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East Midlands Cicle Classic Discussion
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 13-04-2025 07:59
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Preview by SotD
Welcome to the windy and rainy part of the world, here at the eastern midlands. The race kicks off from the beautiful Rutland Waters in Empingham - a historical small town in the middle of the british island. The race ends in the bigger, but still relatively small city of Oakham, which is another historical an architecturally interesting pearl in the Rutlands.
The race is made for the cobbled riders and have a list of top world class riders in the historicy books. The race was initially ridden in 2010 where CT star, Oscar Freire won the race. It was won by Luke Rowe the following year, before being introduced to the Pro tour in 2012. It was immidiately won by superstar Tom Boonen, before the strongest cobbler ever, Sam Bewley hit the pavees making a crazy 8 wins - back to back, if it wasn't for a single upset by the ever runner up, Greg van Avermaet in 2017.
After the reign of Bewley-terror stopped with his last win in 2021, the race has been won by two other superstars of the cobbles: Kasperkiewiecz and Wisniowski. It will be interesting to see if the new Polish dominance can be killed this time around - Wisniowski is back to ensure that won't happen. The competition is fierce though!
Let's start by looking at the big favorites for this race:
| Name | FL | RE | CO | SP |  Spengler | 74 | 73 | 83 | 62 |  Pedersen | 77 | 80 | 83 | 78 |  Wisniowski | 79 | 75 | 82 | 72 |  Per | 79 | 75 | 82 | 74 |  Van Hooydonck | 73 | 74 | 82 | 61 |  Altur | 75 | 70 | 82 | 72 |  Senechal | 75 | 74 | 82 | 69 |  Gerts | 77 | 80 | 82 | 72 |  Teunissen | 76 | 73 | 81 | 67 | | Kamyshev | 76 | 74 | 81 | 65 |  Anderberg | 78 | 76 | 80 | 60 |
It is hard to look past riders such as Pedersen, Wisniowski and Per for the win here, as they can all win from a reduced group due to their speed. The former being, by some distance, the fastest - and a remote copy of the former star Sam Bewley.
The remaining riders from the list varies in speed, but a common thing is that they will need to get rid of the aforementioned riders to really have a realistic shot at winning. In pure cobbled strength most of them could match the favorites, but they need a good day, and a strategic foresight to take the win.
In case we get a larger selection towards the end a few more riders could spot an incentiment to create a shocker:
| Name | FL | RE | CO | SP |  Tiller | 74 | 75 | 79 | 74 |  Theuns | 71 | 71 | 78 | 76 |  Siric | 78 | 80 | 78 | 77 | | Girmay | 76 | 75 | 77 | 76 |  Ovsyannikov | 74 | 72 | 77 | 79 |  Vermeersch | 76 | 75 | 76 | 76 |
Fast riders, some of whom are also seen as the stars of tomorrow. Siric and Ovsyannikov have developped well over the current years, but we could see heavy further investment in those - which would see them as a top favorite in 1-2 years time.
Also riders like Girmay and Vermeersch will definately be back as more natural favorites next season as they still have a bit of way to go in their development. All of the above will be looking to break into the top 10 if possible. It will be difficult though with a top heavy cobbled selection.
Startlist:
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 13-04-2025 09:51
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 13-04-2025 08:29
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Classics Specialist
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Thanks you for the nice preview!
Every point here is a bonus point for us 
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| knockout |
Posted on 13-04-2025 09:09
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Grand Tour Champion
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This is one of the least succesful cobbled races for Polanc over the last couple years so expectations are lowered a bit. Still, a good race would be important in the podium fight
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 13-04-2025 14:07
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Tour de France Champion
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We're safe, and so the goal posts have moved. Need a great result her from Per to remain in contention for the top 10, which is a team goal—one that once upon a time seemed unrealistic, but now could be the key to a budget explosion. If we want that reality, we need at least a podium here, as we can't expect much from the hilly races or sprints coming up. Hopefully our Slovenian is up to the task!
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| ember |
Posted on 13-04-2025 17:42
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Team Leader
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Same as for every cobbles race here for Anderberg. We are expecting a top 10 and hoping for a top 5. Fingers crossed! |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 13-04-2025 17:46
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We need to outscore Tinkoff, but that seems like a nearly impossible objective. Hope Teunissen can surprise everyone.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 13-04-2025 23:08
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Well, if Theuns doesn't do well here, I'll ask to replay the race, as the preview stole him 1 Cob point 
But even if the DB is correct - and I guess it is - Top 15 will be the goal as always. If the cobbles aren't too selective, the finale should really suit him with his still good sprint skills; in that case, another Top 10 could be on the table. But I'm afraid there are too few hills for him here to upset the stronger cobblers.
