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5 Jours de Dunkerque Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 03-08-2015 18:32
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Written by Froomedog999
 5 Jours de Dunkerque Preview
Welcome to France for the 5 Jours de Dunkerque, a race which will see the best pro continental cobblers and sprinters contest a rare cobbled stage race on the HC calendar. With 5 stages, we should be set for some interesting racing.
The most interesting stage in terms of the GC is the first stage, where the riders will race 9 circuits around the town of Cassel. On the circuit is a tough cobbled climb that should see the sprinters dropped and only the strongest cobblers remaining to battle for what is likely to be the most decisive stage in the race.
Four relatively flat stages follow, although stages 2 and 3 have a few bumps to get over before the finish which could put a few sprinters in difficulty, and stage 5 has some more cobbles early on. However, these probably won't be enough to cause splits due to them being very early on.
This is the eighth edition of the race, most previously won last year by Algerian Azzeddine Lagab. He returns to defend his title this year with Eritel - Sonatrach, while 2012 and 2013 winner Pieter Vanspeybrouck is also here for Team BPost.
Cobblers
| CB | HI | | CB | HI |  Summerhill | 82 | 73 |  Trentin | 77 | 74 |  Vanspeybrouck | 82 | 71 |  Breschel | 77 | 70 | | Baugnies | 80 | 72 |  Nuyens | 77 | 70 |  Boonen | 79 | 67 |  Daniel | 77 | 68 |  Maes | 79 | 67 |  Ferreira | 77 | 68 |  Vanmarcke | 79 | 66 | Steurs | 77 | 68 |  Thomas | 79 | 60 | Stallaert | 77 | 67 | | Albert | 78 | 69 | Verbist | 77 | 64 | | Veelers | 78 | 64 |
The two main favourites are both ahead of the best on the cobbles. Summerhill is the best rider here for the first stage, but lacks the support of Vanspeybrouck, who despite being a little weaker on the hills than Summerhill has a strong team behind him including the likes of Albert and Stallaert.
Another rider who will be aiming for victory here is Baugnies, who is undoubtedly beat the big two on his day. Another potential winner is Boonen, who isn't as strong as he once was but rolled back the years at Paris-Roubaix and can recover any lost seconds on stage one with bonus seconds in the sprints.
Out of the best cobblers the best uphill is Trentin. The Italian also had a decent sprint, so despite not being the best on pavé he could be a threat on the opening stage. Then there's the likes of Vanmarcke, Maes and to an even bigger extent Thomas who will rely on their abilities on the cobbles alone to get them a good placing here.
Sprinters
| SP | ACC | | SP | ACC |  Cavendish | 82 | 81 | Vingerling | 79 | 79 | | Vantomme | 82 | 78 |  Van der Sande | 79 | 79 | | Avelino | 82 | 78 | Demare | 79 | 79 | | Van Heerden | 82 | 73 | Krieger | 79 | 79 |  Ahlstrand | 81 | 80 | Farrar | 79 | 77 | | Boonen | 81 | 77 |  Von Hoff | 79 | 77 |  Kupfernagel | 80 | 80 | Docker | 79 | 77 | | Haussler | 80 | 76 | Stallaert | 79 | 76 | | Vanoverschelde | 80 | 75 | Greipel | 79 | 76 | | Boeckmans | 79 | 81 |
With four flat stages, we also have many of the division's top sprinters here. Cavendish is the fastest, although right behind him are Vantomme and Avelino. these three will be tough to beat in an a mass sprint.
Then there are also some sprinters suited to tougher terrain if any of the flat stages prove selective. Van Heerden is decent on the cobbles and not terrible uphill so could do well if he can collect some bonus seconds. There's also Haussler and Demare on the startlist who will be hoping that the hills of stages 2 and 3 drop the fastest sprinters as these riders are strong uphill but lack the top speed of the best.
With many top riders present, the race should be a great spectacle for the fans. The full startlist:
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 03-08-2015 18:38
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Kump and Asbroeck, both decent cobblers and sprinters, there's few nice stages for them, hopefully they do something...
Big race for Bpost, this is the race to score shiton of points with decent depth.
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-08-2015 19:06
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Three good cobblers here. So let's see what this is good for. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 27-11-2024 05:12
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-08-2015 19:13
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Visconti for the win 
With a bit of luck, he should do well in the opening stage. Not sure if history repeat though.
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| Margh Norway |
Posted on 03-08-2015 19:24
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Hope Oscar Gatto has a good opening da and his cobble-hill-combo brings him in a decent position. Then cruising home and stage hunting by the others. Every surprise will be a nice one.
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| knockout |
Posted on 03-08-2015 19:29
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Once again a race with big expectations for my team. Boonen should get at least a top five GC finish although I hope for a podium. A stage win on top is very good possible as well.
The sprint field is a bit stronger as I hoped but Boonen should still be one of the strongest ones. Especially after he gets better through stage 1 as his rivals.
I'm curious how PCM will handle Geschke as second sprinter. I hope that he can deliver a killer leadout on stage two and three but it is also possible that he will be a second sprinter aside of Boonen. Most likely though is that Geschke ignores the sprints completely as he seems to do all season long.
