Lesser known races 2023 edition

[Walter1234]

...Nys has to be common name in Belgium right?

Actually Thibeau's mother name is 'Nijs'; in Dutch pronounced the same as 'Nys'....

 

[Valv.Piti]

What you're asking for is races with a field so *** bad that Froome is top 15.

Show some respect, thats blasphemous

 

[yaco]

Could Van Eelvert be a GC rider for Grand Tours in the future - If this is the case then he's at the wrong team.

 

[Rob5091]

Could Van Eelvert be a GC rider for Grand Tours in the future - If this is the case then he's at the wrong team.

Lotto Dstny have him under contract next year, but I'd guess there's a few WT Teams with cheque book in hand. Would not be surprised if he and Alaphilippe swap teams next year.

 

[RedheadDane]

Actually Thibeau's mother name is 'Nijs'; in Dutch pronounced the same as 'Nys'....

Then Sven and his wife missed a great opportunity of combining their names into Nijs-Nys!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

The Oberösterreichrundfahrt* starts today with a 0.6km prologue.
What's that: one lap of a supermarket carpark? The length of a minor shopping street?
WHY?

I note they have had something similar (although 50-100 metres longer) for a few years now: it obviously works for someone.

*Yes, I copied and pasted it.

 

[tobydawq]

The Oberösterreichrundfahrt* starts today with a 0.6km prologue.
What's that: one lap of a supermarket carpark? The length of a minor shopping street?
WHY?

I note they have had something similar (although 50-100 metres longer) for a few years now: it obviously works for someone.

*Yes, I copied and pasted it.

As long as it isn't solely decided by reaction time, I'm fine with a bit of mixing things up.

(plus, I'm not paying attention to .2 races anyway)

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The Oberösterreichrundfahrt* starts today with a 0.6km prologue.
What's that: one lap of a supermarket carpark? The length of a minor shopping street?
WHY?

I note they have had something similar (although 50-100 metres longer) for a few years now: it obviously works for someone.

*Yes, I copied and pasted it.

I still like the prologue, although, as I have posted before, it creates a very fast paced production when the next rider starts just before the previous rider finishes. It's just a one minute uphill sprint, but it's still capable of creating some gaps.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Oberösterreichrundfahrt* starts today with a 0.6km prologue.
What's that: one lap of a supermarket carpark? The length of a minor shopping street?
WHY?

I note they have had something similar (although 50-100 metres longer) for a few years now: it obviously works for someone.

*Yes, I copied and pasted it.

I mean, the Österreich Rundfahrt used to do that for 2 years, but those were really short uphill prologues (the final 600m of the Kitzbüheler Horn or up the Grazer Schlossberg).

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Surprised not to see Gaviria there, he was training all Giro long for that kind of prologue.

 

[search]

yeah, and although this one looks flat on the PCS/LfR profile, it's actually a 4% "climb" as well.

I kinda like it, I must say. Also wouldn't mind an occasional 1k ITT/prologue on the road either.

 

[Bolder]

I mean, the Österreich Rundfahrt used to do that for 2 years, but those were really short uphill prologues (the final 600m of the Kitzbüheler Horn or up the Grazer Schlossberg).

For those who remember the glory days of US racing, the Philly classic race had an uphill TT sprint of the Manayunk Wall the evening before. It didn't have any bearing on the one-day race but I watched it a few times in the late 1990s/early 2000s...kind of miss that race, although the Wall was the only interesting feature.

 

[Red Rick]

I mean, the Österreich Rundfahrt used to do that for 2 years, but those were really short uphill prologues (the final 600m of the Kitzbüheler Horn or up the Grazer Schlossberg).

I remember sprinters winning that?

I actually liked it as physiology experiment

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

(plus, I'm not paying attention to .2 races anyway)

Neither am I usually, but such is the paucity of races available this week, and while I am on holiday too...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Today's other prologue in Kraków is twice as long and almost thrice as steep, so that probably won't be won by a CX sprinter.

