So it is two weeks away, but you can do some preliminary research seeing no Omloop Het Volk/Nieuwsblad & Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne (campaigning for them to included in 2013 season).
Offical website with parcours: http://www.letour.fr/2012/PNC/COURSE/us/le_parcours.html
Partial starting list:http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_...
Stage 1 9km ITT (prologue) includes cat 3 1.1km @ 6.6 climb after 500m
Stage 2 flat sprinters stage.
Stage 3 Finishes on a Cat 3 climb 5.2km @ 2.9%
Stage 4 lumpy day 2 Cat 2 & 3 Cat 3 last 500m @ 8% 2 km before line, last km is at 4%
Stage 5 even lumpier 3 cat 1, cat 2 & 2 * cat 3, finish is cat 1 3km @ 10%
Stage 6 less lumpy cat 2, 5 * cat 3, last 20km before finish
Stage 7 lumpy cat 1, 2 * cat 2, cat 3, 20km downhill after cat 1, the 20km flat
Stage 8 ITT Col d'Èze 9.6km @ 4.7%
Start with solid ITT riders, then roulers and escape artists and finish with good ITTs
Likely starters
AG2R LA MONDIALE
PERAUD Jean Christophe France
ROCHE Nicholas Ireland
ASTANA PRO TEAM
BRAJKOVIC Janez Slovenia
SEELDRAYERS Kevin Belgium
BMC RACING TEAM
HUSHOVD Thor Norway
MOINARD Amaël France
PHINNEY Taylor United States
VAN GARDEREN Tejay United States
COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE
DI GREGORIO Rémy France
DUMOULIN Samuel France
MONCOUTIE David France
TAARAMAE Rein Estonia
EQUIPE CYCLISTE FDJ-BIGMAT
FEDRIGO Pierrick France
JEANNESSON Arnold France
ROY Jérémy France
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor Spain
ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU Mikel Spain
SICARD Romain France
GARMIN - BARRACUDA
FERNANDEZ DE LARREA Koldo Spain
HAUSSLER Heinrich Australia
LE MEVEL Christophe France
MILLAR David United Kingdom
RASMUSSEN Alex Denmark
GREENEDGE CYCLING TEAM
DAVIS Allan Australia
GERRANS Simon Australia
KATUSHA TEAM
GALIMZYANOV Denis Russia
MENCHOV Denis Russia
LAMPRE - ISD
BOLE Grega Slovenia
CUNEGO Damiano Italy
ULISSI Diego Italy
LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE
BASSO Ivan Italy
SZMYD Sylvester Poland
VIVIANI Elia Italy
LOTTO - BELISOL TEAM
BAK Lars Ytting Denmark
HENDERSON Gregory New Zealand
MOVISTAR TEAM
ARROYO DURAN David Spain
CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS Jonathan Spain
ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin Spain
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro Spain
OMEGA PHARMA - QUICKSTEP CYCLING TEAM
BOONEN Tom Belgium
CHAVANEL Sylvain France
LEIPHEIMER Levi United States
MARTIN Tony Germany
PROJECT 1T4I
DEGENKOLB John Germany
KITTEL Marcel Germany
RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM
MOLLEMA Bauke Netherlands
RENSHAW Mark Australia
SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon Spain
RADIOSHACK - NISSAN
DIDIER Laurent Luxembourg
HORNER Christopher United States
IRIZAR ARANBURU Markel Spain
KLÖDEN Andreas Germany
MONFORT Maxime Belgium
SCHLECK Andy Luxembourg
SCHLECK Frank Luxembourg
SAUR - SOJASUN
COPPEL Jerome France
FEILLU Brice France
GALLAND Jérémie France
HIVERT Jonathan France
SKY PROCYCLING
FROOME Christopher United Kingdom
PORTE Richie Australia
THOMAS Geraint United Kingdom
WIGGINS Bradley United Kingdom
TEAM EUROPCAR
GAUDIN Damien France
ROLLAND Pierre France
VOECKLER Thomas France
TEAM SAXO BANK
AAEN JORGENSEN Jonas Denmark
KROON Karsten Netherlands
MORKOV Michael Denmark
NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel Spain
NUYENS Nick Belgium
TOSATTO Matteo Italy
VACANSOLEIL - DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM
DE GENDT Thomas Belgium
FEILLU Romain France
LEUKEMANS Björn Belgium
LIGTHART Pim Netherlands
MORTENSEN Martin Denmark
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80 comments
I suspect Steve Cummings might not turn out for BMC, unless there is a magician who can fix a broken pelvis.
