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Tour of Norway Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 29-12-2014 16:52
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 Tour of Norway
The ProTour is heading for Norway, where we should await some cold cold weather and an (hopefully) exciting 8-days-event for both sprinters and puncheurs. The stage race goes into it's second edition and some top-favorites have to bounce back from getting "fooled" by surprising 2013-winner Matthias Frank (UBS)!
Five flat stages will offer some of the world's best sprinters plenty of chances to go for a nice points haul here. The queen stage will be without any question this 4th stage: featuring a steady up and down, some steep climbs and totalling over 200km, this is where the GC-contenders need to deliver!
The Startlist
GC-contenders and Sprinters
| GC-contenders | HI | ACC | Sprinters | SPR |  Hagen | 85 | 79 |  Swift | 84 |  Ginanni | 83 | 74 | Mohs | 83 |  Claeys | 83 | 73 |  Bewley | 83 |  Van Garderen | 82 | 79 |  Guerao | 83 | | F. Schleck | 82 | 76 |  Guarnieri | 82 |  Schumacher | 82 | 74 |  Roelandts | 81 | | Gastauer | 81 | 76 | Impey | 80 |  Gilbert | 80 | 75 |  Stauff | 80 |  Flügel | 80 | 74 |  Santos | 79 | | Klemme | 80 | 66 |  Guardini | 78 |  Costa | 80 | 72 | | | | vd Hugenhaben | 80 | 66 | | |  Bobridge | 79 | 80 | | | | Sanchez Gil | 79 | 75 | | |  Schreurs | 79 | 74 | | | | Caruso | 78 | 77 | | | | Sagan | 78 | 76 | | |  Vanendert | 78 | 72 | | |
It ain't exactly a huge season for local hero and world champion Boasson Hagen, but last year's 6th here of course has to be mentioned as the top-favorite for this race. It's for sure one of his (and Aker's) main targets and a huge event to add to his palmares! Van Garderen (4th last season), Ginanni (who had a strong Grand-Duché prior to Le Tour), Frank Schleck, Schumacher (8th last season) or Claeys (9th) may be the biggest threats for Hagen this year.
Of course we have some more riders, who may hope for a huge day on that (probably) crucial day: Caruso, Gilbert (10th in 2013), vd Hugenhaben (16th), Sanchez Gil, Vanendert (15th) or wildcard-entry Bobridge are capable of at least aiming for the Top-5/10.. and we ain't getting tired of mentioning Costa, who just comes off some shocking results though.
The sprint stages should be highly contested as well: local team Aker will hope for Impey to shine, while the top-favorites should be Swift, Mohs and "Beastie" Bewley. The "G-Force" Guarnieri and Guerao may be in the mix, too. With the latter again trying to prove, that he's worth to be kept on the team's roster for another year.
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| SotD |
Posted on 29-12-2014 16:55
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World Champion
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Too bad that Guerao will not perform here, as he isn't a favorite. It was one of the only races left, where I had a shot at getting a win - Oh well, I guess he can't suck worse than he has done all season.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 01:33
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| roturn |
Posted on 29-12-2014 17:21
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Looking at the startlist a top15 is maximum with top10 in sprints.
Remebering LLS`s season so far I hope for a top10.  |
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| beagle |
Posted on 29-12-2014 18:17
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Tough field, including homeland hero EBH as a main favourite. Hopefully Ginanni in hills and Mohs in sprints can confirm their good shape!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Smowz |
Posted on 29-12-2014 18:26
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Team Leader
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Hmm ... could be a bleak tour this one for SRB. As expected really hilly classics and tours are not our terrain. Much more gentle though than Basque and the Volta so Hagen et al really have to go for it on the three hilly stages on offer.
I fancy Bewley may be a little bit dominant on the sprints - we shall see though as we have that Mohs Swift rivalry from the Vuelta back again (unfortunately Guerao doesn't count as a rival on current form!)
Last year we had that major headache thing on last stage we shall see again what happens here!
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 29-12-2014 18:42
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Team Leader
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Nice preview ts. I'm confident this is the moment Costa needs to get his season going 
Seriously though, having a look at what happened this season, I'd put my money on Ginnani.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 29-12-2014 18:45
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World Champion
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Go Costa!
Rooting for our portuguese friends here.  |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 29-12-2014 18:59
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Sprinter
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Alright Schumacher, time to get a result for the first time this season. I'm guessing there will be no beating EBH, however.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 29-12-2014 21:21
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Grand Tour Champion
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Enough points to ensure that I don't go worse than 3rd last would be nice
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 29-12-2014 23:32
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This could be the last PT edition of the Tour of Norway so pressure is definitely on EBH to deliver.
Will be an interesting race for the top of the PT standings, as both Vesuvio and Pokerstars should be outscoring Wikipedia. How can Schleck and Swift do against Ginanni and Mohs?
Line up wise this probably needs to be a strong race for me if I am up to put up any serious title challenge.
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| ember |
Posted on 29-12-2014 23:50
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Big expectations for this one! Boasson Hagen has basically been disappointing in the most important races so far, but it would be great if he could turn the tables on home soil.
Bringing Impey for the sprints could be risky, but I thought it would be nice to have a wild card for the flat stages as well, I could even hope it gives Boasson Hagen some good positioning for "free".
Looking a lot forward to the reports!  |
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| Roman |
Posted on 30-12-2014 01:03
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Well, hopefully Bewley can deliver here at least a stage win with a top 15 overall result from Sagan. The competition is quite huge though.
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-12-2014 06:45
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World Champion
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Go Sagan
This should be a good race for both PT top teams Vesuvio and Pokerstars, this race can be important for title challenge. I hope EBH will wake up and try to shine in his homeland.
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| Heine |
Posted on 30-12-2014 06:54
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I hope Flügel and Klemme can perform and give us a result here. We need good results now to avoid relegation
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 30-12-2014 17:20
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2nd is a good start considering how far ahead Bewley was by the time Swift began to sprint. Sagan is a tough leadout man to compete against, especially on a windier day.
And nice that the waste of energy intermediate sprints finally proved useful, giving Swift the Points jersey lead!
Edited by SportingNonsense on 30-12-2014 17:25
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| Roman |
Posted on 30-12-2014 17:30
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Wow, my sprint train continues to really impress me, after Howard's totally dominant win on the Champs-Elysees, this was a total demolition of the competition as well, what a sprint by Bewley, with a great help from Sagan!
Thank you for the report tsmoha, I really enjoyed it!
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| SotD |
Posted on 30-12-2014 17:39
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World Champion
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Guerao had the perfect wheel but sucked balls as usual. 1 point!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 30-12-2014 18:14
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Team Leader
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Well it is like back to the future with another wind effected sprint in those situations Bewley was always favourite. The other sprinters got up there (bar Guerao of course!). Nice that things have been split behind I think. I am pleased that Juul Jenson made it in the front group.
Anyway congrats Roman some wins coming at the moment - Vesuvio also get some points on Pokerstars (a win of course would have been better and the battle between Ginnani and Schleck could be more important here).
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 30-12-2014 18:42
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Nice to see Fred Figueiredo get the first KoM jersey. He's not likely to keep it but that interesting achievement.
Massive sprint from Bewley. It makes you wonder if we're going to have Becherovka dominating the sprints just like other did in other races.
@Miguel: ahah thanks mate. I can't complain on the lack of support here
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| beagle |
Posted on 30-12-2014 19:27
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Grand Tour Specialist
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My famous sprint train somehow lost ground in today´s opener Dominant win for Bewley, it won´t be easy to beat him here.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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