Thanks for the preview, good luck to all!
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| redordead |
Posted on 14-04-2025 06:54
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This race is kinda Roubaix 2.0 which is bad news for us, because it means Siric probably doesn't like it.
Thanks for the preview
Edited by redordead on 14-04-2025 08:08
"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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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 17-04-2025 23:17
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| SotD |
Posted on 14-04-2025 10:27
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Ouch, bad result from Tinkoff here. Gazelle dodging a bullet
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| redordead |
Posted on 14-04-2025 10:44
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Siric must have had a very good day, he was holding the wheels when some bigger names were getting dropped. That's his 2nd highest placing in a cobbled classic this year 
Thanks for the report and congrats to bbl on another Per win
"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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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 14-04-2025 10:48
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Not only did Gerts have a bad race, but we also lost points to most of our relegation rivals. Things are not looking good at the moment.
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| knockout |
Posted on 14-04-2025 11:17
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Grand Tour Champion
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I guess this was neither great or bad but mostly solid for us. Neilands shows once again that he can carry out some decent results if he ends up as the cobbles leader of our future.
Congrats bbl, seems like you are still in top 10 contention now 
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 14-04-2025 11:36
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Classics Specialist
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Important race for us. Thought Pedersen races a bit messy towards the end, so perhaps that's why he didn't follow the attack from Per. Well played though, so congrats to bbl!
Another 2nd place for us. Some very important points, so have to be relatively happy with that, even though we of course hoped for more, with a course that's such a good fit for Pedersen. Good to get another four guys top 30, even though they came together at 27th-30th
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 14-04-2025 13:32
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Tour de France Champion
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Huge win for Per here at the PT level! He played it perfectly to force the selections and then wait until the group was small and had stalled out a little before launching his final attack. I agree that Pedersen probably could have followed, but perhaps was hoping for the small group sprint. Seeing another Per win in his NC is awesome, and everything played out exactly as we hoped. Not so for some of the other favorites—commiserations to them.
Needless to say, this is the kind of performance we needed to stick in the top 10. Couldn't have gotten much more scoring wise, even if Grieg may end up scoring more than us here due to depth. Resell and Meiler in 33rd and 41st is not amazing, but at least more than we've gotten at some points in the past. Combined with a win, it's a great haul.
Thanks for the report Abhi!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 14-04-2025 13:57
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Classics Specialist
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Low points as expected, Ulloa where he should be I think more or less with that 21st place. Relegation opponents scoring nicely I see. Congratulations bbl and thank you for the great report to Abhishek
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| ember |
Posted on 14-04-2025 14:50
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Team Leader
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Happy with 5th place here for Anderberg! That seems to be his level this season, landing 5th to 10th in a lot of races, it feels like. You have got to wonder what might be possible with some training, but suspect it will be really, really difficult to fund it seeing how out season unfolds goals wise
Congratulations on the win, bbl! |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 14-04-2025 22:18
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Small Tour Specialist
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Congrats bbl!
9th is pretty much on par for Teunissen here and we need more from him in the title fight. But we got away with it because our biggest rivals were very unlucky.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 14-04-2025 22:58
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Hum... Would happily have taken a little bit more than 11th for Theuns, he was actually looking pretty good. But he shouldn't have tried to chase down Teunissen, I guess that finally broke him. Finishing behind Siric and Polanc again in a race were pure cobbles skills matter hurts a bit, but I guess his physical condition just isn't good enough in the long run anymore.
Küng with a great race, really sad the breakaway didn't get more leeway. Could've been a good result for him, but it wasn't to be. Paprstka about as expected, at least some depth.
However, outscoring Tinkoff in this race is really weird, all of their cobblers must have been on an awful day, or have suffered unreported punctures. Can't make any sense of this honestly, but obviously good news for Gazelle.
Congrats to Carlsberg, and also Fastned, guess it was Van Hooydonck's best rase of the year. Not great for us to see both of these teams scoring big, as that definitely ends our hopes of a Top 10 (barring any big ToNE magic). But well deserved, definitely.
Thanks for the report!
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| roturn |
Posted on 16-04-2025 07:41
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This was a rare top performance on the cobbles. 3rd is very good result, in especially as he usually struggles due to lower flat/sprint as most other classic riders.
Was a bit worried when he was only in 3rd group when splits appeared thinking he again would more fight for 8th to 15th or so.
But luckily strength was on his side this time, coming back, attacking, getting the advantage for the sprint and podium.
Much needed from him.
Thanks for the report and congrats to Per`s win. |
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