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Tour de France Discussion
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| viking90 |
Posted on 09-02-2018 08:17
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Wellens once again doing a fine job, top 5 ATM and 2 mins down to Yates and more down to Guldhammer and the rest.
I´m glad Wellens have stayed on the bike but Cort Nielsen 3rd crash of this race now with two in this stage... and clearly injured  dropping from 18th down to 39th in GC.
I hope it could stay like that both in Giro and Vuelta our leader Abal stayed out of crashes, but our plan with depth in GC with 1-2 guys in top 30 have not work 100%. Lövkvist crashed out on stage 20 in giro from a 26th place.
But as said as long as Wellens stays on the bike I´m happy, I know other teams have been hurt by crashes a lot more then me. |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 09-02-2018 08:19
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Tour de France Champion
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Hm could have been epic stage with so many various attacks but sadly none really sticked except for Amador on the final climb. Gratz to UBS for winning a stage, perhaps they will be equally successful in the Tour as Ferrero was in the Giro? Battle between Phinney and Spilak intensifies, seems like this will be matter of attrition, and Spilak certainly has great enough support to make it until Paris. Taaramae sadly again with some time loss, hopes are he can recover in the next few days.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| ember |
Posted on 09-02-2018 08:33
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Team Leader
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Thank you for a very nice report, Aquarius97! 
Great to see Taaramäe being back and close to fresh again, eventhough I assume he was affected by the stage 8 crash here as well. Still, if he's now completely injury free, he should still be in with a chance for the podium.
Speaking of the top guns, lucky Spilak to not loose more to Phinney there. He's still my overall favourite, eventhough Phinney was very impressive here. Also a huge stage win by Amador, and also a statement. The obvious problem for him though, is that he needs lots of those days to get into the fight for first place overall.
And a very nice stage by Guldhammer, and especially the team with both Nesset and Hoelgaard also doing a very good stage. Happy to see Guldhammer consolidate his top 10, and even gaining 30 seconds on most rivals.
Nesset being top 15 on the stage as well, which is brilliant considering his GT quest. If he can hold on around 22nd in GC, he'll bring in some unexpected points. In total we've got seven riders in the top 60, which is good, but I'd much rather see us aim at the breakaways. That's the only way we're going to challenge for the teams classification as well, I think, but it seems like AI has decided we'll be one of the teams that doesn't even try to join them. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 09-02-2018 08:49
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World Champion
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Swift out, Demare injured. Inside the last kilometre. How iconic would that be.
Arndt did well. No further comment on our bike handling abilities.
Edited by cio93 on 09-02-2018 08:50
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-02-2018 08:50
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Directeur Sportif
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Okay. Yates looking strong and aggressive. But Haig finishing with the same time eventually.
Quite s shocker though, when he got caught in a split! This obviously should not happen again. If a stage goes crazy, you can lose the GC that way.
Shame about Lowe being injured. No real support for Haig anymore.
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| SotD |
Posted on 09-02-2018 09:29
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World Champion
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Spilak just never rides as a 85MO rider. I really don't understand it. Losing to Phinney two times in the mountains and Taarmäe in the hills. What is his actual skills? 83/78 MO/HI?
Reassuring that Taaramäe didn't lose more today. After a couple of light days he might be back to 100%. Should be interesting.
Oh well. Vasyliv and Novak both doing well, and should both fight for top 25 in the end - especially if Spilak keeps on letting them do all the work.
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 09-02-2018 10:35
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Sprinter
Posts: 1982
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Great stage!! One of the highlights of the season for sure. Amador will have a hard time getting on the podium, but hes setting himself up nicely for a top 5 at least.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 09-02-2018 12:59
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Team Leader
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Emphatic win from Amador. Spilak continuing to do the bare minimum while Phinney spoils his party. Good day for Taaramae as well showing signs of life despite crashing again. Gesink very quiet. Guldhammer with a proper day, unlike the rest of his season. Also Sagan still strong even in high mountains! And Nerz... man just get a hold of your bike.
