Welcome everyone to the 2017 Tirreno-Adriatico. We are here in Italy to see one of the best PT races of the season. Despite the triple clash with Paris-Nice and Grand-Duche, the startlist is incredibly strong. Most of the best climbers in the world are here, but being the best climber won’t be enough to win the race, as you’ll also need a strong TTT team with the initial TTT. This is the reason why lots of strong TTers are here, despite having a ITT in Paris-Nice to fight for.
Team
TTT
Team
TTT
Tinkoff
77,125
Jayco
76,75
Porto
75,75
Gazelle
75,625
RBC
75
Aegon
74,75
Puma
72,875
Spotify
72,625
Iberia
72,5
Hugo Boss
72,375
Last year’s winner, Yuri Trofimov, is not here, as last year’s route was completely different to this year’s, which also makes almost all top10 from last year to not being here.
The big favourite is Angel Madrazo. He is the best climber and also has a decent TTT team, which won’t make lose lot of time, the problem that Aleksandr Pluchkin will suffer, the one who should be his main rival in the mountains
Right after them, Timofey Kritskiy. He is one level below Madrazo and Pluchkin in the mountains, but he has the strongest TTT team, together with Lachlan Morton, but the Aussie is a worse climber than the Russian. Tiago Machado can also be included in this group of climbers with strong TTT roster
Taylor Phinney should be the best of the climbers in the hilly stages. His chances to win the GC goes by putting some time between him and Madrazo/Pluchkin/Kritskiy in the hilly stages to overcome his deficit in the pure mountain stages
Other riders that should challenge for the podium are Joseph Dombrowski, Justo Tenorio, Stefan Denifl or Jose Alarcon. They are either worse climbers than the other mentioned riders, they have either a problem with their TTT roster or the hilly stages which should prevent them to fight for the win.
Also, riders like Lecuisinier, Herklotz, Dekker, Cattaneo, Guldhammer or Wellens should be in the fight for a top 5/10
Rider
MON
HIL
TTT
Rider
MON
HIL
TTT
Madrazo
85
76
75,6
Pluchkin
85
75
69,2
Phinney
83
77
75
Machado
84
77
75,7
Dombrowski
84
75
70,9
Kritskiy
84
75
77,1
Alarcon
84
73
72
Morton
83
76
76,7
Dekker
81
75
74,7
Lecuisinier
82
75
68,1
Tenorio
84
76
72,5
Herklotz
81
75
72,8
Guldhammer
81
77
69,6
Wellens
81
75
72,6
Yates
79
76
67,2
Formolo
78
76
75,6
Denifl
84
76
62,8
Barguil
79
75
64,8
Slagter
78
78
72,3
Bongiorno
79
75
72,8
Bibby
77
76
75,6
Cattaneo
82
70
66,9
Keinath
79
76
65,5
Moser
79
72
67,8
In the sprinters field, not all managers have send their best sprinters here. With only one real chance for not hilly sprinters to win here, and this being in the last stage, they have prefered to send them to Paris-Nice, but we still have some top sprinters here.
Dylan Groenewegen and Jacopo Guarnieri are the best sprinters, although Oscar Guerao should be faster, but his lack of acceleration will hurt him. Sondre Holst Enger and Daniel Vesely will be there also. Hugo Houle will be someone to watch in the second stage.
Rider
SPR
ACC
Rider
SPR
ACC
Guerao
83
76
Guarnieri
82
81
Groenewegen
82
81
Vesely
81
80
Enger
81
78
Stallaert
79
76
Houle
78
78
Fonseca
78
77
Carsi
78
80
Kluge
77
75
Clashing with a hilly classic, and a hilly stage race, it was expected to have no top puncheurs here despite having two hilly stages, so Tom-Jelte Slagter should be the best puncheur, together with Evaldas Siskevicius, so hilly stages might be won by GC guys
Stronger field than I hoped here, and my TTT is really weak... Hopefully the non-exsisting nationality bonus helps Mattia
Will be interesting to see the first real battles of some of the best climbers. Missing some top guys that are preserving racedays, but Pluichkin, Madrazo, Tenorio, Phinney and many more. Not a bad field
Clearly can be happy if Dekker makes it into the top10. Will be interesting to see how he can perform this season.
Groenewegen as top3 sprinter also interesting to see for the rest of the season. No leadout for him could hurt him though.
The TTT was hoped to be decent as Groenewegen is the only non-TT rider but seeing it`s also just 5th to 6th I fear we won`t have a chance there.
