Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - Discussion
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Nemolito |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:09
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Classics Specialist
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Yeet and welcome to Belgium for the HC opening race of the cobbled season! Omloop Het Nieuwsblad always hits different, no cap. Last year Jura's Edward Theuns was the main character, but Bralirwa's Stallaert also understood the assignment by winning in 2021 and 2022. Will Specialized's new top addition Kasperkiewicz be vibing tomorrow, or will he turn out to be a cobbles simp? Say less, as it's time for an overview of the profile and top favourites. Skrrt skrrt.
Nat. | Name | FL | HI | ST | RS | CB | SP | AC | | Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw | 76 | 74 | 75 | 77 | 81 | 59 | 67 | | Stallaert Joeri | 76 | 66 | 75 | 67 | 80 | 78 | 75 | | Gamper Patrick | 77 | 66 | 77 | 77 | 80 | 64 | 71 | | Jacobs Johan | 76 | 69 | 77 | 76 | 79 | 67 | 68 | | Summerhill Danny | 74 | 69 | 70 | 66 | 79 | 66 | 67 | | Daniel Maxime | 72 | 68 | 75 | 75 | 79 | 75 | 71 | | Debesay Mekseb | 74 | 73 | 73 | 77 | 78 | 68 | 76 | | Owen Logan | 73 | 69 | 73 | 71 | 78 | 64 | 71 | | Zubov Matvey | 67 | 62 | 68 | 67 | 78 | 60 | 67 | | Van Keirsbulck Guillaume | 71 | 70 | 74 | 72 | 77 | 69 | 67 | | Kortsidakis Michail | 77 | 69 | 75 | 75 | 77 | 68 | 72 | | Ovsyannikov Alexandr | 74 | 68 | 75 | 72 | 77 | 79 | 78 | | Stavrakakis Georgios | 76 | 68 | 74 | 70 | 77 | 64 | 68 | | Chatarunga Sameera | 72 | 67 | 79 | 72 | 77 | 70 | 68 | | Vanbilsen Kenneth | 75 | 66 | 75 | 69 | 77 | 69 | 66 | | Lampaert Yves | 74 | 65 | 72 | 71 | 77 | 59 | 59 | | Kuroeda Saya | 74 | 63 | 72 | 73 | 77 | 74 | 78 | | Manamalage Nipuna Shira | 81 | 59 | 71 | 64 | 77 | 57 | 56 | | Sanogo Abou | 73 | 71 | 71 | 72 | 76 | 69 | 70 | | Kuroeda Shiki | 72 | 70 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 76 | 73 | | Vahtra Norman | 72 | 70 | 75 | 73 | 76 | 75 | 72 | | Tediashvili Giorgi | 75 | 70 | 76 | 78 | 76 | 71 | 71 |
Let's focus on the colour red under the cobble stats first. Kasperkiewicz is immediately one of the top favourites in his first race. He's the best cobbler, a good rouleur and combines that with a decent punch and good physical capacities. He won't like a sprint of a reduced group though, so he'll need to 2020 Summerhill it at some point preferably. Van Keirsbulck is a nice local domestique here to help him, in case that's needed.
Stallaert is getting older and his resistance is no longer what it used to be, and that also didn't use to be that much. But if anybody knows how to win this race, it's him for sure. 2 wins in the last three editions, with a fourth place last year as well. He wouldn't mind that sprint of a reduced group obviously. New co-sponsor Cegeka wouldn't mind some success at home. Neither would sponsor Lierse, as they bring a freshly trained Gamper here. The Austrian is a good cobbler, strong rouleur and with great physical stats. Enough to take the win?
Former winner Summerhill is back at the start as well, no longer as fresh as he used to be, but in some good company with the Greeks Kortsidakis and Stavrakakis. How much can they score for ELCO ABEA's promotion hunt? Whereas Summerhill has dominated here in the past, other 79 cobbler Jacobs has never been able to finish top-30 yet. From nowhere to be found to a podium, why not? Speaking about podiums, Daniel is an avid Omloop podium place collector. Two second places and two other top-5's for him here in the last five years, let's see if he's able to have such a result for his new team Ekoi as well.
Debesay is a decent puncheur and has some good physical capacities, but other 78 cobblers Owen and Zubov don't seem like top-5 contenders at first glance. Up to them to prove me wrong. Big question tomorrow will be whether Ovsyannikov will be able to follow the top cobblers when it matters, or at least come back to them at some point. Many will fear him in the sprint, and his team and the fans wouldn't mind a good result after Demare's bad start to the season.
