Here we go then with the Chrono d’Arenberg 2022! We’re not going to bother much with any intermediate times in the first leg, heading straight to the finish line. Then a bit more detailed for the second leg when we know who’s in the running for the top places.
First rider per team
Noteworthy riders:
TT
CO
TT
CO
Young
74
71
Campenaerts
65
78
Malecki
70
73
Stavrakakis
73
75
Tiller
67
78
Schäppi
75
76
Scotson
76
75
Würtz
83
62
Young is the second rider starting today but the first to finish. He overtakes Rubio after just 20 of the 48 kilometers and sets a time of 1h02’18 at the finish line.
Campenaerts shows that pure time trialists can be at least somewhat competitive here. He was ahead of Young by 6 and then 3 seconds at the second and third time check but then comes up short by less than a second at the line.
But then comes Malecki and obliterates those times by almost 40 seconds. He’s an indication for the value of cobble skills, then. There’s also a decent amount of wind here today, we’ll keep an eye out for any changes in direction or strength that might affect riders.
Malecki time on the hot seat is over pretty quickly, Stavrakakis had been comfortably ahead at the time checks and adds more and more seconds as he progresses. It’s a 34 second lead over the Pole at the finish.
That time holds for a bit then, although Tiller comes fairly close, just 7 seconds off the pace.
Schäppi was among the most interesting riders to watch, with his great combination of TT and cobble skills. He overtakes Pszczolarski on the way, but falls short of the best time by 46 seconds, only provisional 4th place, certainly a disappointment.
Shortly after, Siddikov slides between him and Young into provisional 5th place before all of them are pushed back by a surprisingly strong Hennis. The Isostar rider moves into 3rd for the moment, just 16 seconds behind Stavrakakis!
The next major challenger to the Greek is Scotson. A similar rider on Paper to Schäppi, he does way better. New best time by around half a minute at 1h00’31.
Following him, Zakarin and Ghyselinck prove again that if you completely lack cobble skills, you’re lost here. Both don’t even scrape the provisional Top 10, and neither does one of the big surprises from last year, Weinstein. Van Moer on the other hand does pretty well, he’s 5th for the moment, + 55.
The final rider of this first batch is Würtz. He’s not a great cobbler by any means, but one of - if not the - best time trialists in the world. And that is enough to get him pretty far. He led the way at the second and third time check but falters a bit towards the end. He’s 8 seconds slower than Scotson.
Second rider per team
Noteworthy riders:
TT
CO
TT
CO
Campbell
75
72
Dillier
80
68
Bester
73
74
Durbridge
81
53
Doull
73
71
Yatsevich
80
64
Cavagna
76
73
Anderberg
76
78
Dahl-Olsen
72
74
The first relevant rider from the second group is Campbell. He currently holds the best time at checkpoint 1, but can’t quite hold onto that all the way through. He’s just 4 seconds behind Scotson, though, a great performance.
Leknessund on a provisional 8th and Belevics on 14th place are some of the better performances next.
A bit later, we record a new best time! Dillier has won this race before and he proves again that he knows his way around these roads. He’s 5 seconds ahead!
Sajnok, who did pretty well here last year, then comes in 12th, not bad and definitely better than Bester, who disappointingly slots in two places behind the Pole.
Durbridge never had any real ambitions, given he’s one of the worst cobblers in the field. Still, we follow him to the finish line, where he’s currently 22nd, 2’33 off the lead. Rather suprisingly, that’s the exact same time as Doull, whose skillset should fit this race really nicely. A remarkable underperformance. Yatsevich is over a minute faster and inside the provisional Top 15, but now come two of the top favorites for this race:
First, it’s last year’s third place finisher, Cavagna. He had been a bit off the mark throughout all checkpoints, recovers a little bit on the final sector, but still doesn’t manage more than 5th place for the time being, 33 seconds behind Dillier.
Anderberg is faster, but just barely not fast enough: He’s one second behind the lead!
After Dahl-Olsen fails to make any meaningful impact at all, this is the leaderboard after two thirds of the riders have finished.
Third rider per team
Noteworthy riders:
TT
CO
TT
CO
Van Zyl
71
73
Kung
77
72
Vlatos
81
68
Cataford
79
67
Polanc
70
78
Bohli
70
78
Gamper
76
78
Per
72
81
Ganna
80
66
Wisniowski
74
83
Pedersen
69
81
The wind has picked up just a little bit, still coming from the same direction, but no excuse for Van Zyl to finish as poorly as he does. Kaczmarek is actually the best finisher from the first handful of riders here, a surprisingly strong provisional 6th place, but he immediately gets bumped one spot further back by Kung. A pre-race podium hopeful, he underscores his ambitions and is just 11 seconds slower than compatriot Dillier.
