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Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-01-2015 09:20
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Directeur Sportif
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 Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt
The Pro Continental Tour is heading for Austria, where this prestigious HC-race goes into it's 7th edition in the ManGame history. It has always been a race for the climbers, which makes just sense for a race held in Austria.
Bernhard Kohl (2008), Andy Schleck (2009), Damiano Cunego (2010) or Jose Alacorn (2012) have all won this tour once in their careers, which should be motiviation enough to write your very own name into this list of previous champions here. In last year's edition, Maxim Iglinski (LukOil) took the overall victory ahead of Levarlet and Hoogerland, but we will see a more packed startlist this season!
But let's have a quick look at the profiles first: the race kicks off the the two most crucial of three mountain stages! While the opening stage features a summit finish on "Kühtai" (21km, 6.5% slopes), the second stage up the "Kitzbüheler Horn" (12km, 9.8%) may be the queen stage. One more mountain stage, which ain't likely to produce too many gaps between the favorites, and another hilltop finish on "Sonntagberg" will add some fun to the GC-fight.
And of course the timetrial around Podersdorf will be another key for anyone aiming for the GC: 24km in total, the flat parcours will of course lead to some gaps.. let's not forget the sprinters, who may just aim for the two flat stages late into the race though.
The Startlist
GC-contenders and Stage-hunters
| GC-contenders | MO | HI | TT | Sprinters | SPR |  Intxausti | 82 | 71 | 77 |  Mezgec | 79 |  Abal | 81 | 70 | 77 |  Davis | 79 |  Marquez | 80 | 71 | 70 |  Grillo | 79 |  Nazaret | 80 | 71 | 65 | Aberasturi | 79 |  Pedraza | 79 | 72 | 71 |  Nelson | 79 |  Nerz | 78 | 72 | 73 |  Brea | 78 |  Ji | 78 | 75 | 69 | Ferrari | 77 |  Stetina | 78 | 67 | 64 |  Polivoda | 77 | | Nepomnyachsniy | 77 | 74 | 77 |  Rangel | 77 | | Plaza | 77 | 72 | 77 | Giaux | 77 |  Rohregger | 77 | 70 | 74 | Arashiro | 76 | | Augustyn | 77 | 75 | 71 | | | | Agudelo | 77 | 68 | 72 | | | | Ardila Cano | 77 | 71 | 70 | | | | Topchanyuk | 77 | 73 | 65 | TTlers | TT | | Navarro | 77 | 72 | 64 | Boaro | 77 |  Ndbri | 77 | 69 | 63 | Barth | 77 | | Gerdemann | 76 | 76 | 74 | Gretsch | 77 | | Ortega | 76 | 65 | 75 | | | | Dyachenko | 76 | 74 | 70 | | | | Brandt | 76 | 69 | 73 | | |  Niemiec | 74 | 71 | 74 | | |
Intxausti, Abal and Marquez top the list of favorites. The Spaniards will be the best climbers to take part, with the first two also amongst the very best TT-specialists to make for an outstanding overall "package" here. Marquez though has been impressive with some consistent top-results this year, so watch out for him on the first two days!
Same goes for Nazaret, Ji, Nerz or Pedraza: those guys are capable of going for the podium at least and may need to put the pressure on the first two days. Opposing to Nepomnyachsniy, who will have a nice chance in the TT to bounce back from possible losses before.
Local team Magna had some mixed feelings last year: with Schrangl taking the first stage and finishing 10th in the GC, they definitely had some good results. Team's captain Rohregger though missed the Top-25 and a chance to go for more than just a breakaway-success. The Austrian should be amongst the Top-10-contenders this year. Definitely most important race for the team!
Sprinters like Mezgec, Grillo, Davis or Aberasturi will have a tough time on the first days and need to recover well to challenge for those flat stages later on. Polivoda had a very strong showing in the US Pro Cycle Challenge and may be considered a favorite here.. a few pure TT-specialists will aim for the late timetrial, even though we've seen such guys struggling on such stages late into a race.
