Welcome to the 3rd edition of the Barbados Sprinting - ehm, Cycling Festival!
Whereas the race was rated HC in the last two years, and took place in fall, it has now been bumped up to PTHC and is held in the beginning of March.
With this upgrade, we'll now have the pleasure to welcome a really stacked field uniting some of the best sprinters of both PT and PCT - including both former winners, Oscar Guerao (2018) and Mark Cavendish (2017). And of course, Podium Ambition as the home team - to whom we owe this race's existence - will try everything to thrill their local fans!
All of them will definitely have their chances, but they're by far not alone - just take a look at the best sprinters having travelled to this touristic island:
As almost always when he is on the startlist, Bryan Coquard should be the top favorite. Of the three 84-sprinters, he has the best acceleration - and once again great support in Petit and Stauff, who would themselves be the clear leaders of certain teams in this race. However, apart from Petit there are no great flat riders in their roster - how will this work out in terms of chasing and sprint train?
Plus, we already had this line-up in Qatar, where it definitely didn't work out as planned. Can they do better this time? At least, Coquard has proven in Tirreno - Adriatico that he still knows how to win a race! However, San Remo, the last race before coming here, wasn't his best one.
Just as fast as the Frenchman is Ben Swift. It's just details separating these two; while Swift is a tad weaker in terms of acceleration, he can ride a little faster on the flat. He brings a strong leadout crew, too, with Scully, Dakteris and Haddi. Plus three strong flat riders in Oss, Gjolberg and Yzeiraj - no-one would be surprised to see a lot of Aker shirts ahead in the final stage of the race! Swift has won a stage in Qatar, but in other stages just disappointed due to bad positioning. His 7th place in San Remo fits the same pattern: Not bad, but not great, either. Can he improve on this here in Barbados and maybe get more stable results?
John Degenkolb then is the biggest PCT hope in this race. Of these three, he is the strongest on the flat - but has the weakest acceleration. Again, it's just details - but on this level, they can be decisive! And although his leadouts Merino Criado and King are certainly not bad ones, the two PT sprinters do have stronger domestiques. On the other hand, Brockhoff could do a great job on the flat, as can Gallego Martin or Jans.
The German's season start was OK-ish. Two stage wins in Down Under, but several not-so-great result, especially in Ras Tailteann. Can he redeem himself in this race?
Jonas Ahlstrand then leads the next group, containing the five 83-sprinters. Of those, the Swede has got the best acceleration. And in Roelandts and Markus two good PCT-level leadouts. Will this be enough against the fierce PT competition? He can count on Stenersen to do some good work on the flat - but other sprinters seem to have stronger support.
He had a great start to the season, winning the first two stages in Middle East. Things didn't go as well in Ras Tailteann, though, where he "just" got a 2nd place on the final stage. And how will he do now with some of the best PT sprinters added to the field?
A man who surely wants to do great things - for himself, his team and the home fans - is Caleb Ewan. He accelerates slightly worse than Ahlstrand, but his speed on the flat should be a tad higher. In Nelson, he probably has brought the best leadout of all sprinters, and Alaphilippe could be a good addition to his train, too. With Novardianto and especially Sergent, there's quite some power on the flat, too.
And the Australian definitely has to redeem himself in this race, as his first races were not good at all. The most noteworthy result so far is the U25 jersey of the Tour of Qatar - without a single stage podium, though. And his 6th place in San Remo was certainly OK, but not outstanding. Can he finally get his breakthrough and make the locals happy?
Eduard Grosu is next, and even though he's slightly weaker than Ewan in both acceleration and flat riding, he already has a great result this season as Qatar's overall winner. However, he cannot count on as much team support as other sprinters. In Brus he's surely got a decent leadout, but will they be strong enough in the flat with Vermeltfoort as strongest rider on this terrain?
His 4th place in San Remo surely confirms his decent spring form, although he probably wasn't entirely happy about this result.
Then we go again down one league, to PCT sprinter Oscar Avelino. He has some more deficits concerning acceleration and flat than others - can he compensate this with his team support? Bouglas and Chen are his best leadouts, but all of his teammates actually are good to OK sprinters. However, without a single flat powerhorse, they might struggle with getting the best positions, or reeling in escapees.
He definitely didn't have a good season until now, with a 3rd place in his first race (Down Under Classic) as the lone noteworthy result. Can he at least add some Top 10 results - or even more?
When talking about low acceleration, we can't ignore Oscar Guerao, the defending champion. None of the other top sprinters is worse in this "discipline". Moreover, his job will be finding the right wheel, as his team doesn't bring a strong leadout - and no strong flat rider, either.
