79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 03/23/2018 12:40 PM |
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Quick-Step totally ran the show today at E3 Harelbele. Hard to believe they were only a seven man team. They did a ton of work to set the race up then had riders not cooperating in every chase after Terpstra and Lampaert went away with 70 km to go. Great race! (Unless the Q-S dominance doesn't sit well with you.  ) Hard, hard racing. Lots of splits. Wind, echelons, hills, cobbles. Belgium and the Classics at their best. And (sadly for everyone else) a great show of how to win them by Q-S. The rides by Terpstra and Lampaert (who couldn't stay with Terpstra on the hills but would catch and come through after every one). Lampaert finished 3 minutes back but I suspect he upped his marketability a major notch today. Impressive effort by Sagan. Sadly an effort completely shadowed by the Q-S dominance and unwillingness of anyone else to step up. Also points out big time how Q-S was everywhere they needed to be and by contrast all the other front runners had teams that weren't. Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 03/23/2018 01:05 PM |
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At the end of the CyclingNews live commentary, there was a line about how some are accusing Q-S of pushing the pace after the huge crash. Yes, they did. In my racing days, the sound of crunching bikes always meant "Go!!". The word was "ride the front; crashes happen". Of course, if everyone rides the front, more crashes happen, especially on narrow farm roads.
But even if we say there is no room for more than say 20 riders to be in front of that crash, there is no
natural law that dictates that seven of those spots are reserved for riders in blue and white jerseys. That's up to their legs, their opponents' lack of legs or unwillingness to use them. This is racing after all.
Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 03/23/2018 01:06 PM |
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| The multiple post curse again! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 03/24/2018 04:50 PM |
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Another good story from Harelbeke. http://www.velonews.com/2018/03/news/best-ride-harelbeke-one-no-one-saw_460899
Vanmarcke now has my respect (instead of just being nowhere on my radar). And his team, EF Education First-Drapac.
Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 03/28/2018 12:23 PM |
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I just "watched" Dwars door Vlaanderen on CyclingNews. Miserable day. Great racing. Cool part - all three GC riders testing the cobbles finished. Bardet, Valverde (in the chase group and who put on several moves during the race) and (believe it or not!) Quintana.
There was a photo of the riders riding into a dark grey wall of weather, streams of water coming off their tires. That a 113 pound Colombian wisp could finish that race of classic Belgian weather suited for the true hard men; well let's just say I am impressed. Now Valverde is less of a surprise. After all he is a hulking 128 pounds. (Weights from CyclingNews and not double checked.) Now, when I started reading the coverage, I saw the photo of Quintana at the start bundled like an Eskimo and thought "this is going to be a long day! You just might regret this" thinking of the likelihood of a crash in the winds and road surfaces.
Now the gentle, rounded and well maintained cobbles of Belgium are a long ways from the random sharp rocks of northern France and not really any test of what they will see Stage 9 of the Tour. Still, I think Nibali will have more trouble walking away with that stage as he did couple of years ago. And as you guys know well, I am a real fan of Quintana and am always hoping he can put together all the pieces in July.
But as it is still March, do we have takers for Sunday? Flanders? I'll go Gilbert, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke. Terpstra in the top 10. (And speaking of Q-S; good for Lampaert. Fully deserves this win after sacrificing himself completely for Terpstra the other day. I think Terpstra in return will do a lot of work frustrating the chasers to assist Gilbert Sunday. Van Avermaet and Vanmarcke will get away n chase but too late. Terpstra on tired legs will still pick off a few for that top 10.
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 03/28/2018 12:42 PM |
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| Valverde impressed big time. Just line up for Flanders already.
"The big question now is whether or not Valverde will race Flanders on Sunday. García Acosta said the team will decide overnight.
“It’s complicated,” García Acosta said. “If you really want to do Flanders the right way, you need to come with preparation and with a strong team. The big goal is the Ardennes, so maybe it’s too much. But knowing Alejandro, maybe he wants to try it.”
Read more at http://www.velonews.com/2018/03/news/valverde-delights-flanders-rain_461427#ZbQkmyFBPufhgfgF.99 |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/03/2018 12:02 PM |
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More Q-S. Pais Vasco. Alaphilippe again. 23rd win of the years!
The depth of this roster is amazing. I just hope I never hear scandals about this outfit. They appear to be about really high quality racing, especially in Belgium and especially in spring but rarely leaving a bad taste (outside the slightly heavy cream taste of not very well mixed blue and white milkshake that seems out spread over the road and smoother races).
I also like that they frequently "make" the race, not just do a super job of "marking" them although they do that well also. I feel like I am watching racing from an old textbook (and not a 2000s "let's just line up 9 diesels and let them run until no one else is left).
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/03/2018 12:07 PM |
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| There's some interesting analyses in Belgian media going on about how Boonen's retirement has brought about the strengths and depth of the squad; they're doing better without him than with him. There's also some talk circulating about how Stybar most be thinking "when is it my time?" but how sluggish he seems. I trust at some point it will be hard to keep various egos together. Let's see what happens this weekend...Gilbert really wants it but Terpstra may have the better form.
BTW - the way Roglic is going he may nab this from Alaphilippe in Stage 4 iTT. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/03/2018 12:18 PM |
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I hope for Stybar's sake he is slow coming to form this year and will peak as the others go past theirs and that those others will be willing to use their tired legs to get Stybar some results in the later races that aren't the big spring Q-S focus. (Maybe Stybar is being smart, guessing correctly just how fast a a lot of his teammates were going to be this spring.)
Egos. The driving force that had crowned so many winners and been the glue of great teams, then often the disintegrating force. (The word "team" not being limited to sports.)
Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/04/2018 11:51 AM |
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And it is Q-S again, at Scheldeprijs. Fabio Jakobsen, a neo-pro. Zdenek Stybar led him out. (I think Stybar's job is secure even if he cannot make a podium!)
Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/04/2018 11:52 AM |
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And it is Q-S again, at Scheldeprijs. Fabio Jakobsen, a neo-pro. Zdenek Stybar led him out. (I think Stybar's job is secure even if he cannot make a podium!)
Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/04/2018 11:55 AM |
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And it is Q-S again, at Scheldeprijs. Fabio Jakobsen, a neo-pro. Zdenek Stybar led him out. (I think Stybar's job is secure even if he cannot make a podium!)
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/04/2018 12:28 PM |
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The bigger story there is the number of DSQs for ignoring the level crossing.
And even though they took out almost the entire competition, still Kittel didn't win, LOL. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/04/2018 08:59 PM |
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OC, my take on that? Right on! This sends a clear, simple message. Once that crossing activates, you stop. Doesn't matter who you are or how many you are. I wish UCI and the race organizers were that straight forward on other issues.
Edit: curse those multiple posts above! I have a misreable DSL connection because I flat-out refuse to deal with ComCast. Much of the time it works, but not always and it doesn't always tell me it's misbehaving.
Ben |
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