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Down Under Classic Discussion
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 30-10-2021 10:14
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Just wrote the preview, report will be by the amazing Nemolito 
 Down Under Classic
The Down Under Classic returns for a thirteenth successive edition - a mainstay of the HC calendar since the division began and now known as its iconic season opener around Adelaide Park. The list of former winners contains some of sprinting's most iconic names - from Greipel to Davis, from Mohs to  Guararnierri, who's here to try and make it a threepeat, and also perhaps the first and I'm sure the last rider to win the same race in three consecutive years for the same team, which has changed its name each year (and also after being signed in free agency each time). However, he'll be facing some stiff competition as, unless a roleur outwits the peloton as Dzamastagic did in 2015, we usually expect a full house of the PCT's best sprinters to arrive at the finish together given the short nature of the route - the shortest road race on the calendar!
| Name | FLA | SPR | ACC | RES | Leadout | SPR |  Ewan | 75 | 83 | 81 | 71 | Aberasturi | 79 |  Kennaugh | 77 | 82 | 81 | 71 | Kennett | 79 |  Howard | 76 | 82 | 79 | 70 | Suryadi | 79 |  Kragh Andersen | 77 | 81 | 77 | 74 | Lander | 79 |  Vesely | 73 | 81 | 80 | 68 | Hodeg | 79 |  Silvestre | 78 | 80 | 81 | 71 | El Sabbahi | 73 |  Bonifazio | 79 | 80 | 80 | 75 | Sajnok | 72 |  Halvorsen | 76 | 80 | 80 | 71 | Räim | 76 | | Guarnieri | 74 | 80 | 78 | 73 | Coutinho | 79 |  Cullaigh | 73 | 80 | 81 | 70 | Bar | 76 |  Van Asbroeck | 75 | 80 | 78 | 72 | Jans | 74 |  Guerao | 73 | 82 | 75 | 63 | Garcia Cortina | 76 |  Van der Sande | 75 | 79 | 79 | 73 | Merlier | 78 |  Reinhardt | 71 | 79 | 84 | 66 | Habtom | 77 |  Liu | 74 | 80 | 80 | 69 | Arashiro | 70 |  Nizzolo | 73 | 80 | 79 | 67 | Gibbons | 78 |  Boeckmans | 71 | 79 | 80 | 68 | Dakteris | 77 |  Afewerki | 73 | 79 | 80 | 70 | Hamza | 71 |  Lutsyshyn | 70 | 79 | 80 | 73 | Ackermann | 77 | | Havik | 73 | 79 | 76 | 68 | Merlier | 78 | | Lavoine | 72 | 79 | 76 | 62 | Dakteris | 77 |
The obvious duel is between young and old - though perhaps its a bit disrespectful to both riders to bill it as such. I'm talking home favourite Caleb Ewan vs the other Manx Missile Peter Kennaugh. Ewan is looking to establish himself finally as the division's top dog, while Kennaugh, a PT mainstay, will look to bring his top class experience down a step and assert some dominance here. Both have solid leadouts, however Kennett is probably the strongest leadout here and would make his way a decent way up that favourites list were he not in the service of the Manxman. However much as they'd be foolish to over-fixate on each other, we'd be remiss to stop the preview there. Another sprinter more usually seen in the PT, Ewan's countryman Leigh Howard, will look to spoil Ewan's coronation and win himself the adoration of the home crowd, while Kragh Andersen and Vesely stick out as two other names if you forced me to pick a top five.
However, that would be disregarding Guarnieri and Boeckmans, last year's first and third respectively, who despite both being past their peak still know how to ride a bicycle really really fast after riding it quite fast for a while. Guarnieri is obviously out for a three-peat, and looking to get his team off to another flying start, which they will hope finally can continue throughout the season and make sure he will be in the wrong division to make it four next year. Boeckmans meanwhile is perhaps going to be fighting at the other end of the division and is less likely to do well here individually also, but nobody can deny his class and experience and he will still believe he can sniff around the edges of the top five.
