Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 09:42 AM |
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This course is absolute carnage effectively a paved cyclocross race or hilly crit. Just 30 ish in contention with 100k to go?! Bettiol has a good gap but still 40 to go. Intermittent rain to make it even more interesting. Awesome. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 10:10 AM |
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| Here we go! |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 10:17 AM |
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| Crash oh no |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 10:23 AM |
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| With a shoe and a half. Legend! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/06/2023 10:23 AM |
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Some waterbottle cages aren't up for this course. Loose WBs have ended a few rides today.
MvdP just had a mechanical! Can he ride it out? |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/06/2023 10:26 AM |
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| MvdP has a chase group of 3. Perfect. 3 men going for 2 remaining spots. Go hard enough to catch MvdP and you get nothing. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 10:33 AM |
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| Was it Bettiol who rode over his own water bottle? |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 10:40 AM |
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| What a show! And what a podium. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/06/2023 10:59 AM |
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Fun! The CN headline is about MvdP and mentions he is the first to win the CX and Road worlds the same year. While today's race was happening I kept thinking that it is, no not a CX race but a never seen before Belgian classic. Long, cobbles, short, tough hills, some rain. And even a bloodied winner.
I'm going to enjoy watching the next year of the WC stripes. A very worthy wearer! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/06/2023 11:16 AM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 08/06/2023 10:33 AM
Was it Bettiol who rode over his own water bottle?
Yes. (I think that malfunctioning equipment should be called out. Best way to raise the standards. WB cages, dropped, broken and jammed chains, ... Those shouldn't be defining races. Yes, F1 racing is often the driver nursing his fine machine around the course, but in bike racing the F1 is the rider. That machine he is sitting on should simply work damn near perfectly damn near all the time except when abused. No,I don't want to see regulations re: reliability but I do want to see those failures tracked and publicized.
Tires are a different matter. Light matters. Light will have issues. Wheel/bike replacement will always be a part of road racing. I do think that tracking and publicizing change times and what is done would be informative and make for improvements. (We need a revolution as big as the quick release to bring disc wheels to the same level of speed and interchangeability. A rider needing two bike swaps because the neutral service bike didn't fit when all he needed was a wheel - come on!)
Edit: Rant! Rant!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 11:31 AM |
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| I think he may have just stowed it improperly. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 12:27 PM |
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| Maybe best story of the day was VDPs civilized rendition of a Dumoulin moment. When the protest happened he needed to go urgently but there happened to be a house in the middle of nowhere. He went inside and used a proper toilet. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 12:52 PM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 08/06/2023 11:31 AM
I think he may have just stowed it improperly.
I mean apparently it was super hard to eat on this course with all the twists and turns so a bottle is easily poorly stowed. So hard to eat Pog suffered post race spells of dizziness. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/06/2023 02:50 PM |
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That was the longest and largest crit ever…..just insanely brutal course.
Another silver for Wout….if he wasn’t developing a complex before, he surely is now. A generational talent who had the misfortune of coming of age against a better generational talent.
The race came down to the four riders I expected to be the animators of the race….that course was just too hard with all those turns for anyone but the strongest riders to win. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 03:13 PM |
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| As I indicated some time ago Wout is the proper heir to Poulidor eternal second title. There’s considerable irony in VDP being the culprit in making it so. |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 08/06/2023 05:43 PM |
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There was nowhere to hide on that course, that riders struggled to stow bottles or find a place to eat was understandable. The accordion was well worn for certain.
As noted by OC, the irony is strong with VdP consigning Wout to eternal second status.
That was the crit from hell for sure! |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/06/2023 07:42 PM |
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| Fantastic race. Beyond worthy winner. The podium shows how good the course was. Cool that they put the biggest even first. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/06/2023 07:50 PM |
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| Fun thought (at least for me!) - no time to stuff a bottle back in? You want King cages!!!! That crooked bottle ain't coming out. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/06/2023 07:53 PM |
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Posted By Frederick Jones on 08/06/2023 07:42 PM
Fantastic race. Beyond worthy winner. The podium shows how good the course was. Cool that they put the biggest even first.
But that podium photo - is Van Aert really that much taller than MvdP? He's higher on the second step. And Pogacar isn't that much lower.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/06/2023 08:26 PM |
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| Looks like they are together on top step where van Aert shows taller. The zoomed out photo where they are on respective steps shows VDP higher. VDP 184 cm, van Aert 190 cm. Pog 176. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/07/2023 07:04 PM |
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Thinking more about the race course, it was almost a hilly crit in Glasgow. WVA's comments that taking out a few turns would have made it a significantly different course that would favor a lone rider and specifically VDP less. (Not that it would have mattered on that particular day?).
I'm relieved that VDP's bike held up after slipping under the barrier. Fork or front week damage - that might not have been apparent right away with CF and might have failed dangerously later - seemed like a real possibility.
Kudos to WVA and Pog for their post race comments after the race, especially Pog. Humility wears well. |
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