Vuelta a Espana Discussion
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Nemolito |
Posted on 23-01-2025 08:08
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Eleventh of course not the start we hoped for from Halvorsen. With 2 km to go he looked to be in a great position, but after that quickly dropped back and never regained anything anymore. I hope it was just bad luck and not the fourth sprinter syndrome 
Interesting to see those gaps and definitely would have expected Sivakov to be more to the head of the race, but if this is a sign for the rest of the Vuelta there could be many gaps for all subtop GC riders and perhaps even more chances for breakaways to be victorious and gain back that lost time.
Thanks for a great and clear report to start the Vuelta, kb!
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alexkr00 |
Posted on 23-01-2025 08:12
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Van Poppel boxed in there, no chance for him to get out. Not a great start, but not a terrible one either.
It's good to see Gaviria taking the win. Congrats, Roman!
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Bikex |
Posted on 23-01-2025 09:36
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I hope this Vuelta will be where we'll finally get our first victory of the season. Hsu is up against a very strong sprinting competition, but getting 2nd in the first stage is promising. It seemed like if the race was a little bit longer he couldve even pushed for the win.
Mano is here for the time trial but I feel like Bernal will take that one. Other than that I'm hoping for some more scoring from breaks than at the Giro.
Thanks for the great preview and I'm looking forward to 3 exciting weeks of racing! |
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Laurens147 |
Posted on 23-01-2025 11:42
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Lovely start with KOM jersey and a 4th spot 
And Min already losing 5 minutes may open up some perspective for breakways.
Congrats Roman with the victory!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 16-02-2025 19:23
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ryant |
Posted on 23-01-2025 14:13
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Oooh I have to say the start list is a pleasant surprise... Almost half expected Kudus to be here but since he isn't we enter a GT with the strongest climber in the race. Still Dombrowski should be pretty tough in his last hurrah as a competitive GT threat but I'm very worried by Bernal - climbing wise we should be able to take time off him but he should be able to take a minute and a half or two minutes in the 42km TT to give him a solid gap. Which for me is very worrying.
I have to say I agree with every manager who sent their best sprinters to this GT as I would have done the same due to the friendly first two weeks - but since I have gone all in on Morton I couldn't send Cullaigh here in the end. My team is as strong as I could practically make it so hopefully Williams and Elissonde are up to par here although we even have outside shots at more stages by having the strongest Hill stat rider here in Romo - I brought him here mainly as support but if he can grab a stage or two that would be amazing albeit not expected. Oliveira too has an outside shot at the TT so I hope this will be a strong GT for us as the Tour definitely won't be!
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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Nemolito |
Posted on 23-01-2025 15:43
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19th, a shame. Guess the only thing I can hope is it's just bad luck twice in a row. Seems like the AI had some trouble handling this sprint (or well, even more than usual I mean ). Thanks for the very nice report again, kb
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DubbelDekker |
Posted on 23-01-2025 16:08
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Great preview! Hope we get a fun battle for the GC between Morton, Bernal and Dombrowski.
Curious whether stage 4 will already bring some fireworks.
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alexkr00 |
Posted on 23-01-2025 17:30
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At least Frigo is active.
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ember |
Posted on 23-01-2025 21:27
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Again I like how we set it up, but again Groenewegen fades a bit too quickly, assuming he launched with around 500m to go, judging by the pictures. 5th is far better than stage 1, though, and we take the improvement. Hopefully we can continue to build on that and get it right in all parts very soon.
Thank you for the report, kb, and big congratulations to Sykkel_Freak on a massive 1-2  |
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Fabianski |
Posted on 23-01-2025 21:34
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Yeah, great. The sprint engine is awful, and it's even ridiculously bad on downhill finishes. A 1-2 in a GT sprint, truly realistic.
Definitely disappointed by Bol here, this was one of the stages I thought he could do well in. But PCM just completely ignored that hill, given that Gross with no uphill skills whatsoever could take 4th place ^^ Wonder what he and Wouters do have what Bol lacks to get 2 Top 10s in the first 2 stages ^^
Anyway, really seems like our luck is over for the year, in contrast to Assa who are getting one massive result after the other lately. Still hoping for Bol to get lucky at some point, otherwise this race could end up being a disaster for us. Some breakaways would really be nice, in particular given that both Rohendi and Berthet who should've been fighting for a Top 50 are already far, far away ^^
Thanks for the report, congrats to Sykkel.
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 24-01-2025 01:55
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Not sure what to say about that finish, but obviously glad AKA came away with a podium for his troubles. Hopefully something he can replicate a couple more times throughout the race.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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redordead |
Posted on 24-01-2025 06:44
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Got some KOM points in stage 1 so why bother trying again
"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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jandal7 |
Posted on 24-01-2025 11:22
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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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing

5x  x5

2x  x2
2x  x2
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Fabianski |
Posted on 24-01-2025 20:47
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We got points!
Finally a good sprint by Bol, good to see he's actually able to use his skills on the flat to get a good position.
Can't complain about 6th place here. Given his position, I was hoping for a bit more, but all of the Top 5 are simply faster sprinters than him, all being 81+.
Of course, I was hoping for some 2023 Giro vibes pre-race, but when I saw the startlist it quickly became clear that Bol would struggle to get top results... I'm still hoping for some of the more hilly stages, but we'll see.
Congrats again to Moser, who seem to have cracked the code for leadouts, working pretty well so far (stage 2 was just weird with the downhill finish). Groenewegen, though... Hoping he can improve as well.
By the way, why did yesterday's winner Prasad only get 30 points for the points standings? Was it not rated as a purely flat stage because of that late hill?
Thanks for the report.
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 25-01-2025 00:20
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AKA outside the top 10 again. With the sprint lottery, it happens. Hopefully better results still to come.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 25-01-2025 01:13
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Not the best start for Thijssen battling to make it into the Top 10 on one occasion and falling short the other 2. Only upwards from here for him!
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redordead |
Posted on 25-01-2025 07:42
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We're going for the team KOM classification
"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 25-01-2025 09:58
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Fourth is what we like to see, definitely more than 19th Hopefully Halvorsen can deliver us that stage win in one of remaining sprint stages. Time for Aular to not lose time the same way Eastman did in the Vuelta now 
Thanks for the great report again, kandesbunzler!
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ember |
Posted on 25-01-2025 10:44
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Well done Gaviria and Moser again! Congratulations, Roman 
For us, I am now getting worried. Groenewegen really needs to find his legs here. |
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jph27 |
Posted on 25-01-2025 13:04
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Enjoying the commitment of all of our GC depth to being dropped on the flat stages. Really helps us with the whole depth scoring plan... hopefully leads to some break/KoM attempts? |
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