Names like Bonifazio, Van der Sande, and Van Asbroeck will be looking for a tougher race and perhaps won't find it given the short distance, however if their teammates can do the job of making it tough who knows? Perhaps they'll decide they want to emulate Dzamastagic in 2015 and opt for a surprise late attack, which brings us nicely onto...
| Name | FLA | RES | SPR | ACC | | Arashiro | 81 | 67 | 70 | 75 | | Veyhe | 80 | 71 | 56 | 78 | | Bonifazio | 79 | 75 | 80 | 80 | | Lander | 77 | 72 | 79 | 77 |  Katrasnik | 81 | 76 | 63 | 72 |  Anderberg | 78 | 76 | 60 | 73 | | Viviani | 78 | 77 | 71 | 70 | | Brockhoff | 79 | 76 | 62 | 73 | | Breen | 77 | 72 | 73 | 72 | | Van der Haar | 77 | 72 | 72 | 70 | | Bolor-Erdene | 77 | 77 | 64 | 73 | | Garcia Cortina | 76 | 72 | 77 | 76 | | Van Asbroeck | 75 | 72 | 80 | 78 | | Kennett | 75 | 76 | 79 | 78 | | Van der Sande | 75 | 73 | 79 | 79 | | Habtom | 75 | 75 | 77 | 78 | | Gabburo | 75 | 75 | 72 | 76 | | Frankovic | 74 | 78 | 74 | 76 | | Videika | 74 | 67 | 74 | 79 |
... the roleurs! A long list of names I've decided to throw out here, including some of the sprinters who I think might go for this option (as Ewan, Kragh Andersen or Kennaugh are equally or more capable than these names but wouldn't do it). Veyhe and Arashiro would be seen as the 'specialists' for this type of thing, but I'm also very interested in two northern classics riders who decided to swap the freezing Belgian winter training for the heat of the Australian summer and either work for their sprint leader or have a punt themselves in Anderberg and Breen.
At the end of the day all of these names and more could cause trouble for the peloton, but with one win in twelve going to the daredevils this isn't the most likely route for that to happen. Still it always does two or three times in a season, so why not here?
Good luck to all the riders though as the PCT opens its curtains for its and this race's thirteenth year. I tried to think of a way to phrase that sentence as a joke about "lucky thirteen" but I couldn't, so now I'll just point it out so everybody notices. I promise when the marvellous Nemolito reports this race he'll have come up with something. |
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| knockout |
Posted on 30-10-2021 10:32
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
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6 years later and it's still one of my favourite MG moments 
Always gonna cheer for the late attackers in this race so: Go Assa Abloy! Go Katrasnik!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 30-10-2021 10:44
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Great to see the season ready to start. Big intrigue as always at the beggining, but also due to the new game now. I hope my team makes an appearance and we score some points to start the season.
Thanks for the preview jandal 
"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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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 22:18
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 30-10-2021 10:56
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Classics Specialist
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Love the great preview, definitely interesting to read if you know the outcome. Thank you very much for helping me (and the game in general) by writing this. I cant fullfill your promise of coming up with something funny though 
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 30-10-2021 13:23
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Yeah, let's get started!
Obviously, Reinhardt is once more flying under the radar, as he always was in HC last year. Let's hope he can again make use of his fantastic Acc, then it could be a great start to the PCT adventure for us! But if PCM20 handles him like a 79 sprinter without that extra boost, it'll be a very long season for him...
Thanks for the great preview, and good luck to everyone!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 30-10-2021 13:33
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Think we can't expect too much more than where the preview puts Van Asbroeck. Hope the team does a good job getting him into position, either for the sprint or for a late attack.
Great to see the season getting underway! Thanks for the great preview Jandal
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 30-10-2021 14:56
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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And so it begins! So excited to be back racing another season. Thank you to Jandal for the preview!
These types of pure flat sprinters classics are never something I look forward to, as the sprinter's fields end up being way to wide for everyone to find their proper place. That said, it's surprising to see AKA so far up the favorites list. I imagined more guys with 82/83 sprint I guess. Hopefully that means he sprints with some authority and picks up some points despite his acceleration.
Also interested to see how he pairs with Lander. I've used all my sprinters separately when possible, but there will be overlap, particularly with this duo, throughout the year. We'll see how it plays out.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 30-10-2021 15:06
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Tour de France Champion
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As always the DUC is an immediate big test for T3A. It's a Win Goal in Race #1 of the season. The Ewan-Aberasturi combo was not often used last season so this is a crucial test that could well say a lot about how this year will play out.
