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Sakartvelo Trophy Discussion
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 20-04-2021 20:20
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Grand Tour Champion
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 Sakartvelo Trophy
History
| Year | Winner | Team | | 2019 | Vitor Rodrigues | Berg Cycles | | 2018 | Vitor Rodrigues | Banco de Bogota |
Sakartvelo Trophy is a race which takes place in Georgia. Since my recent races in other cycling minnows like Equatorial Guinea and the Faroe Islands had elaborate local introductions, I'll do the same here. The capital of Georgia is Atlanta, which hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics. Oh wait you mean the country? Awkward. Sakartvelo is Georgian for Georgia, the country in the Caucasus on the border between Europe and Asia, with Tbilisi as capital. Moving over to the race, it's the third edition, still rated as C2. We will see a new winner as as two-time winner Vitor Rodrigues did not land a contract for this season. Any Continental Team could have picked him up and guarantee a victory in this race, but no.
Profile
The race is a long one, 233 kilometer is not something you see every day in the lowest division. Those 233 kilometer aren't even flat as well. There are three major climbs and countless smaller ones. The last climb is especially steep with an average gradient close to ten percent, but the top is thirty kilometer from the finish. There is a small climb interrupting the descent, but the finish is flat. Brutal all around. The profile annotations lists the final climb as Mount Fuji. Did we end up in an alternate timeline where Georgia beat Japan in WOII? I hope this is an oversight.
Startlist
| Favorites | MO | STA | ACC | Outsiders | MO | STA | ACC |  Fabbro | 78 | 71 | 73 |  Reguigui | 76 | 72 | 69 |  Cort Nielsen | 78 | 76 | 71 |  Burmann | 76 | 66 | 76 |  Giogieri | 78 | 71 | 67 |  Juodvalkis | 75 | 69 | 68 |  Bardet | 77 | 72 | 75 |  Herrada | 75 | 72 | 69 |  Bonnin | 77 | 71 | 73 |  Vuillermoz | 75 | 72 | 67 | | Gilanipoor | 77 | 74 | 73 |  Petrovski | 75 | 72 | 68 |  Mai | 77 | 67 | 60 | Russom | 75 | 75 | 62 |  Dall'Oste | 76 | 71 | 71 |  Liphongyu | 75 | 73 | 63 | | Schultz | 76 | 74 | 71 | Benito | 75 | 72 | 61 | | Pedrero | 76 | 73 | 71 | Seboka | 80 | 63 | 67 |
The race clashes with Tour de Langkawi, which is of a higher category and also contains mountains. Most continental climbing stars, like Raanawera, Pinot, Ratiy, Marqiez and Garby elect to participate in Malaysia. Teams which have two climbers could split them.
Carlsberg and Tryg are such teams, with Warbasse and Lunke going to Langkawi and Fabbro and Cort Nielsen coming here. These two find themselves at the top of the favorites list, though their support is lackluster as most of them went with the other leader. Nevertheless, it's a good chance to participate in a race without arguing for leadership.
As C2 allows PCT teams to take part, some teams find themselves with a realistic shot of winning as they don't have the race clash. Swisslion brings the Giogieri - Gilanipoor duo, Bakkafrost has Bonnin, Repsol has Pedrero and Zalgiris has Juodvalkis.
Secondary leaders who also get a shot at glory are Bardet, Mai, Dall'Oste and Schultz. Normally happy with a top twenty, they are now very good candidates for a top ten.
Los Pollos has an interesting team. Seboka is only good in climbing but not much else. If this was 233 kilometer Mount Everest climb I'd give him a chance, but not here. They bring Quispe and Bru here as well for the banter.
Three riders from the country of Georgia have the support from the locals: Akhmaevi, Bablidze and Nareklishvili. Of these riders, Bablidze has the best shot at a good result though the other two will be eager to get in the breakaway.
This is a race where a surprise winner is not unthinkable. A breakaway surviving all day? A third-tier climber going for an early attack and hanging on? Quispe reaching the finish line? Everything is possible!
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 20-04-2021 20:30
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Right, I knew there was a reason Mai wasn't in Langkawi  His chance to shine after a pretty terrible season so far. But I rest a good bit of hope on Janvier Hadi here as well. In theory, this is the perfect race for him to shine. No idea how this is going to play out, looking forward to it, though!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 20-04-2021 20:41
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Tour de France Champion
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As noted in the preview, we obviously sent most of our guys to help Warbasse in Langkawi.
Spoiler So far, I do not regret that decision. 
So, it's Matteo Fabbro's time to shine. To be honest, he has kind of sucked this year. On paper he's almost as good in the mountains as Warbasse, and yet, he has been consistently lackluster in team efforts so far this season. Compared to his unmaxed success last year, it's been a shame. Nevertheless, he gets his chance to shine here in a really favorable field. He has a legitimate shot to win on paper, as crazy as that sounds (though Cort is definitely the favorite). A lot will depend on daily form, but he definitely has a shot.
Only 6 riders and only Gregaard is a climber to help significantly. Plus Fabbro's stamina is low. So a lot of things are going against us, some by our own design. We'll just have to see what happens.
Interested to see how selective this ends up being, considering the final climb is so far from the finish. Bringing Bertilsson was not in anticipation of a mass sprint (more just dealing with my lack of riders), but I could see a scenario where a significant number of guys come to the line together, considering how few teams there will be controlling the race. Or it could be a free for all. Who knows?
