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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 15, 2013 23:37:51 GMT 1
Borneo didn't start out well for me. I think I'm falling into the trap of trying to win the GC instead of just trying to pick up stages and ignoring the rest. Still you have the most stage-wins in our division But I understand what you are saying, i had expected one of your riders on the hilly finish today. Even my GC-man managed to break away, so with a hill 7 rider you would have won easily. For tomorrow i hope to lose some low-flat mountain riders, to anticipate on the 3th stage where my climber (with high flat skill) probably won't be able to keep up with the first group ... Probably poor team selection. I went more with mountain guys then hill guys (though Seabra has a good hill ranking). I trained hill originally when I joined at the very end of season 1, so I have some high hill guys... but they're not particularly good at mountain. I picked up mountin guys as it went on, but they didn't get their hill skills as high before I switched to mainly sprint. In a month or so, I'm probably going to switch trainers back to a hill/something else combo (don't know what exactly yet). I've purchased some guys with good mountain/flat skills, but severely lacking in hill. I've got a good combination set up for the Giro. No real sprinter, but a hilly rider with great sprint to stage hunt, a helper with high leadership, and 3 solid mountain guys with varying combinations of flat/hill/sprint. Not sure exaclty where to focus the effort for the GC, but hopefully I'll be in the mix.
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leor16
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Post by leor16 on Feb 18, 2013 14:25:18 GMT 1
Still you have the most stage-wins in our division But I understand what you are saying, i had expected one of your riders on the hilly finish today. Even my GC-man managed to break away, so with a hill 7 rider you would have won easily. For tomorrow i hope to lose some low-flat mountain riders, to anticipate on the 3th stage where my climber (with high flat skill) probably won't be able to keep up with the first group ... Probably poor team selection. I went more with mountain guys then hill guys (though Seabra has a good hill ranking). I trained hill originally when I joined at the very end of season 1, so I have some high hill guys... but they're not particularly good at mountain. I picked up mountin guys as it went on, but they didn't get their hill skills as high before I switched to mainly sprint. In a month or so, I'm probably going to switch trainers back to a hill/something else combo (don't know what exactly yet). I've purchased some guys with good mountain/flat skills, but severely lacking in hill. I've got a good combination set up for the Giro. No real sprinter, but a hilly rider with great sprint to stage hunt, a helper with high leadership, and 3 solid mountain guys with varying combinations of flat/hill/sprint. Not sure exaclty where to focus the effort for the GC, but hopefully I'll be in the mix. The hilly sprinter should by Coones i guess ? I'll think he'll be the favorite for stage 2 and all the other non-moutain stages. Stage 1 will be for Victor or Staquet, the last one could win as well the GC. My team consists just 5 climbers; 2 with sprint, 1 with TT, 1 with hill and 1 with some flat. I'm not sure where I can make a difference, but with the good results in Borneo en Korea i'm kind of 'back in the game' for promotion, so i'll do my very best to stay in that position after the Giro.
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 18, 2013 15:31:24 GMT 1
Probably poor team selection. I went more with mountain guys then hill guys (though Seabra has a good hill ranking). I trained hill originally when I joined at the very end of season 1, so I have some high hill guys... but they're not particularly good at mountain. I picked up mountin guys as it went on, but they didn't get their hill skills as high before I switched to mainly sprint. In a month or so, I'm probably going to switch trainers back to a hill/something else combo (don't know what exactly yet). I've purchased some guys with good mountain/flat skills, but severely lacking in hill. I've got a good combination set up for the Giro. No real sprinter, but a hilly rider with great sprint to stage hunt, a helper with high leadership, and 3 solid mountain guys with varying combinations of flat/hill/sprint. Not sure exaclty where to focus the effort for the GC, but hopefully I'll be in the mix. The hilly sprinter should by Coones i guess ? I'll think he'll be the favorite for stage 2 and all the other non-moutain stages. Stage 1 will be for Victor or Staquet, the last one could win as well the GC. My team consists just 5 climbers; 2 with sprint, 1 with TT, 1 with hill and 1 with some flat. I'm not sure where I can make a difference, but with the good results in Borneo en Korea i'm kind of 'back in the game' for promotion, so i'll do my very best to stay in that position after the Giro. Yeah, you basically erased my lead with that one stage and the overall classifications. My team got rocked on that stage. Would have liked to see how it turned out if Tilea hadn't had a flat while in the process of attacking or if I hadn't used Seabra up the stage before (he broke with the winning move, but couldn't keep up on the mountain at 80% fitness coming into the stage.) Coones is Bosch's rider. He's got a sprint, and he did well at the uphill finish on stage 2 of Tachira... but he's also capable in the flat sprints too this year. My hilly sprinter is Batistoni (2nd in stage 2 of Mexico). I used him in an attacking role then because I had another rider who's an even better hilly sprinter (Bustos). To be honest, I'm not sure I have the climbers in this race to hang with the best mountain guys in the league. Goorts is one of my better mountain guys and he was going at 100% in stage 2 of Algarve and he couldn't even finish with the main group. I have a feeling that after Stage 1 I may switch to stage hunting with everyone. We'll see.
