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KBC De Panne Tour Discussion
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-07-2015 12:45
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Directeur Sportif
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 KBC De Panne Tour
A cobbled stage race going into it's second edition: the race organisation went for more pavés this time, since the GC went to non-cobblers last year, where Ian Bibby came away with the overall victory after some fairly poor selections on the opening stage(s).
So we do have two quite challenging first days now. All flat rated, but featuring several short climbs to make for a partly flat, partly hilly profile for both of the two key stages here.
The concluding 11km timetrial will then offer the chance to gain valuable seconds or minutes. Given the new route, TT-specialists lacking skills on the pavé are likely to struggle this year.
The Startlist
The Favorites | Rider | COB | TT | Rider | COB | TT |  Vanspeybrouck | 82 | 62 |  Drucker | 77 | 68 |  Summerhill | 82 | 59 |  Trentin | 77 | 61 |  Baugnies | 80 | 62 | Stallaert | 77 | 58 |  Boonen | 79 | 68 |  Daniel | 77 | 56 |  Maes | 79 | 64 |  Langeveld | 76 | 68 |  Thomas | 79 | 63 |  Joseph | 76 | 64 |  Vanmarcke | 79 | 62 |  Polanc | 76 | 58 |  Veelers | 78 | 70 | Grashev | 75 | 64 |  Vandenbergh | 78 | 68 | Boom | 74 | 78 |  Taillefour | 78 | 65 | Pozzato | 73 | 69 | | Albert | 78 | 57 | Jeandesbosz | 73 | 67 |
A startlist packed with the division's best cobblers, so of course we have the big four here: Vanspeybrouck, Summerhill, Baugnies and Boonen. Not to forget E3 Prijs-winner Grashev, of course. The GC though won't go past those big four. Boonen as the most polyvalent favorite: amongst the best sprinters, cobblers and adding a decent TT (for the standards here). Surely a big race for him in particular.
We do have the usual suspects then: Thomas, Vanmarcke, Maes, Veelers, Vandenbergh.. guys like Veelers, Trentin, Stallaert or Daniel of course trying to benefit from their sprint skills. Especially Veelers as another polyvalent contender here.
Boom is something like a dark horse here: if he survives the (partly hilly) cobbled stages in the front groups, he can do some damage in the concluding timetrial. Also Pozzato as someone to watch out for.
The Stage Hunters | Chronomen | TT | COB | Sprinters | SP | COB | | Van Winden | 80 | 57 | Boonen | 81 | 79 | | Dempster | 79 | 60 | Nelson | 81 | 64 | | Boom | 78 | 74 | Groenewegen | 80 | 59 | | Christensen | 77 | 65 | Kankovský | 80 | 55 | | Steensen | 77 | 60 | Stallaert | 79 | 77 | | Boaro | 77 | 54 | Boeckmans | 79 | 73 | | Gretsch | 77 | 53 | Farrar | 79 | 71 | | Van Zandbeek | 76 | 64 | Corioni | 79 | 70 | | Clesen | 76 | 60 | Vingerling | 79 | 68 | | | | Peeters | 79 | 68 | | | | Greipel | 79 | 65 |
Speaking of Boom, speaking of the TT: Van Winden and Dempster as those, who will aim for the stage-win there. They are, however, probably not fighting for the GC though.. so Boom actually as the most promising pick there.
As said before: Boonen amongst the best sprinters. Surely the man to beat in the stage made for the fast men. Also Staellert/Boeckmans or Farrar as fairly dangerous threats.. Nelson, Groenewegen and Kankovský as pure sprinters and this one stage as their day to deliver.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 20-07-2015 12:55
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World Champion
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Breakaways! Lots and lots of breakaways!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 20-07-2015 12:58
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8290
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Hmmm could be a chance for Boonen here. All he has to do is hold on and then take some bonus time.
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| roturn |
Posted on 20-07-2015 12:58
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Team Manager
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No idea what to expect here...
Vanmarcke could top5 due to the cobbles.
But not sure if he goes for himself or waiting for Boom.
Boom could get the TT due to less exhaustment after the cobbles. And Groenewegen could get a nice sprint result but who am I fooling...no way, he is going to perform in this sprint...Boonen, Stallaert, Corioni for the sprint stage I guess.
So in best case Vanmarcke and Boom both with top10 here. But this will be hard. |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 20-07-2015 13:01
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
Joined: 21-07-2012
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Lots and lots of cobbles in the first stages it seems. Could be a good chance for Maes, might be too tough for a group deciding the winner(s).
Looks like it was a good idea to send Winden here, could be a serious chance for a stage-win finally, with some help of Daily form of course.
Just got to survive the cobbles. Glad third stage is flat so he has some time to recover from the cobbles.
Not shocked that I wasn't the only one bringing a sprinter(especially since these quick cobblers were always bound to come here  ) but Vingerling has a decent chance I suppose.
In the end pretty strong lineup for us, well, it's some sort of a home race I guess.
Actually it would be more useful to put PRL in the preview because PRL weights more than TT in this TT, normally. But who am I to say that
Good work.
@Ollfardh
Please no. TomTom is out of MG luck.
