Kraftwerk Man Machine January/February Preview
Whats playing on the Kraftwerk Man Machine Team Bus
For the season opener we have our theme tune, The Man Machine, live from the 2017 Tour de France.
Kraftwerk - The Man Machine - Ehrenhof (Open Air) Düsseldorf
https://www.youtu...EGHUj51pwo
The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday - To honour our feline friend
https://www.youtu...00_tPLcE_g
Aleksandar Flügel has a far stronger field to contend with than last year, lets take a look at my top 10 PCT puncheurs this season.
1st Edvald Boasson Hagen - Hill 85
Hard to see past EBH winning everything he enters, just have to hope we have avoided the big Norwegian as much as possible.
2nd Tejay Van Garderen - Hill 82
Another 3LA, TGV has good stats everywhere so hard to see past him coming second to EBH.
3rd Tomohiro Kinoshita - Hill 81
Very similar to TGV so will be in the mix in all the hilly races
4th Diego Ulissi- Hill 80
Flat, Staimina and Sprint all great means he should punch above his Hill stat
5th Maurice Schreurs - Hill 81
Fairly average backup stats but that slightly better sprint could make all the difference in finishing position.
6th Aleksandar Flügel - Hill 81
Also has average backup stats except for Stamina and Downhill, but I don't think these will make much difference.
7th Chris Froome - Hill 82
Only weakness is a very poor sprint so he might lose a few places in any sprint finish.
8th Cesare Di Maggio - Hill 82
Flat, Mountains and Sprints all a bit weak so needs pure hills with uphill finish to be at his best.
9th Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz - Hill 81
Slightly worse Mountains and Acc compared to Flügel
10th Rui Costa - Hill 80
Makes the top 10 due to his good TT which will be very useful in a number of stage races
CONCLUSION
Flügel will have to hope he has avoided a couple of his main rivals in his goal races in order to make a top 5. Even then, there are at least another 10 riders who could challenge when they are on a good day, including "old boy" Domenik Klemme, it's going to be tough.
Here is a look at the rather busy racing programme of
Kraftwerk Man Machine during January and February that includes 2 goal races.
Analysis for Races in January and February. Both Flügel and Cavendish have lots of race days early in the season so they really have to deliver for Kraftwerk to stand any chance of making the Top 10 overall Goal.
Badaling International (1*Hills)
Prediction -
Flügel Top 15
Entered for a bit of fun competing against the PT teams so not too worried about the result.
Tour Down Under - Top 5 Goal (4*Sprints, 2*Hills)
Prediction -
Flügel Top 5,
Cavendish Top 3 Points
Defending champion Flügel returns to try and achieve a Top 5 in our Goal Race so I really hope he is on good form for the Willunga Hill queen stage. Cav should go well, not expecting all the top sprinters to make the journey Down Under. Checking their HQ post, this will be the first of, I expect, many matchups with Fablok - Mohs vs Cav and Froome vs Flügel, should be good to watch.
Tour of Eritrea (3*Sprints, 1*Mountains, 2*Hills)
Prediction -
Hirschlein Top 30
Due to race clashes we have sent our B team here, maybe Vachon could do something from the break?
Tour de Pologne - Top 5 Goal (3*Sprints, 4*Hills)
Prediction -
Flügel Top 5,
Cavendish Stage Win
Another Top 5 Goal Race for Flügel so lets hope not all our rivals are attending this puncheur friendly race (seems unlikely). Cav should go well, expecting even fewer of the top sprinters to start this race but with only 3 flat stages the points jersey is probably out of reach unless he can survive the climbs on stage 1. Sending Cav here was a marginal decision based mainly on Kreder being here for Flügel. Speaking of Kreder he might have a chance on Stage 1 if Cav cannot keep in touch.
Strade Bianche (1*Hills)
Prediction -
Flügel Top 5
The team have 2 riders who made the top 5 last year (Flügel and Mehr-Wenige) so hopeful we can at least get 1 in the top 5 this year.
Best of luck with another really nice team, Flugel Cav and Kiserlovski are very nice leaders and seem to be planned well. Will be following you for sure and of course a special interest in former Xero man Hirschlein, hope he can do well for Kiserlovski!
