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Benelux Challenge Discussion
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 31-07-2016 20:57
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This is the third edition the Benelux Challenge, a 6 day stage race through the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Both the previous editions were won by riders who could ride both cobbles as well as hills and last year's champion  De Maar lines up to maintain that – can anybody challenge him?
Favourites: | Puncheurs | HL | CB | ACC | Cobblists | CB | HL | ACC |  Klemme | 80 | 54 | 66 |  Bakari | 81 | 54 | 60 |  Diggle | 77 | 51 | 70 |  Thomas | 79 | 60 | 78 | | Nzeke | 76 | 63 | 68 |  Bush | 78 | 62 | 73 |  Taborre | 76 | 54 | 72 | Hristov | 77 | 63 | 71 |  Tiernan-Locke | 76 | 53 | 74 | De Vocht | 76 | 56 | 68 |  Pozzato | 75 | 71 | 74 | Grashev | 75 | 69 | 73 |  Hugentobler | 75 | 69 | 76 |  De Haes | 75 | 68 | 77 | | Kinney | 75 | 61 | 74 | Kurth | 75 | 64 | 73 | | Chaoufi | 75 | 59 | 58 | Østergaard | 75 | 63 | 74 |  Bru | 75 | 55 | 70 | Marcos | 74 | 73 | 70 |  Rocchetti | 75 | 54 | 64 | De Vreese | 74 | 72 | 70 | | Lloyd | 75 | 52 | 69 | Takenouchi | 74 | 64 | 70 |  Haavardsholm | 75 | 51 | 80 |  Sue | 74 | 53 | 53 | | Gaimon | 75 | 50 | 74 | Naesen | 73 | 74 | 77 | | De Maar | 74 | 73 | 77 |  Van der Haar | 73 | 71 | 70 | | Backaert | 74 | 72 | 66 |  Ngandamba | 73 | 69 | 71 |  Dowling | 74 | 67 | 72 | Matthews | 73 | 66 | 76 | | Bille | 74 | 66 | 75 | Lee | 73 | 65 | 75 |
De Maar, while not obvious as one of the best cobblers or puncheurs, is set to maintain his title here, many can challenge him however and Klemme is a stand-out name. Diggle and Nzeke are also a great duo for Xero, but those three will likely falter when it comes to the cobblestones. Ferrero’s decision to ignore larger names on their roster in favour of Pozzato who can ride cobbles may pay dividends, while both Hugentobler and Backaert are similar riders who can ride cobbles as well as hills, so they’ll be riders to watch.
There aren’t just puncheurs here though, Podium Ambition have the dominant combination of Thomas, Hristov and Grashev but only the latter has potential for the hills. Bush and De Vocht are also worth a mention, even if the race should be too hilly for them.
Marcos, De Vreese and, of course, De Maar can’t be ignored as they the types of riders this race has favoured in the past, even if they lack the individual strength on one terrain here.
Sprinters: | Sprinters | Sprint | ACC | | Guillén | 81 | 82 | | Kip | 80 | 82 | | Vingerling | 79 | 79 | | Krieger | 79 | 79 | | Manarelli | 79 | 79 | | Clarke | 79 | 78 | | Fonseca | 78 | 77 | | Corti | 78 | 76 | | Rasmussen | 77 | 79 | | Dockx | 77 | 76 | | Schinker | 77 | 76 | | Drujon | 77 | 76 | | Giaux | 77 | 75 |  Uugunbayar | 77 | 75 | | Cano | 77 | 74 | | Timofeev | 77 | 72 |
There are one or two stages for the sprinters, so it’s a good chance for the sprinters who came here, Guillén and Kip haven’t proved themselves in the past, but they’ll have a chance here, but more likely are fast men who don’t struggle as much with a speed bump, such as Vingerling, Krieger, Manarelli and Clarke.
Startlist:
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| roturn |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:00
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Krieger actually having a decent chance here.
Looking forward to this.
GC wise I hope De Maar, Pozzato will do well here as combination riders. But really no idea how the game handles it. |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:01
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Tour de France Champion
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Really hoping De Maar can put on the pressure here. He has probably the best combination of cobbles, hills, and prologue out there. However, he is bad enough at all three for his race to be ruined on one stage. hopefully he stays aggressive and the team can help him.
