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Tour de Romandie Discussion
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 15-01-2019 15:21
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Preview and Reports by Tsmoha
 Tour of Romandie
The Tour of Romandie is back for it's 12th edition in the MG history, an iconic race on the schedule. Formerly held as a ProTour event, the race is part of the PCT since three years, still featuring an illustrous honour roll with guys like Romain Sicard (2017), Thomas Dekker (who won the race twice, in 2016 and 2012) and Luis Leon Sanchez Gil winning the past three editions. Other big names on the winner's list are Simon Spilak (2014), Andy Schleck (2013), Robert Gesink (2011), Aleksandr Pluchkin (2010) and Janez Brajkovic (2007).
The route stays the same as last year and offers pretty much everything a stage race could offer: the opening TTT is followed by two rather challenging flat stages, a tough hilly stage, the queen mountain stage on fifth day and concludes with an 8km epilogue, where we may see a thrilling battle for decisive seconds. The queen stage is one brutal profile with six challenging climbs and a tricky and fast flat finish - and also the hilly stage on day four made for some crucial gaps last season. Everything's set for an entertaining six-day event in Switzerland.
The Startlist
The GC contenders | Allrounders | MO | HI | PR | TTT | Climbers | MO | HI | PR | TTT |  Meintjes | 80 | 77 | 71 | *** |  Shikai | 81 | 71 | 76 | *** |  Roglic | 80 | 76 | 70 | **** | Choi | 80 | 74 | 74 | *** |  Kiserlovski | 80 | 75 | 71 | ** |  Nazaret | 80 | 71 | 65 | ** |  Kwiatkowski | 78 | 79 | 75 | ** |  Penasa | 79 | 73 | 70 | *** | | Warbasse | 78 | 75 | 74 | ** |  Costagli | 79 | 71 | 70 | * |  De la Cruz | 78 | 75 | 74 | ** |  Garby | 79 | 70 | 68 | * |  Squire | 77 | 77 | 65 | * |  Campero | 78 | 70 | 69 | | | Tvetcov | 77 | 75 | 75 | | Stetina | 78 | 67 | 64 | * |  Scarponi | 77 | 75 | 66 | * |  Manfredi | 78 | 65 | 65 | *** |  Roche | 76 | 78 | 70 | *** | Nepomnyachsniy | 77 | 74 | 77 | * | | Eyob | 76 | 76 | 66 | *** | Grmay | 77 | 74 | 65 | * | | Teuns | 75 | 78 | 60 | * | Hiratsuka | 77 | 74 | 63 | *** | | Gaspar | 75 | 75 | 66 | ** | Borisavljevic | 77 | 73 | 74 | ** | | Hoelgaard | 74 | 77 | 65 | * | Van den Broeck | 77 | 72 | 71 | ** | | Rabottini | 74 | 76 | 65 | ** | Kennaugh | 77 | 70 | 72 | *** |
We may to begin with last year's unlucky runner-up Kwiatkowski (who finished just 4 seconds off Sicard in the final GC): the tough hilly stage on day four is as much crucial as the mountain stage, so his allround package definitely makes him a top favorite again. Roche, the winner of this hilly stage last season, will be amongst the most promising riders again: he is likely to struggle on the mountain stage, though (we he dropped to a 13th place in the GC already last year).
Meintjes as another premium stage racer, who handles both hills and mountains - and just like Roglic (8th last year), he comes with one of the best TTT lineups. Which can be an issue though: while both Meintjes and Roglic ain't amongst their team's best performers in long TTs and particularly Roglic may be in danger to get dropped from his team's TT train. Something that happened to him before!
Kiserlvoski/Warbasse, De la Cruz, Squire, Scarponi or Teuns/Hoelgaard as other allounders, who will try to benefit from a selective hilly stage. Definitely some dark horses amongst those riders, with a few them as maybe not the only (or first) option for their respective teams though..
Given the challenging mountain stage, we obviously need to look at the premium climbers, too: Choi/Shikai, Nazaret, Penasa, Costagli, Garby, Campero or Nepomnchyasniy as maybe the most promising pure mountain goats here. Choi, Penasa, Nepom as still solid puncheurs, who should be real threats for the GC if they limit the losses in the hilly stage. Meiji with a strong TTT setup as well, just like Kulczyk.
