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Lillestrom GP - Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 26-11-2022 16:44
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Directeur Sportif
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Thanks to Ollfardh for the preview, I will bring you the report.
Lillestrom GP
The history
Welcome to cold, cold Norway for the 2022 edition of the Lillestrom GP. This will be the 6th edition of the race, starting in 2017. Only the very first winner, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, managed to finish it solo. The other winners all won from a small group sprint (Ramon Domene & Tim Declerq) or a sprint from a larger group (Roger Kluge & Jerome Baugnies).
The last two years, this race has been incredibly important for the CT teams. Last year Tim Declerq and the rest of the Crabpack laid down the foundation for their promotion with big points from this race. The year before Jerome Baugnies’ big win got Los Pollos Hermanos to where they are now. The participating CT teams know what they have to do here, unfortunately the race also got a promotion and they will be facing some tough competition from the PCT teams this year.
The route
It’s going to be 16 laps around the Lillestrøm-Skedsmo area again. With only 207 kilometres, the route isn’t too long, so as mentioned above it will be hard to make it a tough race. The teams that want to make the race more selective, and that could be quite a few of them as we’ll see in the startlist, will have to start doing that early on.
Although the cobbled section itself is pretty flat, there is a duo of small hills in the track and interestingly enough the organisers have placed this right before the finish, which should help out a few riders with their sprint. But this reporter thinks it’s safe to say the race will be decided on one of the local laps!
The startlist
The PCT has arrived in full, which will make it hard for the CT teams to get that important win here. Let’s start with the CT teams to give them a chance to shine early on!
Air New Zealand bring 3 very good riders for depth scoring, but Oliver Naesen should be their leader here. His sprint can get them a big result if he can hang on until the end. Bianchi also brings an entire cobbled team where it’s hard to say who will be the leader, and I approve of this! Bonduelle has Tim Merlier, who has an excellent sprint if he manages to hang on. BWT Hyundai goes for a double leadership of Fenn and Richardson, which could be very interesting. Four good teams so far!
Colombini bring a real race favourite with Lahcen Saber, who combined good cobble skills with a deadly sprint. Take a look at him PCT teams, how are you going to beat that? Fabien Taillefour is leading everyone’s favourite team Eddie Stobart, with also a few sprinters in there. Pas Normal is maybe hoping for a Kristoff miracle on his home soil, but more realistically it’s Taubel or Vanmarcke for them. Finaly there’s Tafjord, for the glory of Norway! Vegard Breen is a rider who got some exceptional results in the past, can he do it one more time in this very important race for him and his team?
So all in all, that’s some tough competition for the PCT teams. Now who did they bring? Let’s find out!
Binance brings Adam Blythe, who despite getting a bit old is still a great cobbler and not that slow in the end, despite his sprint letting him down a bit this season. Bush and Van Lerberghe are great support and could.. Wait, is that Bralirwa? IS THAT JOERI STALLAERT? Why am even writing this preview? We already have a winner!
Anyway, Matteo Trentin from Carlsberg could still give him a run for his money, although age also caught up with him and the gap between Stallaert and him got a bit bigger. Hellofresh is looking very fresh as well. Daniel has been doing good so far, but guys like Rowe or Thwaites look dangerous as well on this finish. Former winner Guillaume Van Keirsbulck is here as well, but it will probably be in a supporting role. Next up is LPU with Patrick Gamper, who has been great in selective races but hates sprints. Unfortunately for him, this race will probably end up in some sort of sprint.
Philips has a lineup of Tom Van Asbroeck ft. the Kuroeda brothers, they should aim for a sprint probably. Sauber brings Tom David, who probably wants a tougher race. Popo only has Nipuna Shira Manamalage, which is really disappointing for a PCT team here. Last but definitely not least are the Looney Tunes with veterans Vanbilsen and Vanspeybrouck and a great support cast. If anyone can make it a tough race, it’s them.
Three names, you say? Stallaert, Saber, Breen.
