The most prestigious cobblestone races are over this season after Mauricio Viola won in Rome. It is time to update our power ranking, which cobble fighter is having a better time than the last time. Don’t forget dear reader, we don’t calculate bugs but we are just having fun. The power rank of riders would be a difficult decision but the decision on choosing the best cobbler nation is very easy: Spain as you can see from the list below and the results of the Division 1 cobblestone races.
1. Mauricio Viola
(Glamourade)
The veteran Spanish has been the most successful cobbler captain of this season not only according to our humble subjective opinion but also according to the riders’ ranking as he is the highest ranked cobbler just ahead of Rivera. He won Pre-Roubaix and Roubaix Classic. Then finished TvA with a respectable sixth place. He then won Antwerpen-Huy and finished Astana GP at the ninth place. He made the closure by winning the Rome CB on Day 83. This impressive show of force made him the highest ranked cobblestone rider. He is almost 32 but together with Utbah he is making Glamourade one of the top teams in the OCM.
2. Bartoli Rivera
(omega pharma lotto)
The statistically strongest cobbler in the OCM made an unsatisfactory start to the season with another failure (we respect his talents, so anything other than winning is failure for him) in Tweedaagse but he made a comeback. Being fourth in Antwerpen-Huy and runner-up in the Astana GP and Rome CB placed him among as the second highest ranked rider in the OCM. With Teravainen joining his strong team of helpers, we believe he will be coming back stronger than ever to the Tweedaagse if his manager decides to make him the captain but not giving a chance to Teravainen.
3. Alexis Terrier
(TACKXkin)
The French star slowed down his pace after the podium in TvA but he is still good enough to remain as one o the best cobblers around. Seventh place in Anterpen-Huy, known as the most difficult cobble race in the OCM together with the Arendonk stage in TvA is not a bad result but that probably did not fulfill Terrier’s aspirations. He then finished Astana GP a sixth and shadowed by his younger team mate Rogerio Echave who looks like the popular cobbler for TACXkin, statistically the strongest team in the OCM in terms of cobbles. Terrier is probably training hard for early cobble season campaign right now.
4. Rogerio Echave
(TACXkin)
| | Just as we were talking about Ignacy Pajak, not to mention Terrier a brand new young star arrived in the top cobbler team. The Portuguese born Rogerio Echave showed he is a major force in division 1 buy finding the ways to the podium in Astana GP while he did not embarrass his captain by getting the eight place in Antwerpen-Huy. Spain looks like the strongest cobble nation with such a group of cobblestone captains and Echave shows he has already joined this group.
5. Medwin Whiddon
(TEAM SERFIN97)
The young British entered the list as quick as he brought results by winning Minsk CBGP and becoming third in the Torino GP which led his team to the first division. Whiddon was not content with that and he missed a podium in Astana GP and finished Anterpen-Huy as fifth. An impressive start for the young British but let’s see this streak continues. It would as far as the capricious and unpredictable pavés.
6. Viljo Teravainen
(omega pharma lotto)
Teravainen had his climax while winning Astana GP which was ironically his last race fort he Malaysian outfit Asymm Project and he signed a contract with omega pharma loto. This means Bartoli Rivera has an excellent supporter in his Tweedaagsee campaign and a winner on his own. His handicap in technique (he fell three times during Astana GP while turning corners, which shows his strength on cobblestone roads otherwise it is unimaginable to compensate) does not prevent him from becoming a super domestic in the cobblestone team from Mars.
7. Lowell Shingleton
(peddelen)
The winner of TvA should always deserve a high credit for that. The young British does not receive the help that Dussel receives, as the Dutch is the undisputed king of the team but with respect to this great rider and others like Michala, Shingleton is fighting hard not to get forgotten in such an impressive roster. Well, we are talking about a rider who won Germany Tour SC five times in a row but Shingleton showed he can do better with some support after being the runner up in Antwerpen-Huy. In Astana the elite group of Teravainen, Rivera, Echave and Whiddon made a tempo to let him fail to follow them but he could have done much better if he had team mates to support him. Peddelen has already announced it is parting ways with the legendary Dutch sprinter, which means a dim light of hope for Shingleton to get the support he deserves.
8. Heinrich Uttenberger
(Drapeau Noir)
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Despite he fights so far, as anybody as he has no mortal has the ultimate answer against the time. Aging seems like the only thing preventing from winning more and more. Though he deserves the respect for fighting and getting results as he finished Houthalen-Koersel as third but now his team announced he is on sale. Which team shall he go? That we don’t know yet. It seems he chose to stay and go for another Tweedaagse victory.
9. Ignacy Pajak
(TACKXkin)
The winner of the YC in the Tweedaagse proved himself to be a worthy protected rider. He is one of the reasons for making this list look like “Power Ranking of Cobblers of TACKXkin”. He did not only won CoN Paris, the most important WT cobblestone meeting but also became eighth in Rome at the end of the season. Alexis Terrier was only 15th a the finish line. We are not sure if the youngster could become a TvA contender but he is definitely capable of any race and any TvA stage.
10. Ralph Couderc
(ridecoppi)
The ‘other’ French performed so consistently in both Zyte Division where there are many strong cobblestone teams, maybe teamwise some of them are better than most Division 1 teams, and was also able to have results in the top division therefore he has to included. He won Vila Real-Cumieira and got the top 3 results in Roubaix Classic G2,Bouillon Classic and Anterpen Huy, not to mention other top 9 results. This made the Lille-born rider to be the fourth highest scoring cobblestone rider in the OCM rider ranking with 770 points. We will see if Couderc can cope with the cobble eaters located at higher ranks on this list.
Who else to watch out?
There are many good cobblers around and some of them have been considered to be added on. Not the ones we have already mentioned in first Power Ranking but there are even newer names. Let’s make a short panorama before finishing. Arthur Helle from Dingejtes was among the candidates for the list with two important top 9 results in Division 1 Cobblestone classics and scoring 400 points. -Pierre Schooters from Belgian outfit CARCYCL is definitely an upcoming star. He is consistently getting top 3 results in Zyte Division and 57th in the riders ranking. If he joins TvA, watch out for him. You can never leave the veteran cobblestone stars like Sebastien Persoens , Fred Dobbeleare and Julian Pope. Watch out particularly for Pope who seems to find a good home for himself, Drapeu Noir. Whether he or Uttenberger shall be the captain in TvA, we will see but with strong teams like TACXkin, omega pharma lotto and Drapeau Noir the competition shall be very tough next season.
Written by pundit Ozgur Akman from
Manisaspor to OCM Magazine
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