Baltic Chain Tour - Discussion
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Caspi |
Posted on 23-01-2025 07:15
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Domestique

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Welcome to another edition of the Baltic Chain Tour. Same course as recent editions. A sprinters paradise with a cobbled prologue. Doesn't look like anyone is going for their 2nd win though, so it’s time to crown a new prince.
While the report from last year was marvelous, you’ll have to settle with my preview for this edition. If you like visualized data, however, then go have a look here. For now we'll move on to the favorites.
Favorites
Team | Name | FL | SP | AC | PR |  | Bryan Coquard | 73 | 84 | 83 | 79 |  | Caleb Ewan | 75 | 83 | 81 | 73 |  | Stylianos Farantakis | 74 | 81 | 80 | 79 |  | Sondre Holst Enger | 73 | 81 | 78 | 77 |
I expect to see a sprinter win it all. Four sprinters all have 81+ SP, 76+ AC, and 71+ PR. Coquard looks like the obvious favorite, but Ewan and Farantakis are actually decent on the cobbles, which could prove vital. This leaves Enger who seems stuck somewhere between the big favorites and the rest of the sprinters.
Sprinter outsiders
Team | Name | FL | SP | AC |  | Daniel Vesely | 73 | 81 | 80 |  | Niccolo Bonifazio | 79 | 80 | 80 |  | Jiankun Liu | 74 | 80 | 80 |  | Mustafa Carsi | 70 | 80 | 82 |  | Nur Aiman Zariff | 70 | 80 | 80 |
With such a parcour, the organisers have succeeded in luring in lots of top sprinters. Too many to mention them all in fact, so we'll settle with the ones above who are all 80+ SP.
Prologue(?) specialists
Team | Name | CB+PR | CB | PR |  | Patrick Gamper | 78 | 80 | 76 |  | Georgios Stavrakakis | 77 | 77 | 77 |  | Michail Kortsidakis | 75 | 77 | 73 |  | Akil Campbell | 74 | 75 | 75 |  | Saya Kuroeda | 74 | 77 | 71 |  | Wout Van Aert | 73,5 | 68 | 79 |  | Owain Doull | 73 | 71 | 75 |  | German Anibal Orue | 73 | 78 | 68 |
A prologue with cobbles, what even is that? Campbell took the opening prologue last year, but Gamper is the favorite this year IMO. I don't think Kopfauf, Schomber or Howson can win it despite their 80+ PL, but Howson might aim for top 10, as he isn't as awful on the cobbles as the two others.
Rouleurs
Team | Name | FL | FG |  | Alain Quispe | 81 | 85 |  | Marildo Yzeiraj | 77 | 85 |  | Alex Wohler | 77 | 80 |  | Sameera Chatarunga | 72 | 80 |  | Mikel Demiri | 69 | 80 |  | Benedikt Mundle | 78 | 79 |  | Adam Phelan | 70 | 79 |  | Yudai Arashiro | 81 | 78 |  | Nicolay Cherkasov | 80 | 65 |
Lastly, we have the rouleurs. You got to mention someone like Quispe and Yzeiraj, but they'll probably have a hard time with all the top sprinters present.
Full startlist
Spoiler
 Scully
 Van der Haar
 Reddish
 De Bondt
 Phelan
 Gaze
 Brown
 Petilli
 Riabushenko
 Gaspar
 Dzervus
 Itami
 Arashiro
 Todome
 Yamada
 Koide
 Afewerki
 Onley
 Quispe
 Bdadou
 Sprenger
 Borg
 Bonello
 Ruvalcaba Reyes
 Willems
 Habimana
 Teggart
 Ben Ameur
 Feiereisen
 Huby
 Verstrynge
 Kulindwa
 De Lie
 Vesely
 Adomaitis
 Beniusis
 Tediashvili
 Kopfauf
 Mikutis
 Videika
 Farantakis
 Kortsidakis
 Varotsos
 Stavrakakis
 Koumpetsos
 Affini
 Christapopoulos
 Mugisha
 Carsi
 Ringheim
 Sinkeldam
 Sterbini
 Barbero
 Domene
 Acosta
 Adriamihajanarivo
 Kennett
 Geary
 Ryan
 O'Loughlin
 Oram
 Wade
 Crowley
 Yon Hin
 Nur Hasan
 Doull
 Gani
 Venturini
 Arif Prayogo
 Pszczolarski
 Rubenis
 Van Vliet
 Ewan
 Contreras
 Ferreyra
 Owen
 Baska
 Andersen
 Mraouni
 Sagiv
 Nys
 Wohler
 Terada
 Boudat
 Kabas
 Gough
 Teutenberg
 Walscheid
 Uhlig
 De Buyst
 Tesfom
 Cherkasov
 Mathis
 Koch
 Bonifazio
 Gamper
 Biermans
 Verwilst
 Van Den Bossche
 Weemaes
 Piccolo
 Covi
 Kamberaj
 Kiskonen
 Yzeiraj
 De Pooter
 Demiri
 Groselj
 Sarreau
 Merlier
 Liu
 Christen
 Zingle
 Chatarunga
 Vanbilsen
 Changsheng
 Van Aert
 Marzuki
 Coquard
 Jimenez Retana
 Huertas
 Rodriguez
 Bulux
 Arias Villanueva
 Granados
 Ramirez
 Forbes
 Campbell
 Hennis
 Marte
 Vanderpool
 Major
 Perez
 Gayral
 Tivani
 Oka
 Keough
 Orue
 Revelo
 Richardson
 Frame
 Lopez
 Zariff
 Schomber
 Page
 Dennis
 Barbari
 Kiflay
 Granigan
 Mundle
 Howson
 Kulikovskiy
 Singh
 Kuroeda
 Kuroeda
 Yechezkel
 Alben
 Trezise
 Ackermann
 Enger
 Manakov
 Waersted
 Liepins
 Bertilsson
 Nielsen
 Berger
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Ollfardh |
Posted on 23-01-2025 07:45
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World Champion

