Lesser known races thread 2022

[DJ Sprtsch]

Today the Tour of Japan started with a nice hilly stage.

The Aussie CT sputniks Nathan Earle and Benji Dyball from team Ukyo finished 1-2, 31 sec ahead of last years winner Nariyuki Masudas and the French Thomas Lebas. Vincente Toribo finished 6th, 1:18 down, in the same group as his teammate, the immortal Francisco Mancebo, who finished 9th.
The stage top 10

Rnk	Rider	Team	UCI	Pnt		Time
1	EARLE Nathan	Team UKYO	7	5		3:04:25
2	DYBALL Benjamin	Team UKYO	3	2		0:03
3	MASUDA Nariyuki	Utsunomiya Blitzen	1	1		0:31
4	LEBAS Thomas	Kinan Cycling Team				,,
5	YAMAMOTO Masaki	Kinan Cycling Team				1:18
6	TORIBIO José Vicente	Matrix Powertag				,,
7	KOISHI Yuma	Team UKYO				,,
8	MIYAZAKI Taishi	Utsunomiya Blitzen				,,
9	MANCEBO Francisco	Matrix Powertag				,,
10	KOBAYASHI Marino	Matrix Powertag				1:26

Tomorrow we have the classic Mount Fuji MTF, so I expect Dyball to go thermonuclear.

Dyball won, as predicted.
Surprisingly weak performance by the Spanish prospect Mancebo. Thought he would show some more than just a top ten result.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Dyball won, as predicted.
Surprisingly weak performance by the Spanish prospect Mancebo. Thought he would show some more than just a top ten result.

Looking at their Strava files it was also a rather tame performance, 2min slower than the Spanish musketeer Oscar Puyol back in 2017. Yes, back then it was your typical Japanese hillclimb with a mass start, but today's stage was also a short, sub 80km road stage.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yeah, it seems like Mancebo might finally be too old for this ship. He's not a young man like Valverde anymore.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yeah, it seems like Mancebo might finally be too old for this ship. He's not a young man like Valverde anymore.

Perhaps I was being a bit too harsh on him here, cause he took back three minutes on today's stage and is now in 6th place.

 

[RedheadDane]

They're nearing the finish in both Finistere and Veenendal.

 

[RedheadDane]

Simon won in France.
Groenewegen won in the Netherlands.

 

[postmanhat]

I think that's four times Groenewegen has entered that race, and four times he's won it. Good day for BEX in the points battle with Yates as well.

 

[RedheadDane]

Careful, some people could get angry about you referring to results in other races.

Meanwhile, Stokbro - representing the national team - won in Denmark.

 

[Samamba]

I think that's four times Groenewegen has entered that race, and four times he's won it. Good day for BEX in the points battle with Yates as well.

BEX was never in throuble. They have a few riders that are way to perfect for getting points and they are aware of the situation (going to farm points in Estonia for example). Matthews is going to get a ton of points at the end of the year and Yates can too in all those hilly classics if he needs to. Then you have Groenewegen and Groves who can do flat one day races if they need to. If anyone of the current top 18 drops out eventually, it's going to be EF. They have a bigger problem.

Total also did the french special today by getting nearly 200 points in one small french race without a single foreign WT team starting. If the system stays the same they will also be WT after 2025 and expect them to have guaranteed WCs every year from now on.

 

[RedheadDane]

Total also did the french special today by getting nearly 200 points in one small french race without a single foreign WT team starting.

Not totally true, Intermarche was in the race as well.

 

[Samamba]

Not totally true, Intermarche was in the race as well.

Basically french

 

[postmanhat]

BEX was never in throuble. They have a few riders that are way to perfect for getting points and they are aware of the situation (going to farm points in Estonia for example). Matthews is going to get a ton of points at the end of the year and Yates can too in all those hilly classics if he needs to. Then you have Groenewegen and Groves who can do flat one day races if they need to. If anyone of the current top 18 drops out eventually, it's going to be EF. They have a bigger problem.

Total also did the french special today by getting nearly 200 points in one small french race without a single foreign WT team starting. If the system stays the same they will also be WT after 2025 and expect them to have guaranteed WCs every year from now on.

