|
Veenendaal - Veenendaal Discussion
|
| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 28-12-2022 19:10
|
Sprinter
Posts: 1810
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
|
 [PTHC] Veenendaal - Veenendaal
The profile of the race is pretty much what you can expect from a race held in the central Netherlands: mostly flat with some smaller elevations that you can’t really call a hill. Nonetheless the last of those bumps are within the last 20 kilometers of the race, so maybe someone can take advantage of them and make a move there.
Originally named Dutch Food Valley Classic (until 2017) Veenendaal - Veenendaal was promoted to PTHC this season. The previous editions were all won by sprinters, in all but two editions in bunch sprints. The exceptions were Ben Hermans with a solo win in 2018 after a late attack and Luke Rowe with a win from a small group in 2020, also after a late attack.
The 2020 victory made Luke Rowe the record winner of the race. But he’s missing in the list of previous winners at the start of this years edition as his team skips the race. In fact defending champion  Alexander Konychev is the only previous winner on the startlist.
Previous winners:
Spoiler
| Year | Winner | | | | | | | | | 2021 | Alexander Konychev (Assa Abloy) | | 2020 | Luke Rowe (Xero Racing) | | | | | | | | | 2019 | Luke Rowe (Xero Racing) | | | | | | | | | 2018 | Ben Hermans (Generali - EDF) | | | | | | | | 2017 | Mark Cavendish (Kraftwerk Man Machine) | | | | | | | | 2016 | Ivano Lo Cicero (Valio - DeLaval) | | | | | | | 2015 | Sean Downey (Pendleton’s) | | | | | | | | | 2014 | Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Compal-Merida) | | | | | | | | 2012 | Antonio Bucciero (Team Metinvest - Slovnaft) | | | | | 2011 | Staf Scheirlinckx (Quiksilver-Kraft) | | | | | | | | | 2010 | Raúl Granjel Cabrera (Sony Ericsson) | | | | | | | |
2021 results:
Spoiler
| 1 | Alexander Konychev | Assa Abloy | 4h34'47 | | 2 | Marildo Yzeiraj | Aker - MOT | s.t. | | 3 | Matti Manninen | Los Pollos Hermanos | s.t. | | 4 | Peter Kennaugh | Binance Cycling | s.t. | | 5 | Fabio Silvestre | Bralirwa - Stevens | s.t. | | 6 | Lahcen Saber | Cedevita | s.t. | | 7 | Leigh Howard | Indosat Ooredoo | s.t. | | 8 | Torkil Veyhe | Assa Abloy | s.t. | | 9 | Caleb Ewan | Podium Ambition | s.t. | | 10 | Theo Reinhardt | Jura - Fiat | s.t. | | | | |
The startlist is equally split between PT and PCT teams (11 each). As the profile suggests most of them bring their sprint squads, which means the favourites are among the sprinters.
Sprinters:
The best sprinter at the start is probably  Bryan Coquard. But as with most of those flat races there’s a bunch of other sprinters who are able and willing to challenge him for the win. As most of them are more or less equally good, there’s not much sense in analyzing. If you want to win here, you have to rely on talent, daily form, position and timing.
