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Vuelta a Colombia Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-03-2018 06:24
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Directeur Sportif
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 Vuelta a Colombia
The Vuelta a Colombia has a long and quite eventful history in the ManGame: starting as a CTour event back in 2008, the race has been held as 15-days-event until 2011 - with Jurgen van den Broeck as the last winner of the race with it's CTour status. The climbing heavy stage race got promoted to ProTour status from 2012 on, being held as a 12-days-event until 2014: Cunego, Amador and Alacorn as the winners in those three years. In 2015 and 2016, the schedule had been cut down to just 6 stages: Spilak and Madrazo as the most recent overall winners here. For the 2017 campaign, the event has received another change of status: being downgraded to an HC event in the PCT, it's now held as a 5-days-event with still mountains as the key for any GC success.
Three summit finish - with the final stage definitely the toughest - and two rather easy flat stages for the sprinters. There's still some fame to be gained in this long living event and it's definitely one of the most prestigious mountain stage race for the PCT field this year.
The Startlist
The GC Contenders | Favorites | MO | REC | AC | | Outsiders | MO | REC | AC |  Amador | 84 | 79 | 72 | |  Choi | 80 | 79 | 68 |  Denifl | 84 | 76 | 65 | | Ji | 80 | 73 | 66 |  Henao Montoya | 82 | 77 | 73 | |  Brenes | 79 | 70 | 64 |  Úran | 82 | 77 | 71 | |  Talansky | 79 | 77 | 63 | | Intxausti | 82 | 77 | 70 | |  Brajkovic | 79 | 77 | 75 |  Kudus | 81 | 79 | 70 | | Pantano Gómez | 79 | 74 | 63 |  Shikai | 81 | 78 | 65 | |  Contador | 79 | 69 | 70 |  Quintana | 81 | 76 | 65 | |  Anacona | 79 | 74 | 53 |  Duarte | 80 | 78 | 73 | | Signorini | 78 | 73 | 68 |  Nazaret | 80 | 75 | 72 | |  De la Cruz | 78 | 75 | 65 |  Eastman | 80 | 76 | 69 | | Rodrigues | 78 | 70 | 74 |
The top favorite has to be Amador and he's amongst the former race-winners as well: back in 2013, the premium climber took the overall (and points) classification with two stage-wins. Beating Van den Broeck, Machado and Martin by less than a minute in the final GC. One year later, Amador finished 3rd overall - with Alacorn taking the overall victory ahead of Machado and a clear gap on Amador. Anything but his third GC podium would be a disappointing result this time. Given his performances so far in 2017, there's less reasons to believe he will disappoint though.
Denifl as the next best climber on paper: the Austrian surely lacks the acceleration in comparison to his biggest opponents here though. Finishing the race as 8th in 2015 and 7th in 2014, he still already proved, that he can do pretty well on those mountains here. Even though he clearly missed out on Top-5 results in his two appearances. The GC podium must the goal anyway.
The same goes for Henao Montoya, who has quite a long history in this event: finishing 20th in 2009, 2nd in 2010 (U25 victory and a stage-win), 2nd in 2012 (U25 victory and a stage-win), 20th in 2013, 18th in 2014 (and a stage-win), 13th in 2015 and 10th in 2016. Three stage-wins in total and two runner-ups in the GC (with his last one five years ago though) - that's quite some climbs he must have been raced here. Looking at his recent performances though, he surely has to find his way back to those results he had as a young gun. His third Colombia podium as the clear goal this year.
The next GC favorite - Úran - had his first appearance here in 2008: Taking a stage and finishing 5th in the GC! It's been a long way since then. 8th in 2009 (stage-win), a stage-win in 2012 (no notable GC result) and 12th in 2016. His best GC result was his first back in 2008. His personal goal must be clear as well: finishing on the podium for the first time here.
Intxausti (5th in 2013), Kudus, Shikai (28th in 2015), Quintana (23rd in 2016), Duarte (11th back in 2009), Nazaret (16th and a stage-win in 2009) and Eastman (11th in 2014) as the remaining favorites for the GC's Top-5/10. Intxausti obviously as the biggest contender for the podium. Surely a special race for the likes of Duarte, Quintana, Úran and Henao Montoya to ride on home turf. We should expect them to come with some extra motivation and some outstanding support from the locals.
The Sprinters | Favorites | SP | AC | | | Outsiders | SP | AC | | Van Heerden | 82 | 73 | | | Avila | 78 | 77 |  Vantomme | 82 | 78 | | | Sobota | 78 | 78 | | Appollonio | 81 | 78 | | | Ranneries | 78 | 82 |  Maksimov | 81 | 84 | | | Gavazzi | 77 | 73 | | Kip | 80 | 82 | | | Giaux | 77 | 75 | | Reinhardt | 79 | 84 | | |  Caldeira | 77 | 79 | | Soupe | 79 | 77 | | | Breschel | 76 | 72 | | Manarelli | 79 | 79 | | | Yamamoto | 76 | 76 |
Maksimov as the only previous stage-winner amongst the top sprinters: he took the opening stage here back in 2015. The Russian Rocket definitely a real threat for those two flat stages this year, even though - but this question counts for all sprinters - it might be questioned, how well he recovers from the mountains on day two and three.
