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Tour of Britain discussion thread
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| Smowz |
Posted on 31-01-2015 10:22
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The two wheeled warriors are back on British shores for the closest we get to the Tour de France.
In a change from recent years the organisers have gone included a Time trial which seems to have frightened former two time winner Johnny Bellis (rBc) away. The British challenge will instead be led by Chris Froome (Quickstep), Ian Bibby (Jaguar) and Jonathan Tiernan Locke (ASDA).
Last year’s race came down to some good late breaks towards the end of stages, one was made in particular by the tactically astute Fran Ventoso whose CSC squad are here with an all Spanish squad. He underlines the fact that the tour of Britain has always suit a fast finishing punchy type.
The parcours though as said do include that 16km TT and five technical hard finishes, so almost every stage could see some major GC changes. The road stage action is concentrated in the western half of the country with four notorious hilly areas visited: The beautiful Lake District on stage 2, the almost mountainous Snowdonia on stage 4, the Brecon Beacons of South Wales in the fifth stage with the hill top finish up Haytor in southwest England possibly the queen stage on stage six.
There are several other star names that have come across from Europe. Italian climber Diego Ullisi (Bacardi), French grimpaers Jeremy Roy (Allianz), Cyril Gautier (La Vie Claire), Belgian battler Maxime Monfort (Gazelle), German veteran Fabian Wegmann (Kenya Airways), Dutch youngster Wilco Keldermann(Puma) and Aussie climber Jack Bobridge (Oz cycling).
However many peoples favourite may well be Russian hard man Mikhail Ignatiev (Metinvest) well known for his run with British Protour teams Wiggle and former British continental squad 100% ME. He will have competition from elite TTers Michael Rogers (Oz cycling) and Britains very own Ian Stannard (ASDA Savers).
The final stage sees a grandstand sprint into the Mall in London. In the absence of Isle of Man’s uber brat Mark Cavendish (Belerusbank), Meiji’s Danilo Napolitano (Meiji) will start off favourite there.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 31-01-2015 10:29
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Pretty Much picked out the main reason Bellis doesn't start he was in this to start with but switched to 4 one day classics at the end of the season instead (including our home race in Quebec)
Hopefully Anderson, Docker and our breakaway bunch of riders can do something Warbesse seems to be good at that so at a guess he could take a stage.
Edited by jt1109 on 31-01-2015 10:30
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 31-01-2015 10:29
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Win goal, the third 
Bobridge should be capable of achieving that, but much will depend on that first hilly stage. If there's some good selection with Ignatiev being gapped a bit, he may well end up in yellow on third day. It's of course a strong startlist with many top puncheurs though. So any weakness can be dramatic. Anyway, Top-5 is the minimum, and the early TT may also see Rogers in the mix for the TT.
Pretty excited about this one, which ain't good for a pessimist like me 
Nice write-up, Smowzy.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 31-01-2015 10:31
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Wasn't expecting the preview this early 
It's another race which should suit Bibby, but the competition is pretty tough.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 31-01-2015 10:37
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Wasn't expecting the preview this early
It's another race which should suit Bibby, but the competition is pretty tough.
Yikes you're right thought for some reason the Tour of Britain was near start of Tour of America.
This will be a bit of a steady reporting pace for this one - I can only post stages while I am at work so as I am holiday in two weeks time was hoping to post the stages steadily over the next two weeks.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 31-01-2015 10:52
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One of Wegmann's few races as sole leader, I'm hoping that can help him rediscover some of last year's form as this year has been pretty poor. We need him to do well as we're becoming increasingly pulled into the relegation fight. |
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| ryant |
Posted on 31-01-2015 11:58
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I have thrown the kitchen sink at this one, hope to show up and get something from our home race, its unlikely but I dont care 
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 31-01-2015 12:13
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Gorka will get into a break on Stage 2 which will win by 3 minutes. He will limit losses in the ITT before hanging on to win the GC by less than 10". Lloyd meanwhile will be quiet but always in the front group to slide into around 10th on the GC. Thomas will get one late stage breakaway win and then a sprint win as well. Yates, finally, will win up Haytor from a breakaway.
In total B3B will win 4 stages, win the GC and finish 10th in GC. This will gain us lots and lots of points and combined with a good ToA will haul us clear of relegation by the end of September
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 31-01-2015 12:31
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I'm having second guesses looking at these profiles again. The hilly ones look a tad to hard for Ventoso. I really need a good 100+ points gather over Oz and Bacardi in this race to keep the pressure on.
Which means Ventoso probably has to take out stage 1 and hold on to yellow for dear life in the hills and ITT. 
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| jph27 |
Posted on 31-01-2015 13:16
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Top 5 goal for us, so sent a two pronged attack of Gautier and Reus to be covered either way. As long as we meet our goal and score a decent point haul then I'll be happy. Mandri and Proni ought to be nice wildcards also. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 11:00
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 31-01-2015 13:59
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Zeits our best card here. But that time trial there is not to his advantage. Nelson should do good at the end of the race, and maybe some success breakaways? |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 31-01-2015 19:04
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I really need a rider that can win these types of races. Hatanaka is not going to cut it, but hopefully with Napolitiano we can come away with a stage win or two.
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| Ste117 |
Posted on 31-01-2015 19:10
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Sorry no Cav at his home race, would have been a waste of race days to send him here, expecting to nothing here as well
MG Team manager Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
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| Kami |
Posted on 31-01-2015 19:13
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Will be a hard one to call. I don't think Ulissi will lose that much time in the TT. I just have to gain more points as CSC, and it should be ok.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 31-01-2015 20:16
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Some tough competition for Craven, but he has good backup, so hopefully he can fight with the best. His main goal should be to mark Ulissi and the CSC-riders. We don't want to lose too many points here.
Looking forward to the reports!
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 01-02-2015 23:24
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Not much expectations... Hoping for some BA and Lejman to do his best.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 03-02-2015 16:42
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A stage to forget for us. The first stage was more challenging than we expected, so now Zeits need to do his work on the next stages in order to bring in some points here. |
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| ryant |
Posted on 03-02-2015 16:49
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My team is riding like they have a GC favourite or something, just get in the break please! Tomorrow will be a hard stage, just hope JTL can do something here
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-02-2015 16:58
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That gap ain't cool 
Still a way to go though, nothing's lost. But damn, always stupid to be gapped in a bunch sprint.
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| Kami |
Posted on 03-02-2015 17:00
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Good start for Ulissi, but definately not ideal that Ventoso won the stage.
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
