Lesser known races 2025 edition

[RedheadDane]

Good sprint by Kockelmann.

 

[SafeBet]

Another strong sprint by Kockelmann after his win in l'Avenir.

 

[Rob5091]

Lotto Dev Team's young Kockelmann gets a win in Tour de Luxembourg - chapeau, but not sure about the "keep quiet" winning gesture. Must have meant something to someone.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

In Lux, van den Berg a little too ambitious allowing for a nice home win by Kockelmann. Good stuff.
Magnier vs Kubis take two in Slovakia with a predictable outcome.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage 3 in Lux:

Looks pretty good to me. Message to the riders: Don't just wait for the final ramp ffs.

 

[Red Rick]

I read Kelderman isntead of Kockelman and thought there was literal black magic going on.

 

[Sciatic]

Lotto Dev Team's young Kockelmann gets a win in Tour de Luxembourg - chapeau, but not sure about the "keep quiet" winning gesture. Must have meant something to someone.

Yeah, pretty clear when it was Ayuso doing it in the Vuelta, but this was a "who knows what that's about?" He also held it for a long time--not a great look for a young rider on his national team in their "home" race.

 

[Sciatic]

Stage 3 in Lux:

Looks pretty good to me. Message to the riders: Don't just wait for the final ramp ffs.

Looking forward to this one. Seems like you could make a nice tough World's course out of some the terrain used in this race.

 

[Statze2]

Another strong sprint by Kockelmann after his win in l'Avenir.

He is a rider that shows that development is not a straight line and not every rider needs to be super good in the first year U23. He is improving year by year.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Looks pretty good to me. Message to the riders: Don't just wait for the final ramp ffs.

With a sizeable TT on Saturday, it would take a remarkably dumb set of climbers/puncheurs to race tomorrow really conservatively.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Just seen that in Slovakia, fdj 'development' team includes a 27yo rider who won gran Piemonte in 2021 whilst riding for Bora. Ahahahahahahaha maybe soon they will hire me for some development.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just seen that in Slovakia, fdj 'development' team includes a 27yo rider who won gran Piemonte in 2021 whilst riding for Bora. Ahahahahahahaha maybe soon they will hire me for some development.

He's hardly the first WT rider to guest-ride for the devo team in a cat.1 race, and he'll hardly be the last.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Why's matthew cockleman doing a shushing celebration, only about 30 people heard of him and half are on here and he's already beefing with someone

 

[Ilmaestro99]

He's hardly the first WT rider to guest-ride for the devo team in a cat.1 race, and he'll hardly be the last.

The past is history, and tomorrow is a mystery.

 

[Brullnux]

Stage 3 in Lux:

Looks pretty good to me. Message to the riders: Don't just wait for the final ramp ffs.

Really nice profile, only downside is the climb is on quite a wide road.

 

[YavorD]

Just seen that in Slovakia, fdj 'development' team includes a 27yo rider who won gran Piemonte in 2021 whilst riding for Bora. Ahahahahahahaha maybe soon they will hire me for some development.

I've heard The Horse is looking for a reliable team mate and you're number one it the list.
The info states that they're sending you to the devo team for spelling development.
Not sure why they would need this, but..
Horse is probably doing horse things.

 

[Rob5091]

It's Friday so it's time for Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (1.1), 180.2 km from Koolskamp and back again. Start at 13.00 CET, TV from 15.30 CET
Roadbook at https://www.koolskampkoers.be/upload/attach-document/kvv2025roadbooklr.pdf

Startlist at https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/kampioenschap-van-vlaanderen1/2025/startlist

(All your big sprinter favourites, Merlier, Milan, Kooij, Meeus, Bauhaus, Groenewegen, etc etc. It will be a major surprise if there's not a bucnh sprint)

 

[Devil's Elbow]

You can really tell with the Belgian 1.1s which ones have a lot of money for start fees and which don't. This is a Tour-level sprint field, as it usually is these days in Koolskamp.

Slovakia is already underway, for reasons beyond human comprehension Gloag has attacked solo on the first climb.

 

[Cycling111]

China:

Quick, but he hasn't won

1	Salby Alexander	Li Ning Star	14	20		2:59:54
2	Quick Blake	Roojai Insurance	5	12		,,

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Some context in Slovakia. Stage 3:

We are more than 50km into the race with an average pace of 47km/h per pcs. Gloag's plan is making the peloton work. Gap about 2mins.

 

[RedheadDane]

China:

Quick, but he hasn't won

1	Salby Alexander	Li Ning Star	14	20		2:59:54
2	Quick Blake	Roojai Insurance	5	12		,,

Blake Not-Quite-Quick-Enough.

 

[Samamba]

You can really tell with the Belgian 1.1s which ones have a lot of money for start fees and which don't. This is a Tour-level sprint field, as it usually is these days in Koolskamp.

It's not cause of start fees, it's cause of it's spot in the calendar mainly. There's nothing else to do for sprinters. Organization even had to deny 4 WT teams, cause they had to many requests. It's just an easy race to do logistically cause almost every team has a spot in Belgium AND it's three Belgian (or 2 + 1 french nearby) races in a row.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

It's not cause of start fees, it's cause of it's spot in the calendar mainly. There's nothing else to do for sprinters. Organization even had to deny 4 WT teams, cause they had to many requests. It's just an easy race to do logistically cause almost every team has a spot in Belgium AND it's three Belgian races in a row.

The field in Houtland will be far weaker and that's essentially still the same bloc of races.

 

[Samamba]

The field in Houtland will be far weaker and that's essentially still the same bloc of races.

No cause you have to come over for 1 race or stay a few days longer. Not the same.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

No cause you have to come over for 1 race or stay a few days longer. Not the same.

Other example: Isbergues and Gooik are both on Sunday, at basically the same distance from Koolskamp, and look at the difference in field strength. If both races had an equal amount of money to throw around, that would be a much less lopsided balance.