Post by Bartold on Jun 21, 2016 6:53:49 GMT
Here is thread for all National Championships held by FirstCycling.com free online cycling manager.
Spain - registration link
Spanish National Championships are something like "Battle of Bastards" in last Game of Thrones episode. On one hand we've got Movistar, team which is winning all, and yap they've got numbers! On the other hand we've got Caja Rural - the underdogs, the romantic story, pro-conti division team riders with big hearths and high ambitions. On provisional startlist we will have many big names of Spanish cycling but most of them hidden of course, wherever else - in Movistar Team - main leader Alejandro Valverde will be well supported by guys like Izagirre brothers, shining in last days Soler and winner from 2nd stage in Dauphinee - Jesus Herrada (the younger one;)). Secondary leader should be JJ Rojas but in the middle of season he only achieved some 3,4 and 5 places so we will see if he can take gold and not be outsprinted. Caja Rural riders are thirsty, they need this big success on home soil - so who can grab a win and dethrone Movistar? Carlos Barbero, Pello Bilbao, Sergio Pardilla and David Arroyo are best riders in squad, but there is also hidden gem Jaime Roson who won hardest stage of this years Tour of Turkey edition. Last but not least there is all rounder Eduard Prades, he can go well in flat or mountains so we will see what will be Caja Rurals gameplan for race.
Other riders to watch: Mikel Landa, Alberto Contador, Joaquim Rodrigues, Luis Leon Sanchez, Mikel Bizkarra, Enric Mas Nicolau
Spain - registration link
Spanish National Championships are something like "Battle of Bastards" in last Game of Thrones episode. On one hand we've got Movistar, team which is winning all, and yap they've got numbers! On the other hand we've got Caja Rural - the underdogs, the romantic story, pro-conti division team riders with big hearths and high ambitions. On provisional startlist we will have many big names of Spanish cycling but most of them hidden of course, wherever else - in Movistar Team - main leader Alejandro Valverde will be well supported by guys like Izagirre brothers, shining in last days Soler and winner from 2nd stage in Dauphinee - Jesus Herrada (the younger one;)). Secondary leader should be JJ Rojas but in the middle of season he only achieved some 3,4 and 5 places so we will see if he can take gold and not be outsprinted. Caja Rural riders are thirsty, they need this big success on home soil - so who can grab a win and dethrone Movistar? Carlos Barbero, Pello Bilbao, Sergio Pardilla and David Arroyo are best riders in squad, but there is also hidden gem Jaime Roson who won hardest stage of this years Tour of Turkey edition. Last but not least there is all rounder Eduard Prades, he can go well in flat or mountains so we will see what will be Caja Rurals gameplan for race.
Other riders to watch: Mikel Landa, Alberto Contador, Joaquim Rodrigues, Luis Leon Sanchez, Mikel Bizkarra, Enric Mas Nicolau
Spanish National Championships Road Race Elite Men profile (6 laps x 32,4km)
Belgium - registration link
Belgium National Championships - one of most interesting national championships. 5 teams: Topsport, Etixx-Quickstep, Lotto-Soudal, Wanty and Wallonie Bruxelles will send big squads for this race. Other teams also will join just to mention BMC, Lotto-NL, Trek and IAM. Many big names on provisional startlist, but who will take shirt to home and be proud champion? Last year we've got surprise winner in Preben Van Hecke who outsprinted Jurgen Roelandts for one second. Last podium spot was taken by GVA. In 2016 edition biggest names on starlist are: Tom Boonen, Philippe Gilbert, Sep Vanmarcke, Jan Bakelants. Bunch is also full of youngsters that can make a surprise: Tiejs Benoot, Jasper Stuyven, Wout Van Aert and Amaury Capiot. Yappp and there is also this dangerous duo in best cyclists age and uhm did I mention that this guys always point well? Baptiste Planckaert or Gaetan Bille win can be a surprise for sunday fan but for hardcore cycling fan it will be nice reward for watching smaller races.
In last weeks BMC riders shown good form but they need to ride this hidden in peleton waiting for best opportunity to attack. Racing should be intense because lap is short only a bit more than 15km and they will do 15 laps. Hardest part of parcour are 3 cotes with similar near 900m lenght and 9% avg.
