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Tour de Langkawi Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-12-2017 10:59
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Asia's ultimate challenge, the Tour de Langkawi, goes into it's 10th edition this year. Definitely a remarkable event on the MG calendar, the race has been reduced to 7 stages (just like it used to be held from 2010 to 2011). There's still the mountain stages as the key for the GC, but the tour now kicks off with a 4.8km instead of last year's 2km prologue. In addition to climbers and prologue specialists, we still have a sprinter friendly route, as the tour comes with four (almost entirely) panflat stages, where most of the CT's best sprinters will fight for line honours.
The defending race champion Martin Hacecký (racing for Kraftwerk Man Machine last year) is confirmed to be back racing in this year's edition (now racing for Telia-Brussels Airlines), while the honour roll does also feature names like Darwin Atapuma (2015), Vitor Rodrigues (2014), Bernhard Kohl (2011 and 2008) or Tom Danielson (2010).
Being the premium cycling event in Malaysia, the race directors are happy to welcome Sauber Petronas to the race, with Mohamed Harrif Salleh as one of the top sprinters in the field. He's not amongst the previous stage-winners here and will definitely aim to change this fact. Opposing to other local heroes, who are attending again: Azizulhasni Awang (who had two stage-wins back in 2014) and Anuar Manan (who took a stage-win back in the race's first edition in 2008, also adding the win of the points classification). Another local hero to claim a jersey in his home race was Ahmad Haidar Anuawar (racing for Nippo Corporation) in 2009, where he claimed the points classification and sprinted for a stage-win.
The Startlist
The GC contenders | Favorites | FL | MO | PRL | | Outsiders | FL | MO | PRL |  Krasnoperov | 60 | 80 | 73 | |  Salinas | 69 | 77 | 71 |  Valls | 69 | 79 | 72 | | Antón | 67 | 77 | 69 |  Penasa | 70 | 79 | 70 | |  Bardet | 66 | 77 | 59 | | Anacona | 69 | 79 | 66 | |  Mannion | 68 | 77 | 64 |  Moschella | 58 | 79 | 69 | | Battaglin | 67 | 77 | 58 |  Solis | 66 | 79 | 59 | | Pereyra | 64 | 77 | 61 |  Cataldo | 71 | 78 | 69 | | Camier | 57 | 77 | 64 | | Bennett | 67 | 78 | 65 | | Kebede | 70 | 76 | 66 |  Karnulin | 69 | 78 | 70 | |  Khripta | 67 | 76 | 65 | | Stetina | 64 | 78 | 64 | | De Marchi | 71 | 76 | 65 |  Tvetcov | 71 | 77 | 75 | | Serrano | 65 | 76 | 63 | | Hacecký | 67 | 77 | 68 | |  Ahmad Zamri | 70 | 75 | 75 |
Defending race champion Hacecký may hope to repeat his strong performance from last year, but the competition in the CT has become fierce. There are many other climbers, who should be real threats for the GC win here, so let's just begin with the obvious picks:
Valls, Penasa and Anacona maybe as the top favorites here. Particularly the former two, who are definitely amongst the most complete climbers in the CT this year. Krasnoperov, who comes with some decent skills in prologues, surely another contender, if he's allowed to ride on his own in Anacona's presence. Some may say he should fear the flat stages, and surely he has to. But with now "just" four flat stages to survive, his chances do look better and it will be interesting to see, how Reddit handles the situation with two potential podium contenders. Moschella an even worse version of the previously mentioned climber and there's also Solis as another pretty one-dimensional mountain goat.
Cataldo, Bennett/Salinas/Antón, Karnulin, Stetina, Tvetcov, Bardet/Battaglin may fancy their chances as well. They are definitely some more allrounded stage racers than some of the previously mentioned climbers, so especially a team like Xero (with three GC threats in their roster) can do some damage here.
Last, but not least, there's local hero Ahmad Zamri as his team's main option for the GC. Not amongst the best climbers, but he may benefit from a strong prologue, if he's living up to his skillset on the opening day. The support of the spectators should be motivating for sure.