Edited by Jesleyh on 20-07-2015 13:07
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-07-2015 13:04
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
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Just a quick note on the reports: first stage will have to wait 1d19h to go online! Blame it on me putting up the preview too early - or on roturn for setting the betting deadline too late
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 20-07-2015 13:06
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
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Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 20-07-2015 18:13
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
Joined: 03-07-2012
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Hopefully Drucker can get a top 10 on GC here. He should be top 15 after the cobble stages and then I can see him picking up a few places in the TT.
If the prologue stat is more favoured then the TT stat then I think Chavanne could get a good stage result there but I think it will be the TT stat which counts more.
I've brought Manan in the hope he can do something on the only sprint stage but I wasn't expecting him to have quite as much competition here so now I'll be happy if he can get a top 10 there.
Out of the 2 cobbled stage I think the opening one will be more selective with the second one more likely to be a reduced bunch sprint, or at least for the minor places if a small amount of riders get away.
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| matt17br |
Posted on 20-07-2015 18:31
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Come on Fab(s), let's go kick some asses 
Hoping for a top 10 in the GC at least, too bad the first 2 stages are full of hills 
Boaro could very well surprise and get on the podium or even win the tt stage, given what's happening lately.
Good to see there aren't many 80+ sprinters so that Moser can have a chance as well.
Boonen is my bet for the gc this time around. After that incredible Roubaix I see him keeping up with some other good performances.
Thanks for yet another preview tsmoha 
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 20-07-2015 18:50
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3999
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Time for Summerhill to notch some more wins, he has been consistently good, but I'd like to get to the top again. Azteca doesn't have any GC wins at all yet in their little over a year of existence and now would be the perfect time to change that.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 20-07-2015 19:11
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Classics Specialist
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Hoping for a selective race, with the top 10-15 cobblers way in front of the rest. Hopefully Trentin can get inside the top 10 in the GC at the end, or something like that. And, breaks, breaks, breaks. Haven't seen to much of them from our side lately.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 07:26
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| knockout |
Posted on 20-07-2015 20:14
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Grand Tour Champion
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After Roubaix the expectations on Boonen are of course high. I can only hope that he can ride on the wave.
His whole cobble squad is with him and additionally Wagner and Bogdanovics for the sprint stage. Seeing the sprinter field I propably should have went with a better third sprinter instead of Bogdanovics.
I'm very glad that Cancellara did not made the step backwards to PCT. Otherwise, it would have been hard to contest the overall victory.
No breakaway, no breakaway. We don't want to see this kind of decision for this race
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 20-07-2015 20:21
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
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Langeveld did great so far in most cobbled classics, so I definitely expect some points from Langeveld, he's also not too bad when it comes to TT, I think.
Maybe we also have some luck and get a BOTD scoring option. Corioni could do well in the bunch sprint on third stage. Hoping for a nice race. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 20-07-2015 22:51
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
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On last years cobble AI, Veelers would've been one of the favorites here. But with the increased selectiveness of cobble races (which is awesome btw), I'm afraid he'll lose too much time to some of the tougher cobblers. Still, somewhere around 6th place should be possible. Especially if Nuyens decides to help him.
Don't expect much from Pozzato for the same reason. Maybe he can do something in stage 2.
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 20-07-2015 23:01
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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Hoping for a solid outing from VDB in the overall, and whatever scraps the rest of the motely crew we have sent here can mop up!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| roturn |
Posted on 22-07-2015 09:40
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Team Manager
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I guess Vanmarcke worked for Boom here? Or was it other way around?
Having two in that group is great. Had loved to have 3 but Nooytens is crap this year.
Thanks for the report and if we make this again in the next stage, then it should be a successful race. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 22-07-2015 09:53
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Team Manager
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Sauber Wonder how they ended up on the teams classification with only 2 riders.
Great to see a proper selection on this stage. Did wonder at the start if Albert could be on his way to repeating his 2012 GC win by being the best in the breakaway. Maybe better for Bpost if that had happened, with Summerhill seeming to have the edge on Vanspeybrouck this year. Can't understand the performance of riders like Thomas or Langeveld though.
Certainly the right decision not to try and defend Bibby's title!
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| matt17br |
Posted on 22-07-2015 09:57
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Directeur Sportif
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What the fuck was that???? Clearly Shonak needs a hug as well. But I mean, bloody hell, you can't lose 10 minutes in that way!
Why did I even spend money on cobblers...
Thanks for the report #123456789, tsmoha. Oh and congrats for yet another dominant performance to Azteca I guess it's a close battle between the first 2, but with that Summerhill it could well be closed in the next stage.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 22-07-2015 10:01
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
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Did stupid-ass PCm actually appoint Corioni as my captain for this stage and the overall race instead of the usual superb Langeveld? Fuck my life.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-07-2015 10:03
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
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| 13 | Generali - Kronenbourg 1664 | + 44'40 | | 14 | Team TomTom | + 44'51 | | 15 | Sauber Petronas Racing | + 1h15'37 | | 16 | BelarusBank Pro Cycling | + 1h27'47 |
Now don't ask me what's the actual calculation here 
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