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Volta a Catalunya Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:04
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 Volta a Catalunya
The Volta a Catalunya has been "relegated" to C1 status this year, being a victim of a short ProTour calendar. The race is going into it's ninth edition and this alone should hold up it's prestigious status across the whole ManGame world. Former race-winners like Trofimov, Contador, Pluchkin, Valverde or Úran as a few more reasons to "nullify" the downgrade.
Six stages will offer almost any kind of terrain, so a true allrounder is needed to take the overall victory here. Kicking off with a prologue, two mountain stages will surely be the key stages - in addition to a quite long flat timetrial (43km) on fifth day. A challenging hilly stage will add some spice.
The Startlist
The Favorites | Rider | Mo | Hi | TT | Rider | Mo | Hi | TT |  Machado | 84 | 77 | 74 |  Bennett | 78 | 76 | 65 |  Intxausti | 82 | 71 | 77 |  Rodrigues | 78 | 73 | 67 |  Contador | 82 | 76 | 74 | Vinhas | 78 | 70 | 62 |  Abal | 81 | 70 | 77 |  Cataldo | 78 | 75 | 69 |  Keizer | 81 | 71 | 81 | Aru | 78 | 74 | 64 |  Brajkovic | 81 | 76 | 78 |  Kwiatkowski | 77 | 78 | 70 |  Rujano | 81 | 73 | 70 |  Bibby | 77 | 76 | 77 | | Eastman | 80 | 71 | 74 |  Kashechkin | 77 | 72 | 71 | | Kiserlovski | 80 | 75 | 72 | Olivier | 77 | 74 | 67 |  Marquez | 80 | 71 | 70 | Popovych | 77 | 73 | 72 |  Valls | 79 | 75 | 72 | Teklehaimanot | 77 | 74 | 74 | | Samwel | 79 | 70 | 61 |  Agudelo | 77 | 68 | 72 | | Talansky | 79 | 75 | 72 | Nepomnyachsniy | 77 | 74 | 77 | | Antón | 79 | 74 | 71 | Ardila Cano | 77 | 71 | 70 |
Let's start with former race-winner Alberto Contador, who was the strongest here back in 2013. The Spaniard is amongst the best climbers in this packed startlist and would love to become the first rider in the MG history to win this race twice.
Top-favorite should be Machado though: best climber and puncheur of all favorites here. Stronger TT-specialists like Intxausti, Abal, Keizer and Brajkovic will fancy their chances thanks to the challenging timetrial.
Ten 80(+) climbers will make for a brutal challenge anyway. Rujano, Eastman, Kiserlovski or Marquez - they all can win a mountain stage on a good day. Less stronger climbers like Bibby or Nepomnyachsniy will need to limit the damage prior to the TT.. Eritrea-winner Kwiatkowski will surely aim for the hilly stage to stay in the GC-contention.
The Stage-Hunters | Rider | TT | Prl | | Rider | Sp | Acc |  Cornu | 81 | 81 | | Croket | 79 | 71 | | Schädlich | 80 | 80 | | Boeckmans | 79 | 81 | | Bookwalter | 79 | 79 | | Bennett | 79 | 79 | | Reus | 79 | 79 | | Krieger | 79 | 79 | | Oliveira | 78 | 78 | | Polivoda | 77 | 77 | | Janse van Rensburg | 78 | 78 | | Aguilar | 77 | 76 |
With two stages against the clock, it's pretty obvious, that we also have some (pure) TT-specialists at the start. Cornu and Schädlich will both aim for the prologue at least. Also the long ITT later in the race may be a goal, even though we may expect someone like Keizer doing better there.
A few sprinters found their way here, too: Boeckmans, Bennett and Krieger - as well as Croket - should be the favorites, if the flat stage won't go to a breakaway.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:07
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Sooooo glad we are not at this thing. that field is pretty loaded.
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:07
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Hope Nepo can do somewhat better than Krasnoperov, otherwise I will really give up on this season... 
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:08
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I would take very much a top 5 from this.  |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:08
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So yeah I'm just here for stage hunting. The first stage is a big chance for Cornu to win us quite a few points and while I expect Keizer to win the long TT, hopefully he can do well there. Also Boeckmans is a good chance for the sprint stage if it comes down to it.
Contador is my tip for the GC.
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| roturn |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:09
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I basically send one of the strongest teams here to fulfill my top 5 goal even though 1st or 2nd is very much possible as well. Winning the long TT is obviously a must with Keizer.
Schädlich in the TT could do well but after a mountain stage the GC riders seem to be favoured a lot.