The Stage Hunters | Sprinters | FL | SP | AC | | Prologue Specialists | PRL | | Granjel Cabrera | 75 | 80 | 77 | | Chavanne | 82 |  Haller | 72 | 80 | 79 | | Stannard | 79 | | Meyer | 72 | 80 | 76 | | Robert | 79 | | Salleh | 70 | 80 | 80 | | Meyer | 78 | | Rowe | 72 | 80 | 70 | | Van Emden | 78 | | Clarke | 72 | 79 | 78 | | Hofer | 78 | | Krieger | 71 | 79 | 79 | | Mullen | 78 | | Vingerling | 71 | 79 | 79 | |  Bille | 77 | | Bennett | 71 | 79 | 79 | |  Leung | 77 | | Hochmann | 70 | 79 | 80 | | Ma | 77 | | Awang | 64 | 79 | 83 | | Kreuziger | 77 | | Manan | 68 | 78 | 78 | | Vingerling | 76 |
The same goes for Salleh and his premium leadouts Awang/Manan (who are both former stage-winners here). Salleh had an impressive Bayern Rundfahrt last month and of course the Tour de Langkawi is a big race for him and his team, so there's hoping that he will deliver at least one stage-win and be a contender for points classification here.
No easy competition of course: Granjel Cabrera, Haller, Meyer (who's already a threat in the prologue), Rowe, Clarke and Krieger amongst the most promising sprinters. A couple of previous Langkawi stage-winners (Krieger, Meyer), so surely some guys, who will feel comfortable on the roads. Bennett/Hochmann and Vingerling should be capable of contesting for line honours as well.
The prologue will have one big favorite and local team Sauber Petronas probably wouldn't imagine any other rider taking the opener than him: Chavanne is an outstanding prologue specialist and he's been an obvious pick for this event. Stannard/Robert, Meyer, Van Emden, Mullen or his teammate Hofer may be his most dangerous challengers. We know prologues can be tricky, but Chavanne looks clearly superior in this one.
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 22-12-2017 11:16
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2809
Joined: 16-04-2013
PCM$: 900.00
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Oh yes its finally here! Its been a while since the last stage race and I'm very excited to see if Solis can perform being the sole leader and if Uwizeyimana can battle for the white jersey.
Anyway good luck to everybody! Great preview tsmoha and I'm sure the reports will be just as good 
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 22-12-2017 11:30
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
PCM$: 599.00
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I need this race to be as hard as hell, Sprinter teams and breakaway: MAKE THIS HARD.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 22-12-2017 11:42
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Well, can't believe I'm saying this, but we need a mountain race to turn around our fortune for March and April. We've really fallen off the promotion pace and it'll be a long climb back if we fail here too.
First up, the prologue. We haven't performed well at all in TTs. Hoping Van Emden can get on the good side of the PCM AI for a change. A win looks out of the question but I can hope for a top 5 right?
Coming to the flat stages, and there's four of them. Krieger hasn't got better 7th place so far. He has enough chances here. Bogdanovics should be a strong enough leadout to put him into good positions. Hopefully PCM does not mess up sprint leadership. The fact that Krieger has x1 jersey seems like a good sign.
Now for the climbs. Bardet has been a pleasure to watch so far, but he can't pull us through on his own. Battaglin has had a couple of points scoring finishes but he needs to push on. Having said that, the climbing field is crazy, and breakaway/long range attempts might be our best hope here. Costa gets a chance to show his bad form in hilly races is not here to stay. Ruijgh should just continue what he has been doing. We also expected more from Timmer when we signed him. So far, he's been too passive in stage races.
The fact that we've been given the 9x jerseys might just play to our advantage. Hoping the peloton allows some of our riders to join breaks for a change. We need those points wherever they come from.
Enough waiting, let's get going 
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 22-12-2017 11:52
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
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PCM$: 2100.00
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Go Bardet, go Battaglin, go Xero, go Balkan
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 20:21
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 22-12-2017 13:11
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
Joined: 03-07-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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I'll be extremely disappointed if we can't manage at least one stage win here, realistically 2 shouldn't be out of the question as Salleh should be motivated to join his compatriots and leadout men as a stage winner here, especially after coming so close last year by getting stage podiums and twice winning the peloton sprint on stages taken by the break. And Gabby would more than likely have to lose the prologue than have someone else win it for him to be beaten, he's top 5 in the world in them for a reason.
No real hopes for the mountains but have brought Ahmad Zamri as it would be wrong not to let him have a go at his home race and hopefully the crowd will encourage him to at least be attacking and try something even if he isn't considered one of the best climbers here.
I love how heavily we feature in the preview, hopefully we can live up to both mine and the locals expectations. And seeing my jersey in the banner is a real honour, the banners always look beautiful and are a rest addition to the previews.
