Olympia's Tour Discussion
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redordead |
Posted on 17-02-2022 06:33
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Welcome to the 10th edition of the Olympia's Tour. It has been part of the MG calendar all but one year since 2011. It has been a time-trial heavy race now for a while and still is probably the most time-trial friendly race there is. With 2 ITTs and a TTT the winner will have to be proficient against the clock, but will also need support from his teammates in the TTT. Apart from the time-trials there are also 3 road stages dedicated to the sprinters. There are no KOM points in this race, but the stages are long and we are in the Netherlands, so splits can occur. The former winners of the race on the startlist include defending champion Marlen Zmorka as well as Luke Durbridge and Jacob Fiedler.
With that said let's look at some of the favourites:
| FL | TT | RS | PR | TTT Rank | Zmorka | 74 | 82 | 75 | 82 | 3rd | Viennet | 72 | 80 | 75 | 80 | 1st | Durbridge | 73 | 81 | 74 | 81 | 5th | Howson | 71 | 80 | 74 | 80 | 2nd | Dillier | 70 | 80 | 77 | 79 | 4th | Mullen | 75 | 80 | 74 | 78 | 1st | Haugard | 72 | 79 | 77 | 79 | 4th | Kwok | 75 | 78 | 71 | 78 | 1st | Kittel | 74 | 80 | 69 | 80 | 9th | Viviani | 78 | 79 | 77 | 79 | 5th | Gonzalez Salas | 70 | 80 | 76 | 80 | 10th | Sterbini | 68 | 78 | 73 | 78 | 3rd | Robert | 66 | 78 | 68 | 78 | 3rd | Coppel | 73 | 79 | 72 | 79 | 7th | Lammertink | 74 | 80 | 76 | 79 | 11th |
Zmorka is the best individual time trialist here and he has the TTT support needed to win this race two years in a row. Polar's riders will be some of his toughest competitors with Viennet first in line. Durbridge is the 2nd strongest individually, but his TTT unit is a notch below the other two teams. The TTT kings tend to be Duolingo and Howson will look to benefit from that to challenge the best. Dillier and Haugard give UBS two great options with Polar also having backup in Mullen and Kwok. Veterans Kittel and Coppel as well as Gonzalez Salas and Lammertink will all need to make up for their poorer support in the TTT to stand a chance.
| Avg. TT | Avg. PR | TTT Score | Polar | 77.00 | 77.00 | 77.00 | Duolingo | 76.50 | 74.88 | 75.75 | Los Pollos Hermanos | 75.75 | 75.13 | 75.46 | Team UBS | 76.38 | 74.13 | 75.33 | cycleYorkshire | 73.38 | 73.25 | 73.32 | Minions | 72.63 | 73.75 | 73.15 | Project: Africa | 71.13 | 73.13 | 72.05 | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | 71.50 | 71.88 | 71.67 | Kraftwerk Man Machine | 70.75 | 71.50 | 71.10 | Assa Abloy | 68.50 | 73.13 | 70.65 | Aker - MOT | 75.57 | 74.71 | 70.47* | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | 70.63 | 68.88 | 69.81 | Podium Ambition | 66.13 | 70.50 | 68.16 | Bralirwa - Stevens | 67.25 | 68.50 | 67.83 | Gjensidige Pro Cycling | 67.13 | 67.25 | 67.18 | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | 66.75 | 67.38 | 67.04 | BNZ-Superhero Racing | 65.00 | 67.50 | 66.16 | Aramco DP | 69.86 | 71.29 | 66.11* | Strava | 63.75 | 64.75 | 64.21 | Trans Looney Tunes | 67.29 | 68.14 | 63.45* | Tafjord Kraft | 62.63 | 64.13 | 63.32 |
* TTT Score is adjusted for having only 7 riders
Polar will be out for revenge after their performance in Romandie and have brought an even stronger team this time. Can perennial winners Duolingo win again or is their run finally over? Los Pollos main goal is to support their leader Zmorka, but they're legitimate contenders for this stage. As are Team UBS. These four teams are a cut above the rest and will be looking to limit their losses.
