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Classique du Grand-Duché Discussion
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| Heine |
Posted on 26-10-2025 06:55
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Grand Tour Specialist
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 [PT] Classique du Grand-Duché
Welcome to Luxembourg for the 15th edition of the Classique du Grand-Duché.
The race is a classic classic for the puncheurs with 70 mostly flat km to get the legs warm followed by 160 km of constant up and down. The finish is on top of a hill too.
The race is part of the PT calendar since 2011 and was won by some of the biggest puncheurs of the MGUCI history. Peter Sagan is the only one who won three times, but won’t be able to add a fourth win as he's not present.
The winner of the last two iterations however is present, and  Herklotz might be the biggest favorite to join Sagan as 3 times winner! Another former winner present is  Lopez who hopes to repeat his win from 2020. Last year 2nd place Joseph Areruya also hopes to get his first win
Previous winners:
Spoiler
| Year | Winner | | 2024 | Silvio Herklotz (Team Puma - SAP) | | 2023 | Silvio Herklotz (Team Puma - SAP) | | 2022 | Peter Sagan (Moser - Sygic) | | 2021 | Anthony Turgis (Farfetch Pro Cycling) | | 2020 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Evonik - ELKO) | | 2019 | Peter Sagan (Moser - Sygic) | | 2018 | Arnaud Demare (Team Puma - SAP) | | 2017 | Peter Sagan (Moser - Sygic) | | 2016 | Egoitz Garcia (Movistar - US Postal) | | 2015 | Simone Ponzi (Good Energy) | | 2014 | Yuri Trofimov (Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank) | | 2013 | Damiano Cunego (Lotto - Cervelo) | | 2012 | Frank Schleck (Vesuvio-Accumalux) | | 2011 | Yuri Trofimov (Sony Ericsson) |
2024 results:
Spoiler
| 1 | Silvio Herklotz | Team Puma - SAP | 5h37'46 | | 2 | Joseph Areruya | Xero Racing | s.t. | | 3 | Miguel Angel Lopez | Evonik - ELKO | s.t. | | 4 | Davide Formolo | Rabobank | s.t. | | 5 | Mauro Schmid | Jura GIANTS | s.t. | | 6 | Alexey Lutsenko | Gazelle | s.t. | | 7 | Takeaki Amezawa | MOL Cycling Team | s.t. | | 8 | Aidan Van Niekerk | ISA - Hexacta | s.t. | | 9 | Alex Aranburu | Carlsberg - Danske Bank | s.t. | | 10 | Michael Storer | ZARA - Irizar | s.t. |
The startlist consists of the entirety of the PT teams who’re obliged to participate plus two PCT wildcards in Specialized and Bralirwa - Cegeka. The biggest name joining from PCT is  Amezawa who hopes to shock the PT riders.
The biggest favorites however is last years top 3; Herklotz,  Areruya and Lopez. Noone will be suprised if they repeat and become top 3 once again. There are however a great field and riders like  Mohoric,  Skujins and  McCarthy are strong pure puncheurs, while  Valter,  Aranburu and  Higuita are among the stronger hill-mountain combo puncheurs. We can't forget  Buchmann either who is the last rider with 80 hills and a strong climbing stat aswell.
Other riders who could come out of this with a good results include  Schmid,  De Plus and  Champoussin, and most likely some riders who I forget to mention not but I got to stop somewhere
All riders with 79 or higher hill stat:
| Name | MO | MM | HI | ST | RS | RC | AC | FG | DH | | Miguel Angel Lopez | 80 | 82 | 84 | 76 | 74 | 74 | 78 | 80 | 71 | | Matej Mohoric | 71 | 77 | 83 | 78 | 72 | 72 | 77 | 71 | 79 | | Jay McCarthy | 66 | 74 | 81 | 79 | 74 | 68 | 73 | 70 | 70 | | Silvio Herklotz | 84 | 83 | 81 | 79 | 80 | 78 | 76 | 80 | 76 | | Toms Skujins | 68 | 75 | 81 | 77 | 74 | 70 | 73 | 64 | 64 | | Joseph Areruya | 81 | 81 | 81 | 76 | 78 | 79 | 76 | 75 | 60 | | Attila Valter | 78 | 79 | 80 | 76 | 75 | 74 | 78 | 73 | 71 | | Alex Aranburu | 77 | 79 | 80 | 70 | 79 | 74 | 71 | 62 | 67 | | Sergio Higuita | 79 | 80 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 79 | 75 | 73 | 64 | | Emanuel Buchmann | 75 | 78 | 80 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 66 | 69 | | Mauro Schmid | 76 | 78 | 79 | 73 | 78 | 73 | 79 | 78 | 74 | | Laurens De Plus | 77 | 78 | 79 | 74 | 73 | 71 | 72 | 68 | 66 | | Clement Champoussin | 79 | 79 | 79 | 76 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 73 | 74 | | Andreas Kron | 71 | 75 | 79 | 75 | 75 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 71 |
Startlist
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| Heine |
Posted on 26-10-2025 06:59
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4463
Joined: 08-04-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Two comments:
This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I completely forgot  The race will be up tonight or early tomorrow morning
Also this will be my first report and I could not for the hell of me get rid of that damn circle under the rider I had selected, I tried every tip I got on discord, found on the forum and found trough googling with 2 different keyboards, just something strange either on my computer or the problem somehow sits between the chair and the keyboard, but you will have to live with that damn circle in every screenshot 
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 26-10-2025 07:04
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15024
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De Plus gets a mention, which is more than I hoped for. Let's hope he can live up to the expectations. Thanks for the preview and don't worry about the tiny stuff!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 26-10-2025 07:06
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3221
Joined: 07-08-2011
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Here hoping for some fun from Quita!
