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Riga - Jurmala GP Discussion
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| Heine |
Posted on 10-04-2026 06:14
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4624
Joined: 08-04-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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 Riga - Jurmala GP (PTHC)
Abhi with the report
It's a sprinters classic, some speedbumps and maybe some wind. We know how these goes, some minor riders attack at the start, they ride for 160-165 km and they are caught, then the trains do their best, some fast guy wins and many managers once again wonder why they invested in a sprinter. Dejavu?
Swift, Guarnieri, Manninen, Conquard and SKA are the previous winner. You could see the profile before it was presented just by looking at that, thought SKA would make you wonder if they changes it to a prl last year. SKA with a suprise win last year denying Coquard's hattrick after he had won the 2 previous ones. Vesely in 3rd place.
| Year | Name | | 2024 | Soren Kragh Andersen (Aker - MOT) | | 2023 | Bryan Coquard (ELCO - ABEA) | | 2022 | Bryan Coquard (ELCO - ABEA) | | 2021 | Matti Manninen (Los Pollos Hermanos) | | 2020 | Jacopo Guarnieri (Bakkafrost) | | 2019 | Jacopo Guarnieri (Delvaux) | | 2018 | Ben Swift (Aegon - Lavazza) |
| 1 | Soren Kragh Andersen | Aker - MOT | 4h04'51 | | 2 | Bryan Coquard | Manada Coyote | s.t. | | 3 | Daniel Vesely | DK Zalgiris | s.t. | | 4 | Eduard Grosu | Rabobank | s.t. | | 5 | Elias Afewerki | Benetton Bimex Cycling | s.t. | | 6 | Sondre Holst Enger | Tafjord Kraft | s.t. | | 7 | Alvaro Hodeg | Ekoi - Le Creuset | s.t. | | 8 | Jasper Philipsen | Polar | s.t. | | 9 | Itamar Einhorn | Sauber Petronas Racing | s.t. | | 10 | Jiankun Liu | Lotto-Caloi | s.t. |
Lets look at the top sprinters present
| Name | FL | SP | AC |  Ewan | 75 | 83 | 81 |  Gaviria | 76 | 83 | 84 |  Grosu | 72 | 82 | 79 |  Dainese | 76 | 81 | 82 |  Kanter | 75 | 81 | 80 |  Zabel | 74 | 81 | 79 |  Peak | 80 | 80 | 78 |  Einhorn | 74 | 80 | 78 |  Walls | 74 | 80 | 78 |  Groves | 75 | 80 | 79 |  Hsu | 75 | 80 | 79 |  Aniolkowski | 76 | 80 | 79 |  Adomaitis | 75 | 79 | 78 |  Riabushenko | 76 | 79 | 77 | | Gross | 74 | 79 | 79 |  Willwohl | 73 | 79 | 78 |  Ovsyannikov | 74 | 79 | 78 |  Ahlstrand | 70 | 79 | 76 | | Nur Hasan | 74 | 79 | 78 |
Not on the list, but will mention him first anyway is last years winner  Andersen, his flat skill together with his team mate Konychev makes them dangerous, but they are not among the main favorites as their pure sprinting is not up there with them.
Apart from SKA none of last years top 3 is here, but 4th place Grosu is back and among the best sprinters, he is however not all up there at the level of maybe the biggest favorite Gaviria and Ewan who have the highest max pace, will that be enough?
Peak is a standout rider with his fantastic flat together with a strong sprint, I believe we can expect another great result from him. Dainese, Kanter, Groves, Hsu and Aniolkowski are other riders with a good flat and sprint combination, while also Adomaitis (is his stamina too weak here?) and Riabushenko deserves to be mentioned.
The last of the top sprinters not stated til now includes Zabel (who has never really lived up to his father), Einhorn and Walls. On a good day they can all win, but I put the other guys just that tiny bit ahead of them.
Of the under 79 guys I believe you should not underestimate  Vermeersch and Dekker. I see them as riders who can surprise here!
My main favorite has to be Peak, while others have the best sprint his skills on the flat makes him the strongest rider present!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 10-04-2026 06:23
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World Champion
Posts: 11679
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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Hope for a decent sprint or some kind of late attack. Hopefully Houle has been teaching Vermeersch his ways and Florian can find a good move for a small group sprint finish!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| knockout |
Posted on 10-04-2026 08:04
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8374
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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Same as for every sprinter classic: Ovsya is for the sprint, many rouleurs around to possibly late attack. It's our home race so maybe this is the time?
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 10-04-2026 08:06
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Sprinter
Posts: 1631
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
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I messed up completely not bringing Liu or Wouters here, Jezus Christ  What was I thinking.. All hopes on a Veyhe special then!
Thanks Heine for the preview!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 10-04-2026 08:36
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World Champion
Posts: 13735
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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The startlist is stacked, but I'm sure Aniolkowski can find his way through to a good result.
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| ember |
Posted on 10-04-2026 09:27
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Team Leader
Posts: 7168
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
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Hopeful again, just like I am for every flat race this season without Groenewegen. Kragh as the defending champion means we have the right to be optimistic, I feel, but we still need a specific scenario where either him or Konychev is part of a successful late attack.
Stacked startlist, will be fun to see whether the sprinters or rouleurs gets the most from it. |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 10-04-2026 09:40
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2027
Joined: 07-07-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Thanks for the preview, Heine (although you didn't even shamelessly stole here  )!
A late attack would probably be our best chance here, but Rajovic could also surprise in a sprint. Not too optimistic anyway as it seems everyone else had the same plan(s) ...
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 10-04-2026 20:50
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| Caspi |
Posted on 10-04-2026 10:13
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 864
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I’ll be happy if we’re visible at any point during the race. Breakaway, controlling the peloton, kamikaze late attack, lead out train, contesting the sprint…
Realistically, Sanikwathi shouldn’t be able to get within the top 20, let alone top 10, in this field, so a late attack from Hamza would probably be our best bet. That said, the most likely scenario is that one of the other guys makes the breakaway and the rest takes a day off.
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| quadsas |
Posted on 10-04-2026 15:50
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2799
Joined: 18-01-2013
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Varga shenanigans inbound
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 10-04-2026 15:57
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Classics Specialist
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Hopefully Einhorn can get a good result here
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| SotD |
Posted on 10-04-2026 18:10
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World Champion
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I miss this one. Have very fond memories of this race :-)
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| Booker |
Posted on 10-04-2026 19:22
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1090
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Thanks for the preview Heine. Not holding out super high hopes for Willwohl but who knows…as always in sprint races it’s a crapshoot.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 10-04-2026 19:26
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Team Leader
Posts: 7440
Joined: 20-03-2010
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Hopefully Peak returns to form here and it turns out that August was just a blip. With only 9 RDs this month it would be good to score well here, as I don't have high hopes for the others. |
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