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Nelspruit Classic discussion
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 05-01-2015 19:05
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Welcome to South Africa to the Nelspruit Classic. We'll be broadcasting a one-day hilly event around the city of Nelspruit, capital of Mpumalanga province, in the north-eastern part of the country. With a total of 6 laps finishing atop a 5-6km climb, we're sure to witness a great show
This event has taken place only once in Man-Game history, precisely last year, where Chris Froome took the victory for Jaguar.
2013 edition
Spoiler | 1 | Chris Froome | Jaguar - Eritel | 5h33'13 | | 2 | Jérémy Roy | Alstom-RBC | s.t. | | 3 | Aleksandr Efimkin | Cisco Cycling Team | + 10 | | 4 | Nicolas Roche | ING Cycling - Project | s.t. | | 5 | Aleksandar Flügel | VolksWagen-Mapei | + 51 | | 6 | Alex Dowsett | Jaguar - Eritel | + 1'02 | | 7 | Gracjan Lejman | Team Bintang | s.t. | | 8 | Fabian Wegmann | Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Francesco Ginanni | Vespa-Aprilia Racing | s.t. | | 10 | Hassen Ben Nasser | Pivovarna Lasko Cycling Team | s.t. | | 11 | Patrik Sinkewitz | Team Vueling Airlines | s.t. | | 12 | Cristiano Salerno | Cisco Cycling Team | s.t. | | 13 | Cyril Gautier | Team BPost | s.t. | | 14 | Matthias Kessler | VolksWagen-Mapei | s.t. | | 15 | Johnny Hoogerland | Swedbank-PEAB | s.t. | | 16 | Yasmani Martinez | Kenya Airways - Barclays | s.t. | | 17 | Ryan Anderson | Alstom-RBC | s.t. | | 18 | Johan Vansummeren | Team BPost | s.t. | | 19 | Kristijan Durasek | Alstom-RBC | s.t. | | 20 | Fabio Taborre | Cisco Cycling Team | s.t. |
This year the competition hasn't got any easier. There is a considerable amount of top puncheurs present here, which makes it justifiable to state that it won't be an easy task for Froome to successfully defend his title.
 Di Maggio | 82 |  Froome | 81 |  Dowsett | 80 |  Ulissi | 80 |  Zaini | 79 |  Bobridge | 79 |  Betancourt | 79 |  Ben Nasser | 79 |  Monfort | 79 |  Roy | 79 |  Barrio | 79 |  Gautier | 79 | | Efimkin | 79 |  Bellis | 78 | | Lejman | 77 |  Hategeka | 77 |  Kelderman | 77 | | Vogt | 77 |
Looking at the list of top puncheurs we can perceive things as a double clash between the Italians and the British, especially since both national champions are present. However, this year the defending champion will be racing for Quickstep whereas Jaguar will be looking to keep this trophy at home by supporting Dowsett who was 6th last year.
Di Maggio and Ulissi will be the ones trying to spoil the party for the brits here in their former colony. In fact, Di Maggio should be the man to beat, him being the most prominent hilly rider.
Behind these 4 we have a much more widespread competition, with a lot of teams offering good enough support to their leaders. Three teams have put their money in a double-speared leadership (even though some of them have had very good results with only one of those in 2013) and place their money in a synergistic bet. These are Meiji (Zaini + Efimkin), Barcelona (Betancourt + Lejman) and Puma (Kelderman + Vogt)
The list doesn't end here. Roy returns after a notable 2nd place last year and will be looking to repeat a result of that calibre. Ben Nasser and Gautier have featured in the top15 of 2013 edition and should be threatening presence as well, while Bobridge, Monfort, Barrio, Bellis and Hategeka are the newcomers and will try to upset the rest.
Edited by Gustavovskiy on 05-01-2015 20:43
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-01-2015 19:14
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Now, come on, Bobridge! Remember your shape from Manx International and bring home a Top-5  daily form may decide over the winner anyway, but i fancy our chances here. Tactics may be crucial, i mean, a too early empty-handed attack can spoil your man's party here.
