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Tour of the Middle East - Discussion
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 08-10-2026 13:53
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Tour de France Champion
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Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 17138.70
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Great ride by Padun on a stage that no doubt suited him, and same for the rest of the top three.
Happy to have both Olivier and Aranburu in the first big group and in the top 10, although. That's sort of at the bottom end of what I hoped for for Aranburu, but above expectations for Olivier. The most important thing is that they both did their best and have a chance to come away with good placings here now. I just hope Olivier getting that one second time bonus doesn't affect our leadership calculus for stage 4 too much, as I still think Aranburu offers a better chance at a top result here.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| knockout |
Posted on 08-10-2026 15:41
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8734
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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Not happy about the first mountain stage but also far from a desaster. But now we have to deliver on the final mountain stage!
Strong ride by both Padun and Ardila. Congrats to both managers!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 08-10-2026 16:25
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 13410
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1961.50
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Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:
I would thank Abhi for the report but have to say this is not he first total McCormick disaster on his watch, although this makes Sosa's ride in Maroc look like Fausto Coppi on the Mortirolo.
Sorry, my PC doesn't like your team!
Don't mean to rub it in further, but have you seen TDU? Could've been you 
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| SotD |
Posted on 08-10-2026 16:45
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World Champion
Posts: 13076
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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More “reasonable” result from Gibbons here. He keeps the points Jersey for one last stage, and with some luck will stay around 3rd in the end. Would be a great result!
Karatsivis does what he Can to get the bare minimum GC result by almost losing contact with the bunch. I guess the AI doesn’t recognize the U25 battle as particularly relevant. Gotta hope he’s equally strong tomorrow as yesterday, and maybe a time gap behind him. Otherwise 3rd is still a good achievement - and by no means safe yet!
Congrats on the win mate! 
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 08-10-2026 17:50
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2565
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 400.00
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Congrats Tinxia on two great stages, it's always fun to see especially Padun win!
We didn't do well in the mountain stage and then also ended our breakaway streak today. Let's see if there's some upset result tomorrow, although it's more likely we end around one-digit points here ...
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 08-10-2026 18:31
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Team Manager
Posts: 6756
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What a race for Trans, congrats! Also a big relief for Duval to see Hespers be competitive at this level, I'm sure. Perera with another dud, but I that's fair given the competition. We just have to hope that Romandie and Dauphine have slightly weaker sprinting fields due to more race days that have to be committed, but I'm not getting my hopes up 
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 08-10-2026 21:26
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Team Leader
Posts: 6390
Joined: 20-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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2 out of 3 for Trans, what a race for them, congrats Tinxia.
Great start to the season for Adomaitis too. Inside the top50 in both sprint stages, what a machine!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 09-10-2026 04:02
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 17074
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 17138.70
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Congrats to Trans! Great start to the year for them.
A phenomenal leadout by AKA there. Awesome to see him getting screen time and in the top 10, even if it isn't ultimately successful. Not sure what happened with the transfer there, if Rodenberg launched too late when AKA had already slowed and lost his momentum, or if it had to do with their positioning on the side of the road. 4th is still a solid result, but feels like it could have been more with how successful our train was.
Thanks for the report!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 09-10-2026 23:06
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Bot Agent
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 09-10-2026 04:51
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7766
Joined: 11-04-2012
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No time lost again and still in the white jersey which is great to see! 1 stage left for Carlos to defend his U25 lead and hopefully get himself into the top 10 overall again. Highest result possible is the ideal outcome!
Congrats Trans on the win!
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| knockout |
Posted on 09-10-2026 05:49
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8734
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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Bad sprint stage for us. Kemboi want even close to be competing for it which isnt really acceptable
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 09-10-2026 07:58
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Sprinter
Posts: 1782
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
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Congrats Tinxia again! Liu is just incredibly consistent consistent in this game
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 09-10-2026 08:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4178
Joined: 20-04-2020
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Thank you for two more great reports, and congratulations tinxia on two great wins.
Higuita was present on the climb on S2, but peaked a bit too early. Would be nice if he can keep his GC top-10, but he'll need a result for that I think. Milan tried to join the sprint again, but can't always be succesful with 76/76 spr/acc.
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 09-10-2026 09:22
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4116
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Nice to see our alumni in Gibbons and Buitrago have a good race. Gross showing more than I expected in the sprints, sadly still finishing outside the points. Formolo as well with a decent showing, but again no points. Hopefully he can have a good final stage and maybe even crack a top 10 gc? Probably not, but there's no harm in hoping.
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| SotD |
Posted on 09-10-2026 15:16
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World Champion
Posts: 13076
Joined: 29-11-2006
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We “lost” a significant amount of points on this final stage with all 3 GC riders losing spots, and the points Jersey being now shared. Despite that, this was a very good result for us, and we are definately happy with the outing.
Time to see if our leadout works in Qatar. It didn’t work particularly well there last year despite winning the GC.
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| knockout |
Posted on 09-10-2026 15:17
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8734
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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1 stage win, GC, KoM and tied for points classification. Basically the outcome i was hoping for except that Krasts was only riding for support and not getting any secondary result himself and the sprint stages didnt work out perfectly. Still, if you come with massive expectations and mostly fulfill those, that has to count as a great race.
I think the overall GC result is pretty close to what i would expect with the hybrids reigning supreme. Ardila, Higuita, amezawa, Padun is the exact type of rider i was expecting to do great here
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 09-10-2026 18:41
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 17074
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 17138.70
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Horrible result. Just no idea what happened to my team. They were nowhere in the first hundred positions from the start of the final climb. I could accept that the AI just ignored them if they were too weak, but then why did both Olivier and Aranburu try so hard on stage 2? So they plummet down the standings and we get nothing from the race. Completely wasted opportunity. Awful.
Thanks for the reports!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Booker |
Posted on 09-10-2026 20:05
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Protected Rider
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When I saw the startlist, expectations plummeted. In the end, there will be better races and there will be worse races. Thanks for the reports Abhi and congrats to the winners of the race/stages. Hesters comes through with some decent points, an encouraging sign for the rest of the year. Hopefully some more sneaky placing will see him pick up a reasonable point total this season. MFK, as expected, was overmatched. Not the end of the world by any means.
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