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Grozny Classic Discussion
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 02-12-2016 14:23
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Grozny Classic
| Category: C1 | 249,8 km | terrain: cobbles |  Russia |
Paris - Roubaix for Pro Continental teams. Well, a russian copy slighty shorter but on a circuit with a tricky hill on it. And of course lacking that legendary velodrome. And without a sexy trophy. And on a circuit and not on a real course of different roads. But well, still an amazing race to look forward to.
Who would bet against a  Summerhill festival on this track? Especially looking at last years race, which was a pure wreckfest. And with Vanspeybrouck going up one division it will get a tough ask to compete with that dominant American. But with Bewley not here due to obvious reasons we could at least have a race going on at "Paris-Roubaix-light", cause in a final sprint the Azteca star is not unbeatable.
| Cob | Sta | Fla | Spr | Acc | Hil | Res | | Danny Summerhill | 83 | 76 | 78 | 70 | 73 | 73 | 72 |  Mike Teunissen | 81 | 77 | 76 | 67 | 69 | 65 | 73 |  Michel Sibilla | 81 | 72 | 71 | 66 | 64 | 63 | 68 |  Ruben Zepuntke | 81 | 79 | 72 | 72 | 64 | 69 | 72 |  Kenneth Vanbilsen | 80 | 80 | 78 | 72 | 71 | 69 | 74 | | Fabian Cancellara | 80 | 71 | 80 | 68 | 68 | 68 | 71 |  Jerome Baugnies | 80 | 80 | 78 | 65 | 73 | 72 | 73 |  Nikolas Maes | 79 | 79 | 80 | 62 | 67 | 67 | 74 |  Enrico Franzoi | 79 | 74 | 75 | 55 | 68 | 66 | 68 | | Fabien Taillefour | 78 | 70 | 77 | 54 | 55 | 57 | 70 |  Robert Bush | 78 | 75 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 62 | 73 | | Kevin Eeckhout | 77 | 71 | 72 | 64 | 57 | 61 | 71 | | Damien Gaudin | 77 | 77 | 74 | 57 | 71 | 68 | 69 |  Matti Breschel | 77 | 76 | 75 | 77 | 73 | 70 | 67 |  Azzeddine Lagab | 76 | 72 | 73 | 72 | 74 | 71 | 67 | | Stijn Joseph | 76 | 76 | 74 | 66 | 70 | 66 | 70 | | Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy | 76 | 74 | 74 | 78 | 76 | 64 | 66 | | Sebastian Langeveld | 76 | 78 | 76 | 63 | 73 | 72 | 70 | | Christoph Taubel | 76 | 68 | 72 | 61 | 64 | 64 | 72 |
Realistically there are 6 guys that can beat Danny Summerhill. The rival #1 could be Jerome Baugnies and Kenneth Vanbilsen. The belgian duo has a superb stamina to offer, and if they get that one to work by making this race extraordinary hard over the whole race they might have a chance. And especially Strava has the team to do that. Their captain also has a competitive hill stat to offer but would suffer in a sprint against Summerhill, while it's the other way round for . He can beat the american in a head to head sprint, but the hilly section can become his problem.
Mike Teunissen is just a poor mans Summerhill lacking the hilly ability. Still a well timed attack could bring him the win.
Ruben Zepuntke has similar issues. His stats would look very decent for this, if there wouldn't be the unexplainable lack of acceleration ability and stealth on the flat roads. His only chance is to come over a pure cobbled shootout and then a long head-to-head sprint.
Then it's Fabian Cancellara. The old swiss could still be a top rider if it wasn't for his dying engine in a race with some extra kilometers. A slower race where the flat stat has an influence could still make him a danger. His teammate Sibilla has nothing really to offer and can, if lucky, maximum compete by hanging on to some riders' slipstreams and take some lower Top10 placements. Overall the length of the race should hurt Novatek a lot.
The final man to watch out is Nikolas Maes. So far the Arrinera cobbles captain coudn't completely deliver. But now is a good time, the course fits him very well. He'd be the perfect guy to try something from a but further out and could be a major contestant in this race.
