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GP Moscow Discussion
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 26-07-2020 11:17
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Grand Tour Champion
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 GP Moscow
History
| Year | Winner | Team | | 2018 | Michael Van Stayen | Evonik - ELKO | | 2017 | Mark Dzamastagic | Evonik - ELKO | | 2016 | Greg Van Avermaet | Evonik - ELKO | | 2015 | Sam Bewley | Becherovka - Petrof | | 2014 | Luke Rowe | Good Energy | | 2013 | Danilo Napolitano | Evian-MIAT | | 2012 | Daniele Bennati | Team Puma - SAP |
Edition number eight of the biggest cycling event in Russia. Welcome to the capital of Moscow for the GP Moscow. A quick look at the list of winners and you immediately notice Evonik's happy hunting ground. They have won the past three editions with three different riders, with the two most recent winners Van Stayen and Dzamastagic returning. No individual rider has managed to win more than once, but aside from the previous two, Van Avermaet (now riding for Indosat) and Bewley are also back. It will surely be another thrilling race.
Profile
Just below 200 kilometers, the riders circle Moscow's famous landmarks such as the Red Square and the Kremlin. The route is mostly flat, though there is a slight incline leading to the final kilometer which has surprised the sprinters in the past.
Startlist
| Team | Sprinter | SP | ACC | Leadout | SP | ACC |  Aegon | Groenewegen | 82 | 81 | Vesely | 81 | 80 |  Air France | Kennaugh | 82 | 81 | Clarke | 78 | 76 |  Aker | Swift | 84 | 82 | Scully | 79 | 80 |  Ambition | Ewan | 83 | 81 | Nelson | 81 | 81 |  Bennelong | Howard | 82 | 79 | McCormick | 73 | 72 |  eBuddy | Grosu | 83 | 80 | Brus | 78 | 78 |  Evonik | Van Stayen | 84 | 78 | Eislers | 77 | 74 |  Fablok | Guardini | 80 | 82 | Stepniak | 79 | 79 |  Farfetch | Lander | 79 | 77 | Prasad | 75 | 77 |  Festina | Coquard | 84 | 83 | Petit | 80 | 78 |  Gazelle | Hofland | 68 | 72 | Teunissen | 67 | 69 |  Generali | Martinelli | 78 | 78 | Planckaert | 77 | 77 |  Grieg | Bertilsson | 79 | 77 | Pedersen | 76 | 75 |  Indosat | Kristoff | 83 | 79 | Krasnov | 78 | 77 |  Isostar | Kump | 81 | 80 | Van der Sanden | 78 | 79 |  Moser | Bewley | 83 | 83 | Soupe | 79 | 77 |  Popo4Ever | Ulanowski | 80 | 77 | Lutsyshyn | 79 | 80 |  Puma | Demare | 82 | 81 | Hadi | 74 | 71 |  Repsol | Mas | 71 | 78 | Barbero | 70 | 74 |  SPAR | Guerao | 83 | 76 | Hsu | 77 | 77 |  Tinkoff | Van Heerden | 81 | 72 | Serebriakov | 80 | 77 |  T-Mobile | Schwarzmann | 76 | 75 | Favilli | 76 | 74 |  Vesuvio | Van der Lijke | 82 | 79 | Afewerki | 79 | 80 |
It is only fair to start at Evonik, looking for their fourth consecutive victory. Van Stayen is their lead sprinter looking to prolong his reign as King of Moscow. Dzamastagic is his leadout but he has shown that doesn't have to be a secondary role.
The other two top, top sprinters are Coquard for Festina and Swift for Aker, with very good leadouts in Petit and Scully. However, the best sprinter with the best team doesn't always win, as they only finished fifth and seventh respectively last year.
Moser will bet on former winner Bewley, eBuddy on last year's third-place Grosu and Podium Ambition on rookie Ewan. All of them are good shouts to win this year.
Kristoff for Indosat and Guerao for SPAR are fast sprinters but might lack acceleration compared to the previously mentioned riders. A long sprint will be their modus operandi.
Air France once again relies on Kennaugh, who brought them second place last season and in 2015, with a third place in 2016. Will 2019 finally be his year?
In case the slight incline before the final kilometer matters, we could see riders like Puma's Demare, Vesuvio's Van der Lijke and Isostar's Kump, the latter with his final outing in the rainbow jersey.
Aegon has Groenewegen and Vesely. The former has a better historic result (6th in 2015), but the latter finished eighth last year, albeit for a different team and by non-participation from Groenewegen. Two horses to bet on might be a good strategy but it can easily blow up in your face.
Howard is normally a good contender for at least a top ten if not for the victory, but Bennelong has decided not to bring much support for him. Whether he can be as good on his own remains to be seen.
The Russian team Tinkoff brings a lot of sprinters. Van Heerden might be the fastest but has no acceleration, they might be better off focusing on local hero Serebriakov.
Riders who will likely not be a contender for the victory, but can take a decent result are Guardini for Fablok and Ulanowski for wildcard Popo4Ever.
Teams who still send a decent sprinter but have to hope for a good result are Lander for Farfetch, Bertilsson for Grieg and Martinelli for Generali.
