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Tour de France Discussion
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| SotD |
Posted on 09-12-2014 17:30
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World Champion
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Too bad we got boxed in a bit. Picking Tom Boonens wheel and beating him to the line would normally mean a top top stage result, so 6th is obviously a bit dissapointing. But only on these circumstances. 6th from Tzortzakis is, on paper, a very nice result.
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| roturn |
Posted on 09-12-2014 17:40
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SotD wrote:
Too bad we got boxed in a bit. Picking Tom Boonens wheel and beating him to the line would normally mean a top top stage result, so 6th is obviously a bit dissapointing. But only on these circumstances. 6th from Tzortzakis is, on paper, a very nice result.
And what about a 7th? Still a nice result?  |
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| SotD |
Posted on 09-12-2014 18:13
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roturn wrote:
SotD wrote:
Too bad we got boxed in a bit. Picking Tom Boonens wheel and beating him to the line would normally mean a top top stage result, so 6th is obviously a bit dissapointing. But only on these circumstances. 6th from Tzortzakis is, on paper, a very nice result.
And what about a 7th? Still a nice result?
No. That sucks! 
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| beagle |
Posted on 09-12-2014 19:33
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Smowz wrote:
Well the better sprinters denied here.
Vantomme finally justifies his wage from a few years ago with Quickstep already the scourge of the Protour. Actually I with no real hope for these early stages am enjoying this early points grabbing from them denying my rivals.
General rule of thumb is the best sprinters build a sprint train even if they have not got the team for it - whereas a team with not the best sprinters don't bother creating a sprint train even if they have a good sprint train!
Unfortunately true. Now I can only hope for chaotic sprint, where no one has time to build anything.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Smowz |
Posted on 10-12-2014 08:33
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No worries for beagle there - even a shitty pokerstars train is better than anything else anybody else can manage.
SRB basically taking it a bit too easy with the entire team in the second half of the pack. I could wheel out that I am excited as this will give my team more chance of being in the breakaways but I know this is complete BS so I am just apathetic. Basically it is a good rouler team that should be capable of staying with the pack ahead of craptastic flat stat climbers but they don't of course.
Time for Smowz to get whip out.
BTW Pokerstars just keep chipping away at points just an extraordinary season and congrats to them - they have always from day one been a great sprinters/northern classics team I recall fondly the early days when they were taking sprint wins in New Zealand at the opening of their first season.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 10-12-2014 09:07
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beagle wrote:
Smowz wrote:
General rule of thumb is the best sprinters build a sprint train even if they have not got the team for it - whereas a team with not the best sprinters don't bother creating a sprint train even if they have a good sprint train!
Unfortunately true. Now I can only hope for chaotic sprint, where no one has time to build anything.
Still unhappy with creating sprint train? 
Congrats mate, dominant win.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-12-2014 09:20
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I told you... Boonen will bounce back!
Also nice to see Durbridge in the break, though suffering as the first of them
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| Heine |
Posted on 10-12-2014 09:26
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I feel pokerstars are always like this, Beagle seems to be really good at creating a team that get points everywhere even without a climber/GT-rider
Zabel farther behind today, I find it scary that GC-riders are already this far up in the sprints :/
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| SotD |
Posted on 10-12-2014 09:45
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Luckily Spilak was amongst those in the very front. I was a bit panicked when I didn't see his name listed, but 11th indicates that he was always up there... Tzortzakis had a bad day though.
Unlucky for those crashed, luckily for Wikipedia it wasn't a race where Pinot was their front figure.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 11-12-2025 08:35
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| Rin |
Posted on 10-12-2014 10:06
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Bennati looking good so far but with Vantomme and his team.. I guess we have new rivals 
 Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| roturn |
Posted on 10-12-2014 10:49
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Weaker sprinters struggled with the wind. So no top 50 on that stage is not ideal when ignoring the breaks.
Roux losing time with a good flat is weird. But for his breakaway goals this is not too bad.
