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Benelux Challenge Discussion
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| roturn |
Posted on 01-07-2019 10:29
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The 5th anniversary for the Benelux Challenge, that comes with a slightly updated route this year. The character of the event stays the same though: a short prologue in Luxembourg is followed by a mix of rather challenging flat stages, two hilly stages (with a crucial hilltop finish on fifth day) and a flat rated (but still quite hilly) cobbled stage on day four. Definitely an interesting mix of profiles and to win the GC, you certainly need to combine climbing skills with the ability to ride the pavé.
In 2017, the race did favor the puncheurs though: Robbie Squire took the overall victory with riders like Rybakov, Kreder, Reus and Monfort completing a surprising Top-5 in the final GC. In the previous years, the victories went to more allrounded riders/hybrids: Gregory Hugentobler (2016), Carlsberg's legend Marc de Maar (2015) and Marcel Wyss (2014).
The Startlist
The Specialists | Puncheurs | HI | CO | PR | | Cobblers | HI | CO | PR |  Ben Nasser | 79 | 65 | 66 | |  Ferreira | 68 | 79 | 63 |  Meyer | 79 | 53 | 69 | |  Taubel | 65 | 78 | 60 |  Serry | 78 | 67 | 64 | |  Jacobs | 64 | 78 | 62 |  Siskevicius | 78 | 50 | 65 | |  Breen | 70 | 77 | 68 |  Hoelgaard | 77 | 62 | 65 | | Kluge | 68 | 77 | 74 |  Teklit | 77 | 59 | 64 | |  Zhupa | 67 | 77 | 65 | | Skjerping | 77 | 52 | 62 | |  Kulppi | 67 | 77 | 60 | | Mendes | 77 | 50 | 68 | | Drucker | 65 | 77 | 74 | | Hugentobler | 76 | 69 | 58 | | Grand | 65 | 77 | 67 |  Haas | 76 | 63 | 68 | |  Eeckhout | 61 | 77 | 54 | | Kebede | 76 | 61 | 66 | |  Hristov | 62 | 76 | 65 | | Pibernik | 76 | 61 | 62 | | Van der Haar | 72 | 75 | 71 | | Weiss | 76 | 59 | 68 | |  Breschel | 68 | 75 | 60 | | Henao | 76 | 53 | 64 | | Cominelli | 67 | 75 | 64 |  Ziesler | 76 | 52 | 64 | | Minoungou | 65 | 75 | 66 | | Wahyudi | 76 | 51 | 61 | | Vandenbergh | 64 | 75 | 65 | | Favilli | 75 | 65 | 67 | | Verbist | 62 | 75 | 59 |  Wallays | 75 | 64 | 69 | | Veelers | 61 | 75 | 67 | | Paajanen | 75 | 64 | 64 | | Ngandamba | 69 | 74 | 71 | | Sprinters | HI | CO | SP | | Prologue | HI | CO | PR | | Thorsen | 54 | 57 | 82 | | Chavanne | 64 | 57 | 82 | | Coutinho | 65 | 55 | 79 | | Aregger | 71 | 62 | 78 | | Vanderaerden | 61 | 63 | 79 | | Kovalev | 56 | 57 | 78 | | Modolo | 73 | 68 | 78 | | Hussein | 64 | 50 | 77 | | Aregger | 71 | 62 | 78 | | Johansson | 59 | 63 | 77 | | Kruopis | 70 | 69 | 78 | | Pökälä | 71 | 64 | 76 | | Kreder | 70 | 66 | 78 | | Kreuziger | 71 | 51 | 76 | | Liepins | 66 | 55 | 78 | | Kruopis | 70 | 69 | 76 | | King | 65 | 63 | 78 | | Kireva | 69 | 69 | 76 | | Angarita | 62 | 63 | 78 | |  Van Poppel | 67 | 69 | 76 | | Bogdanovics | 62 | 60 | 78 | | Dzervus | 66 | 57 | 76 | | Kluge | 68 | 77 | 77 | | Oba | 65 | 70 | 76 |
The mix of stages makes for the typical mixed startlist, obviously. Let's begin the preview with the specialists on all terrains, that will be featured in those six days here:
The puncheurs will surely try to make the two hilly stages as hard and crucial as possible. As Squire proved last season, it's surely possible to distance the cobblers for a big GC result here. Ben Nasser and Meyer as the best on hills. While Ben Nasser also comes with at least some solid skills on the pavé, Meyer and some other strong puncheurs like Siskevicius, Teklit, Sjkerping, Mendes or Kebede will hope for a less selective day on the cobbles. Those guys obviously need to make up ground on the two non-cobbled hilly stages.
Serry, former race-winner Hugentobler and maybe also Hoelgaard or Haas should fancy their overall chances, as they are capable to survive cobblestone sectors on a good day. Hugentobler's chances to get his second GC win here shouldn't be too shabby afterall.
As for the cobblers, we have Ferreira, Taubel and Jacobs topping the list, if he only focus on skills on the pavé. Kluge may be considered the best CT-cobbler this year though and since he comes with a nice allround package, he should be amongst the most promising GC options from the cobblers' list.
Also Breen/Van der Haar should aim for a notable result here, combining hills and cobbles pretty well. Zhupa, Kulppi, Drucker, Grand, Breschel or Eeckhout as other cobblers, who need to limit the damage in the hilly stages.
The flat stages ain't easy here, so Thorsen may actually struggle to get a result. Modolo, Aregger, Kruopis (4th in the GC here back in 2014) and Kreder (3rd last year) appear to be the most dangerous threats for those two days. Also Coutinho may fancy his chances and we can't count off guys like Vanderaerden, Liepins or King. Even Kluge may become a factor already on the second day here.
