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Tour de Slovenie Discussion
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| matt17br |
Posted on 16-01-2017 12:26
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Directeur Sportif
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 Tour de Slovenie
8th edition, 3rd in the lowest division after 5 years in PCT for the only Slovenian event in the Man-Game calendar: the Tour de Slovenie. A race with a route that has gone through several redesigns throughout its history, going from a stage race for pure climbers, to something that nowadays suits time trialists that can easily survive the short ascents throughout the country, over the span of 5 not really pure sprinters-friendly stages. Curiously enough, this is the only stage race in the entire MG calendar that does not feature any intermediate sprints and climbs, and the KoM jersey is given out to whoever takes stage 2’s uphill finale. A trait that definitely makes it really unique!
The most important stage is certainly day 3’s 35 kms time trial, obviously something every favourite here needs not to get wrong, but none of the other 4 can be underestimated, either, with interesting hilly sections that have the potential to change the course of the race. That said, last year’s edition, with a route really close to this one’s, was took on by Pierre Rolland, a time trialist that even without winning the TT, managed not to lose any time from the top puncheurs, sneaking his way to the top of the standings.
This year, several among the top TTists of CT are present, with a field even stronger than last year’s that features, among many more top riders, this year’s dominator  Yatsevich, the ever consistent  Tennant, and the 2 punchy time trialists  Steensen and  Navardauskas, but also some among the top sprinters and puncheurs of the division. Let’s shed some light on the rest of the startlist, with a good eye on it then!
| Time Trialist | TTR | RES | HIL | ACC | Time Trialist | TTR | RES | HIL | ACC | | Yatsevich | 80 | 81 | 68 | 63 |  Würtz | 73 | 72 | 68 | 70 | | Tennant | 78 | 76 | 69 | 68 |  Taciak | 73 | 71 | 66 | 71 | | Steensen | 77 | 73 | 72 | 70 |  Popkov | 73 | 70 | 74 | 69 | | Navardauskas | 76 | 74 | 74 | 70 | Pauwels | 73 | 69 | 69 | 52 |  Griffith | 76 | 70 | 56 | 57 | Krasnoperov | 73 | 69 | 68 | 61 |  Tzortzakis | 75 | 69 | 63 | 74 | Bøchman | 73 | 65 | 72 | 63 |  Thill | 74 | 73 | 73 | 66 | Mygind | 72 | 70 | 73 | 72 |  Gonzalez Cortes | 74 | 72 | 74 | 72 |  Puerta Zapata | 72 | 66 | 62 | 78 | | De Luna | 74 | 71 | 70 | 68 | Walker | 71 | 74 | 74 | 69 |  Kasa | 74 | 70 | 72 | 66 | Vanthourenhout | 70 | 72 | 68 | 68 | | Grivko | 73 | 73 | 75 | 70 | Mandri | 70 | 71 | 74 | 77 |  De Maar | 73 | 72 | 74 | 77 |  Diggle | 70 | 70 | 77 | 70 |
The variety of time trialists, but especially the vast amount of good puncheurs among them, makes this a lot more interesting than it already is.
Yatsevich and Tennant might beat them in the long time trial, sure, but the likes of Steensen, Navardauskas, Gonzalez Cortes, Grivko and De Maar, as well as several other good puncheurs, are all very much capable of taking all the time back in the rest of the stages.
And while this is unlikely, considering how last year’s edition panned out, with the presence of so many quality hill specialists, someone will definitely try something.
Other pure time trialists include Griffith and Tzortzakis, but it seems like they really are a minority!
| Puncheur | HIL | SPR | ACC | RES | Puncheur | HIL | SPR | ACC | RES | | Diggle | 77 | 64 | 70 | 70 |  Schurter | 75 | 66 | 71 | 71 | | Hategeka | 77 | 62 | 66 | 69 | Rocchetti | 75 | 65 | 64 | 65 | | Lejman | 77 | 59 | 68 | 64 | Lloyd | 75 | 63 | 69 | 72 |  Yates | 76 | 73 | 78 | 69 | Hugentobler | 75 | 56 | 76 | 69 |  Zeits | 76 | 63 | 69 | 66 | Grivko | 75 | 54 | 70 | 73 | | Efimkin | 76 | 56 | 54 | 71 | Geschke | 74 | 76 | 76 | 70 |  Othman | 76 | 54 | 76 | 70 | Bole | 74 | 76 | 74 | 67 | | Favilli | 75 | 76 | 74 | 67 | Navardauskas | 74 | 75 | 70 | 74 | | Pozzato | 75 | 74 | 74 | 70 | Gonzalez Cortes | 74 | 71 | 72 | 72 | | Milan | 75 | 70 | 72 | 72 | Gavazzi | 73 | 78 | 74 | 68 | | Kinney | 75 | 69 | 74 | 70 | Canola | 73 | 75 | 76 | 71 | | Michely | 75 | 67 | 75 | 69 | Nardin | 73 | 72 | 74 | 70 |
Talking about good puncheurs, and in particular punchy sprinters, it has to be noted how competitive the field is under this point of view, not that unexpectedly. With 3 stages suiting them quite well, especially the likes of Yates, Favilli and Pozzato who possess a great kick, will find themselves comfortably contending the points jersey.
