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Milano - San Remo Discussion
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 20-12-2019 05:00
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Classics Specialist
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Welcome to the first monument of the season, the long, and demanding Milan - San Remo. There aren't any tricks or surprises as this course sees only minor changes on its way through western Italy.
The length of the race is only one battle the riders face in La Classicissma at 140 kilometers into the race, Passo del Turchino can sap the legs right out of some riders and it barely marks the halfway point. The real fun begins late on though with the Capi then Cipressa and finally Poggio with only 4km left. The route still lends itself to favoring the strong sprinters, but certainly doesn't rule out the climbers or puncheurs.
With such a demanding race and possibilities for anyone, it is hard to pin favorites but we will aim to look at those with the best chance from a sprint, then from an attack. Stamina will always be involved.
| | | | | | | | | | | Rider | ST | SP | AC | HL | Rider | ST | SP | AC | HL |  Bewley | 78 | 83 | 83 | 71 |  Grosu | 74 | 83 | 80 | 73 |  Van Stayen | 76 | 84 | 78 | 79 |  Ewan | 73 | 83 | 81 | 71 |  Demare | 75 | 82 | 81 | 80 |  Van der Lijke | 73 | 82 | 79 | 76 |  Swift | 73 | 84 | 82 | 68 |  Kristoff | 75 | 83 | 79 | 68 |  Kump | 76 | 81 | 80 | 77 |  Groenewegen | 74 | 82 | 81 | 66 |  Coquard | 71 | 84 | 83 | 66 |  Kennaugh | 74 | 82 | 81 | 65 |
Easy to see history here as Bewley has a pair of wins in this race, joined by Van Stayen with one and last years winner Nick Van der Lijke. Add in Grosu and Demare, 3rd and 4th, from last year respectively and this is already a terrific field. With some changes in the workings this year though will the hills near the end open this race up?
With climbing becoming more of an issue this season than before, we may see a real chance for attacking riders to do damage on the Cipressa or Poggio. So lets go over the top danger men for those moves.
| | | | | | | | | | | ST | MO | HL | | ST | MO | HL | | |  Ponzi | 77 | 73 | 84 | Keinath | 77 | 79 | 76 | | | | Hagen | 81 | 70 | 85 |  McCarthy | 80 | 67 | 81 | | |  Van Garderen | 78 | 72 | 82 | Demare | 75 | 67 | 80 | | | | Arndt | 77 | 79 | 76 |  Ulissi | 83 | 66 | 80 | | | | Koretzky | 77 | 71 | 81 |  Chernetskiy | 80 | 71 | 79 | | |  Formolo | 76 | 79 | 77 | Kirsch | 75 | 79 | 74 | | | | Gastauer | 78 | 71 | 82 | Ginanni | 75 | 68 | 81 | | |
We see a very mixed bag here with some of the very best puncheurs the peloton has to offer coming for this event. Certainly Edvald Boasson Hagen has to be taken seriously with his combination of stamina and elite capability over hills. Ponzi adds a bit more climbing ability and we see a few other climbers like Arndt, Formolo, Keinath and Kirsch who will try to use their skills to get away. Diego Ulissi has the best stamina in this race, and a good punch with it should well be considered a top favorite. Demare finds himself on this list as well due to both his sprinting and ability on the hills, possibly the overall favorite for the race this year!
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-12-2019 06:27
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11786
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Should become one of the worst Bennelong races of the season  Watson is hopeless and we're just here to develop some riders. Early breakaway as the only chance to show out colors then. Good luck to everyone else!
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| ember |
Posted on 20-12-2019 06:46
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Team Leader
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Must admit I don't really believe in Swift's chances here, looking at his track record. Though, having this as a goal race, I just couldn't go without him, as that would have begged too many "what if" questions when the season is done 
Really looking forward to see how this one plays out though with the new AI. Fingers crossed we get a good race, and then I'm hoping Swift is on a great day, putting him in contention if it comes down to a sprint. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 20-12-2019 08:11
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World Champion
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Seeing how Koretzky waited for Adrien Petit in Paris-Nice, I guess we will see something similar here when Coquard is dropped...
