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La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Discussion
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| matt17br |
Posted on 27-12-2016 15:08
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Directeur Sportif
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 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
5th edition, 2nd in CT, for this very interesting African stage race: La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, raced in Gabon. Its ever changing route tends to favour punchy sprinters, but in the last years it’s gotten a bit easier, to the point that the last edition has effectively been won by a pure sprinter – Anthony Lavoine, last year’s CT sprints dominator. However, with every edition being different from the last, it’s difficult to say whether the next will turn out to be one for puncheurs or for sprinters. In PCT’s edition of 2014, for example, it was Rene Mandri – only past winner who is back this year – taking it thanks to a successful attack in stage 1!
This year, the best rider taking part has to be  Stauff, one of the most, if not the most consistent sprinter in the entire division. Kraftwerk in general comes here with a team that screams ludicrous points haul, having a top rider for every single situation. However, there are several other riders that can excel in several kinds of terrains here, and you just know no one will secure the win until the last meter of the last stage.
So yeah, it’s time to take a deep look at our startlist and find out who we should look out for!
| Sprinter | SPR | ACC | HIL | RES | Sprinter | SPR | ACC | HIL | RES | | Stauff | 80 | 81 | 65 | 69 |  Krasnov | 78 | 77 | 63 | 67 |  Salleh | 80 | 80 | 59 | 65 |  Fonseca | 78 | 77 | 61 | 68 | | Awang | 79 | 83 | 52 | 62 |  Gavazzi | 78 | 74 | 73 | 68 |  Scully | 79 | 80 | 67 | 70 | King | 78 | 73 | 65 | 71 |  Krieger | 79 | 79 | 62 | 74 |  Rizza | 78 | 73 | 63 | 67 |  Vingerling | 79 | 79 | 61 | 66 |  Rasmussen | 77 | 79 | 50 | 72 | | Clarke | 79 | 78 | 62 | 71 | Drujon | 77 | 76 | 65 | 72 | | Docker | 79 | 77 | 68 | 71 | Schinker | 77 | 76 | 63 | 65 |  Mezgec | 79 | 77 | 67 | 70 |  Giaux | 77 | 75 | 67 | 68 |  Colbrelli | 79 | 75 | 61 | 72 | Galimzyanov | 77 | 74 | 67 | 69 | | Manan | 78 | 78 | 60 | 67 |  Martinez | 76 | 76 | 68 | 67 |  Jones | 78 | 78 | 60 | 65 | Ariesen | 76 | 76 | 61 | 70 |
That’s a pretty good sprinters field we’ve got there, considering the race can’t be won by everyone. While Stauff certainly stands out, but other dangerous pure sprinters include the likes of Sauber’s duo of Salleh and Awang, as well as consistent ones like Krieger and Vingerling, or very unpredictable ones like Scully and Docker.
Also featured in the startlist are Mezgec, Colbrelli, Manan, Jones, Krasnov, Fonseca and several other interesting names.
| Puncheur | HIL | SPR | ACC | RES | Puncheur | HIL | SPR | ACC | RES |  Zeits | 76 | 63 | 69 | 66 | Bazzana | 73 | 69 | 74 | 72 | | Favilli | 75 | 76 | 74 | 67 | Mygind | 73 | 66 | 72 | 70 | | Pozzato | 75 | 74 | 74 | 70 | Petrache | 73 | 66 | 68 | 68 | | Haavardsholm | 75 | 69 | 80 | 69 | Poorseyedi | 73 | 62 | 71 | 70 | | Chérel | 75 | 61 | 72 | 68 | Ikibe | 73 | 62 | 65 | 70 | | Veilleux | 74 | 72 | 77 | 69 | Park | 72 | 75 | 76 | 70 | | Mandri | 74 | 65 | 77 | 71 | Torckler | 72 | 75 | 73 | 70 | | Montaguti | 74 | 63 | 67 | 70 | Vachon | 72 | 72 | 70 | 72 | | Walker | 74 | 59 | 69 | 74 | Berdos | 72 | 71 | 72 | 69 | | Gavazzi | 73 | 78 | 74 | 68 | Er Rafai | 72 | 67 | 70 | 71 | | Canola | 73 | 75 | 76 | 71 | Terasaki | 71 | 73 | 75 | 70 | | Kossouhorou | 73 | 72 | 70 | 73 | Palyi | 71 | 72 | 74 | 73 |
Though it’s unlikely the top positions of the GC will be crawling with puncheurs, it’s important to mention some of the more relevant names out there. The presence of especially two teams in the list I’ll mention below is quite appalling, and I’m talking about usual suspects Ferrero and Kraftwerk here. There’s an interesting variety of both pure puncheurs and punchy sprinters: Zeits, Haavardsholm, Chérel, Mandri, Montaguti and Walker are the best examples of the first category, quite likely.
As for the riders that can take advantage of both sprint finishes and harder stages to scrape together some time and points, it’s certainly Favilli, Pozzato, Veilleux, Gavazzi, Canola, Kossouhorou, Park, Torckler, Vachon, Terasaki and Palyi distinguishing themselves.