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 05-01-2015 19:18
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Awesome preview hopefully Froome repeats lat year win but podium is the minimum after his last weak performance.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 19:44
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Hoping Bellis can continue his consistent if yet win-less season this year and we had a really good race last year so I hope this race still likes me |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 19:53
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Hopefully one of my leaders can do something. Great preview btw!
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 05-01-2015 19:55
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Hey Dowsett, this would be a good race to start delivering!
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| jph27 |
Posted on 05-01-2015 22:25
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Well Cyril, it's your time to shine. Need a 20ish pprd race here to keep up the top 10 hunt. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 06-01-2015 06:17
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Should be a course for the real punchaers but I worry that they will leave the break dangling a bit too much, before the final climb and leave themselves too much to do.
Should be a good course for di Maggio having icon the less favourable San sebastian.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 06-01-2015 16:56
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Need a good result here, for our Africa tour goal. Ben Nasser should be capable of a top 5. |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 06-01-2015 18:25
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Perfect opportunity for Di Maggio to continue his good form from San Sebastian! Some very tough competition, but a top 5 should be more than manageable.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:40
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:30
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Meh. Enjoyed the report but that was an underwhelming result. 9th, 12th and 20th will atleast bring a few points about the same as a 5th place I think, but it could have been better for us.
If you look at the teams for all of the top finishers you notice that they all are pretty much the ones with a shot of promoting. Stats wise, we should be up there on a day like today, and the fact we aren't is frustrating.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:33
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Was always looking good for the punchy men to have a Fleche Waloonie style slugfest.
Di Magg simply the best for this - nice try from Monfort and Gazelle though.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:39
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Mehhh Bellis in 8th is okay not great with Anderson in the break as well I was just begging it to stay away as he was the strongest in the break by 2 hill points(no matter what the report says  ) but you can't win them all at least it's points.
Also great detail in the report gustav really enjoyed the read |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:42
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Thanks for a great report Gustav. Looks like 2013 Gautier has returned  |
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| ryant |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:44
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Was expected really, but missing the break was hard to take... well we expected nothing and got nothing so I cant be too sad about it
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:48
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Need to have a talk with our team after that one. 
I thought it was a typo when you said Altur attacked again. Looks like we have to sit the young Spanish cobbler down and tell him his time is coming. Now is not the time or place for moves like that with promotion still possible.
Thanks for the detailed report.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 06-01-2015 22:54
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tsmoha wrote:
Tactics may be crucial, i mean, a too early empty-handed attack can spoil your man's party here.
Jinxed it
Well, it's still nice to see Bobridge trying, even though his ACC should give him an advantage for bunch sprints anyway.. so kinda mixed feelings, but a 7-14 with Jiao doing quite well ain't too bad afterall. Had hoped for a Top-5, but hey. It's our fifth 7th place in our last few races.
Di Maggio delivering again, huge double for Venchi then!
Edited by tsmoha on 06-01-2015 22:56
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 06-01-2015 23:34
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jt1109 wrote:
Mehhh Bellis in 8th is okay not great with Anderson in the break as well I was just begging it to stay away as he was the strongest in the break by 2 hill points(no matter what the report says ) but you can't win them all at least it's points.
Also great detail in the report gustav really enjoyed the read
Ouch, you're right, sorry for that jtt. Completely overlooked your man, shame on me.
But thanks for the kind words though. It was a boring race tbh, but it really exploded when the BOTD was caught, which was quite challenging actually.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 07-01-2015 01:07
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Great performance by Monfort! Kept calm, joined the right attack and took the initiative in the final kilometres with a strong sprint.
Also nice to see the support team do their job.
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| Kami |
Posted on 07-01-2015 01:10
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Not that bad, as these hilly classics can be very random. Also a decent result from Mancuso coming in 13th.
Thanks for the report Gusta!
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