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Tour of Romandie Discussion Thread
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-05-2013 20:10
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The Tour of Romandie is the first of 2 Suisse races in the Pro Tour calendar. And most top stage racers will be here to fight for the overall win.
The route is very interesting. A flat prologue on the first day is the only real flat stage while the 2nd stage, which might be something for the sprinters is the only other possibility for those riders. So it`s not surprising that just a very few sprinters are here. We need to mention  Forero,  Caethoven,  Grillo and  Vanoverschelde.
The 3rd stage already might be the queen stage with some very tough climbs. As only real mountain stage the GC could already be decided here, even though the next 3 stages can all bring huge changes. The mountain time trial on the 4th for example can create bigger gaps and even though the pure climbers should like this event they might be afraid of the long ~13km of pretty flat terrain before the real climb starts.
Stages 5&6 both look super hard and it might be a good test for the allrounders if they can gap some weaker puncheurs.
So in general it`s something for every kind of rider and the clear favourites are most probably the allrounders, who won`t lost much on the mountain, the hills and the time trials.
Since Vueling is no longer part of the Pro Tour and the team has no wildcard it`s a shame that last year`s winner Thomas Dekker can`t be here to defend his title.
But we can announce the presence of 3 previous winners.  Janez Brajkovic (2007),  Aleksandr Pluchkin (2010) and  Robert Gesink (2011) also belong to the favourites this season. In especially the last 2 are expected to perform on a very high level here and are expected on the podium by many.
Andy Schleck is more than just the best climber here. He is also a decent puncheur and time trialist and so he belongs to the top favourites. His best results here are already a few years back but his 3rd (2007) and 4th (2008) prove his qualities.
 Contador is having a nice season so far and must be named after his win in Catalunya. Last year he also belonged to the favourites and finished as 6th. He surely hopes to improve.
 Amador is the leader of the only Suisse team here. And they hope to win this race here. Definitely a hard task for him but not impossible. His 3rd of the last season shows this.
 Machado is another rider, who improved in the off-season. He needn`t to hide behind the others as he belongs to the best. He never raced the Romandie before, so experience might be the only issue.
Uran reached the top 10 in the last two seasons and this is most probably also his goal this season as he misses the tiny bit to the previous riders.
Spilak obviously doesn`t like the Romandie that much. Two appearances but a 15th and a 16th is everything so far. This season he wants to attack the first places, so an improvement is needed.
 Sella is one of those real climbers. His only appearance in 2008 is not worth to mention. He wants a good result and he is able to get one.
Valverde is a great combination between climber and puncheur. So even though he is mentioned pretty late he must be watched for the overall. Reason for the late mention is the very strong field here with lots of possible winners.
 Alarcon leads the wild card team together with Nazaret and Krasnoperov. So maybe the strongest team. But they are mountain goats and might struggle on the time trials or hilly stages. But definitely a team, who could surprise everyone.
 Van Den Broeck never had a result here. So a top10 for his debut might be a good result in this field.
 Rujano also was here a long time ago. But his 07/08 experience can only become better as he surely wants into the top10.
 Denifl from the neighbour country leads the Wikipedia squad. He is a similar rider to Van Den Broeck and just like the Belgium, this is new ground for him.
The other teams have outside chances with  Lloret,  Costagli,  Brambilla or  Faiers. Last two teams probably hope for good stage results by top puncheurs Di Maggio and Gilbert.
Weakest teams here are  Bacardi and a bit surprising also  Santander. The actual last in the rankings is avoiding this mountain race and slowly they need to start scoring.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 02-05-2013 20:40
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Go Machado. Expect some portuguese stuff here. Do it Costa style.  |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 02-05-2013 20:43
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Looks an unpredictable race and a great startlist to start to stage racing season.
I am hoping for a more active race from the SRB boys after a sleepy Ardennes. Gesink marginal favourite for me for the overall.
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 02-05-2013 20:44
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Will root for Alarcon and VDB here, for obvious different reasons though I think that the younger Schleck will deliver a nice result for SN 
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 02-05-2013 21:04
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Really looking forward to see this race! Both the mountain stages and the hilly stages look like they will be decisive.
Spilak for the win as he combines talent on both hills and longer climbs.