Another of last year’s sensations, Goldstein, is way off the pace this time. Vlatos on the other hand does pretty well. “Only” 7th right now, but at + 22 seconds, he gives himself every opportunity to move up further in the second leg.
Then comes Cataford. He’s been a force in this race previously, but the increased competition pushes him down the leaderboard. Just 15th for now, 1’15 behind the lead, but he’s shown his comeback qualities last year, so don’t count him out just yet.
Next up is Polanc, one of the better time trialists among the cobblestone specialists. A decent performance puts him just outside the provisional Top 10 at + 37. Bohli, a pretty similar rider on paper, is exactly a minute slower.
The Swiss even gets almost overtaken by one of the top favorites. Gamper had Dillier beat at every time check by just a few seconds, and he extends it over the final stretch to take the lead by 7!
Groselj (17th at + 1’16) and Per (13th, + 48) are two of the better finishers of the next few riders, then …
… another favorite: Ganna had strong times at the checkpoints, including the lead at the second one, but ultimately falls just 3 seconds short.
The last two riders on the road are cobblers. Wisniowski does well, even if he isn’t in true podium contention, he ends up 9th at + 26. Pedersen on the other hand can’t quite compete. Finishing outside of the Top 20, it would take a miracle for him to make much of an impact when all is said and done.
So, after the first leg, we’re left with these standings. Campbell in 6th and Kaczmarek in 12th place are the biggest surprises, other than that we mostly have the guys we had expected in the Top 15. Notable disappointments include Schäppi and to some extent certainly Cataford.
1
Patrick Gamper
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
1h00'19
2
Filippo Ganna
Team Puma - SAP
+ 3
3
Silvan Dillier
Team UBS
+ 7
4
Hampus Anderberg
Aker - MOT
+ 9
5
Callum Scotson
Amaysim Cervelo
+ 12
6
Akil Campbell
Zwift Pro Cycling
+ 17
7
Stefan Kung
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
+ 19
8
Mads Würtz
Grieg-Maersk
+ 21
9
Lukasz Wisniowski
Aker - MOT
+ 26
10
Panagiotis Vlatos
ELCO - ABEA
+ 30
11
Remi Cavagna
Team Puma - SAP
+ 41
12
Jakub Kaczmarek
Binance
s.t.
13
Georgios Stavrakakis
ELCO - ABEA
+ 44
14
Jan Polanc
Evonik - ELKO
+ 45
15
David Per
Isostar - Specialized
+ 49
Spoiler
16
Rasmus Tiller
De Stijl Cycling
+ 52
17
Hasani Hennis
Isostar - Specialized
+ 1'00
18
Brent Van Moer
Aker - MOT
+ 1'08
19
Andreas Leknessund
Gazelle
+ 1'12
20
Matic Groselj
Cedevita
+ 1'17
21
Alexandor Cataford
De Stijl Cycling
+ 1'18
22
Kamil Malecki
Gazelle
+ 1'19
23
Mads Pedersen
Grieg-Maersk
+ 1'30
24
Martin Schäppi
Team UBS
+ 1'31
25
Szymon Sajnok
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
26
Kiril Yatsevich
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
+ 1'37
27
Tom Bohli
Team UBS
+ 1'45
28
Dilmurdjon Siddikov
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
+ 1'48
29
Shaun Nick Bester
Isostar - Specialized
s.t.
30
Arman Kamyshev
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
+ 1'55
31
Darren Young
Xero Racing
+ 1'59
32
Victor Campenaerts
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
s.t.
33
Sam Bewley
Amaysim Cervelo
+ 2'01
34
Edward Theuns
MOL Cycling Team
+ 2'05
35
Johann Van Zyl
Xero Racing
+ 2'09
36
Arturs Belevics
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
s.t.
37
Tom Thill
Binance
+ 2'20
38
Jan Ghyselinck
Trans Looney Tunes
+ 2'24
39
Gunnar Dahl-Olsen
Grieg-Maersk
+ 2'29
40
Carlos Verona
Zwift Pro Cycling
+ 2'30
41
Dorian Godon
Gazelle
+ 2'34
42
Samuel Mugisha
Bralirwa - Stevens
s.t.
43
Domenic Weinstein
Team Puma - SAP
+ 2'36
44
Luke Durbridge
Amaysim Cervelo
+ 2'41
45
Owain Doull
Trans Looney Tunes
s.t.
46
Omer Goldstein
Huski Chocolate
+ 2'42
47
Erik Nordsaeter Resell
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
+ 2'59
48
Florian Vermeersch
Xero Racing
s.t.