| | FL | ST | RS | SP | AC | | | Coquard | Bryan | 73 | 71 | 74 | 84 | 83 | ELCO - ABEA |  Van der Lijke | Nick | 73 | 73 | 71 | 82 | 79 | EA Vesuvio |  Demare | Arnaud | 73 | 75 | 72 | 82 | 81 | Team Puma - SAP |  Kragh Andersen | Asbjorn | 77 | 70 | 74 | 81 | 77 | Carlsberg - Danske Bank |  Van Stayen | Michael | 73 | 71 | 66 | 81 | 73 | Duolingo |  Howard | Leigh | 75 | 74 | 69 | 81 | 78 | Indosat Ooredoo |  Zabel | Rick | 74 | 74 | 70 | 81 | 79 | Kraftwerk Man Machine |  Manninen | Matti | 74 | 71 | 75 | 81 | 80 | Los Pollos Hermanos |  Vesely | Daniel | 73 | 74 | 68 | 81 | 80 | Minions - Subwoolfer |  Halvorsen | Kristoffer | 76 | 74 | 71 | 81 | 80 | Red Bull Zalgiris |  Samolenkov | Artem | 74 | 75 | 71 | 81 | 79 | Tinkoff - La Datcha Team |  Silvestre | Fabio | 78 | 70 | 71 | 80 | 81 | Bralirwa - Stevens |  Carsi | Mustafa | 70 | 66 | 69 | 80 | 82 | Crabbe-CC Chevigny |  Cullaigh | Gabriel | 74 | 73 | 70 | 80 | 81 | cycleYorkshire | | Moser | Moreno | 72 | 73 | 69 | 80 | 79 | EA Vesuvio |  Hsu | Hsuan Ping | 75 | 75 | 70 | 80 | 79 | King Power |  Bouhanni | Nacer | 74 | 74 | 69 | 80 | 77 | Strava |  Jakobsen | Fabio | 74 | 75 | 73 | 80 | 80 | Zara - Irizar |
Rouleurs:
As some late attacks worked fine in the last editions, the rouleurs within the starters are worth mentioning. Maybe we’ll see one of them attacking on one of the final bumps?
| | FL | ST | RS | SP | AC | FG | | | Andersen | Soren Kragh | 81 | 77 | 78 | 76 | 74 | 72 | Aker - MOT | | Konychev | Alexander | 80 | 76 | 76 | 74 | 73 | 76 | Aker - MOT | | Wisniowski | Lukasz | 80 | 75 | 76 | 73 | 76 | 74 | Aker - MOT |  Veyhe | Torkil | 80 | 66 | 71 | 56 | 78 | 80 | Assa Abloy |  Brockhoff | Jan | 79 | 74 | 76 | 62 | 73 | 64 | Polar |  Vanbilsen | Kenneth | 78 | 80 | 74 | 72 | 71 | 72 | Trans Looney Tunes | | Antonijevic | Goran | 78 | 67 | 74 | 71 | 74 | 80 | cycleYorkshire | | English | Felix | 78 | 74 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 59 | Minions - Subwoolfer | | Nych | Artem | 78 | 75 | 72 | 65 | 76 | 84 | Polar | | Anderberg | Hampus | 78 | 77 | 76 | 60 | 73 | 70 | Aker - MOT |
Break of the Day:
The best bets for the break of the day. In recent editions the breakaway was never successful, but there has to be a first time and why not this year?
| | FL | ST | RS | AC | FG | | | Vorobev | Anton | 75 | 73 | 71 | 72 | 81 | Tinkoff - La Datcha Team | | Smit | Willie | 72 | 76 | 72 | 74 | 81 | EA Vesuvio | | Summerhill | Danny | 77 | 75 | 71 | 72 | 80 | cycleYorkshire | | Mosca | Jacopo | 71 | 73 | 75 | 75 | 80 | Assa Abloy | | Vichot | Arthur | 68 | 74 | 65 | 77 | 80 | Zara - Irizar | | Dieteren | Jan | 67 | 75 | 70 | 66 | 80 | Kraftwerk Man Machine | | Gabburo | Davide | 75 | 73 | 75 | 76 | 79 | Duolingo | | Kwok | Ho-Ting | 73 | 69 | 68 | 71 | 79 | Polar | | Mugisha | Moise | 67 | 64 | 73 | 71 | 78 | Bralirwa - Stevens |
Honourable Mentions:
The youngest rider at the start is 22-year-young Jan Stöckli, probably just starting to be allowed some bananas as he’s not the typical rider for this terrain. The oldest riders in this years edition are Jerome Baugnies and Nico Keinath, both 35 years old and useful domestiques.
