Welcome to the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Today the riders will ride above 205 kilometers though the city of Montreal, completing about 17 laps. The main hill is the 211m high Cote Camillien-Houde, which will maybe decide, who will be in the leading group of the final sprint.
Because this is a „One-Day-Classic“, a breakaway will have almost no chances of winning here.
As soon as the race starts, Gutierrez(Movistar) and Smukulis(Katusha) attack...
Gutierrez(Movistar) and Smukulis(Katusha) are attacking
...but their attack only lasts for about half a lap, because they get reeled in pretty quickly. As soon as they got reeled in, Gutierrez(Movistar) tries again to break free of the Peloton. This time his companion is Pomoshnikov(RusVelo).
Guiterrez(Movistar) and Pomoshnikov(RusVelo) far away. Smukulis(Katusha) got reeled in.
Around 10 km's later, Kreder(Vacansoleil), Mezgec(Argos), Le Bon(FDJ) and Domont(AG2R) try to attack the Peloton in an attempt to close up to the leading duo.
Kreder(Vacansoleil), Mezgec(Argos), Le Bon(FDJ) and Domont(AG2R) try to close the gap
But they don't even reach the leading duo, because Astana has put the pedal to the metal in the Peloton, with sending Kangert and Brajkovic at the front to reel them back in.
Astana leading the pack
As soon as the second breakaway gets caught, it becomes clear, that the leading duo of Guiterrez(Movistar) and Pomoshnikov(RusVelo) are going to be the „Breakaway of the day“, because the pack lets them go further away, as their advantage hits 1 minute.
“Break of the Day“
Suddenly the camera switches back to the main field, where Hushovd(BMC) comes to the front. Does that mean that Gilbert feels good today?
Hushovd(BMC) at the front
80 km's to go. The advantage of the break is about 5 minutes. Euskatel are the first team to put in some effort to catch the duo at the front.
Euskatel at the front, and Sicard(Euskatel) showing his NC jersey once again
With 57 kilometers to go, Novo Nordisk got into trouble, because their squad seems to be to weak for todays race, as they all drop at the same time.
Novo Nordisk in trouble
They have been dropped, because Astana and BMC are now working ogether to bring back the breakaway.
Astana and BMC up the pace.
Shock Moment! 27 km's before the finish line, Sarmiento(Cannondale) has crahed in the small downhill part. Will this have an effect on Sagans performance? Luckily Samiento can hop on his bike again and resume racing.
Sarmiento(Cannondale) is picking his bike up.
Sky are taking over now. They try to get Sithembile in a good postion. But there are still 23km's to go! Isn't that quite early to be at the front?
Sky taking over...
Too early? Sagan used this moment to attack on the ascend and tries to close down on the break which is still 1 minute up the road.
On the downhill World Champion Gilbert(BMC) tries to close Sagan down, but he drags to much attention with him, so he eases off and gets back in the field.
Gilbert(BMC) on the attack...
While his attempt was unlucky, Sagan collected Guiterrez up the road. Only Pomoshnikov can stay in front for a bit longer. Sagan catches him on the finish straight.
Pomoshnikov(RusVelo) tries desperately to not get caught
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wild Sithembile(Sky) attacks and he closes the leading trio down.
Sithembile(Sky) has caught Sagan(Cannondale)
Meanwhile, we get pictures of Simon Gerrans(Orica). He got dropped! Maybe he wasn't at his best today.
Gerrans(Orica) dropped....one favorite gone...who will win?
On the last hill of the day, Gasparotto(Astana) tries his best. Sagan(Cannondale) and Gilbert(BMC) are directly at his wheel. Nordhaug(Belkin) and Stybar(OPQS) are close behind.
Gasparotto(Astana) digs deep to get rid of the other favorites.
Suddenly Gilbert(BMC) attacks. His attack dropped everyone, but Gasparotto(Astana) and Sagan(Cannondale) can stay at his wheel, while Sagan looks a bit tired, because of his early attack.
The World Champion himself takes over...
And Sagan got in trouble. Gilbert's pace seems to be to high for him. Meanwhile Sithembile tries to close the gap.
The situation at the end of the last hill.
In the following group, Rolland(Europcar) is showing that he wants to show good performances, even when Mr. Europe has stepped down from management. Is he able to catch up to the leading group?
Tribute to Mr. Europe...i guess
Yes he is! But as he arrives there, Gilbert puts in another heavy attack.
Who can follow this one?
