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Dwars door Vlaanderan discussion thread
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| Smowz |
Posted on 21-03-2013 08:13
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The Best cobblers in the Ctour finalise their preparations for the biggest cobbled classic of their season at E3 Prijs with the Dwars door Vlaanderan. This involves some of the well known cobbled sections featured in the Tour of Flanders including the Oude Kwaremont - Patersburg double header.
The startlist is fairly select:
 Bpost as you’d expect headlining it with Pieter Vanspreybrouck the big favourite. He has is favourite partner in crime Neils Albert here to cause havoc.
 HTC Nieuwsblad look to be one of Bpost’s biggest rivals on the cobbled stuff this year led by Baugnies who will be looking for a win or two at this level. The experienced  Bernie Eisel should not be dismissed either with a real big fan managing his team AMEX.
A number of teams have ventured into the PCT cobbled seasons for a first serious crack at gaining serious points. We have:
 VolksWagen are looking for a decent performance for Gaudin
Likewise  Prio Porto through Machado,
 Bouygues with Jacobs
and  UPC with Veelers.
Three of the four CTour teams to join us also have big cobbled stars in their line-ups.
 Nico Maes has a very decent support crew
like-wise  Geraint Thomas.
 Steegmans appears to be slightly more isolated but will be dangerous in a field sprint.
 JK Cycling and surprisingly  Rothaus have weak looking northern classics outfits here and appear to be riding for experience.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 21-03-2013 08:15
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Scared of E3 Prijs. Hurray to go there to gain XP. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-03-2013 08:33
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One of my weakest squads all season. 
Sbaragli being leader. Fine. 
It`s one of the very, very few races I just participate to hope for some surprising points for my Top10 Europe Tour goal. In the end it probably would have been smarter to send a similar squad to a C2 race, but probably won`t care in the end.
Edited by roturn on 21-03-2013 09:55
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| ANFreeman |
Posted on 21-03-2013 10:04
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The cobbles seem to have scared most PCT teams off, will be interesting to see how e3 is contested, especially as I've (stupidly) sent a team there.
Cobble leaders seem far too thinly spread across all 3 divisions.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 21-03-2013 10:09
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Fully expecting a Boeing fail here... maybe a Top20 i hope...
I'd put my money on HTC and Bagniers to win, but it won't be easy
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 21-03-2013 11:25
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Dwars Door Vlaanderen is an interesting course. Under 200km and the 1st half of the race is a pool table flat track. This will mean the true selection will come in the 2nd half where there are short choppy hills to climb and several cobble section to traverse.
In the end you need to look to the usual PCT/CT suspects. There appears to be a few who will not thrive on the 2nd half hills: 4 come to mind in Geriant Thomas, Pieter Jacobs, Tom Veelers, Marc Machado. I doubt they will fall far of the pace, but they likely will be behind the leaders coming to the final kilometers.
That seems to limit the contenders to: Jerome Baugnies, Pieter Vanspeybrouck, Gert Steegmans, Bernhard Eisel, Damien Gaudin. This unique track also looks to be ideal for two top domestiques Neils Albert (Bpost) and Matti Breschel (AMEXpc).
Entering the final approach to the finishline you always need to consider the best sprinters. There are three who could still be in contention who are top PCT/CT spinters: Gert Steegmans (Banco Nacional), Bernhard Eisel and Matti Breschel (AMEXpc).
Vanspeybrouck has had a great start to the season, but this course looks a bit better suited for Jerome Baugnies. Baugnies 1st and Vanspreysbrouck 2nd.
Looking for a dark horse on the podium then keep an eye on Mattie Breschel (AMEXpc)
This could be a very exciting finish as two of the top teams could enter the final kilometer with 2 riders in contention if either of those could get a leadout set up then you will need to look for Bpost (Vanspeybrouck/Albert) and AMEXpc (Eisel/Breschel).
This race has lots of ways the finish could be resolved, but all of the outcomes will first be pared down by the hills and the cobbles. Look for an elite group of 10 or less to go under the 3k banner together.
Edited by Mhaley45 on 21-03-2013 11:28
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| jaxika |
Posted on 21-03-2013 11:37
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I hope MAes can stay with the best and if he do, everything can happen |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 21-03-2013 13:09
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Hoping for a podium here at least. Hopefully it goes well :L
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 21-03-2013 13:11
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Well, let's see how the cobblers who have a bad sprint ability do. They need to get away or else a rider like Steegmans and Maes could screw them over. |
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| CountArach |
Posted on 21-03-2013 13:12
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The first of my three cobbled win goals, so let's hope this goes well then...
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 21-03-2013 21:57
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CT team's firepower can't be neglected in PCT cobbles this season, what makes this so much more spicy. But I'll be surprised if the victory doesn't stay with Bpost, HTC or Amex here.
And fingers crossed for Machado, there isn't much he can do with all these hills but there's always hope.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 08:04
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 21-03-2013 22:24
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No real ambitions here, but SSSteegmansss shold do well in a small-group sprint, if he manages to stay in it.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 22-03-2013 19:48
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Da fuq did I just read? Manx said a while ago that cobbled AI was good. He was fuckin' wrong. At least, it gives me hope that in E3 my team can actually do something. |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 22-03-2013 19:49
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Conti Domination
Great result for JK, cool to see them winning a big race. Also congrats to BCR and Boeing, who scored some nice points here after not having the best start to the season. |
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| Heine |
Posted on 22-03-2013 19:52
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So close to doing really well... And in the end the best "VolksWagen" riders is Taubel... Loaned out
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| jph27 |
Posted on 22-03-2013 19:56
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Miguel98 wrote:
Da fuq did I just read? Manx said a while ago that cobbled AI was good. He was fuckin' wrong. At least, it gives me hope that in E3 my team can actually do something.
Do you need to complain about everything? Put another tune on, this one is boring.
Great result for JK. Bet Count will be annoyed |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 22-03-2013 19:58
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Not bad for us considering a) it did come to a big sprint which we don't really like b) Baugnies went way too early in that sprint.
Vanderbergh did very well, 5th and 7th is good. E3 and Dunkerque are the big ones for us. Although win at E3 will be very hard.
Great report Smowz!
Edited by Alakagom on 22-03-2013 20:06
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| Crommy |
Posted on 22-03-2013 20:04
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Not good enough from Bouygues, but good to see a rider formerly loaned to us getting a great win!
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 22-03-2013 20:05
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Whilst a great race to read about...
we missed both the podium and the top10...
Congrats to Peeters! That was a surprise
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 22-03-2013 20:08
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Miguel98 wrote:
Da fuq did I just read? Manx said a while ago that cobbled AI was good. He was fuckin' wrong. At least, it gives me hope that in E3 my team can actually do something.
Cobbled AI is quite good... What was wrong with that race? It came to duel with the main stars. So a non-name won, but thats cycling!
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
