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Volta a Portugal Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-02-2017 13:57
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11 stages including all but cobbles. Mountains, Hills, Sprint Stages, time trials. To win the GC you need to be a very well allrounder.
In the past the mountain was maybe most important with Uran, Kritskiy, Machado, Pellizotti, Brajkovic and Kohl while only Luis Leon Sanchez basically was a pure allrounder. But having a very aggressive attack on the shorter climbs by some top puncheur could still lead to the GC win or at least top GC position.
Reis being the very best climber here and is extra motivated in his home race. Though slagter is not coming that far behind with a lot better puncheur skills. Similar to Beltran, Zardini or Destribois.
Climber wise Kirsch, Nesset, Rodrigues or former winner Kohl look for a top GC here while Nepomnyachsniy was already very strong last year and is taylor made for such race.
| Mo | Hi | TT | | Mo | Hi | TT |  Reis | 80 | 73 | 76 |  Chiarello | 76 | 74 | 71 |  Slagter | 78 | 77 | 66 |  Ndayisenga | 76 | 73 | 65 | | Kirsch | 78 | 74 | 71 |  Laengen | 76 | 73 | 76 | | Nesset | 78 | 73 | 69 | Silva | 76 | 73 | 64 |  Rodrigues | 78 | 73 | 67 |  Kruijswijk | 76 | 72 | 73 |  Kohl | 78 | 72 | 68 |  Heider | 76 | 72 | 65 | | Vinhas | 78 | 70 | 62 |  Majka | 76 | 71 | 69 |  Beltran | 77 | 77 | 66 | Baltazar | 76 | 71 | 64 |  Nepomnyachsniy | 77 | 74 | 77 | Grigrian | 76 | 71 | 72 | | Herklotz | 77 | 73 | 70 |  Giogieri | 76 | 71 | 66 | | Topchanyuk | 77 | 73 | 65 |  Navarro | 76 | 71 | 63 | | Rosch | 77 | 72 | 68 | Libert | 76 | 67 | 62 |  Zardini | 76 | 77 | 67 | Simon | 76 | 66 | 53 |  Destribois | 76 | 75 | 68 | | | | |
The puncheur table is looking quite well here. Lots of similar strong riders without a top favourite. Quite interesting that about half of them are pretty decent climbers and could go for a high GC. Others might go for stage success mainly.
| Hi | Mo | TT | | Hi | Mo | TT | | Dyrnes | 78 | 72 | 61 | Beltran | 77 | 77 | 66 |  Monfort | 78 | 71 | 70 | Zardini | 77 | 76 | 67 | | Borges | 78 | 70 | 60 | Hoelgaard | 77 | 74 | 65 |  Palini | 78 | 70 | 66 | Chaves | 77 | 74 | 68 |  Meyer | 78 | 69 | 69 | Prevar | 77 | 71 | 62 | | Mendes | 78 | 68 | 69 | Vakoc | 77 | 70 | 68 |  Gilbert | 78 | 67 | 70 | Mudarra | 77 | 68 | 62 | | Roux | 78 | 65 | 62 |  Villella | 77 | 64 | 61 | | Slagter | 77 | 78 | 66 | Tsatevich | 77 | 62 | 60 |
The sprinters and time trialists will get a good chance in some stages. While there is no real favourite for the TTs, the sprints is about Ulanowski, Vanoverschelde and hillier sprinters Modolo, Aregger, Kreder it seems. Several others with similar strength but then lacking a bit here and there but surely opportunities to surprise and take a stage.
