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Viana do Castelo - Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 28-10-2024 01:21
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 3263
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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 Viana do Castelo
Early February is big time of year for cycling in Portugal, while the climbers and stage racers battle it out in the Volta the cobblers and puncheurs go head-to-head in the Viana do Castelo, a race with a unique mix of climbing and downhill cobbling.
This the 10th edition and so far, the only two-time winner is  Xandro Meurisse, he won it once for Xero and once for one of Specialized’s former incarnations - HelloFresh – Lampre. Not only is Meurisse the only two-time winner he is probably the only winner known mostly as a puncheur rather than cobbler.
Although defending champion  Benoot is strong enough to fit in either category. Most would consider him the perfect rider for this race and he is back to see if can show that for the 2nd consecutive year.
And maybe because they are afraid of him or maybe because of the triple clash with Omloop and the Volta only 7 other teams have made the trip resulting in a peloton of just 58 riders. It'll be like the PT where they give you points for just showing up. But maybe not good news for the favorites as it will be a hard race to control.
Table below contains the “combo” riders who are solid in both the hills and the cobblers (71+/71+), then the stronger cobblers (75+/65+) and the stronger hill riders (65+/75+).
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | CO | DH | | Benoot | 71 | 75 | 81 | 76 | 66 | | Riesebeek | 74 | 70 | 73 | 73 | 71 |  Moulingui | 74 | 53 | 71 | 78 | 71 | | Centrone | 74 | 62 | 71 | 76 | 75 |  Roosen | 74 | 59 | 71 | 75 | 64 | | Dewulf | 74 | 66 | 71 | 72 | 69 | | ----- | | Meurisse | 73 | 74 | 77 | 68 | 68 | | Van Dijke | 69 | 71 | 76 | 67 | 72 |  Jorgenson | 73 | 79 | 75 | 68 | 69 | | | ----- | | Van Lerberghe | 74 | 60 | 66 | 77 | 65 |  Zepuntke | 72 | 56 | 69 | 82 | 68 | | Nareklishvili | 72 | 61 | 66 | 77 | 62 | | Lecourt De Billot | 75 | 58 | 69 | 75 | 64 |
Benoot really is the dominant rider among the entrants, having by far the best hill while also being one of the best cobblers. CT entrants Moulingui and Centrone are cobblers who are also good on the hills but neither of them is great on longer climbs and the race has a fair amount of climbing. Riesebeek, who is one of the best-balanced riders in the PCT peloton might be a better bet than those two.
There are a number of other solid puncheurs in the race (although none near Benoot’s quality) but most are terrible on the cobbles. The ones who are not include two interesting names, two-time winer Meurisse and CT wonderkid Jorgenson. It looks like creative planning from his manager might pay off. The third rider in this group is also worthy of respect: Mick Van Dijke. He will be a key support rider for Benoot this year but could be a contender in the future.
The final group is the cobblers who are OK in the hills. By far the biggest name here is Zepuntke. Team Würth MODYF have bet that cobble skills will impact the race as they have also committed Zepuntke’s key lieutenant Nareklishvili. Van Lerberghe is another top CT cobbler in attendance while Lecourt De Billot is part of a deep Trans Looney Tunes squad that also includes Moulingui and Centrone. Centrone also stands out as the best downhill rider on the list, which might matter given all the cobbles are on the downhill.
Despite the short start list 2 of the teams participating have nobody among the favorites. Cervelo will be hoping the cobbles don’t harm  Watson too much or that Pickrell is well-rounded enough to can stay with the favorites. JEWA Tirol will be counting on  Gabburo and Lienhard to hang on over the cobbles. But being here is likely a smart move, regardless, as there will be plenty of depth points on offer for riders who make the finish.
Given that Benoot looks like the man to beat, let’s take a look at the full Sony - Force India squad:
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | CO | DH | | Benoot | 71 | 75 | 81 | 76 | 66 | | Van Dijke | 69 | 71 | 76 | 67 | 72 | | Cataford | 74 | 72 | 70 | 67 | 71 | | Kooistra | 77 | 60 | 65 | 70 | 63 | | Hayter | 72 | 75 | 66 | 61 | 70 | | Van Dijke | 75 | 61 | 70 | 66 | 73 |
With just 6 riders the team is asking a small squad to get the job done but all of them except youngster Hayter are at least solid in both hills and the cobbles.
