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E3 Prijs Discussion
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 27-01-2020 15:37
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Team Manager
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.
 E3 Prijs
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Preview
Welcome to the E3 Prijs! As we're nearing the close of the cobblestone season with Paris - Roubaix, this is the penultimate opportunity for Pro Tour riders to prove themselves on this terrain. They will do so in one of the most established races of the calender, with its first edition in the 2008 season and held every year since.
It's not as long as some of the other classics, but those 211 kilometers from Waregem to Zottegem are grueling, nonetheless. Cobblestone sectors begin relatively early, although they're a bit more scattered throughout the first half of the race. The real fun begins in the final third, with sectors in quicker succession. In addition to the cobbled roads, there's also a constant up and down that provides additional difficulty, but riders with lower hill stats have performed well here in past editions and accordingly, the race is still classified as flat.
| FL | HI | ST | RS | CO | SP | AC |  Bewley | 78 | 71 | 78 | 76 | 83 | 83 | 83 |  Summerhill | 78 | 73 | 76 | 72 | 83 | 70 | 73 |  Kamyshev | 77 | 65 | 81 | 75 | 82 | 66 | 60 |  Blythe | 76 | 66 | 76 | 71 | 82 | 76 | 73 |  Baugnies | 78 | 72 | 80 | 73 | 80 | 65 | 73 |  Vanbilsen | 78 | 69 | 80 | 74 | 80 | 72 | 71 |  Teunissen | 76 | 66 | 77 | 73 | 81 | 67 | 69 |  Trentin | 74 | 74 | 76 | 71 | 81 | 75 | 76 |
As per usual for cobblestone races, there's no getting around Sam Bewley as the top favorite. He sports his well-known combination of Flat, Cobble and secondary stats with the best sprint in the field as well, just in case. This has helped him to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, to finish second at Strada Appia Antica and most recently and most importantly a victory at the Ronde van Vlaanderen. He's also the two-time defending champion here. But on his way to the treble, he's challenged by some of the very best northern classics specialists.
Rounding out the bookies' three major favorites are 2016 winner Danny Summerhill and Arman Kamyshev. The American already has a victory to his name in 2019 as well, having won Gent-Wevelgem, and on paper he's the closest to Bewley's equal on flat and cobblestone roads. Kamyshev's appearances have been more disappointing: He fell behind early at Strada Appia Antica to finish 49th and scored a Top 10 at De Ronde, coming in 8th. He will be determined to do better in Zottegem. His weaker hill stat might be problematic though, if those sectors are ridden too harshly. On the other hand, he has the best stamina out of any rider in the peloton.
A number of other riders have podium or even title ambitions. They include Roma Maxima winner Kenneth Vanbilsen, who's the only rider besides Bewley to podium in three classics so far (2nd at Le Samyn, 3rd at Gent - Wevelgem). Strada Appia Antica's and De Ronde's third place Mike Teunissen will look to repeat or even improve on those results. Meanwhile Jerome Baugnies, who has the distinction of being the only rider to get into the Top 10 in four classics (add a fifth for De Panne Tour), still lacks a podium finish, but has come the closest with a fourth place at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and he'll hope that he can carry over that form.
In contrast to those strong results, Adam Blythe is more in the same boat as Kamyshev in that he's started out with a tremendously disappointing race (28th at Strada Appia Antica) only to bounce back a little with a 7th place at De Ronde - additionally, he also has one of the weaker hill stats. Matteo Trentin has been a bit quieter as well, finishing 10th in both the Strada Appia Antica and De Ronde. But on their day, both are capable of finishing way closer to the top - Trentin did it last year, where he reached third place here.
| FL | HI | ST | RS | CO | SP | AC |  Theuns | 72 | 74 | 76 | 73 | 80 | 77 | 76 |  Nolf | 74 | 66 | 77 | 72 | 80 | 63 | 71 |  David | 74 | 75 | 76 | 74 | 78 | 70 | 73 |  Polanc | 72 | 73 | 78 | 73 | 78 | 67 | 75 |  Breen | 77 | 70 | 72 | 72 | 78 | 73 | 72 |  Sibilla | 71 | 63 | 72 | 68 | 81 | 66 | 64 |  Havik | 73 | 64 | 74 | 68 | 76 | 79 | 76 |  Declerq | 74 | 73 | 73 | 71 | 77 | 67 | 67 |
There are a few more team captains who are going to want to have some say in allocating the top spots in Zottegem. Of those, Edward Theuns has the best resumee, finishing second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and most recently sixth at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. He’s also the quickest of this bunch. Vegard Breen has finished on the podium twice, albeit on the smaller stages of Gent - Wevelgem and Le Samyn. Frederik Nolf and Michel Sibilla are the strongest pure cobblestone riders in this cluster, but the latter lacks in secondary stats which might prevent him from challenging the best of the best here.