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 20, 2013 15:18:52 GMT 1
I honestly thought nobody would beat Rose if he made it to a final sprint. With 7 mountain/7 sprint it seemed to be set up perfectly for him. I had some higher mountain, lower sprint guys making attacks in case one of them stayed away but I thought Rose was a sure insurance policy.
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 20, 2013 21:26:44 GMT 1
leor, another note is that our ranking in the end may not matter much for the this season. They're changing the division setup next off-season and I believe all the divisions will be set up based on the international ranking (I think). There's a post in the general discussion forum about it.
So while I'm going to battle for the #2 spot... in reality my international ranking (currently 71 to your 70) is probably the one that really matters.
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 21, 2013 15:28:01 GMT 1
Dang it!
Maessen just couldn't keep up on that last climb. Based on all the intermediate mountain sprints, if he hadn't lost contact at the very end there, he probably would have won the final sprint.
I'm going to keep Maessen in the group as sprinter the rest of the way and hope he can get a decent GC finish... but the ineffectiveness of the attacks I tried today let me know that what worked for me last year (low effort attacks throughout the tour) isn't going to cut it this year. I'm moving into full stage hunting mode.
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leor16
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Post by leor16 on Feb 21, 2013 16:07:04 GMT 1
I honestly thought nobody would beat Rose if he made it to a final sprint. With 7 mountain/7 sprint it seemed to be set up perfectly for him. I had some higher mountain, lower sprint guys making attacks in case one of them stayed away but I thought Rose was a sure insurance policy. Dejardin was definitely someone where i have paid to much transfermoney for. So i was kind of surprised as well, and with one less on sprint and 9 kg heavier it's strange that he could beat your rider. leor, another note is that our ranking in the end may not matter much for the this season. They're changing the division setup next off-season and I believe all the divisions will be set up based on the international ranking (I think). There's a post in the general discussion forum about it. So while I'm going to battle for the #2 spot... in reality my international ranking (currently 71 to your 70) is probably the one that really matters. Well that's kind of good news, maybe we can make it still up to the #1 spot, since it seems like bosch hasn't have any climbers at all in the giro. Dang it! Maessen just couldn't keep up on that last climb. Based on all the intermediate mountain sprints, if he hadn't lost contact at the very end there, he probably would have won the final sprint. I'm going to keep Maessen in the group as sprinter the rest of the way and hope he can get a decent GC finish... but the ineffectiveness of the attacks I tried today let me know that what worked for me last year (low effort attacks throughout the tour) isn't going to cut it this year. I'm moving into full stage hunting mode. yeah, the last section was really tough, only my lightest riders could keep up, one of them had a decent sprint, so i'm happy with the stage win. Certainly because i touhgt Forza Racing! would have send some of his climbers on the attack. But with Blais as GC rider losing already more then a minute i'm a bit disappointed. next stage is a lot of flat, with 3 to 6, all my riders have 'some' of it. So i hope they all stay in the first group so Belmont and Alarcon could maybe get a nice result in the bunchsprint ..
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looze
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Post by looze on Feb 21, 2013 20:23:38 GMT 1
A second place in a mountain stage: a nice surprise! And I am happy with 3 riders in the first group.
All my riders have good flat, so hopefully someone ends in the front tomorrow.
