We're here in England for the 10th annual edition of the East Midlands Cicle Classic, where a traditional late summer race returns us to the cobbles of spring.
Last year, Sam Bewley took his 5th win in 6 years, and the 32 year old is back for more domination. The only other former winner in attendance is Greg Van Avermaet, who soloed to victory in 2017, but he has since seen a drop-off in his effectiveness on the bike as he enters his mid 30's.
The route is the standard one we have seen year after year. In short, it is tough. Really tough. In terms of difficulty, it's right up there with Roubaix and Flanders. It's a bit shorter at 203 km, but the cobbles start at just a third into the race and do not relent at all until a few kilometers from the finish. it's also bumpier than Roubaix, so riders may need a little punch to survive. In any case, it should be very selective.
It should be noted that the startlist for this kind of race is always stacked. Any second/third/fourth tier cobbles rider will be here, so even a lot of the domestiques could surprise on a tremendous day. Regardless, on such a difficult course, the strongest usually prevail.
Favorites
Name
Flat
Hill
Sta
Res
Cob
Spr
Acc
Bewley
78
71
78
76
83
83
83
Summerhill
78
73
76
72
83
70
73
Blythe
76
66
76
71
82
76
73
Senechal
75
67
79
74
82
69
74
Kamyshev
77
65
81
75
82
66
60
Wisniowski
80
71
75
76
81
73
76
Trentin
74
74
76
71
81
75
76
Altur
75
70
75
70
81
72
68
Teunissen
76
66
77
73
81
67
69
Van Avermaet
76
74
75
72
80
76
75
Theuns
72
74
76
73
80
77
76
Daniel
73
69
76
76
80
76
72
Vanmarcke
76
66
77
72
80
70
72
Sulimov
73
70
77
71
79
65
71
Sam Bewley needs no introduction, but I'll give you one anyway. The guys has done everything. He's spent the last few years crushing Tom Boonen's records. He wins monuments however he decides on any given day. He's the strongest rider on the cobbles, and the strongest sprinter. He has a few domestiques, but he doesn't need domestiques. When it comes to cobbles in the last six of seven years, it's Bewley versus the field, and the field is losing.
His prime challenger will actually come from a PCT wildcard team, and its the American, Danny Summerhill for Andorra. Summerhill can match Bewley at times on pure cobbles, and actually has a tad more punch, but he falls behind on everything else. Nevertheless, he has a fighting spirit and loves to attack. With a strong team containing legends like Bakari and superdomestiques like Machado behind him, he may feel emboldened to take some risks to get a win here, especially with no points at stake.
After several years of relying on GVA, Evonik bring Adam Blythe to the race as their leader this year. Blythe is an extremely strong classics riders and has a decent sprint as well if a small group comes to the line. He has a fairly balanced team behind him. No real super lieutenants, but everyone is capable, which should help him early on especially. He does lack in climbing ability, so he will hope the selection ends up being based on cobbles rather than any of the bumps along the way.
Though Florian Senechal has been around for quite a few years now, he's still the youngest of our main favorites at 26 years old. More than the other guys in the field, he doesn't really have a secondary talent - he's not a particularly good puncheur or sprinter. But he can hang with the best of them, and a well timed attack could deliver a victory. Having a guy like Sulimov to back him up will surely make things a little easier for him.
Wisniowski leads for Grieg, and he is a great display of well roundedness. He's well adapted to hills and sprints, but also has an enormous engine on the flats. If he can get away alone, no one should have the speed at least to catch him on the final tarmac section. He also has a great team backing him, with both Ringheim and young gun Pedersen here to give him support.
Matteo Trentin comes from a somewhat similar mold in his own right. The veteran will hope to capitalize on versatility where he can although he has a weaker team to support him. Only aging great Marcus Burghardt will likely be of any use past mid race.
Kamyshev has always been a peculiar type of rider. If we had a cobbles drag race, he might be one of the best. And the longer the race goes, the better he is. But his main problem has always been his mysterious medical condition that makes is impossible for him to ever leave the saddle while riding. That, plus the fact that he still has trouble changing gears, has made his success in cobbled classics generally underwhelming. But if the race becomes a war of attrition similar to that hypothetical drag race, he could find himself in position to succeed.
It must be both nice and terrible to be Marcos Altur. On one hand, he has been known for a while as Spain's chief cobbles hopeful. On the other hand, he's also kind of known as Spain's excuse for a top tier cobbles leader. The good news - he's just 26 and has plenty of years ahead of him to bring his country pride. While he's a pretty generic top cobbler, he has an very strong team behind him in Podium Ambition, led by road captain Geraint Thomas.
