Welcome to planner's hell. Between french fries and german campervans several teams are willing to face the BeNeLux Challenge. 6 days of racing - not the nice velodrome version, but the rough one: Hills, cobbles, open roads, wind, weather. You gotta resist it all to be successful here.
The last warrior to win here will try to defend his title here: We are talking about Sauber-captain Gregory Hugentobler (2016). But he has to be aware of another former winner: Philips wildcard Marcel Wyss (2014) . They can all be happy that the third former winner, Marc de Maar (2015), is not here again.
But several stage winners of the past came back to compete and revive the glory they received earlier: Geschke (2016), Kruopis (2015), Takenouchi (2014). Why many more former winners (like Bille) are missing is unexplainable really. But let's not focus on what could have been, but take a look at who will be competing in this years edition.
Stage 1:
A prologue stage. The fastest man wins. Who could look past Chavanne for this? Ah yes: PCM AI is the only thing really that could possibly beat him.
Chavanne
82
Martin
78
Cruz
76
Laizer
76
Reus
79
Meyer
78
Goddaert
76
Sepulveda
76
Robert
79
Mullen
78
Hacecký
76
Van Zandbeek
76
Stannard
79
Van Emden
78
Kneisky
76
Vandewalle
76
Hofer
78
Ma
77
Kruopis
76
Hochmann
75
Chavanne Reus, Stannard, Robert van Emden, Meyer, Mullen, Martin, Hofer Ma, Kruopis, Sepulveda, Hochmann
Stage 2:
Away we go onto the first of two sprint stages. And this should be a rather obvious one for the sprinters. But watch out, there is a slight rise on the final kilometer, that could distract the pure sprinters. Surely their teams will make it a mass sprint
We go onto the hills. First off is the longer but calmer hill stage, that finishes with a huge downhill part. So whoever sprints first will win. The question is: Who will be able to sprint first? Will it be a solo rider, a favourite group or even a bigger bunch? We have a very open race on this stage.
The huge cobbled stage awaiting, and hills plaster the way. Can the pure puncheurs limit their losses? It is pretty unlikely that the best can resist the strongest cobblers, but hybrids may stand a chance. And could it be the first day for a breakaway win?
van Keirsbulck Schoonbrodt Drucker, Bush, Hugentobler Gatto, Vandenbergh, Thwaites, Jerome, Gilbert Squire, van Emden, Harrison, de Vreese, Grand, van der Poel, Per, Jams
Stage 5: Back to hills without cobbles. The chances get better for breakaway riders day by day. But there is also room for important GC movement over the several hills and on the final ramp.
HI
AC
HI
AC
HI
AC
Roux
78
75
Simon
76
74
Anderson
75
75
Monfort
77
72
Rybakov
76
72
Besada
75
75
Squire
77
71
Taborre
76
72
Gaimon
75
74
Diggle
77
70
Lietaer
76
71
Costa
75
73
Grippo
77
69
Gilbert
76
69
Hollenstein
75
73
Lejman
77
68
Passalacqua
76
69
Schoonbroodt
75
72
Vichot
76
80
Haavardsholm
75
80
Geschke
74
76
Hugentobler
76
76
Wyss
75
75
Gatto
74
72
Roux, Vichot Hugentobler, Squire, Breakaway Monfort, Haavardsholm, M. Wyss, Schoonbrodt Geschke, Gatto, Simon, Grippo, Anderson, Gaimon M.Kreder, van Emden, Gilbert, van der Poel, van Keirsbulck, Drucker
Stage 6: A long final stage awaits the peloton. You'd say the GC fight is closed, it is very unlikely that still a sprinter is involved that is capable of picking up points here. Instead, they want to use their second opportunity. But last stages on tours are quite breakaway-prone if they are flat. Maybe the length makes the difference in favor of a sprint royale?
