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Tour of California Discussion
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 01-10-2014 08:04
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Small Tour Specialist
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While some of the biggest stars in road cycling are fighting for glory in the first grand tour of the year in Italy, some have travelled across the Atlantic ocean to race the "fourth grand tour": Tour of California. As usual, there are 8 stages: 4 flat, 2 hilly, 1 mountainous with a summit finish on top of mythical Mount Diablo, and 1 hilly individual time trial. In other words, there should be a stage or two for nearly every rider type. Let's take a look at the previous winners and the favorites in this year's edition.
2008:  Santos Gonzalez Capilla (Health Net Presented by Maxxis)
2009:  David Zabriskie (Wikipedia)
2010: David Zabriskie (Wikipedia)
2011: Taylor Phinney (Wikipedia)
2012: Taylor Phinney (Wikipedia)
2013:  Tiago Machado (Pearl Adidas)
Having won the past two editions,  Taylor Phinney chose to race Giro d'Italia instead last year (something he surely does not regret!). This year however, he is back, and he is the biggest favorite to win the general classification. His biggest contender might be  Robert Gesink. The Dutchman has absolutely no weaknesses and is perfect for a race like this. Regardless, he will need to look out for  Peter Velits on the mountain stage. Despite being slightly worse than the above mentioned in hills and time trials, the Slovakian is on paper the best climber present in this race.
Next in line of great climbers we have  Martijn Keizer, though his time trial skill might be even better. His only slight weakness is hills, but if the hill stages are not all that selective, he should be all the way up there.  Nico Keinath is a very similar rider to Peter Velits, although the Slovkian is slightly better in the mountains. Nevertheless, Keinath should be in the mix for a good result. The  Vesuvio and the  Pendleton-team both come here with two interesting duos. Fränk Schleck might suffer a bit on the time trial, while Jaime Suaza has his weakness in the hills. Still, they will be hoping for a good result here. As will Bernard Kohl, who leads his team, but with Philippe Gilbert also on the startline, they will much like Vesuvio cover every aspect of the determining part of the race.
Looking further along the startline we have a group of world class punchers present with the potential of doing good in the general classification. Let's start with current world champion  Edvald Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian has not had his best season to date, but has impressed in these kind of week-long stage races before. He will be one to watch. The route is also good for a rider with the abilites of  Robin van der Hugenhaben. Even though he is a slightly weaker puncher than Boasson Hagen, he contrary to the Norwegian goes very well on the longer climbs. The same counts for  Nicolas Roche. He rides for a team which also has Francesco Ginanni on the startline. If they can figure who is to be the absolute leader, they should do very well here.  Rui Costa differ from the previous mentioned punchers in the way that he besides being a great rider in the hills, also does very well in time trials. The 6th stage should be perfect for him.
 Mapei has a squad with much resemblance to the team Pendleton's have sent here. Yonathan Monsalve is an outstanding climber, though lacking a bit in the time trials. In Aleksandar Flügel on the other hand, they have a fine puncher, but he as well lack the time trial ability some of the bigger favorites have.  Jack Bobridge and Kristjan Koren represent the only pro continental team on the startline. They should both be up there on the time trial and the hill stages, while the stage to Mount Diablo is more of a question mark. Finally we have x2 former winner  David Zabriskie rounding out the list of GC riders that shall not go unmentioned. Though not being the climber he once was, he still continues to impress on the time trials, and has a shot at a decent GC result.
With half of the stages being flat, it must be expected that the points classification will go to a sprinter. It is therefore not unnatural that some of the best sprinters in the division has travelled to America. The biggest favorites for the jersey might be Erik Mohs and  Óscar Guerao who both have strong teammates to back them up. They will need to look out for  Daniele Bennati,  Jacobo Guarnieri, Matthew Goss and  Peter Kennaugh who all will be wanting the same thing: stage wins and the points jersey. Take a look below for the startlist in its entirety.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 01-10-2014 08:56
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
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Gesink could have finally won something this year, but Phinney came here instead of defending his Giro title. Dammit, dave.
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-10-2014 09:45
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World Champion
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I have decided to go all in with Guerao here, so I will probably be fucked over  - He sure ain't happy to perform according to his actual level. I really hope he is among the 3 star favorites on the flat stages, so we will make a train. We have a pretty good train, and he basically only performs when he is one of the 3 favorites.
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-10-2014 09:47
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alexkr00 wrote:
Gesink could have finally won something this year, but Phinney came here instead of defending his Giro title. Dammit, dave.
He would have crashed out 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 01-10-2014 09:51
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SotD wrote:
alexkr00 wrote:
Gesink could have finally won something this year, but Phinney came here instead of defending his Giro title. Dammit, dave.
He would have crashed out
Name one time when that happened!
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| roturn |
Posted on 01-10-2014 10:13
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Team Manager
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Looking forward to this race.
Hopefully the first 2 stages won`t be that selective and the time trial musn`t be really have an hilly impact I think.
