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2016 HC Race Calendar Revealed
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| roturn |
Posted on 17-02-2016 11:16
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It`s the offseason, but things are progressing. It`s now time to present you the 2016 HC band.
There will once more be 6 different HC bands including 20 race days each of which every PCT team is going to ride 4! So every PCT managers need to prioritise them 1-2-3-4-5-6. This selection process though comes later once the full calendar is revealed.
Most teams if not all usually get their top choices but in case one band is very popular it might happen, that there will be excemptions. So it`s very important to also priotise the later 5-6 bands to your favour.
As last year PT teams keep riding 1 HC band, but those are choosen after all PCT managers made their choice. An exact PT rider restriction will come later.
CT teams might be able to ride in HC events. But this depends on free spaces after all the selection process.
 | Berlin ProRace | Germany | 2 |  | Tour of Vancouver | Canada | 7 |  | Tour of Beijing | China | 5 |  | Tour of Eritrea | Eritrea | 6 |
Band 1 is one of the smaller bands with 4 events only. The flat sprinter classic in Berlin alongside 3 hard stage races. The mountaineous Tour of Vancouver and Tour of Eritrea as also the hilly Tour of Beijing.
All 4 races remain on the HC calendar but are shuffled completely. It`s a bit for every terrain in this band.
   
 | 5 Jours de Dunkerque | France | 5 |  | Tour of Ukraine | Ukraine | 5 |  | Down Under Classic | Australia | 2 |  | Interlagos GP | Brazil | 2 |  | Giro dell'Emelia | Italy | 2 |  | Clasica San Sebastian | Spain | 2 |  | Dutch Food Valley Classic | Netherlands | 2 |
Lots of classics in this band with only 2 shorter stage races.
Dunqerkue offers a great stage race event for the cobblers while Ukraine really is for the stage racers.
The season opener Down Under Classic remains in this band with 5 Jours de Dunkerque and the Giro dell'Emelia.
New in this band are the Interlagos GP and the Dutch Food Valley Classic for the sprinters, which were also together last season.
The puncheur classic Clasica San Sebastian is also added with all those 7 events remain on the HC calendar for 2016.
      
     | Baltic Chain Tour | Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania | 5 | | Corsica International | France | 3 |  | Tour d'Andorra | Andorra | 5 |  | Tour of Norway | Norway | 5 |  | Nelspruit Classic | South Africa | 2 |
Corsica International, Tour d'Andorra and Baltic Chain Tour remain in one band which means a mix of mountains and sprints in Europe. The Baltic Chain Tour though isn`t visiting Latvia in 2016 and instead makes a journey to Russia, Sweden and Finland alongside Lithuania and Estonia. 5 countries make this race quite special.
The hilly Nelspruit Classic leads the teams outside of Europe on different terrain to South Africa while the Tour of Norway steps up into the HC ranks being added into this band.
    
| Rheden GP | Netherlands | 2 |  | Japan Cup | Japan | 2 |  | Kenya Mountain Classic | Kenya | 2 | | Paris-Tours | France | 2 | | Strade Bianche | Italy | 2 |  | Tour of the Battenkill | USA | 2 |  | Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt | Austria | 8 |
Band 4 is the one with most classics. 6 in total with only one stage race. It`s also a band with some prestigious events like Paris-Tours or the Strade Bianche. Those two were already part of the huge classic band last year as also the Japan Cup, Kenya Mountain Classic and Tour of the Battenkill. It proved to be a nice mix, hence it remains the same.
As changes the E3 Prijs is replaced with the Rheden GP, which is still for the cobblers, while the stage race changes the terrain. Instead of the hilly Tour of Britain, it`s not the mountaineous Österreich Rundfahrt.
In total this band is for all kind of riders. From climbers, sprinters, puncheurs, cobblers or even a bit of time trialing.
    
 
 | Tour de San Luis | Argentina | 8 |  | Tour de Romandie | Switzerland | 6 |  | Kandy Cycling Classic | Sri Lanka | 2 |  | Course de Solidarnosc | Poland | 4 |
4 events in band 5 but a nice looking one. We have 2 Man Game debuts here. The weird looking Kandy Cycling Classic is a new mountain classic on the calendar. Sri Lankan guys really wanted a home race for their home team. It replaces the Volcan de Agua Classic on the HC calendar.
The other debut is the Course de Solidarnosc in Poland, which should be a great sprinter race. It replaces the Eneco Tour this season.
The Tour de San Luis steps up from C2 to HC ranks after both Bayern and Denmark were lowered this year. Last but not least the Tour de Romandie remains on the HC calendar and offers something for the stage racers.
   
