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Transfagarasan GP Discussion
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 22-10-2014 19:53
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World Champion
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 Transfagarasan GP
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Transfagarasan Grand Prix is quite a unique race. 100 kilometres of easy uphill and an out of nowhere - giant mountain. The main climb of 14km averages at around 7% but its it contains several 20% sections particularly near the top of the climb where greatest selection should occur.
As the riders reach the top of the climb a long downhill awaits. 25km to be exact with 5km of flat to the finish line.
Joaquin Rodriguez took a solo win last year after shattering the field on the long climb. The climb is tough enough for the top climbers to make a real difference, but if riders regroup on the downhill a selective sprint finish could take place for the win. But what will happen this year?
| 1 |  Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver | Iberia - Communidad | 4h01'04 | | 2 |  Sergey Rudaskov | Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team | + 1'22 | | 3 |  Zakayo Ndbri | Kenya Airways - Barclays | s.t. |
The Startlist
The Favorites
No big surprise, two of the best climbers in the Continental division are present here.  David Arroyo is the best climber in the race and without any question of doubt has by far the best team he could possibly have for this race. Castaño, Esquivel, Kulhavy or Villegas in any other team could have fought for podium here, however they will have one mission and that is to make this race living hell for everyone else.
 Vitor Rodrigues will be the direct rival, he's slightly weaker climber, but if he keeps up with Arroyo on the climb he stands a big chance of outsprinting him. His team is much weaker than ONCE however is still good enough to give him good support and make sure he won't be by himself when we reach the climb.
After the two big favourites, the field is very much wide open. Jackson RodrÃguez,  Daniel Moreno and  Delio Fernandez will fancy their chances here with solid sprinting prowess. But with such a huge field of strong climbers it's hard to call how the race will pan out, every team comes with a rider that on a good day can produce a solid result here - it should be one hell of a show.
* I'll be away tomorrow and most Friday, so report should be up late Friday, hopefully earlier though *
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| cio93 |
Posted on 22-10-2014 19:56
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
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Mountain. Downhill. Flat finish. Herklotz.
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 22-10-2014 20:33
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2282
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Can't wait for this race!! Anything than a win here would be dissapointing tbh, but we cant underestimate Rodrigues either. Dream here would be Kulhavi fighting for a podium here aswell with his great downhilling skills and with his great form ongoing.
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| 547984 |
Posted on 23-10-2014 03:59
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5008
Joined: 29-01-2013
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Oh wow! Actually one of the favorites in the Fag GP? I can't believe it 
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar! |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 23-10-2014 06:33
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 14-09-2013
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I was really not sure what to make of this race during planning in the off-season, so stayed away even although we have a strong mountain leader in our squad - not clear to me (limited actual PCM experience) the impact of downhill rating on the potential result. Hence will be following with even more interest than just keeping an eye on how the race impacts CT rival scoring!
Hard to see anything but an ONCE victory looking at the start-list, dev4ever would be pretty unfortunate to not at minimum grab an impressive points haul from this outing.
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 23-10-2014 06:57
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World Champion
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ONCE should destroy everyone here, with like 4 in the top10. I think Kulhavy will win this. 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 12:51
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 23-10-2014 07:40
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
Joined: 12-06-2013
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Euskaltel-Bavaria really hoping for good strong results from Delio Fernandez, Edwin Parra Bustamante, Rafael Infantino and Francisco Colorado. Should be able to achieve something here.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 23-10-2014 08:30
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
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Hmm, I need a better climber 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 23-10-2014 14:47
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Classics Specialist
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Arroyo should win this solo and I doubt Rodrigues will be matched for second but from there it's a bit of a lottery to predict. Hopefully Jiriakov can keep up if it ends in a reduced group sprint behind those 2 but I think it's more likely to split up. I'll just have to hope that Saggiorato can perform well and follows the right moves.
I don't reall know what to expect but I'm hoping we can grab a top 10.
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| The Rider |
Posted on 23-10-2014 16:31
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I find the comments saying this should be Arroyo's ... pretty damn funny!
I really doubt this stage will be won by Arroyo, he has one of the worst downhill stats in the game and the last 24 KM are all downhill (downhill matters in PCM2013). He is the best climber but the mountain is well away from the finish, so the fact he is the best is well nullified. I will be shocked if he makes a top5 finish tbh, knowing how PCM plays.
Ollfardh wrote:
Hmm, I need a better climber
Well, in Rosa you have someone who could win this race. This race has the following scenario written all over it:
- Some riders attack just before the climb starts (55 KM to go), these riders will have 73/74/75 mountain. The favourites won't bring them back and one these aggressive riders will take the win.
For Bonsucro's sake I just hope we don't do a ton of work on the front of the peloton and instead put someone into the attack with around 55 KM to go. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 23-10-2014 16:35
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Team Manager
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I kind of agree with you there.
Then again the slopes are really high (black). Those mountains so far proved to be the most selective with lots of solo riders or small groups coming to the top.
If the climb is really raced fast, Arroyo could have a small gap already, which might be enough for a top5 at least or even the win.
But if the climb is not races as fast as comparable final climbs on mountain top finishes, then he will indeed struggle. |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 23-10-2014 18:32
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Hopefully Zurita will attack on the climb and try and build a gap, otherwise with his atrocious downhill and sprinting abilities he won't stand much of a chance in the finale.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:01
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Yay Peilun Wu! He's having a great season so far supporting Rodrigues in every race and now getting a win on his own. Rodrigues himself kind of underperformed, he should've won the sprint for 4th. But also with Poorseyedi in 12th this was a great race for my team. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:01
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World Champion
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In a perfect world, Herklotz would have attacked with Wu.
In a good world, Declerq would have stayed with the group and not be the last to be dropped by it before the descent.
It is no surprise to me that this is a shit world though, so obvious 0-pointer is obvious.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:04
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We got the top 10 we were after though I didn't expect it to be like that. I thought Jiriakov would have had a better sprint then Saggiorato but it wasn't to be for him.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:08
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That is one epic report! Enjoyed the race. Thought Arroyo would make it, but still a great fight there. Wu as a kinda cool winner. Had him shortlisted in the preseason, always nice to see those guys winning something in another division than PCT 
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:11
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
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Meh.
Good report though.
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:33
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Jesleyh wrote:
Meh.
Good report though.
My thoughts exactly on both counts
It was probably asking too much from Zurita for him to get a good result here. A great report though!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:47
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Rosa you moron!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 24-10-2014 19:17
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Classics Specialist
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Really happy with this race, Rodriguez had the right idea just couldn't make it stick, but Ardila did great! Couldn't really have asked for a much better race from us.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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