Just one flat stage but I really hope Krieger can celebrate his 2nd win here. Nice to get this Bennett duel finally. Boeckmans though the favourite but Bpost can`t sprint.
GC betting btw. still running until tomorrow morning!
Edited by roturn on 23-06-2015 09:11
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| Heine |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:11
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Machado should be the favorite with his hill and mountain stat, but will be interesting to see if riders like Keizer can steal enough time on the TT. Weak sprinting field gives us a open stage 4, specially if any of them dissapears after the first mountain
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:11
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Goal of a Top 5 in the GC here will be much more difficult than I first thought.
Hoping the depth with Cobo, Herrada, Jeannesson and Txurruka will put pressure on the main favourites from the breakaway. Either way hoping for a good points haul!
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| matt17br |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:12
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That could very well be a weak PT field 
47 tt kms might be interesting in case Keizer doesn't lose much but it'll likely be Machado to take it.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 08:10
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:14
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Think I'd take Brajko here, just not sure if Machado can get enough time on stage 2 to overcome the advantage I think the better TT riders will get in that long stage 5, Keizer I'm afraid will lose time on the hilly stuff.
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| roturn |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:16
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Kentaurus wrote:
Think I'd take Brajko here, just not sure if Machado can get enough time on stage 2 to overcome the advantage I think the better TT riders will get in that long stage 5, Keizer I'm afraid will lose time on the hilly stuff.
He performed well on the PCM13 hilly stuff...I tried avoid harder hills in other races, this here was a small gamble...unfortunately for me/good for AI though the PCM14 hills proved to be pretty selective so far. Not really going to my favour, so I hope it will be easy ride over there. |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:18
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roturn wrote:
He performed well on the PCM13 hilly stuff...I tried avoid harder hills in other races, this here was a small gamble...unfortunately for me/good for AI though the PCM14 hills proved to be pretty selective so far. Not really going to my favour, so I hope it will be easy ride over there.
He really might be okay here as well, the hilly stage is a borderline mountain stage so that ratio might make his much better MO stat into account more.
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| The Rider |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:24
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First race for Contador, the Spanish champ.
With nationality bonus the win could be on the cards, he will need to put big time into the others on the road stages... Well sometimes I just get a feeling, and I feel Contador will do something big at this race!
- Would be fun to see Aguilar to get up there in the sprint after a massive total of 10 points last season!
Edited by The Rider on 23-06-2015 09:27
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:54
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With such a startlist it'll be very interesting to find out what every of the GC contenders present are worth against each other. I find Machado's chances reasonably good with his MO+HIL combo, but the long TT + crazy shenanigans that may happen there's always room for a wide variety of outcomes.
With all those spaniards + Brajko + Rujano + Eastman + Kiserlovski and so on this should be really intense! Thanks for the preview tsmoha, looking forward for the reports.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 23-06-2015 09:57
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Holy shit, that climbing line-up.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 23-06-2015 10:47
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Well anything can happen here hopefully some good daily form and some nice top 5 to come our way. |
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 23-06-2015 10:53
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I bought Abal almost for this race... And now I'd be happy with a top 10... So sad 
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 23-06-2015 11:50
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Really strong lineup, but that not unexpected I must say. First race for Eastman, so it would be great to see him start off well. A top 5 will be outstanding, but top 10 would be solid too. And then some good stage results with Reinhardt JvR, Croket, Bennett would be the hope.
I'd really like to see Bennett do well here. It was pretty disappointing after he dropped from 6th on GC to 16th after a puncture or something in the final stage of Eritrea. Time to make up!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 23-06-2015 11:56
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aidanvn13 wrote:
I'd really like to see Bennett do well here. It was pretty disappointing after he dropped from 6th on GC to 16th after a puncture or something in the final stage of Eritrea. Time to make up!
He dropped to 12th though 
Anyway, of course I'm always keeping my fingers crossed for him to deliver.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 23-06-2015 12:37
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Tough start-list for Talansky on team debut - might have been better using RD's elsewhere, but lets see how it goes. Would be very happy if he can squeeze into top 10 GC, but a big ask. Looking for the likes of Ardila Cano, Agudelo and Ortega to back up, scrapping for additional point scoring GC positions, so Talansky at least has decent support. Expect to see young Quintana (D.) and Parra-Bust in the breaks - the latter having done a good job of this in the latter stages of Eritrea.
Overall is wide open - have put only a couple of bucks with the bookies (Abal) as so much competition to hard to call in reality. Hoping for a good battle and the AI to behave with a modicum of sense!
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