As is tradition, the Continental division finishes its season in Switzerland with the Zuri Metzgete. Since 2012 it is the race which decides the champion of the division, which teams can promote to the Pro Continental Tour, but let's not forget winning this race is also considered a big achievement. Managers who are at the top of the table will watch this race in suspense, while teams at the bottom end which have nothing to lose could go on and take a final bit of morale before heading into a deserved winter break.
Profile
As this is Switzerland, some climbing will be in order. The profile indicator suggests the puncheurs are the favorites but the climb might favor the pure climbers. The finish is downhill in the city of Zurich, which also has many possible outcomes. Another thing to notice is the length, 233 kilometer is not something the continental riders are used to.
Startlist
Puncheurs
HL
MO
ACC
Climbers
MO
HL
ACC
Kwiatkowski
79
78
75
Pinot
80
74
69
Chaves
79
76
72
Kwiatkowski
78
79
75
Costa
79
70
70
Giogieri
78
73
67
Meyer
79
69
77
Elissonde
78
73
66
Edmondson
79
69
76
Diaz
78
70
68
Bystrom
79
68
76
Squire
77
77
71
Siskevicius
78
73
75
Saggiorato
77
73
72
Roux
78
65
75
Potocki
77
72
64
Squire
77
77
71
Camier
77
67
62
Hoelgaard
77
74
74
Chaves
76
79
72
Teklit
77
70
70
Anguilet
76
74
64
Zingle
77
69
76
Alizadeh
76
72
70
Villella
77
65
80
Heider
76
72
61
Diggle
77
65
70
De Vos
75
75
69
Pellaud
77
65
70
Gaspar
75
75
67
Lejman
77
65
68
Fernandez
75
75
66
Besada
77
63
77
Pirazzi
75
73
76
Roche
76
74
66
Hardy
75
73
70
Bravo
76
70
70
Malacarne
75
73
69
McEvoy
76
64
79
Pavlic
75
72
69
Weiss
76
63
74
Lovik
75
72
66
Rovny
76
63
73
Lewis
75
66
71
The favorites are split in puncheurs and climbers, though that does not mean a rider is simply one of the two. Kwiatkowski features high up on both lists, which statistically gives him the favorite status. Being that on paper is nice, but it is the actual race which counts.
A duo which also feature on both lists is the Azteca duo of Chaves and Squire. The former is the better puncheur but the latter is the better climber. It can lead to nice cooperation or civil war.
Puncheurs who do not like climbing that high are Costa, Meyer, Edmondson and Bystrom. They will have to hope for a slow pace on most of the climb so they can use their punch when it matters.
Other names to take into account are Siskevicius and Hoelgaard. Puncheurs on paper, but their climbing ability cannot be denied. The Lithuanian took third last year, as best result of the riders on the startlist as no former winner or runner-up lines up again.
Roche also provides a decent combination of the two. He won Volta a Portugal last year, which is basically the same type of profile except packaged in a stage race.
At the climbers side, one name stands out: Pinot. GCN has gambled on the climb being tougher than anticipated, which would make the Frenchman one of the prime favorites for the victory.
Further names to take into account when it comes to climbing are Giogieri, Elissonde and Diaz, though a clear level below Pinot and also Kwiatkowski.
With the flat sprint, a sprint should not be ruled out. In that case, McEvoy is definitely strong enough to survive the hill. There are other sprinters appearing on the start but my prediction is they will drop at one of the ascents.
The locals will cheer for Pellaud and Saggiorato, the only two Swiss riders featuring in this preview. The former is a contender for the puncheurs and the latter a contender for the climbers, meaning they have something to cheer for either way.
As the Züri Metzgete is our only C2HC home race, our sponsors insisted on it being our win goal. So the final race of the year will decide on whether they will judge our season as OK-ish or as pretty good. Our biggest hope will probably once again be a breakaway win - or we'll have to hope for a huge overperformance of Thièry, as he's a pretty good sprinter. Freuler has done well in such races, too - but I guess the amount of climbing should rather favor Saggiorato... It now all depends on our Swiss guys!
Just hoping for a top 10 here, overall would like to stay 4th in the standings but considering the Netia team here I think they will overtake us quite handidly. Regardless this season has been the best in WJ management history!
His stat combo hasn’t been great this season due to his low MO stay but 4th is a solid result to finish the season for McEvoy. Confirms our 2nd in the Rankings too which is awesome!
What to say... GRANDE THIÈRY, showing by far his best performance this year in the final race - which moreover was our home race. On the other hand, it's a shame to lose out on our win goal by a single spot... So this time we can really say: Second place is the first loser... We missed out on 3 goals this year, each one by at most 2 spots...
But well, let's still celebrate this final showing of the year. Thièry keeping up with the best is obviously a huge overperformance. Too bad he wasn't able to follow the decisive attack; I guess he'd have beaten Edmondson in a sprint... But we happily take 2nd place in front of our home crowd. With Freuler and Saggiorato adding some more minor points it was really a great race for us!
Thanks for the report, congrats to BNZ and good luck to all for the off-season
Zuri Metzgete 
