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Lesser known races thread 2022

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Samu Cuenca

Samu Cuenca

Sep 26, 2020
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tobydawq said:
So is the ZLM Toer which starts today in the run for most pointless race ever? Five flat stages, three WT teams among which are Jumbo and Ineos (DSM the third) and then just really nothing besides that.
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RhD mode activated
It's a 2.Pro race, so there are actually a fair amount of UCI points on offer!

But I agree that the route is a bit lame, though there could be some echelon action. They should have had a prologue like in the past. I also don't understand why it has been promoted to the ProSeries, but at least one stage race will take place in the Netherlands this year.
 
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Mayomaniac

Mayomaniac

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Samamba said:
Just a horrible spot on the calendar tbh. Back when the Belgium Tour was the end of May the ZLM tour was an ideal way for sprinters to prepare the Tour. Now it's in the same week as the Dauphiné, Argau + Suisse and Hageland+Elfstedenronde (often being done in combo with Belgium Tour). Impossible for teams to go to those 3 and the ZLM Tour.

It's kinda funny tho that some of the relegation teams didn't go to the ZLM Tour as it's probably free points. ZLM Tour is probably the weakest .Pro race out there. Even worse than Turkey.
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If Jakub won't do well in this race against this kind of field then I don't know what Alpecin is supposed to do with him...
 
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yaco

Jun 20, 2015
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Samamba said:
Just a horrible spot on the calendar tbh. Back when the Belgium Tour was the end of May the ZLM tour was an ideal way for sprinters to prepare the Tour. Now it's in the same week as the Dauphiné, Argau + Suisse and Hageland+Elfstedenronde (often being done in combo with Belgium Tour). Impossible for teams to go to those 3 and the ZLM Tour.

It's kinda funny tho that some of the relegation teams didn't go to the ZLM Tour as it's probably free points. ZLM Tour is probably the weakest .Pro race out there. Even worse than Turkey.
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You forgot to add Slovenia - Thought BEX would go to the ZLM Tour but it's impossible to ride Dauphine, Suisse, Slovenia and the ZLM tour which overlap each other, especially one week after the Giro.
 
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Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
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The long process of winning back the lost time of stage 4 began the very next day, as more strangeness took place; race leader Óscar Quiroz blew up early and ended up losing several minutes on the main bunch, passing the race lead over to Cristián Rico who finished in a reduced group which included many of the pre-race favourites.

However, that group was itself almost eight minutes behind the day's winner, as 2019 Vuelta winner Fabio Duarte beat Hernán Aguirre and Rafael Pineda on a shootout on the final cat.2 climb as the original breakaway splintered into several pieces. Interestingly, the best of the rest was 21-year-old Edinson Callejas. A lot of teams were absolutely decimated by the pace the last couple of days, with surprisingly enough Orgullo Paísa the worst affected, losing no fewer than four of their riders on this one stage.

Stage 6, on the other hand, had a flat run-in after lengthy descent and a couple of smaller climbs, and saw the CTA team simply manage things for Cristián Rico in the leader's jersey - no use wasting energy when it isn't required, so they looked to limit losses to big guns and held the closest threats close. A 10-man escape then settled the stage, splitting itself in half along the way, and it was one hell of a strong day for Guatemala, as not one but two Guatemaltecan riders made the front quintet. In the end, 20-year-old Boyacense Juan Sossa took the stage win, outsprinting José David Castanuj, the faster of the two extranjeros. Álex Gil started his battle to get back into contention by being 3rd on the day, just ahead of Álex Julajuj who now moves in to the top 10 on GC, and Javi Jamaica. Well known names in the second group on the road included Darwin Atapuma and Óscar Sevilla, who gained around 45 seconds on the remainder of the GC mix in the process.
 
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RedheadDane

RedheadDane

May 5, 2010
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Kooij ahead of Mareczko.

Devil's Elbow said:
The camera motor at the back is regularly far too close to the riders. Would absolutely ride over anyone who crashed right in front of him as a result.
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Whenever there's discussion about motos being too close to the riders, it always seems to be about them being too close in front of the riders. But this is what I'm much more concerned about; we've seen (well, thankfully we didn't actually see it...) how badly that can end.
 
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titan31

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Samamba said:
Just a horrible spot on the calendar tbh. Back when the Belgium Tour was the end of May the ZLM tour was an ideal way for sprinters to prepare the Tour. Now it's in the same week as the Dauphiné, Argau + Suisse and Hageland+Elfstedenronde (often being done in combo with Belgium Tour). Impossible for teams to go to those 3 and the ZLM Tour.

It's kinda funny tho that some of the relegation teams didn't go to the ZLM Tour as it's probably free points. ZLM Tour is probably the weakest .Pro race out there. Even worse than Turkey.
Click to expand...

It's a meh route anyway but the place on the calendar really doesn't help. They should either fit it into spring classic time (maybe coincide with Basque Tour and after Scheldeprijs when sprinters are in the area) or else run it during the Tour before Wallonie or just after Wallonie as you'll get riders doubling up there.
 
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lemon cheese cake

lemon cheese cake

Sep 28, 2014
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Devil's Elbow said:
Typical ZLM Tour finish design to boot, this race has no business being professional let alone second tier. Kooij read it perfectly and Mareczko couldn't quite get around him.
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I'm not defending the finish as i also think it was not the best and safest design (still better than Womens Tour stage 1 imo) but I think it's what comes of racing in the netherlands and wanting to finish in the heart of the town. Tomorrow is definitely better as it finishes on a road on the outer area of the town. The other finishes look similarly twisty or similar width, but none have a large kink with about 150m or a chicane/narrowing with about 50m like stage 1. There might be echelons today as they spend quite a bit on the dijks meaning its a smaller group but typically it's on the stage where the finish can proabably accomodate the larger groups!
 
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Ricco'

Ricco'

Aug 14, 2012
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Why though? He deviates a bit when following the Ineos guy and gets in the way of Kooij's leadout, but Kooij's was already out of the slipstream.

He then swerves to take the inside of the turn but that is what organizers are asking for when they put not so subtle bends on the last hundred meters of sprint stages.
 
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