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Vuelta a Colombia Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 08-01-2015 21:32
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Team Manager
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The Grand Tours may be over but that are still plenty of mountains for the ProTour riders to stick their teeth into.
Race History
Nobody has ever won the race twice, during it's division crossing history. Van den Broeck came close but was beaten last year by Amador, and the Costa Rican - with the #1 on his back - will aim to for a repeat victory this year.
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | | 2013 | PT |  Amador |  Van den Broeck |  Machado | | 2012 | PT |  Cunego |  Henao Montoya | Machado | | 2011 | CT | Van den Broeck |  Gil |  Hesjedal | | 2010 | CT | Pedraza | Henao Montoya |  Perez Cuapio | | 2009 | PT | Serpa | Devolder |  Rujano | | 2008 | CT | Pereiro | Pozzovivvo | Ghisalberti |
Race Favourites
It's mostly about the mountains - with 6 stages out of 12. There is one hill stage too, plus a 21km flat TT to end the race.
| Mo | TT |  Machado | 84 | 74 |  Amador | 84 | 78 |  Alarcon | 84 | 66 |  Contador | 83 | 75 |  Velits | 83 | 75 |  Denifl | 83 | 72 |  Kritskiy | 82 | 79 |  Henao Montoya | 82 | 71 |  Brajkovic | 81 | 78 |  Suaza | 80 | 73 |  Guldhammer | 80 | 71 | | Eastman | 80 | 74 |  Ratiy | 80 | 74 |  Monsalve | 79 | 70 |  Keizer | 79 | 81 | | Antón | 79 | 71 |  Moschella | 79 | 69 |  Costagli | 79 | 70 | | Brambilla | 79 | 70 |  Solis | 79 | 59 |
Leading the challenge to Amador will be Machado, twice 3rd here, our new GT winner Alarcon, plus the man he beat, Contador. Velits and Denifl will also challenge - with a good chance for Wikipedia to show their PT title credentials. Kritskiy and Keizer are the strongest TTists amongst the climbers, while Henao will hope to use home advantage to good effect. Brajkovic could go well for PCT wildcards Heineken.
Sprinters
Four opportunities for the sprinters here. The only problem is that huge Stage 2, which could be a little time limit dangerous. Plenty are confident it will be fine though, as there is a decent sprinting field here.
| Sprint | | Guerao | 83 |  Degenkolb | 82 | | Avelino | 82 | | Van Heerden | 82 |  Kennaugh | 81 |  Kip | 80 |  Stauff | 80 | | Howard | 80 | | Santos | 79 | | Guardini | 78 | | Keukeleire | 78 | | Bouhanni | 78 | | Pedersen | 78 | | Trusov | 78 | | Weylandt | 78 | | Feillu | 77 |
Full Startlist
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 08-01-2015 21:39
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World Champion
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Except for Kreder, everyone in my team can climb so I expect us to be pretty active in this race.
I think Henao might be able to fight for the top 5. Hopefully Brambilla will have a good race as well.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 08-01-2015 21:57
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Great chance for Jose to get another good high finish after two grand tours. I fancy he can give Amador a real run for his money, Machado was rubbish at the Vuelta so he needs to do something a lot better here also.
Should be a good race for us this one and after a bit of a lean spell since that epic Vuelta win it'll be nice to be shouting out for genuine Gc hopes here.
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| ember |
Posted on 08-01-2015 21:58
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Looking a lot forward to this one as it means Contador is back in action 
It's his penultimate race this season with only GP Liechtenstein left, I think, and seeing how inconsistent we are on all other terrains, I really hope he can pull through for a top 5, but with three 84 mountain riders and another two at 83, it's obviously going to be tough.
Considering the acceleration "rule" and his dominant showing in la Vuelta, I fancy Alarcon for another major win for Smowz and his team.
Oh, and hopefully, just hopefully, Van Heerden is able to do something. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-01-2015 22:03
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Had really hoped for less competition due to 12 race days.
If the competition will be that strong in all remaining races, I am doomed. 
That said number 31. Must be a joke.
Keizer though should still go for a late top10 and minimum 12th imo.
And eventually he should have good chances to take the ITT on the last day.
Highest ITT stat of all? And great recovery.
Brajkovic and Kritskiy could be dangerous there though.
I somehow doubt that Schädlich makes it within the time limit. But otherwise he could go for top10 there as well depending on his recovery.
