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Down Under Classic Discussion
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 10:54
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1090.00
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 Down Under Classic | HC
| 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | | 1. |  André Greipel | Allan Davis | Allan Davis | | 2. |  Danilo Napolitano | Daniele Bennati |  Mark Cavendish | | 3. | Allan Davis | Graeme Brown |  Juan Van Heerden |
Welcome to the Down Under Classic! The Pro Continental peloton meets for the first time in 2014 for this short opener, 75 kilometers on a flat urban circuit.
The transfer period saw a major overhaul in the sprinting department and many big names were on the move. As a result, every Top 10 sprinter of this division changed teams in the last few weeks. The Down Under Classic will most likely provide a first showdown of the elite sprinters, so let's take a good look at the contenders:
 Ivan Lo Cicero and Danilo Napolitano are only the peak of an amazing sprint squad that Meiji brings to Australia. It will be interesting to see who of them gets to lead the team. Either way, with one of them leading the other out, they will be the men to beat, especially considering Napolitano's second place of last year.
 Gerald Ciolek joined Puma in exchange with 2012 runner-up Daniele Bennati and seeks to improve that result for his new team. He doesn't have the lead-out like the Meiji guys (then again, no one does), but he might be the only one to challenge Lo Cicero in terms of pure speed.
Ciolek isn't the only German with a shot here, though. There are another three riders with big ambitions:  André Greipel comes as the defending champion and supported by Tomas Vaitkus, he surely wouldn't mind to repeat that result.  Heinrich Haussler and  Danilo Kupfernagel, supported by two times champion Allan Davis, will also be in the mix.
 Dan Holloway may not be the fastest of the bunch, but he's a better rouleur than all of the others. On a course like this, we can expect a constant high pace, which will hurt the American the least.
 Mark Cavendish was the most expensive sprinter on the free agent market this year, now he has his first chance to prove his worth. He's supported by
Yauheni Hutarovich.  Matthew Goss is on a similar level, and he has the home advantage.
 Nolan Hoffman comes from an amazing 2013 season, he will be a man to watch out for as well. And then there are the likes of  Raúl Granjel Cabrera,  Romain Vanderbiest,  Maximiliano Richeze and of course  Roman Maksimov, who is basically made for a panflat circuit like this.
Of course, the field of contenders is so dense that there are still riders able to finish in the Top 10 that haven't been named. For a full overview, take a look at the startlist:
The ProConti sprint season is bound to be an interesting one, and it's just about to start. Let the racing begin!
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Edited by cunego59 on 10-04-2014 11:06
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 10:56
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
Joined: 30-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Why does the control team rider have the same name as me? 
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 10-04-2014 10:58
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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So here it is! Surprised to see that Nolan is rated so high, thius is basically worst terrain he will tackle all year, but his flat is amazing, so top 10 would be great, after last years disaster here.
Nice preview and great reporter to have in man-game. 
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:00
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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That's one hell of a startlist, but I assume all HC and C1 flat classics will be like this
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| jph27 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:00
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Team Leader
Posts: 7339
Joined: 20-03-2010
PCM$: 900.00
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Y'know, I'm pretty sure my team isn't Zimbabwean...
Literally no expectations here, a top 10 would be nice but this race is likely too easy for Haussler to do well. |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:02
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
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Race number one promises to be an amazing spectacle with pretty much every sprinter in attendance. Luckily i don't care about Boeing's performance here, with a breakaway being the limit of expectations and even then i'm not fussed.
Bring on that final kilometer of showdown and lets see which sprinter really is the best!
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:03
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Team Leader
Posts: 6690
Joined: 11-10-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Great preview here, Cunego. Good luck to everyone! 
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:04
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4476
Joined: 25-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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You forgot to mention Ulanowski!
Hope the game sees Greipel as my leader and not Vaitkus with his high FL...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 07:43
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:05
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
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Also why does Belarusbank get the B3B mini jersey?
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| Heine |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:05
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4116
Joined: 08-04-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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That sprint-list 
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:07
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Top-5 is the minimum, even though it's the expected tough competition. Would be great to start the season with a bang, but I do have a bad feeling
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4573
Joined: 07-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Worst squad here, expected though as I decided to leave Gasparotto for other races where he had more chances. We'll have to look for the breakaway.
Thanks for the nice preview Cunego, looking forward to the report. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:17
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
Joined: 08-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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One of the races Bennett had to go since this was in our HC band. Hopefully he follows the wheels for a Top 10/15, rather than sitting back and doing nothing!
jph27 wrote:
Y'know, I'm pretty sure my team isn't Zimbabwean...
All countries which werent in the PCMdaily DB got allocated the Zimbabwe flag, to save having to mess around with the local.cdb.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:23
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
PCM$: 500.00
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Interesting to see the Meiji double-header already in the first race of the season, I hope they rather harm than help each other. Though I'd like to have a pace hard enough to weaken them before the sprint anyway - as long as it's not so hard that Holloway or Vaitkus get a big advantage out of it!
It's the full sprinting lineup for us here, but it's the start of the season, so with this startlist and a goal of Top 5, I'm fine with having an own train and finishing in the Top 5 indeed.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 10-04-2014 11:33
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8290
Joined: 14-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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I'm going to tip Goss to win here.
Once again I'm really excited.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 10-04-2014 12:05
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Here we go! 
This is not our terrain, but it's in my HC band.
Hope to be in the breakaway. Nuyens would be a great rider to try that.
And maybe Steegmans and Oss can steal some points despite the impressive line-up. 78 FL should compensate their slow sprinting a little bit.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 12:07
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World Champion
Posts: 10497
Joined: 23-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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That's an impressive startlist!
Hoping for Cabrera to sneak into top 10. And I'm hoping for a major AI fuck-up regarding Meiji. If the AI fucks up overall, you won't hearing me complain... until I come back.
Edited by Miguel98 on 10-04-2014 12:34
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| Stevenag |
Posted on 10-04-2014 12:09
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Domestique
Posts: 452
Joined: 26-05-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Scoring points here would be a great achievment. Hope to get someone in the breakaway and then for a complete AI failure. If not, I will most likely aim for a place between 10 and 15.
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| Ste117 |
Posted on 10-04-2014 13:58
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3684
Joined: 21-02-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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This race is one of our goals so we need to do well here.
MG Team manager Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 10-04-2014 15:05
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 14-09-2013
PCM$: 4500.00
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Sprinter-fest squared! Going to be an awesome last 10 km, hopefully the reporting will do it justice (sure it will!).
Query for the more experienced MG/PCMers out there - is the order that the teams are listed in the start-list random, or a reflection of the AI's interpretation of the merits of the various team leaders? I've seen lots of previous discussion of the significance or otherwise of the in-team numbers of X1, versus XX, but not whether the order of the teams listed has any meaning. Insight appreciated!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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