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Man-Game GT Watch 2017
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| knockout |
Posted on 29-11-2017 21:47
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Grand Tour Champion
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I like the idea of bringing Coquard. He has a decent chance to take pink on stage two or three. I'm sure he can win a stage or two but having little support (?) in the sprints might hurt.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| SotD |
Posted on 29-11-2017 22:04
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World Champion
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knockout wrote:
I like the idea of bringing Coquard. He has a decent chance to take pink on stage two or three. I'm sure he can win a stage or two but having little support (?) in the sprints might hurt.
Yeah. That is always going to be the gamble. I'm not sure he will be a 3 star favorite though. If he is, he will have to make the most of an unmaxed Emerson Santos. It definately isn't a great situation, but we can't avoid Coquard being a 3 star favorite at all this season I guess.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 30-11-2017 10:13
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Directeur Sportif
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Jayco - Cobra9 @Giro
 Lachlan Morton
Benjamin Dyball
Brandon Canty
Luke Durbridge
Miles Olman
Glenn O'Shea
Richie Porte
Michael Hepburn
So yeah, we went for the all-TTT variant. The idea was clear: give Morton as much of an advantage as possible and give a sh*t about some bigger support in the mountains (except of Dyball, who is my minor hope to add a Top-50 in the GC). Looking at how T-A went, this tactic ain't looking too smart anymore  Morton will probably get dropped in the TTT and so we have even more pressure to at least win the stage. Probably should have brought maybe Trent Lowe instead of a TT horse, but okay. All I can hope for is a +5 daily form for Morton.
Speaking of our GC contender, well.. he had a horrible Vuelta last year (two early crashes) and a horrible T-A this season (three crashes). I can't accept another fail here. If he doesn't deliver, I guess we will be in serious danger to fight against relegation. Even more, since we only have this TTT and Morton as possible points scores at the Giro. Durbridge will likely fail in the prologue. Dyball as maybe someone to join breakaways later on, but he's obviously Morton's most important domestique.
I'm mentally prepared for a fail. But I would prefer following a succesful Jayco key race for once 
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| viking90 |
Posted on 30-11-2017 12:15
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Classics Specialist
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Spotify - Haglöfs line up in Italy.
 David Abal
 Thomas Lövkvist
Tobas Ludvigsson
Jonas Ahlstrand
 Thomas Vedel Kvist
Asbjørn Kragh Andersen
 Phan Age Haugard
Freddy Johansson
So we have a top 10 goal here that will be hard to achevie with Abals weakness on hills. But we sent a decent team for the TTT where we hope he can atleast reduce time losses to other top 10 contenders or maybe even take time on a few of them. Also hoping both Ludvigsson & Lövkvist can hang on decent in GC.
And of course we hope Ahlstrand can fight for some stage wins.
Morton here, one guy beating Abal so far. "Nice" to see that Lecuisinier is not riding here that means we should atleast beat Festina in the GC fight 
Also no MVS is good, but did not think he would ride here anyway.
Edited by viking90 on 30-11-2017 15:57
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| cio93 |
Posted on 30-11-2017 17:45
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World Champion
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 Team Puma - SAP
 Francesco Bongiorno (GC)
 Gerald Ciolek (Sprints)
 Patrick Bevin
 Jetse Bol
 Tim Declerq
Johannes Heider
Jasha Sütterlin
Dylan Van Baarle
After last year's successful race by Nerz who secured our Top 10 goal, we return to the Giro with the same goal but a different leader. Bongiorno came in 27th in 2016 after a lacklustre race in support of Nerz, but I am hopeful he can step up in his home GT when wearing our #1 bib.
Certainly a repeat of 10th place will be tough, but with minimal flat TTing and some difficult hilly stages, it's a tailormade route.
Ciolek won't find many stages to his liking here, but this was the only GT option for him with the Tour being reserved for Demare and the Vuelta having an interesting clash with Norway which we hope to exploit (and tough mountain stages right at the start).
We do not expect any result from him with quite some elevation changes in nearly all flat stages, so if he can contest a couple of sprints we're content. For this reason and the TTT, we haven't given him any designated domestiques, but it's not like they would've been of use anyway.
The rest of the team is designed to give us a good TTT, where hopefully Bongiorno as the tied 4th best TTer won't get dropped along the way. 80, 77, 76 and 3x68 should see us in a midfield position, and it's honestly the best lineup we can field without bringing more leaders here.