| Fl | Sp | Acc | | TT | PRL |  Vanoverschelde | 72 | 80 | 75 | Ligthart | 78 | 78 | | Ulanowski | 73 | 80 | 77 | Gretsch | 77 | 79 |  Chen | 74 | 79 | 78 |  Christensen | 77 | 77 |  Peeters | 72 | 79 | 77 | Frison | 77 | 77 | | Modolo | 74 | 78 | 81 | Porte | 77 | 76 | | Aregger | 73 | 78 | 77 | Dal Col | 77 | 76 | | Thwaites | 73 | 78 | 76 | Verona | 77 | 77 | | Sobota | 72 | 78 | 78 |  Downey | 77 | 77 | | Kreder | 73 | 77 | 78 | Dees | 77 | 76 | | Te Brake | 73 | 77 | 74 | Nepomnyachsniy | 77 | 77 | | Hutarovich | 70 | 77 | 78 | | | |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 04-02-2017 14:13
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Tour de France Champion
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If I see Ranneries doing any kind of teamwork during this race, I will be very proud and surprised. 
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 04-02-2017 14:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Win goal, and actually fairly confident we can reach this goal with Nepomnyachsniy. Reis' ACC is lacking, a lot, and none of the other climbers should even come close in the second TT, so if we can limit losses up until that point, we should be able to bring this one home, and as we've seen last year, Nepom can make up lost of time in that long TT, even on guys like Machado who I was kinda expecting here instead of Reis. Support-wise we may also have on of the better teams, but only if PCM decides to be kind to me, which is my only small worry with Prevar being so much stronger on the hills. If we can win the prologue again though, we could even keep the jersey start to finish, no doubt.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 04-02-2017 15:06
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World Champion
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Oh dear, 11 racedays and Peeters is my best option. We're screwed..
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 22:05
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 04-02-2017 16:23
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Whoa I'm pretty psyched for this edition. Machado was to be brought here, but I decided to take the risk of leaving this race to Reis and it seems like it was a fortunate option. He's the best climber here and the rest of our team is also very strong in the mountains.
However guys like Beltran, Nepomnyachsniy and Slagter could pose a real threat depending on how he race is ridden. Hopefully the mountain stage will be decisive enough for our boys.
Plenty on offer before that though. Good luck everyone. Have a go at all the stages but leave the GC to me You too fj!! 
Thanks for the classic presentation roturn. I'm very pleased to know you're going to be the one reporting this. Now, give me some good luck ok?
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 04-02-2017 17:18
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Thanks for the preview roturn, I am really looking forward to the reports!
Expect at least a stage win by Aregger and a GC top10 by Zardini. Considering that we're relatively lucky in almost all Portuguese races there is hope for a bonus (like last year Pat Lane wearing the leader jersey for seven days, or so).
Guess Slagter will be the guy to beat.
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| ember |
Posted on 04-02-2017 17:58
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On paper, I really like my team's chances here, with especially Dyrnes and Hoelgaard. They're both among the best puncheurs and have a decent mountain stat as well. The key is to avoid Stake Laengen getting the role as our captain, which could see both our puncheurs race passively on the hilly stages, I fear. Hopefully they're given the green light to attack, as I fancy them to get decent GCs out of it as well.
Wasn't sure if I should bring Stake Laengen considering my puncheurs, but I couldn't resist to see him maybe fight for a top 10-15 in the overall.
Slagter looks like the favourite, but he needs the hilly stages to be raced agressively, I think. If not, Reis must fancy a popular win at home.
Thank you for the preview, roturn! |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 04-02-2017 19:45
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Stage hunting here with Meyer on the hilly stages, and Christensen for the TTs. Hope to see the guys in a couple of breaks as the race goes on.
No Machado here this time. Prio still have one of the clear favourites in Reis, but they'll have to perform good in the hilly stages. Should be interesting to see.
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 04-02-2017 19:46
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Woah, much weaker startlist than I thought, which is definetely a good thing
On paper, Slagter should easily be one of the top guns here, but as we saw in Eritrea and Japan, Slagter really struggled in hilly stage races including one mountain stage, hopefully he will continue his good hilly form here. Need some Gesink 'la vuelta esque racing to have a chance at the win here though, as he will definetely not take any time in the TT's.
