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Tour de Romandie Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-09-2014 12:13
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The 2014 Tour of Romandie is for the climbers mainly. 2 mountain stages, of which one is a very tough mountain top finish. 2 hilly stages including one top finish and one harder flat stage. So it`s no surprise that the best sprinters decided to stay at home.
And then there is this rare mountain team time trial. I can`t remember the last, but it surely will be interesting to see the teams going uphill as 5 riders are needed for their time. So who will be the strongest there? A team filled with climbers or timetrialists as the first half is pan flat?
Also the leaders mustn`t go too hard on the climb as he needs the weaker riders to be able to follow. Surely the key stage on day 4 together with the following mountain top finish.
While I already mentioned that the sprinters are rare here, let`s have a short look:
We have a clear favourite for this stage. Not only he has the best speed normally, he also should have no problems with the hillier terrain:  Impey. The South African is the fastest here and his team might do a lot to help him winning the 2nd stage.
His biggest opponents probably are:
 Santos
 Zabel
 Feillu
 Van der Sande
 Nizzolo
 Ahlstrand
 Trusov
 Boeckmans
Krieger
But back to the GC fight. This is obviously a completely different bit. Here we have the creme de la creme of the cycling elite.
Speaking about the very top favourites you probably can`t look past some names:
 Spilak
 Machado
 Amador
Sella
Contador
 Gesink
Dekker
Kritskiy
 Velits
 Martin
All of them have shown some great results already and while the strength in the mountains might vary obviously, the team time trial going up the mountain should give less expectable gaps. Most of them have strong helpers but some might struggle in that stage to lose the GC.
The pressure is on Amador as his team wants him to win the GC in their home country. Surely this is not too optimistic but with this startlist a big task nevertheless.
We also mustn`t forget the following riders, who surely are capable of a good result.
 Roche
Lövkvist
Van den Broeck
 Keinath
All very valuable stage racers but they might lack the climbing strenght in comparison to the others. Then again first in especially could be favoured on the hillier stages to have some kind of gap already.
And the last list here has some elite climbers but those will surely struggle in the hillier stages, which might cost them a very good result.
Suaza
Medvedev
 Pinot
Gomez Marchante
 Faiers
Costagli
 Solis
 Moschella
The other teams I haven`t mentioned yet don`t have the best GC riders and might surprise eventually. But I expect them more to be part of breakaways trying to grab a stage win.
Note that the first stage will probaby not come in the next days. It`s the last PT race before the Giro d'Italia and the PCT/CT April schedule is yet to be finished. So I might wait a bit until those races have started to avoid a too big slow down afterwards.
Right now there is still a bit discussion going with the Ardennes anyway.
Edited by roturn on 15-09-2014 12:37
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-09-2014 12:37
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Team Manager
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As you see, not the biggest ambitions for myself.
Gomez Marchante did well so far this season in some races and I hope to not lose too much in the hills with him. Then in the mountains he hopefully can regain time on the puncheurs and weaker climbers. Something around 15th would be nice.
Will be a good test for him before his double GT apperance in the Giro and Vuelta.
Sprintwise I have not much expectations here. Nizzolo and Krieger are both not maxed yet and even though the field is not that good here, the sprint stage looks a bit too hilly. But nevertheless a top10 would be cool. |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 15-09-2014 15:07
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Classics Specialist
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Kritskiy's first race of the season! No idea how good my team time trial/mountain squad is compared to the other PT-teams. Aiming for a...top-10?
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 15-09-2014 15:20
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World Champion
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No idea why I didn't brought Posthuma here when I made the race planner. He would have been a key man for the TTT. I'm sure I had good reasons at the time though.
If Gesink doesn't deliver, I'll be sooooo mad! I'm also expecting a good race from Brambilla.
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| SotD |
Posted on 15-09-2014 15:32
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World Champion
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Simon Spilak didn't deliver a win last time, so I know I can't expect him to do so... Nevertheless I hope for a GC podium, and perhaps a stagewin. That would be nice.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 01:34
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| ember |
Posted on 15-09-2014 16:10
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This is going to be very interesting! It's the season debut for Contador, and I'm looking forward to see what he's capable of.
Thinking of the sprint stage, bringing Impey here is indeed a risk considering there's only one stage for him, and our team is far from built around him for that one. I did have a tiny, tiny hope of him hanging on to the favourites on the first stage though when I picked him, but we shall see.
Not sure about the TTT, I do suspect Contador and my team will lose quite a lot of time compared to other overall contenders. |
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| niconico |
Posted on 15-09-2014 16:18
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Finally a race where I might get a decent result! Hoping Keinath can finish inside the Top 10 and then it's off to the Giro!
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 15-09-2014 19:34
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Spilak has to be the clear favorite here but I have high hopes for Amador. This race is one that I'm looking forward to the most this season.
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| Heine |
Posted on 15-09-2014 20:17
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Really excited about Sella's chanses, the only TT is a MTT which fits him well. Pretty sure he wont win, but should get some good results.
Zabel on the only sprint stage, I expect he's too weak as it's going up and down, but will be fun to see anyway
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 15-09-2014 21:27
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Not really sure why I entered Dekker to this race, but I obviously expect wins from both him and Van der Sande  |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 15-09-2014 21:36
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First ever ManGame Mountain Team Time Trial. Should be interesting to follow!
Not a lot for Vesuvio to cheer for, probably. Feillu could do alright, but beyond that some weird AI and breakaway luck will be needed
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| Roman |
Posted on 15-09-2014 23:15
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It will be interesting to see what can Velits do here. Lineups of other teams are strong, still he should have some decent support. Looking forward to MO TTT as well.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 16-09-2014 12:42
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MTTT could never possibly suit my team so hopefully VDB will just go for a solid top 15.
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| beagle |
Posted on 16-09-2014 19:17
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All-in on Roche! Honestly, I don´t believe he will achieve something big in this competition, but you never know in PCM13 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 17-09-2014 07:20
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Hopefully Machado will have a beast of a season to save us from relegation, but the débutante MTTT looks quite threatening for our inconsistent squad. A top10 seems possible though.
Thanks for the preview roturn, great work 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 18-09-2014 12:23
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Spilak could have even gotten a time gap there.
A good start for us. Plenty of riders in the front group which is really good for the TTT.
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| roturn |
Posted on 18-09-2014 12:35
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Only 1 rider in the front group. But as this was Gomez Marchante I don`t mind.
Okay start, but the mountains better start soon. |
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| beagle |
Posted on 18-09-2014 12:43
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Good start from Roche, pity his group was swallowed by peloton before finish. Hopefully he could show something in stage 3 as well.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 18-09-2014 13:28
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You know it's going to be a good race when every rider is dropped on day one!
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-09-2014 16:55
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Great start from Spilak, but he clearly should have had a time gap there. He is 40-50 metres ahead of the rest. Oh well, this was a nice birthday present nontheless :-)
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