Pokerstars just awesome. Flat and windy makes the team dominant. |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 10-12-2014 13:44
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Can someone explain to me how the team classification works?
EDIT: got it already; the three best riders of each team per stage+team time trial (fifth rider)
Stage 1: 38'57
Stage 2: 3h34'07+3h34'07+3h35'10
Stage 3: 4h39'39+4h39'39+4h39'39
Stage 4: 3h22'24+3h22'24+3h22'24
Total: 35h28'30, wow something that actually works correctly in PCM
Edited by OlegTinkov on 10-12-2014 13:47
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| ember |
Posted on 10-12-2014 15:19
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Decent from Van Heerden, it was always going to be hard when he couldn't find a good wheel. Beaten by Dekker on a flat stage isn't great, but 8th isn't too bad. Admittedly I would definitely take an 8th place from Van Heerden in a Tour sprint before we knew the startlist
Pokerstars performances on such stages are just huge. It's incredible to see them get it right again and again, congratulations, beagle! |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 10-12-2014 19:03
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Good stage, Vantomme being more consistent at PT then he is in PCT...
Bit of a messed up leadout plus some blocking cost him any real chance, hopefully tomorrow he finds better wheel/better train.
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| Roman |
Posted on 10-12-2014 20:05
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Big congrats to Pokerstars, that idea to create such a dominant team on flat was risky, but is now higly and deservedly rewarded. And thanks as well for a great train for Howard, unfortunetely he could not keep that 2nd place... still I take that 4th.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 10-12-2014 20:08
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Just caught up now. Quick Step are jammy as hell |
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| beagle |
Posted on 10-12-2014 20:11
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Smowz wrote:
No worries for beagle there - even a shitty pokerstars train is better than anything else anybody else can manage.
Strong wind was our best friend today, making that sprint quite chaotic just like I wished yesterday
BTW Pokerstars just keep chipping away at points just an extraordinary season and congrats to them - they have always from day one been a great sprinters/northern classics team I recall fondly the early days when they were taking sprint wins in New Zealand at the opening of their first season.
Thanks for this words, I took a look into past and it´s already almost 5 years we joined this amazing game! Btw. together with Oleg, Heine or Rycadinho...
I also checked our first races and found out your sprinter Arashiro dominated in TdU sprints even before New Zealand´s Tour began
True, my team focused mainly on sprints from very beginning. However, our organization of building sprint trains was on very poor level at that time
Back to presence, thanks guys for congratulations, I´m really happy to have first win from Le Tour!! Team was really impressive today, especially Dzamastagic as last Boonen´s man showed great effort in last kilometres. This man could have decent career even in PT in future. Still 2 chances for sprinters left before killing mountains, it´d be great to keep point jersey for few days. More wind pleaase
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-12-2014 06:39
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It`s nice to see how the sprinters share the wins.
Had small hopes that Roux can get a stage or podium here. Unfortunately not but at least he tried today.
Keizer obviously a big shocking moment. 500m before the line always sucks. Luckily he was in the first rows of the peloton and somehow all riders but the 3 in the last rows avoided a mass crash. So avoiding any time loss was great. A crash though never is good. |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 11-12-2014 06:56
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[quote]roturn wrote:
It`s nice to see how the sprinters share the wins.
quote]
By long distances every time as well.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Smowz |
Posted on 11-12-2014 08:06
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The Brittany roads have been a complete wipe out for SRB - but really there were no options with only 3 being allowed clear. Hopefully there will be a loosening of the strings after the ITT.
Clearly Coppel will probably not win the ITT as he will be starting at a completely different time as the GC favourites and I have felt PCM13 weights things so that they are more favourable to the late starters. Maybe I am being fatalistic... to be honest Keizer and Phinney are pretty close to Coppel in terms of ability so one of them would be a fair winner too.
Guarnieri like Vantomme is a sprinter who has been in the background for a bit, so nice to see him show some great form here. Good Energy like Pokerstars are well constructed team (and chronically underrated by me I think ), after a nice Giro looks like they could have a nice Tour de France too.
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