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Tropicale Amissa Bongo Discussion Thread
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-04-2013 23:35
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The Tropicale Amissa Bongo had one appearance in the Man Game history. In 2011 the race was won by Jonathan Bellis. Only one rider of the top 10 will also start in 2013 and surely hoping to step up. It`s Jaguar`s  Chris Froome, one of the divisions best puncheurs.
Even with the quite easy looking stages here we have 4/6 hilly rated stages while only the 1st and 6th stage are supposed to be for the pure sprinters. And even there we see some difficulties, so it`s not even said that we will see a single sprint finish.
It`s hard to predict where we will have the biggest selection. Maybe stage 2 with the late double climb? Or stage 5 as it`s the only one with a "real" uphill finish? But one thing is for sure, all riders need to be concentrated on every single stage, otherwise they can quickly lose any chances.
I have already mentioned Chris Froome as one of the top favourites. He is joined by another great puncheur, who already did well this season. Alex Dowsett could also be a name for the overall win here. They are supported by quite a few decent puncheurs and it might be the team to beat.
 Flügel might the the biggest opponent on the paper. The German is an excellent puncheur and belongs to the big favourites.
 Ben Nasser will probably like this race. The hills aren`t the hardest and in comparison to the other puncheurs he is a pretty good sprinter. And bonus seconds might become important here. Another rider with hopes on this terrain might be Marko Kump. If he comes over the hills with the best he will be one of the best sprinters.
 Gautier should be a solid bet for a good result here. Everything between the win and a top 5 is possible.
 Wegmann is another combination rider. He might be good for 1-2 stage wins here. Also his GC chances will climb a lot due to the bonus seconds. He just needs to keep hanging on the better puncheurs. Duggan will be solid support in the last kilometers.
 Hoogerland is the last rider on the list of big favourites. Even though he is not as good as Froome for example on the hills he could surprise. He is a great fighter and will surely try to gain time on every stage.
Outside chances have  Reimer, who actually is very similar to Wegmann/Kump and could be listed above as well,  Pinaeu,  Ngue,  Pakthusov,  Taborre/Salerno,  De Maar,  Chaoufi,  Montaguti or  Schurter.
I haven`t forgotten Team Armavia. Their leaders are a bit behind the others. So they need to hope for a breakaway I guess.
That all said it would need a race with selections. But what if some sprinters will be able to get enough bonus seconds to stay in a high GC position?
We might have some candidates in that case.
 Lo Cicero is one of the best sprinters here and surely hopes for a stage win. His weakness might be the uphill sections. So I am not sure if it`s the best suited race for him.
Kennaugh is another rider, who was already here in 2011. His best position was a 9th and he surely improved since then. This time he might be disappointed when leaving without a stage win. He is a better climber than Lo Cicero and could be a candidate for a good GC position as well.
Drujon needs to fight. It will be hard for him to beat the others in a pure sprint, so every bonus second will be a good extra for him.
Bozic might be one of the better pure sprinters on the uphill sections. So if he can survive 1-2 hilly stages he could get some nice points.
Vingerling. Similar case to Lo Cicero. Not as fast but similar weak on the climbs.
Van Hummel/Hushovd need to work together. Then some good results are surely possible.
Day is one of the outside favourites for the sprint. On a perfect day everything is possible.
It will be interesting to follow the sprint finishes between the pure sprinters and the riders with good hill stats as well like Wegmann, Reimer or Kump.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 12-04-2013 00:04
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Ive got Top 5 as a goal, but would quite like to win the race really! Will need Froome to perform Efimkin-Taiwan style though, I suspect, gaps could be hard to find.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 00:13
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I'm really not expecting much out of this race, although the stages don't look that hard so we may be able to nick a top 10 or top 15 GC through consistently placing high on stages rather than through time gaps or bonus seconds.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 28-11-2024 01:48
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| CountArach |
Posted on 12-04-2013 00:37
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Gautier seems to be good at placing in sprints so if gaps aren't there he should still do okay. I'm hoping for a top 10 at least though. Also a couple of podiums for Drujon would be nice.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 12-04-2013 06:07
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We are outsiders here for every category, so i expect aggresive riding and hopefully it can bring us close to some success, like KOM jersey or good stage position.