Belgium - registration link
Belgium National Championships - one of most interesting national championships. 5 teams: Topsport, Etixx-Quickstep, Lotto-Soudal, Wanty and Wallonie Bruxelles will send big squads for this race. Other teams also will join just to mention BMC, Lotto-NL, Trek and IAM. Many big names on provisional startlist, but who will take shirt to home and be proud champion? Last year we've got surprise winner in Preben Van Hecke who outsprinted Jurgen Roelandts for one second. Last podium spot was taken by GVA. In 2016 edition biggest names on starlist are: Tom Boonen, Philippe Gilbert, Sep Vanmarcke, Jan Bakelants. Bunch is also full of youngsters that can make a surprise: Tiejs Benoot, Jasper Stuyven, Wout Van Aert and Amaury Capiot. Yappp and there is also this dangerous duo in best cyclists age and uhm did I mention that this guys always point well? Baptiste Planckaert or Gaetan Bille win can be a surprise for sunday fan but for hardcore cycling fan it will be nice reward for watching smaller races.
In last weeks BMC riders shown good form but they need to ride this hidden in peleton waiting for best opportunity to attack. Racing should be intense because lap is short only a bit more than 15km and they will do 15 laps. Hardest part of parcour are 3 cotes with similar near 900m lenght and 9% avg.
Belgium National Championships Road Race Elite Men (15 laps x 15,4km)
France - registration link
In French Nationals we've got 6 teams with big line-ups on provisional startlist. Fortuneo, FJD, AG2R, Direct Energie, Cofidis and Armee de Terre. Many big well-known peleton stars are here and list is full of young, bright starlets. Well here I will do a bit different "preview" I will just hit some names and add Eurosport spot. Demare, Bardet, Bouhanni, Alaphilippe, Coquard, Voeckler, Gallopin, Barguil, Rolland. Hype is real!
French National Championships Road Race Elite Man (19 laps x 13,1km)
In French Nationals we've got 6 teams with big line-ups on provisional startlist. Fortuneo, FJD, AG2R, Direct Energie, Cofidis and Armee de Terre. Many big well-known peleton stars are here and list is full of young, bright starlets. Well here I will do a bit different "preview" I will just hit some names and add Eurosport spot. Demare, Bardet, Bouhanni, Alaphilippe, Coquard, Voeckler, Gallopin, Barguil, Rolland. Hype is real!
French National Championships Road Race Elite Man (19 laps x 13,1km)
Germany - registration link
German National Championships... what can I say about that race to make a small guide or preview? This is a race under some magic mist and the outcome is hard to predict. Why is that? (or maybe life is life nanananana). First provisional startlist looks like a battle of: Bora Argon 18 against Stolting Service Group but... yeah u guessed well best riders here represents other teams of course Etixx (Kittel + Martin), Lotto Soudal (Greipel + Sieberg), BMC (Burghardt + Zabel) and mostly Giant Alpecin and to be honest with you with names like Degenkolb, Arndt and Geschke team co-sponsored by shampoo company may have best shot to grab this nations kit. What about others? Good numbers are on side of Christina Jewelry Pro Cycling, Espoirs, LKT Brandenburg, Rad-Net Rose Team and surprisingly... team Kuota-Lotto. Riders like Sutterlin or Kluge will ride this race alone without any companions. Ok let's wrap this up John Degenkolb will have 4 riders to help him and if he had bad day he always can work for Nikias Arndt. Bora will try their best to make train leadout for Bauhaus or to prepare crucial late attack for Buchmann or Herklotz. In the other hand Stolting with young riders prepared to work for old lions Ciolek, Gerdemann and Wegmann will try to make this race as hard as it can be from start to finish to destroy smaller squads and drop them before finish line. And oh at the end have your eyes on guys like Pascal Ackermann, Konrad Gessner and Willy Wilwohl - this trio taked podium spots in U-23 race at 19th june just few days ago.