He's still lacking a podium finish this year, but at least he got four Top 10 results (thereof three Top 5) in Qatar. Can he finally get a Top 3? If he wants to repeat last year's win, he'll probably have to get more than one of it.
Let's again go down one "top-speed level", to Peter Kennaugh. The Brit may be slightly slower than some of the aforementioned sprinters - but he can compensate some of it with his good acceleration. He will have Clarke as his main leadout. Kennaugh himself is one of the stronger flat riders in this peloton, and he'll get some support from Kwok as well.
His results so far are quite similar to Guerao's: Two Top 5 finishes in Qatar, one more in Tirreno - Adriatico - but he's still waiting for the big success. Can he get it in the next four days? Considering San Remo, it doesn't seem to be very likely, as he wasn't able to keep up with the best in this long race.
Success - something that Dylan Groenewegen definitely knows how to spell. Two stage podiums and 2nd overall in Qatar, plus a stage win in Tirreno - Adriatico - his season start definitely was more than just OK. And by adding a 2nd place in San Remo, he even made it a great one! Although his acceleration is slightly weaker than Kennaugh's, he got the better results.
This week, he should get decent leadout support from Bauhaus and Sbaragli, with the latter being at the same time the team's best flat rider. Can the Dutchman continue upsetting (theoretically) stronger sprinters?
Next is 2017 winner Mark Cavendish. Despite having hit his first decrease last winter, he's still among the "outside favorites" - and for a PCT sprinter, he really has a huge support team with Haller and Willwohl as strong leadouts. For the flat, he has Gough by his side.
After a really bad start to the season - possibly due to rather strange team tactics - he stroke back by winning the last stage and the GC of Ras Tailteann, so he should come here with plenty of confidence. Are his legs still fast enough to beat the PT sprinters?
Romain Vanderbiest suffers from the same deficit as Guerao - low acceleration compared to many other sprinters. He's got some other disadvantages: His team only brings 6 riders, and Schorn and Feiereisen are surely not the worst leadouts, but they aren't among the strongest, either. At least, Schorn is quite fast on the flat, which may help Vanderbiest to get good positioning to compensate a bit for his lack of acceleration.
5th place is his best result so far - which he got three times (once in TDU, twice in Ras Tailteann) - can he get something better out of this race?
We again step down one level concerning the pure sprint top-speed. But beware of Kris Boeckmans: he has already fought against PT sprinters this year, and the best he got out of this was a 2nd stage place in Qatar. He's got the best acceleration in the whole peloton, together with Coquard, which could make him especially dangerous in messy sprints. However, the rather weak team support could hurt him, as Lasca really isn't among the strongest leadouts. Naud is the team's best flat rider. He'll probably just try to get the best wheel, and then use his acceleration to get some good results.
Besides the aforementioned stage podium in Qatar, he got a 2nd and 4th place in Ras Tailteann as well, which earned him a 4th overall as well. But he had some not-so-good results, too. And what about this race?
The fact that the next on the list is Ricki Nelson just shows how strong the support for Ewan is. He will probably be his compatriot's main leadout throughout most of the season. The only race so far where he was the team leader (Tirreno - Adriatico) didn't work out too well - neither did the others, to be honest. Can they finally get their train really going?
Next on the list is Rick Zabel, another PCT sprinter. He can't quite match the acceleration of the aforementioned riders, but he's among the stronger sprinters on the flat. But he'll really be all alone - there's neither a strong leadout, nor a strong flat rider.
His season start was quite good, two podiums already and several other Top 10 results. Can he get the first win here?
Davide Appollonio almost matches the German, with his acceleration being a tad weaker. But in terms of leadout, he should have the edge over Zabel, with Ranneries being his most important helper. However, with Appollonio being the team's best flat rider, they may struggle to position him well.
In the only race he did so far, he didn't get a top result. Can he change this in the next days?
The final rider we'll mention is Maxime Vantomme, whose acceleration is as bad as Guerao's. He'll count on Avila to give him a great leadout, but we probably won't see other riders of his team helping him, as the flat isn't their favorite terrain.
A 10th place is the best he's got out of this season so far. Can he finally prove in this race that he's worth his money?
Of course, there are many other sprinters - you can see some of them in the list below. You can see their stamina as well - as we have two stages with more than 200km, this might come into play.
