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Tour of Japan Discussion
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 13-04-2020 22:11
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 Tour of Japan
Tour of Japan takes us to the far east where we’ll spend the better part of the week. This six-day race enters its 11th Man-Game edition, having previously been won by iconic riders such as Chavanel, Marquez or the legendary Damiano Cunego.
In 2019 we’ll find the usual mix of short circuit stages with profiles for every taste. A short prologue, 2 sprint stages, 2 hilly stages and the decisive mountain TT to mount Fuji! Enough to entertain us through the whole race.
Let us see who has come to Japan then:
| Rider | PRO | Rider | SPR |  Chavanne | 82 |  Ulanowski | 80 | | Aregger | 78 |  Itami | 80 | | Kuboki | 78 |  Houle | 79 |  Olman | 78 |  Reinhardt | 79 |  Balloni | 78 |  Boivin | 79 | | Pszczolarski | 77 | Aregger | 78 | | Cheung | 77 |  Santos | 78 | | Ivars | 77 | Contreras | 78 | | Hussein | 77 |  Porsev | 78 |
Prologue-wise there seems to be a clear favourite in Chavanne. We’re talking about a micro-prologue though and as such unpredictability is high. However, the Swiss (and most definitely not French) will enjoy the experience of last year’s triumph in this stage.
For sprint stages the field is much more open. The native Itami will like to please his countrymen with a stage victory, with Ulanowski being his main rival. Of the two flat stages, stage 2 is a lot more bumpier which should make the likes of Houle, Boivin and Aregger fancy their chances too.
Turning our attention to who could be the overall victor of the event we find a long list of candidates.
| Rider | MON | HIL | Rider | HIL | MON | | Bennett | 80 | 76 | Betancourt | 80 | 73 | | Ji | 80 | 75 |  Zaini | 80 | 66 | | Schelling | 80 | 75 |  Kwiatkowski | 79 | 78 | | Choi | 80 | 74 | Slagter | 79 | 78 | | Krasnoperov | 80 | 68 | Boily | 78 | 76 | | Pomoshnikov | 79 | 74 | Serry | 78 | 75 | | Costagli | 79 | 71 | Caruso | 78 | 69 | | Padun | 78 | 75 | Roux | 78 | 65 | | Ranaweera | 78 | 73 | Sepulveda | 77 | 75 | | Faiers | 78 | 71 | Paulus | 77 | 74 | | Stancu | 78 | 69 | Venter | 77 | 74 |
We decided to list the best climbers and the best puncheurs present here in the country of the rising sun, but the truth is that a combination of both disciplines is needed to succeed here. Testament to this is last year’s winner Kwiatkowski, who’s around to defend the title and fits the role of main candidate. On that note we find Slagter who has a pretty similar set of skills and a sweet team to back him up.
Then we can look at the climbers who could well upset the former duo if they can carve a sizeable gap in the MTT. Of those, Bennett is probably the best equipped to have a go at final victory.
Finally one can find some teams with double leaders who can play on two fronts, depending on the form of each of the riders, while it could also be seen as a gamble as a stronger leader could be hindered by a lesser rider the team deems to be worth of protection.
Japan is sure to provide the opportunities for all of them to shine. Let’s hope the racing makes that tangible.
Good luck everyone!
Edited by Gustavovskiy on 14-04-2020 23:01
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| SotD |
Posted on 13-04-2020 22:46
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It will be interesting to see whether or not Porsev can perform well here. The race suits him decently with two stages...
Other than that I guess we have to get lucky from breakaways in order to get anything.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 14-04-2020 00:13
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Hoping Serry can be one of the frontrunners on the hilly days and remain competitive on the MTT. If not Costagli will need to be our leader and Im a bit worried about that. Hoping we can hold the leaders jersey and take stage wins at the minimum though.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 14-04-2020 00:55
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No idea how the hill stages will go, but I'm liking the weaker startlist for both Houle and Bennett - but Kwiat, Slagter, Boily, Schelling, Choi and Ji could all also win it, especially if the hill stage is more selective than I'd like. Bennett will need to do a good prologue, stay with Kwiat and Boily then possibly win the MTT to do it. Should be a really good race and certainly the startlist is much better (for us) than expected!
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."
[PT]  Xero Racing
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 14-04-2020 06:41
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I feel like I should point out that Gabby is Swiss, not French  and I'm glad to see he is a clear favourite for the prologue, even better news is that Aregger should position himself well enough to have a chance of keeping the race leaders jersey in house after stage 2 aswell if everything goes according to plan.
