Heine wrote:

Van Der Poel and Hirschi my big favorites here with VdP as the main one. Downhill plays a role on the gravel and I think that is what pushes it for me

jt1109 wrote:



Would have agreed with this completely if the manager for Bianchi hadn't made a braindead move in planning

At some point I tried Lapeira and VdP in this together and it went terrible (VdP stays at the back as he has a free role so it takes him longer to come through the group and sometimes the race is gone), while Lapeira doesn't climb well enough to get through the white roads.

Okay i thought no worries I won't do that in season.

Soo.......... imagine my surprise looking at the startlist i've double checked and i've just not changed back to my original plan.

Can VdP still win yesss have i made it 100x harder for him also yes

To me Hirschi, Schmiid must have huge chances with their DH stat, also watch out for Sprenger for Spark with 80+ DH

And for similar reasons i wouldn't be high on Benoot here or Muller think the DH/Gravel may just ruin their stamina, similar comments apply to Per the course is probably too hard.

jt1109 wrote:

To me Hirschi, Schmiid must have huge chances with their DH stat, also watch out for Sprenger for Spark with 80+ DH

And for similar reasons i wouldn't be high on Benoot here or Muller think the DH/Gravel may just ruin their stamina, similar comments apply to Per the course is probably too hard.

jt1109 wrote:



Would have agreed with this completely if the manager for Bianchi hadn't made a braindead move in planning

At some point I tried Lapeira and VdP in this together and it went terrible (VdP stays at the back as he has a free role so it takes him longer to come through the group and sometimes the race is gone), while Lapeira doesn't climb well enough to get through the white roads.

Okay i thought no worries I won't do that in season.

Soo.......... imagine my surprise looking at the startlist i've double checked and i've just not changed back to my original plan.

Can VdP still win yesss have i made it 100x harder for him also yes

To me Hirschi, Schmiid must have huge chances with their DH stat, also watch out for Sprenger for Spark with 80+ DH

And for similar reasons i wouldn't be high on Benoot here or Muller think the DH/Gravel may just ruin their stamina, similar comments apply to Per the course is probably too hard.

cunego59 wrote:


I thought about highlighting DH more, as I know you found some influence in your testing (and Heine maybe, too). But looking at last year with the same engine already, places 2 through 4 had 69, 66 and 71 DH, all ahead of Hirschi. Maybe that's the outlier compared to your tests which are more representative as a baseline, but it was enough for me to not put too much emphasis on it. I guess we'll find out

As for my team, I think Madouas is probably too weak on cobbles, and I hope his inclusion doesn't mess up the hierarchy with Girmay and Habimana. Both of them are Top 15 material I reckon, and I hope at least one of them gets there. Three riders in the points (either Madouas or Kuypers as the third) would be ideal.

redordead wrote:


So you're saying I should start asking for this race to be moved to PTHC so I can win it with 85 DH Zumer?