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 27-12-2016 15:31
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
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Our home race and we have a Win GC goal here... Hoping for consistency from Kreiger so that we can make it 2/3 goals so far this season
Last year we had our own in-team battle for KoM jersey, and something similar on top of GC result would be nice
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-12-2016 16:03
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Tour de France Champion
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Another race for Docker to take a crap on and not sprint. Wonderful.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 27-12-2016 17:11
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Tour de France Champion
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We can only hope........ |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 27-12-2016 17:19
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World Champion
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Alright, Scully is leader - but will he sprint? Lol no he'll come 12th all the time because he's a GC man now  Just hope Clarke does, he's not one for fireworks but hope for some conssistency..
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-12-2016 19:22
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Tour de France Champion
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I mean it's not even funny anymore how bad Docker is, but at least he was somewhat involved.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 28-12-2016 21:04
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
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Clarke 
And it seems Scully wants a top 20 on GC but he'll have to do better than that!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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Posted on 23-11-2024 23:37
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 29-12-2016 00:31
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Classics Specialist
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We have got off to a really nice start here in the first stage. Considering how strong Salleh's sprint was I think that a slightly more cohesive leadout should help him generate enough consistency to challenge for the G.C. victory.
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 29-12-2016 11:42
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I'll start off with Stage 1 in my post - Nice to see Thaouta in the break and showing off those magnificent NC colours. Especially in a home race!
Krieger showing his bad side and fading to a disappointing 13th place after looking like he was well positioned.
Stage 2 was much better, but disappointed with no break. Krieger picks ups a good podium finish, and considering from how far back he came, he does very well. Hopefully this will be the turning point and consistency will mean we come away with a strong GC result
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 29-12-2016 12:17
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good job in recovering here by Mezgec - he is really either close or nothing...
I'd fancy a leadout by Drucker and Papok still...
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 29-12-2016 13:08
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Posts: 3634
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That's a weak stage for us, hopefully Salleh will return to form on the remaining stages.
I fear a similarly poor result on stages 3 and 6 though as they look likely to drop Awang which weakens our train and ends up with Salleh having to go early like he did today.
Still strong results on the other 2 stages should result in a G.C. podium and if Awang can help the sprint train on the 3 stages I highlighted as problematic then Stauff will still be challengeable for the G.C. win.
I think his train is more consistant but ours is stronger when it works which gives me a small amount of hope.
And it's nice to see our youngsters doing a good job of pacing the peloton, and picking up a few KOM points each for their troubles is a nice little reward for them even if they are unlikely to have the freedom to go out and challenge for more.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 29-12-2016 16:01
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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Woah! How crazy is that. He went for it! Holy cow! He grabbed us a solid 3 points or whatever from that!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 29-12-2016 22:10
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
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One of the Kiwi ( ) riders we didn't get beats us. typical
More positively,  When all else fails, in comes our best rider to save the day, who could actually do something GC-wise if he's allowed to get in more breaks. 2nd on the stage is nice too, just when I felt like giving up Love you Jams <3
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 29-12-2016 22:19
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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I can't be sad over another top 10. Of course, it would have been better if not for the break. But that's how it goes.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 29-12-2016 22:24
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2433
Joined: 07-07-2013
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Matt is too fast for me with these stages!
Brought a strong team here for Stauff and we are expecting him to deliver.
So Stage 1 was a disorganised shower, no sprint chain and Stauff doing really well to get 5th from being blocked. Congrats to sammyt, Salleh looking on form for this race.
Stage 2 was much more like it, Park leading out and a perfectly timed sprint from Stauff to take the win.
Stage 3 was a mess, we have enough firepower to chase down a break so why oh why did we fail to close it down? Both our cobblers are here for the gravel section. And then couldn't even manage a decent sprint for minor places. The team can expect a talking to over dinner! But our loss is WeirdSkyFan's gain, nice win from the break.
Thanks to Matt for the great reports.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 30-12-2016 01:24
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
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wait what?
I thought Pibernik had a good day, then he faded
I thought that Mezgec had a good day and sprinted to 6th, then he suddenly was 14th
Papok loosing time
just a horrible day: just a normal day in the office
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 30-12-2016 11:03
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
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Seems like being a negative ass about my team works!
Leading Youth
Leading Teams
2nd on GC
And Tom Scully can actually sprint, not just for the odd 12th!
He can sprint! Right there, did you guys see that too? He was like, in the commentary and everything! There was pictures! Then he was on the podium! That's so cool!
Now hopefully he can follow in Docker's footsteps of building up to a win, well done to him 
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 30-12-2016 11:08
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Directeur Sportif
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Mezgec, I only have sarcastic clapping for you!
Great effort by Pibernik again, though still without any reward...
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 30-12-2016 11:47
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
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I'll start with a positive... Ben Youcef was in the break...
Now that's done, can I ask a question Matt? Who was my rider close to the front in the image with 1km to go, and where the fuck did he go when the sprint happened? I have someone 4th place, well positioned before the sprint (guessing it is Krieger from his number on the back ending in a 1), and he ends up 47th place in the result... seriously... WTF??
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 30-12-2016 11:53
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the_hoyle wrote:
I'll start with a positive... Ben Youcef was in the break...
Now that's done, can I ask a question Matt? Who was my rider close to the front in the image with 1km to go, and where the fuck did he go when the sprint happened? I have someone 4th place, well positioned before the sprint (guessing it is Krieger from his number on the back ending in a 1), and he ends up 47th place in the result... seriously... WTF??
maybe it was Youcef?
every rider of your team has the same numebr in PCM15 I guess...
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