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Tour de l'Ain Discussion
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 17-05-2013 14:30
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The Tour de l'Ain welcomes some of the finest stage racers in the continental division to for what hopefully will be an exciting 6 days of racing. Surprisingly, it's the race first edition in the mangame.
To start the race off the sprinters will have a go at it in 2 flat stages. Both being without any notable difficulties, it should be a fair fight between all pure sprinters. Next up is a discipline we don't encounter that much per season. The team time trial will be a first important test for the overal contenders. Team strength is really necessary though only just over 10 kilometres long, the gaps won't be huge. The race then moves into the Jura mountains for 3 tough days.
The 4th stage probably won't make any gaps yet as the run in to the finish is rather easy. A day for the breakaway perhaps? What follows is harder. A mountain finish after a day inculding 3 climbs should seperate the men from the boys. Anybody who wants to fight back after can do that on the last stage which is comparably hard but due to a flatter last kilometres is given the hilly categorisation. This is definatly a race for good all around riders.
A rider who was missed by many in the big HC mountain stage races,  Thomas Dekker is definatly the top favourite here. Having only raced in Sochi before were there weren't any mountains, we will have to wait and see if he is still as good on the long climbs as before relagating together with his Vueling team. A team that probably isn't strong enough to support him in the TTT but should do very well in the harder stages.
 David Abal was CSC' big transfer splash and has been delivering solid results so far. Solid that is as the extraordinary is missing. Without his usual competitiors here bar Popovych, he is definatly a good shout for the podium. The two hilly stages don't play in his cards though as he clearly has more trouble handling short steep stuff compared to longer climbs.
 Popovych has been performing as expected so far with steady good results. His team Metinvest are doing suprisingly well so far being in the top 10 of the continental standings. They look to continue that trend here as Popovych wants to take a big win home to Ukraine. With Ma and Zmorka, his team should be one of the better teams on the TTT.
 Keizer combines great TT skills with good climbing powers. He probably would have preferred had stage 3 be an individual timetrial but should pull his team to a good result nonetheless.  Plaza has been a steady pointscorer for Prio Porto so far and should continue that here. Supported by Nicacio, he has a good team around him for all types of terrain.
 Suaza and  Nazaret are both top climbers aswell but both have one clear weakness. The hilly stages for the first while the team around the latter can definatly be called rather weak.
 John Gadret is slowly becoming old but should still be able to get a good result here in his homecountry. He has both experience and a good team around him.
 Hoogerland,  Bibby,  Stetina,  Ardila Cano,  Kolesnikov and  Peraud are all good bets for the top 10 but nobody would think they would beat the three top GC riders that are starting here.
With top timetrialers like Ford, Tennant and Stannard present, teams like Oz and Jaguar should be very strong in the team time trial. Tinkoff has about the same squad that won the TTT in Trentino so will be looking to repeat that succes aswell.
Considering the two first stages are pan flat, the weakness of the sprinters field here is quite surprising. C2 star  Hans Dekkers should be the fastest sprinter here. Trussov,  Jorgensen,  Richeze and  Borrajo deserve mentioning aswell. This might mean that many more riders will believe in their sprint chances here what might lead to some chaotic sprints.
Edited by Spilak23 on 17-05-2013 14:30
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| jaxika |
Posted on 17-05-2013 14:45
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Hmmm.....i almost forgot about this race. I hope Dekkers can do something nice in the first two stages and maybe with some luck, Talabardon can fight a Top15 place in his home soil |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 17-05-2013 14:57
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I was thinking whether to choose this race or Tour of Japan for Marquez as his last race. With the success in Japan and the startlist I see here - it was a brilliant choice 
Should be a really good race.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 17-05-2013 15:09
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Peraud needs to make the Top-10. Anything less would be a fail.
Winning the TTT would be another goal and maybe Visconti will tryto go for the hilly stages. We failed in races like that so far (Langkawi), so come on, please deliver!
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| Heine |
Posted on 17-05-2013 15:12
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Hmm, I must've done a mistake here, I think I thought the TT was individual :-p yeahyeah, I just got to hope Keizer takes a really long relay :-p
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 18-05-2013 08:13
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Dekker is the top favourite here. My bet is him. I'll bet as well that on the two sprint stage's, a surprise will take them both. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 18-05-2013 08:48
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Looks an unpredictable one this - cannot see the TTT being long enough to be crucial. Stage five is clearly going to be the one that decides things, but it could be quite a tactical one.
Stage six looks tough too. I'll go with Popo to take this one.
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 18-05-2013 09:59
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Dekker's absence from the big stage races and presence in less contested ones like this could turn out to be a brilliant success for Vueling, if Sochi is anything to judge from. Without Taaramae, I can't see him losing this race.
