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Tour of Norway discussion thread
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| Smowz |
Posted on 31-08-2013 12:49
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With the grand tours finished the race towards the season finale in Lombardy is beginning to hot up. What better way to tune up for that than a hill climbers stage race in Norway.
With three hill top finishes and five flat stages this looks like the prestige will be shared amongst the punchaers and the sprinters.
Stage 4's profile should shell most of the sprinter GC hopefuls, unless we get the occasional favourites paralysis that can sometimes effect these races. It would probably be a mistake to leave it to the final stage, though that should keep intrigue high throughout the race.
Punchaers:
 Edvald Boasson Hagen: The huge home favourite who has had a brilliant season. Will no doubt be cheered on by the home crowd, Aker have no less than 5 Norwegians here including Eddy Boss. Hard to see Hagen not being at least on the GC podium by race end to boost a tremendous debut Protour season for Aker.
 Jan Bakelants: Where it has been a brilliant season for Hagen, it has been a completely underwhelming one for the Belgian hill marvel. It all seemed to stem for the nasty final stage crash in Tirreno, which was followed by a poor Ardennes show. However some of the big hill men have missed this and with his team Pearl Adidas creeping up the rankings, this could be a chance for the Baker to cook up a treat.
 Dmitri Claeys: The Belgian Cunego shadow has a chance to lead, though Maxime Monfort is here just in case Claeys wishes to revert to his normal secondary rider setting. Cunego's powers are on the wane, though the prince will surely lead Lotto at Lombardy. Claeys could stake his claim for team leadership in 2014 here.
 Stefan Schumacher: The German is having a decent season for the mainly Swiss squad and will be a dangerous floater here. He is after all the type that just will not flush away, will be one of the one's Hagen has to watch.
 Tejay Van Garderan: Former World Champion, rather behind good friend Phinney in the Wikipedia limelight. however if Wiki are to nab the world tour title they need decent points from TvG here, Trofimov is not here for Koeniggsegg so Wiki could snatch a bit of momentum here.
 Robin Van Den Hugenhaben: No Trofimov for Koeniggsegg, but VdHH could be a decent shout for a top five here. Looks after himself well in small field sprints and survives all but the toughest of hilly terrains. Look out for the Wiki-Koenig battle in the tougher stages of this race.
 Phillipe Gilbert: Pendletons have been hoovering in the bottom half of the team standings all year. They could do with a decent finish here from their team captain. It'll be tough to break the podium, but a few missing big names means the Belgian veteran has a shot.
 Cesere Di Maggio: Most pundits have Venchi as doomed, Di Maggio could be set to return to plunder the continental fields. As ever an intriguing rider to watch, who has undoubted hills ability but lacks that secondary ability to back it up. Venchi have a really decent squad here including Sagan and Van Avermart.
 Diego Ulissi: Milan San Remo 2012 seems a long time ago, the forgotten Festina man is in the mix here. Could do with a more visible attack to try an jump a few places in the hilly pecking order.
Sprinters:
Oscar Guerao: The Spaniard is coming of a coming of age Tour De France and whilst his team manager will desperately try and reduce expectations, this rider has jumped up to the elite sprinters division.
 Ben Swift: Vesuvio have gone all in for the sprints here and Swift will match up against Guerao in what could prove to be the long time future sprint rivalry in the Protour.
 Erik Mohs: The hill hating German has really struggled to make an impact in the Protour. He has however a finely honed sprint train with Holloway as a lead out - the German should be competitive if he fails here he could be on the scrap heap.
 Michael Van Stayen: Belgian fast an has has a decent strike rate for Simply Red Bull this year. Has a good tactical brain it seems to time his sprint well. Has matched up against Guerao a number of times this year but could be short against Swift.
A couple of other sprinters such as Impey,  Granjel Cabrera,  JJ Haedo, Ciolek,  Rowe and Van Avermart are worth throwing out there as podium possibles on the flat stages.
Startlist:
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| niconico |
Posted on 31-08-2013 13:00
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Cya clearly hasn't exactly got Guldhammer as a top-favourite here, but I hope he can do something after a strong Tour de France.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 06:20
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 31-08-2013 13:13
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Go van der Hugenhaben. Wait...
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| p3druh |
Posted on 31-08-2013 13:30
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Smowz reporting the race? Well, there goes any chance Bakelants might have had
I have a feeling that this race will turn out to be decisive for Koenigsegg and Wikipedia. I'm going on record saying whoever outscores the other here will go on to win the season.
