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Benelux Challenge - Discussion
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 28-03-2024 10:19
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Team Leader
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jandal7 wrote:
2 stages so far as well, amazing stuff! So long as we keep the order I'm onboard for many more 
I mean you could give me 1 win  but honestly I’m happy if we keep scoring decent (or any) points!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 28-03-2024 12:28
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Classics Specialist
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First of all, thanks for a couple of nice reports!
Congrats to Wurth on a very big win for Wilwohl on stage 2. Somewhat concerning that GVK was sent into the break since he'd be in the running for a very nice GC depth scoring and now that's no longer on the cards but nice to see some proactivity regardless!
Stage 3:
Love to see more success for Xero but obviously that's kind of scary for our propsects of promotion in the long run!
Overall take aways from these two stages is that Rowe seems to be on point, and so does Riesebeek and most importantly Daniel, these next stages are going to be an incredible spectacle to follow!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 28-03-2024 12:46
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Classics Specialist
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A shame that Zepuntke loses that much time again, but was to be expected sadly.
Very nice to see Ulloa in the break, hopefully he can show us some more of that, resulting in a KoM-win and/or decent GC scoring. Still has some work to do to make that decent GC possible though, as he was unable to remain with the first group on stage 3.
Thanks for the great report and congratulations to Xero and Pidock!
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 28-03-2024 12:59
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Weird to see Bertilsson being the one to hang on to the peloton on this stage. He surely will fall in the GC-ranking on tomorrows stage.
Just hoping Breen can do something on the next two stages so we could get some points from this race.
Thank you so much UU!  |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 28-03-2024 22:13
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Directeur Sportif
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Fabianski wrote:
It definitely is the expectedly weird race so far, so even though Küng won last year and Theuns *should* have done well here, I'm actually pretty happy to miss out...
Why would Stallaert make the front group on stage 3 but not van Hooydonck, Summerhill or Spengler? Why would Pidcock win the stage and someone like Tom David not even be close to the front group? Why should Top 10 rider and great cobbler Gamper be dropped?
It really feels as random as expected, so commiserations to those who were on the unlucky side so far, and congrats to those who did well.
Not sure it is all that random, I would put it in the category of predicatable unpredicatability.
I think if you recognize that (a) the AI does not consider cobbles a GC skill (b) that the AI likes guys who can finish and (c) that positioning matters so most teams will only get 1 or 2 protected riders, you can explain all of the outcomes. I do think Van Hooydonck was unlucky, the AI wasn't ignoring him like some others, but he was a little too far back at a bad moment and tried really hard to get back on and on a different day he would have been fine. But sometimes you don't get the breaks.
That isn't to say the AI is great, particularly the cobbles thing is a problem, just that I don't think it unexplainable.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 29-03-2024 08:11
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I was starting to cry a little bit when the Pollos boys were dropped again, but luckily they fought back and Zepuntke was able to follow Van Hooydonck and Stallaert. He was always going to lose that sprint, although indeed we thought it was Stallaert going to be the victor. Congratulations to roturn on the great win. Ulloa and Zepuntke now 44th and 58th in GC, so some minor points are back on the table there
Also Ulloa still shared second in the KoM, but looking at today I assume he'll also be working tomorrow instead of attacking. We'll see what happens.
Thank you for the great report again, Ulrich.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 29-03-2024 09:04
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Very good from Stallaert! Sure, the stage win would've been nice, but it was the correct choice to put all his energy into making sure there would be a time gap to the peloton. Van Hooydonck deserves it, too, after missing out yesterday.
Stallaert is still within bonus seconds range of second place, and if he rides this aggressively again tomorrow, he might be able to challenge for the GC win even. Currently second in the points classification, too, and Teggart up to 24th in the GC, so far so good. Tomorrow is a massive stage now, with big picture implications as well. I need a Top 3 finish on the day for Stallaert, one way or another, then we should be looking at an excellent race overall.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 29-03-2024 09:41
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Small Tour Specialist
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Losch is holding on somehow. Just one more stage to survive and we will score way more than I thought possible
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| MacC |
Posted on 29-03-2024 12:08
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Sprinter
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Ouch, bumpy stones hurt hard
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 29-03-2024 21:24
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Good to see the cobbles actually having some impact, even though the stage was mostly unselective. Congrats to Van Hooydonck, good to see Fastned get at least a little something from this race after the disastrous stage 3.
Stage 5 is shorter but with more cobbles, so the break might be harder to control actually if some decent cobblers are up front. Looking forward to it - would obviously be a really big win for Pidcock if he can hold onto that lead!
Thanks for the reports to Ulrich!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 29-03-2024 21:33
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Classics Specialist
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Really tiring for Max Daniel to just not be up to anything this season, even as a three star favourite he misses the jump completely. Oh well tomorrow is another day and at least we have three riders in the top 10.
Thanks for the report!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 29-09-2024 00:22
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 30-03-2024 05:53
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Mick getting safely through stages 4 and 5 was definitely not something I was expecting. Shiki also up to 13th means we are doing good in this race so far. Hopefully the last stage is kind to us, although losing a couple of spots to sprinters can be expected given the small time differences.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 30-03-2024 10:16
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World Champion
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Now I'm even more angry about stage 3.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 30-03-2024 11:23
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Team Leader
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Not bad in terms of getting into breakaways in the cobbles. We definitely did our best. A better race then I was expecting
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 30-03-2024 11:25
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Classics Specialist
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I mean I guess GVK did something? Daniel somehow manages to fumble a top 10 GC placement on a stage he's 3 starred for, i dunno anymore.
Thanks for the report!
And congrats to oldfardh on the win!
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| Ezeefreak |
Posted on 30-03-2024 12:05
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Domestique
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The last 2 stages were more likely what we had to expect here. Though I am pretty satisfied with how Goossens is doing.
Thanks for the report and congrats to the winners!
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| quadsas |
Posted on 30-03-2024 12:40
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Losch survived. Now lets get greedy and get top 3 on the last stage to move up in GC even more
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 30-03-2024 19:49
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Good stage by Zepuntke, a shame Ulloa loses his gc spot but that's life. Big congratulations to Ollfardh and thank you for the superb reporting again, Ulrich
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| quadsas |
Posted on 31-03-2024 03:32
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Small Tour Specialist
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Too eZ for Losch. What I thought was going to be a possible 0 pointer to a dang nice bag of points. Ledge
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| Ezeefreak |
Posted on 31-03-2024 08:48
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Domestique
Posts: 535
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Thanks for the reporting again! Great Job.
Also congrats to stage and overall winners.
For me again a great result of Willi finishing in 3rd. Overall this Race was a success for us. I am also satisfied with how Goossens did, since i didnt have any expectations at all. If the the whole season would have been like this race we may would have a slight chance for promotion.
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