Welcome to Hungary for the seventh edition of the cobbled race Macskako Kerekparverseny, which, according to Google, translates to cat circle race. Can we trust Google, though? The first edition was won by Jerome Baugnies. Later Carlsberg was the only team to win this race twice (with Sinkeldam and Trentin), and last year the victor was Aker - MOT's Lukasz Wisniowski. Let's have a look at the profile.
We see cobbles, we see hills. Only 170 km makes this race not very long, but I'm sure it will be more than hard enough with that profile. Let's find out who the favourites are for the race.
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
HI
ST
RS
CB
SP
AC
Pedersen Mads
77
65
69
78
80
83
78
77
Spengler Lukas
74
58
67
74
73
83
62
70
Gerts Floris
77
66
78
76
80
82
72
70
Van Hooydonck Nathan
73
63
71
75
74
82
61
72
Wisniowski Lukasz
79
68
70
74
75
82
72
75
Per David
79
68
70
74
75
82
74
74
Altur Marcos
75
63
70
75
70
82
72
68
Senechal Florian
75
61
67
79
74
82
69
74
Teunissen Mike
76
61
67
77
73
81
67
69
Kamyshev Arman
76
56
64
80
74
81
65
59
Anderberg Hampus
78
64
69
77
76
80
60
73
Theuns Edward
71
66
73
74
71
79
76
74
Tiller Rasmus
74
65
70
76
75
79
74
73
Sulimov Alexander
73
64
70
77
71
79
65
71
Ferreira Ricardo
73
57
68
74
70
79
71
69
Gaday Lucas Manuel
71
67
75
75
72
78
71
73
Polanc Jan
72
74
73
78
73
78
67
75
Siric Ivan
78
63
71
77
80
78
77
71
Pidcock Thomas
78
75
76
75
78
74
74
81
As with most cobbled races we see Pedersen topping the list. He was fifth here last year, opened the cobbled season in Appia Antica with a second place recently and knows how to survive on an undulating route. His prologue isn't amazing, but it seems unlikely he'll need that tomorrow. The only other 83 rated cobbler on the list of favourites is Spengler, who will be looking for redemption after only finishing 50th in Appia Antica.
The list of 82 cobblers is bigger, and one rider standing out is Gerts. Great puncheur skills that he'll be looking to capitalize on for Rabobank in his last Macskako Paraverseny as a maxed rider, as he's currently 32 years old. Other Dutch team Fastned bring the recently trained Van Hooydonck, who's also not too shabby on short climbs, but might lack pure climbing skill tomorrow. Whereas Gerts finished tenth here last year, Van Hooydonck did that the year before. They both didn't start the year perfectly, finishing ninth and eighth respectively in Appia Antica.
Last year's winner Wisniowski is back for new team Assa Abloy, and needs to make up for his poor performance in Italy (15th). Same can be said for the trained Per, who disappointed with a tenth place there. The Carlsberg slovenian did finish third here last year, so that is something he'll try to recreate. Speaking about recreating, we can see the Tinkoff duo of Sulimov and Senechal want to recreate their 1-6 performance of a couple of days ago, and same can be said for Altur, finishing fourth there, and now racing in the homy country of his team.
Teunissen is not a great climber, but will still hope to improve on that fourteenth place in Appia Antica. Aker - MOT managed to win the race with Wisniowski last year and are back now with Anderberg, finishing sixth in this race as domestique last year, and opening his season with a solid fifth place in Italy recently. Theuns was eleventh as a wildcard racer here last time, and even though he has declined, he'll want to show he can still help his team Jura - GIANTS in their survival hunt. Don't bring him to the line with a large group, because then you're in danger.
Tiller is also not the slowest rider, not the worst climber and has decent energy stats. He's King Power's hope tomorrow. Ferreira is Polar's leader but his lack of climbing skills could hurt him badly, whereas ZARA - Irizar's Gaday is one of the better puncheurs on the list. Speaking about climbing skills, Evonik's Polanc is always dangerous in a race like this, and he showed that last year with a second place. A third place in Appia Antica recently showed he's in good shape. Siric is a physical beast and will try to score some nice points for Cedevita, whereas it was simply unthinkable to not include the already legendary Pidcock in this list. He has already shown us many amazing things, why not add a cobbled classic win to his list?
Full startlist can be found in the spoiler. Good luck to all.
