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Ras Tailteann Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 03-09-2018 19:37
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Ireland's biggest stage race returns for it's 8th edition. Most familiarly known as the FBD Éire Tour in the past, and FBD Insurance Ras originally, it dropped out of the calendar in 2017 following the end of sponsorship from FBD - but now returning with a new name and a shorter, but familiar route.
Originally a race with hills and sprints, the race became a sprinter's haven in recent editions, and that is expected to be the case again this year. So let's take a look at the fastest two sprinters on each team in attendance.
| Carrefour - ESPN | PCT |  Lo Cicero | 84 | Feiereisen | 77 | | Podium Ambition | PCT |  Ewan | 83 | Nelson | 81 | | Fablok - Bank BGZ | PCT |  Mohs | 83 | Guardini | 80 | | Kraftwerk Man Machine | PCT |  Cavendish | 83 | Willwohl | 79 | | SPAR - Shimano - SCG | PCT |  Guerao | 83 | Suryadi | 79 | | Delvaux | CT |  Guarnieri | 82 | Kreder | 78 | | Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ | PCT |  Goss | 82 | Speirs | 76 | | Netia - Vónin | PCT |  Vantomme | 82 | Franczak | 76 | | cycleYorkshire | PCT |  Stauff | 80 | Thwaites | 78 | | Minions | PCT |  Drapac | 80 | Avila | 78 | | Valio - DeLaval | CT |  Manninen | 80 | Liepins | 78 | | GCN ProTeam | CT |  Keukeleire | 80 | McLay | 77 | | Repsol - Netflix | PCT |  Roelandts | 80 | Paez | 72 | | Philips - Continental | PCT |  Te Brake | 79 | Krieger | 79 | | Rothaus - Aegon | CT |  Coutinho | 79 | Hochmann | 79 | | Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam | PCT |  Gaviria | 79 | Bonifazio | 78 | | Ayubowan! | PCT |  Lander | 79 | Perera | 77 | | Banco de Bogota | CT |  King | 78 | Angarita | 78 | | DK Žalgiris | CT |  Kruopis | 78 | Dzervus | 77 | | Nordstrom - BioWare | PCT |  Farrar | 77 | Hopman | 75 | | Becherovka - Petrof | A |  Jaser | 77 | Batmunkh | 74 | | Team B&O | A |  Nielsen | 77 | Bengtsson | 72 | | Adastra - Argon 18 | CT |  Bole | 75 | Mihaylov | 70 |
Lo Cicero, Vantomme and Guerao all won a stage and finished in the GC Top 5 of the 2016 edition - behind champion Oscar Avelino. Irishman Speirs also took a breakaway victory on that occasion. Lo Cicero also won a stage back in 2011, while Vantomme has 3 stage wins in total - just trailing Tom Boonen, who won all of the first four stages in 2012.
Looking at this season's form, we do have riders who have tasted success already. Mohs with the Down Under Classic; Goss and Ewan at the Tour Down Under; and Guardini recently in the Middle East. Will they also share the spoils here, or will other sprinters get their accounts opened up here? As well as the previous stage winners in the race, Cavendish and Guarnieri look best placed to do so.
The most successful rider this season though, who lines up here, is GCN's Pinot, who seems to have stumbled into a bike race on the way home from Malaysia.
Ewan is the favourite for the U25 jersey; with Gaviria, Willwohl, Bonifazio and Perera also capable of securing time bonuses and fighting for that jersey. Otherwise, breakaway time bonuses could be enough for a good placing there - as well as a rankings points earning GC position.
Full startlist:
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 03-09-2018 19:44
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World Champion
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Ewan vs. Gaviria, part 2.
Looking at the empty startlist, other teams are starting to suffer from the clashes as well. A breakaway might take it here.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 03-09-2018 19:52
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Pinot  Also looking to see if Jaser is able to sprint after last year's poor all-season long performance.
Will Lo Cicero finally unleash his sprint or will he remain in the shade of Ewan, Mohs et al. Sure gonna be one to follow closely!
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 03-09-2018 19:52
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Tour de France Champion
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Sending two 80+ sprinters, two climbers and two neo-pros... There's no way this can backfire! 
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 03-09-2018 19:53
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Looking forward till seeing what Manninen/Liepins van dock in a fieldas strong as this. An important lesson for the future...
Also it will be fun facing Lo Cicero.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 21-11-2024 20:02
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 20:15
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What is Pinot doing here? 
Interesting race to follow. I think I picked well not to come here though, given my sprinters' success so far in ToME and Pologne, and the strong field here.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 03-09-2018 20:16
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Looking forward to see how Guarnieri will stack up against PCT competition ahead of the HC races he will do later in the season. A top 5 here would be very good!
Hopefully it won't be a problem that we only brought 6 guys.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 03-09-2018 20:19
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Hope Mohs can continue his good start to the season and hopefully not run into bad daily form
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| quadsas |
Posted on 03-09-2018 20:42
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this will be a rough one, but hopefully Manfred and maybe Blums can do damage in the breakaways. or Dzervus continuing his good form from Langkawi and achieving a fluke.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 03-09-2018 20:43
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Interesting preview format with the two best sprinters for each team listed. Unfortunately Suryadi is the only real support Guerao gets here due to the race clashes. Probably won't matter though, as Guerao has shown so far this season he also sucks when having good support. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-09-2018 21:15
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Come on, Gossy!
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 03-09-2018 21:24
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This is a race where I expect nothing. Case closed
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 03-09-2018 21:26
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Go Drapac!
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 03-09-2018 21:36
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Due to expected clashes I chose this race for our win goal hoping for less competition, can Cav overcome his poor start for the season and deliver us a win?
I am not holding my breath. Just hope it doesn't go to the breakaway.
Thanks for the preview SN
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 22:16
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I think Roelandts should get a GC Top10, given that in the final he should get a better result than some sprinters thanks to his abilities to go over hills.
Apart from that, i hope some of my riders get in the breakaway, though having only 6 riders will surely hurt us in this matter
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| viking90 |
Posted on 03-09-2018 22:56
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Breakaway, Breakaway guys!
Podium and Fablok have a nice duo here! |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 04-09-2018 01:07
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Pinot trying to emulate Suaza even more by having crap planning in his first CT season I guess Massive startlist here, very glad I didn't come! Would love to see Vantomme come out with a result, and Guarnieri to get a big C1 result for Delvaux to try and compensate for Gautier Down Under!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
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[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 04-09-2018 02:36
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Second goal of the season already and it’s only the beginning of Feb. Top-5 here is definitely possible, quite worried about how stretched most teams are though with 6 races all kinda co-clashing in early-mid Feb. Hope it doesn’t weaken the peloton too much that they give up on chasing the breaks!
@tsmoha: Hope he can deliver for you 
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-09-2018 05:49
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No big expectations here but as sprinter team it was another race to spread the team. Maybe a late top10 with a bit of luck and consistency. |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 04-09-2018 06:23
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Highly unlikely that either Te Brake or Krieger does anything noteworthy. They'll probably end up fighting for leadership and battle it out for 15th place on the stages
Thanks for the preview
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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)
