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Tour of Oman Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:23
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Team Manager
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The Tour of Oman has no long history in the Man Game as the only appearance was in 2012, where Pluchkin and Uran fought for the win and in the end first one took it with a 1s gap only.
The highlight of the race surely is the Green Mountain on stage 4, where the GC might be decided. A long and tough climb at the end of the day.
But except for the first stage eventually, all stages look to have something special.
Stage 2 & 6 have late bumps, that might lead to some selection or attacks. Also the 3rd stage is going slightly uphill in the final kilometers and not all sprinters are guaranteed to be strong in the end there.
And then there is the 5th stage. 3 really difficult hills in the end on a short circuit. Those could also become important as we have quite a lot GC riders here without the very best hill stat. Surely selections can be expected there and team managers need to hope for their rider to be in the front group then. Gaps could easily become bigger here than on the Green Mountain when missing the right moves.
I already mentioned one with  Uran. The Colombian is back here to improve from his 2012 result. Everything but the win this year might already be a disappointment as he is definitely the very best climber and a pretty complete stage racer.
His biggest rivals probably are  Marquez and  Eastman. Both are strong climbers but might lack the strength on hilly terrain a bit.
Behind this trio we have quite a few riders, that want to mix those up to grab on the podium or even the GC win.
 Karpets
 Samwel
 Cataldo
 Ji
 Nerz
 Serpa
all are good climbers but lack the little bit to the big favourites. Still none of those is chanceless on the right day.
Also we have quite a few others, that might be able to surprise or fight for a top10:
 Efimkin
 Agudelo
Navarro
 Vasquez/Jaramillo
Ndbri
Lloret/De La Fuente
 Ardila Cano
 Nieve
 Dyachenko
 Devolder
Some of those might end in the top10 or even top5 actually. For the podium, they would need some weak days of the better favourites, but you never know.
With quite a few stages possible ending in a sprint finish, it`s no surprise to see some good sprinters here. Not the very best to be honest in comparison to the PCT sprinters, but still quite a few decent ones. That said, it`s one of those races, where weaker sprinters could grab a stage win I think, just like we saw in the Vuelta a Tachira.
When talking about sprints in PCT, you quickly think about Privatbank and  BelarusBank. Both Eastern European teams have a huge focus on sprinters which might make them some kind of stage win favourites here.
Vanoverschelde and Vaitkus might be the best duo here and could give the team some solid results and eventually stage wins.
But also Hutarovich, Clarke and Van Hummel is not reading too bad. So surely those two teams are favourites to form sprint trains and go on stage hunting.
Other top sprinters are
Kupfernagel
Aberasturi
Nepomnyachsniy
Nateghi
Keough
Ferrari/Andriato
Nelson/Park
Speirs
So with only a few top sprinters we might see some surprises as the depth behind them is okay and allows a bit for 2nd row sprinters to get a nice result.
The race won`t start until the end of Benelux Challenge! |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:26
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Samwel's second race, one I think a Top 5 could be possible in. Hoping the hilly stages don't hamper his chances with the Green Mountain stage tailored for his abilities I think. |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:30
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World Champion
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Nice preview, looking forward to it. Bit surprised, I expected slightly better field present here so definitely happy. Podium would be nice, but Top 5 will do.
Worried about stage 5 but it looks there aren't many great punchers present to split the field too much... I hope 
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:31
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Grand Tour Champion
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Surprised to see Uran here with only the 1 mountain stage, it's a bit risky but then again it's a HC race.
Will be interesting to see how the AI handles our 3 leaders. Hoping for a similar result to Tachira in that respect (with a better performance from Serpa). 
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| Kami |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:38
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3485
Joined: 19-06-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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After Tachira, i don't think i'll win this one. Only one mountain stage, so it'll probably be more or less random. I hope for a top 5 though, if possible.
@Mre: It was either this or Tachira, and i took the bet for this one as it was an HC race, and i thought my 77-climbers would do better in Tachira.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:39
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
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Good that the presence of only one mountain stage didn't attract all of the biggest names, but it's really close behind the top 3 with some of that 78MO crop great and some horrible on hills.
Thus stage 5 could even be more important than stage 4 as Cataldo or Ji could easily gain back the time lost on Eastman or Marquez there.
Aside from second place in the U25 which should be a done deal hopefully, I midly hope for a sneaky top 5 by Nerz and expect a solid top 10.
The support squad is my best all season long with Heider coming from a nice Tachira showing, Bontenackels and Chevrier providing basic support as always and of course the first ever race of future ManGame legend Silvio Herklotz! 
I hope most of them will be in decent points-scoring positions by the end of the race.
For the sprints, I had some spare race days for Bar and thought his 70 hill could come in handy on those harder finales Bole-BeNeLux-style, especially as I now see there are not many significant top riders of that kind present here.
I just hope the game recognized his outside chance and positions him decently. Riding slipstreams and letting the riders ahead tire out was a decent strategy for some this season already.
The rest of the team is made up by water carriers Ringheim and Shishelov with both maybe able to support Bar in the sprint run-in.
Edited by cio93 on 24-04-2014 17:58
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:43
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Well, the way South Africa is heading for my team, I ca only expect disaster from here as well. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:43
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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cio93 wrote:
...