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 02-05-2013 21:18
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Hope Artem can help his teammates, and perhaps score a stage top 10. Would be cool to see our loaned out rider perform quite well
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Kami |
Posted on 02-05-2013 21:48
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roturn wrote:
Weakest teams here are Bacardi and a bit surprising also Santander. The actual last in the rankings is avoiding this mountain race and slowly they need to start scoring.
I wouldn't exactly call this a mountainous race. 1 hilly stage was enough to destroy Intxausti in Catalunya, i can't even start to image where he would end with 2 hilly stages.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 02-05-2013 21:57
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Kami wrote:
I wouldn't exactly call this a mountainous race. 1 hilly stage was enough to destroy Intxausti in Catalunya, i can't even start to image where he would end with 2 hilly stages.
Both are probably very much on the mountainious side regarding the Mo/Hil ratio.
That said, I hope VDB pulls off another Pais Vasco performance.
Staying with the best on the selective stages doesn't help a lot here though, as I expect the TT to sort the climbers according to their stats, so a Top 10 would be highly appreciated.
It's important to get a bit of a gap to Venchi now, and without wishing them bad luck, B&O not scoring as many points as they might hope for here would help us as well.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 04:31
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 02-05-2013 22:16
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Tour of Romandie is one of my favourite races on this years Calender, Can't see past Schleck myself, though perhaps Contador can conjure up a nice result
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 02-05-2013 22:23
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Awesome, probably the first race I've been excited for this year. I think Andrei Amador can podium, but the win may be just a little too much. He does have a great record in mountain TT's, so we'll have to see how far that can get us. Brought all of my best Swiss guys too, so I'd love to see them get in some breakaways in our home race! 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 02-05-2013 23:05
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The main goal of the season. The route seems to be made for Gesink, but he already achieved his one big win per season in Vuelta al Pais Vasco, so I have a strong feeling he won't win this one
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| ember |
Posted on 02-05-2013 23:20
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This is the real test for Spilak. If he somehow can survive that crucial third stage, he'll look strong for a good overall result, considering the final two hilly stages.
I really hope for a podium, that would be brilliant. Though, a top five will also be great. He should at least better his earlier performances in Romandie.
It's an awesome start list! Gesink, if he gets yellow on the prologue, is my favourite for the overall win.
Great preview, roturn. Really looking forward to the race reports
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 02-05-2013 23:23
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Stage 3 should be fun. More than enough climbs to tire out the field, and hopefully cause the race to tear up on that last HC climb. A strong ride by Schleck there, and on the second half of the Mountain TT, is whats needed for a top result.
Hill stages arent the best for gaps. So long as the race leader has a good enough hill stat going into the final two stages, he will be hard to stop, whover he turns out to be!
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| Roman |
Posted on 03-05-2013 00:09
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Well, top 10 for Uran and/or a stage win would be a great result, I think. Forero could definetely and hopefully help here.
Edited by Roman on 03-05-2013 00:09
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 03-05-2013 06:31
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Great looking race, same with startlist, so i am really looking forward to follow, should be exciting to watch!
I am keen to see how Andy will do for Vesuvio against favourites like Gesink, Amador, Contador and Pluchkin, good luck to all and show us some spectacle.
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| Heine |
Posted on 03-05-2013 07:12
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I have a feeling that Machado will pull up a suprise victory, beating the biggest favorites
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 03-05-2013 17:17
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I don't really have any believe in a good GC placement in this race. I hope Di Maggio will be able to do something on the two very last stages, though!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 17:49
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Sykkel_Freak wrote:
I don't really have any believe in a good GC placement in this race. I hope Di Maggio will be able to do something on the two very last stages, though!
I tend to doubt that. Assuming a (very favourable) mo/hill ratio of 0.25, that would make di Maggio 78 and already puts him behind most GC riders, plus his weak RES/REC...
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 04-05-2013 19:33
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That was a great ride by Gesink. Strong ride as whel by Pluschkin. Machado disappoints. |
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| p3druh |
Posted on 04-05-2013 19:44
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I didn't really expect more from Machado (74 prologue). 21 seconds lost to Gesink (80 prologue) is not that bad.
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