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Tour de Pologne Discussion
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 02-01-2024 13:28
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Would have been nice with some better stage results along the way, but happy to get a few days in yellow leading up to the final two stages. Ambition now is for Faglum Karlsson to limit the losses as much as possible and for Gesbert to hopefully climb a bit 
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 02-01-2024 21:58
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Congrats to DuckDuckGo, great result in a pretty crazy finish!
Disappointed we got no-one in the break, but at least Masnada did what he had to do, finishing 12th and well inside the front group. On paper, the last two stages should suit him, given that he's among the stronger hybrids in the pack, but it's gonna be a tough piece of work. Hopefully Errazkin can provide some support, given that he's out of the GC anyway.
Thanks for the report!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 19:36
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 02-01-2024 22:17
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World Champion
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Stage 5 always had the potential to be non-selective, will need to use the harder profiles in the next two stages to force the issue though.
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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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 03-01-2024 06:05
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Not great from Benoot and it doesn't give me a lot of hopes for the last stage. We're looking at yet another bad race.
Congrats to jandal and thanks for the report sean
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 03-01-2024 06:50
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World Champion
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He does it again! After his near-colossal fuckup which took Andreas Paez to spare his blushes by denying Hamilton the full bonuses last year I'm still very nervous ahead of the final stage against far sterner opposition than Hamilton - but an uphill finish should be more his territory and he's yet to lose on one this season. What a man 
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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| Eden95 |
Posted on 03-01-2024 07:29
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Great ride from Yates! He’s done well here before and it’s good to see him do it again. Besides Areruya who’s in another level, it’s so close behind. The rest of the top-5 can easily shuffle around a million times on the final stage - here’s hoping Yates can hold on to a good result.
Congrats Jandal on your genetic freak riding like a madman, and thanks for the report Sean
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 03-01-2024 08:18
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2129
Joined: 11-07-2010
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Good performance from Faglum Karlsson. Clearly his mountain skills came in handy on this stage. Hopefully he can defend the top 5 on the last stage Gesbert not as impressive, but probably protecting Faglum Karlsson now which is alright.
Areruya is a beast, congrats jandal!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 03-01-2024 08:24
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Second time this season that we have been hit by a puncture in the final of a race. This one obviously not as impactful as the one that hit Daniel in one out first cobbles outings of the year but still annoying that energy had to be exerted by Meurisse and Turgis to get Meurisse back into position. Might have made up a couple of stage positions that could have gotten us some more points.
Congrats to Aerurya and nice to see that there were gaps today to put the GC in place. Looking forward to the final report tomorrow on a stage where anything can happen, I pray to the high heavens that we hit that break!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 03-01-2024 08:37
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Not the worst stage by Higuita, but perhaps he used his energy a bit too early by trying to follow Beltran. A shame Osorio took that dive in the GC, but it would be nice if he could hold onto the top-3 in the U25. Congratulations to jandal on the great win
And thank you sean for a great and detailed report!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 03-01-2024 11:52
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Big stage for African cycling 
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 03-01-2024 13:29
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Congrats to Xero once again, with Areruya properly starting the season, you're clearly rolling now
Definitely no complaints about Masnada's performance here, he only lost to stronger climbers, which was expected on this profile. Tomorrow's stage should favour the better puncheurs among the climbers, so there's hope he can hang onto a Top 10 here.
Errazkin on the other hand is disappointing once again - still riding alongside Masnada with 20km to go, only to completely vanish and lose 6 minutes later on. Looks like having both of them in the same race is pretty much useless ^^
Thanks for the report!
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 04-01-2024 01:02
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Hmm, well that confirms that my initial impression that sending Boswell here was a mistake. I am sure I based that on Eiking finishing 6th last year but I failed to account for the influx of hybrids, as others read the writing on the wall that I ignored. I also think PCM22 is somewhat more favorable towards balanced riders than PCM20.
Still a valiant effort by Boswell in the breaks to take 2nd on KOM and salvage a few points from the race. We are collecting an impressive string of 2nds of late. Pity we couldn't get another rider into the break on the last stage to support him. Most of the team seemed to prefer total anonymity.
Congrats to jandal, Areruya was unstoppable and it doesn't seem in any way an overperformance.
Thanks to Sean for all the great reports. Was hoping Duchesne would take the KOM if Boswell couldn't.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 04-01-2024 01:07
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AreGOAT at it again with a hatty of stage wins, congrats Jandal on a dominating and expected win, hopefully he's in PT next year so there's some doubt of the winner of this race before it starts 
It is very hard to be too displeased with our results here, two stage wins, a stage podium, KoM, 2nd in Points, with a lot of days in the jersey to collect some extra scoring, and a bit of depth depth from the GC makes it a great race objectively for us, and saved a race that looked completely doomed after the first two stages.