Pakthusov is going for top15 in GC, shame that PCM12 is no longer much of a friend of second tier punchers gaining race lead through long range attack.
In flatter stages, Vasylyuk or Vitoria can hopefully attack top5.
Good luck to all!
Shame i did not bring Hoffman, this looks like his favourite profile. 
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| Heine |
Posted on 12-04-2013 06:40
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Hmm, should've had Castenada here for the flat stages... Anyway, hoping for a win from Flügel, he has been performing well this year, so just keep it up 
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| jph27 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 07:34
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Why is Lo Cicero here?
Wish the field was this weak in Taiwan. Wegmann for me. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 12-04-2013 07:43
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I will probably start tomorrow at the earliest.
There are narrow roads (at least on the 1st stage) and I still try to get the stage files to fix this. |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 07:46
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Lo Cicero in a race with no true flat stages? A waste of race days, i guess. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 08:16
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We are outsiders here, I don't really expect anything. Would be nice if we could get in a break or two while Chaoufi gets a lower overall position. |
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 12-04-2013 08:32
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Hehe, in the off-season I actualy thought he could be able to win a couple of stages here, due to a natural weaker sprinting field. If I'd knew what I know today, he would never been here 
Last time I criticized him, he won, so I expect the same reaction here Lo Cicero. |
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| Christer |
Posted on 12-04-2013 09:25
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I doubt I'll score a lot of points here, but any points will be welcomed with open arms.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 12-04-2013 09:29
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I fancy Flugal here, but it will be on who manages to make the decisive move. Froome could do it also. Wegmann obviously sprints well but I am seeing his old legs struggling to follow the big moves.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 09:53
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I like the chances of Drujon and Bozic if one of them wins the first stage could gain a nice points haul! |
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| roturn |
Posted on 13-04-2013 18:30
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Luckily adiouk sent me his stage files, so there won`t be narrow roads here as they had huge influence otherwise.
So congrats to Vueling for this dominant win.
I was actually hoping for Vingerling to surprise as his team was excellent. In especially Pineau and Veilleux did well. First as leadout and second as main chaser in the end. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 13-04-2013 18:43
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Well it is the problem for Christers teams in general, he doesn't like to break the bank in terms of wages - so they lack the finishers. Even when you said they are working well you knew it was not going to work out.
Could be a really dominant race for Jaguar.
Nice work with stage files too roturn.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 13-04-2013 18:45
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Keep being in scoring position Van Hummel!
Now it´s time for Hoogerland to show what he got! |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 13-04-2013 18:57
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Good start, hopefully at least one of Lijke / Armee / Maar does well here at the end, we need these points for Africa Tour.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 13-04-2013 18:57
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Glad we got the mountain Jersey tied up for tomorrow although it's a shame Hugentobler couldn't then hang on to the peloton.
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| Christer |
Posted on 13-04-2013 19:11
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Smowz wrote:
Well it is the problem for Christers teams in general, he doesn't like to break the bank in terms of wages - so they lack the finishers. Even when you said they are working well you knew it was not going to work out.
*points at season opener* Lacking finishers? To some extent, yes. But hopefully that's just temporary. Vingerling is young, and already quite good. The team has proven on more than one occasion that they can work for a sprinter if I put together the right squad. Don't be surprised if you see Team WWE in the top in a two seasons time. I think I'm also one of few managers (not from the very beginning) to not start completely from scratch. The team is getting changed slowly. I'm always trying to get some high-quality finishers, as proven this transfer season (but with lacking succsess...) Now if only I could snatch a 80AVG rider for less than 500K wage...
Anyways: I am really happy with the team effort for Vingerling. I think as for now, he's better off as a leadout for Greipel. But he is the fastest dutch rider (4th in most recent Dutch NC, winning the bunch sprint) so don't rule him out completely!
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