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Tour of the Czech Republic Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 14-08-2015 09:41
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Directeur Sportif
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 Tour of the Czech Republic
The Tour of the Czech Republic has been one of the PCT's most prestigious stage races since being first held in 2012. The event kept it's HC status this year, but comes with a brand new look/route design. It's no longer a hilly/TT race, which it used to be with Jack Bobridge (2014), David Zabriskie (2013) and Kai Reus (2012) as the previous winners.
Instead of a TT and some flat stages, we now got five hilly stages! They all look quite challenging (with three hilltop finishes, too) - so there's no kind of 'rest day' for the contenders here. This should make for a thrilling battle between the division's best puncheurs!
The Startlist
The Favorites | Rider | HI | SPR | ACC | Rider | HI | SPR | ACC |  Di Maggio | 82 | 63 | 75 |  Boswell | 78 | 64 | 74 |  McCarthy | 81 | 63 | 74 |  Landa | 78 | 61 | 69 |  Kelderman | 80 | 67 | 72 | Mehr-Wenige | 78 | 66 | 67 |  Dowsett | 80 | 66 | 71 |  Efimkin | 78 | 58 | 57 |  van der Hugenhaben | 80 | 68 | 66 |  Juul-Jensen | 77 | 66 | 79 |  Klemme | 80 | 66 | 66 | Felline | 77 | 74 | 78 |  Ben Nasser | 79 | 70 | 77 |  Pozzato | 77 | 76 | 77 | | Monfort | 79 | 64 | 75 |  Hoogerland | 77 | 67 | 72 |  Sanchez Gil | 79 | 61 | 75 |  Zardini | 77 | 72 | 68 | | Levarlet | 79 | 63 | 68 |  Vakoc | 77 | 70 | 72 | | Meyer | 78 | 72 | 77 |  Kadri | 76 | 73 | 78 |  Bellis | 78 | 74 | 75 |  Tiernan-Locke | 76 | 63 | 74 |
Di Maggio, McCarthy and Kelderman as the top-favorites. With five key stages on the menu, those premium puncheurs definitely shouldn't have any excuse to not deliver here.
van der Hugenhaben, Klemme, Ben Nasser, Monfort, Sanchez Gil and - yeah, okay - Dowsett as a few more real threats for the crown. While Dowsett tends to underperform, he has some good memories here (4th in 2014). Also Ben Nasser podium'd this event in 2012.. Monfort obviously an ever dangerous contender and also LLS enjoys a nice season so far.
The list goes on, but we may just mention the strongest finishers/sprinters amongst those other contenders: Meyer, Bellis, Felline, Pozzato, Zardini, Vakoc/McEvoy or Kadri. At least two stage-finishes should suit those guys.
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| roturn |
Posted on 14-08-2015 09:48
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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Not even on the favorite list.
Though with Olivier, Aru, Villella, Thurau still a pretty strong squad. Going for decent GC, breaks, stage win, Kom or even team ranking. Go go |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-08-2015 09:56
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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Happened a few times now that I see a race appear and wonder "Did we sign up for this? Better go check!"
Then one look at the profile, definitely did not sign up for this 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 14-08-2015 09:58
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4573
Joined: 07-10-2012
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Once again aiming for the top 5 here with Ben Nasser. Even though he has the best sprint of the top favourites he never seems to beat everyone so I'll be happy with a top 5 again.
Otherwise a few breaks would be great with some of our lesser hilly riders considering our good depth.
Kelderman to win it for me. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:00
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
Joined: 08-03-2007
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Hopefully the riders do the route justice. Often a struggle to get these races raced well, but plenty of hills on offer here so no excuses. A performance from Dowsett of some sorts would be nice, preferrably a good one!
Really roturn? Your team should be miles away from something like the teams classification 
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| tastasol |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:07
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2889
Joined: 11-09-2010
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What to expect... Huge startlist, as expected. Hopefully my guys can do something.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 04:50
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:12
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
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Hoping that Cobo will be a good leader for my team here but the strong competition here would mean I would be content with a Top 10 GC. Hopefully my other riders here will get in the breakaways. And in the slight chance a stage comes down to a sprint hopefully Reza and Anton Martin can mix it up.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:16
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3215
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Massive startlist Bellis here to lead because of the mammoth last stage hoping for a top 10 though looking at the startlist and maybe Armee, Mandri or Anderson to get in the breaks |
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| roturn |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:22
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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SN. Team rankings mean some successful breaks. Can't hope for good results without those. |
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:26
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Classics Specialist
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5 chances of Poljanski going into the break, that would really be good to see 
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| viking90 |
Posted on 14-08-2015 10:50
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4032
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Hoogerland, Hermans and Reimer someone should do something good here
I took a chance and sent Reimer here hopefully he can hang on at one stage and make a great stage results, other then that Hoogerland somewhere around top 10-15 in GC. |
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| fintas |
Posted on 14-08-2015 11:17
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
Joined: 21-03-2008
PCM$: 1200.00
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With this startlist I expect only one thing from my team, breaks breaks and breaks please..
