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Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var-matin (2.1), 21.02 - 22.02.2015

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Startlist includes: Le Bon, Gilbert, Atapuma, Vuillermoz, Spilak, Voeckler, Hivert, Gerdemann etc.

Complete lineup: http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=150072&c=3

Official site: http://www.tourduhautvar.com/

Ticker operated by Direct Velo: http://direct.directvelo.com/live-course/2251/tour-du-haut-var-etape-1-2-1.html

Eurosport seems to be a partner, but not sure if this will be live.
 
I've always liked this race. It's a good, challenging route and as a semi-francophile, it's a pleasure to see the second-tier Frenchies - the El Fares' and the Julien Simons of the peloton - on their home soil.

I'm hoping for Mikael Cherel to do something. He's usually good in this race, and the lumpy parcours fits him. He was quite good in Dubai, although it's probably a stretch to wish for his first pro win to appear here with the likes of Philippe Gilbert attending the race.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Roude Leiw said:
Sepulveda.... Or Benny Gastauer to stay in Betancurs team

Lol super good pick Roude Leiw you should have put money on that, I wonder what the odds would have been. Especially considering Gastauer has been a pro since 2009 and never won anything. Even his one win, Luxembourg TT champion, Bob Jungels was faster than him, but was competing in the U23 category.

I am incredibly happy for him because I've followed his results and his performances closely for years. His dad runs a really good website where he writes detailed reports about his races. Gastauer seems like a really, really nice guy and Vincent Lavenu has often called him "too nice". His test results always put him among the best of his team but then he could never use it to his advantage in the races. Plus, once you have the domestique role in your team, it's easy to get stuck in it. And you get more and more used to driving the peloton as a diesel and lose your punch.

But last year during the Tour Gastauer finally showed his true capabilities. It was a freak result of circumstance that both Froome and Contador crashed out, otherwise their teams would have done all the work and Gastauer would have passed unnoticed yet again. Plus Riblon was in bad shape, so all of these things coming together meant that Gastauer got to step up to the plate and boy did he deliver. His pace making was impressive, but then he was also the most important "3rd man" for the team competition, so after the pace making he still continued his effort and usually came in around 20th or so. That way he assured AG2R the team competition victory.

Gastauer won a lot of races, high level, hard mountain races, in the U23 category. He beat Tejay Van Garderen in one race for example, Tour de Haute Savoie IINM. I think that shows the power he has. But he has a big frame (over 1.90m) so once among the pros, he couldn't excell in the mountains anymore. Though if you look at his performances he has some top-20 results in MTFs in the Giro, including a Mountain ITT two years ago IIRC. He is a classic "passe partout" rider and his main strength seems to be is durability. His main specialty are GT's (did Giro-Vuelta double for a few years in a row), where he holds up well in the third week.

Finally, it looks like he has remarkable placement skills in the peloton, he rarely ever crashes, and finished his entire season last year without a single DNF.

Sorry for the long write-up. Congratulations Ben!
 
roundabout said:
This is a truly glorious video even if it could have been 5 minutes shorter.

Very easy 2nd place for Hivert as well.

lol.

Result:

1. LUX GASTAUER Ben ALM 4h11'15" 20
2. FRA HIVERT Jonathan BSE 07" 10
3. BEL GILBERT Philippe BMC 07" 5
4. GER WEGMANN Fabian CLT 07" 3
5. FRA LAPORTE Christophe COF 07" 0
6. SLO SPILAK Simon KAT 07" 0
7. RUS TSATEVICH Alexei KAT 07" 0
8. FRA LADAGNOUS Matthieu FDJ 07" 0
9. GER GERDEMANN Linus CLT 07" 0
10. ESP VICIOSO ARCOS Angel KAT 07" 0
11. FRA DUMOULIN Samuel ALM 07" 0

About 47 on +7s and 62 within 1 minutes (total).

Anyway a very nice solo win made from a break.
 
Aug 3, 2009
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Bye Bye Bicycle said:
Really good pick there.

Thanks, but to be really honest, I threw this out because I like Benny, very nice guy and a countryman :D , see Christians post for his career. Did not think that he would win today
 

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