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-10-2025 07:10
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World Champion
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We are here as cannonfodder, but will be looking with interest. In particular at riders like McCarthy an Skujins, as that could be the future omen of Kinoshita in the ardennes campaign.
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-10-2025 07:21
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Grand Tour Champion
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Same as every year. Herklotz is the big favourite but i really would like to see Lopez start his season well with a podium.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| ember |
Posted on 26-10-2025 08:54
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Team Leader
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Huge expectations for Valter here, eventhough the field is deep and great. It will be the first sign for how he does with the new game, really hope it can be good news for us 
Agree with knockout on the favourite, at least based on previous versions and races. Always kind of exciting to get to a new game and see if it changed anything for the big favourites, but I definitely struggle to see how Herklotz should not find a way to win this one  |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 26-10-2025 08:58
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World Champion
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Let's see the new and improved Champoussin in action.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 20:31
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| Bikex |
Posted on 26-10-2025 11:27
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Our loanee Quinn Simmons is leading us here. Let's see if he can do anything noteworthy. Other than that nice to see Quita here as well with his new team.
Thanks for the preview Heine! |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 26-10-2025 12:01
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Throwaway race for us unless we get unexpectedly lucky.
Thanks for the preview!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-10-2025 04:26
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Gonna be a very tough race for Aranburu with his stamina probably, but since his TT made Paris-Nice lack any GC prospects, there wasn't a reason not to send him. If he ides a conservative race and MTN/MM come into play, maybe he's not completely useless.
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| ember |
Posted on 27-10-2025 06:44
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Congratulations on the win, Nemo! Didn’t see it coming at all, but what a powerful way to do it from Higuita, timing the attack to perfection and holding on.
Also thank you a lot for being on reporting duties, Heine! Enjoyed the race report a lot, eventhough it felt obvious quite early that Valter wasn’t on a great day. At least that is what I hope, because if this is the new normal, we will be in for a struggle this year |
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-10-2025 06:58
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Couldn`t have any real ambitions here as Vliegen/Vanhoucke was clearly a huge outside duo only.
In the end Van Hooydonck at least showed the colours in the break, which is nice to see with such team.
Vliegen and Vanhoucke without a mention and 46th for later and 95th for the actual puncheur might still be a bit lower than hoped. But point wise as expectations.
Higuita with a big one here and also Champoussin surprising. Other than that the favourites are basically up there.
Congrats nemo for this surprise win and thanks for the report. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 27-10-2025 07:28
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World Champion
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Massive win by Higuita here! Big congrats :-)
A very solid surprise to see Soulious picking up 15th here. It’s not Big points by any means, but more than 40 points here is nice!
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| redordead |
Posted on 27-10-2025 07:32
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Schlegel in 12th seems okay. If he could do this in the other hilly classics that would be good, but this field is probably a bit weaker due to the triple clash. Three other riders in the top 50 is a first for me and it makes the outcome a bit better.
Congrats to Nemo and thanks to Heine for both the preview and report 
"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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| Heine |
Posted on 27-10-2025 07:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4463
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I have to admit, it was amusing to read predictions when you know the results. Makes for an extra layer
A big congrats to nemo from me aswell! When the attack seemed to be sticking I was rooting for Higuita
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 27-10-2025 07:50
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I thought Champoussin will be doomed to finish last in the group in that sprint, but to actually finish second is a miracle. It's definitely to early to clal it, but the training seems to yave paid off. This is peak Davide Formolo levels from Champoussin.
Congrats, Nemo!
Thanks for the report, Heine. There's still plenty of time for us to be dragged back in the relegation battle
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| Bikex |
Posted on 27-10-2025 08:41
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Oof not even top 50 from Quinn. At least it was nice to see Gloag try something.
Thanks for the report, Heine and congrats Nemo! |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 27-10-2025 09:07
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Tour de France Champion
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I should be happy with 9th, not sure why De Plus tried to drop all those big names at the finish though. Congrats Nemo and thanks for the report!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 27-10-2025 09:10
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Classics Specialist
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Heine wrote:
When the attack seemed to be sticking I was rooting for Higuita
I was even rooting for Higuita when the attack just began
Massive result from Biguita here! We learned from Tirreno last year and decided his best bet at a decent pprd in the triple clash would be this race, and he definitely delivered. Waited until the perfect time it seems to attack, and the big guns not really working together to get him back in combination with probably still a very good day was enough for our first PT classic win. Great to see Higuita's development in the last season really paying off at the highest level.
Halvorsen might not be a top-5 sprinter, but he seems to be a superb puncheur domestique. A versatility that makes people pay at least 2m for him during the next transfer period, one could imagine.
Thanks for the amazing report, Heine
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