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Japan Cup Discussion
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 01-04-2017 22:35
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Directeur Sportif
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Japan Cup
| Category: HC | 159,6 km | terrain: hilly |  Japan |
On the PCT calendar we have one final race left: The Japan Cup. Seasons can be won or lost here, and all the big named puncheurs are here. Who will be the best of the creme de la creme?
3 former winners are here, including last years champion  McCarthy. But who is in even more need of scoring is  Di Maggio, winner of the edition before. The third man to win before is  Flügel, and he'll have those ambitions again. But all of those would need to beat the best of the best before, and that is  Kinoshita.
| Hil | Acc | Mon | | Hil | Acc | Mon |  Froome | 82 | 75 | 70 |  Waeytens | 78 | 73 | 71 | | Di Maggio | 82 | 75 | 65 |  Vanendert | 78 | 72 | 72 | | Kinoshita | 81 | 77 | 72 | Gilbert | 78 | 72 | 67 | | Flügel | 81 | 74 | 72 |  Reichenbach | 78 | 69 | 73 | | McCarthy | 81 | 74 | 67 |  Mehr-Wenige | 78 | 67 | 66 |  Gautier | 80 | 77 | 68 |  Zingle | 77 | 76 | 69 |  Ulissi | 80 | 75 | 66 |  Beltran | 77 | 74 | 77 |  v.d. Hugenhaben | 80 | 66 | 77 | Chaves | 77 | 70 | 74 |  Ben Nasser | 79 | 77 | 69 |  Teklit | 77 | 70 | 70 |  Bystrom | 79 | 76 | 68 | Talansky | 77 | 69 | 79 |  Betancourt | 79 | 74 | 73 | Preidler | 77 | 69 | 78 | | Schumacher | 79 | 69 | 66 | Craven | 77 | 69 | 69 | | Barrio | 79 | 67 | 70 | Kratochvila | 77 | 64 | 76 | | Bellis | 78 | 75 | 68 |  Kadri | 76 | 78 | 70 |  Sanchez Gil | 78 | 74 | 76 |  Dekker | 76 | 72 | 82 | | Palini | 78 | 74 | 70 | Brajkovic | 75 | 71 | 80 |
On home terrain a lot of spots will be on Kinoshita, as he is the strongest of the division and on home soil as well. He's got a really strong climber in Ji on his side too, which gives him an even better chance.
His major opponent might again be Froome. He is the only guy that was really able to beat the Japanese, and the profile should favor the pure puncheurs. This should be great news for both him and Di Maggio, as they are pure puncheurs. The later is in big need of scoring to keep his team over the line, and this is exactly the last chance of doing so.
Flügel always is a guy to fear, as his combination of downhill and the best supporting cast of the division will surely make him a big candidate for every hilly race. He also might have been the most consistent guy beneath Kino.
McCarthy surely would've enjoyed a much longer and harder ride to make his energy stats to work, but he won this before so why not again? Similarly Gautier, if he get's the chance to ride for himself, will be a guy that could work with his acceleration. Ulissi will hope for a race as slow as possible, to use his sprinting skills like Bellis and Kadri will try.
The other riders are just outsiders. van der Hugenhaben, Brajkovic and Dekker will try to make the race as hard as possible, but with this terrain there shouldn't be too many chances for this. Sanchez Gil will do similar, and his long range attacking skills are feared over the whole division.
Further riders shouldn't really have a shot on winning, but the season is long and legs are heavy. Maybe a rider with his team in real trouble can step up with an heroic effort to win here and save his team. Let's look at the candidates for that with the full startlist:
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 01-04-2017 22:46
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3591
Joined: 18-03-2014
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Finishing the season with a win would be awesome!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 01-04-2017 22:58
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
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I wonder how far Cerny can get here, he showed great form and this race suits him even better. If not, I'll look forward to Waeytens disappointing me once again.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 02-04-2017 00:06
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
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We're finally here. The race I've been waiting for all season! This is our biggest goal of the year and I would really love to win it. Super tough field to challenge Kinoshita however and even as the favourite I find it tough seeing us win here. Our luck has got to end with him, although Kinoshita is really the only rider thats done anything of significance for us all year, who knows.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 02-04-2017 00:28
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2907
Joined: 15-07-2007
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No way Dekker is going to lose this  |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 02-04-2017 09:50
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Team Leader
Posts: 7339
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Bellis and Gallopin should be suited to this kind of parcours, Gautier less so but should still have an outside chance with an attack.
Oh wait, just remembered PCM hates my puncheurs. Scratch that  |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 02-04-2017 09:55
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
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Yeah thought it'd be a different japan cup profile, Van der Sande makes no sense here 
Go Philbear and Vanendert, time to end our short time in PCT in style. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| viking90 |
Posted on 02-04-2017 13:27
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Ricco did it a bit to good for Telkom in East Java for us to have a real shot of getting 5th.
Byström really needs to overpreform here and some other guys getting in to top 30.
Not impossible but very very hard. |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 02-04-2017 14:49
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
Joined: 07-08-2011
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Good race by Froome, and nice report Croatia, nice little pun at the end too
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-04-2017 14:51
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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Who had expected Ayubowan outscoring Meiji here.
And Di Maggio with a late push for Vontobel. Enough? |
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 02-04-2017 14:54
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2282
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Looks like we secured our podium Thanks to croatia and all other reporters for their great work this year!
Froome and Kino battling it out at the final race of the season was fitting aswell!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 23:48
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| viking90 |
Posted on 02-04-2017 14:56
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Grand Tour Specialist
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10th is good from Byström but as expected we could not go past Telkom!
Thanks for this season guys!
Great reporting once again croatia! |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 02-04-2017 15:09
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
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Ugh Gilbert clearly not inspired by his real life version. Shame that my puncheurs havn't done anything of note since the mid-season. 
Gratz to sgdanny, with Froome and Roche likely to continue with you, you have a great basis for the upcoming season.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 02-04-2017 15:20
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
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Froome the only guy that can beat Kinoshita. Dang but atleast a 2nd is nice.
Thanks a lot for the reports, all season Croatia!
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| jph27 |
Posted on 02-04-2017 16:06
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Team Leader
Posts: 7339
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roturn wrote:
Who had expected Ayubowan outscoring Meiji here.
And Di Maggio with a late push for Vontobel. Enough?
Not me
It took until the final race of the season, but Bellis and Gautier finally figured out how to cooperate. Great result for us, and it means we complete one goal this season at least.
Special thanks to Croatia for all the work he's put in over the past few weeks to bring the season to a close! |
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 02-04-2017 17:07
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3591
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Great display here by Froome and good to have our 2nd classic win on the palmares for the season! Last year we took stage races and now we are down to 2nd places in them and miss/win in classics for this season. A little bm from the game, not to give the home team the win, though he can celebrate being 1st in the Rider Rankings.
Thanks guys and thanks for the report. I guess this is the start of a long off-season, but great to see the game pacing up here at the end. Now on to the planning board!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 02-04-2017 18:18
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
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Good enough I guess. Thanks for all the reports throughout the season.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 03-04-2017 10:56
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
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No expectations for this race in advance, and the 11th place in the end shows that's justified.
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 03-04-2017 12:19
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Sprinter
Posts: 1507
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Happy this one proceeded like a real puncher race.
Thanks for reporting and gratz to Arrinera!
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 03-04-2017 15:37
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Team Leader
Posts: 7366
Joined: 11-07-2014
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Nice to know that we still fail on the last race of the season, even if it means missing out on top 15 GC.  Palini beating LLS is quite funny though.
Thanks for the report Croatia and congrats sgdanny!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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