That being said, fully expect the lead-out to not really work, and Ewan will again become the worlds best lead-out to ultimately finish in the low Top10 ensuring we miss the Goal.
Lots of intrigue to this, but the short distance my not be the most representitve result of the year. But we'll get more of an answer to, will PCM20 be less of a sprint lottery?
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 30-10-2021 16:52
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Lets go!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 30-10-2021 17:14
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Grand Tour Champion
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Hope Vesely can begin where he left off last season. Hope he gets treated right by the new game. Don't really want us to build a train with only Hodeg as real support.
Exciting to get underway! Thanks jandal for the preview.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 30-10-2021 18:06
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2518
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Pog
Halvorsen wins lol
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 09:28
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Super keen for this! Could go any way - Ewan, Kennaugh, Halvorsen and Howard should be the ones to beat. It’s too hard to take it make much of this race because it’s so short - I’m hoping it’s an easy race with a constant, but not hectic pace to keep everyone together. Looking forward to possibly seeing BE-Gani-Suryadi-Page-Howard in action for the first time together, and to see our lovely New Jersey
Thanks for the preview jandal
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 10:12
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World Champion
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Wow, the promoted teams announcing themselves in style, love it!!! Congratulations cunego, that's an awesome winner, and also love to see TVA with a great start to Philips life. Thanks to Nemo for the tense report!
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 31-10-2021 10:20
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Tour de France Champion
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TheManxMissile wrote:
That being said, fully expect the lead-out to not really work, and Ewan will again become the worlds best lead-out to ultimately finish in the low Top10 ensuring we miss the Goal.
Well at least we didn't lead out the winner, but otherwise my prediction was spot on!
Thankfully i'm expecting to finish last this season
Was nice to see Bridges supporting his classy NC jersey in his first race as Caribbean Champion.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 31-10-2021 10:42
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Grand Tour Champion
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All we had to do was not build the damn train DV!
False start to the season. Congrats Bralirwa, thanks Nemolito!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 31-10-2021 11:06
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Classics Specialist
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Awesome day for the promoted teams here with a win for Silvestre and a second place for AKA!
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 31-10-2021 12:21
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And we're underway in PCM 20, looks like AKA may prefer it! Unfortunate not to see Ewan or Howard do better.
Great to see Afewerki in the mix on his return to PCT.
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 13:00
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Classics Specialist
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I was hoping Matteo would be treated as a sprinter, not a late attacker, hopefully he finds some weaker fields where he feels more comfortable sprinting as the season goes on.
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| knockout |
Posted on 31-10-2021 13:10
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Grand Tour Champion
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And finally the season has kicked off
I love the result. Bralirwa with the best possible welcome to the new division and Kragh Andersen with a first big result for Carlsberg. In typical overreaction after the first race, id like to interpret that as a sign that high flat, low acc could do well this year. Van Asbroeck in 4th is also very cool!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 31-10-2021 13:57
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Wow! Awesome! 2nd place is a truly tremendous start to our season and a huge result for AKA to grab early. I think in 2019, our last PCT season, AKA led us in this race and finished somewhere close to 20th (albeit with 80 sprint). With that as my last memory, a top 10 here would have been considered a success. 2nd? That's amazing. That's special. Obviously it would have been even crazier if he held on for the win, but a better sprinter won and that's fine by me.
Also, AKA went about that in a way that I very much appreciated because ti suits his style. Wheel surfing with his high flat to stay near the front even without protection. He went a little bit early as he needs time to gain speed, but his top speed and resistance (hopefully) helped him stay out front longer rather than just hit a wall and end up 13th, as is a very normal PCM 18 result. Getting pipped on the line by riders who went later and have higher acceleration is precisely something I expect and have no qualms about. The hope is he establishes enough space and maintains enough energy to stay in the first few places, and he did that here.
Of course, not going to let this get in my head as predictive for the year just yet. Especially since the top sprinters with the best leadouts still floundered, as they often did in PCM 18. It seems like the sprint lottery may still be in play here, and we just got the better end of it this time. Obviously I'm happy we did. But commisserations especially to TMM. Ewan just not fulfilling his promises once again.
Side note: happy to see the team active as well. Sulvaran already in his first break of the year, and Kulppi trying something too.
Congrats to cunego on a huge win, and thank you so much Nemo for a tremendous report to start the year!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
