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Tour of Qatar Discussion
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 08:43
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Hello and welcome to  Qatar for the second race of the Pro Tour season, the Tour of Qatar. Just over a week ago we had the Badaling International in China where the puncheurs had a chance to shine. Now it's the sprinter's and time-trialler's turns to impress. The elite from these two disciplines descend on Qatar for what will hopefully be a good race.
The first five stages are all around 150 kilometres long and pan-flat. They will almost certainly be taken by the sprinters, due to the flat finishes, but the groups could be more selective than you would think; crosswinds can sometimes sweep the desert roads here, which could cause problems for some riders.
If a sprinter can take multiple stages, the bonus seconds on offer could in theory propel him to overall victory. If these extra seconds are spread around though, the GC winner could be a time trialist.
This is because the sixth and final stage is a short 3.5 kilometre time trial. It should favour the prologue specialists, and as said if the bonus seconds are shared the winner of this could triumph in the overall standings. Even if this doesn't happen, this stage will surely play a factor.
Last year on the same course  Tom Boonen won the sixth edition of this race race for Pokerstars, the first time in his long career, due to taking two stages of the race. He'll ride the race again this year along with a number of other previous winners, like  Ben Swift and  Daniele Bennati.
Speaking of riders participating, let's take a look at the favourites!
 
The Sprinters
As previously mentioned, Boonen travels here and will be confident he can replicate last year's success, with the super impressive Pokerstars train helping him. One of the three big sprinting B's here, along with  Bewley and Bennati, they should be three of the biggest riders to look out for on the opening few flat stages due to their pure speed.
There are other massive sprinters here though; Swift should profit from a strong Vesuvio train and could nab a win like last year.  Guerao impressed at last year's Tour de France by taking a couple of stages and could do the same thing here. Newcomer to the Pro Tour  Guarnieri could also surprise if he finds the right wheels.
Riders like  Van Heerden and  Avélino have the top speed required but lack in other places which could hinder them against the best.  Roelandts,  Kennaugh and Impey could also surprise even though they don't quite have the speed of others.  Kip,  Haussler and  Stauff are another level down but could sneak a top ten.
Time-Trialists
For the last stage, plenty of big time-trialists have come to Qatar. Last year's winner Fiedler is here and could well replicate that result, but  Cancellara is just as strong. Those two should contest the win.
Cornu and Kittel could also be contenders, while others like Sergent and  Schädlich could get into the top five. Others are also here, but that is a brief overview.
Hopefully all that should make this race an interesting one, with the sprinters and the time-trialists both having interesting battles over the next few days. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-04-2014 08:52
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Team Manager
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Schädlich, Boom and Dumoulin for the tt. Top 10, 20, 30 is the obvious goal here.
Guardini to make a Drujon here. Though one or two top 10 in five stages would be fine.
Ballan and Boom eventually for cross winds.
Looking forward for that race and Schädlich`s debut being his best GC chance in a stage race. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 15-04-2014 09:06
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Likely to be a sprintfest - but I always hope for some sort of real life style Qatar stage which rips the pack to shreds. I don't see that happening though really.
My line up has Cancellara and 4 TT cronies who may be able to get decent points if the sprints are dominated by a select few (and breakaways get dropped).
Will be fascinating to see how the sprint trains fare - happy to be sitting out and watching some managers explode in frustration. You never know maybe Santos can sneak in amongst em at some point also.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 15-04-2014 09:11
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There will be more wind than last year, so just got to hope that Swift sticks to the front of the peloton. simply 'nabbing a win' like last year is not good enough for him.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 09:12
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First PT wildcard for us, and minimal expectations. Hoping to see my Sri Lankan riders in the break at some point and hopefully Haussler and Reus doing reasonably well - top 10 on a stage - in a very strong field. |
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| Heine |
Posted on 15-04-2014 09:19
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Not expecting anything, but will be interesting to see if Zabel can get any results this year. I felt he did better than his stats last year, maybe the game like "famous" names :-p
Other than that, I hope Benatti wins, I want him to have some last hurrahs this season
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-04-2014 10:38
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SportingNonsense wrote:
There will be more wind than last year, so just got to hope that Swift sticks to the front of the peloton. simply 'nabbing a win' like last year is not good enough for him.
Then I hope Classic riders like Ballan and Boom will do even better. Schädlich hopefully not getting dropped. |
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| niconico |
Posted on 15-04-2014 10:50
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Classics Specialist
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Hoping for some good results from Dempster and van der Lijke.
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| Roman |
Posted on 15-04-2014 11:14
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It will be interesting to see if echelons will happen this year. Hopefully my team is well prepared for that scenario. Plus, I am really looking forward if my team will at least try to make a train for Bewley, Howard should be a great lead-out man, the big question is Vesely for me. Hopefully, my team can make at least a decent one for that. And Sergent could make a really solid result in the final ITT as well. I hope for some great results! 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 09-12-2025 19:15
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 11:44
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Big big race for Good Energy. Lets see if the Guarnieri gamble will pay off!
Really looking forward to this race.
[url=cleavercycling.co.uk]  [/url] |
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| beagle |
Posted on 15-04-2014 13:18
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Really looking forward to this one. It's my winning goal, so my team MUST perform well. Hopefully luck and strong wind will be on my side 
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SotD |
Posted on 15-04-2014 14:44
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Guerao did a horrible job here last season, and I can't see why that should have changed, so this is a race in which we expects nothing. Both Tzortzakis and Keukeleire is here aswell and perhaps the combination of the three can do something - But I doubt it. In the final stage Bernaudeau might be able to do something, although most teams have a similar, or better TT'er for the task.
Any result will do here.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 15-04-2014 17:22
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Grand Tour Champion
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Cornu, Flens and Bonnet should all score decently. Hopefully Stauff can get into the top ten once or twice.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 15-04-2014 18:00
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Not my favourite race, and not counting on much here. Hopefully this won't be too long 
Nice preview there, Froomedog.
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 18:11
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I might be in the odd break I guess.
 [url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 15-04-2014 18:32
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World Champion
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rjc_43 wrote:
Big big race for Good Energy. Lets see if the Guarnieri gamble will pay off!
Really looking forward to this race.
Rooting for Guarnieri here, show them some italian speed! 
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 15-04-2014 20:51
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 27880
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Hoping for a good showing from Kennaugh here. Will be interesting to see how he does versus the top sprinters in the World Tour. |
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| ember |
Posted on 15-04-2014 22:24
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I don't have high hopes for this one. But anything better than Badaling will do!
Nice preview, I'm looking very much forward to the reports, and the fights between the three B's and Swift. |
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| dave92 |
Posted on 15-04-2014 23:30
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Classics Specialist
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Not expecting anything from this, one of the few races all season where I don't have real hopes at a top 15.
Durbridge, Bookwalter, and Van Rensburg could place decently overall if they stay in the front groups, and Summerhill's there in case the wind really wreaks havoc.
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| roturn |
Posted on 16-04-2014 05:40
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I first had all my 3 sprinters here in my plannings. Then thought another second and got to the conclusion that it doesn`t matter with my 77-78 sprinters anyway and changed two of them with Ballan/Villella.
Now the chance to form a train is gone. |
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