Teunissen is somewhat like Altur, except he can't climb really, has no team, and is from the generic classics country of the Netherlands. He's the kind of guy you expect to be in the top 10, but fairly anonymously. Can he disprove that generalization today?
As mentioned previously Greg Van Avermaet is the only other previous winner in attendance. And although he's on the downswing, he's still a formidable rider, with a good punch, solid sprint, and nice backup stats. Five years ago, he completely reinvented himself into a classics specialist, and for a while, he was the guy who could challenge (and occasionally upset) Bewley. Now he will need to embrace a different role in the peloton to succeed. Having top classics sprinter like Kristoff on his team should surely make things interesting.
Ed Theuns is also Greg Van Avermaet, but he's six year younger. Their skill levels and qualities at the moment are remarkably similar. But Theuns is on the upswing, and has a diverse and well rounded team behind him. If I were a betting man, I'd say Generali should be looking to push the pace on the short inclines, where they have an advantage.
Much to his manager's dismay, Maxime Daniel has not had a good campaign this year, constantly underperforming. I'm not sure what you can expect from a rider with two first names, but in any case, he's being paid to do more than crack early. In some cobbles races, he and Weber play off each other, but I reckon this is one for the pure strongmen, and Daniel will have to go it alone in the final bits.
Sep Vanmarcke still exists, and he wants the world to know. So what, he isn't "special" in any way. He still deserves his place among the best cobbles riders, and he's here to prove it. How? I don't know, but I'm sure he is. He's had his moments, and he'll be looking to make this another one of those moments. Cause that's his job.
Outsiders
Name
Flat
Hill
Sta
Res
Cob
Spr
Acc
Kristoff
75
68
75
71
78
83
79
Gerts
77
78
76
80
78
72
70
David
74
75
76
74
78
70
73
Polanc
72
73
78
73
78
67
75
Sulimov
73
70
77
71
79
65
71
Ringheim
72
67
75
71
78
73
75
Thomas
74
59
74
69
78
73
77
Pedersen
75
68
76
79
77
76
75
Per
77
70
72
74
77
72
74
Potts
74
74
74
75
76
68
71
Declerq
74
73
73
71
77
67
67
Gaday
69
74
74
71
76
71
73
Boros
73
73
73
69
77
64
66
Zhupa
75
67
78
74
77
74
68
Here are your outsiders. You'll notice a lot of them are domestiques for riders previously mentioned, while others are just lesser leaders trying to get a top 15 out of the day. Still, some of them have interesting quirks that are worth mentioning.
For example, Gerts is not near the top on the cobbles, but he is the best puncheur in the race bar none. If inclines play a bigger role than expected, he could surprise. He ability to maintain tempo for a long time without cracking is also helpful. David has a similar M.O., but to a lesser extent.
Kristoff was mentioned earlier as a complement to GVA. I find it very hard to believe this race will end in a group sprint, but if it does, or Kristoff has a great day and survives into a small group, only Bewley can match his finishing speed.
There are also young riders looking to prove themselves. Pedersen is a true leader in the making and will be looking to assert himself at the top level. Per will want to do the same. On the other side are guys like Thomas, looking for one more shot at glory.
Going down the startlist, there are countless guys who could surprise. As I mentioned at the beginning, teams will send all the cobbles riders they have to a race like this. It will be grueling and probably too fast for many. We'll see you tomorrow for the race!
Admittedly we come here with no expectations, hoping for a breakaway appearance. For the win, Bewley must be the obvious favourite, but who knows if Wisniowski can continue his brilliant season on the cobbles.
That was a well written report. Thank you for that, bbl!
Also looked like a great race, and I'm happy we took part in it having Dakteris in the early break of the day. Cool to see some proper racing early on with Pedersen and other riders attacking, and forcing the peloton to ride hard.
Congratulations on the win, Roman! Eventhough he hasn't been as dominant as previous seasons, Bewley is still a beast.
Great report indeed. Horrible, horrible race for us though. Polanc must've suffered either from bad positioning or -5 daily form, otherwise I can't explain his performance. Per at least tried.
Liked our approach in this race, with Peng, Pedersen and Ringheim all breaking away. As you mentioned in the report, their support could have been valuable, but don't think Wisniowski could have beaten Bewley anyway. 3rd place is another good result from him, so happy with that!
We had zero expectations coming here with Declerq not quite up to the task this season (blaming 5* cobbles), so it's great to see Cavagna try something off the front right away. Sadly, it didn't go anywhere (blaming 5* cobbles).
Declerq then went for it himself in a rare stroke of genius, but obviously he again couldn't live up to 77 cob and good backup stats (blaming...uhh...5* cobbles?).
Obviously, a shit final result up to 20+ places below many other breakaway riders followed. At least nobody DNFd.