The Stage Hunters | Sprinters | HI | SP | AC | | Puncheurs | MO | HI | AC | PR | | Appollonio | 66 | 81 | 78 | |  Palini | 70 | 78 | 74 | 66 | | Moser | 67 | 80 | 79 | | Edmondson | 69 | 78 | 76 | 64 | | Petit | 65 | 80 | 78 | | Pellaud | 65 | 77 | 70 | 66 |  Salleh | 59 | 80 | 80 | | Coppel | 66 | 76 | 74 | 83 | | Boivin | 70 | 79 | 80 | | Haas | 65 | 76 | 73 | 68 | | Von Hoff | 66 | 79 | 77 | | Castroviejo | 72 | 75 | 74 | 70 | | Keough | 62 | 79 | 79 | | Durasek | 71 | 75 | 59 | 74 | | Aregger | 71 | 78 | 77 | | Hatanaka | 70 | 75 | 71 | 62 |  Brus | 64 | 78 | 78 | | Smit | 69 | 75 | 74 | 70 |  Westling | 56 | 78 | 74 | |  Lindau | 69 | 75 | 66 | 66 | | Kuboki | 73 | 77 | 77 | | Konovalovas | 67 | 75 | 73 | 74 | | Nielsen | 60 | 77 | 78 | | Stachowiak | 62 | 75 | 71 | 63 | | | | | | | | | | | | Prologue | MO | HI | PR | | TTT | | | | | | Coppel | 66 | 76 | 83 | | Generali - EDF | **** | | | | | Zmorka | 59 | 66 | 82 | | Meiji - JR East | *** | | | | | Chavanne | 58 | 64 | 82 | | Kulczyk - DMTEX | *** | | | | | Durbridge | 58 | 67 | 81 | | Fablok - Bank BGZ | *** | | | | | Cornu | 66 | 71 | 80 | | cycleYorkshire | *** | | | | | Keough | 59 | 62 | 80 | | Team Reddit | *** | | | | | Viennet | 54 | 67 | 80 | | Nordstrom - BioWare | ** | | | | | Ignatiev | 65 | 74 | 79 | | Netia - VĂ³nin | ** | | | | | Viviani | 60 | 66 | 79 | | Carrefour - ESPN | ** | | | | | Hansen | 59 | 65 | 79 | | Euskaltel | ** | | | | | Goldstein | 55 | 61 | 79 | | Andorra Project | ** | | | | | Hamza | 52 | 63 | 79 | | Team Popo4Ever | * | | | | | Koren | 72 | 74 | 78 | | Carlsberg | * | | | | | Kung | 70 | 73 | 78 | | Azteca - NBCSN | * | | | | | Kuboki | 65 | 73 | 78 | | Team Cerverceria | * | | | | | Aregger | 64 | 71 | 78 | | | | | | | | Mullen | 62 | 70 | 78 | | | | | | | | Golovash | 60 | 60 | 78 | | | | | | | | Li | 53 | 61 | 78 | | | | | | |
Different disciplines on the menu and so quite a bunch of possible stage hunters:
Appollonio has won a stage (S2) here last season and he surely should fancy his chances to add another win to his Tour of Romandie palmares this year. Possible contenders should be Moser, Petit, Boivin, Von Hoff.. Salleh may suffer on the rather tricky profiles for the flat stages and in fact, Aregger may become a dark horse for his team here. Surely a special race for Sauber and Aregger, who would certainly love to win on home soil.
The same goes for Chavanne, of course: a kinda "new" experience for him not be listed the overwhelming favorite for a prologue, but here we are with Coppel, Zmorka and Durbridge featuring the startlist as well. Just like Cornu, who took this "epilogue" last season. No easy going for those TT specialists though, as a late timetrial obviously brings some surprising GC riders' performances at times - but guys like Coppel and Cornu do survive climbs properly and should target for the final TT nervetheless. Those others will need to avoid a DNF until then though..
Palini, Edmondson, Pellaud, Coppel or Haas feature the list of possible stage winners for the hilly stage. Hard to look past the main GC contenders for this day, but of course there's always a chance to go for a valuable stage result anyway..