Very proud of my boys. Mas, Borges, Gaspar and Vinhas went on the attack, but still no cigar. Hopefully some success appears on the way.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 05:17
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| knockout |
Posted on 09-02-2018 13:15
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Grand Tour Champion
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As good as Swift out and Demare crashed might sound for me, i seriously hope that Demare isnt injured. I'm not confident that my team can do the chasing alone. We need Puma to help controlling the breaks on flat stages. Otherwise its those who enter breaks who benefit from this.
At least we still have 7 men left which is one or two more than i expected prior to the stage.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| beagle |
Posted on 09-02-2018 19:54
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Grand Tour Specialist
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I do my best and really really really try again and again, but somehow can´t enjoy this season at all.
Hopefully Rein will recover quickly and shuffle with cards properly. If not, fingers crossed to Spilak for the crown.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 09-02-2018 20:29
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World Champion
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Fantastic effort by the team today. It's a shame we probably won't be able to beat Festina in the team rankings though. From two team rankings in GTs last year we are heading towards zero now.
And it's also a shame that Gesink couldn't put to good use the fantastic effort the team put together for him. But I really should be happy that his crash didn't have an effect on his stage performance and he surely got out of it injury free. Now he just needs to work some wonder in the hilly stages, hope Phinney cracks in the last week and beat Spilak in the final time - trial. Ez.
Also, can I still dream about Brambilla finishing top 20?
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 09-02-2018 21:07
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Classics Specialist
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Phinney produces a world class ride again there fantastic performance by him. Can't see this lasting till the end with his recovery stats being so low but he's building a huge points haul and is now within 1 point of green the aim at the start of the tour, huge problem could be that my team seems to have 3-4 injured riders now so help is going to be the bare minimum |
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| SotD |
Posted on 10-02-2018 09:01
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World Champion
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Bad stage for us. Only 1 rider in the front group means losses in the Team GC. Also Novak and Vasyliv both losing 2 unnecessary points with Kastrantas even losing 4.
Taaramäe seems uninjured now, otherwise he would have surely lost time today. Strong effort from Sagan and Amador also to avoid timeloss...
Now for a Sagan stagewin and another Spilak loss to Phinney.
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| knockout |
Posted on 10-02-2018 09:14
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Grand Tour Champion
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Finally a stage victory 
Brilliant stage. Strava putting the hammer down made for exzellent action and Evonik was one ofthe few teams attentive enough to follow with most of the team. In fact only Koch wasnt in the front group. Recovery after mountain stages doesnt seem to be important 
Dzamastagic with a very powerful leadout. He's my man!
Good to see Taaramae not losing any further time. That hopefully is a good sign for the nect couple of stages
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 10-02-2018 09:14
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Tour de France Champion
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Cool to see us on the front and tearing the race apart alongside Evonik. Nothing like an echelon stage right after the mountains to keep everybody on its toes. Boekmans f'ckin it up isn't at all surprising but glad with that second spot and a very nice team perfomance. I think with podiums in all Grand Tours now, time has come for a stage win soon, so corssing my fingers. Nice reports all around, Aquarius, thanks.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-02-2018 10:03
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Directeur Sportif
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Great stuff 
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 10-02-2018 10:08
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Team Leader
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Crazy stage for what was to be the most boring stage of the week
Congrats KO, your man actually still has it in him. Poor luck for Strava as with their tactics they did deserve a stronger performance by Boeckmans.
Hoping for an appearance on the BOTD in the next couple of stages.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 10-02-2018 10:15
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World Champion
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So you're not injured, but just stupid, huh? What a shitty way to give up any chances for green.
Congrats Evonik. Gotta win tomorrow to make up for this.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 10-02-2018 10:34
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Classics Specialist
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Another strong try by Bystrom, can it end in a stage win later on?
Im glad Wellens stayed in the first group, dissapointed that neither Lövkist or Cort Nielsen could stay either with the first or second group...
Congrats K.O |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 10-02-2018 12:04
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Too bad we didn't have a third rider in the front group and gain even more time on Festina. But this will have to do.
Majka being only in the third group is somewhat disappointing as he looked he was in for a great GC ride after to be our second best rider after Brambilla's problems.
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