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Down Under Classic Discussion
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 02-11-2019 20:21
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Grand Tour Specialist
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 Down Under Classic
The 2019 PCT season starts with this 75-km flat criterium in the streets of Melbourne, with the finish line being in the Albert Park Circuit; the venue of F1 Australian GP. This is traditionally a race for the sprinters, to start showing how strong they are relative to the division, but with such a short mileage on the legs, a late attack could be a winning move, as it has happened sometimes in the past.
With 10 editions already in the history of the race, here we can see the past winners of this race, a race that has only saw two riders repeating the win; first one was Allan Davis, as the local rider won the 2011 and 2012 editions back-to-back; the other one is reigning champion Erik Mohs, who first won the 2010 edition before taking a second win in 2018
| Winner | Second | Third | | 2018 | Erik Mohs | Tom van Asbroeck | Caleb Ewan | | 2017 | Oscar Guerao | Matthew Goss | Maxime Vantomme | | 2016 | Ivano Lo Cicero | Maciej Ulanowski | Kobe Vanoverschelde | | 2015 | Mark Dzamastagic | Jerome Baugnies | Thomas Vedel Kvist | | 2014 | Danilo Kupfernagel | Ivano Lo Cicero | Gerald Ciolek | | 2013 | Andre Greipel | Danilo Napolitano | Allan Davis | | 2012 | Allan Davis | Daniele Bennati | Graeme Brown | | 2011 | Allan Davis | Mark Cavendish | Juan van Heerden | | 2010 | Erik Mohs | Matthew Goss | Peter Kennaugh | | 2009 | Mikhail Ignatiev | Niki Terpstra | Simon Gaywood |
So we have three former winner in the startlist;  Mohs, who will try to get a third win in his first race for GCN;  Lo Cicero, also in his first race for Europcar, trying to recover from two disapointing seasons, and  Kupfernagel, who isn't even the leader of his team for this race, having Silvestre (4th in 2017) ahead of him.
But the main favourite should be  Degenkolb. He's the best sprinter in the division, and you can argue that he's the best in the world. He was only sixth here in 2018, and the pressure to keep his team in PCT relies all on his shoulders. He needs to win all season, and this race is just the first step.
 Guarnieri is probably the main contender for the win. Not as fast as Degenkolb, but his all-round abilities are incredible, though the short distance of the race won't be on his benefit.
 Avelino,  Ciolek,  Cavendish are riders that can win this race, but age is starting to catch up to all of them, so questions have to be asked to them to see if they can keep their previous level
 Vanderbiest,  Saber,  Boeckmans,  Maksimov and  Enger are good outsiders, some of them with good historial in beating stronger sprinters to big wins. Would be a big surprise to see one of these riders taking the win in a mass sprint, but we've seen bigger surpirses in the past, so why not?
We haven't mentioned yet last year's runner-up  Van Asbroeck. He's used to punch above his weight in this kind of races, but in a new season we have to be cautious with what he can do, though it seems unlikely he'll repeat his 2018 performance here  Itami,  Manninen or  Kip can challenge for a Top5 in a good day.
| Favourite | SPR | ACC | FLA | RES | Contender | SPR | ACC | FLA | RES | | Degenkolb | 84 | 81 | 76 | 71 | Ciolek | 82 | 78 | 74 | 68 | | Guarnieri | 82 | 81 | 76 | 76 | Van Asbroeck | 80 | 78 | 75 | 72 | | Boeckmans | 81 | 83 | 73 | 71 | Vanderbiest | 82 | 77 | 74 | 69 | | Maksimov | 81 | 84 | 72 | 69 | Lo Cicero | 84 | 78 | 72 | 63 | | Silvestre | 80 | 81 | 78 | 71 | Mohs | 82 | 80 | 74 | 62 | | Manninen | 80 | 80 | 74 | 75 | Avelino | 83 | 78 | 71 | 66 | | Saber | 81 | 79 | 75 | 72 | Kupfernagel | 80 | 80 | 74 | 66 | | Cavendish | 82 | 80 | 72 | 70 | Kip | 80 | 82 | 69 | 63 | | Itami | 80 | 82 | 75 | 67 |  Ulanowski | 80 | 77 | 73 | 66 | | Enger | 81 | 78 | 73 | 73 | Vanoverschelde | 80 | 75 | 72 | 64 |
Now we move to the rouleurs, the ones that should try to avoid a mass sprint finish in Albert Park. We look here for riders that combine strong flat abilities, a good punch to launch a powerful attack and the agresivity to make it. One name stands out here, Arashiro. Probably the best shot for the win for his team, as Itami should be much trusted for this race.
Van der Haar is likely going to work for Guarnieri, but if the Italian doesn't have the right legs, he could be given freedom, and his skillset is perfect. Vanbilsen is another candidate to be involved in those late attacks, same as Tennant, Sakala, Naud, Gallego Martin or  Feng.