Full start list:
|
| |
|
|
| Marcovdw |
Posted on 28-12-2022 20:20
|
Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7773
Joined: 04-07-2012
PCM$: 20845.00
|
Not expecting anything on the Grebbeberg or Paardenveld, so it should all come down to a sprint on the Kerkewijk which will end in Vesely finally beating the curse of my home race.
Failure is not an option...
(For the record, those elevations are definitely hills. For Dutch standards at least  )
|
| |
|
|
| whitejersey |
Posted on 28-12-2022 20:29
|
Classics Specialist
Posts: 3221
Joined: 07-08-2011
PCM$: 300.00
|
Coquard is obviously the best sprinter here but it is not always that simple. Depending on how Aker wants to attack this race they probably have the most options since SKA can even contest sprints in flat classics as we saw at least year's Worlds and as Wisniowski can also do a solid amount of attacking,
|
| |
|
|
| tastasol |
Posted on 28-12-2022 20:40
|
Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
Joined: 11-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
|
Thought for a moment that we weren't racing here, but I see Pedersen lurking on the start list. Hopefully that can mean that he can also go under the radar in the race and get away at the end. Hope Mads will go for the win and try something. Perhaps he can talk a bit with his former team mates SKA and Wisniowski?
|
| |
|
|
| Eden95 |
Posted on 28-12-2022 21:37
|
Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4616
Joined: 05-10-2010
PCM$: 1000.00
|
Surprised at the lack of top PT sprinters here asides from Coquard + a couple. Can’t really see anyone that can beat Bryan unless a late attack sticks. We brought a shit team here to force Howard onto other teams’ trains, hopefully he can nestle himself behind a Coquard or Demare under the 1km banner and go from there.
Thanks for the preview!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
| |
|
|
| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 28-12-2022 21:56
|
Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2543
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
|
Zabel might be able to grab some valuable PTHC points here, or maybe not, fingers crossed.
Thanks for the preview.
|
| |
|
|
| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-12-2022 22:31
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16554
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 13638.70
|
AKA is finally back after he had some time to contemplate his early season struggles. Not ideal to see him 4th on the favorites list, but I'm confident he isn't actually the 4th best sprinter here.
Stacked field here and the sprinter lottery will be in full swing. My hope is that AKA actually sprints and ends up in the top 10. We really wanted to avoid a scenario where he just doesn't try and ends up not scoring significantly. In PTHC, we can take a minor placing. We can't take complete failure.
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
| |
|
|
| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 29-12-2022 07:39
|
Team Leader
Posts: 6177
Joined: 20-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
I've decided to have no expectations for Van Stayen, so any result will do for us here. In any case this packed field sure promises an interesting race. Lopking forward to it
|
| |
|
|
| Laurens147 |
Posted on 29-12-2022 13:35
|
Sprinter
Posts: 1524
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
|
We need a big result here from Carsi or Reinhardt  Fingers crossed!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
|
| |
|
|
| ember |
Posted on 29-12-2022 19:09
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7058
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
|
Really need us to be aggressive here, that should give us the best possible chance for a good result. It is always kind of a lottery if an attack with one of our riders can stick, if a different attack sticks, or if it comes down to a big sprint in these kind of races. |
| |
|
|
| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-12-2025 23:12
|
Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
|
|
| IP: None |
|
|
| cunego59 |
Posted on 29-12-2022 22:54
|
Team Manager
Posts: 6546
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1290.00
|
Really nice preview, thanks for that! Really tough competition for Silvestre, when he really needs to get his mojo back. Maybe he finds back to his wheelsurfing ways, maybe he's swallowed up by the currents and ends up outside of the Top 15 ... I'm anxious and not too hopeful to find out.
|
| |
|
|
| cunego59 |
Posted on 30-12-2022 11:25
|
Team Manager
Posts: 6546
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1290.00
|
cunego59 wrote:
maybe he's swallowed up by the currents and ends up outside of the Top 15 ...