No expectations, but on paper I have a pretty strong team for all possible outcomes:
Coquard with leadout from riders like Ackermann and Koretzky if it get's tough, and from Weber too if it doesn't.
Koretzky for himself if it is very difficult, and Ackermann for himself if it is something in between.
And then decent backup in riders like Kastrantas, Rabottini and van Niekerk for the very difficult selections and Kortsidakis to put the hammer down on the flats...
So while a top 10 should be very much possible, this race is always a big questionsmark.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 20-12-2019 08:31
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 17833
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Given sprint AI so far this is probably gonna be a real sh*tshow of a race for us. Maybe a breakaway appearance, it would be nice. Probably just about scrape into the Top25.
So basically i have zero expectations and hope, and yet i bet i'm still dissapointed in the result!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 20-12-2019 10:33
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Directeur Sportif
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Guessing from GD I shouldn't even bother with this...
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 20-12-2019 11:51
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Grand Tour Specialist
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First monument in team's history. We won't do anything worth remembering most likely, but early breakaway + some kind of late attack would do it for us, and of course, anything over minimum points is a success
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 20-12-2019 14:35
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Team Leader
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With the PCM18 AI looking a lot at support skills, my money is on riders like Bewley, Van Stayen and mayby even Demare, Kump, Van der Sande doing well here.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 16:36
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 20-12-2019 14:54
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Classics Specialist
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Ponzi is merely here to fill out all his race days. Could be worth it if we're lucky, but yeah knowing PCM18, then this one is gonna be one for the sprinters
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| knockout |
Posted on 20-12-2019 15:33
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8236
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I'm scared
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 20-12-2019 18:42
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Classics Specialist
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Very curious how this one will play out.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 20-12-2019 23:39
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Classics Specialist
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If the race isn't too hard I hope one of our sprinters (Samolenkov, Serebriakov or Van Heerden) can survive the hills, if not we have Malori, Senechal and Sulimov for the long range attack or Kolesnikov and Chernetskiy for a late surprise. Good luck everybody!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-12-2019 01:37
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World Champion
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Podium goal again, and it's about time Demare finally achieves it.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 22-12-2019 07:10
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Team Leader
Posts: 7422
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wow my predictions did not foresee a late puncher attack, but nice AI surely in this one. Monumental 
Congratz to CrueTrue and thanks for a great report.
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| roturn |
Posted on 22-12-2019 08:18
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Team Manager
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So first Groenewegen wins a hill stage, now he comes in 2nd in MSR winning the peloton sprint only beaten by the top puncheur?
Didn't know about his +10 hill training this off-season. 
Congrats CT for this nice win and thanks for the great coverage. |
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| ember |
Posted on 22-12-2019 08:40
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Team Leader
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Wow, EBH winning a monument  Big congratulations, CT! That's really nice to see, as he was never able to do it on the hills.
Swift being strong, and on paper doing the right thing jumping when Bewley did. Just a pity that proved to be from too far out, with lots of riders coming from behind in the slipstream. His sprint looked good though, had only the finish line appeared slightly faster. Seventh in the end is okay, especially seeing how unpredictable this race is. Though, when you finally get a proper shot at a podium, the podium must always be the goal, which leaves us not truly satisfied.
Thank you for the report, Kentaurus. I deinitely enjoyed reading that one |
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 22-12-2019 09:16
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Classics Specialist
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Dunno if I should be happy with a 10th or not. Hagen winning makes it bittersweet, but on the other hand, I didn't have any expectations going into the race. So I guess it's an all right result to take home
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 22-12-2019 09:34
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9137
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Worse than expected before the season, better than expected since the shitshow is running. Thank you for the absolutely awesome shot of our World Champion by the way 
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| knockout |
Posted on 22-12-2019 11:09
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8236
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Not good enough. Stoltz saves the day a bit but im pretty sure i failed the team goal too hard.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 22-12-2019 11:36
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
Joined: 11-09-2010
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What a win for Eddy! Congrats CT, great days for you at the moment. Not much screentime for us, but happy with 13th place for Wisniowski. Also good to see Kragh Andersen making it in the first group. Thanks for the report!
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