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Tour Down Under discussion thread
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 07-10-2026 08:48
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Team Manager
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cunego59 wrote:
Happy with third place on the day for Madouas, a good start for him. Also not bad to get those 6 KoM points, who knows if they won't come in handy in the end. Single and Mansouri in the Top 35 gives me hope that they might be able to score some depth GC points here, which would be neat, and maybe they can even get us somewhere near the top in the teams classification.
... and Stage 3 turns all of that on its head. No bonus seconds at all is disappointing for Madouas, Mansouri was completely out of position, Seigle even lost time. No idea what happened here. Hopefully, we can turn it around on the final hilly stage. Madouas is still in a decent position.
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| jackgibbs |
Posted on 07-10-2026 13:50
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Free Agent
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Nice to see Hayakawa surf his way in there, at least now we won't leave the race entirely empty-handed. Still hoping Kinoshita can stay at the front tomorrow... |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-10-2026 23:44
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 07-10-2026 13:57
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 07-02-2009
PCM$: 400.00
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Groenewegen is a bust fml
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 07-10-2026 14:54
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Team Leader
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I have no idea how El Sabbahi is doing this but I love it!  He just seems to know the exact wheel to be on at any given moment. Could not be happier with two second places now. Won't get too excited about the prospect of him limiting his losses tomorrow for a decent GC finish but I'll admit it feels a little possible with a fairly solid buffer now.
Awesome report!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Heine |
Posted on 07-10-2026 16:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5108
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Less exciting stage for us here, though APP right at the front. Now the exciting stage is closing in
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 07-10-2026 16:47
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Directeur Sportif
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Stage 3 - Looks like we're spreading the cheer around on the hills. Very good 2nd place from McCormick. Hopefully stage 5 sees MVD back among the top positions.
Stage 4 - Another 11th place from Kulikoskiy. He's not had a good start to the season so far! This was the kind of stage where he had done well in the last couple of seasons.
Congrats to the winners and thanks for the reports kb 
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 07-10-2026 18:38
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18081
Joined: 12-05-2012
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Kaden's trying and doing pretty well, we'll bank points where we can.
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| Caspi |
Posted on 07-10-2026 20:37
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Protected Rider
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I thought we could do something here, but it hasn't been our race so far. We've been in a couple of breakaways, however it hasn't yielded any results.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 07-10-2026 21:44
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7994
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Kalaba seemed to get boxed in there, could have been better but also could have been worse
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| liefwarrior |
Posted on 08-10-2026 05:57
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To the window! To the Wall[s]! What a difference it is making having Adria slotting into the sprint train in place of Madan. Thanks for the reports kb. With any luck we will have the points classification locked down.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 08-10-2026 10:40
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Classics Specialist
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disaster for us just too far down the bunch at the important point on that climb.
Great result for UBS though and what a ride by Mccormick though personal level this has gone bad
Stage wise this has been the ideal race we wanted to create, with the likes of Walls also in 6th so very happy |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 08-10-2026 10:51
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Small Tour Specialist
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A rare win for Müller and the race is salvaged! 
Hopefully this is a sign of his ability to be competitive in the PCT this year. Still one more stage for Groenewegen to do something but he has me pretty worried so far. Thank you for the race kb.
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| SotD |
Posted on 08-10-2026 12:04
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World Champion
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Impressive that Walls is going to end up with such a great result here!
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 08-10-2026 12:28
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Tesfatsion doing nothing is a bit of a letdown, but seems PCM made some interesting choices generally with which puncheurs would participate. Possible that El Sabbahi and Cerny confused the AI a little a bit I guess but not sure if it mattered. Now I know at least know not to send him here next year so I'll take that lesson. 
Can't really complain anyway with how well El Sabbahi has gone for us this race, holding 15th on GC is very nice and moving up into the top 10 is completely in his own hands. Cerny grabbing 17th for a few depth points is pretty nice too.
Congrats bw/Abhi/leif on the stage/gc/whatever insane tour this has been from Walls. And once again thanks for the report!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Heine |
Posted on 08-10-2026 12:56
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5108
Joined: 08-04-2007
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Akh, hoped APP would stay in the front group here aswell, but just not strong enough
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| jackgibbs |
Posted on 08-10-2026 14:02
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Extremely disappointing that Kinoshita, who had been well-positioned on the prior hilly stages, was I think quite literally nowhere to be seen on this one. Maybe Hayakawa can get lucky tomorrow and salvage something, but deeply disappointing overall. |
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| seancoll |
Posted on 08-10-2026 15:38
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Wow, I looked at the final results and saw where Boileau and Van Dyke were and thought this race must be a disappointment for Philips - Hero... completely missed McCormick was also representing the squad! Plus Kulikovsky holding strong for them now, too.
Not a bad race for us now but boy was that stressful. Have to guess that having Nikiema and McCarthy both here helped them be in position at the end and Restrepo clearly pulled up by our leaders. A tied lead for team classification also feels huge for our chances.
Congratualtions UBS and Philips!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 08-10-2026 16:23
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Directeur Sportif
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When I decided to bring both MVD and Kulikovkiy here, I was not expecting a third rider to become our designated leader, and be leading the race at this point!
Great rides from McCormick (Hey Ulrich, are you watching? ) in the last two hill stages. Kulikovskiy also doing really well to be 10th in the GC. Looks like MVD and Boilleau decided to take up the support role after Stage 3. Worked out well for us in the end. Hopefully there are no slip ups on the final stage.
Congrats to BW and thanks for the report kb
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| Caspi |
Posted on 08-10-2026 17:21
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Turgis in the break was cool, even though nothing came from it. Azman wasn't strong enough to go for any GC placement unfortunately - stamina shouldn't be the issue here at least.
Thanks for the reports.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 08-10-2026 18:35
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Team Manager
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On the one hand, missing out on the overall win by less than half a wheel stings a little bit, but on the other, getting 2nd overall in such a packed field is awesome and a good indicator that the big gamble on Madouas might well work out. T-3rd in the KoM plus two 3rd places on the stages adds a few more points, so we'll come away with a decent haul. Now let's hope Willems can improve further on the final stage. At least we abandoned the folly of our own sprint train after stage 1
Congrats Abhi! Wouldn't have been too surprised if someone told me a Philips rider is going to win this race, just didn't expect it to be that one
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