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Barcelona Classic
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| ember |
Posted on 15-02-2012 11:13
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Barcelona Classic
Barcelona Classic is another sprint classic this spring. At least it's on paper, this will be no "walk in the park" for the sprinters. The route contains 1 hill, which they will face 9 times. The hill itself isn't very hard, but the roads are narrow there, both going up and down the hill, which will force the sprinters to be very close to the front, especially on the last lap, if they want to fight for the win.
And indeed, the start list contains many great sprinters. This should definitely be a great fight between the fastest men in the Continental Tour. They're once again led by
 Daniele Bennati
He won both GP Moscow and Rogaland GP in a convincing way, and he's surely hoping to take his third race win in May here. He has, as usual, got a strong team to cover him, will be "normal procedure" with Team Puma - SAP chasing down the breakaway, delivering Bennati perfect for the bunch sprint?
 Peter Kennaugh
has not been seen in many sprinters classic, in fact he has only showed up once, 3 months ago, in South Africa. He didn't win in South Africa, but he tries once again here. And racing that few classics, I'm sure he will be top motivated to get a great result here.
 Claudio Coriono
was best of the rest in GP Moscow, were he ended 2nd. In Rogaland GP he crashed before the sprint started, meaning he wasn't allowed to challenge for the podium. We can only assume he wants revenge, both for the crash in Rogaland GP, and the 2nd place behind Bennati in Moscow.
 Roman Maksimov
is another great sprinter. The question is how he will handle the hill, as he must have power both for the hills and a final dash to the finish line. His manager has great faith in the young Russian. Will he live up to the expectations already here, in Barcelona?
 Daryl Impey
 Matti Breschel
aren't the fastest men in the world, but they're strong riders, who will take the hill with ease. That should give them an advantage for the sprint, which could see them go faster than any of the pure sprinters.
On a last note, Bianchi are bringing their hilly squad for this flat classic,
 Dimitri Claeys
leads them. It will be interesting to see what tactic they will try, but if they decide to go all-in for Claeys, making the race as hard as possible, a lot of the sprinters should struggle big times.
Startlist
Spoiler | Puma | | 1. D. Bennati | | 2. L. Croket | | 3. M. Delage | | 4. E. Gasparotto | | 5. G. Meersman | | 6. S. Minard | | 7. J. Sütterlin | | Rapha Condor | | 11. P. Kennaugh | | 12. D. Appleby | | 13. T. Grmay | | 14. D. Lloyd | | 15. J. Perrett | | 16. W. Sulzberger | | 17. T. Teklit | | Venchi | | 21. C. Corioni | | 22. F. Aru | | 23. M. Corti | | 24. S. Marinangeli | | 25. B. Monterastelli | | 26. F. Reda | | 27. A. Santoro | | Saab | | 31. M. Breschel | | 32. N. Aistrup | | 33. M. Brammeier | | 34. F. Chicchi | | 35. T. Gudsell | | 36. A. Lunds | | 37. J. Sørensen | | CSC | | 41. R. Maksimov | | 42. A. Ajewole | | 43. I. Kovalev | | 44. B. Lima | | 45. A. Talansky | | 46. E. Teruel | | 47. C. Verona | | Red Bull | | 51. D. Impey | | 52. M. Chérel | | 53. A. Hansen | | 54. A. Jelloul | | 55. D. Moreno | | 56. M. Mori | | 57. M. Priamo | | Rothaus | | 61. C. Cucinotta | | 62. V. Iglinski | | 63. M. Landa | | 64. J. Novak | | 65. F. Scheit | | 66. N. Schoch | | 67. D. Vesely | | Meiji | | 71. Y. Arashiro | | 72. F. Beppu | | 73. T. Miyazawa | | 74. R. Nishizono | | 75. S. Park | | 76. T. Scully | | 77. Y. Wei | | Tinkoff | | 81. P. Korzh | | 82. D. Galimzyanov | | 83. P. Ignatenko | | 84. B. Shpilevski | | 85. A. Timofeev | | 86. N. Trusov | | 87. K. Yatsevich | | Bianchi | | 91. G. Lequatre | | 92. D. Claeys | | 93. S. Locatelli | | 94. O. Martynenko | | 95. F. Odebrecht | | 96. F. Rabon | | 97. P. Rooijakkers | | Cerne | | 101. M. Biondo | | 102. L. Afonso | | 103. A. Antunes | | 104. B. Borges | | 105. J. Insausti | | 106. P. Lucas Martins | | 107. B. Pires | | Cyclevox | | 111. G. Briggs | | 112. C. Beyer | | 113. G. Heymes | | 114. C. Knees | | 115. D. McLay | | 116. C. Opie | | 117. P. Williams | | Bpost | | 121. S. Poulhiès | | 122. F. Frison | | 123. J. Polanc | | 124. R. Stenuit | | 125. G. Van Keirsbulck | | 126. P. Vanspeybrouck | | 127. J. Vansummeren | | UniCredit | | 131. A. Signego | | 132. P. Andersen | | 133. D. Bragazzi | | 134. J. Grau | | 135. S. Puccio | | 136. T. Van der Sande | | 137. G. Visconti |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 15-02-2012 11:34
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What was I thinking with this team? Honestly, can someone explain it? All I can hope for is to get in a winning break (with the narrow roads, that isn't too unlikely) or for Poulhiès to maybe get in the top 20.