As for the opening TTT, there's one clear favorite: Generali - EDF. While their manager may pray for them to keep Roglic in contention for a promising GC position after the stage, the pure TT power of their five best riders may just not allow this wish to come true.. Meiji, Kulczyk, Fablok, cycleYorkshire or Team Reddit look like the other promising lineups for a good result behind Generali.
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| Vien |
Posted on 15-01-2019 15:35
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Filler race for us. We have something in every stage but I doubt we'll score a lot of points unless it's from a break.
With the Chesire flop and Besseges likely not giving us much, all we can hope for is our rivals to not do too well either. |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 15-01-2019 15:46
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Tour de France Champion
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Inb4 Appo abandons in the TTT somehow and Garby finishes 39th in the mountain stage.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 15-01-2019 15:50
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TTs, Mountains and Hills. Looking forward to it
Top 10 and I'm happy
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 15-01-2019 18:52
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Somewhat weaker startlist than I expected, pretty good seeing our focus here. We didn't bring Mottin as he went to Windhoek where he won so the best decision indeed! Still a very strong TTT setup and I expect Kiserlovski in the Top5 in the end, and if Warbasse is consistent he can also be quite up there.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 16-01-2019 01:54
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Hoping for a very chaotic race that allows some chances for the hunters.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 16-01-2019 02:23
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Weve brought something for everything here and with our TTT squad I really think Shikai and Choi could finish in the Top 5. Looking at the startlist I think we could even win but it will come down to the hill stage.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 16-01-2019 06:52
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We've not really got many hopes here but being on home soil we have brought the best riders we can. Our best chance to get something out of the race will be Chavanne in the epilogue but after The hard stages he competition might be too hard for him.
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 16-01-2019 11:13
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Given how the season is going, this race is massive for us.
In the GC I need Nazaret to dominate in the Mountains and not lose too much in the hills. He is one of the top climbers so he could be a chance for a Top 5 or 10GC. Would also be great to score points through Borisavljevic and VdB.
In the flatter stages Moser is certainly a good shout as one of the top sprinters with a half decent hill stat, although little support so it'll likely be Ganna or Cornu with an interesting leadout.
And in the final epilogue Cornu should be in with a chance of a good result. He'll also play a massive role in the opening TTT where our squad is the strongest we can put out. Vital that Nazaret is protected and not dropped.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 16-01-2019 17:17
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Not our worst TT, but given we have nobody for GC, it's pretty much inconsequential.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 20:20
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 16-01-2019 17:48
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Nothing like planning your TTT squad for Kiserlovski not to loose time and in the end.. he looses time
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| Vien |
Posted on 16-01-2019 17:49
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Third is nice, especially because I couldn't bring my best TTT team. Hoping for some succesful breaks now. |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 16-01-2019 18:29
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Well that wasnt as good as I was hoping, but atleast none of our GC guys, lost time. I think Meintjes is the only real GC guy ahead of our guys atm, although I might have missed someone.
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 16-01-2019 22:42
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Well Nazaret is at least 3 minutes behind now in the GC so we'll need somewhat of a miracle for him to get a good GC. Unfortunate because it wasn't too shabby a TTT from my guys.
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| ryant |
Posted on 17-01-2019 16:23
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Great first TTT from us, Meintjes is in a great position for the other stages, just hope we don't lose time in the next 2 stages...
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Vien |
Posted on 18-01-2019 17:23
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Posts: 2241
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What a nice attempt by Zmorka. I'm proud of him! |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 18-01-2019 17:58
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Lets go Boivin easily shaping up as our best pickup in the offseason in terms of results.(Still think that Villella has the most potential but we will see.) Super hyped, the more points the better as we are trying to dodge relegations.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 18-01-2019 18:35
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I don't know. Feels like I planned Appo pretty well to be the favorite in some of these races, but he just can't deliver in that position. He's fine overachieving to minor placings in top fields, but he has to win in a field like this if we have any hope left.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 19-01-2019 14:20
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Von Hoff so close!!! He continues to impress throughout the year with incredible results!
Congrats to the stage 2 winner, Boivin and thanks for the report!
Can't wait for stage 3!!
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| Vien |
Posted on 19-01-2019 17:48
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Hurray, we took the U25 jersey! Not much compared to what could've been but I'm satisfied  |
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