 | E3 Prijs | Belgium | 2 |  | Manx International | Great Britain | 2 |  | Tour of the Czech Republic | Czech Republic | 5 |  | Volta a Portugal | Portugal | 11 |
First the E3 Prijs of course keeps HC rated as one of the biggest PCT cobbled events. Different to last year though it is the only cobbled event in this band.
The Manx International remains as puncheur classic and gets some more on this terrain with with Czech Republic Tour, which stays a 5-day hill event.
The Volta a Portugal as longest HC event offers a bit for everyone with the stage racers having a bit of everything.
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 17-02-2016 11:50
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World Champion
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Isn't that the purpose of offseason? 
Cool calendar as ever, always missing the HC fun, good memories.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 17-02-2016 11:54
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I hope E3 or DFV becomes available, I had fun in the .HC race last year!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 17-02-2016 13:13
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Nice to see this out! Some tough decisions lay ahead. Everybody better stay out of my preferred choices, you hear me?!
Brilliant planning roturn, thanks for all the hard work.
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| roturn |
Posted on 17-02-2016 13:16
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Gustavovskiy wrote:
Nice to see this out! Some tough decisions lay ahead. Everybody better stay out of my preferred choices, you hear me?!
Brilliant planning roturn, thanks for all the hard work.
All the planning was done by SN! All the thanks to him! |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 17-02-2016 14:53
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I have my favourite bands spotted quite easily but getting the right riders will be an all new challenge. Great work, SN and thanks for posting, roturn!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 17-02-2016 14:57
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Found it easy to sort my preferable bands, so it's all about getting the riders I have in mind and hope for the best xD
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 17-02-2016 17:22
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Some though choices coming... |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 17-02-2016 17:54
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I've got a big problem picking bands, especially Solidarnic being flat brings up a problem as we're a puncheurs team. So I've definetly got some thinking to do...
Thanks a lot for getting this out though SN and others. 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| knockout |
Posted on 17-02-2016 17:59
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Grand Tour Champion
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It feels good to finally see the next pieces of information released. 
In general, it seems like a nice shuffle throughout the bands although I think i liked last year's ones a bit more. e.g. I liked classic heavy band 4 more with Britain instead of Österreich because it gives pure climbers yet another band with big races for them. But on the other side, this could divide the top climbers a tiny bit more through the different bands which might open more opportunities for the weaker leaders.
For my team, I think i know which one is my favourite band so I'm hoping I can get into that one.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 17-02-2016 20:02
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I love seeing the Swedish flag here
Brilliant work putting this together. |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 17-02-2016 20:02
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Great HC bands put together by SN - some tough decisions for the PCT manager
.: Manager of :.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 17-02-2016 21:27
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Ugh, not the best of bands for my non-climbing team. Not even sure I'm picking the band with Tour of Norway.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 18-02-2016 04:15
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As always, its quite easy to pick our first choice for the bands. After that it will be quite fun, I might pick so that I can ride races my team hasn't done before (although there are a couple new races added anyway which are always interesting).
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 18-02-2016 06:53
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Great job SN and thanks for posting Roturn.
We will see what scraps we will have left after picks of PCT managers, but of course Band 2 looks great for us right now, with Tour of Ukraine there, so fingers crossed.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 19-02-2016 00:05
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Some interesting bands
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 19-02-2016 01:40
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oh god, bands are spread out like crazy, a few certainly look like ones I don't want to touch, but cobbles are scattered everywhere and I need as many points from those as possible.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Heine |
Posted on 19-02-2016 08:31
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This will be interesting, one of the good things about relegation is the choices you got to make. I will really have to consider heavily who to keep etc when deciding on HC-bands
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 19-02-2016 09:20
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Very interesting bands. There's two there i'm definitely hoping to not get stuck with, with another two suiting perfectly. Here's hoping all goes well going into transfers.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 19-02-2016 09:30
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Very good choices there for the PCT guys and some lovely looking races laid out, I spy a few semi-home races that we would consider if spots would become available.
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