Late attacks seem really potent recently in sprint classics. But I suppose they should be when they come from guys like Wisniowski and Pedersen. Two wins in a week, great stuff by Pedersen. Thank you for the report Abhi!
|
| |
|
|
| Imladrik |
Posted on 30-12-2022 12:38
|
Protected Rider
Posts: 1114
Joined: 05-10-2021
PCM$: 700.00
|
Pedersen really is a beast. |
| |
|
|
| whitejersey |
Posted on 30-12-2022 12:41
|
Classics Specialist
Posts: 3221
Joined: 07-08-2011
PCM$: 300.00
|
Always love Pedersen winning races since he technically is one of my former riders having ridden for us on loan in our first pct season, I also like that these roleur attacks are working in the flat classics! Thanks for the report
|
| |
|
|
| Fabianski |
Posted on 30-12-2022 12:49
|
Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5234
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
|
Congrats once more to Pedersen, what a beast! And Wisniowski just seems to be unable to win this year, no matter the terrain...
But as much as I like to see those late attacks succeed, it's a bit too much lately... The AI really seems biased towards those rouleurs in flat classics, and if that's still the case in PCM22 maybe that should have more of an impact on OVL calc as well. Pedersen and Wisniowski obviously are expensive enough, but you can have flat beasts who regularly compete for top positions in those classics for 50k or so...
|
| |
|
|
| Marcovdw |
Posted on 30-12-2022 13:31
|
Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7773
Joined: 04-07-2012
PCM$: 20845.00
|
ffs
My home race must be jinxed, this is simply intolerable. Thanks for the report nevertheless and congrats Grieg.
|
| |
|
|
| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 30-12-2022 14:30
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16554
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 13638.70
|
Yeah, late attacks are very cool when they succeed once in a while, but as with all things in PCM AI, it seems to be either all or nothing. Developers aren't very good at creating something that only occurs sometimes. That said, Pederson and Wisniowski are exactly the guys who should be able to hold off a field in this type of classic, so still a well deserved win.
I got my wish from pre-race. AKA sprinted and made the top 10. 10th is nothing to write home about, but considering how stacked the field was, and the fact that attackers took the top 2 spots, it's perfectly acceptable. It was a messy sprint, and we managed to beat some clearly better riders. Mostly PT teams ahead of us too, which is always nice. I'll take it.
4 more guys in the top 50 is cool too. Very few points for that, but since we never get them, it's nice to at least have that going for us.
Congrats to Grieg and the greatest rider in the world, and thanks Abhishek for the report!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
| |
|
|
| tastasol |
Posted on 30-12-2022 16:05
|
Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
Joined: 11-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
|
Thanks guys.
I always love a late flat attack and the attacking riders in the end are all very strong, so to some degree I'd say it's realistic that they stay away. But it does seems like it's a lot of these kinds of wins, so probably something that should be altered with so that it's more something that happens once or twice at PT level in a season. One could say that it never happens in stage races, so in that terms the total number isn't that high, but then again these races are worth a lot more ranking wise.
Cool to be fighting for the win with Wisniowski. Looked indeed like Mads P had talked a bit to his former team mates ahead of the final 15k Wisni certainly deserves a win, but it looks like he's back to the rainbow cursed 2020 season ... At least Aker got some depth scoring, so I guess it's quite close points wise between us.
I must say Abhi, that winning shot was stunning. Thanks for the report!
|
| |
|
|
| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 30-12-2022 16:36
|
Team Leader
Posts: 6177
Joined: 20-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
No words for Pedersen, really| Congrats again tastasol!
No top20 for us is underwhelming, but, as stated previously, expected by now.
Thrilling report, Abi, thanks a lot!
|
| |
|
|
| ember |
Posted on 30-12-2022 19:12
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7058
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
|
Very, very good race for Wisniowski, getting 2nd here! No complaints loosing out to Pedersen on such a course, but as you comment, it is indeed a surprise and also kind of weird. Really hope he can grab a win before the season ends, though, there is not that many chances left.
Crazy team depth with the whole team in the top 50.
Congratulations again, tastasol! |
| |
|