Maybe Sütterlin can do a good prologue and get into white for a few days. Heider and Bevin are okay-ish support for Bongiorno in the mountains, but again that is about the best we can offer.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-12-2025 22:39
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 07-12-2017 09:11
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Team Leader
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 Rafael Reis
Jacob Fiedler
Frederico Figueiredo
Óscar Avelino
Nelson Oliveira
Bruno Silva
 Ricardo Nascimento
 Roy Goldstein
Porto - Prio is bringing a heterogeneous squad, which clearly screams "we're desperate for points". I'm not sure how we stack in comparison with the rest of the field, but like our fellow former PCT rivals, Spotify, we're hoping for a good TTT and perhaps a stint at the pink jersey with our sprinter.
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| Vien |
Posted on 19-02-2018 16:47
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Small Tour Specialist
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With the Tour de France being finished, I'd love to see some more hype for the upcoming ToA. Are any more teams willing to confirm their participation? |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 26-06-2018 18:07
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Small Tour Specialist
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Now that the 2017 season is wrapping up, and we look to the new season with great expectations, it is time to wrap up the MG GT watch awards for the season past.
First, and least contentious is the Adam Hansen Award for continuous consecutive GT finishes. With a successful campaign in both the Vuelta (32nd) and Giro (37th) under his belt before a truly well earned rest during the Tour, Petr Ignatenko completed an unblemished stint of 11 GT finishes in a row. A fabulous achievement, it is understood that as a new MG record this may well stand the test of time for the forseeable future.
Congratulations to Petr, his Tinkoff team and manager OlegTinkov.
Soon to come confirmation of the remaining awards for the 2017 season
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 07-08-2018 17:21
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Small Tour Specialist
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Spoiler NOTE: No discussion of 2018 GT's until all planners are submitted please. I'll look at starting a new '2018' thread after that milestone has been achieved. Thanks!
Now that the 2018 Man-Game season is imminent, it is time to complete discussion of 2017 achievements.
First up we have the Marino Lejerreta Award for achieving 2 top 10 GC results in GT races in a single season. Garnering only two nominations (both from Evonik - ELKO), the Lejerreta Award will go unclaimed for the 2017 season.
Nominees Andris Vosekalns (20th @ Giro, 42nd @ Veulta) and Michel Koch (21st @ TdeF. 29th @ Veulta) failed to trouble the top 10 contenders at their respective GT appearances.
Spoiler
It is noted that a healthy number of riders either achieved or got very close to the Marino Lejerreta Award criteria, but as none of these riders were nominated by their respective managers, failure to register means failure to be considered as was indicated throughout the nomination process. Out of interest, here are a snapshot of riders who had excellent 2017 showings in two GT GC's:
Peter Velits (Moser) 2nd @ Giro, 10th @ Veulta
David Abal (Aker - MOT) 7th @ Giro, 8th @ Veulta
Yonathan Monsalve (JimBowen!) 6th @ Giro, 9th @ Veulta
Fredrik Strand Galta (Aker - MOT) 11th @ Giro, 12th @ Veulta
Niklas Arndt (Puma -SAP) 17th @ TdeF, 14th @ Giro
Vincenzo Nibali (Pendletons) 9th @ Giro, 11th @ TdeF
Four nominations were received for the Geminiani-Nencini Award, which requires riders to ride and complete all 3 GT races in one season. Those completing all 3 events and achieving one top 20 GC placing are awarded a Bronze Geminiani-Nencini Medal, those achieving two top 20 GC placings are awarded a Silver Geminaini-Nencini Medal. Those giants of the road who achieve a top 20 GC placing in all three GT races in a season are awarded a Gold Geminaini-Nencini Medal.
Let us examine the progress of all four nominees:
First up we have Thomas Koep (Aegon - Lavazza). His manager highlighted when Thomas's name was put forward that his personal target at each race was in fact to break into the top 50, but there is nothing wrong with setting ambitious stretch-goals! Thomas successfully completed all 3 Grand Tours, with a best finish of 47th at the Giro d'Italia. No Geminiani-Nencini Medal for Thomas this year, but with Adam Hansen Award winner Petr Ignatenko having brought his continuous GT appearances to a close at 11, Thomas steps up as a serious contender for this award next season if he again takes up the 3 GT challenge given we are led to believe he now has 6 continuous GT finishes under his belt. Who knows, perhaps in a couple of seasons time, he may even attempt to break Petr's record!
Second nominee was Tyron Giogieri (Moser - Sygic). Unfortunately Tyron failed to finish the Veulta. His 28th and 39th GC placings at the Giro and Tour de France respectively are excellent achievements, but fall short of securing a G-N medal.