The prologue has one clear favorite with Chavanne. Aregger and Kovalev as the most dangerous competitors on paper. Guys like Aregger and Kruopis will at least try to limit the losses and to attack the GC-lead on the first flat road stage then.
The Hybrids | 70+ combined | HI | CO | PR | | Allrounders | HI | CO | PR | | Van der Haar | 72 | 75 | 71 | | Ben Nasser | 79 | 65 | 66 | | Naesen | 72 | 73 | 66 | | Favilli | 75 | 65 | 67 | | Thymides | 71 | 72 | 58 | | Modolo | 73 | 68 | 70 | | Palyi | 71 | 71 | 72 | | Van der Haar | 72 | 75 | 71 | | Breen | 70 | 77 | 68 | | Naesen | 72 | 73 | 66 | | | | | | Palyi | 71 | 71 | 72 | | | | | | Breen | 70 | 77 | 68 | | | | | | Kruopis | 70 | 69 | 76 | | | | | | Ngandamba | 69 | 74 | 71 | | | | | | Kireva | 69 | 69 | 76 | | | | | | Oliveira | 69 | 66 | 69 | | | | | | Kluge | 68 | 77 | 74 | | | | | | Martinez | 68 | 73 | 73 | | | | | | Brynjolfsson | 68 | 73 | 69 | | | | | | Zhupa | 67 | 77 | 65 | | | | | | Meeusen | 67 | 71 | 70 | | | | | | Van Poppel | 67 | 69 | 76 |
So that's for the specialists. We may have a look at the most promising GC riders now: as already said, Ben Nasser is not only amongst the best puncheurs, he's also amongst those riders, who combine hills, cobbles and prologues in some kind of hybridish fashion (65 minimum in all three key stats). Given the importance of the climbing skills, he has to be considered the favorite for the overall victory this year.
Other allrounders are Modolo, Breen/Van der Haar/Favilli, Naesen, Kruopis, Palyi and also Kluge or Zhupa are amongst those, who are at least solid on the three terrains here. Obviously, it depends on how hard the hills and/or the cobbles are ridden.
Only a handful of riders combine 70+ skills in hills and on cobbles. Again Van der Haar and Breen on this list. Delvaux surely with hopes to get something big from the final GC here in Benelux. |
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 01-07-2019 12:45
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Been waiting for this one!
Feel like we got a great shot at coming home with some victories 
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 01-07-2019 13:10
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Hehe, not surprisingly ranked as the worst team here. Hopefully that means a lot of breakaways in the next days
Thank you for the preview tsmoha and thanks for posting it roturn! |
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 01-07-2019 14:07
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Let the hybrids win for once! 
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| quadsas |
Posted on 01-07-2019 15:50
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Will be an interesting race to follow...I think it's naive to expect a Top 5 GC, but some great results from individual stages are expected. Except from Trashiger, his job is to get top 100
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 01-07-2019 16:19
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Should be an interesting race. Hopefully Haas can perform and maybe get a top 10 overall
Good luck everyone!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 12:53
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| st_jonh |
Posted on 01-07-2019 21:52
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A strong field of riders. Be prepared for some surprises!  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 01-07-2019 23:51
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Been looking forward to this one, hopefully Meyer will continue his good form |
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| redordead |
Posted on 02-07-2019 07:00
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Difficult to see which rider will prevail in this race, but I hope that between Zhupa, Pibernik and Kovalev we can score a few points. Thymides and Oliveira are wild cards for us.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 02-07-2019 09:39
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Pökälä did well on the first stage.
Not the biggest of expectations overall, but we have outsiders for most stages and then who knows what might happen.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 02-07-2019 09:49
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Very excited for this race. Only brought Favilli for the hills, so need a selective stage 4 to really fight for the top spots in the GC.
As for the prologue... not much to say. We don't like TT's 
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 02-07-2019 11:24
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Classics Specialist
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So so close it would've been epic if Kireva took it. But it'll have to wait another season I guess 
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 02-07-2019 12:09
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Sascha on the pace early, i like what i see.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 02-07-2019 12:43
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You don't really need to spend much time on doing prologue reports really...we all know who's winning. Siskevicius didn't lose much time at all, Trashiger with a top 20!!! Let's see if we can grab the green jersey on stage 2 now
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 02-07-2019 16:06
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Nasser could be great in this race, fingers crossed
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 02-07-2019 17:50
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Always nice to see Gabby come good and take the opening stage win, hopefully if he doesn't manage to hold the leaders jersey tomorrow Aregger will take it off him.
We have come with someone for all terrains here so hopefully that results in at least one guy being consistent enough to get a good GC placing, somehow I feel like bringing a former winner matters the least at this race compared to any other as it's so unpredictable.
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| st_jonh |
Posted on 02-07-2019 20:19
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Two good finishes and the white jersey 
That is already much more than I was hoping for.
Thanks for the report. |
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 03-07-2019 00:11
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First of, thank you for the report.
Secondly: If only we could manage to make a lead-out for Sascha.... Dang..
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-07-2019 05:46
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Coutinho is such awesome rider. His stat combination making him much more effective than a regular 79 sprinter. Not having counted really but must have been 3rd or 4th win I suppose. |
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| redordead |
Posted on 03-07-2019 11:00
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Prologue was kind of dissapointing. Stage 2 was nice to see Penko try for the KOM, but that's not really his forte. Stage 3 though...
Wow Pibernik really has caught some form, I don't remember ever us attacking on a hilly stage like that. Definitely a big surprise to take the stage win and also the GC lead to boot
I don't expect to hold the lead till the end, but hopefully we can maintain a strong position on GC
Another white jersey looks quite likely also 
Edited by redordead on 03-07-2019 11:08
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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Benelux Challenge
