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Strada Appia Antica Discussion
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-10-2014 17:51
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Strada Appia Antica.
The race on the world famous Roman cobbled roads is approaching once again.
First, the riders have to reach Salita di Velletri though, a climb that will certainly be a decent first leg stretcher before the downhill leads onto the first bit of cobbles.
After that first section, the tough men will have to tackle 7 smaller ones over the course of the next 50 kilometres until they return to the long first section again.
If that doesn't lead to a sufficiently significant selection, the five last sectors certainly offer the perfect opportunity to deliver the final blow to your opponents.
The last cobbles today are actually so close to the finish that the riders nearly have to sprint over them.
The inaugural Strada Appia Antica was raced as part of the newly founded CT division back in 2012. With no big standout favourites due to the transfer season restrictions, a mid-race attack by no less than five strong cobblers made it to the end and the usually prolific CX champ Bart Wellens managed to win.
Last season, the race made the jump straight to PT and not Romeacus, not Sportacus (oh, I loved Lazy Town...), but Spartacus himself won that edition after a convincing solo in the last 20 kilometres to take the honours ahead of two of his main competitiors throughout the last years, Bewley and Boonen.
As usual, the race clashes with the Vuelta but this is a ProTour cobbled classic, so there is not much of a surprise element to the startlist.
The three big B's and Cancellara spearhead (get it?) the field here in Italy as usual.
By stat definition, it's not one of the three podium finishers of 2013 who has to be the main favourite, but  Marcus Burghardt is.
After a big transfer this off-season, mainly due to a sub-par season before that which contributed to Bacardi relegating, he is now the single best cobbles rider of the world. On paper.
His support is rather weak with only Verbist being of any significant use, but he is a good domestique to have.
With another decline for Boonen,  Sam Bewley is now the leading dual threat for this kind of race. You don't want to count on your sprint alone in a cobbled race though, so he needs to at least stay in contact.
As with the German, he is better off not crashing or puncturing along the way as Becherovka apparently pay too much for his services to have the money for decent help.
Stybar as your main lieutenant would be a questionable thing if you're a Top 10 guy already, but if your name is Bewley it can be costly.
 Fabian Cancellara knows how to ride these kind cobbles as demonstrated last year. If he can find the same strenght for another ride like that, you better go with him or the race is over.
Just as Burghardt and Bewley though, Simply Red Bull... oh well, you get it.
 Tom Boonen comes off a stellar last season, but age starts to get him.
At least it should, because he actually still dominated the early season classics and amassed the most points of everyone in this race up until now.
You could argue having a support squad of Nolf, De Vocht and Kluge is one probable reason. To compare, Pokerstars' fifth best cobbles rider is better than the top helpers for both Cancellara and Burghardt.
Arguably a stronger pure cobbler by now, but judging by the performances way off the favourites for now is  Pieter Vanspeybrouck.
He has a tenth of Boonen's points after the spring, so either his motivation to finally convince is massive or he starts to seriously doubt his abilities.
No matter what, there is a lot of weight on his shoulders to maybe get his team a bit further out of relegation trouble considering BPost relies heavily on him.
 Adam Blythe was not too succesful so far either, but he has the chance to make up for that if he can make use of his good sprint. The hill however will hurt him more than nearly all other top riders.
 Danny Summerhill was a vital part of Wikipedia taking the PT crown last season and this race certainly fits his puncheur abilities.
 Michel Sibilla has received the chance to lead a squad this season and wants to show he's worth that.
 Vladimir Gusev suffers from a very weak sprint, but he will look to make his versatility in all other aspects of cycling to his advantage.
A step below those 10 riders is a bunch of young hopefuls and one veteran that want to try and surprise the big names, namely  Vanmarcke, Fenn (if he's not exclusively in support of Blythe), one of the best puncheurs among cobblers in  Sinkeldam and the interesting VW double header  Pozzato/
Zepuntke.
Especially the latter duo is one to keep an eye on as the German is yet to reach his peak, and Pippo had an amazing season last year and will obviously look to please his home crowd here in Italy.
We welcome the PCT wildcard team AMEX on the startline as well, they hope to not only be here for the experience and sent their prolific leaders  Eisel and Breschel here.
Bouygues, Vueling, Tinkoff and B&O may be able to hope for a mid-race break containing their leaders, with everyone else probably eyeing an early morning break appearance at most.
Edited by cio93 on 24-10-2014 17:53
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:06
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Once again a cobbled classic.
I hope for a Ronde result, I suppose I will get a performance as in the other classics.
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| Roman |
Posted on 24-10-2014 18:39
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My race goal is a win here. Still I have to agree he has quite a bad supporting team, but I wanted to invest into youth Czech future cobble hopes, so he will have to wait a few years before he will have a perfect team. So hopefully, Sam will be good enough to take it to the finish on his own. Nice report cio. 
