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UAE Tour
And so, onto the next stop in this season's world tour! Welcome to the inaugural UAE Tour, an amalgamation of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the Dubai Tour, this new race encompasses the best of both. On paper there looks to be something for everyone, with a couple of sprint stages, two summit finishes, a TTT and a couple for the rouleurs.
There are 2 PCT teams in Novo Nordisk and Gazprom-RusVelo to go along with the 18 WT teams, and no one is pulling any punches it seems. The classics men might be absent as stage 7 clashes with Omloop, but on the start list are defending champion Valverde, Dumoulin, Roglic, Nibali, Kwiatkowski, Porte, and many other contenders. And the sprinters field is stacked with Bennett, Viviani, Ewan, Gaviria, Kittel, and Kristoff all going along.
So what are you looking forward to? Who are you looking to pick above all others? All I'm hoping for are some crosswinds and carnage!
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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98 comments
Nice....I manage tenth.
Been a strange race so far with so many seemingly good picks being a bit flaky. I think most of us have fallen into various traps so far....both purist and standard.
Damn....brought in Gaudu who crashed...damn again....also brought in Ewan though. Happy days with that one....didn’t even head butt anybody.
I was going to drop Moscon for Gaudu, I wish I had.
Rather than Ewan I went for Gaviria in place of Roglic. 37 points lost.
Having a disaster this race.
It’s not you having the disaster but some of the riders. Moscon and Kwia are better than they did today...along with Nibali, Porte, Dumoulin...and on and on.
Nothing sums up the conditions of some of these riders this week than Kristoff pushing his bike up those last 100 mts...and he’s got some conditioning.
It is me being a disaster, it was an impulsive late night decision to drop Roglic and bring Gaviria in.
Surprisingly I'm not doing as badly as I thought.
I went for a slightly different strategy for the rest of the race, rather than bringing in sprinters for today I brought in Kuriyanov & Planet. It looks like it might pay off as they are both in the break again :).
bringing in Gaviria was not a bad call, he was caught up in the crash, otherwise he would have been up there. I am pretty sprinter heavy tonight so hoping for a nice big (clean) sprint!!
I was annoyed with myself for making the change, I had my reasons for leaving Roglic in but made an impulsive last minute decision to swap him out for Gaviria.
Remco DNF
Did he bring anybody else down?
Two transfers tonight to Bring In Gaviria. Fingers crossed it works
Wow I won the Purist Stage, now that doesn't happen very often. least said about my climbing picks the better, At least I didn't pick POrte! 8 minutes down? is he ill?
nice work Steve. I picked up 2nd in standard, Gaudu was a nice suprise, thought he was good for a top 10 but he had a cracking ride. Next stage is tough to pick, punchy climbers or punchy sprinters?
Hard to know. That last bit is at 17% which is a real killer. Are people assuming sprinters are an option because sprinters have won in the past ?...or is it short enough for them to conquer it ? Last year was won by Colbrelli I see but that race didn't have any GC riders in it at all...this year they have Valverde driving a good GC crowd on as he pursues a bonus...at least...
Degenkolb beat valverde here in 2015 but very rarely have there been any great climbers in the Dubai race.
I thought given my lack of transfers and how expensive the sprinters were I'd bring in Gaudu.
Moschetti and Gaviria. the other option was just leave Nibali and Zakarin in who would be dead for the next two stages. leaves me just 4 transfers. Oh well you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Brilliant....nicely done.
Wow! I got that super wrong! Rip my standard chances
My team for today
ROGLIC
MOSCON
KELDERMAN
VALVERDE
MARTIN D.
EVENEPOEL
MARTENS
MOSCHETTI
I was tempted with Moscon, wasn't sure who Sky were going for, but he's up there in the young persons comp and probably should be able to take it.
I share 4 riders with your team.
I've used quite a few. Hatta Dam is always a reduced bunch/puncheurs finish. If people like Kwiatkowski and Valverde want to make it hard for the sprinters then they probably can. Stage 4 looks weird, but probably a sprint. I might make a couple of transfers for it and leave them until the final summit. I've gone full GC for today.
agree, I think Hatta Dam tomorrow will be harder than usual with Valverde etc, to push the pace...
Think I meant stage 5, oops
now it starts to get interesting, first 3 changes used
ALEJANDRO VALVERDE (MOV)
DANIEL MARTIN (UAD)
DAVID GAUDU (FDJ)
REMCO EVENEPOEL (QST)
PRIMOZ ROGLIC (TJB)
WILCO KELDERMAN (SUN)
MARCEL KITTEL (KAT)
MATTEO MOSCHETTI (TFS)
Hmmm. I had 6 sprinters like sniffer today for pretty average return so the lack of GC men from the start didn't pay out. Maybe Minardi called it right and the crosswinds sapped some legs even if it ended up a full bunch sprint.
Tough call Steve picking which of your cheaper riders can return to former glories this early in the season. I bet a few of us got burned with Aru last time out getting that one wrong. Good luck whichever way you go!
Some tough choices for tomorrow. Mainly...who the hell to pick.
Dam Martin and Louis Meintjes or Nibs and Zakarin?
Dam Martin and Louis Meintjes or Nibs and Zakarin?
I I could draw a picture of a finish for Dan Martin it would probably look a lot like tomorrow's....but then the day after looks far more suited to Kwia...
Who have you got so far Steve?
I'll use five transfers, always have Bala, the Pole and Evenepole, probs Nibs and Zaks with Roglic Keldeman and Leezer from the TTT.
really really not sure what I'll do for stage 4. 5 & 7 look like sprints sandwiched by another summit finish Never going to find enough transfers now!
I'll use five transfers, always have Bala, the Pole and Evenepole, probs Nibs and Zaks with Roglic Keldeman and Leezer from the TTT.
really really not sure what I'll do for stage 4. 5 & 7 look like sprints sandwiched by another summit finish Never going to find enough transfers now!
Four looks like a great stage, short sting of a climb. Really hard to call...but Valverde and Kwiatkowski look good.
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