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| SotD |
Posted on 31-08-2013 14:38
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Not expecting much. Ulissi haven't been doing very well this season, and Guerao is here with only Sinner as leadout, and that has been a poor combination in previous races. Guerao needs to have a top leadoutman. Obviously I can hope that Sinner is not the last man to lead him out, and instead Ulissi will do that, but I guess that's too optimistic.
Hoping for something here, but I'm not really sure I should be aiming at anything.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 31-08-2013 15:21
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Our filler team in action again.
Hoping for a decent KoM fight maybe, and especially low scoring opposition.
Gilbert could pick up some crucial points for Pendleton's, but I don't see B&O or Heineken outscoring us by much.
For the overall, EBH it is for me.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 31-08-2013 15:54
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Disappointed to see only five norwegians in the Aker squad..
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| tyriion |
Posted on 31-08-2013 16:45
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Before my summer went crazy busy I built some stages for this one, so i feel like this is my PT race . Gonna follow this one closely.
Check out my ManGame team here
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| ember |
Posted on 31-08-2013 20:07
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tastasol wrote:
Disappointed to see only five norwegians in the Aker squad..
I considered heavily sending all my seven Norwegians to the race, but I decided it would be clever to cover the flat stages as well. Though, that could end up being a serious mistake if Impey somehow blocks Boasson Hagen's chances. Just hope that won't happen.
This race is a wide open one, it would be just huge if Boasson Hagen can pull of the overall win, though, I somehow doubt it. But we shall see, it will be amazing if he can continue his brilliant season.
Really looking forward to the race. It's our only race in Norway, and it means quite a lot to do well here. |
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 31-08-2013 21:05
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I'm hoping that a long shot breakaway by someone like Langevelde will put me in the points. Otherwise, this race will likely be a waste.
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| beagle |
Posted on 31-08-2013 21:12
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I believe EBH will continue in his magnificient season in his homeland.
5 flat stages means 5 great opportunities to grab stage win here, hopefully Mohs together with Holloway will show their strenght.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SotD |
Posted on 31-08-2013 21:19
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EBH will win overall and take ATLEAST 3 stages underways. Probably one or two of the flat aswell.
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| dave92 |
Posted on 01-09-2013 05:39
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Huge boost to my chances to see Trofimov missing from the startlist but RVH always seems to produce results with Sony's tremendous depth. Can't look past EBH for the win, but anything can happen in this sort of race.
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| ember |
Posted on 01-09-2013 08:22
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Solid opener from our team, and congratulations to Swift and SN. Another win on the 2nd stage could see him become a serious contender for the yellow jersey considering the big bonus it is to wear yellow.
I do believe a breakaway will win at least one stage, though, I don't see it happening on stage 2, meaning I fancy another one for Swift. A top 5 for Impey once again would be great.
Thanks for the report, Smowz! |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 01-09-2013 08:29
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Caethoven > All lead-out men. |
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| tyriion |
Posted on 01-09-2013 09:10
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That sprint was nicely controlled, good job by Vesuvio and Swift for bringing it home.
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-09-2013 10:15
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Well that worked like a charm! Can't expect to beat Swift at any point this season, I'll work on making that doable for next season though. Great result to start this race.
I guess it really matters a lot to be among the 3 best sprinters nominated by the AI. The races where Guerao have been that he have performed accordingly, but with Swift, Bennati, Boonen and Bewley as competitors it doesn't matter how strong the team is, as he will open his sprint from backwheel to end up at 10-15th.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 01-09-2013 10:15
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Merino Criado and in particular Caethoven have certainly been 2 of the signings of the season from my point of view! Once again they deliver Swift to victory. Great start to the race, although I really dont see Swift becoming a GC contender ember!
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| ember |
Posted on 01-09-2013 13:00
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Great start to the race, although I really dont see Swift becoming a GC contender ember!
I prefer being pessimistic when one of my riders is a contender/favourite for the overall. Then it is a pleasure to get pleasantly surprised if the rider does well
Edited by ember on 01-09-2013 13:00
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| cio93 |
Posted on 01-09-2013 13:25
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That was great stuff to at least get a jersey.
I expected Vogt or Kelderman to go for it in the hilly stages, but Sanz took third overall in Paris-Nice after all 
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