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Veenendaal - Veenendaal - Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 11-01-2025 03:08
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Directeur Sportif
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 Veenendaal - Veenendaal
Welcome to the Netherlands for the 2024 edition of the PTHC Sprinter’s classic, Veenendaal to Veenendaal. Although the race might be better described as a rouleur’s classic as no pure sprinter has won since Cavendish in 2017.
Nevertheless there is a deep sprint field and we will see if they can get back on top this year. 19 79+ sprinters take the start line.
| Rider | FL | Sp | Ac | ST | RS |  Ewan | 75 | 83 | 81 | 73 | 71 |  Cullaigh | 74 | 82 | 81 | 73 | 70 |  Dainese | 76 | 81 | 82 | 75 | 76 |  Vesely | 73 | 81 | 80 | 74 | 68 |  Philipsen | 74 | 81 | 80 | 74 | 70 |  Halvorsen | 76 | 81 | 80 | 74 | 71 |  Kanter | 75 | 81 | 80 | 75 | 73 |  Ahlstrand | 72 | 81 | 79 | 71 | 70 |  Samolenkov | 74 | 81 | 79 | 75 | 71 |  Van der Lijke | 72 | 81 | 77 | 71 | 69 |  Kemboi | 78 | 80 | 80 | 74 | 77 |  Jakobsen | 74 | 80 | 80 | 75 | 73 |  Hsu | 75 | 80 | 79 | 75 | 70 |  Groves | 75 | 80 | 79 | 75 | 73 |  Afewerki | 73 | 79 | 80 | 77 | 70 |  Perera | 71 | 79 | 80 | 69 | 73 | | Gross | 74 | 79 | 79 | 69 | 75 |  Kamberaj | 75 | 79 | 78 | 73 | 73 |  Ovsyannikov | 74 | 79 | 78 | 75 | 72 |
Ewan is the fastest man on the startlist and should have the toughness to survive, his hill value might help in a race with a number of bumps. Right behind him are two PT sprinters in Cullaigh and Dainese. Dainese particularly, has strong secondary skills, he hasn’t had a great year so far so will be motivated here.
Van der Lijke is the punchiest of the sprinters but his flat and resistance are weak. Vesely is another fast rider who might suffer from weaker secondaries if the race is hard.
If flat skill is important Kemboi stands out as do Halvorsen, Kanter, Hsu, and Groves. With the latter also being good on the hills. Halvorsen is the only rider out of the 19 above to ever finish on the podium in this race (3rd in 2022).
Kamberaj is another rider with a reputation as a hard man although he is not as fast as the others.
The other likely source for the winner is a rouleur. And in a testament to the dominance of the roulers it is on this list we find the last 3 winners: Antonijevic (’23),  Pedersen (’22), and Konychev (’21).
| Rider | FL | Sp | Ac | ST | RS | FT | | Konychev | 82 | 76 | 75 | 77 | 78 | 76 | | Quispe | 81 | 67 | 74 | 63 | 61 | 85 |  Katrasnik | 81 | 63 | 72 | 72 | 76 | 81 |  Boutopoulos | 78 | 73 | 78 | 73 | 75 | 80 | | Antonijevic | 78 | 71 | 74 | 67 | 74 | 80 | | Sweeny | 78 | 69 | 71 | 67 | 76 | 74 | | Nych | 78 | 65 | 76 | 75 | 72 | 84 | | Pedersen | 77 | 78 | 77 | 78 | 80 | 75 |  Wohler | 77 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 80 | | Kortsidakis | 77 | 68 | 72 | 75 | 75 | 76 | | Yzeiraj | 77 | 62 | 71 | 74 | 74 | 85 | | Cosnefroy | 76 | 69 | 69 | 78 | 81 | 81 | | De Gendt | 76 | 65 | 69 | 77 | 75 | 77 | | Lampawog | 76 | 64 | 68 | 76 | 75 | 75 |
Konychev is great on the flats, has outstanding energy stats and an eye for an attack but with Dainese on the team he might be shutting down attacks rather than initiating them.