So top10 with Keizer is much needed. |
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| beagle |
Posted on 01-10-2014 10:32
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Great detailed preview!
Hard to evaluate my chances here, somewhere between stunning success and total disaster
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Roman |
Posted on 01-10-2014 10:44
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4386
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Great preview! Nice to see Velits finally being somewhere something like one of the biggest favourites of a race! It won't be an easy race for him though, all these hill stages will be quite hard for him to stay with Gesink or Phinney, but with Sagan's support, he can hopefully keep himself in the mix before Mt. Diablo stage. The podium with a stage win would be great here.
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-10-2014 11:19
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World Champion
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alexkr00 wrote:
SotD wrote:
alexkr00 wrote:
Gesink could have finally won something this year, but Phinney came here instead of defending his Giro title. Dammit, dave.
He would have crashed out
Name one time when that happened!
You are right, I can't. He never crashes
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| cio93 |
Posted on 01-10-2014 11:28
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I like how high up the list Rothaus are, let's hope Keizer is no Gomez Marchante
With support from Bongiorno, obviously I'm cheering for them here. Maybe even a Top 20 himself?
Gotta say this route would look decent for Demare, but with Bennati present, my personal favourite could never be someone else anyway 
At the top, I see Gesink vs Phinney closer than alex expects.
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| roturn |
Posted on 01-10-2014 11:37
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It's actually Keizers first race of the season except of the ITT. So I really hope he is better than GM despite the same mountain, hill stat.
But better flat and timetrial should make him relevant.
Nizzolo top10 in stages would be nice. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 01-10-2014 11:54
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Directeur Sportif
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Good preview, nice read!
We won't be a threat for the GC, but it would be cool to see Bobridge and Goss showing something in their preffered stages. Maybe Koren in the TT and Bennett (with a breakaway?) on Mt Diablo. I'm really happy to see Oz in two PT-stage races this year, no pressure but still a chance to deliver on highest level!
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| Heine |
Posted on 01-10-2014 11:56
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Not expecting a lot tbh, but will be interesting to see how Monsalve does, and I can always hope that Flügel steals a stage
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 01-10-2014 11:56
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World Champion
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cio93 wrote:
At the top, I see Gesink vs Phinney closer than alex expects.
Well, I can't recall if we are using a different PCM than last year, but Gesink really seems to be doing worse than his usual self so far.
I was expecting him to be on the podium or at least close in Catalunya, Pais Vasco and Romandie. Yet, he failed to do so. He won the last two editions in the Basque Country and this year he was not even close.
Even if Gesink would be last year's Gesink (when he won two races in the same year for the first time in ManGame history) his only advantage over Phinney would be in the hills. And I don't see him winning more time there than what he is going to lose in the time - trial and the mountain stage. Not to mention that Phinney gets involved in sprints as well at times.
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| ember |
Posted on 01-10-2014 17:19
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Admittedly we're here for the first two stages. We really need Boasson Hagen to delive on those stages to take some points back to Norway.
But seeing his season so far, he's still missing a win, I'm not sure at all we'll actually be able to win. Fingers crossed!
And thanks for the nice preview, Sykkel_Freak. Looking forward to the reports |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 01-10-2014 23:41
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Interesting to see how Schleck goes, could certainly do with some gaps on the opening stages. He certainly has the ability to Top 10 on this all round course, which would be quite nice as this has never been a strong race for Vesuvio previously
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| CountArach |
Posted on 02-10-2014 08:09
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Grand Tour Champion
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Great report, Sykell_Freak, thanks. Also a very nice preview. EBH should probably win the next stage too now, with the leader's jersey on his shoulders. After that though it should be a really interesting fight for the overall with a really balanced course.
I've sent VDHH here because this is an ideal course for him, though I wish the TT were a bit shorter. But the mixture of hills and mountains play into his strengths and I am really hoping for a top ten. He looks good after the first stage, which is always nice to see.
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| ember |
Posted on 02-10-2014 09:56
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Great to see Boasson Hagen finally take his first win this season! 
The final climb on the next stage looks too hard and too long for him, meaning I think Phinney, Schleck or Gesink will grab the leader's jersey and the stage.
Though, if Boasson Hagen survives the stage in the front and keeps yellow, he should do a very good GC, as the yellow jersey could give him wings on the flat stages and in the hilly TT as well.
And thanks for your contribution to the mangame, Sykkel_Freak, it's great for the game that you've started reporting with such a frequency. Keep it up! |
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-10-2014 10:31
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Good report Sykkel_Freak and congrats to ember for the stage win.
For me it`s 1/2 stages successfully passed with Keizer being able to stay with the best.
Nice bonus that also Olivier and Bongiorno were in there.
So next stage might be the harder one but I hope the last climb is not really that selective when Keizer is hopefully still there at the foot of the hill. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 02-10-2014 10:51
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Directeur Sportif
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Good to see Bobo and also Koren in the bigger group here. Would be cool to see both in GC-contention til the ITT.
Congrats ember and big thanks to Sykkel for the heavy workload of reports atm!
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