German National Championships... what can I say about that race to make a small guide or preview? This is a race under some magic mist and the outcome is hard to predict. Why is that? (or maybe life is life nanananana). First provisional startlist looks like a battle of: Bora Argon 18 against Stolting Service Group but... yeah u guessed well best riders here represents other teams of course Etixx (Kittel + Martin), Lotto Soudal (Greipel + Sieberg), BMC (Burghardt + Zabel) and mostly Giant Alpecin and to be honest with you with names like Degenkolb, Arndt and Geschke team co-sponsored by shampoo company may have best shot to grab this nations kit. What about others? Good numbers are on side of Christina Jewelry Pro Cycling, Espoirs, LKT Brandenburg, Rad-Net Rose Team and surprisingly... team Kuota-Lotto. Riders like Sutterlin or Kluge will ride this race alone without any companions. Ok let's wrap this up John Degenkolb will have 4 riders to help him and if he had bad day he always can work for Nikias Arndt. Bora will try their best to make train leadout for Bauhaus or to prepare crucial late attack for Buchmann or Herklotz. In the other hand Stolting with young riders prepared to work for old lions Ciolek, Gerdemann and Wegmann will try to make this race as hard as it can be from start to finish to destroy smaller squads and drop them before finish line. And oh at the end have your eyes on guys like Pascal Ackermann, Konrad Gessner and Willy Wilwohl - this trio taked podium spots in U-23 race at 19th june just few days ago.
German National Championship Road Race Elite Man (14 laps x 15,4km)
Italy - registration link
Ciao, Ciao! Ah Italians... the only nation with great youtube preview, with well done profiles and route coverage. This is true Italians amazed me with professional effort to make National Championships big race. This race also had one of best line-ups just to mention: Nibali, Aru, Scarponi, Gavazzi, Pozzovivo, Pirazzi, Formolo, Rebellin, Brambilla, Trentin, Sbaragli, Ulissi, Viviani and believe me many, many others. What about numbers? On provisional startlist Bardiani CSF has 17 riders, Norda - MG. Kvis Vega has 16 riders and Unieuro Wilier has 15 riders. Other well represented teams are Wilier Southeast, Nippo - Vini Fantini, GM Europa Ovini, Androni Giocatolli, Astana (11 riders) and of course Lampre Merida (10 riders). Bardiani has best option to play it well they can send some riders to breakaway and make them work for one rider who will be sitting on wheel whole time and then accelerate in late attack. Other option is make high tempo from the beginning to not allow any rider to go forward and create breakaway - it's risky move but worth trying specially when you have many riders to sacrifice for leaders. Yes I'm comparing here Bardiani numbers to those from Astana and Lampre. there is no point to compare CSF to Norda or both Wiliers because those teams have not got that many of quality riders. It's very hard to predict who will be a winner of course Vincenzo Nibali is big favorite but all depends how our actors will play in this theatre. We can have small leaders group on last kilometres with best riders on start: Nibali, Ulissi, Brambilla and Rebellin or we can have bigger group with bunch sprint fight between sprinters and puncheurs: Viviani, Nizzolo, Belletti and Trentin. Ok so here is your profile and mentioned earlier road preview posted on youtube.
Ciao, Ciao! Ah Italians... the only nation with great youtube preview, with well done profiles and route coverage. This is true Italians amazed me with professional effort to make National Championships big race. This race also had one of best line-ups just to mention: Nibali, Aru, Scarponi, Gavazzi, Pozzovivo, Pirazzi, Formolo, Rebellin, Brambilla, Trentin, Sbaragli, Ulissi, Viviani and believe me many, many others. What about numbers? On provisional startlist Bardiani CSF has 17 riders, Norda - MG. Kvis Vega has 16 riders and Unieuro Wilier has 15 riders. Other well represented teams are Wilier Southeast, Nippo - Vini Fantini, GM Europa Ovini, Androni Giocatolli, Astana (11 riders) and of course Lampre Merida (10 riders). Bardiani has best option to play it well they can send some riders to breakaway and make them work for one rider who will be sitting on wheel whole time and then accelerate in late attack. Other option is make high tempo from the beginning to not allow any rider to go forward and create breakaway - it's risky move but worth trying specially when you have many riders to sacrifice for leaders. Yes I'm comparing here Bardiani numbers to those from Astana and Lampre. there is no point to compare CSF to Norda or both Wiliers because those teams have not got that many of quality riders. It's very hard to predict who will be a winner of course Vincenzo Nibali is big favorite but all depends how our actors will play in this theatre. We can have small leaders group on last kilometres with best riders on start: Nibali, Ulissi, Brambilla and Rebellin or we can have bigger group with bunch sprint fight between sprinters and puncheurs: Viviani, Nizzolo, Belletti and Trentin. Ok so here is your profile and mentioned earlier road preview posted on youtube.
Italian National Championships Road Race Elite Man (227,8km)
Last km's
Last km's