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Gent - Wevelgem Discussion
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 29-11-2019 19:38
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Grand Tour Champion
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Joined: 28-05-2009
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 Gent - Wevelgem
The ProTour teams have had their Cobbles kick off for the new season, so let's get the ball rolling for the ProConti Division as well.
Gent-Wevelgem returns the calendar for its 13th (!) edition in the MG. A staple of the MG year, it has been won by some cobble legends of the past. Boonen, Cancellara, Bewley... all have been winners in the past. Who will add their name to an illustrious list?
The big favourite for the 2019 title is  Danny Summerhill. Surprisingly absent from the winner's list, his best result came in 2016 riding in the colours of Azteca. This year, he will be in the colours of Andorra, with a big team backing him up. MG cult hero Amadou Bakari is amongst his support, and could be a handy back up if he is on his day.
Behind Summerhill,  Pieter Vanspeybrouck leads the line for the Carlsberg team, who will be keen to add their bright start to the season on the cobbles. The same can be said for  Lukas Spengler, who like Vanspeybrouck, is supported by a strong team, and rides on the back of a good performance in Omloop Het Niewsblad.
 Joeri Stallaert,  Ruben Zepuntke and  Jerome Baugnies are all also on the back of a big ride in the Omloop as well, whilst  Kenneth Vanbilsen, a winner back in 2016 will be the key man yet again for Lierse SK.
 Frederik Nolf, debuting for Carrefour,  Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz,  Ricardo Ferreira and  Andrew Fenn are all expected to be there towards the end, and could easily spring a shock if the circumstances are right.
Honestly, we could be here all day running through the list of favourites. Whilst those above could win the race, they could also be outside the Top 20 very easily. The start list just that strong!
List of Favourites
| FL | COB | SP | ACC | | | FL | COB | SP | ACC | | Summerhill | 78 | 83 | 70 | 73 | | Fenn | 72 | 79 | 70 | 69 | | Vanspeybrouck | 76 | 82 | 67 | 69 | | Machado | 69 | 79 | 62 | 61 | | Spengler | 74 | 82 | 61 | 70 | |  Maes | 79 | 78 | 61 | 66 | | Stallaert | 77 | 81 | 79 | 76 | |  Breen | 77 | 78 | 73 | 72 | | Zepuntke | 72 | 81 | 72 | 65 | |  Bush | 74 | 78 | 71 | 73 | | Vanbilsen | 78 | 80 | 72 | 71 | |  Taubel | 73 | 78 | 61 | 64 | | Baugnies | 78 | 80 | 65 | 73 | |  Van Keirsbulck | 72 | 78 | 70 | 68 | | Nolf | 74 | 80 | 63 | 71 | |  Richardson | 71 | 78 | 60 | 61 | | Kasperkiewicz | 74 | 79 | 59 | 66 | | Orue | 69 | 78 | 53 | 58 | | Ferreira | 73 | 79 | 71 | 69 | | Bohli | 74 | 77 | 74 | 68 |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 29-11-2019 20:01
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World Champion
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Took a risk here and sent Debesay to Slovenia, so it's Rowe leading us here. Hoping for some breakaway exposure and if we can help keep the race together over the cobbles then it could be a sweet day for us if we can get it to come down to a 20-30 rider sprint!
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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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 29-11-2019 20:26
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Grand Tour Champion
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Omloop was decent, hoping on another good performance here
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 29-11-2019 21:02
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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A chance for another good result here. Hopefully the race is selective enough for it. Maybe Summerhill will blow it open, and we can use that splintering to get another top 5.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| liefwarrior |
Posted on 29-11-2019 21:22
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Breakaway Specialist
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While the competition is certainly tougher, we'll be hoping that Maes can at least perform marginally better then his outing in Belgium, even if the results do not reflect it. |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 29-11-2019 21:40
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Hmm, Stallaert dissapointed us in his first race of the season so hopefully he will bounce right back and take atleast a podium here  |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 21-11-2024 20:59
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 29-11-2019 21:51
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Classics Specialist
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With Stallaert and Zepuntke I definetely don't consider Summerhill the number 1 contender for the win but it will mean our job is to open and break up the race in the cobbles, Summerhill will have to attack, or outsmart them in the final kilometers as part of a big group.
