Fabianski wrote:
Rather surprised to see Scully instead of Reinhardt in the outsiders list, but given how much flat and resistance seem to be valued this year, it's understandable.
However, after having seen Marco "Mr. Low-Res" Guillén do so well last year, I'm not too afraid; we should still be good for some great results. Not necessarily in a PCT field, though - but we'll take any points we might get
Well, I told you
Of course, it's an absolutely tremendous start for us! Reinhardt was exactly where he had to be, picking a perfect wheel. He might have been in the wind a tad too early, given his not-so-great resistance - but it was great to see how he was able to fend off most attacks and almost bringing home an HC podium! I guess Mundle did a great job positioning his sprinter, although I couldn't see that from the pictures - but if a guy without any sprint skills at all finishes inside the Top 30, he must have been close to the front at some time.
Congrats to Sykkel, of course, who got the perfect kick-off with that deserved win!
On the other hand, quite a bummer for TMM, after they actually got a really good sprint train. However, iirc, one of the findings was that the sprinter should have better acceleration than his last leadout, to be sure he doesn't lose the wheel when the sprint kicks off. That isn't the case (both at 81Acc), and a difference in daily form could easily make this go wrong - but I'm sure there will be races where it will work out perfectly!
Thanks to Abhi for this great report - of course, it was an even better read when I saw that Reinhardt made that decisive split So we walk away with 75 points in the bag - not sure Moscon & Co. will do better in Russia tonight...
Not the worst start to the season for Avelino in what was a rather strong sprinting field. Shows he’ll be there for the finish so he’s definitely capable of a bit more!
Somewhat surprised at the Guarnieri victory given 1st decline impact, but he is still a solid sprint leader. Very interesting to see that some competent trains seem to have been set-up, although leaders in general still left in the wind too early it would appear on this occasion. Did deliver some solid depth scoring for the lead-out riders though that somewhat off-sets the subsequent under-performance of their respective leaders.
Nice report, and congrats to those accumulating good point scoring contributions.
Manninen was where he needed to be heading into the sprint. Good to see!
Not being enough of a top sprinter to get a train this is hopefully a good omen for the season anyway as 5th is quite ok in this field.