Other riders to keep an eye on are the Lotto-Caloi duo of Chatarunga and Vanbilsen, the interesting Popo rouleur/cobbler Manamalage, Llapi's declining Lampaert, the Japanese brother duo Kuroeda of Sony and the physically strong Tediashvili from Zalgiris. Good luck to all tomorrow, full startlist below.
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Ollfardh |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:14
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World Champion
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Attack, attack, and atack again until Stallaert's RES runs out. Thanks for the preview!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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whitejersey |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:33
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Classics Specialist
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We're caught in the triple header here which means that we won't have the necessary supporting pieces for Kaspa, hopefully it won't matter too much! Thanks for the preview!
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kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:39
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Protected Rider
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Ollfardh wrote:
Attack, attack, and atack again until Stallaert's RES runs out. Thanks for the preview!
Seems like a good plan to me. Drop Ovsya too and then let Daniel finally take the Omloop win he deserves
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Bjartne |
Posted on 28-10-2024 09:18
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Classics Specialist
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Hmm, I thought we had a pretty decent cobble squad, but I forgot that we're in PCT now
Thanks for the preview Nemo, hoping to pick up some points nevertheless |
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 09:55
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 12:28
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Tour de France Champion
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Hmmmm, cobbles competition has dropped a bit at the top in PCT since I was last there. Kasperkiewicz has a good chance to put the peddles down and put this one away before his sprint comes into play. Curious how it works out.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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Laurens147 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 16:40
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Thanks Nemo for the preview!
Looking forward to the battle between Stallaert, Ovsya and the rest. If we can get some depth points out of this, I’m a happy manager
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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Marcovdw |
Posted on 28-10-2024 16:43
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Grand Tour Champion
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Another year of not giving a crap about the cobblestone races (unless they are C2). Poor youngsters forced to ride this race.
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AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 29-10-2024 05:15
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Directeur Sportif
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Here hoping to get depth scoring from the Kuroedas and Yechezkel.
Thanks for the preview Nemo.
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Blasing |
Posted on 29-10-2024 11:27
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Neo-Pro
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YES! Nice point haul by Debesay, I knew he still had it in him!
Thanks for the report, nice to see it on video too!
Manager of JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
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whitejersey |
Posted on 29-10-2024 12:11
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
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Kaspa justifying his price tag from his first bout with the cobbles, love to see it!
Thanks for the report!
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SotD |
Posted on 29-10-2024 12:40
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World Champion
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Would have liked for one of my guys to break free towards the end and fight for a bit more than 7th, but we were there and did well with numbers. Not sure this is the right division for quantity though. I guess time will tell once all cobbles are ridden
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Laurens147 |
Posted on 29-10-2024 13:08
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Fagundez and WVA in the break, Chatarunga with a top 10 and Vanbilsen and Marzuki with depth points: great performance from my boys
Congrats WJ with the win and thanks for the report!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 29-10-2024 13:29
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Congrats wj for the favourites win!
Daniel doing well and netting us some good points here, hopefully that's what he'll do in all the cobbled races this season. Also good to see our domestiques taking some nice depth points.
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quadsas |
Posted on 29-10-2024 14:21
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Small Tour Specialist
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Das points baby
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Ollfardh |
Posted on 29-10-2024 15:28
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World Champion
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Definitely not what we wanted. I should've trained Gamper's intelligence instead of cobble skill apparently. When those guys go, he just needs to follow. Congrats Speciallized and thanks for the report!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 29-10-2024 16:51
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Tour de France Champion
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Forbes first cobbles race and he's in the break. This is a great sign for the future classics star!
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Marcovdw |
Posted on 29-10-2024 18:05
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Grand Tour Champion
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We tried to get in the breakaway, and 25th for De Witte doesn't make it a total waste of RD. If every cobblestone race went like this for us I'm satisfied
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Fabianski |
Posted on 29-10-2024 19:38
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Oooh, so close for Jacobs
Great job by him, looks like UBS made the right call by selling Spengler and training JJ. Kasperkiewicz obviously the well-deserved winner here, being an awful sprinter didn't matter as he just had more energy left than Jacobs after all these cobbles. Congrats to WJ, insane scoring day for you!
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Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 29-10-2024 20:32
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Team Leader
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Very glad to have achieved a top100 here. One less cobbles race to the end of the season. Thanks for the report, Nemo! and congrats on the win WJ!
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