The very short startlist features just 3 PCT teams.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| liefwarrior |
Posted on 28-10-2024 02:48
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 864
Joined: 04-07-2019
PCM$: 300.00
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What an insane startlist! Maybe I should have sent a squad. Be interesting to see how the AI handles this one.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 03:28
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Damn, this startlist is small enough to need filler riders like NC's. Hope the Ai is okay with it.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 10:06
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 28-10-2024 07:21
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7593
Joined: 04-07-2012
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:04
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2905
Joined: 07-08-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Holy shit this might be the greatest or worst race of all time, let's go  Thanks for the preview!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:08
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Benoot should do a Pogacar. Otherwise i fear we might not get the break back!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:09
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
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Interesting!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 28-10-2024 08:12
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Should've gone here with the B team 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 09:12
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3214
Joined: 23-07-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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Great no one's here but we literally had no riders that suited the race so we might score nothing anyway |
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| Ezeefreak |
Posted on 28-10-2024 09:52
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Domestique
Posts: 555
Joined: 06-07-2009
PCM$: 300.00
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My riders may be superior cobblers but I cant see a scenario realistically where we fight for a top position. Thats mostly a hilly race and if we can get ba few points ou of it this would be great. So good luck to everyone! 
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| knockout |
Posted on 28-10-2024 10:21
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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Woah, what is this 2012 like startlist?! 
One of my favourite routes in the game and shockingly bad turnout. Of course partly explained with the Omloop clash but this is certainly surprising
Would love a favourite victory by Benoot but also seeing Riesebeek very prominently in a preview is a beautiful sight. Would love to see him succesful here!
My guess is either Benoot or a totally random breakaway winner (Lienhard, Stroll,...)
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 28-10-2024 10:59
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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This should be interesting and fun! Only came here again because Matteo Jorgenson finished second here last year. Having doubts that can happen again because of the possibility of a runaway breakaway that the tiny peloton can't control, so hopefully we get a few guys up into the BOTD and see what happens.
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 11:01
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1120
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Will be a fun race to follow! And next season we'll have a full startlist with 17 managers sending B teams 
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 12:25
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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One of the coolest routes (and places irl) with that small of a startlist let's hope that Sony can take care of business here.
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| Booker |
Posted on 28-10-2024 12:49
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 875
Joined: 03-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Admittedly, we don't think we have enough to win (unless we get very lucky), but hoping that with this exceedingly small startlist we have a chance at some decent points. All of Van Lerberghe, Roosen and Noppe can make a play here, but it might be that Benoot, Xandro or Jorgenson overpowers the field at various moments. Hoping for some nice depth scoring!
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 28-10-2024 16:42
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1123
Joined: 26-04-2020
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Wow, this is crazy
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 28-10-2024 20:43
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4669
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
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Would've loved to give it another try with Schmid, but yeah, we "promoted away" from PCT
Ridiculously small field for what I admit is a rather particular race, that doesn't necessarily attract teams who don't have a pretty well suited rider. However, given that puncheurs with somewhat decent cobbles skills did pretty well here (e.g. Jorgenson and Schmid besides the well-known Viana lover Meurisse last year), many more teams could have hopes to achieve something. I guess the clash with Omloop indeed doesn't help - even though I see the reasoning behind, maybe the calendar position should be reconsidered if we want to make it a "real" race. But it can also stay a good source of points for those who take the risk of participating
Good luck to all, really hope the AI does something decent with this startlist!
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| seancoll |
Posted on 29-10-2024 03:52
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Domestique
Posts: 481
Joined: 20-12-2022
PCM$: 500.00
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Looking at just the preview and startlist, I'm still okay that I didn't come to this race. It's a fascinating startlist with such a small group, but also incredibly strong favorites.
As for the race, really glad that things worked out with such a small peloton. Benoot a well-deserved win with Meurisse and Jorgenson the right 2nd and 3rd place finishers. A little scared of the point totals for a few teams here, but a great use of RD, especially for Newton.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 29-10-2024 05:11
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11676
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Played that perfectly! Benoot going from distance was what I was hoping for and he did that. A win, which makes it back-to-back for Benoot, and two more Top 10s make this a great result. This is also only the second time ever that we've successfully achieved our season Win Goal! Also, this is the second Top 10 result for MVD this season already.
Thanks for the report Ulrich
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| TinxiaS |
Posted on 29-10-2024 05:26
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Domestique
Posts: 504
Joined: 17-08-2020
PCM$: 400.00
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Every time we go on this race we finished as the worst or one of the worst teams no mather if we have cobbled, hilly or mountain team.
But doing this to Peng who didn't do anything wrong. Really thanks.
Someone really doesn't wont ans anymore at this race.
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