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| Vien |
Posted on 22-12-2017 13:11
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2322
Joined: 16-06-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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I can't believe a month without racing went by so quickly. Massive props to the MGUCI for processing races faster than a bullet.
Double the chances here with Krasnoperov and Anacona, even though they both have some clear handicaps which will leave me satisfied with having one of them in the top 10. Even if they perform badly I still got Meyer as a nice little backup plan. Being able to have someone to perform in every stage will hopefully make me enjoy this race a lot.
I'm gonna sit back and enjoy my Christmas with some Langkawi action. Cheers tsmoha  |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 22-12-2017 13:24
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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I think i've already talked a lot about the race in my HQ, but i'll do it again.
Valls, you have to win this race, and better if you take both mountain stages. Also, Kneisky hopefully does a great prologue and gives us a few points, but without winning it. I don't want any IA troubles in S3. If we take the lead after the mountain stages, it's very unlikely we'll go in any breakaway in the last two stages, but neither it's my biggest worry here
And amazing header tsmoha! Nice to be featured on it
Btw, just realised that S5 should be posted on Christmas Day. Will be a very nice gift for whoever wins that stage 
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 22-12-2017 16:01
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2433
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Wow the reduced number of stages has attracted a far stronger lineup than last year, hope that Hacecký can put in a good performance for weirdskyfan.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 22-12-2017 17:47
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
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Awesome preview and banner tsmoha!
For us this has got to be a great race after a horrible March and April so far. Clarke hasn't been great this season and the sprint line-up is very strong so it's very optimistic to expect much here but I do want him to actually get some points.
The mountain trio are also against stiff competition but I would like to see a Bennett podium and a Salinas/Antón top 10/15. There's a lot of climbers here so it's not so much what I expect so much as what I need from them
The prologue isn't going to suit Bennett but the gaps shouldn't be too bad. And it should be decent for Salinas at any rate and even Antón at the minimum.
Not sure if we'll see the break wins of last year with the shorter stages but if we do I'd like to see Kennett, Egidi and Jams in the mix
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Vien |
Posted on 23-12-2017 14:05
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2322
Joined: 16-06-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Awesome performance by Krasnoperov. Meyer scoring some points for the green jersey. Looking good so far.
Thanks tsmoha, nice banners |
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 23-12-2017 14:13
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2809
Joined: 16-04-2013
PCM$: 900.00
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Well not much to say. Solis sucked but that was expected. Krasnoperov looking dangerous.
Congratz Sammy and nice report tsmoha!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 23-12-2017 14:20
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Bad signs!
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| Booker |
Posted on 23-12-2017 14:47
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 875
Joined: 03-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Love the fantastic preview tsmoha, it's great to see Penasa in one of these sexy banners 
However, Mullen bringing home yet another disappointing result in April is less than sexy. We've been incredibly lackadaisical since rising to the top of the standings, and stage 1 was no different. Our consolation is that Penasa was surprisingly strong in comparison to Valls. We need a big GC result to merit our inclusion in this race, particularly after such an awful month.
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 23-12-2017 15:05
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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Not the best start at all. Kneisky a bit meh, although way better than in Bayern. The gap to Krasnoperov doesn't worry me yet, as i don't believe he's a threat in this route, with so many flat before the final climb, but what really worries me is that Valls only took a couple of seconds on Penasa.
This could literally kill any GC win hopes, as in S3 both should arrive together and Penasa will most likely win the sprint and take the race lead, gaining the Leader Bonus for S5. And we saw what he did in Trentino when he had that bonus 
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| cio93 |
Posted on 23-12-2017 15:38
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
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You just taught me a new word  I'd like to buy another vowel!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 23-12-2017 15:38
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
Joined: 07-08-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Getting ready for 0 points in this race.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 23-12-2017 18:22
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Eh. Salinas not great really, Antón neither. Hoped Bennett could do a bit better than that though, but no biggie.
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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| trekbmc |
Posted on 23-12-2017 22:04
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Team Leader
Posts: 7366
Joined: 11-07-2014
PCM$: 700.00
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Good start for Krasno, time for him to keep going for a big GC win!
Cool to see Sauber win a stage too, gratz Sammy.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 24-12-2017 03:17
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
Joined: 03-07-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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Nice to get the opening stage win.
Hopefully we still build a train for Salleh as Chavanne is likely to keep the jersey tomorrow if we can win the stage and would be kept at the front by taking part in the leadout.
Thanks for the congratulations guys and thanks to tsmoha for the report.
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