Closest competitor will be Popo, I reckon. Abal might be stronger on stage 5, but I can see him struggling with the final stage. It doesn't look like much, but it's really quite hard. His, in comparison to his rivals, low hill stat could cause problems.
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Posted on 24-11-2024 08:44
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 18-05-2013 13:10
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Dekkers for the sprints, Oz for the TTT and Dekker for the overall. I agree that Stage 5 looks like the deciding stage, but the hilly ones can be surprising.
I'm looking for a top5, maybe even a podium. But I should've brought a sprinter here.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 18-05-2013 14:20
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Team Tactics Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC
"Hope to win the TTT, anything else is bonus!"
| Name | Fl | Mo | Hi | TT | St | Rs | Rc | Co | Sp | Ac | Fi | Do | Pr | Role | | Kunshin, Aleksej | 70 | 77 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 56 | 68 | 71 | 64 | 62 | 71 | Leader I | | Kolesnikov, Sergei | 78 | 77 | 72 | 72 | 76 | 74 | 76 | 61 | 70 | 77 | 74 | 63 | 72 | Leader II | | Trusov, Nikolai | 69 | 68 | 66 | 70 | 69 | 70 | 78 | 56 | 78 | 74 | 70 | 61 | 70 | Sprinter | | Kiryenka, Vasili | 71 | 73 | 74 | 76 | 76 | 74 | 70 | 53 | 68 | 77 | 55 | 57 | 76 | Co-Leader | | Brutt, Pavel | 75 | 65 | 71 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 58 | 56 | 73 | 80 | 62 | 74 | Fighter | | Vorobev, Anton | 71 | 62 | 63 | 74 | 70 | 67 | 63 | 50 | 58 | 72 | 78 | 55 | 73 | Fighter | | Ovechkin, Artem | 72 | 61 | 70 | 76 | 69 | 74 | 63 | 56 | 61 | 70 | 73 | 63 | 76 | Teammate |
Edited by OlegTinkov on 18-05-2013 14:22
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 18-05-2013 16:18
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Hope the gamble to use 6 race days here for Abal pays off. The hilly stage should have a rather high Mo ratio that should help him. Top 3 is a must at this stage of the year.
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-05-2013 17:19
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Keizer will struggle in these tough stages I think, though I really hope he will succed at a top 5
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 19-05-2013 22:35
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Looks like a strong but not over strong field hopefullly we can perform well enough to get a high GC placing and start to move clear of the relegation zone. |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 20-05-2013 05:57
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Nice preview Spilak, this is one of the races i am looking forward to the most this season. Poppovych looks like great rider for these profiles and i was thinking the opposition could be weaker here. And it is, except Dekker and Abal from top stage racers.
But i am so happy Popo is finally racing without Taaramae, Pozzo and especially inhuman Kritskiy.
Dekker is still the biggest favourite in my eyes, but top3 is the must for Popovych, bar accidents. Abal and Keijzer should be biggest opponents to achieve that. I hope for the solid result in TTT too.
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| jaxika |
Posted on 20-05-2013 09:20
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I'm sad After this disaster, Talabardon need to do a lot in the mountains to earn forgivness. Carrara was good as always, he save the day. Great report |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 20-05-2013 11:50
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Not a good day for our "sprinter", but at least the team has shown some strength in pacing the pack and emerging as the force for Popo later in the race.
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 20-05-2013 12:07
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Pellizotti2 wrote:
Dekker's absence from the big stage races and presence in less contested ones like this could turn out to be a brilliant success for Vueling, if Sochi is anything to judge from. Without Taaramae, I can't see him losing this race.
Closest competitor will be Popo, I reckon. Abal might be stronger on stage 5, but I can see him struggling with the final stage. It doesn't look like much, but it's really quite hard. His, in comparison to his rivals, low hill stat could cause problems.
It's not really a tactical choice. I didn't expect to have Dekker this season, so I avoided the HC mountains (HC selections were made pre-transfers). Same with Kennaugh and flat HC classics, by the way 
Heine wrote:
Hmm, I must've done a mistake here, I think I thought the TT was individual :-p yeahyeah, I just got to hope Keizer takes a really long relay :-p
Same I don't have many good TTers anyway, so I doubt the line-up would be dramatically different, though. |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 20-05-2013 14:51
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Nice to see Rake in the break, but a miserable sprint..
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| kumazan |
Posted on 20-05-2013 15:09
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Even with a weaker field, I couldn't really expect much from this race. Obviously, with this field even less, even if it isn't particularly strong. However I did have a bit of faith in Borrajo, so he better improve for the next stage.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 20-05-2013 15:58
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Hopeless from Jørgensen again..
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