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Paris Nice - Discussion
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 25-10-2025 00:30
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 Paris Nice (PT) Discussion
The PT comes to France at Paris Nice. A race that will help any PT team get a big step up on the competition in the rankings.
| 1 | Tadej Pogacar | Cedevita | 27h27'42 | | 2 | Ryan Eastman | Oxxo - Frisby | + 1'27 | | 3 | Taylor Phinney | Fastned | + 1'30 | | 4 | Brandon McNulty | King Power | + 1'32 | | 5 | Jack Haig | MOL Cycling Team | + 1'41 | | 6 | Pierre Latour | Polar | + 2'04 | | 7 | Marcus Faglum Karlsson | Lidl Cycling | + 2'06 | | 8 | Bartosz Warchol | Gazelle | + 2'10 | | 9 | Fredrik Strand Galta | Carlsberg - Danske Bank | + 2'21 | | 10 | Colin Stüssi | Jura GIANTS | + 3'04 |
A very different route from last year which saw Tadej Pogacar take the win. More of a focus on the hills and an individual time trial. No mountain stages but there are some hilltop finishes and the decisive time trial should there be no time gaps.
| Rider | FL | MM | HI | TT | ST | RC | AC |  Gidich | 72 | 80 | 83 | 73 | 78 | 73 | 75 |  Evenepoel | 75 | 77 | 77 | 79 | 79 | 67 | 71 |  Dunbar | 69 | 77 | 76 | 82 | 74 | 78 | 68 |  Plapp | 72 | 78 | 76 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 68 |  Aleotti | 74 | 76 | 78 | 74 | 78 | 75 | 75 |  Pidcock | 78 | 76 | 76 | 72 | 75 | 73 | 81 | | Mano | 71 | 74 | 75 | 80 | 72 | 74 | 66 |
Quite an interesting favourites list because the gaps could be big enough for a rider like Gidich to finish ahead of the TT specialists. Although if the gaps aren't there and Evenepoel, Dunbar and Mano could get the gaps in the ITT needed for the GC victory.
Plapp, Pidcock and Aleotti also could have an opportunity. Plapp could also be good in the ITT and has the MM and HI ability to stick with the big guys. Pidcock has excellent AC and great abilities all round and this could be the difference for him. Xero will be hoping he can use all his abilities to get the gaps needed. Aleotti could also perform here!
| Rider | FL | SP | AC | ST | RS | RC |  Groenewegen | 73 | 82 | 81 | 74 | 71 | 85 |  Farantakis | 74 | 82 | 80 | 75 | 72 | 79 |  Bonifazio | 79 | 80 | 80 | 68 | 75 | 71 |  Groves | 75 | 80 | 79 | 75 | 73 | 80 | | Hsu | 75 | 80 | 79 | 75 | 70 | 73 | | Aniolkowski | 76 | 80 | 79 | 76 | 74 | 79 |  Demare | 71 | 80 | 78 | 72 | 69 | 77 |  Banaszek | 74 | 79 | 81 | 71 | 73 | 76 |  Kalaba | 74 | 79 | 79 | 70 | 72 | 76 |  Rodenberg | 74 | 79 | 79 | 70 | 77 | 73 |  Minali | 73 | 79 | 79 | 70 | 74 | 79 |  Steimle | 74 | 78 | 80 | 71 | 69 | 74 |
Groenewegen and Farantakis should be the top favourites. Definitely performed well already this season and should be able to continue that. Bonifazio should be able to compete in the flat stages but his stamina may affect his results in the longer stages. Groves will be looking to boost Jura GIANTS season and get their season back on track. He is interesting with his ability to climb the hills and could feature at the end of some of the hill stages. Demare will be right there with Groves and will have a great battle between the 2 of them.
Hsu, Aniolkowski, Banaszek, Kalaba, Rodenberg, Minali and Steimle will all be able to compete. Stage 1, 3 and 4 will be where these guys compete and hopefully be able to get some key points for their teams.
| Rider | FL | TT | ST | RC | FT | PR |  Zmorka | 74 | 82 | 74 | 72 | 67 | 82 | | Dunbar | 69 | 82 | 74 | 78 | 62 | 77 | | Bjerg | 75 | 80 | 73 | 73 | 71 | 79 | | Mano | 71 | 80 | 72 | 74 | 69 | 77 |  Oliveira | 70 | 79 | 76 | 67 | 68 | 79 | | Evenepoel | 75 | 79 | 79 | 67 | 81 | 79 | | Hayter | 78 | 78 | 75 | 74 | 71 | 79 | | Kiriakidis | 68 | 78 | 72 | 74 | 70 | 76 | | Paillot | 68 | 78 | 72 | 63 | 54 | 78 | | Ioannidis | 67 | 78 | 76 | 73 | 72 | 76 |
Zmorka and Dunbar are the favourites for this TT.
Bjerg and Mano won't be too far behind those guys. Evenepoel will definitely be competing and could make up key time for his GC battle.
Oliveira, Hayter, Kiriakidis, Paillot and Ioannidis also have an opportunity.
| Rider | FL | HI | ST | RS | RC | FT | AC | DH | | Gidich | 72 | 83 | 78 | 77 | 73 | 76 | 75 | 68 |  Vansevenant | 74 | 81 | 79 | 78 | 71 | 80 | 80 | 71 | | Kinoshita | 71 | 81 | 77 | 74 | 70 | 71 | 74 | 69 | | Bagioli | 71 | 80 | 77 | 73 | 71 | 77 | 78 | 68 | | Yates | 73 | 80 | 76 | 69 | 71 | 73 | 79 | 63 | | Romo | 71 | 80 | 78 | 76 | 70 | 78 | 71 | 63 | | Van Niekerk | 69 | 80 | 72 | 75 | 76 | 82 | 74 | 71 |  Müller | 70 | 80 | 76 | 71 | 70 | 75 | 73 | 63 |  Gebrezgabihier | 68 | 79 | 74 | 74 | 72 | 77 | 69 | 66 | | Trakhov | 68 | 79 | 78 | 74 | 69 | 70 | 75 | 69 |
Gidich is the big favourite for these hill stages which also backs up his GC favourite status (considering the multiple hill stages).