It was great fun watching Turgis fight it out for the KoM today in the break as I pointed out yesterday was going to be pivotal for the outcome of the stage, great work from loan-in Antonelli to ensure that Turgis didnt have to waste unnecessary energy today!
Thanks for the reports Sean, they've been some great reads this past week!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 04-01-2024 07:42
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That's the Areruya we love
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 04-01-2024 09:14
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Benoot has been so passive this season except Viana. Not good signs and I think our promotion push is already dead because of this. Once again, despite not having any riders high up in the GC, no one joins the break for us in any stage, don't really understand how this happens in every race.
Congrats to jandal on the great race and thanks for the reports Sean
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 04-01-2024 09:30
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That hard relay/push from Gesbert over the final two KoM’s seemed a bit unnecessary and probably cost him a good stage result today. With more than half his RD’s spent, it’s clear his calendar has been suboptimal so far with very little points to show for. Hopefully he can improve later in the season.
On the other hand, happy about Faglum Karlsson 5th place and several days in yellow. A decent race overall
Congrats to jandal on a dominant win and thanks to sean for the great reports!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 04-01-2024 09:36
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A shame that Higuita loses his eighth place due to the bonus seconds, but that's life. He did try in this race, but his attacks were just not correctly timed and the competition was just a bit too good. Not a great month for us so far in general, hopefully we stay in the promotion positions.
Congratulations jandal on this great display of strength, and thank you very much to sean for the great reports
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 04-01-2024 10:51
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There's an argument that a rider of Areruya's level should limit his attendance in these longer stage races (and it may well be right with regards to one later in the season) but three stage wins along with the - to be honest - bare minimum of GC + points should make it worth it. Absolutely rapt with how he looks post-training (still interested to see him in the proper mountains), 4/4 on proper hill stages so far this year and obviously I say it a lot but it is just the best feeling to grow a rider from level one to be like this. Pretty stunning that he just more than halved George Bennett's huge lead in Xero victories - with this and Strade he's now on 12, just three behind.
I know I seem a bit blase and demanding of results but I am definitely not the former, I love every win and I just kind of have to be the latter with the amount of wage and training money Areruya commands, and the very real pressures on the team's future when it comes to the rankings.
Congrats to everyone else who got something out of this race, especially wj - Areruya and Meurisse combining for 5 stage wins makes this an all-time race for my joy
Huge thanks to seancoll! I know with Xero alumns being so successful it's probably quite easy for me to enjoy the reports, but genuinely great reads as always and don't underestimate what you bring to the game delivering them, especially over the holiday season
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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| Imladrik |
Posted on 04-01-2024 11:18
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Thanks seancoll for the reports, sorry to not being able to react earlier, with the new year and so on.
Bad race for us. We seem to always send the worst guy in the break, and when we do are here in numbers, we work for Serrano in the KoM, as if he had any chance.
And then Kelderman in the 6th stage break ended all chances to get a result.
Our C1/HC planning will need some rework next year, as it's obviously wasted RD for Lafay.
At least we got some experience for the youngsters.
Congrats to the winners, WJ and Jandal particularly
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 04-01-2024 11:50
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Posts: 5234
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First of all, big congrats to Xero, what a race by Areruya! I'm happy I won't have to negotiate his wage next year
Congrats also to the others who did well - especially those who read the profiles well enough to send their top climbers here, like Bralirwa, Fastned, Indosat, Assa and Genii.
Given all these names up there, I can be more than happy with Masnada's 7th place! He did what I was hoping for him to do - just hang on, maybe getting an occasional high stage result. The latter didn't happen, but I won't be complaining about that. Given last year's experience, this could've been close to a zero-pointer for us - while it was the expected weak scoring race, it definitely wasn't a bad one.
It could've been even better if Errazkin had done a bit more, but I guess 74Mo is just a tad too low with the current game version. As UU pointed out, puncheurs had their chances here in the past (Moscon also took 7th two years ago), but that has changed by now. Still, I'll take those 10 points and will have to see what to do with him in the future.
Was also hoping for some more points by Page, but at least he had one promising sprint here. The youngsters did nothing, which was a bit disappointing to see (not in terms of results, but in terms of not even trying), but their scoring potential was very low anyway.
In short, having sent a team with two second-tier leaders and no support, we can't be unhappy with what we got.
Thanks for the reports to Sean, bummed for you that Duchesne was just a tad too weak on the final stage!
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