Welcome to Thailand for the ninth edition of the Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy! We saw a surprise winner in Manada Coyote's Gabriel Francisco Rojas as the breakaway was victorious last year. Could we see the same happening tomorrow? Let's have a look at the sprinter favourites.
Flat
Sta
Res
Spr
Acc
Carsi
70
66
69
80
82
Zariff
70
71
67
80
80
Kennett
75
73
76
79
78
Willwohl
73
71
67
79
78
Riabushenko
76
71
74
79
77
Welten
76
72
71
79
75
Page
75
72
72
78
79
Gibbons
75
73
72
78
78
Scott
72
72
71
78
78
Krieger
70
69
72
78
77
Mareczko
74
71
73
78
77
Altanzul
72
68
73
78
75
Zhao
74
68
74
77
81
Tivani
70
68
78
77
78
Houle
76
73
68
77
75
Purely looking at their sprinting capacities, Carsi and Zariff are the top favourites. An other thing that unites them, however, is the fact that they don't really have the highest stamina and resistance in the peloton. Comparable to Willwohl, who's a slightly weaker pure sprinter, but is a better rouleur than them.
The other two sprinters with 79 sprinting are Kennett and Riabushenko, both clearly better rouleurs and with better physical stats than the names mentioned above. Welten also has that 79 sprint stat and is decent in everything else, but it remains to be seen how his lower acceleration impacts his sprint tomorrow.
Page, Gibbons and Scott are three similar 78 rated sprinters with an acceleration above or equal to 78 as well, with 70+ in all other important skills. So they can just as well fight for the win, but same can be said for the remaining other three 78 sprinters, although they do have lower acceleration. Krieger will want to relive the glory of the past, whereas Altanzul wants to put new team Zain - Omantel on the map. Looking at the sprinters, Mareczko seems to be the best representation for the PCT teams, with Lierse hoping to score some cheeky C2 points here.
Three more sprinters to mention, as Zhao wants to prove he is worth the money that Duvel Tsingtao threw at him in free agency, whereas old dog Houle wants to show he shouldn't be written of just yet. Tivani has a decent shot to score as well, counting on super domestique Fisher-Black.
I sadly cannot predict who will in the break, and whether they'll fight for the win again. But I can give you an overview of the best rouleurs that could go for glory near the end of the race.
Flat
Stam
Res
Spr
Acc
Arashiro
81
71
67
70
75
Suter
79
75
74
68
74
English
78
74
73
71
75
Biermans
77
71
74
66
67
Verwilst
76
70
72
65
66
All of the rouleurs on this list also have a name that could be sprinting into a top-10, top-5, or even for the win. Nevertheless, we could see some of them try something. Arashiro stands out as the 81 rouleur, whereas Suter seems to be the best of three Lierse riders on the list. English has already won the Irish championship recently, so why not stay in the winning mood in Thailand?
Good luck to everybody, here's the full startlist.
Spoiler
Riabushenko Aliaksandr McGill Scott Arashiro Yudai Singh Yanglem Rojit Paulus Milan Yamada Takumi Houle Hugo Grosser Aaron McCormick Hayden Magnussen Davur Dobre Vlad-Nicolae Pickrell Riley Cheyne Jordan Stroll Lewis Dakteris Janis Videika Airidas Kochetkov Mikhail De Lie Arnaud Mikutis Aivaras Bablidze Irakli Zhao Jingbiao Van der Sande Tosh Noppe Christophe Ma Guangtong Dewulf Stan Pollefliet Gianluca Cheung King Lok Akhmaevi Sulkhan Gibbons Ryan Habtom Mikiel English Felix Kipruto Ivan Dumoulin Tom Keizer Martijn Carsi Mustafa Ringheim Jo Kogstad Domene Ramon Barbero Carlos Scheit Florian Sinkeldam Ramon Adriamihajanarivo Herizo Kennett Dylan Bennett Sam Yon Hin Daniel Jones Taj Scotson Miles David Tom Crowley Liam Downey Sean Havik Yoeri Krieger Alexander Van Uden Casper Foldager Anders Artz Huub Loland Sakarias Koller Arrieta Igor Haldimann Guillaume Mareczko Jakub Weemaes Sasha Suter Joel Biermans Jenthe Verwilst Aaron Piccolo Andrea Vandenabeele Henri Benedetti Gabriele Welten Bram Canal Carlos Van Garderen Tejay Wallinder Willhelm Ivanov Viacheslav Abreu Jorge Tivani German Nicolas Muhindo Jimmy Marcos Leandro Lopez Harold Martin Revelo Franklin Joel Fisher-Black Finn Obando Bryan Raul Orue German Anibal Zariff Nur Aiman Page Dylan Barbari Adel Schomber Nils Moutsios Martinos Kiflay Metkel Scott Cameron Svab Jernej Rodriguez Carlos Karatsivis Panagiotis Beltran Eduard Alexander Marryatt Jake Willwohl Willi Reinhardt Theo Stalberg Albin Andersen Kasper Heinrich Nicolas Van Bekkum Darren Vangheluwe Warre Campenaerts Victor Altanzul Maani Saber Lahcen Al-Wahibi Mohammed Sirironnachai Sarawut Alajmi Abdulhadi Bremanis Ansis Vinokurov Nicolas Albalooshi Khalid
Quite a small field this year in Thailand, but with all the primary sprint riders here, let's see what PCM has to offer up.
Will a breakaway take it like last season's edition or will the peloton cooperate? I hope we manage to get one rider into the break, looking at you Stan Dewulf...
Also, really curious to see how PCM treats Zhao with his acceleration stat, paired with Van der Sande.
Of the others, Kennett clearly comes in good form, Riabushenko looks strong, but I have a suspicion Gibbons, Tivani and Mareczko might have key roles with strong enough teams to support them here.
Not much expected at all here and can see a breakaway winner again after reading last years report just hope Houle can surf and find some luck along the way
Not much expected at all here and can see a breakaway winner again after reading last years report just hope Houle can surf and find some luck along the way
This sort of parcours could definitely lend itself to another breakaway. One of the biggest factors will be home many teams can get a rider up front, especially with a smaller startlist comparatively.
Glad to see Tivani make the list of sprinters this time. Being up there means he should at least contest the sprint and he's done well from positions like this before. We predicted 23 points here from the team, so let's see if we're able to add some points together from either a great Tivani finish or a couple others showing up in the top 25.
Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy (C2) 
Thanks for the preview!