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 25, 2013 15:13:06 GMT 1
Well, after three stages (two of them mountain focused), it looks like both Ngogo and EBH are strong contenders. EBH has the lead and another racer in the 15-second group, Ngogo is in second with two other riders in the 15-second group. They are the only two with multiple riders within 15 seconds, though Forza has four withing 50 seconds.
The next stage is really the last mountain stage... then it's just hill focused stages and the TT's that will shake things up.
At this point, I'm predicting EBH will be in the division lead after the Giro (unless Bosch-Schimano dominates the Tour de Serbie).
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leor16
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Post by leor16 on Feb 25, 2013 17:24:09 GMT 1
Well, after three stages (two of them mountain focused), it looks like both Ngogo and EBH are strong contenders. EBH has the lead and another racer in the 15-second group, Ngogo is in second with two other riders in the 15-second group. They are the only two with multiple riders within 15 seconds, though Forza has four withing 50 seconds. The next stage is really the last mountain stage... then it's just hill focused stages and the TT's that will shake things up. At this point, I'm predicting EBH will be in the division lead after the Giro (unless Bosch-Schimano dominates the Tour de Serbie). I hope so I'm already happy with today's result. Seems like I have the best 'sprinting climbers'. But for the GC is nothing sure, the best TT from the first 14 (within 50") will probably win this giro ...
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 25, 2013 17:36:43 GMT 1
Well, after three stages (two of them mountain focused), it looks like both Ngogo and EBH are strong contenders. EBH has the lead and another racer in the 15-second group, Ngogo is in second with two other riders in the 15-second group. They are the only two with multiple riders within 15 seconds, though Forza has four withing 50 seconds. The next stage is really the last mountain stage... then it's just hill focused stages and the TT's that will shake things up. At this point, I'm predicting EBH will be in the division lead after the Giro (unless Bosch-Schimano dominates the Tour de Serbie). I hope so I'm already happy with today's result. Seems like I have the best 'sprinting climbers'. But for the GC is nothing sure, the best TT from the first 14 (within 50") will probably win this giro ... I think the team TT may be more critical then the individual. My lead rider isn't great in the TT... and he's the best I have. The rest are going to hurt him, not help him in that last TTT.
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leor16
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Post by leor16 on Feb 26, 2013 14:08:18 GMT 1
At this point, I'm predicting EBH will be in the division lead after the Giro (unless Bosch-Schimano dominates the Tour de Serbie). He made a good start so far .. Strange to see a successful attack on flat. I've tried that before but without results, although it seems like it's possible at 100% against helpers on 70% (even when some of those helpers have 12 flat .. ) A bit unlucky for you btw, i guess you had hoped to win with your sprinter (Rosa) today ?
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 26, 2013 17:25:54 GMT 1
At this point, I'm predicting EBH will be in the division lead after the Giro (unless Bosch-Schimano dominates the Tour de Serbie). He made a good start so far .. Strange to see a successful attack on flat. I've tried that before but without results, although it seems like it's possible at 100% against helpers on 70% (even when some of those helpers have 12 flat .. ) A bit unlucky for you btw, i guess you had hoped to win with your sprinter (Rosa) today ? Yep, went 100% with him too. I had another rider I was attacking with at 100%... in retrospect he should have been helping at that effort and perhaps he wouldn't have been able to stay away. The helpers were only at 70%. Poor decision on my part, but I wasn't sure Rosa would be able to win the sprint.
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Post by kurtinsc on Feb 27, 2013 14:17:17 GMT 1
Well, I may have jinxed you. B-S is dominating Serbia pretty much. Two stage wins, two successful breaks, top two spots on the GC, top in points, top in mountain.
I've already played all my cards and got 2 second places out of it. Maybe I'll hang onto 3rd overall.
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leor16
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Post by leor16 on Feb 27, 2013 20:53:19 GMT 1
Well, I may have jinxed you. B-S is dominating Serbia pretty much. Two stage wins, two successful breaks, top two spots on the GC, top in points, top in mountain. I've already played all my cards and got 2 second places out of it. Maybe I'll hang onto 3rd overall. I can only hope that the climb in stage 3 makes the riders in front of the GC (with less fitness) lose contact with the front group, where Van Lier could win the sprint and take the lead that way
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