There's one rider that doesn't really fit in any mold, neither a pure sprinter or a pure rouleur. We are talking about  Rowe. He has the skillset we are looking for in an attacker, but he's fast enough to compete for decent placing in a sprint. If a group manages to escape and he's in there, he becomes the biggest favourite. Interesting situation for the Welsh rider
| FLA | FIG | ACC | SPR | | FLA | FIG | ACC | SPR | | Rowe | 78 | 75 | 80 | 79 | Tennant | 77 | 78 | 68 | 67 | | Arashiro | 80 | 78 | 74 | 68 | Kireva | 75 | 71 | 73 | 70 | | Sakala | 76 | 80 | 78 | 66 | Hermans | 76 | 75 | 72 | 65 | | Breen | 77 | 74 | 72 | 73 | Brockhoff | 79 | 64 | 73 | 62 | | Vanbilsen | 78 | 72 | 71 | 72 | Naud | 76 | 78 | 67 | 64 | | Mraouni | 77 | 71 | 74 | 71 | Biermans | 75 | 75 | 67 | 66 | | Van der Haar | 77 | 76 | 70 | 72 | Gallego Martin | 77 | 80 | 60 | 62 | | Ford | 75 | 80 | 73 | 68 | Feng | 78 | 74 | 62 | 60 |
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 02-11-2019 20:23
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Let's hope for another fluke result from Ulanowski...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 02-11-2019 20:26
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World Champion
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Stacked startlist as expected and it'll be a tough nut to crack for us! We're here to cause chaos and get Luke or even Habtom to the line in a group without the big names. Four riders on Xero debut is very cool to see for me  Very interesting to see the sprint hierarchy begin to form if we fail in ruining their day, expecting Degenkolb to take it obviously but Guarnieri etc will hope to spoil his day. Good luck to everyone and a big thanks to Aquarius for the great preview and I'm sure great reporting!
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
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 20:10
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| knockout |
Posted on 02-11-2019 20:30
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Grand Tour Champion
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I can't do anything but cheer for successful late attacks in this race. Memories are still too strong. Dzamastagic 2015 - never forget 
Interesting to see no Ignatiev here. Would have loved to see him repeating his victory a decade after his first success.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 02-11-2019 20:38
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Grand Tour Champion
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Mohs here for us to defend his crown! Hoping for a good showing but it is a very stacked field! Top 5 is a realistic expectation for us
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 02-11-2019 20:38
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Yes yes let's do this! Obviously we won't repeat last year, so just starting the season would be good enough for us 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 02-11-2019 21:51
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Classics Specialist
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Hmm, for some reason I thought this was a hilly race on the Benelong course, totally forgot/ didn't realise down under classic is the flat course.
I'm going to blame it on both the other divisions starting with a hilly race and PCT being the only Flat Opener when we've been used to San Cristobal for the past 5 years or so.
Ah well, start as we mean to go on and all that :shrug:
Cue Hirschi with the debut breakaway win 
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 02-11-2019 22:15
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Classics Specialist
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Lo Cicero, you sexy sexy beast. Forza Italia! |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 02-11-2019 22:22
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4190
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sammyt93 wrote:
Hmm, for some reason I thought this was a hilly race on the Benelong course, totally forgot/ didn't realise down under classic is the flat course.
I'm going to blame it on both the other divisions starting with a hilly race and PCT being the only Flat Opener when we've been used to San Cristobal for the past 5 years or so.
Ah well, start as we mean to go on and all that :shrug:
Cue Hirschi with the debut breakaway win
Now your roster for the race makes sense 
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| ryant |
Posted on 02-11-2019 22:25
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Small Tour Specialist
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Lets go Enger!!! Hopefully we should be in with a chance of a top 5 here, would kick the season off nicely!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 02-11-2019 23:38
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Classics Specialist
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Fun watch to see some of my opponents next season (  ) love riders like Rowe, so think I'll pull for him to find something amazing to start the season.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 02-11-2019 23:45
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3802
Joined: 03-07-2012
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Aquarius97 wrote:
sammyt93 wrote:
Hmm, for some reason I thought this was a hilly race on the Benelong course, totally forgot/ didn't realise down under classic is the flat course.
I'm going to blame it on both the other divisions starting with a hilly race and PCT being the only Flat Opener when we've been used to San Cristobal for the past 5 years or so.
Ah well, start as we mean to go on and all that :shrug:
Cue Hirschi with the debut breakaway win
Now your roster for the race makes sense
If we pull off a shock do I get to claim I was planning in 4D chess moves?
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 03-11-2019 06:26
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Team Leader
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Way to strong startlist for my taste  , but can always hope for a good result.
Anyway great to have the reason start rolling.
Thanks Aquarius, always top stuff from you.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 03-11-2019 07:24
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The preview says Saber should be top 10 and that's about the same expectation that we have. A repeat of last year's result would be awesome but looks unlikely. Great to have the season underway
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| beagle |
Posted on 03-11-2019 08:43
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Grand Tour Specialist
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But the main favourite should be pcmdaily.com/images/mg/2019/Micros/itd.png Degenkolb. He's the best sprinter in the division, and you can argue that he's the best in the world. He was only sixth here in 2018, and the pressure to keep his team in PCT relies all on his shoulders. He needs to win all season, and this race is just the first step.
This.
I hope for the first step to keep my team away from relegation here.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 03-11-2019 09:01
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Looking forward to this race. Season debut and first goal of the season.
Also it's going to be interesting to see the peloton's colors mashed together.
Degenkolb the man to beat for me. Go Avelino!
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| redordead |
Posted on 03-11-2019 12:37
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Very strong startlist, but expected to be honest since it's the 1st race of the season
If we can deliver Ciolek to a good position then we stand a good chance at a result.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 03-11-2019 13:00
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Classics Specialist
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Really excited to see how my brand new sprint setup will function, it's the first test and a trio of sprinters alongside a nice combination of powerful rouleurs should work well, the race is flat flat so Kip should have no trouble contesting in the end!
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 03-11-2019 13:01
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A low-key start to the season for ISA - Hexacta. Our flat-beast approach to sprint racing in the 2019 season gets it's first airing, go Santos, Feng, Mraouni, et al.!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 03-11-2019 13:14
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2545
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First test to see if a declined Cav can still cut the mustard.
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