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Tasol Tour to the Sun Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-09-2013 13:49
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Directeur Sportif
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The Profiles/
The Continental Tour is heading for the Tasol Tour to the Sun and it's yet another "exotic" stop in the calendar - Lesotho!
Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by its only neighbouring country, South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population slightly over two million.
So it's one of several African races and the profiles speak for themself: it's a tour meant for pure mountain goats only! A short but tough road race is followed by a mountain ITT, featuring the last kms of the first stage's climb.
We should expect the best climbers of the CT here and even though it's a rather short startlist (listed below), the stages should make for a thrilling race.
The Startlist/
The Favorites/
A C2-race with two mountain stages.. who else can be the top-favorite than  Arroyo? Without any question the best climber in the CT, the Spaniard couldn't fullfill the high expectations though. This race is a perfect setup for him proving his skills.
 Larsson is one of those, who will hope for Arroyo to fail: he combines both climbing and timetrial skills, while we can't expect the latter being too important in the pure mountain timetrial.
 Menchov, one of the most experienced of the favorites, has some nice support in riders like Nieve and a podium spot seems like a legit goal!
 Martinez will lead the African Air Kenya-squad, where he knows a decent support as well. Will this race in Lesotho give the team an extra boost?
 Perez Sanchez is the expected leader for Iberia, which may hope for some "easy" points due to the short startlist.
Same goes for  Roman or Di Gregorio, featuring one of the most dangerous duos in this race. Who will lead the team here?
 Parra Bustamante is without any question a decent climber in a race like that and Boeing-Vivacom may hope for a Top-5.
 Rodas or Niyonshuti are next in line on the favorites' list: the South African team MTN is as close to a "local favorite" as any team or rider can be here. So just like Air Kenya, MTN and it's African riders may be extra motivated.
 Morton looks like the leader for the PCT-invitee HTC-Nieuwsblad. While the team is definitely aiming for experience here, his climbing skills ain't too bad, so he may hope for a less selective race and some unexpected points.
 Naibo or Eibegger also may hope for a rather surprising outcome of the race. They may also be happy about the short startlist and a nice chance for a Top-10.
 Adamou will lead a 4-men-squad for PFG-Armavia. A breakaway seems the only chance for the team, even though we've seen less selective mountain stages before - so no need to count anyone off yet!
Edited by tsmoha on 05-09-2013 19:47
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 13:58
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World Champion
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"Same goes for Ciocan or Di Gregorio, featuring one of the most dangerous duos in this race. Who will lead the team here?"
Ciocan tsmoha? A sprinter with 66 MO will be hard to lead my team here. 
Let's go Maky and Di Gregório give me a top 5 or even a podium. 
Edited by Miguel98 on 05-09-2013 14:00
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| CountArach |
Posted on 05-09-2013 13:58
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Grand Tour Champion
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Arroyo has to win this.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-09-2013 14:11
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Directeur Sportif
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Miguel98 wrote:
Ciocan tsmoha? A sprinter with 66 MO will be hard to lead my team here.
Ups  my bad, must have been his outstanding Crits Series that made me typing his name here, accidently! Will edit it later of course!
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 05-09-2013 15:31
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Breakaway Specialist
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Our second win goal of the season... Let's see if we can achieve it... (Arroyo... why you!?)
Well let’s see how it goes.
I think we have a good team to surround Menchov with 6 70+ riders in MO… but Arroyo might be too much at the end...
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 18:06
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Domestique
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Considering Naibo's ability to disappoint, I'm putting my hopes on Eibegger, even though he's statistically worse (maybe if there is a mountaintop sprint? lol)
A top 10 or 2 would be nice.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 05-09-2013 18:15
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Tour de France Champion
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Bakari for the win, obviously! He must be good at something and its nothing flat apparently, so all thats left is climbing...
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 19:18
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Moreno for top 5 and Perez S. or Fernandez Oliveira for maybe a top 10 aswell.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 19:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Really hoping Ndbri and Martinez can both get top fives here, we really need the points to stay in the promotion hunt. Arroyo should win, but he has been a flop all season... |
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 19:27
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We have a win goal here - which was decided before I knew that I was going to fail at signing a mountain leader  Any chance of a result would be a complete fluke. Nonetheless, should be an interesting race
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 05-09-2013 20:55
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World Champion
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Although not a disaster, less points Morton earns - the better his wage for me next year
Edited by Alakagom on 05-09-2013 20:55
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 11:58
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 20:59
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What a close sprint between Moreno and Menchov! Really good Moreno just took 2nd place, those secs could turn out to be the difference between 2 or 3 in the end.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 21:04
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Boring stage. Silva good, bad Roman, bad. Hope Silva hangs for that top 10. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 21:06
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FFS, 6th and 17th aren't good enough for two of the top 5 climbers here  |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 21:08
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World Champion
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FroomeDog99 wrote:
FFS, 6th and 17th aren't good enough for two of the top 5 climbers here
Even with all the bugs, PCM 2013 will be such a better game for the MG. |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 05-09-2013 21:24
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Tour de France Champion
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Well f*ck... Parra crashes and Bakari decides to take it easy... Colorado has to step up a level now...
Pretty boring stage frankly, which was a shame as it had potential
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 05-09-2013 22:16
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Domestique
Posts: 506
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Well we suck. What else is new
*begins preparing for next year in CT*
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 06-09-2013 00:06
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With just an ITT remaining I can't see Arroyo messing this up. He finally seems to deliver.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 06-09-2013 00:32
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Classics Specialist
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Huge result by Adamou! 4th is much better than realistically was expected. Feel sorry for Morton though! Thanks for the report! |
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| tyriion |
Posted on 06-09-2013 07:08
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Sprinter
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Close one, but the riders managed to not completely mess up this stage. Good one for Arroyo.
And; something went wrong for HTC? wtf!
Check out my ManGame team here
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