For the final classification I think we have no chance to shine
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 14-08-2015 11:38
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4476
Joined: 25-07-2010
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Prevar should be able to do something here, but I don't really expect too much. Efimkin luckily isn't my team's #1 on the startlist, even though that doesn't mean anything. Finally, I hope to see Suparman attacking...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 14-08-2015 12:21
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
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I've still not got my head around how Krizek always steals my team's number 1 spot away from Zardini for these races, I know it probably doesn't mean anything but it still seems a little odd.
looking at those slopes I think the Mountain stat will play a role in stage 3, probably being the one most suited to Zardini.
Hopefully we can get something out of this though I've no idea what. If there ends up being a big split on one stage then we've just got to hope we are the correct side of it, and I also hope to see my team trying to get into breaks as guys like Forcellini could be a good option for that.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-08-2015 12:48
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
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sammyt93 wrote:
looking at those slopes I think the Mountain stat will play a role in stage 3, probably being the one most suited to Zardini.
Nope. Designed to be a puncheur stage race, and the H/M rating has been set accordingly. The steeper gradients are often necessary to force gaps to occur, but that doesnt mean they should suit the mountain stat.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 14-08-2015 15:02
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
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5 hard hilly stages; awesome tour! Sent a strong squad here with Monfort, Pozzato and Furdi. Don't know why I sent Koren though, probably a typo.
Looking forward 
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| Roman |
Posted on 14-08-2015 15:08
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4386
Joined: 29-05-2007
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I am looking forward to see this race in PCM, not only as I helped SN to design this race, but it should be great to see so many really good hilly riders riding in a PCT race. Hopefully Vakoc will be able to show something here.
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| knockout |
Posted on 14-08-2015 15:12
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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So this is my next win goal. I wonder what I expected when choosing these ambitious goals 
Anyway, I hope that LLS can once again get a GC podium. That would make this another very successful race.
McCarthy is propably favourite but many others are close behind.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the profiles. I prefer having different types of stages in a race so that you have different favourites on different stages but sending LLS was still a no-brainer ( and with that goal even more )
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 14-08-2015 15:12
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
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Expecting a breakaway win in all stages but the first one.
PCM 14 doesn't like sharp hilltops and a large amount of downhills.
The last two stages are lost anyway with the downhill finish most likely not to be taken into account by the chase either.
Here's hoping we get a selective stage 1 then, please don't have another horrible day like in Sweden....
SportingNonsense wrote:
sammyt93 wrote:
looking at those slopes I think the Mountain stat will play a role in stage 3, probably being the one most suited to Zardini.
Nope. Designed to be a puncheur stage race, and the H/M rating has been set accordingly. The steeper gradients are often necessary to force gaps to occur, but that doesnt mean they should suit the mountain stat.
Artificial changes like this or the F1 style bonus seconds in some flat stage races should be made public before race planning next season imo.
I'm not saying it would make big differences to planning itself, but I'm simply not sure we should only find that out on the day of the race. I was expecting some stages to suit LLS or Kwiatek more than Di Maggio.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-08-2015 15:24
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
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cio93 wrote:
SportingNonsense wrote:
sammyt93 wrote:
looking at those slopes I think the Mountain stat will play a role in stage 3, probably being the one most suited to Zardini.
Nope. Designed to be a puncheur stage race, and the H/M rating has been set accordingly. The steeper gradients are often necessary to force gaps to occur, but that doesnt mean they should suit the mountain stat.
Artificial changes like this or the F1 style bonus seconds in some flat stage races should be made public before race planning next season imo.
I'm not saying it would make big differences to planning itself, but I'm simply not sure we should only find that out on the day of the race. I was expecting some stages to suit LLS or Kwiatek more than Di Maggio.
Artificial change? Hell no. This race is quite clearly on the calendar as a stage race for hill riders, and so of course hill stat is what counts and not mountain stat. It has always and will always be done whatever is necessary in the DB settings to ensure that. The whole point of the calendar is to have a variety of race types, it just so happens that particular effort needs to made for hills because the default PCM settings are skewed towards mountain stat.
And besides, when I revealed the route I was pretty damn clear. "5 hard hill stages in what could be a season highlight for puncheurs." Never mind the fact that Stage 3 has been used in this race for a few seasons now as the main hill stage, and always been about the hill stat only.
Don't blame me if you decided to make assumptions without simply asking, or doing a small amount of research. It would be far too laborious to post the H/M rating of ever single race, but that doesnt mean they cant be looked up on request, but it should always be suffice to assume that the overall stage rating will reflect whether a hill or mountain stat is the important factor.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 14-08-2015 15:32
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