Red Hook Criterium just released the men’s and women’s starters list with the qualification heats. We analysed the men’s heats to break-down what we can expect from them. As in the women’s field there are only 2 heats and everyone in the has a guaranteed starting spot in the final we limited this analysis to the men’s field only.
Text: Brian Megens
Photography: Tornanti.cc
Heat 1:
On paper this seems to be the easiest heat with Brian Megens being the only rider that gathered points in Red Hook Criterium Brooklyn No.10. He got those by winning the qualification heat in RHC BK 10 solo. Despite Brian being the only rider with points, other strong riders can be found in the heat with Javier Benitez, a former UCI rider who competed in the Vuelta, Yannick Mayer, a current UCI rider, fixed gear legend Alfed Bobe Jr., Isaac Howe, Ronnie Toth and Ignazio Moser, who won several crits in Italy this year, it will not be a walk through the park for anyone to go through to the final, let alone to win the heat.
Heat 2:
Without knowing the names having 4 people in the heat that are top-15 in the RHC GC one can already see that this heat is above average tough. If one throws in some names that are racing in this heat, Colin Strickland, Alvise Zanasca, Luis Junquera, David Santos, Alvise Zanasca, and local favourite Alex Briggs, one clearly sees that this heat is for real. Other riders to watch in the heat are UK riders Reece Wood, Germain Burton, and Frenchman Tobias Lewis.
Heat 3:
On paper this heat is by far the hardest with RHC BK 10 winner Stefan Schafer, and other riders from the top of the GC: Davide Vigano, Tristan Uhl, Martino Poccianti Timon Seubert, and Giovanni Longo. Other riders to watch are Supernova riders who had to miss RHC BK 10 Emanuele Poli and Augusto Reati, and Dutchman Luc Ducrot.
Heat 4:
Is a mixture of some current RHC top riders like David van Eerd, and Olivier Leroy and some RHC veterans Ivan Ravaioli, who never should be underestimated, and Francesco Martucci, and Stefan Vis. Other riders to take note of are Bram Linnartz who crashed out in RHC BK 10 while riding in a top-15 position, Robin Gemperle, Nico Hesslich, and Til Schuster who is a former UCI rider and can surprise the field on a good day.
Heat 5:
Looks almost as strong as heat 2 with Aldo Ino Ilesic starting from 1st postion and with the whole top-10 consisting out of very strong riders including Filippo Fortin, former UCI U23 World Champion Francesco Chicchi starting from the 8th spot while Eamon Lucas, one of the strongest crit riders from the US, starts one spot behind him.