Vansevenant, Kinoshita, Bagioli, Yates, Romo, Van Niekerk and Müller will be fighting for the stage victories but unlikely they will get the gaps to compete in the GC.
Outsiders for the hill stages would be Gebrezgabihier and Trakhov. They definitely have the ability to compete should there be gaps in these stages.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 25-10-2025 01:14
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Hmmm. Stronger startlist than I anticipated, especially in terms of puncheurs given the Duche clash. Luckily we didn't bring a puncheur here. We did bring Skjelmose, who will certainly be behind Plapp and Evenepoel, but who I hope has a little bit more graceful of a GC race than in Portugal given that he doesn't have any competition for leadership here.
We also have Rodenberg for the sprints. Understandably a strong set of sprinters here too. Hopefully he can keep up his early season magic and snag some points.
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 25-10-2025 02:24
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Not a lot of hope for Pidcock here after how awful his tactics were in Portugal. Could be a long and fairly fruitless year for him.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| SotD |
Posted on 25-10-2025 06:49
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Time to see what Kinoshita Can do. It was either here or Luxembourg, which I suspect calls for all too punncheurs due to raceday restrictions. So hopefully we will see him very active.
Having Farantakis, Ioannidis and Kiriakidis here aswell could give atleast a couple of solid stage results. I feel pretty certain that we will need this however, as our GC isn’t likely to be very good. If it is extremely non-selective we might so Ioannidis and Kiriakidis do decent, but given how Tasmania went, I fear the entire team will drop to keep Farantakis in the GC until everyone have lost a bunch of time.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 25-10-2025 07:15
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We decided to go the depth route here with MVD leading for the first time on the big stage and Kulikovskiy is here to try and squeeze something out in the sprints. All eyes will be on Zmorka in the ITT. Hoping he can bring his Tasmania form here as well.
Thanks for the preview!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 25-10-2025 07:41
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Reeks of another Remco masterclass.
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| knockout |
Posted on 25-10-2025 08:14
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Very curious to see how this plays out. With the hilly stages looking fairly undecisive to me, i suspect that the dunbars and evenepoels will again take control which would probably be a very good thing for plapp too who could finish top 5.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 25-10-2025 08:16
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Here for the XP mainly, but we have a few nice options in all terrains. Especially looking to see how Van Niekerk performs after a disappointing TDU.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 25-10-2025 08:35
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The hills don't look hard enough for Remco to have an advantage over Dunbar or Mano, but hopefully they are hard enough for the other time trialists better than him to drop yet not hard enough for the actual puncheurs to gain time on him 
On a podium could be on the table here.
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2025 08:42
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Really, really hope any of the other three leadout guys than Konychev gets to be Groenewegen’s last man. If not, fingers crossed he abandons our train Must admit it didn’t cross my mind in planning that Konychev would become last man. Just took for granted he would be used earlier due to his high FL. Lesson definitely learnt!
We also have Romo here for potential stage results on the hills. Doubtful what positioning he will be getting from the AI, seeing the TTers probably will be given priority due to the GC, but would be nice if he can do any kind of a stage result here. |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 25-10-2025 09:09
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Bonifazio and Van Gils already proved they can win, a repeat would be nice here.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 10:11
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 25-10-2025 13:55
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No expectations at all for our C-squad here. Some experience and perhaps some KoM or breakaway points would be nice. Thanks for the great preview Jakstar!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 25-10-2025 20:26
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Not the cleanest of sprints but I will say that it was nice to not see a random gap on a flat stage for once. Congrats to Alex on another nice result for Aniolkwoski, still sad that we didn't get him 
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| Heine |
Posted on 25-10-2025 20:28
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Rabobanks good start of the season continues  Congrats Alex!
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| SotD |
Posted on 25-10-2025 20:48
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That was “meh” on so many levels…
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2025 21:16
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Rabobank enjoying a massive start to the season! Congratulations, alexkr! 
3rd is fine for Groenewegen, and also encouraging that it was a Konychev leadout that actually worked That makes me not fear for the remaining races and stages they do together from here |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 25-10-2025 22:02
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That's a nice surprise. Aniolkowski actually doing better when having it's own leadout rather than following wheels. Massive leadout from Meus (I think)
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 26-10-2025 00:53
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Big race for us, especially after the dross served up by Gaviria in Qatar. Big groups have been coming to the finish in hilly stages so far, so with the hills hopefully being relatively nullified Dunbar can go hard in the TT. He’s got decent support here too, so anything other than a top-5 would be a massive disappointment. He has a huge opportunity here to even take the win without Wirtgen - he’s not going to have many opportunities like this.
Congrats Alex on s1, good start to the year for you. Also, is it basically first sprinter to start the sprint wins in this version?
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-10-2025 07:19
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Bauhaus looked well positioned but didnt have the speed to push more. Understandable consindering his stats but that still gives me hope that he can get lucky at some point during the season...
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 26-10-2025 09:56
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Kalaba in the mix and a decent seventh place. Had some great closing speed so that sounds promising for races he can score points in
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