Gilbert pulls away! Gasparotto can barely follow. Sagan is done for today. On his wheel are still Rolland and Sithembile.
Small gaps are appearing...
Gasparotto doesn't want to be 2nd here. He wants the 1st place. He pushes as hard as he can to close the gap to Gilbert.
Gasparotto in TT-Mode
Under the 1km banner, Gilbert's gap gets smaller and smaller, because Gasparotto is flying over the road. Nothing is done yet. These two will fill in the top steps of the podium. But in which order?
1 kilometer to go. Will Gilbert win?
Gilbert wins in Montreal! What a great way to win here. Gasparotto seems a bit frustrated over the result, but it's a great 2nd place from him. First Gilbert eliminated guys named Nibali and Nordhaug and then he attacks his followers to a brilliant victory.
Gilbert celebrating, Gasparotto could not stop him.
Sagan takes 3rd, but who will take 4th? Rolland and Sithembile are giving everything the've got.
Sagan 3rd
Sithembile gets 4th and Rolland 5th. Sithembile was the better sprinter there, but still a great result from Rolland there. Costa, Hesjedal, Ballan, Schröder and Kakhi complete the Top 10. The canadian fans, such as valverde321 will be happy about the 7th place of Ryder Hesjedal.
I have interviewed valverde321, to ask if thats right.
Paul23:"Are you happy about Ryder finishing 7th?" valverde321:"Canada is a great country..." Paul23:"Great that you're happy about this!"
Sithembile 4th and Rolland 5th.
Sadly, we got only a picture of Gilbert on the Podium.
I wasn't only talking about USAPCC. I was talking about the whole game. It was notorious for it.
And sort your attitude out. It gets really boring after a while.
Have you ever made a post without having a sly dig at someone? Everyone here is trying to have fun and I'm guessing that's the reason why nobody has brought it up before. We don't come here to argue so please lighten up.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
- USAPCC: When I read "Beyer in provisional GC lead" I really thought it could work another time But good racing by Beyer to attack another time in the end. Kinda beginning to like that guy, but he will be sorted out..
And Friedemann survived a mountain stage in the pack
- Kakhi constantly bringing in results. Another Top10 in Montreal is good. Looking forward to next season
@Ollfardh: Yeah, I promised to make it soon. And I stand by my word
PREVIEW: 18th Vattenfall Cyclassics
Although Germany is a beautiful country with a big tradition in cycling (remember: 1/3 of the stages in both 2013 and 2014 Tour were won by Germans), there is only one German WT race at all! And this one is Vattenfall Cyclassics, which we are heading on to now. So you obviously cannot underestimate the importance of this race.
History
Since 1996, this classic has been raced every year, however, until 2005 it was called "HEW Cyclassics" (HEW: Hamburgische Elektrizitäts-Werke, Hamburg power station). When Vattenfall took over the electric system in Hamburg, they changed the name in "Vattenfall Cyclassics".
As the terrain around Hamburg is relatively flat, the winners have usually been strong sprinters. Among those are Jan Ullrich, Erik Zabel, Johan Museeuw, Paolo Bettini, Stuart O'Grady and Filippo Pozzato. All the winners since the 2006 edition are listed here:
2006
Oscar Freire
2007
Alessandro Ballan
2008
Robbie McEwen
2009
Tyler Farrar
2010
Tyler Farrar
2011
Edvald Boasson Hagen
2012
Arnaud Demare
The very last edition found its decision in a bunch sprint of a reduced field, where Arnaud Demare edged out Andre Greipel and Giacomo Nizzolo.
Route
The Cyclassics are being raced in and around Hamburg. Right from the start, we leave the inner city to the South making a lap of about 100km, where the riders will see some countryside of Lower Saxony. After returning to the inner city then, the peloton is heading on to the Western lap of 55km, which takes us through Schleswig-Holstein. Here the riders will hit the Waseberg for the first time. We go on with another lap through Hamburg, so we return to the Waseberg then again. After that 2nd passage, we have two small laps around the Waseberg, so the cyclists have to go over it four times. After the last passage, the peloton will race right into the inner city, where the race ends on the prestigious Moenckebergstrasse. All in all, we head out onto 220km of racing.
Profile
Above you see the profile of the race. All in all, it is relatively easy, but the Waseberg may be decisive. With it being encountered four times, the weaker riders will surely be sorted out and it gives attackers chances to survive until the end. Of course we predict a sprint of a reduced bunch, but you never know (especially when PCM AI comes into play). You may be confused by only three mountain sprints, but the last climb on Waseberg is unclassified.