Should Boonen get his leadout then he has more than one option for the second leadout rider next to Geschke. Dzamastagic, Dakteris and Wagner all would be suited to the job. I hope that PCM is smart enough to pick the one suited best to the profile / the one with best daily form on each day.
Most of his usual cobbles support is here with Flaksis, Ingels and Dakteris all at the start.
It propably is the only cobbled race of Boonen without Kulppi all season long as I sacrificed him for a better hill support in Mohoric. He will propably drop on the cobbled roads on stage one but I wanted to add him to the start list just in case. If nothing else then he can help chasing on the hills on stage two / three.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 03-08-2015 19:36
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Looking to repeat what we did at KBC here, get enough time (and a stage one victory) with Summerhill to just hold onto the race through the finish. I think Danny has proven well enough to this point that he is the favorite even without a great supporting team like Bpost.
However there are a ton of bonus seconds out there in those last four stages that a guy like Boonen is very scary. And the first stage isn't all that long which might keep time gaps too low for Summerhill.
Excited to see more cobbles action though!
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| ryant |
Posted on 03-08-2015 19:50
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Competition is stacked here... its going to be hard to score much at all here so breaks and pray it is
Good luck as always!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 03-08-2015 20:47
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Very interesting race, just not for us. The group of favourites is really tight and should provide a nice battle on stage 1. I hope that one at least goes as expected, and that no crashes interfere with the GC in the rest of the stages.
Our goals here are a top15 in GC with R. Ferreira and a podium on a stage. Perhaps with luck we could be targeting a stage win or even the points jersey.
For the overall I'm going to pick Vanspeybrouck, don't ask me why. Good luck everyone and thanks for the preview FD 
Edited by Gustavovskiy on 03-08-2015 22:14
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| viking90 |
Posted on 03-08-2015 20:49
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It's up to Ahlstrand if we can get points here, he should fighting for podium on several stages. Other then that let's go in to the breaks maybe fight for the KoM Jersey? |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 03-08-2015 22:21
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Cobbles have been our Achilles heel this season, but there was one exception: the only hilly cobble race so far, GP Kigali. Stage 1 here has a similar hilly profile, so I hope Pozzato can finish in a respectable position again. If he does, a good GC is very possible, because stage 2 and 3 suit his strengths.
Veelers will probably have a hard time, but if he has a good day he might still score decently.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 03-08-2015 23:38
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Cavendish has to break his duck at this race. |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 03-08-2015 23:42
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Trentin haven't been great this season. He has to deliver now on that first stage, that should fit him perfectly.¨
Second and third stage should also fit Docker/Trentin good. Hopefully the guys can scrap together a decent amount of points.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 03-08-2015 23:50
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Daniel should like the hilly cobbles a bit more than usual, and they open up an opportunity for a co-leadership for Declerq, but they also mean easier ways to fuck things up.
To get two in the Top 15 there would be amazing, then it's two tailor-made stages for Demare.
Even though the opposition is bigger, I still think good positioning can make him a stage win favourite there.
The last two stages will be more difficult, but maybe some consistent scoring will allow him to compete for green.
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-08-2015 11:15
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Shit. Only 1 of my 3 cobblers making it into the first group??
Seeing that Bazzana was my 2nd best rider, I guess the cobbled stat has far less impact than the hill stat which is unfortunate.
Big points are almost gone now. So I at least hope to have some breakaway success now as also Boom keeping his GC or improving a bit...
Krieger had hoped for some sprint results but the field is far stronger than I had thought.
Gazelle and Bpost with a couple of riders in good GC positions each. So they will surely outscore me here. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 04-08-2015 11:25
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All those Eritel riders around when Lagab was dropped ... I fear Lagab may have sat up when one of my sprinters was dropped, rather than actually being in trouble. Looking at riders who made the front group, Lagab should have been part of it.
Goodness knows how Afewerki, on loan at Oz, managed to survive with his lack of hill skills and hardly notable cobbles ability.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 04-08-2015 11:45
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Visconti again doing well here 
Not sure though, what's it worth, as the lack of bonifications will make it quite a lottery now. Still, of course it's nice to finish in the front group. If he avoids any drama, he should be in for a Top-20/10 here.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 04-08-2015 11:53
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Excellent result! It was good to see the team working hard to reel in that very dangerous breakaway. And the work paid off handsomely, because Pozzato got himself into a great position.
The rest of the tour is probably going to be dominated by (hilly) sprinters, so it's important that many of them have lost a lot of time. Still, a good number of explosive riders did manage to hang on. It's going to be an interesting battle for the high GC positions for sure.
Shame Veelers dropped, but it was pretty much expected. The hilly stat was too important.
Congrats to Risa! Trentin is a great rider for this race and it won't be easy to dethrone him.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 04-08-2015 11:59
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More cobbled stage as part of a stage race shananighans... but we have come to expect it.
At least some okay-ish AI and a race that still perhaps could be decided in later stages. Pozzato still doing the business I see, though Trentin got the nice break and a big boost for Risa. Gazelle though big movers here BPost also doing okay with numbers but could have been much better for them.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 04-08-2015 13:06
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lol
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