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Balkans International Discussion
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| Heine |
Posted on 20-01-2026 08:11
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4543
Joined: 08-04-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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 [PTHC] Balkans International 
Report by Imladrik
| | | | | | | | | | | | Stage 1 |  | Ljubljana > Jelenici | 146,3 KM | | | | | | | | | Stage 2 | | Banja Luka > Pajici | 187,0 KM | | | | | | | | | Stage 3 | | Bileca > Dubrovnik | 195,3 KM | | | | | | | | | Stage 4 | | Dubrovnik > Podgorica | 168,7 KM | | | | | | | | | Stage 5 |  | Podgorica > Tirana | 167,2 KM | | | | | | | | | Stage 6 | | Berat > Ioannina | 225,9 KM | | | | | | | |
Welcome to the balkans and our travel up and down from Ljubljana to Ioannina, a stage race for the puncheurs!
The race started in 2018 with a win from the mangame legend Jan Bakelants (even though my rider TVG won 3 stages...) after his strong win on the last stage, before we got a more surprising winner in 2019 when Lilian Calmejane won after not winning any stages. 2020 was won by Kwiatkowki, but here we got the warning shot that would define this race for many years with Lopez in 3rd. After that Lopez has won 2021, 2022 and 2024, only beaten by Areruya in 2023 when he got a dissapointing 2nd place.
| Year | Winner | | 2024 | LOPEZ Miguel Angel | | 2023 | ARERUYA Joseph | | 2022 | LOPEZ Miguel Angel | | 2021 | LOPEZ Miguel Angel | | 2020 | KWIATKOWSKI Michal | | 2019 | CALMEJANE Lilian | | 2018 | BAKELANTS Jan |
| 1 | Miguel Angel Lopez | Evonik - ELKO | 26h51'05 | | 2 | Adam Yates | McCormick Pro Cycling | + 33 | | 3 | Taylor Phinney | Fastned | + 42 | | 4 | Lachlan Morton | cycleYorkshire | + 54 | | 5 | Joseph Areruya | Xero Racing | + 59 | | 6 | Marc Hirschi | Sauber Petronas Racing | + 1'14 | | 7 | Yevgeniy Gidich | King Power | + 1'18 | | 8 | Davide Formolo | Rabobank | s.t. | | 9 | Elie Gesbert | Assa Abloy | + 1'21 | | 10 | Louis Meintjes | Bralirwa - Cegeka | + 1'23 |
There is one rider who has owned this race and he is again the big favorite, even though his seasons has not been the best til now. We are of course talking about  Lopez. Can he make it 4 in 5? He even has the 2019 winner Calmejane as his main support rider, making Evonik start the race with 4 out of 7 wins here.
2023 winner  Areruya ended 5th last season and should hope he is back to the form he showed back in 2023, together with  Gidich he should be Lopez closest competitor here. EA Vesuvia with  Mohoric also hopes to be able to fight for the top spot.
As this is a PTHC race there are sever strong PCT riders wanting to prove that they can beat the PT big shots. Strongest among them might be the up and coming  Hirschi. Sauber has had a though start to the season, could this be the turnaround they need? Veterans  Lutsenko and  De Bie also hope to prove that they are not done at the top level.
 Valter has been up and down this year, but that might be good considering we are going to race up and down all the time?
 Gesbert,  Vakoc,  Ardila and  Schmid are other riders who will want to prove they are strong enough over 6 days!
Considering how the season has gone it would be criminal not to mention Rabobank, but they are missing Evenepoel in this race. However  Formolo and Kron are ready to prove that they can do well without him!
Stage 5 is a sprint stage, and there are one big favorite for that stage in Grosu. He is by far the best sprinter present!  Riabushenko,  Gross and Lutsyshyn should be his closest competitors, but in my opinion the stage is his to lose!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-01-2026 09:37
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| ember |
Posted on 20-01-2026 08:42
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Team Leader
Posts: 7108
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
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Valter has been up and down this year, but that might be good considering we are going to race up and down all the time?
Yes, please! 
Last season Valter was great all over the place. This season I hope he can be good in the very few stage races he does (here and the Vuelta, if my memory is right). An absolute key race for us in the broader picture, and another race I have huge expectations and excitement for
MAL and Areruya the obvious goats due to history and stats, but our memories are great from this one, with Kwiat’s GC win, but just as much with Amezawa’s title securing race and third place overall in 2022.
