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Tour de Suisse Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 04:21
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| ember |
Posted on 19-06-2013 09:53
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Tour de Suisse is one of the most prestigious stage races in the Pro Tour. Its history goes back to the very start of the ManGame, with Vinokourov winning it in 2007 all up to last year, where Pluchkin won the race with with more than a minute.
This year’s race will also be about the GC riders, with a hilly prologue kicking things off in Lugano. Then the race immediately hits the mountains on stage 2, which climbs to Col de Verbier, with the final 8 kilometers averaging about 8 percent. The GC could very well be settled after the two first stages. Then three flat stages and a hilly one takes us to stage 7, which is a team time trial. In the area of Gossau the teams with GC ambitions need to step up for their team leader. There will be no place to hide on the 32.5 kilometers long team time trial, where every second could prove crucial for the overall classification.
The team time trial is a great build up for the decisive weekend. Two mountain stages will decide this year’s Tour de Suisse, on the very two last days of the race! The first one to Arosa doesn’t look that testing, as there’s a long false flat before the final kick to the line, but the Queen stage of the race looks absolutely brutal. The riders are forced to face two .HC-categorized climbs on their way to Sörenberg the final day. With the toughest stage coming at the end of the race you are guaranteed an exciting Queen stage, where there will hopefully be everything to play for.
Quite shockingly,
 Pluchkin
hasn’t been given bib #1. Though, as the defending champion he comes to the race as one of the favourites. He will have a strong team to support him, looking to Grivko in the mountains and several Danish riders for the team time trial.
 Schleck
is arguably his toughest challenger on paper. The Luxembourgian is the best climber in the world, and here in Switzerland he will get vital support from Samwel in the mountains. Add a great team time trial team, and there’s no doubt Schleck is here to win the race.
 Fothen
 Úran
 Amador
are all similar rider types. They are amongst the very best stage racers in the world, and all three have the capacity to win this race. They’re all stronger than Schleck against the clock, and just like most other overall favourites they can rely on solid support, respectively from Dees, Kulhavy and Frank.
 Machado
is one of the best climbers in the world, like he has recently proved in Vuelta a Espana. Here he will have to face many other stage racers compared to in Spain, and question is if he can do better in Switzerland than in Spain, and get a podium from the race. Kangert will be a key lieutenant for the Portuguese.
 Brajkovic
 Intxausti
 Denifl
do also have the capacity of making the podium at the end of this year’s Tour de Suisse, but both Brajkovic and Denifl might struggle compared to the other favourites on the team time trial. Bacardi has brought a great line up for that one, meaning that won’t be the biggest problem for the Spaniard. The challenging hilly stage 4 could prove a handful for him.
 Sanchez
 Costagli
 Pedraza
 Kiserlovski
are outsiders for a top 5, but they’ll definitely need several good days if that’s going to happen. Project 1t4i and Koenigsegg have tried to give their captains an advantage bringing a strong team time trial team.
Pendleton’s has brought an in depth strong team, but they probably lack the big star to lead them. That will be
 Kohl
responsibility.
 Boasson Hagen
is here to lead his Norwegian team, aiming for a stage win on either the hilly prologue or the hilly stage later in the race. The flat stages could also suit him if raced hard, as he’s by far the best puncheur in this race.
 Simply Red Bull
 Pokerstars.com
will target the sprints with Van Heerden and Degenkolb or Holloway. It will be interesting to see how Pokerstars play their cards, as they also got
Rujano
as an outsider for a top 5 in the overall standing. The Venezuelan climber proved last year in the Continental Division that he’s really tough to beat on a good day.
 Venchi-Sugoi
and Van Avermaet are also likely to look for good stage placings on the flat stages, while
 Puma-SAP
 Santander
probably need to look for breakaway glory.
The start list in full:
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The racing will start when Vuelta a Espana is done.
Edited by ember on 19-06-2013 11:16
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| SotD |
Posted on 19-06-2013 10:09
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What a lineup. The only race this season where I have no sprinters. It will be very interesting to see if my riders can actually feature in the breaks then. They have hardly been in any this season, so my fingers are crossed for breaks consisting Dees or Pichon.
We got a pretty strong TTT lineup here, so we should really get a go at the stagewin there. There are other strong teams also, but we have to believe that the combination of Fothen, Dees, Donald, Kovalev, Navardauskas and Vlatos. Only weak link is Campero (63) and Pichon (64).