Spoiler
Anderberg Hampus Laporte Christophe Potts Marc Klaris Magnus Bak Swift Connor Räim Mihkel Kamp Alexander Bolor-Erdene Enkhtaivan Wisniowski Lukasz Girmay Biniam Taubel Christoph Blume Levy William Rickaert Jonas Renard Alexis Kaloniatis Georgios Kolev Yoan Per David Meiler Lukas Resell Erik Nordsaeter Bolivar Isaac Matsangos Alexandros Cannister Goldwijnn Finkst Tilen Van Tricht Stan Siric Ivan Poljanec Miha Fedorov Yevgeniy Duric Dorde Salby Alexander Redy Dylan Katrasnik Gasper Selimovic Husein Ballerini Davide Buttigieg Aidan Antonijevic Goran Dujardin Sandy Holmes Matthew Stedman Max Lazkano Oier Gloag Thomas Spengler Lukas Lampawog Jay Sweeck Laurens Gunnlaugsson Kristofer Geniets Kevin Vermaerke Kevin John Naveen Banzer Gordian Polanc Jan Neilands Krists Eekhoff Nils Silva Nihal Kurianov Stepan Dversnes Fredrik Ansons Kristers Van Niekerk Morne Van Hooydonck Nathan Van der Hoorn Taco Robeet Ludovic Hoole Daan Havik Piotr De Kleijn Arvid Waerenskjold Soren Tjotta Martin Teunissen Mike Giulietti Luigi Lander Sebastian Godon Dorian Balmer Alexandre Karnulin Denys Sosnitskiy Anatoliy Hofer Andreas Pedersen Mads Stokbro Andreas Bohli Tom Jansen Amund Grondahl De Gendt Aime Abrahamsen Jonas Van Gestel Dries Ssabagwanya Samuel Theuns Edward Paprstka Tomas Kung Stefan Colombo Filippo Schmid Mauro Delco Lorenzo Stehli Felix Berthet Clement Tiller Rasmus Menten Milan Salzmann Jodok Van Baarle Dylan Vanthourenhout Michael Chiu Ho San Salazar John Phodingam Sakchai Vermeersch Gianni Stewart Jake Basso Leonardo Van der Poel Mathieu Pons Gaetan Baterdene Narankhuu Bakke Christophersen Cedric Hoang Thai Phan Altur Marcos Moricz Daniel Ariesen Tim Scotson Callum Kelly Jacob Stash Mamyr Cole Tyler Gonzalez Abner Boros Michael Skala Jakub Nommela Aksel Stocek Matus Toupalik Adam Frankovic Mateo Atkins Josh Vacek Karel Ulloa Jose Gerardo Vlatos Panagiotis Abolaji Fatiu Pira Yesid Albeiro Parashchak Yaroslav Merchan Didier Healy Ben Aguilar Mendez Jose Pablo Ferreira Ricardo Garcia Cortina Ivan Lauk Karl Patrick Barthe Cyril Sweeny Harry Nych Artem Oldani Stefano Brockhoff Jan Gerts Floris Van den Berg Julius Kalf Steven Meeus Jordi Van Den Berg Marijn Frigo Marco Vader Milan Van den Broek Frank Rutsch Jonas Cavagna Remi Hollmann Juri Nieuwenhuis Joris Zegklis Nikolaos Wilksch Hannes Heidemann Miguel Schinnagel Johannes Senechal Florian Kamyshev Arman Sulimov Alexander Syritsa Gleb Tikhonin Evgenii Yatsevich Kiril Gonov Lev Strakhov Dmitry Ovsyannikov Alexandr Wright Fred Iversen Rasmus Norsgaard Mathias Pedersen Rasmus Sojberg Sleen Torjus Broxham Ricardo Holm Jorgensen Adam Schreurs Hamish Vermeersch Florian Pidcock Thomas Bester Shaun Nick Horvat Ziga Van Zyl Johann Novardianto Jamalidin Ganjkhanlou Mohammad Gaday Lucas Manuel Monk Cyrus De La Cruz Chapulin Luis Fernando Miquel Pau Vandevelde Yentl Storer Michael Gilmore Brady Blanca Pareja Nichol
This is one of the cobbled classics where Polanc historically does really well. The cobbled hill at the end really benefits him a lot. Hopefully he can deliver once again!
Me to Pidcock and Vermeersch for the rest of cobbles season:
Excited to see whatever they can do, hoping for more long-range attacks like Pidcock did in Italy. This should be one of the strongest profiles for Pidcock I guess, so hopefully he can bring in some more points, while it's not a terrible one for Vermeersch either. Would love to see Florian in the long-range attacking role here or at least improving on his position from Strada.
Thanks for the preview Nemo, very excited for the report
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Cobbles and hills, on paper a perfect fit for Theuns. But we had that in Italy, and he didn't do too well. And he was here last year, but didn't have it in the end for his only non-Top10 result in a cobbled race all year long. So let's hope he manages his energy better this time and gets us a better result.
Also interested to see what Schmid can do here, he got a Top 30 unmaxed last year, maybe this route could really suit him...
The profile and final kilometer doesn’t suit Anderberg very well. Hoping he can make use of the flat sections and potentially be liv ly with positioning. Then it could be possible to fight for a top 5. A top 10 must be the goal, nevertheless.
[...] Macskako Kerekparverseny, which, according to Google, translates to cat circle race.
I don't know which Google you use, but mine results in "Macskako Cycling Race"
Looks like Macskakő actually means cobblestone, so the race name should simply be translated to "Cobblestones Cycling Race"
Macskako Kerekparverseny (PT) 
