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Paris - Nice 2015
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-03-2015 12:48
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With Paris - Nice the first bigger stage race in Europe is starting soon. The clash with Tirreno Adriatico might see the most popular stage racers move towards Italy. But the competition here should still be huge by giving the chances to some of the co-leaders.
Last year saw the puncheurs going for the win here on an easier course, where Betancourt won ahead of Costa and Vichot. Having the final mountain time trial on the Col d'Eze as also another tough top finish, the better climbers will probably take advantage in 2015.
Date: 08.03.2015 - 15.03.2015
Edited by roturn on 04-03-2015 12:57
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-03-2015 12:48
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 Richie Porte |  Rafael Majka |  Tejay Van Garderen |
 Jean-Christophe Peraud |  Fabio Aru |  Wilco Kelderman |  Tiago Machado | Michal Kwiatkowski | Andrew Talansky |
| Romain Bardet | Sylvain Chavanel |  Matthias Frank |  Ruben Fernandez | Warren Barguil | Tom Dumoulin |  Eduardo Sepulveda | Rui Costa |  Tim Wellens |  Simon Spilak |  Bob Jungels |  Rein Taaramae |  Jakob Fuglsang | Arnold Jeannesson | Luis Leon Sanchez |  Geraint Thomas | Rohan Dennis | Rafael Valls |
 Alexander Kristoff |  Andre Greipel | John Degenkolb | | Nacer Bouhanni | Arnaud Demare | Moreno Hofland | | Jose Joaquin Rojas | Bryan Coquard | Giacomo Nizzolo | | Borut Bozic | Tom Boonen | Michael Matthews | | Heinrich Haussler | Ben Swift |  Yauheni Hutarovich |
Edited by roturn on 04-03-2015 16:56
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-03-2015 12:56
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Great job with the preview 
Should be an exciting race! So prologue is Sunday, right? |
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-03-2015 12:59
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Indeed. Should be a nice race with this startlist. Awesome sprinter field and also the GC fight should be interesting with the best in Tirreno-Adriatico.
Sky though with a great roster here as also Astana.
Majka said to go for the GC, IAM want to win as well.
Giant not sure. Dumoulin was a bit ill over the last few days and doesn`t know where he stands, while Barguil is not in top form yet.
I probably could have added more riders such as Valls, Mate, Voeckler, Dennis, Hermans, Slagter, Roche, Thomas, Kiserlovski...but you see, the list would become pretty long. 
Edited by roturn on 04-03-2015 13:02
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 04-03-2015 12:59
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Great preview! Should be an exciting race this year, especially when Froome, Contador et al are riding T-A
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| Smowz |
Posted on 04-03-2015 13:13
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The route isn't the most inspiring, of course the season makes the early racing difficult and having one big mountain stage should bring things to a head nicely on that stage. People tend to know the descent to Nice so well that the racing is fairly controlled.
Wondering how Tour of Oman sensation Rafa Valls does here - can he confirm in a WT race?
Porte though is big favourite considering this is almost a copy of startlist from two years ago. TvG and Talansky have perhaps slightly improved, but not sure they are yet in top condition.
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| Riis123 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 14:39
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Paris - Nice finally here. Apropos the discussion about when the season starts, this is where the REAL season starts.
I wrote this in the GC-contenders thread regarding the favourites (or some of them):
- Aru and Talansky seems to be the only ones which havent raced before Paris - Nice. That doesnt necessarily mean they wont do well, but I wont count on them.
- Schleck and Peraud shouldnt be expected too much of either. Schleck has been injured and Peraud have had a rough winter.
- Valls, Dennis, Taramae, Geraint Thomas, Sepulveda and Ruben Fernandez have all performed well early in hilly/mountain races and will enter the top-10 discussions as outsiders, maybe even more. I will especially look out for Thomas.
- Tejay and Porte have both been splendid early and will surely in my opinion be the 2 favourites, in part due to the ITTs. Majka, Costa and Bardet should be able to contend for the overall as well as the next 3 riders. |
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Posted on 21-11-2024 21:03
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-03-2015 14:56
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Schleck isn`t riding btw.
Not being healthy in time. |
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| moriz1 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 15:03
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Leaders for Trek will most likely be Jungels and Zoidl |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 16:25
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Would really like to see Geraint Thomas put in a good ride here after his exploits in Portugal recently |
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| miguejack |
Posted on 04-03-2015 16:50
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I really wanna see how Tiago Machado will do!
Edited by miguejack on 04-03-2015 16:50
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| Shonak |
Posted on 04-03-2015 20:41
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Great preview once again roturn, do you plan those previews for all major WT stage races?
Gorka Izagirre for stage win action, also excited to see Tim Wellens, Aru and Bardet in action. This should be a good race, fairly open for a wide variety of riders but top step will be reserved for either Porte or Van Garderen I reckon.
Edited by Shonak on 04-03-2015 21:37
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 20:43
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Porte looks in great nick, as does TVG. Would like to see a big performance from Kwiatek.
For me Porte is favorite as I reckon he has slightly better form than TVG.
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-03-2015 20:53
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Shonak wrote:
Great preview once again roturn, do you plan those previews for all major WT stage races?
Gorka Izagirre for stage win action, also excited to see Tim Wellens, Aru and Bardet in action. This should be a good race, fairly open for a wide variety of riders but top step will be reversed for either Porte or Van Garderen I reckon.
I am going to try. But probably won't have time for all. So if anybody wants to do it, feel free to do so.
On Friday or Monday though I will probably also do one for Tirreno if there is none for it until then. |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 21:23
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Hoping to see Tejay and Talansky in form and doing well!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Movistar |
Posted on 05-03-2015 01:23
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Would think the MTT favors Porte quite a bit. Though it doesnt look very hard so maybe TVG and Talansky can put up something good.
Talansky is my guy but I would think Aru would be closer to 3* than 2* no? He has a very good chance to win this. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-03-2015 07:48
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Not sure about Aru. He surely could be a 3* favourite. But as Riis pointed out, he has no single race day yet. So not sure if he has a good form already.
And actually being in 2* list does obviously not mean, no chance at all. 
But Porte, Majka and Van Garderen all had good results already this season and I did not want to make more than 3 in the highest category.
In the end I am pretty sure, there will be a lot of mixes as I don`t expect the 3* riders to be on the podium. Also I expect some of the 2* riders being below 1* riders.
I probably can`t watch the first three stages. So it`s good, that the more interesting are later. |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 06-03-2015 00:18
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Rui Costa seems to have done alright in Oman too, so shape should be fine. Definitely one of the potential 1* guys that can end up winning the race, after all he almost did last year already. I actually wouldn't even be surprised if he pulled it off.
I take it that new guy Mario Costa is Rui's brother?
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Riis123 |
Posted on 06-03-2015 01:01
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I just dont quite believe in Aru. The time trials don't suit him particular well and I dont think he can do enough damage on the climb to be in contention. Same thing with Talansky (due to him having not raced yet), but I would give him a better shot at the victory than Aru for sure. Riders who peak for Giro-Tour or Giro-Vuelta (unless the name of that guy is Contador) generally dont do that well so early in the spring. I would say its too much for Aru.
I would put Costa ahead of them because as Shonak says, he can definetely win the race. An outsider who havent been spoken too much about is Tom Domoulin who I say has the possibilty to be a real GC-contender in some years. Terrific talent and just need to cut a few kilos off. I could realistically see him win the prologue and stay up there the entire race. |
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 06-03-2015 03:00
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I really wanted Tony to win P-N, but...
1.) the route seems way to tough
2.) Kwiatek will lead the team...
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