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Circulo de Juarez Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 13-12-2021 00:54
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Directeur Sportif
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 Circulo de Juarez
Welcome to Mexico for the 5-stage sprint fest that is the Circulo de Juarez. 174 riders from 22 teams take part this year. But the important riders are the sprinters as they will battle out both the stage wins and the GC.
Last year Matti Mannien was the winner, as he took stage 5 and the GC, beating Oscar Guerao, who took 2nd on the GC without winning a stage. Previous race winners include Guillame Boivin, Mohamed Harrif Salleh, Jaime Alberto Castaneda, Ricki Nelson, Anthony Lavoine and Michael Matthews. The race’s 7 editions have covered 35 stages. Those 35 stages the have included 27 different winners, 8 riders have won twice but none have won 3 stages.
 Manninen is back to try and become the first two-time GC winner as is  Boivin. These prior race winners are joined by two of the two-stage winners in  Guarnieri and  Drapac.
To create new records for the race they will have to best a deep field. In total, the startlist boasts 36 sprinters with a sprint 78 above. The favorites list below has been narrowed to the 20 of those who have an average sprint plus acceleration of 79 or above.
| FL | SP | AC | RS | |  Ewan | 75 | 83 | 81 | 71 |  Kennaugh | 77 | 82 | 81 | 71 |  Howard | 76 | 82 | 79 | 70 |  Saber | 75 | 81 | 79 | 72 |  Appollonio | 74 | 81 | 78 | 66 |  Zabel | 74 | 81 | 79 | 70 | | Manninen | 74 | 81 | 80 | 75 |  Vesely | 73 | 81 | 80 | 68 |  Jakobsen | 74 | 80 | 80 | 73 | | Guarnieri | 74 | 80 | 78 | 73 |  Silvestre | 78 | 80 | 81 | 71 |  Bonifazio | 79 | 80 | 80 | 75 |  Halvorsen | 76 | 80 | 80 | 71 |  Liu | 74 | 80 | 80 | 69 |  Krieger | 71 | 79 | 79 | 74 |  Reinhardt | 71 | 79 | 84 | 66 |  Lutsyshyn | 70 | 79 | 80 | 73 |  Selig | 71 | 79 | 81 | 68 | | Boivin | 74 | 79 | 80 | 70 |  Wippert | 70 | 78 | 82 | 70 |
Ewan and Kennaugh are the best all around riders on the startlist. Manninen and Bonifazio have strong back-up stats while Reinhardt has outstanding acceleration. But all the competitors are closely matched and any of these riders could emerge victorious.
Most team’s bring solid leadouts for their sprinters although Manninen and Saber did not and instead will look to surf the other’s trains. Although the latter has some strong roulers on his team while the former has Quispe.
We will see you tomorrow in Mexico.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 13-12-2021 03:41
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Team Leader
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If this goes anything like the way Barbados went then I’ll be very happy. Realistically I think a Top 5 would be an incredible result for Jakobsen who, given the lottery in sprints, has the same chance of finishing on the podium as finishing outside the Top 15.
Good luck to all!
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| DarkWolf |
Posted on 13-12-2021 06:45
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Boivin came away with the win at Barbados Cycling Festival, but the field of sprinters is stacked here too. So, if we get a good stage result and a classification in top 15 I'll be happy. But, like I said, the field is packed with very good sprinters and we might not be able to achieve those results.
Thank you for the preview, Ulrich, and good luck to everyone! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 13-12-2021 07:15
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As expected the field is just as stacked as in Barbados so some sprinters will again miss out on top 10 results. Probably on more than one occasion.
Siric did a pretty good job in Barbados and we have Poljanec and Antonijevic to help out as well here. Let's see if we can do a bit better and make it into the top 10 this time.
Thanks for the preview Ulrich 
"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 13-12-2021 07:22
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Small Tour Specialist
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Halvorsen wins lol
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 13-12-2021 08:09
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GL everybody
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 13-12-2021 09:02
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Small Tour Specialist
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Prayers offered to the RNG gods.
Would love to see a team form a train and their sprinter wins.