By the look of the startlist I guess top5 in TTT, top12 with Dekker and maybe a stage win by Groenewegen is the absolutely maximum I can hope for. Likely ending a bit below this.
Was at first a bit confused by your sorting. With jumping from left to right and so on.
It's been a while since we won a TTT, so this is our nur big goal here. Anything but a podium would be disastrous. Could have sent a better setup, but Morton needs some useful support in the mountains afterall.
Well. Morton. Top-10 must be the goal, but it will be tough. Maybe a good daily form instead of crashing would be a nice way to go in the first key stage Can't say I'm too optimistic, so it's mainly the TTT, where I put the pressure high for our guys. Breakaway appearances would be also nice for a change. Definitely happens too less for my liking.
Tought startlista ofc.
Top 10 by Wellens could work and would be good I guess, always hard to predict since its his debut.
Stallaert could score some points in the sprints here which is off course nice, after all he is not a top sprinter at all.
We sent a rather strong TTT lineup and hopefully they can deliver
So Cort-Nielsen and Ludvigsson can Score some depth points in the GC.
This one race could be the reason for my team to relegate, or to stay up, all depending on how the AI will treat my team here. One possible outcome is Pluchkin loses too much time in the initial TTT and will finish 5 as a result which would seriously hurt my season. The outcome I am gambling on, and it's quite the risk, is that Pluchkin will be extra aggressive, gaining back more than enough time that way... Seriously wondering why I decided to not have Nepomnyachsniy here though...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
@roturn Well, if you aren't used to that sorting, i understand it can be a little confusing at first glance. I thought it would be better than the other sorting, but i can go back to the "normal" one for future previews
I've decided to gamble a bit with the season planning for Siskevicius and have him race a few races that you would not expect. I'm glad that no top puncheurs are here and also the best puncheurs among climbers (Spilak, Gesink, ... ) are as expected not here. This gives him the chance to do sth for the two hilly stages.
Also have Vosekalns and Koch for the mountains here with little. Would be cool if one of them goes for KoM.
Hm, obviously hoped for a couple less top guys as well.
Nevertheless, the TTT (first time we're slightly competitive there with the whole lineup tailored for it) and non-mountaintop finishes should provide decent opportunities for Herklotz to surprise if he races them aggressively.
Even the sprint stages could see some GC riders feature, which in part is why Ciolek wasn't worth sending here.
Nerz and Bongiorno add the best climber depth we can offer in a TTT stage race, so I hope they can ride a strong race too or at least be great suppport for Silvio.
Overall, a Top 15 and two further Top 25s should be the target, but I hope Herklotz can challenge for a Top 10 and a few points-paying stage results, as well as giving Lecusinier a decent fight for white.
Strong field, but not surprising really. A bit surprised to see Taylor Phinney here. It could be an expensive payback, when there isn't an individual TT. I thought he would be going for the Paris-Nice, or wait for a later opportunity.
I had a bit of problems with stretching Lecuisiniers racedays so had to use him here, which I ideally wouldn't have done. Unless he get's lucky it will be a bit useless.
Having Coppel in Paris-Nice I'm pleased with this startlist, but maybe I should have brought Coquard.
Very deep GC field, as expected, really. A top 10 will be great from Guldhammer, even with the handicap he has considering the TTT. Hopefully he can make good use of the hilly stages, that was at least the hope when I decided to send him here.
Must admit I'm happy to see the sprinter's field here, as it should give Holst Enger a very good chance at a stage podium. Hopefully the second stage comes down to a normal sprint desite being slightly hilly, which could suit him great, I think.
Will be interesting to follow the fight between the top guys doing this race. Especially excited to see Dombrowski, as he should be forced to race aggressive after a time loss in the TTT, which hopefully proves to make for some entertaining racing.
Very excited for this race. Alarcon first real test for us, together with Carapaz first race as maxed for us, makes me very eager to see this race. Maybe some aggressive riding from Slagter and co. could contribute to our first successfull race this season?
Well, this is my first report I hope you like that i included all the teams in the report. As this is a TTT, i don't think this will be the greatest of reports, so better wait until this night's stage to judge my reporting quality
Can't say I'm too optimistic, so it's mainly the TTT, where I put the pressure high for our guys. Breakaway appearances would be also nice for a change. Definitely happens too less for my liking.
I hope you like that i included all the teams in the report. As this is a TTT, i don't think this will be the greatest of reports, so better wait until this night's stage to judge my reporting quality 