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 05-01-2015 10:44
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World Champion
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Marquez's final stage race this season which has been quite astonishing. Tough field as always but hopefull that stage win and podium in GC should be doable over the 8 days here. Bring it on.
Great preview Tsmoha as always!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:24
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 05-01-2015 11:11
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Polivoda and Nikolaev for stage 3 
Hope Topchanyuk will do well here, perhaps collecting another white jersey.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| fintas |
Posted on 05-01-2015 12:05
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Small Tour Specialist
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Stage win for Davis, top10 GC for Gerdemann and some more top10 of stage thats all i want for this race
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 12:23
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Classics Specialist
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Nice write up Tsmoha  I like Augustyn's chances, but I'm 99% sure he won't have the outstanding ride we need. All season long we haven't had quite the luck we needed and underperformed in many races. Unless we have a completely unbelievable race here, we seem destined for relegation.
That being said, I look forward to following this race. I quite like Rangel's chances for stages 3/4 with his 69Mou. Bring on the show!
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| Kami |
Posted on 05-01-2015 12:34
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Intxausti should be able to win this as the top 5 other contendors are more or less the same kind of rider just with lesser stats. But i've been thinking like that for the past 2 years aswell and i mostly got disappointed in the end, so i'll be happy with a top 3  .
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 05-01-2015 13:25
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Grand Tour Champion
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Abal's last race.  Hope it's a good one.
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 05-01-2015 17:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Hopefully Stetina and Brandt can do a little something something. They by no means have good stats but they should be able to manage a top 15 between them.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 17:33
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World Champion
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If we want to stay up, Pedraza needs to podium here. And hopefully, he'll do that. We need the points, badly. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 18:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
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This is a HC Band extra for us, and Ndbri gets a chance to lead. Probably 8 wasted race days, which will put us even closer to relegation. Got to hope we get a stroke of luck from somewhere though and get at least something. |
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 21:21
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The is a bracket filler race for AMEXpc. With no serious climbers we have zero chances to shine in the GC. Paride Grillo is here to make a run at the flat stages, but after time in the mountains who knows what he will have left. Hopefully the other sprinters will be just as leg tired.
Patrick Gretsch should have a podium chance on the ITT, but again what will be left in the tank after scaling the mountains.
Stagiarie Simon Larsen (Denmark) makes his pro debut. Projected as a future cobbler, you have to make first start somewhere and AMEX wants to see if his strength projects him for a full-time roster slot next season. Arnaud Godet has jumped into some breakaways this season but I suspect he is way to intimidated with these uphills to rush out front here in Austria.
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 06-01-2015 15:04
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World Champion
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Good start with 2nd, good job by the team controlling the stage. Bit of a lame stage to end in a sprint but great report as ever.
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 06-01-2015 15:52
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Strong start for Topchanyuk! The white jersey is certainly a possibility here.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| fintas |
Posted on 06-01-2015 19:12
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
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Clearly it was not this way I would like to have started the race. The possibilities for the general were dashed, I hope I can still get something from this race
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| Ascend |
Posted on 06-01-2015 19:21
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Amateur
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I have a question - what is this u guys are talking about? |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 06-01-2015 19:52
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World Champion
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Very decent stage for us. Now, to keep this up tomorrow. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 06-01-2015 20:12
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Not the best of starts for Ndbri there to say the least. Need a better performance tomorrow. |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 07-01-2015 06:28
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World Champion
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Ascend wrote:
I have a question - what is this u guys are talking about?
Spoiler This is fantasy management game with PCM, with created divisions, teams, calendar and startlists, where PCM decides what happens, as reporters only control the weak team of few riders and does not interfere with race...
In one word: FUN
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 07-01-2015 06:29
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 07-01-2015 07:33
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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Augustyn didn't over-perform, but he put in a good ride to finish where he did. Hopefully he can shake of those around him to be able to finish in the top 10.
@Ascend: You might want to read the first bit for a good idea of what it is - https://pcmdaily.c...d_id=32087
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 07-01-2015 17:22
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
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Looks like a Top 10 will be possible but also doesn't look like Ji will be exceeding my expectations at all if the first stage was anything to go by. Loved the report!
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