Welcome to Scandinavia as we're ready to head on some Norwegian cobbles! Last year's winner Edward Theuns is doing his thing in the ProTour currently, so he won't be here to defend his title tomorrow. Let's have a look at the profile.
Well, seems like we're stuck on a local circuit! The same flat cobbled sector will be tackled sixteen times, at least if I was able to count correctly. Just over 200 km's on this flat parcours, although just before the finish line we have a cheeky incline on normal asphalt. The race wasn't super selective last year with more than 10 riders s.t.'ing, and there has never been a solo victor here. So far at least. Let's have a look at the list of cobblers.
Nat.
Name
FL
HI
ST
RS
CB
SP
AC
Zepuntke Ruben
72
69
79
72
82
72
65
Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw
76
74
75
77
81
59
67
Stallaert Joeri
76
66
75
67
80
78
75
Gamper Patrick
77
66
77
77
80
64
71
Daniel Maxime
72
68
75
75
79
75
71
Summerhill Danny
74
69
70
66
79
66
67
Jacobs Johan
76
69
77
76
79
67
68
Moulingui Clenne Morvan
74
71
71
71
78
65
68
Owen Logan
73
69
73
71
78
64
71
Debesay Mekseb
74
73
73
77
78
68
76
Richardson Chequan
71
67
68
68
78
60
61
Orue German Anibal
69
64
77
70
78
53
58
Insausti Jon Ander
70
64
76
73
77
57
66
Nareklishvili Beka
72
66
73
73
77
64
71
Kolev Iliyan
75
62
73
71
77
62
67
Kortsidakis Michail
77
69
75
75
77
68
72
Stavrakakis Georgios
76
68
74
70
77
64
68
Van Keirsbulck Guillaume
71
70
74
72
77
69
67
Manamalage Nipuna Shira
81
59
71
64
77
57
56
Ovsyannikov Alexandr
74
68
75
72
77
79
78
Highest rated cobbler Zepuntke was here last year and finished ninth, not enjoying the fact that the race wasn't selective. Together with Specialized's Kasperkiewicz he'll be looking to make it more selective this time, with the Polish rider not minding the hill before the finish line.
Funny thing about the list of cobblers is that the following names are exactly the numbers 2 to 5 from last year. Stallaert as always enjoyed a cobble race resulting in a sprint, whereas Gamper already had quite a nice result before his latest off-season training. Daniel was fourth here last year but managed to win the race in 2022, whereas at first glance Summerhill might be least likely of these four names to manage another top-5 here in Norway. ELCO of course able to play the team card again with also Kortsidakis and Stavrakakis.
Jacobs was twentieth here in support of Spengler last time, but no more domestique duties for the Swiss as he'll be hoping to repeat his Omloop podium ideally. And looking at the 78 rated cobblers we first see Moulingui, who did well on Scandinavian cobbles already when winning the C2 Herning classic earlier this season. Debesay stands out as well with quite some decents results so far this season, and we could see him enjoying that final hill as well. Owen and Richardson on the other hand hoping for a top-10, but realizing a worse result is also realistic when looking at their skillsets. An other guy standing out comes from the batch of 77 cobblers, as Ovsyannikov would like to sprint himself to a good result for Tryg again.
Full startlist:
Spoiler
Insausti Jon Ander Van der Haar Lars De Bondt Dries Visser Louis Scully Tom Reddish Nick Piganzoli Davide Lilovski Dobrin Drouin David Arashiro Yudai Singh Yanglem Rojit Riabushenko Aliaksandr Paulus Milan Itami Kenji Dzervus Darijus Stallaert Joeri Teggart Matthew Habimana Jean Eric Kuypers Gerben Verstrynge Emiel Huby Antoine Ben Ameur Hatem Kulindwa Lameck Marco Daniel Maxime Mestric Matija Louvel Matis Pithie Laurence Askey Lewis Lapeira Paul Dunne Conor Costiou Ewen Summerhill Danny Kortsidakis Michail Stavrakakis Georgios Boutopoulos Georgios Edmondson Alexander Agrotis Alexandros Varotsos Ioannis Wenzel Mats Zhupa Eugert Okbamariam Tesfom Batmunkh Maral-Erdene Rowe Luke Evangelos Sarris Young Darren Klahan Noppachai Sillankorva Jaakko David Tom Curley Liam Crowley Liam McCambridge Kevin Yon Hin Daniel Ryan Archie Wade Aaron Geary Dillon Owen Logan Sanogo Abou Chokri El Mehdi Harrison Sam Russo Clement Jurado Cristofer Robin Sagiv Guy Mraouni Salah Eddine Debesay Mekseb Losch Max Laurance Axel Bayer Tobias Degenkolb John Nys Thibau Terada Yoshiki Wohler Alex Gamper Patrick Verwilst Aaron Biermans Jenthe Siddikov Dilmurdjon Van Den Bossche Fabio Suter Joel Covi Alessandro Vandenabeele Henri Richardson Chequan Orue German Anibal Muhindo Jimmy Bush Robert Marcos Leandro Arissol Ahmad Sheffield Magnus Revelo Franklin Joel Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw Van Keirsbulck Guillaume Kumara Amith Udaya Riesebeek Oscar Naud Patrick Malacarne Alex La Grenade Jeremie Kench Josh Kulppi Olli Manakov Viktor Breen Vegard Nielsen Joanis Albert Kaislavuo Jesse Eriksson Lucas Berger Hakon Frengstad Fjellheim Henrik Teslo Manamalage Nipuna Shira Ponomar Andrii Sitchinava Nika Varga Peter Petrov Yordan Fratczak Radoslaw Kachur Dmytro Bilyi Maksym Jacobs Johan Schäppi Martin Grand Arnaud Van Asbroeck Tom Touze Damien Maciejuk Filip Dillier Silvan Weiss Fabian Zepuntke Ruben Nareklishvili Beka Heinrich Nicolas Vangheluwe Warre Goossens Kobe Willwohl Willi Andersen Kasper Stalberg Albin Moulingui Clenne Morvan Kolev Iliyan Centrone Ivan Lecourt De Billot Olivier Peng Yuan Tan Glivar Gal Murn Bostjan Kunkumpai Kantaphon Ovsyannikov Alexandr Pedersen Rasmus Sojberg Broxham Ricardo Van De Paar Jarne Enggaard Victor Grue Malmberg Matias Davies Scott Holm Jorgensen Adam
Hoping to do better here than KBK and GW. Need the speed on the cobbles to be high throughout the race with a Turtle or two in the breakaway.
Getting Orue and Richardson into a final 15 man group would be perfect -even if they go 14th and 15th. Larger groups to the finish will be disastrous for us.
Lillestrom GP (C1) 