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| beagle |
Posted on 24-10-2014 19:44
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I don´t expect good old Tommeke will win, but solid point haul from this race would be very welcome. I think "the single best cobbles rider of the world. On paper." Burghardt can steal victory from mighty Spartacus this year.
Thanks cio for amazing preview and looking forward to your report!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| SotD |
Posted on 24-10-2014 19:52
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Go!... Ehmmm... Someone!
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| cio93 |
Posted on 24-10-2014 19:53
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SotD wrote:
Go!... Ehmmm... Someone!
Demare. Obviously.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 04:20
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| SotD |
Posted on 24-10-2014 20:25
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cio93 wrote:
SotD wrote:
Go!... Ehmmm... Someone!
Demare. Obviously.
Yes, clearly!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 24-10-2014 20:34
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Love the concept of this fantasy Classic, going over those old cobbles. SParticle crossed the Rubican last and cast the die to conquer the classic. As you say cio, burghardt should be able to take something you would think but I selfishly hope for a repeat of last years success or is this one year too far for the emperor Spartacus to lead the cycling savages.
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| CountArach |
Posted on 24-10-2014 22:39
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Thanks for the preview cio.
Not totally screwing this up is the goal for Vanspeybrouck.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 25-10-2014 12:24
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Nice preview cio, thanks 
I'd be happy if all my riders finish here. Probably even laugh tbh.
For victor my pick would be Boonen with his beast of a team and their stellar season.
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 25-10-2014 12:51
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Good preview. AMEXpc is once again excited to be on the start line with the best cobblers in the world. It will be an interesting race.
We would be very pleased if Marko Kump could jump into the day's breakaway. He is a strong climber and he could attack on the climb. That would keep the late attacks to a minimum and possibly let Breschel and/or Eisel compete near the finish.
Here's to a solid AI and a fun race.
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Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2014 13:03
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Nice preview, cio!
Not really any expectations here for Sibilla as the climb is likely to be too much for him. Just hope we can sneak into the breakaway. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 28-10-2014 16:36
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Sorry guys expecting this by now, Photobucket is a bitch for some reason. No ETA, but I continue to try.
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| roturn |
Posted on 28-10-2014 16:38
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What`s actually up with photobucket? Have no problems at all. |
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| Selwink |
Posted on 28-10-2014 16:38
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If you want you can send me the pictures. I've had no troubles with PB lately, and would upload them tomorrow morning at latest.
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-11-2014 13:23
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Congrats to Roman! Nice win here.
Personally I am more than happy with the outcome. Can`t believe how strong Nooytens was here. Vanmarcke was a pain to watch during the race. He was always weakly placed, while most others were in a good position. In the end though he seems to have done everything alright and 2 in the top10 is far more than I had expected here.
Ballan as 26th and Boom as 32nd and mid stage attack is a nice bonus.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 03-11-2014 13:30
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Thanks roturn for finishing this race off! Entertaining report, good job!
Thought Cancellara would do it, but no chance eventually. Still a nice effort, of course. Pretty close race, which may not look good on paper (no gaps), but made for some thrill.
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| beagle |
Posted on 03-11-2014 14:13
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Thanks roturn for report!
Basically decent race for Pokerstars. Boonen 3rd place is great, maybe I would expect higher participation in TOP20. Both Kiwi and Spartacus deserves their places, even I feel smowz may be slightly disappointed with not defending last year´s title. Still, congrats to both Roman and smowz!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Smowz |
Posted on 03-11-2014 16:13
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Thanks roturn for finishing this one off - a nice enough result for Rothaus too!
I have to be pleased enough with second place (let us consider Burghardt 12th)- another good battle between Bewley and Cancellara. I concede that the Kiwi is the best cobbler in the pro peloton and has overtaken the other has beens.
For a team with 'no support' I felt our team did a pretty good job of supporting Cancellara really. As I felt pre season having three or four 76+ cobblers is not really better for winning races than having one great 80+ and a number of 70 - 74 style cobblers other than stacking up points with high placings. Of course a new 76+ cobbler will set you back a fair whack of wage and usually these types of riders have limited use. Pokerstars however have found a way of using these guys in sprint trains and over other terrians this year by the looks.
Great to see AMEX with a top ten!
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-11-2014 16:17
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Smowz wrote:
Of course a new 76+ cobbler will set you back a fair whack of wage and usually these types of riders have limited use. Pokerstars however have found a way of using these guys in sprint trains and over other terrians this year by the looks.
This is interesting and correct I guess.
I mean, I have no 80+ cobbler but a 79, 77, 76, 74. While this is obviously great support for Vanmarcke, only him and weaker 70-74 cobblers would have been enough as well as my team rarely does the work.
That said, Ballan and Nooytens did some work in case Vanmarcke is missing the attacks. And as Nooytens has proven here, he is capable of good results himself as 76 cobbler.
But the more interesting thing is the sprint train issue. This season all my cobblers were useless outside of cobbled races. But I guess Vanmarcke at least would make a nice first leadout in 1-2 years in case I have a sprinter until then, who gets his own sprint train. |
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