Guardini for top10`s (once again) in the sprints. |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 08-01-2015 22:22
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Profilewise maybe the best Non GT stage race of the season! Expected more 85 riders here, top-10 would be nice, top-5 great!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 01:38
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| Roman |
Posted on 09-01-2015 04:06
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Well, top 5 would be nice, top 3 great. I can't wait to see how Velits will do in a semi-GT race as he didn't race any GT this year, this race should tell me a lot about his next year's schedule. He has some decent support here too, König could try to go into a breakaway maybe as well. A decent sprint result from Howard would be nice here too. Looking forward to a great race, hopefully ProTour is not here for the last time though!
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 09-01-2015 17:04
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Sprinter
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I think Amador has a realistic shot at defending his title, but it will be much more difficult to win than last year no doubt. Alarcon is particularly menacing, but I expect challenges from Contador and Machado as well.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-01-2015 17:47
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Hoping for some nice battles up there. Would be cool to see Amador becoming the first to make it two wins here. I expect him to be strong after his efforts in the TdS, which i followed closely  Alacorn, i don't know. He may take a couple of stages, but i somehow doubt he will gain enough time to survive the TT in yellow. That said, 21km won't produce huge gaps, so the man in yellow there could defend his lead even with a bad TT stat.
Cool race in general, so will enjoy following.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-01-2015 18:17
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Kennaugh on a run! Weird sprint, but nice to see Keukeleire on podium. Isn't it ironic, Guerao?
Hoping for Henao to be fine. That would be terrible luck otherwise!
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 09-01-2015 18:28
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Hopefully one of my 2 riders in this race will be allowed to get in a breakaway by their team at some point in the race. If not then hopefully Kung can provide good support for Amador as he tries to make it 2. I think Machado and Contador are bigger threats then Alarcon as I expect the latter to lose 2 mins to Amador in the TT.
Shame that sprint was so chaotic, I was hoping Degankolb Wouk take it for poker stats as he's got my other rider present, Suryadi, here to support him.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 09-01-2015 18:36
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And we're off to a perfect start 
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| roturn |
Posted on 09-01-2015 18:43
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Guardini nicely found the gap through the packed sprint preperation field. Was already thinking he would fail a top10 after seeing how many riders were ahead of him on the the first sprint picture.
Weird sprint with the leadout riders gapping the field there. Could have been a 2nd otherwise.
But won`t complain for sure. Good start for my team. |
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| ember |
Posted on 09-01-2015 19:24
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Not nice at all to read that both Henao and Antón went down early. Hopefully they're okay.
Really cool to see Breen do a leadout! A pity Van Heerden didn't like it and decided to not follow. It would be great though if we can try something similar again on the coming flat stages if Van Heerden survives stage 2.
Contador safe home was obviously the most important thing, meaning it was a good stage for us with Breen's 7th place being a nice bonus. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 09-01-2015 19:25
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It seems as if the the festina's sprinters have even given up on poor Oscar.
Someone rescue the poor Spaniard please. Meanwhile the Brit pack is on full gas, I wonder if it will transfer to Bibby in Portugal? vueling getting some nice points for that, Pokerstars get second with Maaskant hmm the title plot thickens...
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 09-01-2015 19:42
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Please, please podium Machado. It would be great for morale to have a top3 here even though we don't really have tangible goals at this point in the season. Avenging the Vuelta result would be nice as well 
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 09-01-2015 19:45
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Could be an interesting race this. The weakest squad I'm sending to the mountains this year though..
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 09-01-2015 20:09
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It's slightly awkward to have Machado finish 2 places down on Avelino in a stage like this but it's not like we need points or anything
Congrats CT, for this victory.
And thanks SN for putting the effort to report yet another long race. Your commitment shouldn't go unnoticed
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| beagle |
Posted on 09-01-2015 21:17
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Bizarre finish in opener here. Of course, I´m fully satisfied with 2nd place, good start for team. My satisfaction can easily change to nightmare though, if my team will try to help Maaskant in his hopeless journey to avoid OTL in upcoming mountain stage.
Thanks sammyt93 for your support, let´s hope we´ll see Suryadi in action, like in TdF & Suisse!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| CountArach |
Posted on 10-01-2015 13:46
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Grand Tour Champion
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Good ride from Vermote there and Stauff showing some interest in the sprint.
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