The support squad is my best all season long with Heider coming from a nice Tachira showing, Bontenackels and Chevrier providing basic support as always and of course the first ever race of future ManGame legend Silvio Herklotz!
...
He lost that future status after signing for your team, where he will be one of many "future legends".
To really call him a future Man Game legend, he should have signed with me.
One chance might still be there for him. Trade him in the offseason. |
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| Kami |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:45
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3485
Joined: 19-06-2009
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roturn wrote:
cio93 wrote:
...
The support squad is my best all season long with Heider coming from a nice Tachira showing, Bontenackels and Chevrier providing basic support as always and of course the first ever race of future ManGame legend Silvio Herklotz!
...
He lost that future status after signing for your team, where he will be one of many "future legends".
To really call him a future Man Game legend, he should have signed with me.
One chance might still be there for him. Trade him in the offseason.
I have a feeling that when the future Man Game legend is finally maxed, we'll have an army of 85 MO riders around.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 12:26
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| fintas |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:47
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
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Well to start, I hope that my team do more than it has done so far in stage races. Karpets seems able to reach the top 5 but top 10 is also not bad at all now. With Cabreira and Rui Pedro Vinhas hopefully be able to earn quite a few points.
Kupfernagel will have difficulties in getting good results because with the exception of the first stage, all others are difficult for him.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:49
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
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Kami wrote:
roturn wrote:
cio93 wrote:
...
The support squad is my best all season long with Heider coming from a nice Tachira showing, Bontenackels and Chevrier providing basic support as always and of course the first ever race of future ManGame legend Silvio Herklotz!
...
He lost that future status after signing for your team, where he will be one of many "future legends".
To really call him a future Man Game legend, he should have signed with me.
One chance might still be there for him. Trade him in the offseason.
I have a feeling that when the future Man Game legend is finally maxed, we'll have an army of 85 MO riders around.
I indeed slightly do as well.
While that would change my focus to Demare, I still think both can fit in one team even with legend status, so unless I mess up a transfer sheet sometime, Herklotz will never leave my team 
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 24-04-2014 17:57
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4476
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Echelons on stage 1 please!!!
Efimkin should then work, gaining time on the favourites, and Vaitkus would be the ultimate favourite in a stage with echelons
Bring both a decent uphill and a decent sprint team here, altough I could've brought Greipel...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| fintas |
Posted on 24-04-2014 18:08
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
Joined: 21-03-2008
PCM$: 1200.00
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fjhoekie wrote:
Echelons on stage 1 please!!!
Efimkin should then work, gaining time on the favourites, and Vaitkus would be the ultimate favourite in a stage with echelons
Bring both a decent uphill and a decent sprint team here, altough I could've brought Greipel...
Stage one has a name written... Kupfernagel
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 24-04-2014 18:39
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Domestique
Posts: 506
Joined: 15-09-2012
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I'm really quite surprised there are not more sprinters of note here, maybe Speirs can forage for some decent results, which would be a nice result for us.
Otherwise Cataldo is our obvious GC hope and we have some good help for him, so would certainly like a fight for a top 5 in the GC, though a top 10 would satisfy me.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 24-04-2014 20:06
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
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First race where we have GC/climbing ambitions rather than sprinting. Lets hope it goes well, but I will be livid if Ji decided to sit up or lose time on a flat stage when he could easily not. I've got a sneaking suspicion that it will happen to someone here, knowing the AI of this game....
All the best and hopefully the most deserving win, and not the beneficiaries of poor PCM AI...
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 24-04-2014 23:40
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 897
Joined: 08-08-2011
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I don't expect much from the race. Any point will be welcomed.
Let's see how the AI treats this race.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 25-04-2014 06:32
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
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cio93 wrote:
Kami wrote:
roturn wrote:
cio93 wrote:
...
The support squad is my best all season long with Heider coming from a nice Tachira showing, Bontenackels and Chevrier providing basic support as always and of course the first ever race of future ManGame legend Silvio Herklotz!
...
He lost that future status after signing for your team, where he will be one of many "future legends".
To really call him a future Man Game legend, he should have signed with me.
One chance might still be there for him. Trade him in the offseason.
I have a feeling that when the future Man Game legend is finally maxed, we'll have an army of 85 MO riders around.
I indeed slightly do as well.
While that would change my focus to Demare, I still think both can fit in one team even with legend status, so unless I mess up a transfer sheet sometime, Herklotz will never leave my team
Well, when you will have them maxed with insane stats, build army of 50k nobodies, because these two could be 2million on wages or more right?
Nice preview Roturn, we are not here but i am rooting for my friends at PrivatBank, get that stage win! I call problems for Uran or Marquez on hilly stage, but we will see.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 25-04-2014 16:40
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
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Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Well, when you will have them maxed with insane stats, build army of 50k nobodies, because these two could be 2million on wages or more right?
Don't worry, everything is planned
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| Smowz |
Posted on 25-04-2014 17:57
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Team Leader
Posts: 6479
Joined: 09-04-2009
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I can see a few breakaways getting joy here with very few simple finishes, though I expect the GC riders to out themselves on Green Mountain - it'll be nice to see a real mountain showdown after the bizarre Tachira race.
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 25-04-2014 18:13
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World Champion
Posts: 10891
Joined: 19-11-2010
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Nicely negotiated stage with Marquez on 15th showing very good form.
Nice to see Huta win for his Belarusian team.
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