 

[Squire]

Fun fact about the Oberösterreich prologue, which was introduced in 2021 and was the same last year as well:
Belgian cyclocrosser Daan Soete has won it both times, his road wins no. 1 & 2 so far in his career (he's 28 now). And his teammate Lander Loockx was 2nd both times. In a race which is separated by tenths of a second (top 20 were all within 4 seconds in 2021). What are the odds?

In general, this race likes its strange opening stages. In previous years they had a 12 km road stage up the Pelmberg in Linz to kick things off. Albanese won it as a 19-year-old in his rather spectacular 2016 espoirs season, the season which turned me into probably the chief hype man for him on this forum. It only took him about six years to deliver on that promise.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

In general, this race likes its strange opening stages. In previous years they had a 12 km road stage up the Pelmberg in Linz to kick things off. Albanese won it as a 19-year-old in his rather spectacular 2016 espoirs season, the season which turned me into probably the chief hype man for him on this forum. It only took him about six years to deliver on that promise.

Your hype gained a lot of attention for him if the 2017-19 Emerging riders game was any measure of its effectiveness: he was picked on 32 out of 35 teams (more popular than Bernal), and went on to score 86 points over the three years.

 

[RedheadDane]

Here's a conversation I imagine happened:

Tour of Malapolska organisers: We'll have a 1.4 km prologue. That'll be something uniquely short!
Oberösterreich Rundfahrt organisers: Hold our Ottakringer!

And from the result of stage 1 of Ronde de l'Oise:

DNF	BRHANE Abel	May Stars				-
DNF	AYTSEGEB Aron	May Stars				-
DNF	MANA TEKIE Filmon	May Stars				-
DNF	HAKIZIMANA Felicien	May Stars				-
DNF	KWIZERA Elie	May Stars				-

Did they look at the date and go "Oh, ***! It's June..."?
(Yes, I notice these things!)

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Here's a conversation I imagine happened:

Tour of Malapolska organisers: We'll have a 1.4 km prologue. That'll be something uniquely short!
Oberösterreich Rundfahrt organisers: Hold our Ottakringer!

And from the result of stage 1 of Ronde de l'Oise:

DNF	BRHANE Abel	May Stars				-
DNF	AYTSEGEB Aron	May Stars				-
DNF	MANA TEKIE Filmon	May Stars				-
DNF	HAKIZIMANA Felicien	May Stars				-
DNF	KWIZERA Elie	May Stars				-

Did they look at the date and go "Oh, ***! It's June..."?
(Yes, I notice these things!)

Maybe they misread the name of the race and thought it was all about losing?

Sorte seems to be on his way to another victory in Linz.

 

[Red Rick]

I can really respect the effort of losing 47 seconds in a 63 second prologue.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Nice to see Daniel Federspiel doing better again. His mother suddenly dying in 2020 was a huge blow to him. His father abandoned them when he was 4, so they were really close. He and his GF are great people.

No idea who's gonna win on the Hinterstoder MTF, Ricci Zoidl vs Cabedo?

 

[Valv.Piti]

I can really respect the effort of losing 47 seconds in a 63 second prologue.

Not even Andy Schleck or Michael Rasmussen could pull that off.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Nice to see Daniel Federspiel doing better again. His mother suddenly dying in 2020 was a huge blow to him. His father abandoned them when he was 4, so they were really close. He and his GF are great people.

No idea who's gonna win on the Hinterstoder MTF, Ricci Zoidl vs Cabedo?

Cabedo hasn't looked great so far this season, so I'm not sure what he can do. Jonas Rapp has been up there in the last couple of years, so he might be a challenger as well.

 

[will-10]

yeah, and although this one looks flat on the PCS/LfR profile, it's actually a 4% "climb" as well.

I kinda like it, I must say. Also wouldn't mind an occasional 1k ITT/prologue on the road either.

bring back the Reggio Calabria Giro prologue

 

[Devil's Elbow]

bring back the Reggio Calabria Giro prologue

The Lion King approves. That was an iconic start to an iconic Giro.