It's his debut with the team and with nº1 in the startlist I definetely do feel the pressure, but the team is strong and I'm confident we can have strenght in numbers to make it all happen.
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 29-11-2019 22:07
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Classics Specialist
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With this race tending to open up more to the sprinters, really not expecting too much other than some decent placing. Painful to have to ride against Danny who still is part of the soul of Azteca.
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 29-11-2019 23:16
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World Champion
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Let's see how 50MO Vanbilsen takes the hills, my main PCM18 fear.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 30-11-2019 07:33
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Directeur Sportif
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Come on, Jayco! Breakaway, please.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 30-11-2019 09:19
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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Breen and van der Haar had a few good performances in PCT races last season, so hope they can keep that up. Top 10 would be a good result!
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| beagle |
Posted on 30-11-2019 09:31
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Time to switch to agressive approach again. Breakaway, please!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 01-12-2019 17:01
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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Our cobbled 'leader' Robert Bush has certainly been put under a lot of pressure with the strengthening in the division across his favoured terrain. Would appear that we will not be able to count on as regularly picking up decent (if at times anonymous) ppRD from him this season as last. Hoping though that he can still combine with his support crew, and Bolivar in particular to work their socks off and bring home some reward from these races.
Pre-race, the (relative) lack of cobbled kms, overall race distance and punchy climbs mid-race makes this one of the toughest races to call in advance in terms of top 10. Summerhill the massive favourite to me though, that at least little in doubt. More 5-20th that seems very up in the air (the area that is of more specific relevance to ISA - Hexacta!).
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 01-12-2019 21:24
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World Champion
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Expected win by Summerhill, huge result for Breen and happy with a 3rd for Vanbilsen. For a second I saw him defeat Summerhill in the sprint and repeat his 2016 win, but you can't have it all
Thanks for the report!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 01-12-2019 21:29
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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Looks like we had a real chance to take advantage towards the end and make a push, but VSB settles back in to not caring, like he often does. Getting beaten by Nolf is pretty embarrassing and frustrating, especially after he and others had been gapped earlier.
That being said, tenth isn't too bad thanks to Sinkeldam and Niki sticking around for some depth points. If it had been a bunch sprint it would have been worse I suppose.
Thanks for the report!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 01-12-2019 21:31
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Sprinter
Posts: 1907
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Bohli 
Not sure what his objective was in this one. He is a better sprinter than Spengler for sure, but AI was just interesting here. As long as someone get a top 10 I'm happy.
Summerhill is a beast. Great report hoyle!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 01-12-2019 21:47
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Grand Tour Champion
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So Summerhill falls behind, both Lindeman and Marcos are with Zepuntke and can ride at the front to extend the gap but don't, then we don't attack or respond to anything to finish 14th? At least we have 4 riders in the points position but not scoring big time.
Thanks for the report the_hoyle, and congrats Andorra! Must have been mad when Summerhill punctured, but what a turnaround.
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| ryant |
Posted on 01-12-2019 22:28
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2322
Joined: 15-08-2012
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Really happy with the 6th place finish here, probably the only satisfactory result since Down Under
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 01-12-2019 22:49
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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Excellent stuff from Breen, rides aggressively and gets rewarded for it! Congrats to Andorra. Quite an achievement from Summerhill to puncture, but come back and win it.
Thanks for the report!
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 02-12-2019 01:16
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2809
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Marcovdw wrote:
and congrats Andorra! Must have been mad when Summerhill punctured, but what a turnaround.
All I could think of was SHIT  I'm not even gonna brag, this looked like it belonged in MG gods territory with the "luck" of being able to get back, maybe there's unwritten rules AI code in the game
Unreal dramatic reading, thanks hoyle for the report and cheers guys for the congratz
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