Welcome to the 3rd edition of the PTHC Chrono d’Arenberg where the top cobblers meet the top timetrialists across 2 legs on 47 km of hard roads in Northern France. The first edition was won by Kasperkiewicz, a cobbler, who time trials a little, while last year it was Dillier, who is more the reverse. Dillier is back to try and defend his title for Team UBS, this time from the PT division. He wouldn’t have been able to defend that title but the race has also moved up from C1 to PTHC. In addition, for the first time, the race will be contested over 2 legs which will make it harder for riders to pull off a surprise result.
The course includes 11 sectors of cobbles covering 17.3 km - so the riders will spend 35% of their time on cobbled roads.
A full field of 24 teams will contest the race today. Looking first at the time trial focused riders the list includes:
Rider
Team
Div
TT
CO
RS
Mads Würtz
Grieg-Maersk
PT
82
62
78
Silvan Dillier
Team UBS
PT
80
68
77
Steven Lammertink
eBuddy
PT
80
65
76
Kiril Yatsevich
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
PT
80
64
81
Lucas Schädlich
Kraftwerk Man Machine
PCT
80
62
71
Jesse Sergent
GCN Racing
PCT
80
53
74
Alexandor Cataford
Podium Ambition
PCT
79
67
75
Michael Hepburn
Moser - Sygic
PT
79
60
77
Phan Age Haugard
Volvo acc. by Spotify
PT
79
56
77
Ho-Ting Kwok
Air France - KLM
PT
79
53
73
Tom Wirtgen
EA Vesuvio
PT
78
65
74
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Minions
PCT
78
63
71
Victor Campenaerts
Volvo acc. by Spotify
PT
78
62
73
Oleksandr Golovash
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
PCT
78
55
69
Rasmus Sterobo
Campari Asahi Procycling
PCT
78
52
69
Harry Tanfield
Volvo acc. by Spotify
PT
77
64
73
Szymon Rekita
Minions
PCT
77
62
71
Mark Christian
Campari Asahi Procycling
PCT
77
59
71
Klemen Stimulak
Fablok - Chocolate Jacques
PCT
77
57
72
Krzysztof Marchewka
Adastra N Hell Energy Cycling
PCT
77
50
75
Würtz is clearly the best of the pure TT guys but his cobbles are weak. Defending champion Dillier stands out as one of the 5, 80 TT riders but also as one of the only riders on the list with a respectable cobbles ability. He also has strong resistance. The only other TT rider who is OK on the cobbles is Cataford
So that brings us to the cobbles focused riders. Other than Dillier most of the top finishers last year were cobblers more than TT riders. And at the lower level the quality of cobbler riders wasn’t close to what we see this year.
Rider
Team
Div
TT
CO
RS
Lukasz Wisniowski
Grieg-Maersk
PT
74
83
76
Sam Bewley
Moser - Sygic
PT
70
82
75
Florian Senechal
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
PT
65
82
74
Arman Kamyshev
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
PT
65
82
75
Marcos Altur
Podium Ambition
PCT
63
82
70
Ruben Zepuntke
Minions
PCT
65
81
72
Floris Gerts
eBuddy
PT
67
80
80
Amadou Bakari
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
PCT
52
80
53
David Per
Isostar - Specialized
PT
72
79
75
Jan Polanc
Isostar - Specialized
PT
70
78
73
Vegard Breen
Bakkafrost
PCT
68
78
72
Salvatore Puccio
Air France - KLM
PT
61
78
71
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
PCT
51
78
73
Tom Bohli
Team UBS
PT
70
77
75
Tim Declerq
Team Puma - SAP
PT
68
77
71
Saya Kuroeda
Rakuten Pro Cycling
PT
67
77
73
Michael Boros
Moser - Sygic
PT
62
77
69
Road Race World Champion Wisniowski won’t get to wear his jersey but he will be one of the favorites for this race. He is not only the best cobbler on the start list but also the best time trial rider among the cobblers. Man game superstar Bewley and Isostar’s duo of Per and Polanc stand out as other riders with decent TT capabilities.
