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Tour of Japan Discussion
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 10:49
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Welcome to the country of the rising sun for a beautiful race.
The Tour of Japan consists of 6 stages. Start is in Sakai for a very short prologue. Two stages in line follow. Both of them are on a local circuit which includes a hill. The first is rated flat with the second categorised as hilly because of the shorter circuit which means more ascents. Then we move to one of the greatest mountains in the world. Mount Fuji has been object of many art pieces but let's hope we can have a great cycling time trial there aswell. A second hilly stage follows before a totally flat city loop around Tokyo.
The three biggest favourites here are three totally different riders.
 Efimkin is a top class puncher but is not as strong on longer climbs and definatly lacks against the clock. He will look to attack on the hilly stages to make up the time that he loses during the two timetrials.
 Marquez on the other hand is mainly a climber as he showed by winning Tachira. He is decent on both timetrials and hills but hard to call him outstanding. The Mount Fuji timetrial is probaly where he will hit.
Then there is timetrial World Champion  Rogers. He should be a lock to winnin the opening prologue but can he hold on for six days. Especially the hilly stages will be tough as he lost a lot of his explosiveness on short hills as age started to get to him.
Since this year, there are 2 Japanese teams in the Man-Game. Ofcourse they both brought their top riders here.
 Meji is led by Chinese Ji. With the extra motivation, he could surprise and go home with the win here. The team has some other strongmen aswell in Sano, Shimizu and Arashiro for the sprints.
 JK Cycling doesn't really have a rider for the GC here but they are a strong sprinting squad. Peeters is their fast men and he has already showed that he can win this year. Good support from his teammates and the crowds should give him a stage win.
There are many other top riders present.  Bibby,  Ardila,  Costa and  Castano are the first that come to mind when thinking about the GC. Bibby is very strong all around and also has a very good kick which might come in handy on the hilly stages. As has Costa but he might be lacking a bit on the longer climbs to limit his losses on Mount Fuji. Ardila and Castano, two years ago teammates at Festina, are seen as the two best climbers behind Marquez but definatly want to beat him.  Repsol has multiple cards with Ardila Cano, Agudelo and Acevedo. The second looks like their best option as he combines climb and timetrial powers but it could very well be only Acevedo remains in a good position if the hilly stages are raced hard.  Schurter from Sauber could suprise and pick up a stage win by using his descending strength on the hilly stages.
Then we move to the sprinters. Peeters has already been mentioned. His biggest opponents are Vingerling, Ferrari,  Guardini,  Matzka  Giacoppo and Rasmussen but the last only for the totally flat criterium in Tokyo. The short prologue might also be something for him.
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 03-05-2013 10:54
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Great preview, this should be a intriguing event!
One of my favourite races of the year, and our target is a top 5 finish in the ovr. though it'll be hard.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 03-05-2013 10:58
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I dont get two selctions to be honest- Rogers and Efimkin, i think neither of them is very good for this race, but both probably are going because of the Asian focus of their teams?
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-05-2013 11:06
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Yap, definitely don't like my Rogers-season-plan anymore.
Asian focus was definitely a reason though, plus underestimating the hilly stages and overestimating Rogers' climbing.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 03-05-2013 12:47
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Have been looking forward to this race for quite a time now. Just had a feeling we could do well here, and maybe snatch a surprise stage win. We would definitely need a good haul with points here to climb the regional rankings and more importantly, the season/division ranking table.
Nice preview Spilak!
Edited by Bjartne on 03-05-2013 12:47
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 13:52
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Avin Wargunnson wrote:
I dont get two selctions to be honest- Rogers and Efimkin, i think neither of them is very good for this race, but both probably are going because of the Asian focus of their teams?
It's partly Asian Tour focus, partly spare race days and partly a risky shot. I think he might win one of the hilly stages and defend himself okay on Mount Fuji (he's not a horrendous climber, mind you). 
Looking forward to the race!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 13:56
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My inner sense says Bibby. Repeatedly and very loud by the way.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 03-05-2013 13:59
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Grand Tour Champion
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Marquez winning here could catapult HTC into a top half finish in the division and I think he will do just that.
Really weak startlist though.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 03-05-2013 14:22
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Pellizotti2 wrote:
Avin Wargunnson wrote:
I dont get two selctions to be honest- Rogers and Efimkin, i think neither of them is very good for this race, but both probably are going because of the Asian focus of their teams?
It's partly Asian Tour focus, partly spare race days and partly a risky shot. I think he might win one of the hilly stages and defend himself okay on Mount Fuji (he's not a horrendous climber, mind you).
Looking forward to the race!
True that, he can gain enough time in hilly stages and TTs are not so long to loose much, sorry for doubts, we will see how it turns out. 
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 03-05-2013 15:51
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Not sure what to expect, a stage win on the mountain TT is a definite target.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 16:01
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This race should be good. Already played it a couple of time in PCM, and it does with a good AI. |
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| Christer |
Posted on 03-05-2013 17:53
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You know it's a weak field when Team WWE has the first start numbers!  Hopefully I'll score some much needed points here.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 18:18
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I reckon we've got a chance of a top 10 here overall, and hopefully we'll manage to pick up plenty more points towards the Asia Tour Rankings.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 18:31
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I meant to send Serpa here. This will be the death knell |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 03-05-2013 18:34
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Ought to be a good race for Bibby. I fancy his chances for a podium.
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| brownwm |
Posted on 03-05-2013 18:37
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Looking for a big involvement in this race, and hopefully some points to go with it. Good luck all.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 03-05-2013 21:00
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Really scared of stage 4 but the two hilly stages were too tempting not to send Costa. He is one of the best time trialing punchuers so hopefully his result here will prove that.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 04-05-2013 06:59
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This really all depends on how much the hilly stages play a factor over the Mountain TT.
If Ji can hang in with those puncheurs, I think he'll be able to get some time back in the TT and hopefully grab a Top 5, because if I recall that was my goal.
If it really goes the puncheurs way, I've got Hatanaka as a bit of a fall back so I think we'll do alright here. Best case scenario is both get in the Top 10.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 04-05-2013 07:14
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I always enjoyed this race in my time in the Continental Tour, a couple of hilly stages with the Mount Fuji Time trial.
The hilly ones are the decisive type and very difficult to control, I fancy Efimkin and Costa to be strong in this weakish field. They will have to drop Marquez though who is the danger man for the MTT.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 04-05-2013 14:44
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Not a surprising result. Very nice report, though.
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