For some dark horses there are some half-classic sprinters and allrounders in the game as well, but they need a perfect day or a free role from their team to deliver:
Sprinters:
Breschel
Nepomnyachsniy
De Backer
Van Asbroeck
Allrounders:
Bush
Langeveld
Debesay
Full Startlist:
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| matt17br |
Posted on 02-12-2016 14:26
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Don't expect much out of this... Teunissen's best skill certainly isn't hills. A top 10 is gonna be fine, anything more and I'm gonna be all the more content.
Summerhill will have to find a way to lose this tbh, otherwise he has it in the bag.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 02-12-2016 14:28
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Wow, a small pack and cobbles, time to get the points we need to avoid regelation!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 02-12-2016 16:02
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Looking forward to seeing new ways Cancellara is going to disappoint on the cobbles.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 02-12-2016 16:27
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I think this is our only June race and we can save the entire month by a good result now. Thanks for the nice words about strava and the great preview, looking forward to an action-packed race. The cobblez classics this year are always the best reads, obv no bias on my part, and no pressure on yours, croatia.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 02-12-2016 16:50
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Obviously hoping for Breschel to do something here. Would be nice to see him challenging for a top 10
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| Shonak |
Posted on 02-12-2016 23:38
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Selwink wrote:
Looking forward to seeing new ways Cancellara is going to disappoint on the cobbles.
In what world is Cancellara going to disappoint you with Sta 71 and HL68, when the entire race is a cobbled-hilly affair of 247 kilometers. Frankly. if he finishes Top 10 you can feel lucky.
Edited by Shonak on 03-12-2016 08:31
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Shonak |
Posted on 04-12-2016 19:58
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Thanks for the report, croatia. Too bad the non-stop racing action of previous classics was missing but I guess it's been a long season already. 
Summerhill level above the rest, and Baugnies clearly not on form when he can't even hold the wheel of someone like Van Asbroeck or Franzoi on such such a hilly-cobbled course with his solid hill stat and killer stamina. Well, he must have had shit daily form I guess, just too bad it happened in such a race where Top 3 would have been easily within reach. Still the team has 6 finishers inside point ranks and gets some okayish PoRD-rate. Langeveld also solid.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 04-12-2016 20:03
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If you can't win, a 2-3 is the best you can get. Very strong race by Van Asbroeck, which is promising for the sprint classics. Much needed points for us! Thanks for the report!
Summerhill clearly the best cobbler this season, well done Azteca. Are there any other classics left? Because it would be a shame if Strava didn't win one classic.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 04-12-2016 20:08
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There's still Tour of Battenkill and Rheden GP afaik, maybe even one more?
I just checked Strava HQ of last year and Grozny Classic was with a 20th by Langeveld also our worst cbs result last year. Looks like Strava's GPS reception is just really awful in Chechnya. ^^
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 01:45
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| Selwink |
Posted on 04-12-2016 20:16
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4 in the top-20 is not too bad at all actually, though only 34 points is a bit less than I hoped for. Probably the best result for Sibilla this year though which is obviously a good thing 
Thanks for the report
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 04-12-2016 20:17
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5th place nice! 
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| matt17br |
Posted on 04-12-2016 20:36
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Teunissen took my post quite literally 
Well, I'm not unhappy considering how the race did pan out. Now onto the next classics awaiting Generali! Congrats Kent and as usual thanks for the greatly written reports to Croatia.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 04-12-2016 20:40
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Franzoi with a decent 4th place and Nepo with 11th just missing the top 10. Overall a decent performance by Shimano. |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 05-12-2016 01:59
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Good to see Danny is on form for our win goal. Glad he made the task seem rather casual in the process which makes me hopeful for the upcoming cobbles races that we still need wins and points at.
AZTECA - NBCSN |
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| Heine |
Posted on 05-12-2016 11:43
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Really dissapointing result  I believe no matter what happens I will have to invest some heavy training money into Ruben for next season, this is just not good enough from him
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 20-12-2016 13:42
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Sorry for reacting so late, have been a hectic last month for me.
Breschel about as expected, though not his full-fat self. Credit to Neilands for finishing the race, apparently that was an achievement in itself for this one.
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