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Classique du Grand-Duché Discussion
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 26-06-2013 18:27
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Welcome to Luxembourg for the third editon of the Classique du Grand-Duché. A hilly classic that takes the riders from Luxembourg town to Diekirch. Along the 230 km long route are multiple sharp hills, comparable to the ones the riders have to tacle during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege monument, which isn't held far from here. The final will be very intresting with a sharp hill into Diekirch.
Big favourite here is ofcourse local star  Fränk Schleck. Proud Luxembourger and leader of the only team from here Vesuvio Acculamux. Schleck won the race last year but many say he is becoming old. Surely he will be ready to prove the doubters wrong here.
Liege winner  Yuri Trofimov is here aswell. The Russian beat Schleck here in 2011 and will be looking to repeat that performance.
Man-Game legend  Damiano Cunego is here aswell. The Italian won the Tirreno this year but that was because of a Bakelandts-Schleck crash. He wasn't convincing in Liege, his only classic so far. But Cunego has a very strong team around him with Claeys and Monfort who have shown they can fight for a top 10 themselves.
 Jan Bakelandts could be seen as quite a letdown so far this season. Predicted by many to dominate the hilly classics, he never came even close to a win. Time for him to turn his season around.
 Edvald Boasson Hagen on the other hand has been on fire. He won both Amstel Gold Race and the Flecha Wallone in convincing manner. Lately he has been tearing it up in Switzerland. He should be able to translate his good form in atleast a podium.
 Ponzi,  Schumacher,  Di Maggio,  Gesink,  Van Garderen and wild card  Ginanni are all good bets for a top 10 aswell and who knows, one of them might surprise. Strong all around riders like  Gilbert and  Pozzato can't be underestimated either. Their teams could use a good result to get away from the lower ranking places.
Edited by Spilak23 on 26-06-2013 18:27
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| SotD |
Posted on 27-06-2013 08:06
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Ulissi not mentioned in the preview is probably a good indicator on how poorly he'll perform here.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 27-06-2013 08:09
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Trofimov has this, can't see any way around. |
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| ember |
Posted on 27-06-2013 08:36
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A top 5 from Boasson Hagen is our goal, though, the competition is really great, like it has been for every hilly classic in the Pro Tour. I'm thinking Cunego will win it, just ahead of Bakelants and home favourite Schleck.
It will be an interesting race, and I'm definitely looking forward to the report  |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 27-06-2013 14:25
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Hagen is just looking in sensational form in 2013, I would say he is favourite against the fading Schleck and the recently disappointing Bakelandts.
Cunego's fortunes in the classics is mixed historically but with Lotto looking more and more desperate for points this is important he makes at least a podium for them.
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-06-2013 14:28
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I really like this race and hope for some selection...
Boasson Hagen is favourite for me ahead of Trofimov as I think the selection won`t be that huge.
But Schleck will be very interesting here as it`s one of the very few home races for him. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 27-06-2013 14:28
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Please move on, nothing to see here! 
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| Rin |
Posted on 27-06-2013 16:40
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I put Cunego here because of:
1. I guess with these mountains at the end Cunego has a good chance plus the uphill sprint finish
2. Well I thought at least one of the Schlecks will be here so trying to beat them in their country just before ...
3. ... the Tour.
I hope Cunego will make here and at the Tour some points otherwise it will be very hard to stay up even with Liechtenstein and Lombardia for him left.
But the season showed concentrating on one rider was a big problem for me this season and giving up the split leadership mentality. I will do something diffrent for the next season an approach I never did in the Man-Game.
 Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 27-06-2013 18:06
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roturn wrote:
I really like this race and hope for some selection...
Boasson Hagen is favourite for me ahead of Trofimov as I think the selection won`t be that huge.
But Schleck will be very interesting here as it`s one of the very few home races for him.
It's the only home race for him!
High hopes of course. It has to be my win goal due to Frank and the location, although this may be the last year where it makes sense for it to be a win goal.
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 27-06-2013 23:29
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Sorry for putting the report a bit early but I have no idea if I'll have internet connection in the upcoming days.
Never have I seen a pcm race with that many different crashes. Stopped reporting on the crashes that happaned behind the leading groups, would have been madness otherwise. And I though it was good that all favourites stayed on their bike but 5 kilometres to the line and there was he. Sucks for p3druh, Bakelandts once again not getting the points he had hoped for him
I really thought that break had it for a while but the final was very hard. A shame, especially for Bobridge who was looking very good until the sprint started
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 27-06-2013 23:35
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Amazing! Great report, was very happy to see Rabottini up in the break, and then to get 5 riders in the top 20, with Ponzi in 2nd. Yep. Happy days!
Roll on the Tour for Mr Ponzi! |
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| ember |
Posted on 27-06-2013 23:39
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Decent race for Boasson Hagen. Thought he was heading for a podium in that sprint, but he clearly run out of steam.
Cunego was always going to be strong with those tough hills towards the end. Congratulations, Rin!
And thanks for the report, Spilak
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 28-06-2013 01:09
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I was in the break, that's all that could be expected
 [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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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 28-06-2013 01:23
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Well that was a bummer, Schumacher's best domestiques ditch him for the breakaway and come up with nothing, while Schumacher finishes outside the top-10. Interesting how it played out though.
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| Roman |
Posted on 28-06-2013 02:53
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mb2612 wrote:
I was in the break, that's all that could be expected
This. 
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| dave92 |
Posted on 28-06-2013 06:22
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Terrible result for Van Garderen on the heels of a dissapointing Swiss Tour for Denifl. In for a long TDF unless we can get lucky in some breaks.
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| SotD |
Posted on 28-06-2013 07:28
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Ulissi did what was expected. An anonymous 11th. Can't be Winther harpy or dissapointed with that. What happened to Tejay here? Did I miss something in the report on him crashing, cause he wont just lose 3 minutes...
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| Smowz |
Posted on 28-06-2013 07:41
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Great race from SRB. Two of my best in the breakaway and Bobo fought really well and was involved in the finale. Certainly far better than I deserved for a weak squad.
When you compare to others:
SRB (14th Bobridge, 32nd Moinard)
Project 1t4i (10th Gesink, 25th Vanendert)
Festina (11th Ulissi, 67th Tamouridis)
Heineken (12th Pozzato, 76th Weiss)
UBS (13th Schumacher, 26th Frank)
Venchi (16th Di Maggio, 27th Craven)
Bacardi (18th Roux, 22nd Mancuso)
Pearl Adidas (24th Vastaranta, 30th Bakelants)
Wikipedia (31st TvG, 79th Meyer)
It does look a nice race indeed for one I thought I would lose a bit more ground to those around me.
Big result for Lotto (that's bad news for B and O), Schleck's Vesuvio crew unable to close ground on Koenigsegg.
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 28-06-2013 08:34
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SotD wrote:
What happened to Tejay here? Did I miss something in the report on him crashing, cause he wont just lose 3 minutes...
Bad positioning as mentioned. I though it was because he was just going for bottles but watched the replay and he was already at the back of that group of about 60-70 riders for about 15 km's before the split so it was inevitable.
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| Rin |
Posted on 28-06-2013 08:55
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Great result by Cunego, never stops to be a legend.
Also a very god 8th place for Claeys.
These might be very valueble points in the end.
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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