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Classique du Grand-Duché Discussion
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 09-12-2019 20:50
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Grand Tour Champion
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 Classique du Grand-Duché
Welcome to Luxembourg and the ninth edition of the Classique du Grand-Duché. A day for the puncheurs, whilst after a flat-ish start to the day, the peleton will be soon climbing and descending over and over in the latter two-thirds on the race.
The big favourites will need be attentive all day, as the short accelerations over the course of the stage could cause a number of splits, and the efforts to come back might be too much to compete come the final climb...
Favourites
| MO | HILL | SP | ACC | | | MO | HILL | SP | ACC |  Hagen | 70 | 85 | 73 | 79 | |  Anuar Aziz | 67 | 80 | 66 | 69 |  Lutsenko | 73 | 83 | 72 | 81 | |  Chernetskiy | 71 | 79 | 63 | 71 |  Sagan | 74 | 83 | 73 | 76 | |  Barbin | 68 | 78 | 71 | 76 |  Skujins | 70 | 83 | 68 | 76 | | Moazemi | 73 | 78 | 65 | 73 |  Claeys | 67 | 83 | 67 | 73 | |  Watson | 65 | 78 | 62 | 72 |  Van Garderen | 72 | 82 | 70 | 79 | |  Gerts | 66 | 78 | 72 | 70 |  Gastauer | 71 | 82 | 67 | 76 | |  Kump | 66 | 77 | 81 | 80 |  Ginanni | 68 | 81 | 64 | 71 | |  Felline | 66 | 77 | 74 | 78 | | Demare | 67 | 80 | 82 | 81 | | Smirnovs | 68 | 77 | 72 | 78 | | Vakoc | 71 | 80 | 71 | 74 | |  Turgis | 65 | 77 | 69 | 75 |
Edvald Boasson Hagen is the big favourite on the stage line, and the name that everyone will be wanting to beat. the Norwegian is the top man in the division over the hills, and the target on his back will be a big one in Luxembourg. Behind him, Alexey Lutsenko and 2017 winner Peter Sagan will be on his wheel all day as they gun for victory on the uphill climb to the finish.
Last year's winner Arnaud Demare will be key for this to finish in a 'bunch sprint' of the favourites, as his sprint and finishing kick will hopefully give him the edge over others, whilst Tom Skujins, runner up to Demare last year, will be wanting to go one better this season.
Tejay Van Garderen, Ben Gastauer and Francesco Ginanni must be here with the aims of a minimum Top 5 finish, and there could be a go from far out for Mohamed Anuar Aziz, who will want to lessen his lack of power in the sprint to its maximum. World Champion Marco Kump could be a dark horse in the race, presuming the same as Demare and he comes the line with small group where his sprint skills can get the better of his opponents.
Vakoc and Barbin give the PCT team of Kulczyk a two pronged attack, but can the pair work together on the day? Claeys is another one of the PCT brigade who could do well here, and bring a big haul of points to his Minions team.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-12-2019 21:05
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Directeur Sportif
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Watson will probably disappear, he hardly delivered for us, when he had the leading role for our team last season. So it's mainly about developing a few riders and maybe show our colors in the early break.
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| SotD |
Posted on 09-12-2019 21:08
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World Champion
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Can’t expect anything, but hoping the combination of decent puncheurs like Bongiorno can attack the race to get a good result. Maybe Ackermann can fiddle his way to a late surge or good sprint.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 09-12-2019 21:21
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First race for Claeys. No points on offer for us but let's see if I should be worried for the rest of the season.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 09-12-2019 21:42
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3591
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Representation in a break is our goal here. Ponzi is in France, but still certain missing out on this race will be worth it
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 09-12-2019 21:49
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Team Manager
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Let's go Gastauer, time for a big showing at home.
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| redordead |
Posted on 10-12-2019 06:36
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Rooting for Kump and Lutsenko 
"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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| knockout |
Posted on 10-12-2019 16:45
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Grand Tour Champion
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One guy listed in the top 5 favourites, two others in the top 20. My mood isnt the best after the last two triple header stages so please dont screw up another race...
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 10-12-2019 17:13
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It would be unrealistic to expect Demare to repeat his victory here despite the winter training.
It'll be a very important test of his 80+/80+ dual threat ability on this PCM version though, so there's definitely a lot of anxiety involved. I hope he can attack the lower Top 5, and at least beat every 80 and below puncheur.
In case he falters, we have brought Nikias Arndt who already loved Badaling and would quite like the general pace to be high to make use of his 79mo, which appears to make him one of the strongest climbers present together with Olivier and Bongiorno, and definitely the best finisher among those.
Felline and Mager should be good support and may grab some points along the way too.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 10-12-2019 18:13
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Small Tour Specialist
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Top 5 would be great, top 10 would be decent. Also curious what Furdi, Senyenov and Tratnik can do because due to the clashes with P-N and Tirreno the amount of 77+ puncheurs here is limited.
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 10-12-2019 20:04
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Tour de France Champion
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Anything but victory is a disappointment. Allez. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 10:24
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-12-2019 21:09
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Directeur Sportif
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Watson is such a disappointing rider, when he's got the leadership. It's not like I jinxed it for good reasons..
At least we got some tv time with Schreurs in the early break and getting a special mention for being dropped (thanks for that) 
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| cio93 |
Posted on 10-12-2019 21:50
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World Champion
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7th is about where Demare was in the power rankings, can't complain about a quiet but consistent ride.
In particular with Arndt in 15th, and additional points from Mager in 21st and Wackermann (!) in 36th, I leave this race happy with 145 points scored total that'll add nicely to what we've scored in Italy today.
CongratzzzZZZzzZZZzz Moser though, MG Sagan finally becomes the copy of IRL Sagan.
And thank you for the good report Hoyle, although it would've been great to see the situation behind the Top 3 develop in the last few km's.
Edited by cio93 on 10-12-2019 21:51
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 10-12-2019 21:50
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World Champion
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Nice to see Tolhoek hanging on to score quite a decent result. Gerts with a good result, but nothing out of the ordinary given the startlist.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 10-12-2019 22:18
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Grand Tour Champion
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Not a bad result for Claeys, shame he couldn't follow the best but this gives me hope for the rest of the season.
Thanks the_hoyle for the report and congrats Moser!
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 10-12-2019 22:37
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Small Tour Specialist
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Slightly disappointing 11th by Ginanni. But Furdi saves the day with a cool 9th.
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| ember |
Posted on 10-12-2019 22:45
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Enjoyed that ride from Vangstad a lot! Very nice to see him go for the BOTD, and also fight on when they got caught. Very happy with that, in what would otherwise have been an expected performance from us, meaning an anonymous one
Pre-race I was also excited to see if Tvetcov could pull of a surprise here seeing his combination of mountain/hill stat, and with a top 40, I must be happy
Sagan and Lutsenko seemed to play the waiting game to perfection, forcing EBH to do much of the work, and then beat him in the sprint. Roman must enjoy how Sagan has started this season, beating EBH in a classic that develops in such a way is quite something. |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 10-12-2019 23:24
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What a horrible day.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 11-12-2019 00:15
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Team Manager
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Well, 10th looked below what Gastauer was capable of on the day, but as per usual he just couldn't stick with the key move. At least 10th means he has managed to achieve the sponsor goal this season!
Was great to see the team support though, Reimer riding strong, and Fritsch joining him for a home Top 30.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 11-12-2019 00:46
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Classics Specialist
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okay AI, so lets send the worst hill rider in the breakaway....neat plan I must say...
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