Secondary stats are more of a strength for Tom David and Jan Polanc, who will also hope that the uphill parts of the race will prove a little more selective, as they have good hill stats. Yoeri Havik and Tim Declerq are on the weaker side of the spectrum of leaders, but at least they do get to ride for themselves, in contrast to the following riders:
| FL | HI | ST | RS | CO | SP | AC | | Per | 77 | 70 | 72 | 74 | 77 | 72 | 74 | | Machado | 69 | 63 | 72 | 67 | 79 | 62 | 61 | | Eeckhout | 72 | 61 | 71 | 71 | 77 | 64 | 57 | | Sa. Kuroeda | 74 | 63 | 72 | 73 | 77 | 74 | 78 | | Sh. Kuroeda | 72 | 70 | 76 | 77 | 75 | 76 | 73 | | Puccio | 72 | 66 | 76 | 71 | 78 | 60 | 55 | | Potts | 74 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 68 | 71 | | Gaday | 69 | 74 | 74 | 71 | 76 | 71 | 73 | | Boros | 73 | 73 | 73 | 69 | 77 | 64 | 66 | | Burghardt | 72 | 65 | 70 | 66 | 77 | 62 | 65 | | Laporte | 73 | 73 | 72 | 74 | 75 | 72 | 73 | | Drucker | 73 | 64 | 73 | 69 | 76 | 73 | 73 | | Van der Haar | 77 | 72 | 70 | 72 | 75 | 72 | 70 |
These are domestiques who will have to work for their captains, but once their work is done, they are strong enough that they might still ride into the Top 15 or 20. In the case of David Per, he might even be considered co-leader next to Polanc. The Kuroedas will be looking to get a good result possibly from a larger group that comes in behind the favorites as they are some of the fastest riders, and Saya actually finished 10th from a somewhat similar situation last year (although it should be noted that he was Meiji's leader back then).
Marc Machado and Kevin Eeckhout provide one of the best domestique duos for any of the favorites, but their weak-ish secondary stats might prevent them from a better result - a problem exponentially more magnified in their teammate Amadou Bakari, as is well known. Salvatore Puccio is possibly the most noteworthy of those not mentioned yet, especially if Kamyshev has a similar nightmare szenario as at Gent - Wevelgem, but don't be too surprised to see anyone on this list in the Top 20 at the end of the day.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 27-01-2020 15:40
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World Champion
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Thanks for the nice words about Vanbilsen. Repeating a podium will be tough, and looking at all the hills, I'll be happy with just a top 10.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| matt17br |
Posted on 27-01-2020 15:48
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Should be a very decent race again here. Route is not too dissimilar to OHN and RVV obviously so it's probably legit to expect a result in line with those. Thanks for the preview cunego!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 27-01-2020 15:48
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Come on guys, let's forget the atrocious Ronde here.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 27-01-2020 16:13
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Classics Specialist
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Would have liked to be here myself, but regardless looking forward to another race on the cobbles! Hope my former rider, Trentin, can perform better than he has done so far this season...
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 27-01-2020 17:14
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World Champion
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Finally a cobbles race. Not an ideal race for Sibilla, but as I had trouble filling up his racedays I decided I'd send him here. Hopefully it doesnt hurt the Kuroedas much (I find cobbles are the best discipline for dual leaders). A top 15 would be good here.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 27-01-2020 18:45
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Hard to see why Bewley shold not win, again.
Think Summerhill also a pretty safe 2nd and would like to see Trentin 3rd to prove that those hills also matter some.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 27-01-2020 19:27
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Teunissen is in great form so I'm daring to hope for another top 5.
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| knockout |
Posted on 27-01-2020 19:30
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Grand Tour Champion
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Thanks for the preview. Hoping for a top 5 here. Support should be good eventhough Smirnovs is not here this time 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 27-11-2024 05:14
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| cio93 |
Posted on 27-01-2020 20:20
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Here we go again, another band race we don't have a favorite for, which will hurt our PPRD again.
On paper, Declerq should like the route with a decent amount of uncobbled climbs starting around 100km to go where the race should get hard, but to make any use of that, he has to position much better than in the Ronde.
I identify roughly a dozen riders that I expect to finish ahead of him, so I hope we can take 10th-15th place here.
Just like in RVV, I'd like to see someone get into the break and maybe make the points scoring places with such a move in this less deep field.
Cavagna is yet to show his versatility this season for example, Dunne and Meiler could also fit that role well.
No need to predict the winner.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 27-01-2020 21:48
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Just let Bewley win all cobbled races and finish the cobbles season
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 27-01-2020 22:24
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Well we have Merlier, so there's that. Not much to comment on besides that really.
Bewley to slam dunk this one.
Thanks for the preview cunego
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-01-2020 04:57
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Expected the tough startlist, so left Saber at home. Havik gets a rare chance to lead in the cobbles on his own. Let's see what he can do. Bovenhuis is there in support, but not much else to fall back on.
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| Heine |
Posted on 28-01-2020 05:06
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Come on Trentin, do something!
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| redordead |
Posted on 28-01-2020 06:54
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Had to skip this race because of clashes, but I don't have any cobblers anyways so it doesn't matter 
"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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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 28-01-2020 08:43
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Grand Tour Specialist
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We are here. And this small message is probably more than my team will show all race...
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 29-01-2020 12:46
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A fucking joke. Lost for words. Declerq's positioning this ENTIRE cobbles season cannot be explained by any kind of logic.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 29-01-2020 12:48
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World Champion
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Vanbilsen simply not good enough (and beaten by that pesky Breen once again!), the only good thing here was Joseph getting us some minor points.
Thanks for the report!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 29-01-2020 13:07
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Small Tour Specialist
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Breen has undoubtedly been very strong this season, but at times, he seems to be a bit too far back when the peloton starts to split. That was the case here again, but he recovered well, and a 10th place in this field is very good!
Congrats to Moser and thanks for the report, Cunego 
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 29-01-2020 13:33
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Woo, Young finished! 
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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