Third nominee, and Bronze Geminiani-Nencini Medal recipient is Aker - MOT's Sigurd Nesset. His 19th GC placing at the Tour de France alongside completing the Vuelta in 26th and Giro in 28th place underline Sigurd's fantastic 2017 GT achievements. The fact these results were achieved while also working in the service of designated team leaders highlights the work ethic and sheer grit and determination that Nesset is well known throughout the professional peleton for. Having moved to Greig - Eftel in the off-season it will be of great interest to see whether or not Sigurd continues with his GT heroics.
Final nominee and Silver Geminiani-Nencini Medal recipient is eBuddy's Gianluca Brambilla. Perennial Grand Tour rider Brambilla secured 15th place overall at the Giro d'Italia, and 16th place at the Vuelta Espana to secure his Silver medal. The diminutive Italian rider went oh so close to securing Gold, with a 22nd overall finish at the Tour de France, falling agonisingly inches short of completing the top 20 GT triple-crown. This in no way however diminishes his achievement in securing a SIlver medal. Still in the peak years of his career, we have to wonder whether Gianluca has it in him to challenge once more for the Gold award in seasons to come!
We welcome Gianluca and Sigurd to the stage to receive their award medals!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| roturn |
Posted on 07-08-2018 17:37
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Team Manager
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Couple of seasons or let's say it's just a question of not relegating this season.  |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 07-08-2018 17:59
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Classics Specialist
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It's with great joy to see our new signing being rewared. He will again be a regular in the Grand Tours in 2018, but at the moment it looks unlikely that he will be able to participate in all three. Though, he will get the chance to ride at least one as captain/joint captain.
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| SotD |
Posted on 07-08-2018 18:07
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World Champion
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What a great read this
I'll definately nominate for one of the above this season. Which are yet to be seen obviously.
Congrats on those medals guys
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 07-08-2018 19:08
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Directeur Sportif
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Great stuff. Just noticed that I will also have one rider to race all 3 GTs next season. And he should be able to finish them all
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 07-08-2018 20:09
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Team Manager
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The Tour very much ruined this for me last season, unduly cutting short Kirsch's consecutive streak attempt, while also proving too much for Frank Schleck.
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| ember |
Posted on 07-08-2018 22:58
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tastasol wrote:
It's with great joy to see our new signing being rewared. He will again be a regular in the Grand Tours in 2018, but at the moment it looks unlikely that he will be able to participate in all three. Though, he will get the chance to ride at least one as captain/joint captain.
Aiaiai, we better talk to Mandagsfjord and others to convince you to let him ride all GTs! He's on a run as well, aiming for a record run of consecutive GTs, both started and finished. He's now on five in a row, after having done the Vuelta and the Tour in 2016 (unfortunately missing the Giro, which would have made him count eight in a row now). You better think twice about the decision to not let him ride all three!
#makeNessetaGTlegend |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 09-08-2018 18:43
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Small Tour Specialist
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Thanks for comments folks!
We are very close to transitioning to the 2018 Man-Game GT Watch and then the speculation can begin anew.
In the meantime it is certainly instructive to consider the impact of changes by the MGUCI to minimum rider RD's (read re-vamp of the OVR rating) on the various GT Watch Awards, as well as more generally on the potential for wider competition at the GT's in 2018 vs. 2017. Most stage-racers have had an increase in RD allowance, which applies both to those at the very top aspiring to overall victory, as well as those who may be considering competing for the Lejerreta, Geminiani-Nencini and Hansen Awards. Whether this will lead to deeper fields at GT's, or 1-week races is yet to be established. Similar speculation can also be applied to potential competition for the GT points jerseys among the sprint hopefuls and TT-specialists chasing prologues, and potential grabs for prestiguous leaders jerseys early in the respective GT events.
And this of course applies equally to the lower divisions own shared GT the Tour of America which also has the added spice of an upgrade in points awarded from C1 to HC categorisation. A small change in the bigger scheme of the PCT and CT divisions, but will it be enough to entice a deeper stage racer field to this years exciting new route?
With confirmation of GT wildcard allocations having been released by the MGUCI, we have the appetising potential for the likes of Asian stage-racing duo Choi and Shikai (Meiji), and Henao-Montoya (Philipps) appearing at the Giro, Ryan Eastman (Azteca) and Rigoberto Uran (Minions) at the Vuelta and sprinters Cavendish (Kraftwerk) and Mohs (Fablok) at the Tour de France. This is of course subject to confirmation when start-sheets will be released prior to the respective events, and further subject to difficult management decisions regarding the potential need for these top PCT riders to attend clashing high-profile PCT events!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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