Startlist:
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 16:25
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 27-11-2022 09:02
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Domestique
Posts: 570
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I sincerely hope Saber can upset the scales here and pull off a win. Thanks for the preview 
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 27-11-2022 12:29
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
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Thanks for the preview! Hope that we finally get to see Daniel step to the top of the podium, at least we should be guaranteed good depth scoring here as we brought out all the big guns!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 27-11-2022 12:40
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Directeur Sportif
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Same as always with our cobbles line-up. Hoping we get the depth points because we can't really expect top performances from them.
Thanks for the preview Ollfardh
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 27-11-2022 12:45
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
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As said in the preview, we don't want a big sprint here, but it will be hard to avoid one.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-11-2022 14:18
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Tour de France Champion
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Alright, we actually have points at stake for this. I'm almost sure of it. 
We've had moderate success in PCT cobbles already, and the startlists are decently favorable with so many guys in PT this year. Besides Stallaert, I feel like we can match any of the other leaders pound for pound on a good day. Of course, "good day" is the big qualifier. We had a very good day in Macsawhatever and a meh day in E3. Hopefully we get a good draw here.
There's some talk about whether this could end in a sprint. I sure hope not! This is one of the few classics that I didn't bother bringing Lander too, mostly since it's C1 and there aren't many depth points for grabs. But if it ends up being a reduced sprint that he would have excelled in, we can chalk another loss up to my poor planning. Trentin will need to suffice.
Thanks for the preview Ollfardh!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-11-2022 01:28
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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Very exiting finish! For once, Stallaert flew a bit too close to the sun there. Thought he could do it all himself and just didn't have enough in the tank.
Very happy to see that Trentin is still in great form after his recent PT escapades. Good form, perfect strategic plan, and he ends up with 2nd place. Daniel is the stronger rider for this race, so no complaints at all about missing out on the victory. Just very happy we were in the right place at the right time. After that travesty in Franceville to start his campaign, Trentin has been super strong and consistent, validating my choice to keep him despite the decline, at least a little. Although we'll have to see the standings before we can confirm that long term.
Also loved the team effort. Resell was in a great spot right until the final sprint to snag a few point in 17th. And Cannister continues to be super aggressive everywhere he goes. Love the tenacity!
Congrats to WJ on a well deserved win. And huge thanks to Ulrich for another amazing report. I love the bits of meta humor you sneak in when you have the chance. It makes every report unique and memorable. I was laughing pretty hard at the reference to Trentin's scoring.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| wildwind |
Posted on 28-11-2022 02:03
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Under 23
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Among those competitive PCT riders, we have 4 riders finished in Top 22 and scored a lot of points. Great team performance. |
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 28-11-2022 06:21
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Domestique
Posts: 570
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The disappointment is immense. Saber blows his chances with that attack. We needed points to keep up at the top. Looks like we’re flopping our good start. Thanks for the report.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 28-11-2022 07:44
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World Champion
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I'll take that 5th! Congrats Hellofresh and thanks for the report!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 28-11-2022 10:59
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2933
Joined: 09-05-2011
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KaiserAdler wrote:
The disappointment is immense. Saber blows his chances with that attack. We needed points to keep up at the top. Looks like we’re flopping our good start. Thanks for the report.
I feel you pain
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-11-2022 13:36
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
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9th is a good result for McLay, guess our depth paid off there. Bit surprised that Van Asbroeck couldn't hang on when McLay could. Also probably not the smartest move to have both the Kuroedas attack. Could've got some more points otherwise. So it's a bit of a mixed bag for us.
Congrats to WJ and thanks for the report Ulrich
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 28-11-2022 16:59
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
Joined: 07-08-2011
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Thanks for the report! DANIEL BEAT STALLAERT IN A SPRINT  Very happy with that win from Daniel and nice to see some of our pieces make moves early with GVK attacking etc. only downside to that is the lack depth scoring but can't complain with the win in mind!
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 30-11-2022 09:05
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2907
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Disappointing to see Breen burning all of his energy in triying to break free from the peloton, so he has no fuel left for the finish.
We need to start making bigger point hauls if we're to finally get promoted this season. |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 09-12-2022 09:54
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Not too happy with that, I gotta say Still, congrats, after falling short again and again, Daniel deserves this. I guess that final solo attack was too much for Stallaert. With Madrazo performing the way he does, we need every bit of (over)performance from the other guys, but it's still a third place finish, so I can't be too mad.
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