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| Rin |
Posted on 15-02-2012 12:44
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Oh well.. Then I hope that Rabon could surprise with his mountain/hill and sprint value otherwise oh god another big failure (like Drenthe)
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| ANFreeman |
Posted on 15-02-2012 12:46
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I thought I'd sent Docker here, instead of sending him to Bayern. Whoops.
[url=https://pcmdaily.com/messages.php?msg_send=19438]-Requests for Man-Game 2014 jerseys are OPEN!
Click to request!-[/url] |
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-02-2012 12:47
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Maybe a top10 for me. Cucinotta/Iglisnki could do well while the rest of the team are talents. One of the less important races for me. |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 15-02-2012 12:56
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Roman Maksimov better show up to win, otherwise my win goal is going to look like a huge mistake on my part. 
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Posted on 22-11-2024 12:12
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| Smowz |
Posted on 15-02-2012 13:02
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The two big questions here when I looked at this race was
1) whether the break would succeed? Not sure really the flat section looks long enough for a good chase and Puma are pretty good at chasing things down when Bennati is involved.
2) How decisive would the last climb be? I think it will be hard enough to drop the big sprinters like Maksimov.
That should leave plenty of our guns (moreno, Impey, Mori) out there with a shot of a decent result and I will be disappointed if I miss out on a top 5.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 15-02-2012 15:41
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Hope the hills will be tough for many of the sprinters so Breschel can make a really good result here.
Edited by viking90 on 15-02-2012 16:01
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| jph27 |
Posted on 15-02-2012 15:46
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Hmmm. I fancy a CDiv2 style classic here, but for different reasons than we have in our division. If a strong break goes, then the Sprinters teams may be reluctant to chase as they could drop their sprinters, or even play into the hands of someone like Claeys. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 15-02-2012 16:05
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ember wrote:
...the roads are narrow...
Certainly the phrase I wanted to hear the least in the preview 
Well, with Bennati, the win is always the goal, but this is certainly a race noone can predict.
Puma has all it needs to support Bennati, but narrow roads were never our friends... I hope he'll stay at the front all the time.
I guess the hill and the descent will tire out many sprinters like Maksimov or Chicchi, but there is still enough competition with Breschel or Impey, who has an impressive hills support again.
Very interesting race indeed.
Edited by cio93 on 15-02-2012 16:29
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 15-02-2012 16:16
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Would love to see Bianchi and Claeys put the hammer down on the climb could make the result very intresting think i will go for Impey in this one though a sprinter with a punch just what's needed |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 16-02-2012 23:50
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Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 
(Nonetheless nice report ember)
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 17-02-2012 00:05
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Loved that Park my best sprinter was in the break 
Then Beppu fell, and Arashiro dropped.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 17-02-2012 00:33
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Oh wow that is a fantastic result! Vanspeybrouck proving his value over hilly terrain as well. Also Poulhies and Vansummeren in the top 20.
Congratulations to Rothaus.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 17-02-2012 05:12
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Good work Brammeier! A podium spot is always good! |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 17-02-2012 06:14
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How come one from my team has lead out the sprint in every sucsessfull breakaway that we have been involved in this year?
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| jph27 |
Posted on 17-02-2012 07:54
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My prediction came true, sort of. Nice report, great result for Rothaus and Iglinskiy. |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 17-02-2012 08:00
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It was a very good team effort from Red Bull, in the closing stages there wasn't a single attack we didn't mark. Jelloul has been having a quiet season and just for a moment it looked like he had snatched a big career win. But it was not to be and the guy who beat him has a better kick.
Impey coming home 7th rounds out a good day indeed, the points keep rolling in not as fast as Rapha but still building a very nice buffer indeed I imagine.
A crazy classic really lots going on, but I couldn't really see that one playing out as a pan flat sprint - which is how I think the Berlin one will go.
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| Heine |
Posted on 17-02-2012 08:35
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I feel it is typical for this season that there is a fall, and ofcourse Red Bull and Rapha riders come best out of it :-p
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| roturn |
Posted on 17-02-2012 08:46
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Nice win. Haven`t seen this coming.
Yesterday I still thought that Iglinski`s stats should be good enough for better results but his flat might be his problem. Now he proved me wrong.  |
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