Welcome to Gabon and the 6th edition of Franceville Classique. A real test for the cobble riders with 2 cobble stages, even though the first one is quite easy the second one will really show who is the best at cobbles, that last cobbel section must be the longest we will see this year! Everyone can talk about Paris-Roubaix and Vlaanderen, but this is the real race for real men!
Race History
The 3 first editions of the race was raced as a one day race and won by Havik, Bewley (for Mapei <3) and Stallaert, then in 2023 the profile we see today was introduced and Winsniowski won, before David Per took the win last year. We can see from both those additions that it is winning stage 2 that matters. Stage 1 is the warmup and stage 2 the race.
Previous winners:
Spoiler
Year
Winner
2024
David Per (Carlsberg - Danske Bank)
2023
Lukasz Wisniowski (Aker - MOT)
2022
Joeri Stallaert (Bralirwa - Stevens)
2021
Sam Bewley (Mapei)
2020
Yoeri Havik (Duolingo)
2024 results:
Spoiler
1
David Per
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
8h43'44
2
Mads Pedersen
Grieg-Maersk
+ 2'20
3
Floris Gerts
Rabobank
+ 2'28
4
Florian Senechal
Tinkoff Team - La Datcha
+ 3'54
5
Marcos Altur
MOL Cycling Team
+ 4'22
6
Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz
Specialized
+ 4'44
7
Joeri Stallaert
Bralirwa - Cegeka
+ 4'50
8
Edward Theuns
Jura GIANTS
s.t.
9
Jan Polanc
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
10
Arman Kamyshev
Tinkoff Team - La Datcha
+ 6'00
Favourites
All of last years top 4 is naturally back and Per should be considered the biggest favorite after winning last year with over 2 minutes, and finishing 2nd in 2023. Carlsberg got a good support team for him aswell with 3 riders 76 or higher cobble stat to help him. Pedersen is naturally looking to get higher that last season and might be the single strongest cobble rider in the field and he improved from 3rd in 2023 to 2nd in 2024, but just that tiny bit weaker hill could be his weakness here. Talking about being strong on hills, hello Gerts! The single strongest cobble puncheur and while stage 2 is rated as flat I still think it might be perfect for him!
Newly trained Anderberg is another very strong rider here. Aker won this race back in 2023 and knows what is needed, and Anderberg might just be the rider to give them another win here. He's strong on the cobbles, strong on the flat and got good backup stats. Maybe this is his year? Last years 4th place Senechal should be looking to get another strong finish. This is his last year before he starts declining and might be the last chance to win this.
Other candidates include Kasperkiewicz, Van Hooydonck, Zepuntke, Siric, Teunissen, Gamper, Kamyshev, Girmay, Ovsyannikov, Vermeersch and most likely someone I forget to mention! All strong riders who can with a good day win this. Interesting with the strong sprinters like Girmay, Siric, Vermeersch and Ovsyannikov who can get a good result on the first stage and use that to propel a good stage 2!
There are few pure sprinters here, so that favorites for stage 1 are in general the cobble sprinters Ovsyannikov, Pedersen, Vermeersch, Siric and Girmay, but Bauhaus, Edmondson, Stash and Zijlaard are the most likely to ruin that day for them. Will be interesting to see how it plays out!
All in all we got a really strong field present for what should be one of the coolest races of the season! Following the trend Pedersen should win this year. Per won 2024 after finishing 2nd in 2023 while Pedersen was 2nd last year. Also, Pedersen has gone from 3rd in 2023, to 2nd in 2024! There is just something in me that hopes the pattern repeats!
First stage will be posted some time tomorrow morning, and I have great news to you! The great genius called WhiteJersey managed to get rid of the damn circle for me!
Just to have some fun in the thread while we wait for the report, let's a have a small competition for glory. Answers must be in before stage 1 is posted tomorrow
1) How many riders will be in the front group on stage 1 (st finish)?
2) How many riders will be in the front group on stage 2 (st finish)?
3) Who will win the race?
4) Will the winner win any stages, and if yes, how many?
5) Who will win the white/youth jersey?
6) How many riders will be more than 1h10min behind the winner on stage 2?
7) Which team will win the team competition?
8) I can spoil that there for me was one big shock in the BOTD on stage 1, who shocked me in the break?
9) Will it rain on any of the stages? Yes or No?
10) Who will win the points jersey?
Tiebreak question if anyone ends up on the same total sum: Where will mangame legend (?) Guillaume Van Keirsbulck end up in the GC? Closest wins any tiebreak
E3 was worrying regarding Anderberg, but this is the pure stuff, which should suit him a lot more, I'd argue. Fingers crossed he gets a good day on stage 2, because if he does, surely it should be possible to keep up with the best/win it solo. Having said that, it will be all about saving energy, if last year is anything to go by. Then he was the first of the candidates to attack, and also possibly the first to bonk and loose a lot of minutes
If this becomes a race all about stage 2, which feels likely, Pedersen and Per are the obvious ones. But the thinking regarding the training was that Anderberg now should be able to hang on and be just as strong. I'm prepared to be disappointed, but it would be amazing if he proves himself to be top class now.
Thank you for the preview, Heine! Will do the predictions later. A fun addition
Not sure how good this suits Ovsya, i guess the second stage might have a bit of a too tough finish for him. But I'll need some redemption after the recent e3 failure
Franceville Classique 
