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Tour of Eritrea - Discussion
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 24-12-2021 02:47
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
Joined: 12-06-2013
PCM$: 500.00
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 Tour of Eritrea Preview
Please Note: Preview by LLS. Racing and reports from Ulrich Ulriksen who has sent me the reports to post from Boxing Day.
We head to Africa for a race with a lot of history in our Sport and I'm anticipating that this will be no different. The last three editions have seen podiums made up of a mix between the top climbers and more well-rounded riders able to handle the hills a little better.
Podium History
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Div. | | 2020 | Warbasse | Chamorro | Ndayisenga | CT | | 2019 | Pinot | Nibali | Faiers | CT | | 2018 | Kudus | Kwiatkowski | Monsalve | C1 |
Naturally, we will start by looking at who should be fighting for the GC. As the race is back in the C1 calendar, we have strong riders from across the PCT and CT.
Guldhammer (Carlsberg) would be my pick for the win here and he has the support of none other than last year's winner, Warbasse. The other top 2 favourites are a mix of experience in the form of Spilak (Los Pollos) and one of the top young talents in Padun (Popo4Ever).
All other riders will be hoping to push these 3 to the limits and should be the riders making up the rest of the Top 10 but in what order...?
The CT division has limited representation but Aramco and Gjensidige will be hoping that the well-rounded Mas & Roson can outscore their PCT opponents.
| Rider | MO | HIL | REC | ACC | FTR | DWH |  | Guldhammer | 81 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 71 | 65 |  | Carthy | 81 | 75 | 78 | 69 | 65 | 65 |  | Spilak | 81 | 78 | 72 | 68 | 67 | 64 |  | Padun | 81 | 77 | 76 | 75 | 76 | 70 |  | Penasa | 80 | 74 | 77 | 76 | 68 | 64 |  | Arndt | 79 | 76 | 72 | 75 | 61 | 64 |  | Novak | 79 | 77 | 77 | 76 | 73 | 75 |  | Bongiorno | 79 | 75 | 77 | 69 | 69 | 65 |  | Pomoshnikov | 79 | 74 | 74 | 66 | 61 | 67 |  | Mas | 78 | 77 | 77 | 77 | 73 | 70 |  | Ndayisenga | 78 | 75 | 73 | 73 | 72 | 69 | | Warbasse | 78 | 75 | 72 | 65 | 72 | 68 |  | Chamorro | 78 | 75 | 70 | 74 | 78 | 74 |  | Roson | 78 | 76 | 77 | 74 | 73 | 66 |  | Masnada | 77 | 76 | 73 | 73 | 69 | 71 |
There is 1 name that hasn't yet been mentioned who is someone we may see dominate Stage 3 and that is the Venezuelan Mountain Goat, Jose Alarcon. He, along with the others listed below, will need to gain time on Stage 3 to support their GC ambitions as they're a little lacking in the hills.
| Rider | MO | HIL | REC | ACC | FTR | DWH |  | Alarcon | 83 | 72 | 71 | 76 | 78 | 65 |  | Henao Montoya | 80 | 69 | 72 | 70 | 68 | 60 |  | Faglum Karlsson | 79 | 73 | 76 | 68 | 66 | 74 | | Garby | 79 | 70 | 75 | 70 | 72 | 63 |
Before we love and leave you, there are of course 3 flat stages in which one would expect a Sprinter to win. The first 2 stages provide an opportunity for the leaders jersey to be worn before going into the Mountains while the 3rd falls in the middle of the race and so could be more of a breakaway opportunity.