Thanks for the preview Ulrich.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 16:18
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 13-12-2021 09:11
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I expect nothing from this race and will still be disappointed
Thanks for the preview.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 13-12-2021 09:17
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Next big race for Silvestre after Barbados. I would take another stage win + 6th overall, but I wouldn't be opposed to more either  Good luck everyone, thanks for the preview!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 13-12-2021 09:20
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World Champion
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Obviously a repeat of Barbados would be great, but some minor GC points are enough, really.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 13-12-2021 09:38
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Cannot possibly be worse than Barbados... (famous last words)
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 13-12-2021 09:41
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Marcovdw wrote:
Cannot possibly be worse than Barbados... (famous last words)
Same
Thanks for taking on Juarez, Ulrich. Looking forward to the reports
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 13-12-2021 11:22
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Tour de France Champion
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We have historically raced better here than Barbados. Another Stage Win + Top5 GC would be ideal, but like Barbados i'll take a Top10 GC. I'd just like a little more logic/consistency (ha!) in our performances.
We do have a different support group here, so will we make a single train this time around? Is that a good thing? Who knows? It's time for the latest lottery round! I think Lutsyshyn will be the winner this time around and Manninen will bounce back strong.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 13-12-2021 14:28
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This is one of those startlists where I just take one glance and I'm happy I'm not here. AKA has had a good start this year, and I'm not looking to destroy his confidence.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 13-12-2021 23:26
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Sprint bingo gave us 10th. Meh.
Thanks for the report Ulrich Ulriksen and congrats to Fiat - Jura 
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 13-12-2021 23:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
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So, it looks like the top favourites just aren’t allowed to contest the first stage in flat races - same thing in Barbados with Ewan and Howard. Ewan, Howard and Kennaugh, the three best sprinters in the division, didn’t even make an attempt to sprint or be well positioned. How shit. Saw the same thing in Qatar with Gaviria and Coquard too. Having a 2nd tier sprinter who can achieve consistent results appears to be the way forward it seems.
Congrats Fabianski, must feel good
Thanks for the report!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 14-12-2021 01:43
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Team Leader
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The sprint AI is borderline funny at this point 
Jakobsen 12th is meh in the lottery. Hopefully he’s up there in the later stages.
I feel for those teams who paid big for sprinters who should be winning but would rather just rest up in the peloton.
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| DarkWolf |
Posted on 14-12-2021 06:19
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Protected Rider
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Boivin is still recovering from Barbados. I don't mind him finishing 31st, but I do hope he'll be more involved in the sprints. It's good to see Rivera on the breakaway and fighting for KOM though. I am keeping my fingers crossed he'll continue to do so in the next stages since I would love to see him get a result in the KOM classification.
I perfectly understand the disappointment and frustration of some of the managers. I love to see underdogs winning stages and races, but if that becomes a constant it is no fun at all. After all, favorites are favorites for a reason and if they are rarely seen fighting for wins it feels like things are random around the races. I've been there and although I don't expect to win all the races where I'm favorite I do expect to contest some of them. The top favorites here finished closer to Boivin than the winner so that is odd. But that's a discussion to be made elsewhere.
I am really happy Fabianski got the win. It was not the best start of the season for him and I hope his team rights the ship now. Congratulations! And thank you for the report! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 14-12-2021 06:28
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Well that was pretty much a copy-paste performance from S1 in Barbados
Saber needs to do much better to even stand a chance of scoring some points.
Congrats on the unexpected win Fab
"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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| Fabianski |
Posted on 14-12-2021 07:33
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How ridiculous is that
Anyone still thinking sprint AI is not worse than last year?
I don't feel *that* bad of winning this one, given that I'm also overpaying one of those (sub-)top sprinters. But it still just doesn't feel right tbh. Just feeling sorry for the top sprinters who just didn't care. At least Manninen is "back to useful" it seems.
Really not the greatest perspective if we have to live with such ridiculous sprints all season long; could we just roll a dice instead? Thanks to UU for the report, must be pretty *funny* to do those...
Not really expecting to get much more from Habtom, as he'll probably suffer the "yellow jersey's fate", and I can't imagine him competing again. If Reinhardt gets one or two nice stage results, we might at least get two decent GC positions. But yeah, feels strange :S
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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)