I suspect Steve Cummings might not turn out for BMC, unless there is a magician who can fix a broken pelvis.
Stage 5 is going to decide it unless some super human TT guy blows them away in stage 1 and 8
Stage 8 is a 450m climb over 9k, don't forget. it's not just a time trial. there's every chance of it being won or lost on the Col d'Èze if you ask me
Fact..
The stage profiles are up:
http://www.letour.fr/2012/PNC/COURSE/us/100/etape_par_etape.html
Right, i've narrowed it down to 31 riders, so i'm waiting on the final start list, see if that narrows it down for me again and THEN and only THEN, will i make up my mind on anyone after studying form, past results and so on......
NO seriously, you think i'm pulling your leg this time and giving you false information, i'm not, i need to climb back up the rankings and win a stage to get on that leaderboard with a high score
I have a notepad this year aswell
Right, really done the homework for this.
Going pure once again - so i've gone for:
3 Frenchmen, all with P-N form;
2 climbers;
1 TT specialist who showed some form in the mountains in recent years;
Couple of cheap DS who have good early season form.
Game on!
Sounds like a profile that Jonathan Tiernan-Locke would suit, and he's bang in form.
It would be perfect, but Endura aint racing
from what i know so far of who is riding i have 6/9 places pretty much in my head. my team contains 2 sky, OPQS, Liqugas, AG2R and Saur riders
My starting team:
Tony Martin (OPQ)
AR Value: 38.4 previous winner
David Millar (GRM)
AR Value: 28.2 TT
Thomas de Gendt (VCD)
AR Value: 18.4 TT & Rouleur
Samuel Dumoulin (COF)
PC Value: 14.7 Can't TT but can sprint and does climb
Richie Porte (SKY)
DS Value: 14.4 TT & climb
Likely canidates
Alex Rasmussen (GRM)
DS Value: 10.1 TT & prologue specialist
Jerome Coppel (SAU)
DS Value: 14.6 local GC hope who did 15th in TdF Monaco prologue
Would like but might be a bit out of budget
Tejay Van Garderen
Will wait and see what "DS" are added later
Extra research results from prologue at 2010 Paris Nice and 2010 & 2011 Tour De Suisse (short & hilly)
By my calculations you've got 11.2 left. You can get 2 reasonable DSs for that but not TJ
Nice pick, but I don't see him on the official race start list (http://www.letour.fr/2012/PNC/RIDERS/us/engages.html) but as a substitue.
He does appear on the game (!) start list, though... Hmmm... Which list is right?...
By the way, thanks for the research! Mighty helpful!
Its defo more of a climbers tour than that of a sprinter, but there is a must in my team ready for the stage 2 sprint based on his current form and price
I have not read the Volta & Haut Var threads, doing my research by watching the races have not finished Volta ao Algarve yet and finishing the downloading Tour du Haut Var in french. So no spoilers
If you need those races or any other cycling races http://cyclingtorrents.nl
Had a quick squizz at possible riders and got a base team of 6 who i believe will be taking part and just got to fine tune it.
My team is going to consist of Climbing TT guys, so anyone that can climb and TT
Useful summary although I've been planning for about 2 weeks. Hence Volta and Haut Var threads. Essential nowadays to get off to a good start with so many star riders of a particular type who can score heavily early on. Second ITT is a climb so technically an ICTT.
So my team will probably look like this to start:
Martin,
LuLuSanchez,
Millar,
Kloden,
Phinney,
Astarloza,
Szmyd,
Moreno,
Zabriskie.
Wiggo and Spartacus the obvious dangers to leave out.
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