Yes, never really that threatened, but I'd disagree about Yates, whose season effectively ends most years after the Tour, and is in no way, a one-day rider. I think they'll mostly be relieved that Groenewegen looks like re-establishing himself as the best sprinter in the world.

Great result for Total and Simon. Both his recent victories have been great examples of experience and racecraft. Completely anonymous till the last 2K.

 

[Didinho]

Thibau Nys got beaten by 2 Vermeerschs in the Antwerp Port Classic. A race with a lot of pavés and unpaved roads. Florian went solo in the end for his first pro victory!

 

[RedheadDane]

It was a Vermeersch 1-2 in Antwerp, with Florian getting the longer stick. Thibau Nys was third.

Idar Andersen won in Chateaulin ahead of Jesus Herrada and Stan Dewulf.

Nils Politt won in Köln ahead of Danny Van Poppel and Nikias Arndt.

 

[postmanhat]

It was a Vermeersch 1-2 in Antwerp, with Florian getting the longer stick. Thibau Nys was third.

Idar Andersen won in Chateaulin ahead of Jesus Herrada and Stan Dewulf.

Nils Politt won in Köln ahead of Danny Van Poppel and Nikias Arndt.

Sure I've seen this race before and thought it was a sprinters race? That could be a cyclo-cross podium

Bad weekend for FDJ in the French Cup races.

 

[Wvv]

Anyone able to catch the final 10 km of the Antwerp Port Epic: don't hesitate. Really entertaining with all those attacks and tactical movements.

Well done by Nys, who still has so little experience.

 

[RedheadDane]

Bad weekend for FDJ in the French Cup races.

Yeah, the bit of Accidental Translation they got hit by yesterday turned out to pretty much sum it up:

 

[Samamba]

Sure I've seen this race before and thought it was a sprinters race? That could be a cyclo-cross podium

Bad weekend for FDJ in the French Cup races.

It was a sprinters race back in the day but now its full of cobbles and dirt roads. Pretty entertaining race 2 years in a row.

 

[postmanhat]

It was a sprinters race back in the day but now its full of cobbles and dirt roads. Pretty entertaining race 2 years in a row.

Cheers! Will watch it on replay.

 

[RedheadDane]

Less than 30 Ks to go in France.
Break, containing Madrazo, has 1:40.

Just under 80 Ks to go in Belgium.
Break has just over 2 minutes.

 

[RedheadDane]

Looked like Tesson won in France.

Indeed, ahead of Bram Welten.

01	TESSON Jason		St Michel-Auber 93	04:12:05​	20​
02	WELTEN Bram		Groupama-FDJ	+ 00​	10​
03	BOUDAT Thomas		GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	+ 00​	5​
04	LECROQ Jérémy		B&B Hotels-KTM	+ 00​	​
05	TURGIS Anthony		TotalEnergies	+ 00​	​
06	SIMON Julien		TotalEnergies	+ 00​	​
07	ARANBURU Alex		Movistar Team	+ 00​	​
08	AULAR Orluis		Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	+ 00​	​
09	MANZIN Lorrenzo		TotalEnergies	+ 00​	​
10	CAPIOT Amaury		Team Arkéa-Samsic	+ 00​	​
11	FRETIN Milan		Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	+ 00​	​
12	GARCÍA CORTINA Iván		Movistar Team	+ 00​

 

[RedheadDane]

Boivin with a late dig in Belgium.
Less than 2 Ks to go.

He was caught.
Pasqualon took the win, ahead of Axel, who indeed put a Zingle foot wrong.

 

[yaco]

As I expected the prologue proved a banana skin for Bike Exchange in the Tour of Estonia - Boguskaski takes the prologue with BEX riders 2nd,3rd and 4th - These short prologues can be difficult for WT teams as its such a short effort.

 

[Ricco']

First pro win for Madis Mihkels in his home tour.

Not a very strong field but strong power burst from the 1st year under 23. Seems like a nice prospect for the classics, let's see how he will develop with Intermarché.

 

[yaco]

It is a strong field with BEX in the race - The final was super technical, going downhill on wet roads, and it was capped off with a two hundred metre uphill finish on wet cobbles, where riders struggled to gain traction - Even the 4.5km Prologue was super technical.