Posts: 14674
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9900.00
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Cool preview!
Only one big fear here: Gamper winning the prologue and Bonifazio not sprinting to protect his leader.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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MacC |
Posted on 23-01-2025 08:40
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Sprinter

Posts: 1611
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Thanks Caspi. Mainly here for the XP but Kennett might feature in some sprints. He's a good prologuer but the cobbles will scupper him I guess
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 16-02-2025 17:42
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Bot Agent
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Nemolito |
Posted on 23-01-2025 09:45
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Classics Specialist

Posts: 3474
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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Very nice preview, Caspi!
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SotD |
Posted on 23-01-2025 10:20
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World Champion

Posts: 12245
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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We were pretty intruiged by this stage 1, so we have TT/PRL riders in all form and shapes here to try to steal some early points and perhaps some depth scoring in the region of 20-30th GC.
Farantakis is obviously our leader, and as mentioned in the preview he’s not too shabby on the cobbles, combined with a good PRL (and solid TT) stat.
Whether he want to sprint decently or not is always a Big questionsmark. He could win here - or like in Mexico get a 20th GC spot.
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Laurens147 |
Posted on 23-01-2025 11:00
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Protected Rider

Posts: 1206
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
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Thanks Caspi for the preview We're hoping for a good points haul here with Liu and maybe Van Aert in the prologue.
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 23-01-2025 13:35
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Directeur Sportif

Posts: 11816
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Let's see if our three-pronged attack can do something here. Hoping for depth scoring and at least a couple of good placings from the sprints.
Thanks for the preview Caspi
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Bjartne |
Posted on 23-01-2025 16:52
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Classics Specialist

Posts: 2955
Joined: 15-07-2007
PCM$: 300.00
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Brilliant previe Caspi, thank you so much!
If Enger can do something here, even fight for GC-podium, it would be a massive boost against our relegation fight. Really looking forward to this race!  |
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quadsas |
Posted on 23-01-2025 19:39
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Small Tour Specialist

Posts: 2553
Joined: 18-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Vesely and Adomaitis in the same race, disaster incoming
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DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 23-01-2025 20:28
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Small Tour Specialist

Posts: 2442
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Hoping Walscheid can steal a few points.
Thanks for the preview Caspi.
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Eden95 |
Posted on 23-01-2025 22:55
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Grand Tour Specialist

Posts: 4553
Joined: 05-10-2010
PCM$: 900.00
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Actually a pretty friendly startlist for us. Hopefully Nur Hasan can find the right wheel and get some good results
Thanks for the preview!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 24-01-2025 06:53
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Tour de France Champion

Posts: 18206
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I see others have realised the value of the weird Prologue here. Makes our Stage Win Goal harder but not impossible.
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SotD |
Posted on 24-01-2025 07:23
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World Champion

Posts: 12245
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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TheManxMissile wrote:
I see others have realised the value of the weird Prologue here. Makes our Stage Win Goal harder but not impossible.
I basically built my entire setup around hopefully winning the Team GC
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SotD |
Posted on 24-01-2025 16:26
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World Champion

Posts: 12245
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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Awesome! Reading the Road Map closely and trying to micromanage really paid off here!
Unless we see some splits or a breakaway takes a stage win, we should now be the favorite in the Team GC.
Obviously most of our team will drop out of the top 20 due to bonus seconds to sprinters and riders going in the BotD, but maybe We Can slot a couple around 20-30th to Pick up depth.
Time to see What Farantakis Can do. Not much would be my guess.
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Eden95 |
Posted on 25-01-2025 00:46
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Grand Tour Specialist

Posts: 4553
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Congrats SotD, it seems your strategy paid off well bringing such a diverse team.
Terrible for Nur Hasan, but we’re here for the other stages anyway. Doull in 12th with probably the highlight of his season here.
Thanks for the report
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 25-01-2025 08:46
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Tour de France Champion

Posts: 18206
Joined: 12-05-2012
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Goddamnit! Those blasted Greeks ruining everything again.
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Laurens147 |
Posted on 25-01-2025 09:26
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Protected Rider

Posts: 1206
Joined: 26-04-2020
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Good start from WVA. Congrats SotD with the win!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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SotD |
Posted on 25-01-2025 16:01
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World Champion

Posts: 12245
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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Another huge letdown from Farantakis. I have clearly not managed to find a way to make him shine What so ever..
Can’t really figure out if making him 82SPR would solve anything or just make it worse…
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Ollfardh |
Posted on 25-01-2025 16:07
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World Champion

Posts: 14674
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9900.00
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Not the best start for us, WVA beating Gamper in the prologue and then Bonifazio with a mediocre sprint. Congrats to the winners so far!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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Laurens147 |
Posted on 25-01-2025 16:15
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Protected Rider

Posts: 1206
Joined: 26-04-2020
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Great win from Liu He’s on a roll it seems with 2 wins in 2 stage races.
Thanks Imladrik for the reports!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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