#3 Alessandro Ballan
Cobbles Credentials: Through the later half of the 2000's, Al was the second best non-Belgian Cobbles rider. Not the best finisher, his big win of course was the Ronde in 2007 along with Worlds in 2008. He's been a multiple podium/top-5 finisher on the Ronde, P-R, and E3. For that matter he's just real good at one day Classics of all types. As good as he is he's underrated.
DId you know? Does not come north to Belgium until after MSR. And, no, he's not gonna as cheap as you hope in next year's VDS.
#14 (Insert Sky Rider Here)- Anyone on the team other than EBH
Cobbles Credentials: This is the equivalent of taking the Field in a bet. At various times in making tis bracket I've had Hayman and Stannard and Thomas and Eisel and it just seems wrong to include one of them out in favor the others. All good riders but as Jens said in the latest Power Poll, the "Team most likely to put four people into the top 10 in De Ronde........without coming anywhere close to winning. " If that doesn't sound like a #14 seed, I don;t know what does.