Vantomme and Apppollonio as the next top favorites for possible bunch sprint decisions. Van Heerden as another challenger, who has yet to show anything of relevance for the current season though. Kip, Reinhardt (who had some notable results this year), Soupe and Manarelli have to be considered contenders as well. It's not exactly a packed field of sprinters, obviously.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 22-03-2018 06:27
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CALLING ALL EVERYBODY, DO NOT LET THAT EASTMAN GUY OR THAT ANACONA GUY DO WELL 
Go Vantomme and Brajkovic too, good races incoming for Netia and Isostar hopefully 
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."
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 22-03-2018 08:00
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Breakaways please...
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 22-03-2018 08:53
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World Champion
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I have no GC rider and wanted Gaviria to lead the sprints for once (as this is his home race). This was probably a very bad idea.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 22-03-2018 09:06
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Vantomme had a few RDs left so we ended up with an interesting race here - though I'm sure he doesn't like being in Colombia.
Every point is crucial now though, so we really can't let the break take one of the sprints. Mountain stages should be zero points for us, didn't even pretend by sending Domagalski or anything.
Thanks for the great preview tsmoha! Looking forward to the race! 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| tastasol |
Posted on 22-03-2018 09:19
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Classics Specialist
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Low hopes, but hopefully some aggressive racing from us. Somewhat surprising that Sicard isn't here. Might make it harder for Orange to catch Newton.
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 22-03-2018 10:26
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Sprinter
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Need Amador to do well here if we're going to have a shot at promotion since this is his last big race. Also expecting something from Reinhardt in the sprints in this relatively weak field.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 22-03-2018 10:47
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Grand Tour Champion
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Why are there so many good sprinters here? Did not see that coming. Hoping Duarte can ride a good GC here, should be possible here due to the absence of hilly stages
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| Vien |
Posted on 22-03-2018 10:49
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Well, I had 5 race days left for Anacona so I figured I might as well send him here and hope for a weakened field because of the ToA. 26th-35th gives 10 points, so I'm aiming for that.
Edit: Also, Anacona's ACC is 61. He's not "that" bad. Thanks for the preview though tsmoha.
Edited by Vien on 22-03-2018 11:34
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 22-03-2018 11:24
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Azteca and Reddit are both here, and with my team fighting against both for the (for now) only certain disband promotion place, it would be nice if neither perform well here I think Azteca will score similar to Vancouver, where they got around 100 points iirc
Amador to win here and give UBS (together with Schelling's ToA) the final push for promotion
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 22-03-2018 11:43
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Selwink wrote:
Why are there so many good sprinters here? Did not see that coming. Hoping Duarte can ride a good GC here, should be possible here due to the absence of hilly stages
The field isn't as good as it looks, Van Heerden has low ACC, Maksimov has his days (even one here before) but he has his problems, same for Kip on the low hill front and Soupe and Manarelli are the sorts of sprinters who you wouldn't expect to score too much in the sprinters races but have good chance on stages like this.
That leaves Vantomme and Appollonio as the only two I wouldn't 'expect' to be here, but 2/5 flat stages is quite good if the break doesn't take one and they both have more RDs than pure flat races available.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 22-03-2018 12:29
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Classics Specialist
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Obviously looking to get some points to take back down to CT with me here. Eastman with a shot for a high GC standing and young rider points. Maybe a breakaway chance somewhere and I'd love a shot at overall team standings with the depth of my squad here (80,78,77,77,76,76 MO rating on my climbers) though I'm sure some of the other top teams have depth on mountains too.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 22-03-2018 12:31
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Tour de France Champion
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No ambition or the mountain obviously. We know we can't compete there. We sent Appo here, and it might be his last race of the year. There's two stage here to deliver. I think we need podiums to justify the race days. And I think that's possible. But I won't count on it.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 22-03-2018 12:38
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First race in a while that i'll be able to following 'live'. Still have some earlier races to catch up to bit deels like we're coming closer to the top 10 spots.
Henao Montoya is obviously our leader her in his home race that should suit him quite well. His season in the PCT has been a bit dissapointing so far (not including Il Giro) so voorfully this is his time to shine. Top 3 the realistisch goal.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 22-03-2018 14:17
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Grand Tour Champion
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Only possible points I can hope for out of this race is a repeat win for Maksimov on Stage 1. Would love to see the Russian Rocket get his first win this season after having one of his best scoring seasons ever.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 22-03-2018 17:00
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World Champion
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I expect Shikai to underperform here. Hoping im wrong though.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 22-03-2018 17:46
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This has to be the race where we make ourselves safe once and for all, don't have much hope on major point hauls in the remaining races.
So, Úran, I hope you can replicate your Deutschland performance on home soil. Manarelli, take those sprints on, I know you can do it! Rest of the team, support and score a low-20 GC position.
Thanks for the preview tsmoha!
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| fintas |
Posted on 22-03-2018 18:24
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Small Tour Specialist
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No Marquez and no Chiarello, only Nazaret so I do not expect much from this race. on top of that we did not bring any sprinter capable of discussing victory on the flat stages. Top15 is probably the best we can get.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 22-03-2018 20:21
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Directeur Sportif
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A Top10 for Brajkovic is the goal. Can Brajko please receive the ACC he has in the table?
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 23-03-2018 07:16
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World Champion
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That was an amazing leadout, sucks that the breakaway rider won... especially on the opening day, it's expected on stage 4 
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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