregger there was no way I'd have any chance of results.
Very strong startlist - a few teams are going to be disapointed with the points hauls from their top leaders
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 08-03-2013 23:21
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Nice startlist, I'm quite satisfied that Algarve's wasn't such strong.
For the GC Kritskiy takes my vote since he's racing on home soil, but it'll be interesting how the likes of Boom, Dekker, Bibby, Zabriskie, etc. will do in these conditions. But I'm particularly interested in Bibby's performance.
In the flats Hoffman doesn't have an easy task ahead of himself but it sure looks like another good choice of Metinvest to have brought him here.
But I'm surprised with Vueling and Bintang's presence here. However while I think signing Dekker for Sochi may have been a masterstroke, Bintang's choice isn't particularly wise for a promotion seeker imo.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 09-03-2013 14:08
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That time trial is really long, it is surely a Zabriskie crushing win over Dekker and Kritskiy I think, although Boom could also be up there.
It depends on what happens on stages 2 and 3 I suppose, given that Zabriskie has won the Tour of California before (admittedly in a different pcm) I find it hard to believe he will not win this.
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 10-03-2013 18:54
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Only here for experience. Was my last choice after not getting in some other races. No hoped for the overal. Let's get in some breaks and maybe Sanchez can surprise somewhere
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 10-03-2013 21:31
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Oh dear, sprinting failure...
Gomenyuk was where Polivoda should've been... Yep...
Anyway Metinvest deserved this win, congratulations
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 10-03-2013 21:58
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The god of sprints strikes yet again, while Assan gains yet another second place which I'm quite satisfied about. I hope he'll get that win though. Aru crashing is hopefully not something that'll make him too injured for the challenges to come.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 11-03-2013 05:43
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That man is a star.
Great work from our train once again, Brambilla is real powerhouse and Grosu doing good job too, i hope he is watching Nolan for future own development.
Thanks for congrats and great report, 2nd stage could see Nolan be there near the top again i hope.
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 11-03-2013 06:11
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-03-2013 06:25
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Well done Hoffman. Great signing Avin as said very often before.
Cucinota with a decent result. Quite what was expected from him even though I wished he would ride for Geschke to have a chance for the point jersey. |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 11-03-2013 22:07
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Whoops, sorry Avin
Poli showing he can keep up with the C1 hilly sprinters on this stage, awesome 50k signing
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 12-03-2013 05:48
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Our friends from PrivatBank denying us the bonus seconds for Hoffman, what a sneaky move from Polivoda. Hey you Poli, you are not part of our sprint train, it does not matter we contacted you before the transfers. 
I guess if Passeron was not there, we would form a proper sprint train and got win nr.2, but this was fun to watch and 4th is still some points, shame about that lost jersey though. Maybe Popkov could be more helpful in the sprint preparations there. Congrats to Rothaus,they just keep on winning.
Tommorow will be brutal, Popkov shoud enter top 10 now or never.
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 12-03-2013 05:50
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