This has been a bit of a surprise season so far in the sprints so it's hard to make a safe bet on anyone but the managers of Van Stayen, Zabel, Appollonio, AKA, Guardini and the Russian Rocket wouldn't be too pleased if their riders were outside the Top 5.
| Rider | FLA | REC | SPR | ACC | | Van Stayen | 75 | 78 | 83 | 76 | | Zabel | 74 | 79 | 81 | 79 | | Appollonio | 74 | 72 | 81 | 78 | | Kragh Andersen | 77 | 78 | 81 | 77 | | Guardini | 72 | 71 | 80 | 82 | | Maksimov | 71 | 72 | 80 | 82 | | Pelucchi | 74 | 75 | 79 | 77 | | Boudat | 73 | 78 | 79 | 78 | | Stallaert | 77 | 80 | 79 | 76 | | Coutinho | 72 | 77 | 79 | 80 |  | Selig | 71 | 76 | 79 | 81 | | Afewerki | 73 | 81 | 79 | 80 | | Abdul Halil | 68 | 76 | 79 | 77 | | Lutsyshyn | 70 | 74 | 79 | 80 |
Full Startlist
Good luck to all and Merry Christmas!! (Yes, it's still March in the MG...) |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 24-12-2021 04:20
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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The time has finally come for Guldhammer to score some points for our team. First non-wildcard race, and on paper it suits him absolutely perfectly. High mountain stage, hybrid stage, and an Ardennes type finish. No TT to get in the way.
It's a C1 race, so not a lot of points up for offer, hence the weakish startlist. But we played with the race day allocations quite a bit and given how well suited it was, it still made sense to send Guldhammer here. Then for lieutenants, how could we not use Warbasse when he's technically defending his title here last year? Obviously it's different now that it's C1, but still, he can do well in his own right and, as he showed last year, does well with the varied climbing. Then Olesen is the ultimate domestique on this terrain, although the depth ends there since C1 race days require talents to have space.
The maybe more questionable choice was sending AKA here. We built our schedule around cobbles/mountains, so AKA also had some race days left. We didn't anticipate his hot start in HC races, so at the time C1 didn't seem like a waste, more of a startlist opportunity. He's got 3 chances including two before the mountains. Sprint lottery is sprint lottery, so not expecting consistency. But he's near the top of the favorites, so I'd like at least a podium and if everything goes well perhaps the points jersey.
Hopefully we'll be (positively) involved in every stage, so I'm excited to get started. Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| maxime86 |
Posted on 24-12-2021 05:21
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2950
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Rolling the dice sending Van Stayen here, but just really thought stages 4 and 6 fit his profile of rider too perfectly. As hard as I've been on him this year for not coming out with wins, hes stilll be quite good and we do have a good mountain squad rolling here. Really, really excited for this race honestly! |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 24-12-2021 08:16
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1090.00
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Ndayisenga had his best race of the year here last season with a stage win and that 3rd place overall. Not necessarily expecting to repeat that  But it would be nice to get something out of this race in terms of GC points, as the profile still fits him well. Also some good depth with Uwi, Eyob and Hadi. But we could end up with barely anything as well.
Very curious to see how we're being treated AI-wise with Stallaert as #1 on the startlist. Could mean nothing and he's just the highest overall rider in a race where his skillset give him much of an edge, or he's considered a high priority rider for the sprints or even late attacks. He had a few race days left to spare and it's one of the few races where he's our main sprinter, we'll see how it shakes out.
Very excited for this race, looking forward to it a lot! Plus, it's a quasi home race for us with 3 Eritreans in our team of 8, hope we put on a show!
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| redordead |
Posted on 24-12-2021 09:29
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
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Alarcon's debut race and I'm absolutely dreading how he does. Given the startlist and no TTs this could on paper be he's easiest race of the year. Yet there are still so many thing that could go wrong. He really needs to make the mountain stage count.
Thanks for the preview LLS 
"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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| Nemolito |
Posted on 24-12-2021 13:38
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
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Thanks for the nice preview
Hoping for some stage results and a top-3 GC here.
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 26-12-2021 12:12
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2433
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Thanks for the preview LLS.
No ITT means a chance for Arndt to get a decent GC place and use his sprint finish on the lumpy stages.
Zabel has 3 chances at podium places on the flat stages.
Will be interested to see how Josip Rumac goes over this parcour.
Can Dieteren get in the break on stage 6?