49
Kenneth Vanbilsen
Trans Looney Tunes
+ 3'00
50
Aydar Zakarin
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
+ 3'02
51
Ioannidis Kiriakidis
ELCO - ABEA
+ 3'03
52
Steven Kalf
Huski Chocolate
+ 3'05
53
Victor Alejandro Ocampo
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 3'19
54
Daniel Moricz
MOL Cycling Team
+ 3'23
55
Hamza Mansouri
De Stijl Cycling
+ 3'33
56
Matteo Trentin
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
+ 3'41
57
Jimmy Muhindo
MOL Cycling Team
+ 3'48
58
Wojciech Pszczolarski
Evonik - ELKO
+ 3'53
59
Ivan Siric
Cedevita
+ 3'54
60
Tim Ariesen
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
+ 3'55
61
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana
Bralirwa - Stevens
+ 4'21
62
Lewis Stroll
Zwift Pro Cycling
+ 4'32
63
Alekss Krasts
Evonik - ELKO
+ 4'37
64
Roman Seigle
Binance
+ 4'54
65
Fred Wright
Cedevita
+ 5'05
66
Felix Gall
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 5'29
67
Tesfom Okbamariam
Bralirwa - Stevens
+ 5'36
68
Einer Augusto Rubio
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 7'26
69
Joren Bloem
Huski Chocolate
+ 8'36
In the second leg, it obviously takes a while for someone to distinguish themselves, given the worst riders from the first leg go first. Weinstein – who was a surprising 8th place here last year but fell to 43rd in the first leg – sets what looks to be a decent time, 54 seconds ahead of Doull and 1’19 ahead of Durbridge.
There’s a pretty strong headwind throughout most of the race right now, and that reflects on the times. Around 7 minutes slower than his first leg time, it currently sits at 1h10’43.
We have to wait a bit, but eventually we have a new best time when Young comes to the line a good 25 seconds faster than Weinstein. All riders are on the road now, so we’ll slowly start to look at checkpoint times before we’ll follow each of the Top 15 riders to the finish line.
The road to the first time check is almost entirely cobbles, so it’s no surprise that Wisniowski does well there. Still, he’s only 2nd, 3 seconds behind Gamper, who seems to be able to confirm his strong form. Some of his main competitors are still very close though, with Kung at + 5, Anderberg and Scotson and + 6 and Dillier at a very strong + 8 seconds, while some of the other TT specialists expectedly suffer more. Vlatos, Ganna and Würtz carry deficits of 14, 17 and 25 seconds into the rest of the race – which will of course suit them a bit better.
A slightly surprising new best time at the finish comes from Siddikov, by just fractions of a second. Bester does okay, too, 5 seconds slower than him.
Schäppi was perhaps the biggest disappointment of leg 1, finishing just 24th. He’s looking to move up here, and his time of 1h09’37 seems like a good start. New best time by 39 seconds.
He moves past quite a few riders, including Pedersen, who’s over a minute and a half slower, and Malecki, who’s slots into provisional 5th place behind Bester at + 59.
Cataford had a wild second leg last year, moving up from 14th all the way to second. This won’t happen today though. He might still move up a couple of places but falls short of the best time by 8 seconds.
Meanwhile, Kung sets a new best time at the second checkpoint with only the Top 3 left to pass through. Würtz, who doesn’t seem to have a great second leg here, is already in his field of view. Vlatos is actually closest to him at + 13, Scotson does well at + 18, while Anderberg seems to be struggling – he's 33 seconds off the pace.
Groselj has a decent ride and finishes provisional third, 18 seconds slower than Schäppi – but it’s Cataford who holds the provisional GC lead with only 15 riders left on the road:
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Cataford
1h01’37
1h09’45
2h11’22
2.
Schäppi
1h01’50
1h09’37
2h11’27
3.
Groselj
1h01’36
1h09’55
2h11’31
4.
Hennis
1h01’19
1h10’39
2h11’58
5.
Malecki
1h01’38
1h10’36
2h12’14
Per had been strong throughout the time checks and he is able to carry it all the way to the line, beating Schäppi by 14 seconds and taking the lead in the GC. This could move him up quite a few spots.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
2.
Cataford
1h01’37
1h09’45
2h11’22
3.
Schäppi
1h01’5
1h09’37
2h11’27
4.
Groselj
1h01’36
1h09’55
2h11’31
5.
Hennis
1h01’19
1h10’39
2h11’58
One more look behind, as Gamper has passed the second time check. He remains the fastest, but now only a second ahead of Dillier! With Ganna and Anderberg both more than 30 seconds behind, it looks like it comes down to these two.
Polanc is next at the finish. He didn’t look great at the checkpoints but recovered a bit to finish 7th at the line.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
2.
Cataford
1h01’37
1h09’45
2h11’22
3.
Polanc
1h01’04
1h10’21
2h11’25
4.