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| roturn |
Posted on 19-06-2013 10:41
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The Tour de Suisse won the startlist battle against the Dauphine I think.
And nice previews there (all 3 races) and good luck with all of them.
Thanks for spending so much time at the moment!
Edited by roturn on 19-06-2013 10:41
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 19-06-2013 10:46
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That's one big startlist. I'll put my money on mr. Pluschkin to win. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 19-06-2013 10:50
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Pluchkin vs Schleck, Round 3! Currently 1-1 although Andy is the only one to have won a race GC.
Nice preview ember.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 19-06-2013 12:37
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Craven should do good on the prologue. Otherwise, it looks hard for Van Avermaet to get a stage win with a strong Pokerstars.com squad at start. Looks like our best chance for a win is from a breakaway.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 19-06-2013 12:38
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roturn wrote:
The Tour de Suisse won the startlist battle against the Dauphine I think.
Thank god! 
Nothing to expect here. Maybe Delage can get some results, but that's probably it.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 19-06-2013 17:21
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Not really big differences between the favourites as you wold expect for prologue.
We are here obviously for the sprints with vague hopes of a breakaway win following the Verbier climb.
It's ember time in the ManGame 
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 19-06-2013 17:27
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That was a crushing victory from Boasson Hagen! Congratulations, ember!
Dan Craven also did very well. The profile fit his abilities very well, but a 5th place is definitely above my expectations! The other Venchi riders didn't do quite so well, though. I had expected more especially from Aregger, who only finished in 133rd place.
Edited by Sykkel_Freak on 19-06-2013 17:27
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| CountArach |
Posted on 19-06-2013 17:51
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The great season of EBH continues!
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 19-06-2013 17:59
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I was hoping the TTT would be one of our stronger suits. Now I'm not so certain. A top 5 would be a great result for Brajkovic
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| SotD |
Posted on 19-06-2013 20:56
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Nice report, but shitty performance by my entire team. Especially Fothen and Dees.
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| beagle |
Posted on 19-06-2013 21:57
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TOP10 for Rujano would be nice, but I´d like to take 1 or better 2 stage wins, hoping that Holloway is still on fire 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 19-06-2013 22:45
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I'm hoping that the breaks get away here.
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 19-06-2013 23:04
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Another second place for LLS in a hilly prologue
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| Roman |
Posted on 19-06-2013 23:28
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Well, this race won't be probably the biggest success for my team. My TTT squad which I brought here is quite a lot poor and Uran's result in the prologue shows he probably won't be the most shiny rider in this race either.
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| ember |
Posted on 20-06-2013 09:41
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CountArach wrote:
The great season of EBH continues!
You can definitely say so. That second stage is probably the craziest thing I've ever seen in PCM. A 70MO rider flying and beating much better climbers in the sprint. I thought he was going to fade badly in the sprint, and then he just storms to the front and wins the stage. That was just crazy to watch
And thanks for the nice words on the preview. Stage 3 will be up later today, and the final stage of the race will be posted Sunday evening. |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 20-06-2013 09:45
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Not shore if just PCM trolling or yellow jersey bonus trolling.  |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 20-06-2013 10:07
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ember - great preparations with all these stage races, love the pace of it and no loss in detail either.
I have to agree with you when you say this stage was very surprising, as you say we saw a similar thing in California. But that was in part due to the undulating nature of the Mount Baldy climb, here as we know Verbier is a much more consistent (I guess it is relatively short) climb.
Just sensational that Hagen could not only hold all those favourites but actually beat them all.
Ignoring the obvious AI issues (we could bleat on and on about that of course), I guess it sets up an interesting dynamic in this race with that trio of stages late on. Not sure who has the best TTT team here, Vesuvio perhaps? It is a strange being late on in the race there is the chance some teams could be crippled by an elimination or two.
Would be unbelievable if Hagen could actually win this tough race!
EDIT: Jelloul in break nabbing joint KoM lead is nice as well, fingers crossed he can get in some other breaks this week.
Edited by Smowz on 20-06-2013 10:12
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| Kami |
Posted on 20-06-2013 11:45
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Well, the small chance i had left has just been crushed even further.
Looked more like a hilly stage, then a mountain stage though.
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