Hopefully Slagter and Ranaweera will have the correct skillset between them for one of them to get a really strong result here for us as we could definitely do with taking a nice points haul from this one.
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 14-04-2020 09:45
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We do have some puncheurs capable of doing trouble, but the mountainious TT will probably crush all of my hopes yet again  |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 14-04-2020 11:15
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Bennett ahead of Kwiatek and Slagter please 
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 14-04-2020 12:47
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Even though it is a focus area for us, was no room in our calendar for this race.
My money is on Choi, best TT amongst the climbers and also competitive punch if it becomes important. Haven’t taken a deep look at the teams but as I expect the TT to do the trick, should not matter much.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 14-04-2020 23:04
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sammyt93 wrote:
I feel like I should point out that Gabby is Swiss, not French
Sorry for the mistake, just went from gut on that fact. In my defense, though, the game thinks he is from Trinidad and Tobago
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 15-04-2020 00:00
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Houle with a real chance at yellow for a couple of days (though worried about his sprint still as he hasn't done well yet from straight sprints) if he can win tomorrow and Bennett only losing 5 seconds, all I can ask for there
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."
[PT] Xero Racing
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1x x1
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 15-04-2020 00:34
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Guess I can take a break from the frustration here and see if my amateur team wants to do anything.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 15-04-2020 01:07
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Hadn't thought about it really, but Kuboki could well challenge for the points.
Also nice to be leading the Team GC by that massive 1 second. Shame we couldn't get the stage win though, but it was so close about 20 riders could have taken it.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 15-04-2020 03:10
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definitely feels like points lost by Chavanne there, but Aregger had a good ride to leave him in with a good chance of the leaders jersey.
Best news is that Slagter and Ranaweera are both within 4 seconds of the leader.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 15-04-2020 21:26
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Nice to have multiple guys in the break and going for it.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| SotD |
Posted on 15-04-2020 22:23
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Close but no cigar for Porsev. Still, a bit of points here. Just one spot better and he would have gained enough time to climb to 2nd in the GC I believe.
All but three riders from my team lost time, so I can only hope to see them aggressive on stage 3, which could likel go to a breakaway rider. La Lavandier would be my first pick for the stage.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 15-04-2020 23:13
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This necessitates a return from hiding in a cave atop a distant mountain:
Contreras was one of the 1st development riders signed by WCC when the programme started. Now in his 1st fully maxed year he has been having a good season, but this 1st victory really puts a smile on my face. A brilliant 2nd on a stage of the Tour de Slovenie was built upon a fantastic team performance forcing things in the crosswinds that day. Since then he has been continuing to learn his trade in the sprints, with a recent podium result now further backed up with this win. Demonstrated that a top 10 sprint stage result in a GT last season while on loan to the PT as a lvl 4 rider was no flash-in-the-pan. Chapeau Emiliano!
EDIT: Also pleasing to see the now amateur WCC incarnation putting in a great effort in the break. Hojgaard might have paid for his efforts by trailing in last today, but he continues to demonstrate that he is at least worthy of a pro contract on the CT level, having a pretty decent season with some points scoring and breakaway appearances on a diet of limited race days to date.
Shouldn't depart without offering thanks to our race reporter, and in these seriously unusual times hoping that everyone in our MG community is safe and well.
Edited by Scorchio on 15-04-2020 23:19
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 15-04-2020 23:50
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Always nice to see the top favourite for a sprint chasing the break down do our climber can have a go at the flat stage  Unbelievable
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."
[PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
1x x1
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 16-04-2020 00:44
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jandal7 wrote:
Always nice to see the top favourite for a sprint chasing the break down do our climber can have a go at the flat stage Unbelievable
I still dont get why Houle is so bad this year. In all my PCM 18 experience, he's a rider that should be winning everything.
Spoiler I'd argue Itami was the favourite tho  Atleast if you ask the locals
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 16-04-2020 01:45
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valverde321 wrote:
jandal7 wrote:
Always nice to see the top favourite for a sprint chasing the break down do our climber can have a go at the flat stage Unbelievable
I still dont get why Houle is so bad this year. In all my PCM 18 experience, he's a rider that should be winning everything.
Spoiler I'd argue Itami was the favourite tho Atleast if you ask the locals
He's just not doing it in stage races, guess they count him as something other than a sprinter which is weird as PCM18 is quite good at not doing that in my experience  Going to hope it means he's going for the hill stage tomorrow, but then we get into the issue we had here last year where we dropped Bennett to support Roux for a stage top 10 
And yeah, maybe a fair call
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."
[PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
1x x1
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 16-04-2020 19:06
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Posts: 16555
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Another day in the break is another victory for WCC!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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