Have to admit though, Razzie being the team leader on the startlist is not encouraging. This is our win goal. i don't expect to repeat but I hope for a top 5 at least.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| haasje33 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:07
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Sprinter
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Looking forward to my first race in the ManGame 
Think my leadout train is alright with Kip, Vingerling and Schinker, but we'll have some strong competition for the flat stages.
Inactive due to personal reasons.
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| MARSUPILAMI |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:07
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Interesting race here. Hoping Dockx, Taborre and De Vreese can surprise!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:15
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I remember this was one of our best races last season with Kinney and Rathe being our shiny stars. Add De Haes, Marcos, Matthews, Weiss and Manarelli (and Major  ) to those two and I can only expect to perform even better!
Edited by Marcovdw on 31-07-2016 21:15
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:15
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I like that start list bar Klemme in the puncheurs and some of the top sprinters - hoping for some good results on stages 3 and 5 from Diggle/Nzeke/Lloyd and 2 and 6 from Clarke. Should be interesting!
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:20
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my pick goes on Oliver Naesen...a great rider I wanted in my team (but sadly I had no space left), if the Prologue isn´t too bad I see good chances for him...
but I´m hoping for a big time Xero performance - so that they use up their luck for Middle East jandal I guess it´s your turn to create some advantage pointwise here!
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| Shonak |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:20
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Good race last year. De Maar made his appearance as a killer that year, but I think he will be bested by Pozzo this time around. Still a top 3 for Carlsberg should be easily accomplished. Don't see Klemme getting anything here for D2B.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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Posted on 24-11-2024 03:12
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 21:53
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Hopefully some of my talents can shine as only Hugentobler and Forcellini are maxed out of my lineup.
I think I've got to hope that Hugentobler can limit losses every day instead of look to gain time if we want anything out of GC and with Forcellini for the hills and Zafferani for the Cobbles I think there is potential for him to have some support if he is chasing from behind on any day.
I don't expect anything out of this race and am mainly here to give my youngsters some more experience so if we can score any points the it would be a bonus. I'm not really sure if Hugentobler will do anything or not but at least his San Cristobal performance can give me some hope that he will at least give it a go even if he doesn't manage anything.
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| matt17br |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:14
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Was a great race for Molard last year iirc, which shows you don't really need to excel on cobbles to have a shot at the top 5. You certainly need to be able to ride them well to have a shot at the win though, especially as De Maar is here again.
Which is also why I'm picking him for the win, even though Pozzato, Naesen and a few others are definitely tough tough competition for him. This year's CT couldn't be deeper holy moly
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:18
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Drucker could´ve been so good here :/
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:18
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Really looking forward to this race. Pozzato should be one of the best all around here.
Had hoped that Navardauskas would avoid the top prologue riders here but not the case so don't know what to expect from him.
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| ryant |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:45
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I'm just hoping for stage wins, as I have little hope Takenouchi or JTL will pose a threat in GC, I hope I will be surprised though...
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:50
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I really hope, that my Team does well here.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:54
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Tour de France Champion
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Fingers crossed the cobbles can make the difference in this race, otherwise it'll be down to breakaways and Thomas sprinting. Still it's a decent team we've got here with potential to score strongly. Plus, you know, Goal Race.
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| bwiggins |
Posted on 31-07-2016 22:55
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Domestique
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Just hoping for Yatsevich on the prolouge!
Wiggo and Simon Gerrans!
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| knockout |
Posted on 01-08-2016 02:05
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Grand Tour Champion
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Geschke to destroy everyone in selected group sprints 
Not sure if it suits him perfect. In 2014 he did a bit better in flat rated stages but he also had some great races similar to this.
I really like Pozzato for a race like this so hopefully, he's doing well !
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 01-08-2016 06:51
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The fact thatthe cobbles comes in between the two hilly stages will be a concern for the cobblers as this sometimes can negate the cobbled effect. Klemme is my favourite for that reason - like jesus he has massive stat advantage here.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 01-08-2016 09:24
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Obviously Bakari has this |
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Benelux Challenge
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