While the ghost of Cancellara doesn’t seem to haunt the man game peloton there are a handful of riders who are neither a top TT or top cobble riders but do both pretty well. They include:
Rider
Team
Div
TT
CO
RS
Remi Cavagna
Team Puma - SAP
PT
76
73
74
Andrei Nechita
Fablok - Chocolate Jacques
PCT
76
71
71
Hampus Anderberg
Aker - MOT
PT
74
76
75
Philipp Walsleben
Aker - MOT
PT
74
74
73
Martin Schäppi
Team UBS
PT
73
74
71
None of them look strong enough to challenge for the top step but they could all be a threat for the top 10 on a good day.
Based on AC's season so far, he'll finish outside the Top20 despite his skills. Altur i don't know, he's got previous in cobbled prologues, but this is a lot longer so i have no hopes there. Matthews is my wildcard choice who i wish was 5 years younger so i could train him into a real fun option.
Based on last years results where the TT guys did well and because its pan flat I sent Schädlich and burdened him with a top 5 goal! The champagne will flow if he manages to achieve that goal
We have the best TTer and the best cobbler (and a good hybrid in Cosnefroy) here, so I have to say that anything else than a victory will be disappointing. But then again, if it's most suited to a guy like Dillier, it might be tough after all. A win would be good for the confidence for Wisniowski, even though he's not in the rainbow jersey this time around. Looking forward to the race!
Based on last years results still favouring TT riders slightly, with 5* cobbles, Im thinking it might be even more for TT riders this year, since they aren't all 5* sectors this year. I've brought Kuroeda just in case, although he's really not that good at TTing, but Reus and Raja probably wont do that great either, but its basically the best I could do.
Certainly one of the minor races I'm most excited for this season, with Cavagna having been trained Fabian style for exactly this kind of race, besides ToNE.
No idea how this will play out on the day though.
He's already proven his maxed out worth in his glorious performances in E3 Prijs as 12th and in Strada Appia as 16th from the break, so this race that was supposed to be his best shot at a good result this season can already only be the icing on the cake.
There's a plethora of much better specialists on each end of the spectrum, but Cavagna and Anderberg lead the hybrids which can hopefully stage an upset.
If you haven't read the race report go read that first.
Really enjoyed reporting on the Chrono d'Arenberg. I am was skeptical going in because historically I don't think PCM handled cobbled TTs well and I am in the camp of people who don't like extreme courses like last year's WC.
But the race was a pleasant surprise. The combination of different skills and segments made for an interesting and dynamic race. Although it did make reporting hard because there was a lot of movement, hopefully the report wasn't too confusing. It also favored a group of riders that don't fit one fit the man games standard templates which is nice to see.
I plotted the time trial and cobble skills and color coded the finish ranges in the graph below. I think it really shows how you need a balance of skills.
I also calculated the blend of CO and TT that best correlated to the results and it is pretty close to the split of flat and cobles in the race.
Well, I have no idea what just unfolded (not your fault Ulrich), but I guess I'll have to be content with 7th and 11th from our youngsters.
Though obviously I can't actually be happy if positions 3 to 5 went to clearly weaker hybrid riders than Cavagna, when that appears to have been a successful formula.
If Cosnefroy can finish third, so can Cavagna with a straight up +4cob and at most some RES working against him, and from that point of view, we yet again underperformed.
But, as I said, it was an experiment with riders that will only get better with time, and Ganna as the more exciting prospect of these two did punch above his weight already.
Congrats TMM, for whatever reason, but that's a winning team I can get behind!
Grieg must be the big favourite here, having Würtz and Wisniowski.
Though, I'm quite optimistic regarding Anderberg's chances. Just like cio, I hope for a decent result and an upset here, but it's difficult to name what an upset would look like. A top 15 will be great
Oh, for some reason I didn't see the report was posted a couple of hours ago!
Very, very good race for us, going for the balanced rider types. Not that we had any choice, as Anderberg and Walsleben also are our best cobblers Thought Anderberg was our guy to challenge for a top 10, which was very nice to see him do, but Walsleben really put down the hammer and delivered a sensational performance. Having two riders in the top 10 is great, and some very welcome points
Very nice report, I followed that TT with a lot of interest, as the tension was high from early on. Especially as the "big guns" seemed to not be up for it, both the top cobblers and top time trialists.
A pity 78TT 74COB prime Boom never was able to race this here. From the graphic, he might have been superior to even the podium riders, who were weaker cobblers while still decent.
Chrono d'Arenberg 