Sprinter | FL | RS | SP | AC | Leadout | FL | RS | SP | AC | Cullaigh | 73 | 70 | 80 | 81 | Hayter | 74 | 75 | 71 | 72 | Guarnieri | 74 | 73 | 80 | 78 | Van der Haar | 77 | 72 | 72 | 70 | Haller | 72 | 71 | 80 | 79 | Park | 72 | 70 | 75 | 76 | Afewerki | 73 | 70 | 79 | 80 | Hamza | 71 | 70 | 71 | 71 | Kalaba | 74 | 72 | 79 | 79 | Lindeman | 73 | 69 | 74 | 76 | Maksimov | 71 | 67 | 80 | 82 | Laizer | 70 | 71 | 65 | 70 | Ewan | 75 | 71 | 83 | 81 | Major | 74 | 70 | 77 | 78 | Jakobsen | 74 | 73 | 80 | 80 | Ovsyannikov | 72 | 72 | 77 | 76 | Appollonio | 74 | 66 | 81 | 78 | Bauhaus | 74 | 65 | 78 | 75 | Krieger | 71 | 74 | 79 | 79 | Manakov | 77 | 68 | 72 | 76 | Wippert | 70 | 70 | 78 | 82 | Gough | 65 | 65 | 68 | 69 | Stallaert | 77 | 68 | 79 | 76 | Hadi | 68 | 70 | 74 | 71 | Bouhanni | 74 | 69 | 80 | 77 | Sbaragli | 76 | 70 | 77 | 78 | Bennett | 71 | 68 | 79 | 79 | Meyer | 71 | 63 | 79 | 74 | Keukeleire | 71 | 66 | 79 | 77 | Korosec | 71 | 71 | 75 | 78 |
A large number of sprinters were attracted to the 3 sprint stages here. Some top sprinters here and some very different setups. Cullaigh, Guarnieri, Haller, Afewerki and Kalaba all look to have very sensible lead outs. The big guns like Ewan, Jakobsen and Appollonio on the other hand have gone with fastmen. A strategy that fails more often than not. Maksimov and Wippert have decided to forego lead outs and will hope to surf the wheels and not get lost in the shuffle.
Full startlist:
Spoiler Anderberg | Hampus | Aker - MOT | Lammertink | Steven | Aker - MOT | Vangstad | Andreas | Aker - MOT | Foss | Tobias | Aker - MOT | Hansen | Lasse Norman | Aker - MOT | Peng | Yuan Tan | Aker - MOT | Ngandamba | Geoffroy | Aker - MOT | Jakobsen | Fabio | Aramco DP | Cosnefroy | Benoit | Aramco DP | Ovsyannikov | Alexandr | Aramco DP | Castrillo | Jaime | Aramco DP | Thomas | Benjamin | Aramco DP | Thijssen | Gerben | Aramco DP | Noia | Carlo | Aramco DP | Faglum Karlsson | Marcus | Assa Abloy | Guarnieri | Jacopo | Assa Abloy | Van der Haar | Lars | Assa Abloy | Gonzalez Salas | Mario | Assa Abloy | Bolivar | Isaac | Assa Abloy | Gallopin | Tony | Assa Abloy | Veyhe | Torkil | Assa Abloy | Konig | Leopold | Assa Abloy | Schultz | Nicholas | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Wippert | Wouter | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Schleck | Andy | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Orue | German Anibal | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Gillett | Rhys | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Vuillermoz | Alexis | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Muhindo | Jimmy | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Gough | Regan | BNZ-Superhero Racing | Stallaert | Joeri | Bralirwa - Stevens | Rosskopf | Joey | Bralirwa - Stevens | Fiedler | Jacob | Bralirwa - Stevens | Vendrame | Andrea | Bralirwa - Stevens | Vliegen | Loic | Bralirwa - Stevens | Khederi | Souheil | Bralirwa - Stevens | Hadi | Janvier | Bralirwa - Stevens | Mugisha | Samuel | Bralirwa - Stevens | Robov | Momchil | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Marchewka | Krzysztof | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Philipsen | Jasper | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Thill | Tom | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Andersen | Michael Valgren | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Kochetkov | Mikhail | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Visser | Louis | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Szarka | Gergely | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | Krieger | Alexander | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Manakov | Viktor | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Ariesen | Tim | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Campenaerts | Victor | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Vandousselaere | Sven | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Nareklishvili | Beka | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Van Tricht | Stan | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Blouwe | Louis | Crabbe-CC Chevigny | Cullaigh | Gabriel | cycleYorkshire | Durbridge | Luke | cycleYorkshire | Viviani | Elia | cycleYorkshire | Kennaugh | Tim | cycleYorkshire | Hayter | Ethan | cycleYorkshire | Stannard | Ian | cycleYorkshire | Tennant | Andrew | cycleYorkshire | Romo | Javier | cycleYorkshire | Howson | Damien | Duolingo | Sipos | Zoltan | Duolingo | Kaczmarek | Jakub | Duolingo | Christian | Mark | Duolingo | Razumov | Nikita | Duolingo | Rachid | Elias Abou | Duolingo | Quaade | Rasmus | Duolingo | Archbold | Shane | Duolingo | Appollonio | Davide | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Daniel | Gregory | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Bauhaus | Phil | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Li | Wen Hao | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Ratto | Daniele | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Fejes | Gabor | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Arensman | Thymen | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Finkler | Leonardo Henrique | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | Bennett | Sam | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | Craddock | Lawson | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | Downey | Sean | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | King | Ben | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | Meyer | Cameron | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | Oram | James | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | Richardson | Ian | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | O'Loughlin | Michael | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | Haller | Marco | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Zhupa | Eugert | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Kittel | Marcel | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Park | Sang Hong | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Dulanjana | Sachin | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Ho | Burr | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Kasa | Gabor | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Stimulak | Klemen | Kraftwerk Man Machine | Zmorka | Marlen | Los Pollos Hermanos | Maksimov | Roman | Los Pollos Hermanos | Affonso | Murilo | Los Pollos Hermanos | Sterbini | Luca | Los Pollos Hermanos | Laizer | Richard Laningo | Los Pollos Hermanos | Robert | Stelly | Los Pollos Hermanos | Beukeboom | Dion | Los Pollos Hermanos | Knotten | Iver Johan | Los Pollos Hermanos | Kalaba | Dusan | Minions | Lindeman | Bert-Jan | Minions | Haga | Chad | Minions | Cheyne | Jordan | Minions | Ligthart | Pim | Minions | Nechita | Andrei | Minions | Rosas | Laureano | Minions | Bjerg | Mikkel | Minions | Ewan | Caleb | Podium Ambition | Cataford | Alexandor | Podium Ambition | Major | Jay | Podium Ambition | Edmondson | Alexander | Podium Ambition | Matthews | Darren | Podium Ambition | Gayral | Joshua | Podium Ambition | Welten | Bram | Podium Ambition | Hennis | Hasani | Podium Ambition | Mullen | Ryan | Polar | Viennet | Emilien | Polar | Soler | Marc | Polar | Kwok | Ho-Ting | Polar | De Luna | Flavio | Polar | Postlberger | Lukas | Polar | Bernaudeau | Mathieu | Polar | Jallays | Welle | Polar | Afewerki | Elias | Project: Africa | Janse van Rensburg | Reinhardt | Project: Africa | Coppel | Jerome | Project: Africa | Lecourt De Billot | Olivier | Project: Africa | Kireva | Albert | Project: Africa | Hamza | Faycal | Project: Africa | Tesfom | Sirak | Project: Africa | Hamza | Yacine | Project: Africa | Bouhanni | Nacer | Strava | Sbaragli | Kristian | Strava | Nielsen | Joanis Albert | Strava | Moschella | Artemio | Strava | Kuznetsov | Vyacheslav | Strava | Oelerich | Jan | Strava | Kluge | Roger | Strava | Oss | Daniel | Strava | Bugge | Vegard Robinson | Tafjord Kraft | Doubey | Fabien | Tafjord Kraft | Atapuma | Darwin | Tafjord Kraft | Mahdar | Martin | Tafjord Kraft | Schorn | Daniel | Tafjord Kraft | Andersen | Sander | Tafjord Kraft | Urianstad | Martin | Tafjord Kraft | Hjemsaeter | Olav | Tafjord Kraft | Dillier | Silvan | Team UBS | Goncalves | Jose | Team UBS | Schäppi | Martin | Team UBS | Haugard | Phan Age | Team UBS | Grigrian | Artur | Team UBS | Abreu | Jorge | Team UBS | Fominykh | Daniil | Team UBS | Ramos Ticona | Basilio | Team UBS | Korosec | Rok | Trans Looney Tunes | Keukeleire | Jens | Trans Looney Tunes | Kolev | Iliyan | Trans Looney Tunes | Krasnoperov | Mikayil | Trans Looney Tunes | Mottin | Hugues | Trans Looney Tunes | Munoz | Cristian | Trans Looney Tunes | Knox | James | Trans Looney Tunes |
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Nemolito |
Posted on 17-02-2022 07:33
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
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The pressure is on Zmorka's shoulders, as we really need him to perform and aim for the GC win as well as stage results. Happy to see my team is ranked third in the TTT, although UBS might be a bit better with their stronger time trial whereas it seems LPH' prologue stat made you put us third. I hope you are right
Hope Zmorka starts the right in a good way, as he is still looking for revenge for the only flat TT he's done so far this season, finishing only fourth. Maksimov hopefully gets a podium as well on his own, whereas I wouldn't have expected Laizer to be called a (final) pawn in the sprint lead-out before our season started, but I guess we have to make the best out of it
Thanks for a great preview, and best of luck to everyone!