A lot of competition from PCT teams too, which is noteworthy. On one hand, I'd be happy to have them take points out of CT. On the other hand, I would not be happy to have them take points from me. 
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 20-04-2021 21:55
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The disrespect towards Quispe and Seboka, two living legends, is unreal  Just wait and see, as Seboka will surprise everyone with the best descent of his lifetime! Also better take a good look at Quispe in those opening kilometers, as he was instructed to lead the peloton for at least one second. He played truth or dare with Bru on the plane to Georgia actually, and Bru dared him to do so.
Bru then picked truth, and you would be surprised to know his favourite Georgian animal is a humpback whale. You can only imagine the scenes when Bru thought we were actually going to Georgia the state after only reading the first lines of your preview. But to conclude, Bru's favourite animal of Georgia the country is actually the southern white-breasted hedgehog.
I expect nothing from the race, so anything is welcome. Thanks for the previewç
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| quadsas |
Posted on 20-04-2021 22:05
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Looks like a pretty easy win for Krizek
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 20-04-2021 23:08
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Interesting startlist. Could be possible for Bonnin to do something here given his downhill skills. As bbl points out though, a fairly sizable group could end up sprinting it out in the end, in which case I don't like his chances very much
Looking forward to the report!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 21-04-2021 06:19
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Startlist looks favourable for Bardet and we had hoped that something like this would be the case when choosing this race. If he can get a Top 5, it will be great but a repeat of last year's 7th, or something around that area is the expectation.
Thanks for the preview 
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| redordead |
Posted on 21-04-2021 06:26
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I'm very interested to see how we mess this up
Thanks for the preview
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| quadsas |
Posted on 21-04-2021 22:10
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If we delete Fabbro it was fax.
52 points from C2 race is banging, thats big
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 20:43
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 21-04-2021 23:35
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Ahhhh if only the game was smart enough to realize how good of a position this was for Hadi and not have him chase Could have been an easy Top 5. 13th and 14th is a terrible result for having 2 men in the last 16. But I guess at least we had 2 men in the last 16. Damn, still frustrating Thanks for the report though, very enjoyable!
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 22-04-2021 00:27
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Great race for the team. It's not many points from this ofc, being a C2 race. Just a shame those corners in the finish didn't allow Pedrero to use his superior sprint to take a better place
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 22-04-2021 01:05
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Great result from Schultz!! Good to see him turning into a secondary leader!! Great race!!
Congrats to the winner and great report!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 22-04-2021 01:18
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Holy crap! What a fantastic victory by Fabbro. I was right that the race wouldn't be super selective, but Fabbro just took matters into his own hands and completely bossed the field!
I'm just stunned. I thought for sure that he was toast in that tunnel pic, and I wasn't even going to be mad. After all, he was never going to win a sprint. He played his cards as best he could and went for broke from the final climb. He did his part. Luckily, the guys on the front of the pack cracked at the same time, and he just narrowly holds on for an absolutely spectacular victory. One for the ages.
Amazing job by the team too even though he was alone at the end. With only 6 guys and no super domestiques, we knew we couldn't do anything special on the climb. The guys did their job to catch the break and put Fabbro in a position to strike. And boy did he strike. The long range move was the right idea, as he gained just enough time to stay ahead after the descent. He needed every second of that advantage. Being on his own seemed to liven him up more than anything.
Another good chunk of points, and a PCT grabs the 2nd place points, so perfect. Huge week for us in the standings so far, and it's been the climbers carrying us. Never would have imagined that after so many years without any real GC threats.
I feel like I need to have that podium picture of Fabbro in the clouds framed.
Thanks for an amazing report Marco! I was on the edge of my seat, mouth agape, the entirety of the second half.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| redordead |
Posted on 22-04-2021 07:01
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Ugh 
If someone else would do some work instead of relying on Gilanipoor to do everything, we could have gotten a lot more from this race. 5th is kinda okay, but only 15th for Gilanipoor is not good enough in the end 
No issues with Fabbro though, brave ride. Congrats bbl
But it would make a ton more sense if one of Gilanipoor/Giogieri went on the attack instead, given we had two of the stronger riders there. Instead we had to do all the chasing for a barely acceptable result
Fantastic report Marco, thank you
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| liefwarrior |
Posted on 22-04-2021 07:07
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Somewhat disappointing result from a race where Cort Nielsen was a favourite for the first time in his life, but alas. Congrats to bbo and thanks for the report Marco. |
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 22-04-2021 07:52
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Didn't expect much from this race, but to have Russom finish 10th and have another 2 riders in the top 20 is a good result.
Nice win for bbl and Fabbro!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 22-04-2021 13:01
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Kind of where I expected Bardet to finish with 8th place, but he really should be doing better given the field and his stats.
Congrats bbl, big few days for you! Thanks for the report Marco
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 22-04-2021 13:43
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Bonnin probably should have been in that first group. I guess it's down to poor positioning on the climb. Not a great race from him, but he likely would have struggled in the sprint anyway.
Congrats to bbl! And thanks for the report
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 22-04-2021 14:36
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Damn, hard to see Petrovski not able to finish in the top-25. Glad Quispe got some redemption though
Thanks for the report, except for the part where Los Pollos was terrible it was a great read, congratulations to bbl again with a dominant win!
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 22-04-2021 14:57
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Hirschi outperforming Liphongyu is a little unexpected, but he's kinda been doing better than some of my stronger riders all season. I love to see it but I'm dreading his renewal
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