Quispe and Katrasnik are both legends but might not have the secondary stats for this race. Yzeiraj and Wohler have also had a lot of success as attackers and are probably a little better rounded than the other two. Antonijevic has proven he can do it.
Pedersen is having a great season and if he goes on the attack the peloton will have to be at its best to bring him back. He is also fast enough to compete in a sprint as well.
Startlist
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 11-01-2025 05:03
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| quadsas |
Posted on 11-01-2025 03:44
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2536
Joined: 18-01-2013
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Should be an easy victory for Vesely
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 11-01-2025 03:57
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Team Leader
Posts: 5548
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Always a tough race to call in terms of who is going to make it interesting but we have a two-pronged attack in Jakobsen, it does make it to a bunch sprint, and Cosnefroy for the more likely late attacks from the strong men.
Let's see what happens!!
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 11-01-2025 04:48
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Didn’t even realise we were here - throwaway team for us. Hopefully Venturini can get into the break, or get into a minor point scoring position.
Think the sprinters will take this race back, but beware Quispe 
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 11-01-2025 08:24
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Grand Tour Champion
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Winning is the only goal we'll ever have in this race
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| tastasol |
Posted on 11-01-2025 09:02
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Classics Specialist
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Hit or miss. It's been a while since Pedersen managed to do a top result in a flat classic, but hopefully he can do something this time around.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 13-01-2025 17:05
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 11-01-2025 20:55
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Grand Tour Specialist
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First ever flat classic for Groves in our colours. Looks like the game likes him given that he's got Bib 81, but that tells nothing about his actual perspectives. If the bumps are somewhat selective, it could be a good race - but I though the same about MSR, and he miserably failed.
Maybe we should rather focus on Szarka, given the success of rouleurs lately - with his 77 Fl, netting him some nice results in the Giro, he'd be a perfect pick for a late attack. Sadly, he's probably not aggressive enough...
Anyway, we've got at least two cards to play - hoping at least one sticks!
Good luck to all, thanks for the preview!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 12-01-2025 14:08
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Classics Specialist
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Thank you for the nice preview!
Hope Halvorsen can surf wheels and come out at the right minute. Good luck to all!
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| SotD |
Posted on 12-01-2025 17:10
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World Champion
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The race turned out exactly like we planned, but in the end brother Kortsidakis nor Boutopoulos had the strength for a top result. Still a top 10 from the latter is solid when er have Farantakis doing well elsewhere.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 12-01-2025 18:42
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Classics Specialist
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Race dynamics pretty much as we could have hoped, but seemed like we lacked just a bit on the sharpness. Oh well, not a race where we thought we would score big.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 12-01-2025 19:25
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Most awful racing of the year by us. Groves just doesn't seem to be smart enough for classics, even worse here than in MSR.
Thanks for the report, congrats to Assa.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 12-01-2025 20:07
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Grand Tour Champion
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We will never get lucky in this race.
Congrats Sykkel_Freak, and thanks UU for doing this race justice.
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| redordead |
Posted on 13-01-2025 07:35
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Grand Tour Specialist
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I figured we'll try something with Katrasnik, but I didn't think we'd take part in controlling the race. It was cool to see Siric working on the front when the early split occurred. In the end Katrasnik did his thing, 2nd place was probably the best where he could've finished at.
Thanks for the preview and report UU! I got at least one race where I could enjoy my team's performance this month
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 13-01-2025 08:33
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Classics Specialist
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Not the kind of wheel surfing I was imagining, but I'll take it! I assume a big turn by Ruiz accidentally put Halvorsen in that position, and seems like he made the right choice to keep going then. Can't blame him for not thinking clearly anymore and waiting to sprint a bit after having chased those three strong rouleurs 
Thank you for the great report, Ulrich!
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