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Tour d'Algerie Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 13:00
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 14-12-2014 13:18
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 Tour d'Algerie
The Continental Division is heading for Algerie, where a sprinter's stage race will offer some good points with 6 flat stages and just 15 teams in this HC-band.
The tour kicks off with the two trickiest stages though and some hill-hating sprinters will just hope for a slow pace on that challenging climbs during those two stages. Overall, rather short stages and definitely a great chance for the teams in this band to benefit from some of the division's best sprinters missing here.
The Startlist
The Favorites
| Rider | FL | SP | ACC |  Guillén | 67 | 81 | 82 |  Meyer | 72 | 80 | 76 |  Forero | 71 | 80 | 75 |  Vingerling | 71 | 79 | 79 |  Manarelli | 72 | 79 | 79 | | Vanderaerden | 72 | 79 | 75 |  Awang | 64 | 79 | 83 |  Fonseca | 74 | 78 | 77 |  Sinner | 71 | 78 | 73 |  Gavazzi | 70 | 77 | 72 |  Richeze | 73 | 77 | 76 |  Schinker | 69 | 77 | 75 |  Uugunbayar | 70 | 77 | 75 |  Gajek | 70 | 76 | 74 |  Tuulhangai | 67 | 75 | 77 |
If Guillén hadn't just Top-10'ed the mountainous Tour of Bulgaria, we might have considered someone else but him as the top-favorite for this one. But now that we know, he can actually survive climbs, he should be amongst the most promising sprinters in Algerie, too.
Fletcher-Garneau lines up with an extraordinary strong duo Meyer/Vanderaerden, while also Forero, Vingerling and Manarelli will all aim for the GC-win here.. Awang will have to stay with the bunch though, he may like the short stages the most. Fonseca or Sinner may be better bets, while all other remaining team-leaders will need some good days to compete for the Top-5 on every stage.
Note/ Since I had problems to load the final stage (kept crashing), Alakagom took over the report for this final day. Thanks in advance!
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 14-12-2014 13:22
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This is a race close to my heart.
It was actually the very first race my team attended last season, and surprisingly Polivoda won the first stage, only to have Mestre work for him and screw the GC plans...
Shame there's no mountain stage this year, but the 'flat' stages will be interesting too.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-12-2014 13:24
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I'm interested to see how this plays out, with the flat rated stages but the quite challenging early half of many stage.
After Bulgaria, Guillen has got to be the favourite.
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 14-12-2014 13:30
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Ah, this was a very special race last year. Somehow Rodas managed to win the last stage and beat the likes of Arroyo and Marzano, but finished 2nd overall. Will be nice to follow this years flat(ish) version.
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| The Rider |
Posted on 14-12-2014 13:45
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After we have seen some stages where sprinters finished in the main group after being expected to finish 30 minutes down, you have got to expect a sprinter win here.
Manarelli was second in the Circulo de Juares, with no Matthews here the win could be his! We might be handicapped by the sprint train bug here (only the top SPRINT rated rider(s) get the train), unfortunately for us as I think we would have one of the better sprint trains.
SN - I hope not, I wouldn't want the GC to go to a team who struggle to send five riders to most races.... |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 14-12-2014 13:52
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World Champion
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Ah, I remember this from last year, even though my team didn't came here. One of the best CT races of last year. Shame there's no mountain stage this year though.
Interesting to see how the AI will play this out. Guillén is the best sprinter here, but I wonder how he'll handle the climbs. But then again, he already passed a HC climb this year, so yeah... I'm going to bet though a breakaway rider will win the GC though. |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 14-12-2014 14:34
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This is an absolutely key race for us here if we are to have any hope of salvaging what has so far been a very poor season. Forero has to score some points here and I would be disappointed if we didn't come away with a win or a couple of podiums.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 14-12-2014 14:36
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As my leader here is Uugunbayar I don't expect anything here. I guess he still will manage to fail that expectation.
I hope to see some of my guys in the break and maybe fight for the climbers jersey. |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 14-12-2014 15:26
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If we can contest the sprints then I'll be happy, though I've brought my breakaway specialists just in case.
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 14-12-2014 15:40
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Happy to start racing again, after a few weeks without competition for the team.
We've lost a lot of ground this early summer and need to get on track, again.
Our fast men (lead by Armindo Fonseca) are here to fullfill the duty. A podium and an overall top 10 seems to be a reasonable goal... , but breakaway riders collecting bonus seconds can spoil the fun.
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| 547984 |
Posted on 14-12-2014 21:50
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More of a filler race for us as we're not a strong sprinting team. Hoping for breakaways or surprise results!!!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 14-12-2014 21:54
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A break will get away and fill the GC I think at some point. So god knows who will win. Guillermo with only three other riders I think will be screwed.
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 14-12-2014 22:03
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Going for the GC on the first two stages with either a breakaway or an attack after setting a high pace.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 15-12-2014 00:16
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Come on Stobart get back to winning ways  |
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| maxime86 |
Posted on 15-12-2014 02:40
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maybe, in-n-out wont suck this race! |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 15-12-2014 05:28
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This could actually be a very interesting race. As you mentioned Guillen of ONCE will be a top favourite for the GC as he has shown he can go over a hill but he only has 3 team mates so defending Yellow against a breakaway could be a challenge if no other team is willing to help out.
The more interesting thing is that the last edition of this race was won by a climber and it seems climbers dominated the top spots in the GC. Maybe that was raced on a different route but it gives hope to me 
Spoiler If tsmoha has raced it already the chances of the winner not being a sprinter are low but the chance is there none the less.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 15-12-2014 05:34
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Directeur Sportif
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Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
If tsmoha has raced it already the chances of the winner not being a sprinter are low..
Why that? I always write up the previews before playing, if that's your point here.
Have played it through the final stage anyway 
EDIT: Last years route was mountainous, btw.
Edited by tsmoha on 15-12-2014 05:35
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 15-12-2014 13:20
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Well that was a facepalm-inducing stage. We work for a lot of the stage, drop some of the rivals, only to forget to catch the breakaway and have Forero end up doing nothing at all in the end 
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 15-12-2014 14:51
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Good start so far, we got a guy in the break, he won both sprints to get the bonus seconds, then hung on for second on the stage anyway.
It's a slight shame he couldn't keep Fernandez's wheel all the way until the finish line put the points jersey is ample reward for his efforts, even if it is likely only for 1 or 2 days.
And Awang managed to defy the report and sprint his way onto the back of the peloton to avoid a time loss.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 15-12-2014 15:55
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kind a pissed that Sarawut is the only breakaway rider, that was caught by the peloton. But if he doesn't fuck up another time the chances of a top 10 are still there for him. Big surprise that Uugunbayar still was in the main group but no surprise that he didn't care for a good sprint. |
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