Great preview roturn, and this is easily the goal I regret picking the least. Although the win is gonna be hard to reach, we still have great chances for a top 3 atleast.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 04-02-2017 23:06
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Directeur Sportif
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From a neutral point of view I hate to see so many strong PT teams here...that is too much in a "PCT" race in my eyes...
good luck to Prio, Hugo Buss and VisitUkraine, make it an amazing triple
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| matt17br |
Posted on 04-02-2017 23:13
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You know that a HC startlist really lacks quality when heaps of PT riders are in actual contention for a top 5
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-02-2017 07:42
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Team Manager
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Indeed. Main reason why PT riders are "strong" here is lack of PCT interest. In both amount ofPCT teams and amount of good PCT leaders. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 05-02-2017 08:50
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Well looks like I have a chance of some lucky points from my PCT band. Looking forward to seeing if Chen can get involved in the sprints, Destribios is probably a long shot of GC top ten but I'll take it if it comes.
I guess it is always been part of the Man Game that there is that element of luck of who turns up where - It is nice as a PT team to just occasionally have a race where you don't have the same faces dominating over and again - and it is nice to at least have chance of actually legitimately getting something other than praying for a breakaway.
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| SotD |
Posted on 05-02-2017 09:03
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Oh dear. This could be the race that decides the winner of the PT, looking at how easy these domestiques like Vegard Stake Laengen, Sigurd Nesset, Alex Kirsch, Silvio Herklotz and puncheurs like Kristian Dyrnes, Daniel Hoelgaard and Petr Vakoc will have scoring big points. (Only mentioned the PT winning potential teams).
I know it might be overreacting a bit, but this was exactly my point why it was a horrible idea to pack HC races with PT teams, as it skews the entire point system in the PT. Oh well, atleast Becherovka didn't see this huge opportunity so riders like Vysna and Kolar who would have both been potential top 5 riders. But we gotta expect that Aker will have destroyed the 800 point gap to the top after Deutschland and Volta a Portugal.
But I can see this is already being discussed, so I guess I'll just stop interfering...
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 05-02-2017 09:12
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Tbh I would argue that this has to do with luck as much as game knowledge. From my recollection Volta a Portugal traditionally has a sub-par startlist, with only one or two big names showing up. That should be taken into account as well imo.
With that said, we all know that even when having the best rider, the best support and most stages going your way it can all go out of the window until the fat lady sings, so yeah, let's just wait for some random universal justice... and some Cyalogic as well.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 05-02-2017 10:31
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Ooh this race should be very interesting for us. Rodrigues + Grigrian should be a good combo in the mountains, and on top of that Kadri, Iglinski and Pasqualon could be good stage hunters. Seeing that the field isn't overly strong (as I had expected), I'd say that a GC top-10 should be more than doable, even top-5 might be possible for us.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 05-02-2017 10:35
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Directeur Sportif
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Mark this startlist for the change of stat borders after the season! Imagine the race with an 80 MO gap...
I'd suggest that PT teams can only take points in PT races, but let's discuss that on another topic...like this 77 MO leaders f.e. are almost worthless in PCT
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-02-2017 11:31
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Team Manager
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You all make it sound like it`s only negative to see PT teams having chances in PCT races.
In other races you complain that PT teams don`t have chances.
In the end it`s about luck to hit the good HC bands, which is also a bit of management part as well where to expect weaker PCT fields. Then it`s also about team depth if you have more than 1-2 decent HC eligible riders such as Aker in this race impressively shows.
Of course the PT HC stats need to be considered new every season as
a) more experience
b) different stat range of riders in each division
c) different bands |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 05-02-2017 12:36
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I am kicking myself so much for not brining Panayotov to his only scoring chance all season. 
Alright team for me though, given Sobota and Palini both can be given a fair shot at stage wins.
Reckon Nepom will dominate the overall. Thanks for the preview Roturn 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Shonak |
Posted on 05-02-2017 17:15
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Tour de France Champion
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Modolo could really cash in here, plus we have Gilbert and Roux here and with the lack of mountain power, who knows what's possible. Thanks for the preview!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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