79pmooney
Posts:3167
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| 03/12/2023 11:02 AM |
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Yes, he won decisively. 3 stages and a 53 second lead, soloing away on the final climb. But, he left the mountain jersey and 4 stages on the table. He'll have to come back and shoot for better next year.
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Dale
Posts:1760
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| 03/12/2023 12:37 PM |
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| LOL The kid’s an assassin for sure. Both yesterday and today he struck hard. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4475
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| 03/12/2023 07:48 PM |
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| Yeah disappointing. Last year at the end of Tirreno fish guy was 13 seconds further back. |
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6ix
Posts:482
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| 03/13/2023 09:06 AM |
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| Just imagine how much faster he'd be on an SL7!!! |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4186
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| 03/13/2023 09:26 AM |
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Both Pog & Rog were dominant last week....beat their adversaries into submission every chance they could.
And while I still think Pog is the overwhelming favorite for July, I'm not too worried about Fishboy just yet. It is only March....the only thing we know right now is that Pog is riding incredibly well.
His attack yesterday was unbelievable...they came round that bend, the road pitched up and he just accelerated away while everyone else looked like they were riding through mud. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4475
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| 03/31/2023 08:09 PM |
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And now this fun photo sequence, haha
https://sporza.be/nl/2023/03/31/bekijk-tadej-pogacar-slipt-en-wandelt-de-koppenberg-op~1680262782680/ |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4475
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| 04/02/2023 12:55 PM |
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| Whoa today. What a race. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3167
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| 04/02/2023 01:28 PM |
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Pogacar gave away his game plan ahead of time. Go late and solo to victory. Told that to the cycling world's media yesterday. All van de Poel and van Aert had to do was ride smart, stay ahead of splits and out of crashes, then work together after Pogacar goes to pull him back, then beat him with their additional finishing speed.
But - van de Poel got caught in what? three splits? Burned out a lot of teammates. Did a bunch of work. Van Aert seemed to be at the back more than advisable and he saw the pavement. From what I gathered from the CN live report, Pogacar missed one split but that split was closed quickly. He did burn out some of his teammates but Pogacar is a pretty worthy lone wolf.
The crashes - wow! Yes, it's Flemish country, roads, wind, cobbles and hills. A Monument and all the tension associated with them. But that big one with the Bahrain rider swinging back on to the road and into the peloton - come on! (Well deserved DSQ.) IIRC that was the crash that took Wellens out. (And again credit to Pogacar for his "lone wolf abilities. He'd just lost perhaps the 2nd biggest diesel in pro racing; after Tim deClercq. Yes, I know, OC will correct me with about a half dozen other riders I don't know.  )
What a race! And a worthy winner. The classic "This is what I am going to do. Try to stop me." |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4475
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| 04/02/2023 01:40 PM |
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VDP ultimately did just fine. Put in key move to distance Van Aert who he didn’t want to bring to finish. Put out highest amounts of watts in finals he’s ridden, better than last year when he won. Didn’t die on final 15k just couldn’t close gap. Nothing to do against Pog today.
JV did mess up their tactics. JV should have sent up Benoot or LaPorte instead of van Hooijdonk then we might have seen a different race. Now they end up bringing Pog and VDP back in contention. We already know Van Aert is no match on intensity for these two. Van Baarle may also have been a key missing ingredient. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2838
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| 04/02/2023 10:02 PM |
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Just watched the replay. Epic! Spring races have been great this year, I hope it continues. . . . So who will win PR? Won't be today's winner.
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4186
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| 04/03/2023 08:56 AM |
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JV did mess up their tactics. JV should have sent up Benoot or LaPorte instead of van Hooijdonk then we might have seen a different race
Agreed...Or have more guys in the front. Just having Van Hoojidenk in the front group when there were 12 of them was not going to cut it. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4475
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| 04/03/2023 11:08 AM |
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Posted By Frederick Jones on 04/02/2023 10:02 PM
Just watched the replay. Epic! Spring races have been great this year, I hope it continues. . . . So who will win PR? Won't be today's winner.
Van Aert should be hyper motivated and its also a race that at least theoretically suits him much better, a long power grind rather than short bursts of intensity. Its also a race where its easier for JV to play a numbers game. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2838
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| 04/04/2023 07:55 PM |
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| CN reports that the UCI will go after the dumbfcck who took down many Flanders mid race. Hope this has a chilling effect on dangerous riding not forced by course dangers such as road furniture. And unlike like soccer and to a much lesser degree basketball there is no acting when fouled which will make dangerous moves harder to defend.
PS just watched the replay again with a lot of fast forward. Sensational race, heavyweights throwing their best punches. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4475
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| 04/04/2023 08:21 PM |
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I am not sure this will be productive. Bottom line it seemed a moment where the guys brain just short wired. Not sure that any rule or punishment will help prevent such moments.
Instead they should focus on eliminating unnecessarily dangerous finishes such as at Basque today. This is actually controllable. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3167
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| 04/04/2023 08:39 PM |
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Question guys. Is Pocagar not riding P-R? I just read the CN top 10 picks and he's not there. Or are they figuring he's a flyweight who cannot handle cobbles that rough?
I thought I read Eddy saying that Pogacar was one who could win anything and mentioning P-R in like the next sentence. The way he's riding, I wouldn't put much money up against him. In fact, if you leave him out of the top 10 picks, better not let him know! |
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