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Tour de France Discussion
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 20-04-2021 09:24
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Directeur Sportif
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This was some fantastic effort by our guys Bizkarra and Calmejane, very well done. The cherry on top would've been Bizkarra soloing to victory, but he did some fantastic work anyway. Superb commentary all the way!
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| tastasol |
Posted on 20-04-2021 09:25
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Classics Specialist
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Superb stage by Lastra. Great job! Did look he used a lot of energy, but hope he has some left, as he will probably need to go in the break tomorrow to defend the KoM. Should he do that, he should at least have a good opportunity to keep the jersey some days. He's the best rider stat wise, but really like how he's ridden this season.
A shocker by Nesset and Iturria though. That should free them totally to chase breaks and tomorrow should be a good chance for them.
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| SotD |
Posted on 20-04-2021 10:18
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World Champion
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What a massive fucking brainfart not to be in this breakaway. Sometimes it would be great if you could actually tell your riders to stop being morons. Going into the break yesterday was doomed, while going in it today would always guarantee a great shot at winning. Boily should be punished for not giving a shit...
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 11:50
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| quadsas |
Posted on 20-04-2021 10:29
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Small Tour Specialist
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Great to see two chad teams in General and King Power PULVERISING all the virgin teams, what a maneuver!
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| roturn |
Posted on 20-04-2021 11:09
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Team Manager
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No idea why my team worked instead of joining the break. Even though Zardini in 2nd of the peloton is good on such stage, where his sprint stat helps him. Though he shouldn`t work himself then for Olivier today.
With Valls, Zardini, Ciccone there had been plenty top3 options for a day like this basically when joining the break. Dion Smith though seems to be the perfect GT rider as he is attacking and attacking plenty of times from early week to last week.
Hopefully this changes over the next days as there is no need in work for stronger GC riders and spend energy that could also be used for the hunt of stage wins.
And thanks for the Dekker picture. Indeed, he is far from his former self but was nice to give him a contract on minimum wage. |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 20-04-2021 11:47
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Classics Specialist
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Great job by Madrazo in stage 10! Taking the stage win would've been even better of course, but taking more than 30 seconds back from Herklotz is awesome. Hats off to Sicard and Alarcon.
Stage 11 was a perfect opportunity for Herklotz to increase his lead again, so I'm glad the Puma support team apparently wants to save some energy for later.
Also impressive Tour by Kangert so far. He's clearly doing a lot of work as a domestique but somehow manages to still be 7th in GC. I'm sure he'll drop significantly later, but it's fun while it lasts.
Geoghegan Hart and Powless up to places two and three for white. I'm sure their domestique status will hurt them, but still hope they can stay in those spots. Catching Godoy will be very difficult.
Great reporting as always, cunego
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| cio93 |
Posted on 20-04-2021 12:33
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World Champion
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Oh this is incredibly annoying.
Not only did we not give Herklotz a chance to make that sprint for the stage win and bonus seconds, we also gift a massive amount of points to our biggest rival in the PT rankings, King Power.
This is a big blow to our Top 5 hopes and again highlights how badly breakaway wins have hurt our overall standings this season.
At least we're slowly getting there in the fight for green thanks to taking the bunch sprint here, though I still think we would need MVS to fail in the remaining flat stages.
Tomorrow could very well be our last day dreaming of winning this TdF if Silvio again can't position himself well, I hope he's learned from his mistake yesterday and can hold on to Madrazo!
Plateau de Beille is an extremely long and tough climb, but if he can stay in the wheel, the final k is easier and allows for a late move to overtake.
It would also mean a lot to distance Sicard a bit to not give the Frenchman even more hope for a big surprise. It would be quite helpful to make the race a 1v1 against Madrazo that we can fully focus on.
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| ember |
Posted on 20-04-2021 15:35
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Team Leader
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Little action among the GC contenders had to be expected on such a stage. It always smelt like a breakaway opportunity. Admittedly we don't have any riders to join the fun on such things as long as Galta is coded by the AI to ride like a GC contender. Still, fun to see Yzeiraj have a go at it 
Congratulations to those doing well up front, particular Croatia, Bikex and tastasol  Definitely a good day for you, having Bizkarra, Lastra and Smith make the most of it. |
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| Bikex |
Posted on 20-04-2021 21:51
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Team Leader
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cio93 wrote:
Not only did we not give Herklotz a chance to make that sprint for the stage win and bonus seconds, we also gift a massive amount of points to our biggest rival in the PT rankings, King Power.
In case you are serious, I'm honored but don't worry there is no way King Power will be a serious contender for a final top 5 place. Also I'm cheering for Silvio! 
Obviously great stage, Dion Smith turns out to be an incredible signing. It's already his third win from a break this season. My team now has a stage win in all 3 GTs this season which is a remarkable achievement.
Smith played it perfectly also with Teklehaimanot in the break. This is exactly what I hoped for with my selection for this TdF.
I don't want to complain after such a stage but Gidich dropping back in the way he did is really strange. I hope it means he'll be in breaks in the next stages. However, I'm starting to wonder if this behavior might be a team-thing and not only exclusive to Reis, this has also already happened to Smith, Brändle and Tekle when they lead mountain stage races for me this season...
quadsas wrote:
Great to see two chad teams in General and King Power PULVERISING all the virgin teams, what a maneuver!
Excessive cheering for my team won't drop the asking price for Brändle.