Schäppi
1h01’5
1h09’37
2h11’27
5.
Groselj
1h01’36
1h09’55
2h11’31
Stavrakakis does a very nice job over both legs and now even takes the provisional lead! 5 seconds faster than Per.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
2.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
3.
Cataford
1h01’37
1h09’45
2h11’22
4.
Polanc
1h01’04
1h10’21
2h11’25
5.
Schäppi
1h01’5
1h09’37
2h11’27
Kaczmarek can’t repeat his strong first leg. He almost gets caught by Cavagna, but that says more about his than the French’s performance, who comes in 6th, 43 seconds slower than Stavrakakis. 10 riders left.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
2.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
3.
Cavagna
1h01’00
1h10’00
2h11’00
4.
Cataford
1h01’37
1h09’45
2h11’22
5.
Polanc
1h01’04
1h10’21
2h11’25
…
14.
Kaczmarek
1h01’00
1h11’31
2h12’31
Every rider has now passed the last checkpoint and Dillier can’t quite hold his pace. He’s 10 seconds slower than Gamper now, it’s looking well for the Austrian. But we’ve seen some big changes over this final stretch …
Back to the line where Vlatos is next. He’s 8 seconds slower than teammate Stavrakakis in this second leg, but takes the virtual GC lead thanks to his performance from earlier. Two Greeks at the top right now!
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
2.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
3.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
4.
Cavagna
1h01’00
1h10’00
2h11’00
5.
Cataford
1h01’37
1h09’45
2h11’22
Then it’s Wisniowski. He trailed Stavrakakis by 20 seconds at the last checkpoint and keeps that gap perfectly stable to the finish. Not enough to keep the lead, but a Top 10 finish is still in the cards with 8 riders to go.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
2.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
3.
Wisniowski
1h00’45
1h09’37
2h10’22
4.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
5.
Cavagna
1h01’00
1h10’00
2h11’00
Würtz had a promising first leg but his lack of cobble skills perhaps caught up with him in the second. He fends off Kung so as not to get overtaken but loses a good chunk. The Swiss, meanwhile, rode a fantastic second leg and takes the new best time by over half a minute and the virtual GC by almost a full minute!
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Kung
1h00’38
1h08’38
2h09‘16
2.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
3.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
4.
Wisniowski
1h00’45
1h09’37
2h10’22
5.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
…
7.
Würtz
1h00’40
1h10’25
2h11‘05
Campbell was the big surprise of the first leg and he holds up really well again. 1’20 behind Kung, he loses a few spots, but 11th is still a big result for him.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Kung
1h00’38
1h08’38
2h09‘16
2.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
3.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
4.
Wisniowski
1h00’45
1h09’37
2h10’22
5.
Per
1h01’08
1h09’22
2h10’30
6.
Campbell
1h00’36
1h09’58
2h10’34
We’re in the fight for the podium now. Scotson was Top 5 at all checkpoints but continued to lose significant time on Kung. He slips into provisional second place, both in leg 2 (+ 34) and the GC.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Kung
1h00’38
1h08’38
2h09‘16
2.
Scotson
1h00’31
1h09’12
2h09’43
3.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
4.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
5.
Wisniowski
1h00’45
1h09’37
2h10’22
Anderberg had high hopes of defending his title, but after a good first leg, he can’t keep it up and loses more than a minute to Kung. He stays ahead of Vlatos in provisional third and now has to wait for Ganna, who was also struggling, to see if it’s Top 5 or down to 6th.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Kung
1h00’38
1h08’38
2h09‘16
2.
Scotson
1h00’31
1h09’12
2h09’43
3.
Anderberg
1h00’28
1h09’40
2h10‘08
4.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
5.
Stavrakakis
1h01’03
1h09’17
2h10‘20
But first, Dillier is fighting for the win! As expected, he takes the lead, but he lost 3 seconds to Kung on the final stretch, which doesn’t bode well for his duel with Gamper.
Leg 1
Leg 2
Total
1.
Dillier
1h00’26
1h08’28
2h08’54
2.
Kung
1h00’38
1h08’38
2h09‘16
3.
Scotson
1h00’31
1h09’12
2h09’43
4.
Anderberg
1h00’28
1h09’40
2h10‘08
5.
Vlatos
1h00’49
1h09’25
2h10’14
As mentioned before, Ganna did not look good throughout this second leg. He avoids being overtaken only with a bike throw at the line. The Top 10 is close together and he falls behind even Wisniowski and ends up 8th overall.
As this picture suggests, Gamper had a stellar second leg. He ultimately beats Dillier by 25 seconds and handily takes the win at this year’s Chrono d’Arenberg. Congratulations!
Chrono d’Arenberg 