Thank you for the preview, Heine, looking forward to the reports, Imladrik! |
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 20-01-2026 11:37
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Sprinter
Posts: 1559
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
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Thanks Heine for the preview! 
Once again the duo Vakoc/Min on the startlist. Don't know what expect to be honest. At first glance I would hope for a top 10/top 15 finish. Maybe Oliveira can surprise on the easier stages.
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| Caspi |
Posted on 20-01-2026 11:40
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 751
Joined: 22-09-2022
PCM$: 16200.00
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We got five riders here with 75+ in both MM and Hill. However, it might still be a race where we get close to 0 points.
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| knockout |
Posted on 20-01-2026 11:43
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8288
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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Excited for the race. Dont think i have to say more 
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 20-01-2026 19:50
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3821
Joined: 03-07-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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I can no longer be disappointed so fuck it let's go for the win
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| Blasing |
Posted on 20-01-2026 20:06
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 358
Joined: 27-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Looking forward to this race. De Bie should be able to fight for a top 5 finish GC wise, IF the sim understands him as team leader. Otherwise it's a stupid waste of racedays again haha.
Let's go!
Manager of JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
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| quadsas |
Posted on 20-01-2026 21:09
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2748
Joined: 18-01-2013
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Need some cosmic performance from Lutsenko, would be greatly appreciated
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 20-01-2026 21:23
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Team Leader
Posts: 6192
Joined: 20-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Given how bad Stannard fared here last year decidee to leave him out of this. Which just gives us the option to fight for breakways. Hopefully that works.
Lopez vs the field as per tradition. Interested to see if he delivers.
Thanks for the preview Heine!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 20-01-2026 22:02
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World Champion
Posts: 11640
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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This was a huge huge race already before Pidcock's AI disaster in Northern Europe. Now it's a must-win and probably must win multiple stages, etc., too. Much easier said than done with MAL and all the best puncheurs present, but we did it in 2023
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 21-01-2026 01:30
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 3989
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Sosa not even making the preview isn't good but unfortunately probably correct given the role of MM. Hopefully he can out-perform, otherwise my failure to allow for the impact of MM on races like this could be putting us into the relegation zone.
Thanks for the preview.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 21-01-2026 07:17
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World Champion
Posts: 13613
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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Perfect race for Formolo to restart his scoring streak.
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 21-01-2026 08:34
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Sprinter
Posts: 1911
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Thanks for the preview, Heine, although we're not even in it!
An anonymous 15th place from APP like last season is probably what we can reasonably hope for with this competition, but everything on top of that would be highly appreciated to stay up in the rankings. And maybe Pinot or Lapeira will join some breaks and hunt KoM points, that's something we haven't really done all season.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 21-01-2026 12:31
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2148
Joined: 11-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Looking forward to see how Gesbert fares against PT competition. He was very good here last year, winning a stage before falling back a bit on the last stage. Hopefully he will perform even better this year!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 22-01-2026 08:20
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World Champion
Posts: 11640
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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Bewildering AI on that one - fine with a sprint and obviously we did well but look at those bunched up team names... just weird. Should have won from that position, but feel bad for the other contenders who didn't even go for it at all.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
1x x1
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 22-01-2026 08:24
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World Champion
Posts: 13613
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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An unusually quiet day from Formolo. Hopefully he is cooking something. Meanwhile, at least he had Kron trying something.
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| ember |
Posted on 22-01-2026 10:53
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Team Leader
Posts: 7108
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
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Positive that there was no time gaps when Valter went passive. Hoping we get to see him attentive on stage 2, as that one should be the hardest stage together with the final stage.
Surprise winner! Congratulations, Blasing |
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| knockout |
Posted on 22-01-2026 11:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8288
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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I dont exactly like this outcome. Lopez not sprinting for the stage win is a big annoyance which can come back to hurt us and some sort of selection would have been nice when so many of my guys were positioned really well throughout the stage. At least we got some okayish stage points from our second tier guys
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Blasing |
Posted on 22-01-2026 14:08
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 358
Joined: 27-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Surprisingly we are on the receiving end of the sim's stupidity this time with 3 guys finishing in the top 10 and a surprise stage winner. It gets us some good points but honestly it is not how the sim should behave. No favourites going for the stage win in a mass finish is simply stupid.
Manager of JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 22-01-2026 14:26
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3534
Joined: 23-07-2008
PCM$: 600.00
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Known bug that short uphill sprints aren't working (fyi 25 they are apparently even worse then this with no one being able to move position) will be looking into how we can fix this type of stage with UU |
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