Edited by Bikex on 20-04-2021 21:58
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| SotD |
Posted on 21-04-2021 09:24
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World Champion
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Well I guess that was as good is it could get with Boily attempting to go for the KOM. He clearly didn't have a good day though almost failing to survive the top 100 - not quite as bad as our former rider Campero though who almost managed to lose out on the time...
Big congrats DD for a Madrazo win, and boy is that GC tight! I still fancy Herklotz though as the next couple of stages should suit him well. As a team with horrible GC traits though I can only hope for us to be very aggressive. The two next stages in particular should be very well suited for Boily, Barta, Budyak, Kastrantas and van Niekerk so we really have to put in some numbers and finally go for that stagewin.
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-04-2021 09:27
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Olivier indeed very consistent...not scoring a lot here as 8th of the day but s.t. as the very best alongside direct rivals Morton/Meintjes/Sicard and ahead of all others is great to see!
Also Valls in 23rd finally has done according to his stats (actually could even improve a bit but it`s all fine).
Zardini with a weaker day but his strength is the hills anyway, so dropping here is okay while Ciccone is still crap all year for whatever reason with Koep having a day off as well.
Surprisingly strong performance by Dekker though in his last GT almost inside the top50.
That all said, with the amount of climbers here the team really should join a breakaway of 20 riders! Today it was probably good not to, but in future the breaks will win stages again and then it`s missed opportunities.
Valls in 32nd 15min down, Zardini 36th and 16min down are perfect to attack. Not to mention Ciccone incredibly low as 77 climber in 92nd and 35min down.
With all the expensive but not working training in De Bie, it`s good to see that Olivier`s training works out. First Dauphine and now also here. Similar struggle as tsmoha or valverde in the other GTs...it`s looking good but scoring is tiny when not getting big stage points. But anything will help.
Thanks for the report. Was a good read, even though here and there I was missing the time gaps of the group. |
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| ryant |
Posted on 21-04-2021 09:35
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Small Tour Specialist
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Thats more like it Meintjes! Nice stage for us bringing us back into the top 10 overall yet again ahead of some (hopefully) selective hill stages. I think there's still hope we can realistically fight for as high as 7th overall but the likes of Olivier and Roglic are still very strong and it doesn't seem we are strong enough to drop them at all. Also my mistake of not really sending a capable climber here seems to be biting us in the ass as well since we aren't joining the breaks like we did in the Giro and Vuelta...
Alarcon is still fun to watch and a rider I'm cheering for alongside Sicard. Its really shaping up to be a very exciting Tour!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| redordead |
Posted on 21-04-2021 09:37
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Team Leader
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Another very good ride by Roglic
I have no idea why all my flat talents keep going in mountain stage breakaways, but as long as they don't OTL I'm fine
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| knockout |
Posted on 21-04-2021 09:47
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Grand Tour Champion
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Not a good stage for Evonik. Not trying to get into the break with any of our climbers hurts and the break not being strong enough to stay away is both not ideal.
Tomorrow is a potentially important day for us with a hilly stage that looks okay for MVS but i fear that he wont join the break and im doubtful if the peleton will make the catch and if i were a betting man i would guess that he wins the sprint from the peloton for 11th place...
The battle for yellow is shaping up to be an incredibly close fight...
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 21-04-2021 09:50
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
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Loved the break, but what a crap performance from it! Zero points for Lastra in the KoM is just weird on a stage like this. Nesset at least showed that he was alive in this race.
Pity with Krigbaum out. He's been fighting good on the opening stages here.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-04-2021 10:46
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World Champion
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That was again incredibly stupid, and I'm disgusted how we're on the verge of throwing this Tour de France away by being better positioned on any random flat stage than on two of the most decisive mountains.
I'm not sure we deserve that jersey anymore.
The only way we can win this race is if today was the last non-flat stage that did not go to a breakaway. We need the bonus seconds swept by breaks and preserve those three seconds all the way to Paris.
We're not smart enough to win it in a fair fight anymore.
Tomorrow will go to a break, and I don't think there will be gaps behind.
We need to be attentive though in case it plays out differently.
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| ember |
Posted on 21-04-2021 11:35
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Team Leader
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This is building to become an epic Tour! I still favour Herklotz, but Madrazo is mighty impressive.
Pretty poor climbing performance from Galta. I can only hope he's waiting for stage 16-20 and prepares to gamble it all there, being one of the riders aiming for the breakaways there.
Thank you for brilliant reporting, cunego! I appreciate the extra work putting the profile above some of the pictures to show where in the stage they are. |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 21-04-2021 12:05
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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YES Another great sprint by Madrazo; he seems to have explosive legs lately.
Great job by the support teams of the favorites to control the very strong break and late attacks in this stage. Other GT's have shown that this shouldn't be taken for granted in the slightest.
The only critical note I can come up with is that Madrazo maybe should have tried to punish Herklotz' positioning by attacking. But on the other hand we can conclude that Roglic and Chiarello's attacks were shut down by domestiques, so a Madrazo attack in that period would've been counter productive. And once the domestiques were gone, Dombrowski and Morton set a huge pace. So I guess saving energy to win the sprint wasn't a bad tactic.
It's awesome that the fight for yellow is so close now. There's at least four stages that clearly favor Herklotz left and two that clearly favor Madrazo. So Herklotz is still the favorite in my eyes, but Madrazo is putting up a great fight and certainly has a solid chance to win.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-04-2021 13:16
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Directeur Sportif
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Shit shit shit this could've been an awesome stage for us. Still great to see our balcan guys in action! Reports continue to amaze.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 21-04-2021 13:34
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World Champion
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Dombrowski acting like the perfect domestique for the big guns there.
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