Written by Willunga Hill at 02:35 17/9-2016
Four days out from Season #38's Monte Rosa Tour, and with the roster complete Willunga Hill management is once again taking a look at the competition. Here's their preview report.
There are maybe 8 top tier contenders and another 6 outsiders. With no top forms occurring among any of them, this will be a straight competition based on who has the best core abilities suited for this race and the best support team.
Two teams come with multiple top tier contenders. Firstly, Treaty City CC come with Wilbur Garrity and Leo Drinkwater among the very best, as well as an outside chance in Eldgrímur Svanursson. It looks likely Garrity will be the team's #1, but with such a strong squad, if Garrity has even one bad day, Treaty City CC will still have options. The second team coming with multiple top tier threats is TD Rockets. They come with Jonathan Berthelsen and previous Monte Rosa winner, Rudolf Nieuwendijk. TD Rockets also come with a very strong support team and may not yet have chosen a captain -- both of their riders look the goods.
The Spanish rider Juanito Yegros of VC Botafogo also has to be viewed as a major player. The only rider in this year's field with 80+ skills in both CL and DH, Yegros will be looking to Stage 4 in particular, where he might hold a very marginal edge over the field, to make a difference. The young gun, Henning Olufsen, of Hilltup, combines good CL and HL skills with the standout TT/TQ/FR skills among the main contenders. Look for him to make early gains in the opening prologue, and then aim to hold onto the other contenders in the hills.
New Zealand has some history in this race. The most successful OCM Kiwi, Tamati Lima, is the only 3-time winner of Monte Rosa. No one else has won it even twice. Twelve seasons since Lima's last win and we enter this year's Tour with not one but two Kiwi's among the main contenders. Aidan Randall, of Rorys Rovers, comes to the race not in the best shape as his team only managed a last minute entry. With 2 more races to ride before the start on Day 20, it might be just a little too much for him. The same cannot be said for Willunga Hill's Shane Austin. By the time the Tour kicks off, Austin and his squad will have been training for 16 days, and have only one race under their belt for the season. Among the very best CLimbers in this year's race, if he can avoid his usual off days in the mountains, Austin might just add to NZ's proud history in this race. Perhaps his biggest problem will be the lack of team strength.
We've mentioned one of the 6 outsiders already. The other five to look out for, we feel, are blast's 22yo Raúl Navaez, Rainer Åberg of disco cycling, Bor Repše (also of VC Botafogo), Kai Prinsen (of pollyjean, though he might have to fight for the leadership with last year's 3rd place, "old man" Bengt Jakobsen), and Mastrochiodi's young gun Yimharan Peled.
Subscribers: 10
| |
Comments
I used him in the monte rosa as leader before rudolf maxed and he came 8th but this time I thought rudolf had a better chance
Did you ever think of using Berthelsen? Or were always going to back Rudolf again?
Haha it was a close ending
The outcome was even nicer for you!
Nice preview
Yep, Austin off days on Stages 2,3, and though not classified as such on Stage 4, 16th suggests he was that day too. It'd be prophetic if he didn't do it on almost all of the big days he races... is it possible OCM has riders who choke and riders who don't?
|
Other Team's Press Releases
|
|
|
