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Tour du Faso Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 14:12
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 29-01-2014 17:28
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10 race days which can make or break a promotion/relegation battle lie ahead, with 12 teams having jetted out for one of their last rolls of the dice, in Burkina Faso.
After 3 years of being won on the famous cobbled Stage 9, last year it proved less decisive. This favoured the sprinters, and Lars Croket's 2nd overall was key in Team Puma-SAP's promotion charge.
The 3 big road stages are as follows:
As you can see, an extra cobbled stage - albeit with cobbles at the start. Will that make it more than just a normal flat stage? Then there is the uphill finish for Stage 4 - contrasting to the likely sprinter decided Stages 2, 5, 7, 8 and 10.
That leaves the two time trial stages. An opening prologue of just 1km - hardly anything - and a 12km TTT midway through the race.
Defending champion  Tomas Vaitkus is here, having won 3 stages on his way to the GC victory. But he may find it hard to go as well this year with less team support, and more rivals.
 Bouygues Telecom have certainly gone all in on this race, and it is vital for their promotion hopes. Jurgen Roelandts is the best sprinter in the race, while Mottin and Martin are the best time triallists. A dangerous combination on these parcours, especially as Roelandts is competent enough over cobbles.
In contrast, promotion rivals  Team Bpost have put all their eggs in the cobbles basket with Vanspeybrouck and Albert. They've learned from last year and not brought a leading sprinter to interefere with team leadership, but with no helpful time triallists either, they are going to have to go mad on Stage 9.
Closest rival on the cobbles will be  Tom Veelers of Team UPC. Right in the relegation mix, they will be relying on him to try and take some bonus seconds on the sprints, and then stick with Bpost over Stage 9. Armavia also hope for some good cobbles for  Sven Nooytens, as do HTC-Nieuwsblad for  Kenny de Haes.
Back to the sprinting, and two riders expecting to put up a big challenge to Roelandts are  Andre Greipel and  Ismael Kip. Greipel will have a great lead out man in Vingerling. This is a great opportunity to pick up some stage wins for them. Other good sprinters are  Hochmann,  Abdallah,  Schinker and  Vasylyuk.
As well as their sprinter, Metinvest are looking to capitalise on the TTT stage as their squad includes a number of riders who recently took a Top 10 finish in the PT Copenhagen-Malmo TTT. You would expect the TTT to be between Metinvest and Bouygues. Rick Flens is the other noteworthy individual time triallist in the line up.
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| roturn |
Posted on 29-01-2014 17:31
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This race could become so important for many.
Bouygues and Bpost look to make a huge move for promotion here while the ING squad looks a bit weaker.
WWE and UPC need huge results here as well to avoid relegation.
Surprised to see a talent team only at HTC. Had expected Baugnies or so plus Amex. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 29-01-2014 17:31
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Great to see the depleted startlist, should give us a shot at at least doing something here. Schinker and Marque should be able to at least collect a few points. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 29-01-2014 17:36
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Wow, Roelandts could get more points here than other sprinters get in a whole season 
He has no distinctive train here though, I fancy MTN to have a dominating one throughout the race.
Thanks for mentioning us, indeed this race was the one that got us promoted in the end, and seeing our fierce rival Vaitkus (and our leadout man Thire) back gives me good memories of how much I anticipated every report back then.
Therefore, I'll follow this closely for sure.
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 29-01-2014 18:41
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Hoping to get a stage win if we're lucky. Abdallah has a good lead-out with Day. Not quite sure why I sent Ngue or Niyonshuti here...
Oh well, should be interesting!  But I can see Roelandts dominating the sprints...
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| CountArach |
Posted on 29-01-2014 23:11
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I thought I had a proper sprinter here :/ Hopefully Boeckmans and Stallaert can do something.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 30-01-2014 00:17
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This is going to be a painful race for me. Seeing our direct rivals getting closer on the table day by day won't be easy to handle. Going to keep a close eye on this one also to see how Bouyges and Bpost are faring.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-01-2014 06:09
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So here it is, our last race of the season and we are here to maintain our Africa Tour lead, but that will be very hard against Roelandts and his team. Vasylyuk with Grosu should try something nice in sprint stages,maybe grab a podium on a good day. And of course TTT, as SN mentioned, we are strong here coming from Copenhagen-Malmo and hope for the win.
Thanks for the nice preview and goo luck to all, especially those who still have no calm in promotion/relegation battles. 
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 30-01-2014 06:10
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| tyriion |
Posted on 30-01-2014 08:08
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Well, the start list isn't big, so Veelers should nab a podium or 2 on the flats. This will have to offset the inevitable loss in the TTTs. And then it's cobble time!
Really need a good result here.
Check out my ManGame team here
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| Vien |
Posted on 30-01-2014 12:13
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10 wasted race days incoming  I sent a nice train here though, and although I won't reach my goal of a high finish in the Africa Tour, every point will be more than welcome.
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| niconico |
Posted on 30-01-2014 12:19
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Not Veelers' first time here either. I'm gonna follow him in this race!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 30-01-2014 19:11
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Bpost to rip this apart over the rough roads.
Alternatively Bouygues turn it into a sprinting snoozfest!
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 01-02-2014 05:15
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Last chance for Nooytens to show himself before the transfer season. A top 10 GC here is a must for him! |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 01-02-2014 21:58
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That was a very strange stage  I'll take 10th. |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 01-02-2014 21:58
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Screenshot of the season!
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 01-02-2014 22:02
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It's a UFO hovering over the start line.  |
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| Vien |
Posted on 01-02-2014 22:09
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Soo close! 
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| CountArach |
Posted on 02-02-2014 00:01
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Bouyges winning the TT is a worst case scenario :/
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| tyriion |
Posted on 02-02-2014 09:01
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Veelers 1 second in front of the other sprinters. Good news.
Check out my ManGame team here
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 02-02-2014 10:56
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tyriion wrote:
Veelers 1 second in front of the other sprinters. Good news.
Actually Kip, Vaitkus and Vasylyuk all finished ahead of him. 
Very funny stage and Metinvest was everywhere in the top20, it seems that choosing the team full of flat powerhouses was a good idea. Congrats to Bouygues,. they will be scoring massive points in Africa i think.
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