We hope you very much enjoyed the preview of the stages. Rating the determining stages we now put together the Power Ranking for the Top 30 GC Contenders:
Let's see how the great Roux experiment goes by sending him here. I actually don't mind him being sent here - it's Geraardsbergen, Paris-Tours and Solidarnosc which are the dumb choices for him. Hope he can win at least a stage, but you never know with Benelux. Doubt Vandenbergh can do much on GC or even the cobbles given the hills associated. Roux could go for it if the peloton splits are left until the final climb or two on stage four, otherwise Jams is our man. Shame PCM won't give him leadership. Elsewhere Clarke only really has one stage to go for given the overwhelming breakaway odds for stage 6 - I remember last year we got a 1-2-3 in the sprint... for 7th
And thanks for an amazing preview Croatia, just awesome. I hope Schomber is racing for Statoil for the prologue too, as he would've just missed out on the stage 1 table so no way to tell
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Waat, Croatia reporting? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO TSMOHA?!?!?!
This will be an interesting race for us for sure. Except for having pretty much the only chance to win a GC this season with Schoonbroodt, we have top 5 potential in every stage. Of course we'll also have to compare ourselves to our promotion rivals to see how well we did eventually, but I'm certainly looking forward to a lot of points no matter what!
Welcome to the race no one has any clue about how will unfold. A mix of riders, of every type involved. Probably the hardest race to deal with in planning, trying to figure if it is worth sending. I sent Squire who should be fine on the hills, but the rest of the race could be a mess. Looks like others were about in the same position, not quite sure what to do.
My vaunted six man squad again... shows you my hopes for this thing.
Edited by Kentaurus on 25-02-2018 00:39
Wow Jaser mentioned in a Sprinters preview.. This kid is going places
In all honesty great preview Croatia! Although your prediction sees no such Andorra riders in the Top30 I hope they can prove that wrong, and I'm very excited for this one.
Stunning preview! This race has the potential to be really nutty, props the most varied route we will see in a CT race this year. Praying that GVK smacks the cobbles like he did in Bosberg. A GC on top would be great but not getting my hopes up.
Thinking we don't quite have the studs to last throughout this race and remain in GC contention, but maybe the likes of Jerome and Gradek can surprise me a bit. Vichot, Hochmann, and Mullen are here for stage victories, but we need to keep taking solid points from these C2HC races if we're to stay in the top spots.
Hugentobler and Schoonbrooooodt look like solid picks for top places (and we hope they end up beating the likes of Reus )
Our last goal race of the season and we've brought a team for all terrains. Will be tough for Wyss to make a mark overall, so mostly it's Drucker and his cobbles team who have to do the business for us.
This is race where we have to score big if we want to continue fighting for promotion. Gilbert and Marcato are both very solid riders for this route, with Gilbert being only worse than Schoonbrodt and slightly worse than Hugentobler in cobbles of the good puncheurs. Afaik, the game will consider the puncheurs as leaders, so probably the cobbler won't play a big role in the GC.
Apart from GC fight, i hope for a decent showing of Kneisky in the prologue, and to have riders in breakaways and to fight for once for the KoM jersey
I dont know how well we'll go here, its an odd race and I dont know if Thwaites will do a good GC being a cobbler and nothing else really. I've got to hope that these hill stages aren't too selective but we'll see what happens.
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Actually was meant to report this Benelux Challenge, but I've switched Andorra with Croatia. Looking at this preview, I'm glad we did Cool stuff with the preview for every stage! Hoping for a proper AI here, especially those hilly cobbles stages could be tricky for the game engine, I fear But I will wait and see. Just from the look of the profiles, it's a cool race (even though I did not want to report on it)!
Tamijo wrote:
My rider already got pain in their legs - waiting this long on the startline.
i have sent my riders back to the hotel
Can they stay there for the rest of the race? Big race for Jams
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Complaining always helps . But it was worth the wait! Great result and a great report, thanks Croatia.
Obviously sad to see Ma drop from first to third so late, but it's still some unexpected points, so I'm happy with it. Also, doesn't the TT stat come into play in prologues longer than 5km? If so, this result would be easier to explain with Chavanne not winning.
BeNeLux 
)
Thanks for that Croatia!
But I will wait and see. Just from the look of the profiles, it's a cool race (even though I did not want to report on it)!