The length of 220km (including neutralized start) should not hurt the WT peloton too much, but it makes sure that nobody having an off-day can compete for the win here. One thing is for certain: The organisators tried hard to use the opportunities of a flat landscape.
Spotlight: Waseberg
As it seems spotlights on important parts of races are to everybody's liking, I chose to take a closer look on the Waseberg as well. All in all, the climb is only 700m long. While the first 400m are relatively flat with an average rise of 5%, the gradient kicks up to 15% after a sharp right-hander. That is what makes the Waseberg such a hard climb as the legs will hurt badly when being on top, but that is the exact point where you need to stamp the pedals if you are going to take an advantage. All in all, the elevation is 70m.
Startlist
You see the startlist right here. If you spot any differences to your sent squads, please tell me, as the race is not raced so far. And I really do not want to do it again. As Maikin and Foliforov from RusVelo are no longer part of the game, I chose two guys in replacement.
With 24 teams of 8 riders each taking part in the race, we have a total of 192 riders competing for the win. Jasha Sütterlin from Thüringer Energie Team is just on the picture, because I like him and hope he will improve further next season.
Favourites
Due to the uncertainty if a sprinter or an attacker will grab the win, both are part of the list. However, I rate the odds for the sprinters higher, so that is why the non-sprinters are at the end of the list. By the way, leadout men are not considered favourites, so they do not appear among them.
Marcel Kittel (Argos/ FLA 78/ SPR 82/ ACC 83) André Greipel (Lotto/ FLA 79/ SPR 82/ ACC 81) Alexander Kristoff (Katusha/ FLA 77/ SPR 79/ ACC 78/ HIL 74) Adrien Hanzen (SKY/ FLA 75/ SPR 79/ ACC 79/ HIL 75) Willem Brouwer (Belkin/ FLA 76/ SPR 78/ ACC 79/ HIL 75)
Abasi Abundi (CCC/ FLA 70/ SPR 80/ ACC 75) Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R/ FLA 74/ SPR 75/ ACC 76) Danny van Poppel (Vacansoleil/ FLA 74/ SPR 75/ ACC 76) Filippo Pozzato (Lampre/ FLA 77/ SPR 73/ ACC 74/ HIL 74) Francisco Ventoso (Movistar/ FLA 74/ SPR 74/ ACC 74/ HIL 72)
Thabo Jango Sithembile (FLA 75/ HIL 80/ ACC 70/ FTR 55) Fabian Cancellara (FLA 82/ HIL 74/ ACC 76/ FTR 74) Zdenek Stybar (OPQS/ FLA 77/ HIL 75/ ACC 76/ FTR 77) Allessandro Ballan (BMC/ FLA 78/ HIL 74/ ACC 73/ FTR 77) Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin/ FLA 78/ HIL 71/ ACC 73/ FTR 77) Giovanni Visconti (Movistar/ FLA 73/ HIL 76/ ACC 75/ FTR 77)
Looking at the list above, there is an unbelievable amount of favourites, so it is basically anyone's race. The depth in strength makes it even more unpredictable and that is why everybody loves the Vattenfall Cyclassics. While the likes of Kittel and Greipel would be favourites after an easy race, Kristoff, hanzen and Brouwer seem to be the top guns in case the Waseberg is ridden harder. Some smaller teams like Topsport Vlaanderen, RusVelo or Accent Jobs will surely aim for breakaway action without a leader.
I am a bit sad that nobody selected anybody not fitting the race at all, but that is probably because there is no type of rider who can't use his specific strengths here. Even guys like De Clercq (LTB) and Rebellin (CCC) can contribute to the team's performance due to the Waseberg.
That should be it for now. I am tired of writing, you should be feeling well prepared for the action by now and that is why I can't say anything more than: Wait for the race, join in again, and prepare for the only German WT race of 2013.
Ollfardh wrote:
A really nice preview! With the nationality bonus, it should be Greipel vs. Kittel really, so let's hope Brouwer can claim that final podium spot.
USAPCC continues to be the appaling shitefest we've got used to, ending in the most ridiculous rider in the history of mankind grabbing a win, and Andy Talansky doing absolutley fucking nothing in the GC.
. Deserved that after the Quebec bullshit. Sails past 2000 points for the season. Ballan doing really well at last too.
18th Vattenfall Cyclassics
Oscar Freire
Alessandro Ballan
Robbie McEwen
Tyler Farrar
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Arnaud Demare
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