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Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 17-02-2022 07:38
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
Joined: 12-06-2013
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Cosnefroy and Thomas not getting a mention
Both more than capable in the TTs and Prologues so good form on the day could mean a massive result for either or both of them.
We have a pretty strong TTT set-up here too with Castrillo and Noia to back up our big 2.
Although I would prioritise a big GC result, we still have Jakobsen here who has done well with stage wins in the past. He’s not going to win the whole thing because he can’t TT but he’s got great support in Thijssen, Ovsya and Thomas to go and get some wins for us.
We hope for the best and looking forward to the reports!!
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cunego59 |
Posted on 17-02-2022 08:46
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
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Fiedler not even in the preview is a bit discouraging, but maybe warranted given our poor TTT setup. Still hoping for a Top 10 and ideally some depth points by Rosskopf. No idea if Stallaert will even compete in the sprints, let alone get a good result, so any such good result will be a positive surprise. Looking forward to the race either way!
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ember |
Posted on 17-02-2022 08:55
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
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Really surprised to see us that far down in the adjusted TTT ranking. Really hope 11th isn't our actual ranking, and that we're well inside the top 5 on the crucial day. If we're all the way down in 11th or thereabout, I've obviously messed up the planning for this one
Hoping Lammertink opens this race with a great day on the first stage, making him stay attentive and alert for the flat stages. There should also be decent chances for a couple of our other riders to score depth points. Admittedly it's a C1 race, so limited depth points on offer, but with lucky daily form, it should be possible.
Excited for this one, but also more nervous than I was before I read the preview and our low TTT ranking |
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Marcovdw |
Posted on 17-02-2022 09:07
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
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No individual TT stars but the TTT squad is top class as always. Combined with Kalaba for the sprints we should get a good points haul from this race.
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 16:20
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 17-02-2022 10:32
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Tour de France Champion
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AC to chase the ITT's, hopefully a couple of Top10's, plus his support or Ewan. Caleb is a bit of gamble but knowing we won't be a GC contender, and given the weaker than expected field he could do well? (Oh no, i've gone and said haven't I. Somehow he'll crash on Stage 1 now ). Major, Edmo & Matthews can all work as a lead-out + a couple of youngsters.
Idk, when you see the line-up Ewan should go 3-for-3 in sprints. But we all know PCM20, so i expect an 0-for-3 on even Top 5's. Then AC will be ok in the ITT's.
Shocked Stallaert is here! A sign the cobbles calendar needs some work? (because i know Altur is also in a few more non CB races than you'd expect).
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Bjartne |
Posted on 17-02-2022 12:16
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Classics Specialist
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Hehehe, I see we need to get some TimeTrialers to our team...
We'll have to put our hopes in Schorn here. But I doubt it will be a race to remember for us |
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MacC |
Posted on 17-02-2022 12:53
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Sprinter
Posts: 1594
Joined: 15-07-2008
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Probably should have just maxxed my TTT here.
Just hoping one of my crew (Downwy,Cruz or Craddock) will break through and crack the top 10
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DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 17-02-2022 13:24
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2433
Joined: 07-07-2013
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Hope the RNG gods smile on Kraftwerk.
Thanks for a great preview redordead.
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Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 18-02-2022 06:50
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
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Very disappointing from Cosnefroy and Thomas did okay but still not happy with that one. It is a very stacked field though!
Hopefully Jakobsen can get us some strong sprint results. Would like to see us active in the breakaway too.