Three teams do not even attempt to bring a sprinter. T-Mobile has Schwarzmann and Favilli but neither are adequate sprinters for this level. Repsol sends Mas who is fast, but only over a very short distance. Finally, Gazelle nominates Hofland but a top 100 would be a good result for him.
| Attackers | FL | SP | ACC | | Wisniowski | 80 | 73 | 76 | | Ji | 80 | 67 | 75 | | Stoltz | 80 | 62 | 74 | | Andersen | 79 | 74 | 72 | | Kneisky | 79 | 67 | 71 | | Fiedler | 79 | 66 | 63 | | Katrasnik | 79 | 62 | 70 | | Sergent | 79 | 61 | 51 | | Bewley | 78 | 83 | 83 | | Dzamastagic | 78 | 76 | 78 | | Oss | 78 | 74 | 74 | | Mas | 78 | 71 | 78 | | Viviani | 78 | 71 | 70 |
We should never rule out a late attack. Wisniowski has trademarked this move and with Grieg not bringing a top sprinter, it might be their only hope.
Ji might want to do the same but will Indosat throw their support on him or help Kristoff in the sprint. It could be a a great confusion move though.
If Evonik wants to win for the fourth time with a fourth different rider, Stoltz seems the best option in a late attack, though Dzamastagic could also take his second victory this way.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 26-07-2020 11:23
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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Go Hofland! 
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 26-07-2020 12:30
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4368
Joined: 25-07-2010
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Go Pluchkin! 
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-07-2020 15:27
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8236
Joined: 21-12-2010
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There is absolutely zero chance of a fourpeat so ill happily concede that one of the greatest steaks in MG history will end now. That said: Go Stoltz!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 26-07-2020 18:00
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Directeur Sportif
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The fact that I forgot Kump was riding in the World Champions shirt says a lot about his season. Hopefully he can find a fresh start next year and go back to dominate PCT or something like that.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-12-2025 23:13
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| ember |
Posted on 26-07-2020 19:01
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Team Leader
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Big race for our top 10 overall hopes, here. We need Swift to deliver! Really hoping he can do just that, as it will make it easier to forget all the misses earlier this season as well  |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 26-07-2020 19:49
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Classics Specialist
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Yup, certainly hoping for a trademark Wisniowski attack towards the end.
Some great sprinters present, so looking forward to a good fight!
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-07-2020 06:39
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Team Manager
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On paper my team is very strong and Groenewegen has shown this season to be a great sprinter.
That said, in the end, they won`t make a train anyway, so Groenewegen is all on his own, which worked well though.
Top10 is a must, top5 would be great, podium highly excellent.
With Wisniowski or Kneisky here, it feels like a tough task for sprinters though. Should be a hard high speed finish after catching late attackers. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 27-07-2020 21:19
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Directeur Sportif
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Marcovdw wrote:
Howard is normally a good contender for at least a top ten if not for the victory, but Bennelong has decided not to bring much support for him. Whether he can be as good on his own remains to be seen.
Actually that's our plan for the entire season, as we simply do not have any support for Howard and he decided to jump on the other trains instead. Actually the only plan that worked quite well for a couple of seasons, Howard does well in most races. 3rd place is great. Iirc, it's not his first good result in Moscow.
Thanks for the report!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 27-07-2020 22:16
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World Champion
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Grosu could definitely have done better there
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| tastasol |
Posted on 28-07-2020 00:27
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
Joined: 11-09-2010
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Only a half Wisniowski trademark attack  13th in the sprint is good for him, adding some more points to his impressive season.
Thanks for the report, Marco!
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| knockout |
Posted on 28-07-2020 07:50
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8236
Joined: 21-12-2010
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I blame the race organizer who decided to move the race out of Russia for no reason for not winning it a fourth time
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| roturn |
Posted on 28-07-2020 07:52
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Team Manager
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As expected. Support won`t be important for Groenewegen but he still delivers.
Great season he is having, a huge paycheck he is likely to ask for...
Having Coquard`s wheel was perfect as he pulled him up to 2nd after a deserved win for Festina.
Thanks for the report! |
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| ember |
Posted on 28-07-2020 08:34
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Team Leader
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Congratulations on the win, SotD! And thank you for the report, Marcovdw!
Result wise, that wasn't good enough from Swift. But that's the thing this season, so I can't be too surprised by that.
Racing wise, it was encouraging as we tried for more with Gjolberg giving it a go. Not surprised to see it fail, as we would have needed more riders when going that early, but it was still nice to see us try.
Now there are decisions to be made regarding Swift and his future, as we quite obviously can't have such a sprinter (stats wise) in the team if his wage demands are similar and only slightly lower compared to this season. That just won't work looking at the wages of the sprinters who have done well this year, with several of them in the 300k-400k range. |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 28-07-2020 09:38
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
Joined: 20-04-2008
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Congrats SotD!
Our best rider in 61st was to be expected.
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| SotD |
Posted on 28-07-2020 10:30
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World Champion
Posts: 12631
Joined: 29-11-2006
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Thanks. One of very few wins this season, and after a horrible period. Good stuff.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 28-07-2020 10:55
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9137
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Thanks for the report! Now f*** off Kump.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 11-08-2020 16:58
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World Champion
Posts: 10616
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Clearly a race we would love to set Demare up for a good result in, in his last showing of a great season.
But. There was no setup. Demare was stuck way behind all of a sudden, having been at the front right up until it actually mattered to be at the front. Just gone. The green jersey winner absolutely gone.
And slipstreaming your way to 9th doesn't really matter anymore, although that's an okayish points finish with good sprinters stuck even further behind. The entire rest of the team was way down, obviously.
Not a fan at all of our sprint classics efforts this season, especially when our season sponsor goal is on the line in fall.
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