More pure puncheurs, however, can’t be discounted either. Diggle, Hategeka, Lejman, Zeits, as well as several other fine riders, can’t count on the same top speed as the ones I mentioned above, but could be more dangerous if the race isn’t only decided in the finale.
| Sprinter | SPR | ACC | HIL | RES | Sprinter | SPR | ACC | HIL | RES | | Nelson | 81 | 81 | 60 | 64 | Krasnov | 78 | 77 | 63 | 67 | | Scully | 79 | 80 | 67 | 70 | Gavazzi | 78 | 74 | 73 | 68 | | Krieger | 79 | 79 | 62 | 74 | Geschke | 76 | 76 | 74 | 70 | | Manarelli | 79 | 79 | 59 | 65 | Favilli | 76 | 74 | 75 | 67 | | Clarke | 79 | 78 | 62 | 71 | Bole | 76 | 74 | 74 | 67 | | Docker | 79 | 77 | 68 | 71 | Canola | 75 | 76 | 73 | 71 | | Mezgec | 79 | 77 | 67 | 70 | Alaphilippe | 75 | 75 | 72 | 68 |  Colbrelli | 79 | 75 | 61 | 72 | Navardauskas | 75 | 70 | 74 | 74 |
Last but not least, the best sprinters here will definitely not have an easy task in making it to the finale of stage 1 and 4, the ones that theoretically should suit them best, but they all come here with good chances to take good results home.
Interestingly, Nelson has decided to take part here, and he certainly stands out in a very good sprinters field nonetheless, where the likes of Scully, Krieger, Manarelli, Clarke, Docker, Mezgec, Colbrelli and Krasnov also can be seen.
There’s a good variety of punchy sprinters here too, that will suffer speed bumps/tougher slopes a lot less than the riders above. The names of Gavazzi, Geschke, Favilli, Bole, Canola and Alaphilippe among others obviously spring to mind.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 12:49
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This race is a huge planning fail by me for not taking Zoidl here, he probably could Podium here but I sent him to Herald instead where he doesn't have any hills to gap other TT specialists.
Best we can probably hope for is a Stage win on the hills now but that won't be easy considering how many similar strength riders are present. At least our youngsters will still gain some XP towards levelling up.
With Forcellini my 4th best Puncheur on 74 Hill it might mean that we've got a chance of getting someone strong in a break or if we are the ones controlling it then we should have the strength to do so.
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| SotD |
Posted on 16-01-2017 13:11
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I have been awaiting this race since the 11th of january. Not because Tour of Slovenia is something anticipated by us, but because it means that Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha is soon to begin, and that race could be a key one for us. 
Navardauskas and Diggle must be the favorites here for me. Navardauskas and Pozzato are my personal favorites as they are former Festina riders
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 16-01-2017 14:05
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Errrr.... Nelson, yeah..... dude better win something. Yates isn't the worst time trialist so hopefully can keep himself in contention for the hills, or go for stage wins. Bit of a mixed team that looks more likely to stage hunt than GC. Let's have some fun here boys
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 15:14
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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I believe we have two pretty good options here. If the time trial is the deciding factor, Steensen can be up there and not lose too much on the punchy stages. if it's more selective, we have De Maar, who himself has done some great time trials for us. Docker once again has no expectations, but if he takes some place from sprints, it's a nice bonus.
I don't have a specific goal for this race. My expectations as always lately are low, but I have some hope that we could pull something out. Whatever the case, it will be interesting to see.
Thanks for the great preview Matt!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 15:26
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Geschke is Back! Hope he does well.
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 16-01-2017 16:00
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Grand Tour Champion
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Tzortzakis is an outside bet for a good TT, and his ACC/SP could keep him up there in the sprints.
If not, Kreiger is there for stage wins on the flatter stages and no GC hope in the team. Really need Krieger and Drujon to get their lead-out sorted
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 16:01
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Win goal! We have our A1 team (-Anton) here. Winning material on every possible stage outcome. This has to be huge! go #meninlime
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 16:03
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Directeur Sportif
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by the way: FUCK YOU YATSEVICH 
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 16-01-2017 16:20
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Grand Tour Champion
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Bit of everything here. Manarelli for the sprints coming of a victory in Poland, Kinney for the hills being in good form from Denmark, and then there's Griffith of whom I honestly don't know what to expect.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 16-01-2017 17:02
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I'm here to give Taciak and Colex a final chance to do a little something before likely ending their careers at the end of the season. Also fatures a bunch of youngsters including three stagiaires that will be interesting to follow.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 20:44
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World Champion
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That hill startilst <3 Now let's hope we don't find a way to cock it all up - with Diggle being the best TTist out of the top hill riders GC could go quite well too, hoping for decisive hill stages (yeah right!)
For the sprints I just hope Clarke gets some podiums and Scully doesn't screw things up for Diggle.
Edited by jandal7 on 16-01-2017 23:29
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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| Ste117 |
Posted on 16-01-2017 23:07
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Classics Specialist
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Hoping Cortes can provide another surprise this season.
MG Team manager Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 17-01-2017 15:00
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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That's a good justification of Ricki and his race days. Brilliant team performance that was utterly dominant at the end, in part due to use having sent most of our sprint team here where others didn't. But a win is a win and means we are now just two stages short of completeing our Goal of 10. Best foot forwards, could we top off our goal in Slovenia?!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 17-01-2017 15:44
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ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 17-01-2017 16:52
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Love Kasperkiewicz joining breaks.  Dominant sprint from Nelson in the end though, given he can mix with it in the PCT I guess you could reasonably expect dominant wins like this.
Thanks Matt!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 17-01-2017 19:41
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
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Lackluster performance today...
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 17-01-2017 19:41
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Yes, I agree on that. 22nd is not enough for Geschke.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 17-01-2017 20:17
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World Champion
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You know Matt, I think it's adorable how you pretend Scully can win a stage  Good podium finish from Clark3y as usual
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 17-01-2017 22:19
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Meh. Docker was involved and no one lost time. This isn't what we're here for anyway.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
