Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/07/2023 08:38 PM |
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Well, yesterday didn’t fit in pro racing forum but next days will. Cobbles are looking in fine shape, mix of dry on crest and slick on sides. Hit up a bunch of them yesterday, combined with canal riding and about 50 percent gravel and farm trails. Arenberg is rough! The FDJ boys passed me just before entry which was good timing. Thought I’d lost them all past but there was a third car that briefly chased me off the pavee. Other sectors were much easier to ride, on 38 mm anyway, but Carrefour was wicked again. Seemed to be riding them at a better clip than other wannabes on regular bikes so this is the way to go. The gravel was also awesome and I avoided any and all busy roads. Perfect loop. https://strava.app.link/g634gjWMOyb |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 04/08/2023 10:29 AM |
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| Great photos. I think we've got the same model Canyon. Grizl 6 |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/08/2023 02:21 PM |
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Thanks Dale. Mine was a rental. I could certainly see this being my next gravel rig though. Smooth ride.
Weird race today. I stood right where gap between front and chase was almost closed. Can’t believe it didn’t happen. Anyway, Canadian winner, what are the odds? Can’t complain.
There is a clip of front and chase here: https://strava.app.link/HzL1hBs1Pyb |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/08/2023 06:48 PM |
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| OC, I wonder how much that crash of the second group cost them. Elisa Longo Borghini. Sounded like she took out the whole chase group from the CN live report. I see Vos took 10th after doing a very long hard chase, much of it alone after a poorly timed puncture. Surely she would have been in that chase and it would have gone a few seconds faster. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/09/2023 01:13 AM |
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| Yes but they had the front in touching distance where I stood 10k from finish. They closed 99% of the initial huge gap but let the final 1% slide. Weird. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 04/09/2023 07:52 PM |
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| Just watched the men's replay. Another fantastic spring race (no spoilers here). Only off note for me: showers at the finish washed off sweat but not mud or dust - a bit disorientating for PR. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/09/2023 10:09 PM |
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Posted By Frederick Jones on 04/09/2023 07:52 PM
Just watched the men's replay. Another fantastic spring race (no spoilers here). Only off note for me: showers at the finish washed off sweat but not mud or dust - a bit disorientating for PR.
Yesterday's winner of the P-R Femmes stood the podium showing off her road dirt. Cannot say if she showered. Odors do not come through on the CN live broadcasts. Forgot to look for dirt on her.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/10/2023 03:42 AM |
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They shower after the podium Ben. Podium is straight after finish. I had to cross velodrome yesterday to get to podium ceremony while stragglers were still doing their final lap. Tried to get to showers early Saturday but they are off limits. Yesterday was bloody perfect, I sat right at finish line. Ok, the beer tap malfunctioned lol.
Photos here: https://strava.app.link/lmCSo7tBSyb
Or here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq2Mg_1tuBZc5dJTQsvbMue5VQhHxEz4FuSbos0/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/10/2023 03:47 AM |
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There’s a photo of VDP in here in showers after ceremony and after all interviews were done. Shower seems to work well enough lol.
https://sporza.be/nl/2023/04/09/wij-volgden-mathieu-van-der-poel-tot-in-de-iconische-douches-van-roubaix-wat-een-uniek-moment~1681062246047/ |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 04/10/2023 11:20 AM |
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Just a fantastic race yesterday....only to lead to a somewhat anti-climatic finish.
Bummed for Wout....there is a certain irony to him always coming in behind the grandson of The Eternal Second.
Lots of people calling for MVP and Phillipsen's head after the Degenkolb crash, but that was nothing more than bike racing on the cobbles. Schitt happens and there isn't necessarily someone to blame.
Women's race was great too....full credit to Jackson for not laying down then the group was right on them. She drove the gap back up to a "safe" margin and then still had the legs to win the sprint. Very impressive.
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/10/2023 02:04 PM |
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I wish we knew the tire types and sizes and the pressures the teams were running. Was VDP running a few pounds more or a different type of tires?
The variable pressure systems - was Wout running one? (It just seems to me like a bad idea simply because P-R is the ultimate situation where anything that could possibly fail will.) |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/11/2023 04:39 AM |
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JV runs the exact same Vittoria tubeless setup as Alpecin.
Not sure what if anything the role of pressure system was. Could be other factors like tire pressure, rims etc. Or just luck.
Also wondering if being able to increase pressure on road played any role in Degenkolb surprise outstanding performance. It’s been a while since he was this close to front. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/11/2023 04:45 AM |
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CK - I called Wout “the new Poulidor “ here a few years ago. Seems bang on.
Womens race didn’t seem super exciting but still kudos to Jackson. A Canadian and Dutch winner in one year. What are the odds?! Haha |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/11/2023 11:40 AM |
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The CN photo gallery - worth a look
https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/the-brutal-and-beautiful-2023-paris-roubaix-gallery/
There is a real sense of the history of the race there. And the heartbreak. Many photos of Degenkolb. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/13/2023 03:14 AM |
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If you scroll down none of top
10 finishers used tire pressurization system https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-conclusions-from-paris-roubaix-and-paris-roubaix-femmes/ |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 04/13/2023 10:22 AM |
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Read that. Thanks OC. And another speculation - suppose Laporte was running tubulars, rim brakes and quick releases. Could he have gotten a quick enough change to come back and help van Aert? Women's race, could Vos have gotten a quicker change, caught sooner and fresher and helped the chase catch the break? (That would have been a blow to Canada but Vos is Dutch so not all in the Vancouver, BC world would be lost.  )
And - what a ride from Vos! No one would have given her a hard time for dropping out. Or settling into any of those groups she caught and left. Just 10th place, but that was an epic 10th. She has enough palmares in enough different disciplines that she doesn't have to prove anything and there are plenty of easier races she can still win. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 04/13/2023 11:57 AM |
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If Vos still wants to win anything it’s PR. So another missed opportunity. I would have gladly traded that for the Canadian win.
Not sure if material mattered versus just difficulty reaching the riders. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 04/13/2023 07:53 PM |
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| Or the lack of depth in the professional Women's field at present. Which reminds me, what happened to the American presence in the women's peloton? Chloe was badly injured, and Kristen Armstrong and Evie Stevens retired, but that's just three. Maybe the whole women's peloton just got faster - kinda like how the US dominated mtb men and women until the Euros brought their more advanced approach and simply took over. We are watching the same thing in gravel now. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 04/14/2023 10:42 AM |
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If you scroll down none of top
10 finishers used tire pressurization system
Yeah, but....
Jumbo-Visma and Team DSM squads at the men's race on Sunday used rival systems. Nils Eekhoff and Pavel Bittner used the Scope Atmoz tyre adjustment system for Team DSM, while Dylan van Baarle, Christophe Laporte and Edoardo Affini all used the Gravaa KAPS system for Jumbo-Visma.
Outside of van Baarle, I wouldn't have expected any of them to finish Top 10...and even then, van Baarle would have finished high up as the result of race tactics (JV was clearly all in for Wout). But a crash took our van Baarle, which had nothing to do with the inflation system.
Personally, I am dubious of this tech as there seem to be some major drawbacks with both systems (one has a limited number of inflations, the other takes a LONG time to get back up to pressure - only 1 psi per KM)....but I wouldn't look at the results for validation (or invalidation) of the systems. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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