Thanks for the report!! Interesting decision by the organisers regarding the stage win itself
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ember |
Posted on 18-02-2022 07:01
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
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Strong start by Lammertink! Happy with that. Also nice to see Norman and Anderberg put themselves in the top 30. If we can manage a great TTT, those placings could be worth a lot more then.
Congratulations on the win, Gustav! |
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cunego59 |
Posted on 18-02-2022 07:09
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Team Manager
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4th is great from Fiedler, very important to start well before the TTT. Rosskopf pretty terrible, but unfortunately that's pretty par for the course by now. Happy that Zmorka gets to shine, even if Howson gets the stage win, congrats Gustav!
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MacC |
Posted on 18-02-2022 07:44
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Sprinter
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Nice from Downey but really poor from Oram and Craddock.
Downey has to go for top 10. We should be in top half of TTT but that could still hurt.
Nice report!
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Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 18-02-2022 08:28
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Team Leader
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Whoa! Did not expect Howson to be challenging for the prologue. This is a sweet result indeed!
Thanks for the report red!
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Marcovdw |
Posted on 18-02-2022 09:48
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Grand Tour Champion
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Okay opening for the team. We'll move forward after the TTT.
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Nemolito |
Posted on 18-02-2022 10:07
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
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Sucks that the judges played us like that. Howson and Duolingo have a really good TTT team, so they seem to be the favourite for the GC win now. I hope Zmorka at least holds onto second. Robert was shit as expected, and Sterbini could have done a bit better as well. Luckily a stronger Laizer helps us leading the team's classification for now. This will probably be the first race ever where Los Pollos scores (some) points from that classification, although I don't want to jinx it yet Nice to see Knotten in fourth of U25 atm, he could also be scoring his first points of the season
Thanks for the report red, and congratulations Gustav!
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 18-02-2022 11:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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I'll take a solid Top10 rider from AC to open things up.
Maybe next season we can make an adjustment to our rules next year, so that 1st points are given to both riders? Small amount of extra work to calculate, but as it happens fairly rarely seems like it would be worth it to counteract some PCM dodgyness.
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cunego59 |
Posted on 18-02-2022 12:29
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Team Manager
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TheManxMissile wrote:
Maybe next season we can make an adjustment to our rules next year, so that 1st points are given to both riders? Small amount of extra work to calculate, but as it happens fairly rarely seems like it would be worth it to counteract some PCM dodgyness.
The thing is, we'd have to do that for other positions as well. It's most obvious when it's the first placed rider, because as you write the report, you say: Oh hey, new best time by less than a second! And then at the end, someone else is on the podium. But this happens in third or fifth or seventh places as well, where the leaderboard during the stage list riders on the same time one way, and then another in the official results. It just isn't as notable, because it's not the main focus once the stage is over.
In my opinion, the easier solution would be for reporters to go back in the report after the stage and change the wording at the respective screenshot, in this case have Zmorka not fractions of a second faster but slower during the report already. Then this doesn't even come up. And if screenshots of the leaderboard are shown, maybe half a sentence indicating that it's a preliminary, unofficial result or something like that. Still not a perfect solution and a small bit of additional work for reporters, but less troublesome than interfering with the rankings calculations I assume.
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 18-02-2022 13:18
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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cunego59 wrote:
TheManxMissile wrote:
Maybe next season we can make an adjustment to our rules next year, so that 1st points are given to both riders? Small amount of extra work to calculate, but as it happens fairly rarely seems like it would be worth it to counteract some PCM dodgyness.
The thing is, we'd have to do that for other positions as well. It's most obvious when it's the first placed rider, because as you write the report, you say: Oh hey, new best time by less than a second! And then at the end, someone else is on the podium. But this happens in third or fifth or seventh places as well, where the leaderboard during the stage list riders on the same time one way, and then another in the official results. It just isn't as notable, because it's not the main focus once the stage is over.
In my opinion, the easier solution would be for reporters to go back in the report after the stage and change the wording at the respective screenshot, in this case have Zmorka not fractions of a second faster but slower during the report already. Then this doesn't even come up. And if screenshots of the leaderboard are shown, maybe half a sentence indicating that it's a preliminary, unofficial result or something like that. Still not a perfect solution and a small bit of additional work for reporters, but less troublesome than interfering with the rankings calculations I assume.
Correct, much better solution!
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