Lots of chances for Kraftwerk riders, will they take advantage?
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 26-12-2021 22:54
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Not the greatest start for Stallaert, but he's not expected to do that much. Hopefully, he positions himself a bit better tomorrow. But I'm always happy to see Carlsberg and Project: Africa atop the podium, although a home win for Afewerki would have been even better. Maybe tomorrow 
Sucks for Iino, but maybe it liberates him to go into the breakaway in the second half of the race, which could even be beneficial. But for the moment, tough scene of course.
Thank you for the report Ulrich, and thanks for posting LLS!
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 26-12-2021 22:56
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
Joined: 12-06-2013
PCM$: 500.00
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Happy to see Abdul Halil sprinting although would like to see him further up the Top 10.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 26-12-2021 23:03
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
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Completely missed this preview somehow, sorry about that! Novak all alone against the rest here, but really looking forward to what he can do after Pais Vasco. A nice sprint and minor classifications to start off with, but congrats Carlsberg!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 15:50
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 26-12-2021 23:58
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A familiar pattern for sprints. If we form a train our sprinter hits the front with 700m to go, gets passed with 400m to go and fades to around 10th.
Need to pray we wheel suck in the next sprint stages, not a very pleasing way to get a result.
Congrats to Carlsberg and thanks to Ulrich and LLS for the report.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-12-2021 00:03
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Damn, AKA is just on fire so far this year! 
A stage win makes his participation worth it right from the get go. He has just been a completely different sprinter in PCT, and I'm loving it. I hate how much luck is in these sprints, but it does feel good when your luck is good. Once again, he joins the sprint attentively but stays back long enough to not fade at the end. Exact opposite of what he and Appo usually did for me in PCM 18.
With the yellow jersey curse as it is, I doubt he sprints again tomorrow, which is fine. We get a few points for wearing the jersey, and I'll always take the excitement of a victory and seeing my man in the yellow jersey. I just hope the team doesn't waste too much energy controlling the front tomorrow. We have a few talents who won't factor into the tougher stages anyway, so hopefully they're the ones we put to work.
Thanks for the report!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| redordead |
Posted on 27-12-2021 07:00
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
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The flat stages are just about staying safe and not losing any time for us.
Congrats on the win bbl
"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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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 27-12-2021 07:18
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
Joined: 06-11-2010
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Great start by Afewerki! Oh man I would’ve loved to see him grab a win in his home race, but this is still a great performance.
Wonder how the rest of the race will go - hope we can leave with a top 10
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| TinxiaS |
Posted on 27-12-2021 07:44
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Domestique
Posts: 504
Joined: 17-08-2020
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Siriusly puncture for Ilno and no sprint for Selig. C'mon.
I hope now will go only much better in this race.
Thanks for the preview and report Sanchez.
Congrats for the win baseballlover.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 27-12-2021 08:07
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
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Fantastic stage! Afewerki winning and taking yellow is exceptional, AKA sprinting despite yellow is a good thing, Jura getting a small positive result is nice and Stallaert taking a podium of course as well. Thanks for the report!
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 27-12-2021 08:09
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
Joined: 12-06-2013
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Indeed positive to see the AI actually having AKA sprint.
For my team, Abdul Halil with a strong result which at least shows he is somewhat capable of sprinting for himself at this level.
Time for Mas and the Climbers!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 27-12-2021 08:47
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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Yes, the yellow jersey sprinting was the first thing I noticed as well
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 27-12-2021 09:03
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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63th and 32nd for Maksimov. Wonderful. Seems like he is protecting Spilak, as if there isn´t anyone else to do that..
Congratulations to Carlsberg and P:A. Thanks for the reports so far to Ulrich and LLS
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 27-12-2021 09:35
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Sorry, haven't been around the last couple of days to comment. Waiting for Penasa on the next stage. The first two stages were not targets for us and the goal was to protect. Still, somehow wish we would join a break here and there.
Congrats to bbl and aidan on the wins. Thanks for the reports
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