Rider
Spr
Acc
Fla
Sta
Res
Coquard
84
83
73
71
74
Swift
84
82
74
73
70
Degenkolb
84
81
76
73
71
Ahlstrand
83
82
74
74
73
Ewan
83
81
75
73
71
Grosu
83
80
73
74
70
Avelino
83
78
71
70
66
Guerao
83
76
74
71
64
Kennaugh
82
81
77
74
71
Groenewegen
82
81
73
74
71
Cavendish
82
80
72
73
70
Vanderbiest
82
77
74
74
69
Boeckmans
81
83
73
74
71
Nelson
81
81
72
70
64
Zabel
81
79
74
74
70
Appollonio
81
78
74
71
66
Vantomme
81
76
72
74
63
Guardini
80
82
72
74
69
Itami
80
82
75
71
67
Kip
80
82
69
67
63
Silvestre
80
81
78
70
71
Stauff
80
81
74
74
69
Kupfernagel
80
80
74
73
66
Salleh
80
80
70
73
65
Haller
80
79
72
72
71
Nizzolo
80
79
73
70
67
Petit
80
78
76
76
72
Let's look at those who may want to upset the sprinters with their fighting spirit - be it with early breakaways or well timed attacks in the finale:
Rider
Fig
Fla
Spr
Sta
Yzeiraj
85
76
60
73
Kwok
82
76
74
74
Kadri
81
72
73
75
Smit
81
72
68
76
Lammertink
81
74
68
75
Nych
80
73
63
72
Gallego Martin
80
77
62
68
Mosca
80
71
65
73
Mundle
80
79
59
69
Boonratanathanakorn
80
70
69
78
Clarke
79
71
78
70
Van Winden
79
74
59
70
Before finally presenting the full startlist, let's take a look at the U25 contenders. Of course, Ewan is the big favorite, and he's already won this competition in Qatar. Willwohl, Bauhaus, Halvorsen, Major, Zhao and Liu are all good sprinters, too, but they're here to leadout a stronger sprinter, so it's doubtable any of them will win some bonus seconds in the finale. Could intermediate sprint bonus seconds be decisive here?
And now, the one and only piece of information you've all been waiting for: The startlist!
This isn't the biggest race in the MG, nor does it give the most points. But above all others this is the one I want to win! Well, it's on par with Hernig which we can't enter unless we double-relegate, and i still think that's a genuine possibility this season given how sh*t we're doing...
Anyway, Ewan is here to win. He could do it, if his performance can jump three or four steps up. Knowing PCM Ricki won't lead-out and will solo himself into the Top20 on most stages for no help at all.
Keep an eye on Kristin Vanderpool as the home hero, couldn't fit Matthews into the line-up due to clashes.
Good luck lads, if we can do well and win the gif's will be well worth it!
Okay, so listen. I know sending Ranneries to an Appo race was a bad idea. I knew it. He is usually completely worthless. But, I've also done it several times the last couple of years to no negative effect. Now I see that somehow, someway, by some formulation I cannot even fathom, the game has decided Ranneries is my actual leader in this race, over the guy with 81 sprint. PCM 18 must have a new system or something, cause that's just whack.
I guess I gotta just own this one. Guys like Knockout told me this would happen in the previews. Luckily there are very few races over the season where Ranneries rides with a main sprinter.
Tremendous preview as always. We'll see what happens.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Big expectations for this one, obviously. We've brought a strong team to support Swift, hopefully he can deliver and fight for the overall win. That was our goal putting up a team for this one, and it can't be no less now, eventhough it looks to be a very competitive race.
Given our current form, a good reulst here is much needed. However as you have well explained, Avelino isn't exactly flying this season. Let's see what he's worth here.
With PCM15, Degenkolb would probably finish inside TOP3 as he usually perform better in stacked field. Unfortunately, moving to PCM18 means unpredictable outcome and everybody can just pray his favourite to deliver.
New stage, same bullshit. I’m seriously losing interest due to this panic-switch to PCM 18. The BY FAR lowest interest in all of my time attending the game.
Is it possible to adjust effect of daily form somehow? Watching the same randomfest again and again is not fun anymore. Even high quality report can´t change it.
Looking at this dice roll, it was a good decision to not consider this race for Demare even just for a second. I feel bad for anyone whose sprinter needs these stages to justify their price tag...
This was in our third priority band, so we were bound to have races with this kind of all-domestiques lineup, but with most riders a good sprint/hill combination, I hoped to see them at least TRY to get into breakaways!
We absolutely have to do better when there are KoM points on the line tomorrow, where the jersey will probably be decided already.
Felline, Wackermann, Madouas, Niu, Hadi could all win that, I want to see (early) fireworks!
Barbados Cycling Festival 
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
