Ronde van Vlaanderen 2015 *SPOILER THREAD*

rick_chasey

Must say, watching these races for most of the day is a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

rick_chasey

Christ Kristoff is boring in the interview.

21st century athletes are far too balanced.

above_the_cows

Rick Chasey wrote:

Christ Kristoff is boring in the interview.

I actually fell asleep.

rozzer32

Kristoff really proving he is the main man. Brilliant ride, really top class.

Lotto jumbo on the other hand I think have been by far the worst team at the classics so far. Euskatel would do a better job then them. They can never put Sep in the right place. They always miss the critical moves and when Sep does get in the right position he is always alone. I think he'll have to move to another team to win a classic. Their director sportifs could do with watching a bike race and learning some tactics.

joelsim

rozzer32 wrote:

Kristoff really proving he is the main man. Brilliant ride, really top class.

Lotto jumbo on the other hand I think have been by far the worst team at the classics so far. Euskatel would do a better job then them. They can never put Sep in the right place. They always miss the critical moves and when Sep does get in the right position he is always alone. I think he'll have to move to another team to win a classic. Their director sportifs could do with watching a bike race and learning some tactics.

They have a very poor roster.

blazing_saddles

mm1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Wiggins is a lightweight, but nothing new there.

Lightweight who made it back up to the front after hurting his wrist and his knee. Have to ask though, what is the point of Sky being at the front all day until 60k to go? G far too visible all day.

He'll be fine, come next weekend.
He made it back to the front, yet sat on the rear for another 100+kms and contributed nowt.
Instead, he used the fall to take another day off and save himself for next Sunday, where he'll expect G to close down all attacks.

joelsim

Blazing Saddles wrote:

mm1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Wiggins is a lightweight, but nothing new there.

Lightweight who made it back up to the front after hurting his wrist and his knee. Have to ask though, what is the point of Sky being at the front all day until 60k to go? G far too visible all day.

He'll be fine, come next weekend.
He made it back to the front, yet sat on the rear for another 100+kms and contributed nowt.
Instead, he used the fall to take another day off and save himself for next Sunday, where he'll expect G to close down all attacks.

Completely right.

inseine

RichN95 wrote:

Benoot's going to win this race three or four times.

He was my star signing for my FSA fantasy squad this year. He was one of the cheapest riders and at 21 years old bags 5th. Amazing.

joelsim

inseine wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Benoot's going to win this race three or four times.

He was my star signing for my FSA fantasy squad this year. He was one of the cheapest riders and at 21 years old bags 5th. Amazing.

Mine too. Went with a lot of 1 riders including him. Happy days.

Benoot
Kung
Sepulveda
Bouet
Lopez Moreno
Kolar
Mareczko
Marini
Mohoric
Teunissen
Vervaeke

inseine

Above The Cows wrote:

Right bring on PR. It better be a good one, I'm counting on jet lag and waking up at silly o'clock in the morning on the west coast of the US to watch on no doubt some crappy stream.

I'll be straight off a plane from China so it better be good to stave off the jet lag.

frenchfighter

Blazing Saddles wrote:

mm1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Wiggins is a lightweight, but nothing new there.

Lightweight who made it back up to the front after hurting his wrist and his knee. Have to ask though, what is the point of Sky being at the front all day until 60k to go? G far too visible all day.

He'll be fine, come next weekend.
He made it back to the front, yet sat on the rear for another 100+kms and contributed nowt.
Instead, he used the fall to take another day off and save himself for next Sunday, where he'll expect G to close down all attacks.

G should 100% ride for himself next week and Im sure Rowe will bury himself again for him.

frenchfighter

RichN95 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Benoot's going to win this race three or four times.

Couldnt believe when I saw his name. Excellent work. First time I've ever seen his name.

That's because he's barely been in a race before. It was only his second day in a World Tour race.

Wow!

frenchfighter

YorkshireRaw wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

What happened to Stannard? Just sh*t again? Looking more expensive race by race.

wHa5 about Fenn? DNF again?

Fenn - er, DNS as wasn't actually in the 8....

Stannard was up there pulling still - he broke his back and his wrist last yr - and wasn't exactly sh&t in winning Omloop was he. Didn't he have a crash in a recent race as well?

Info on Classics thread was wrong then. But in line with what I thought - ie not worth picking.

TheBigBean

Is Benoot anyone's man yet? I suspect he might be in the 2016 my man thread.

With hindsight it might have been better for EQS if Stybar had tried to jump across the gap when it was only 13s and he was sitting on a flagging Thomas's wheel, but even then he might not have made it and Kristoff probably would still have won.

frenchfighter

Tinkoff team support for Sagan is worse than Cannondale. What a joke. Biggest let down of these races so far for me.

Sep let me down too. But that whole team is poor and will not be in existence next year imo.

tailwindhome

Brammier's handlebar notes.

joelsim

frenchfighter wrote:

Tinkoff team support for Sagan is worse than Cannondale. What a joke. Biggest let down of these races so far for me.

Sep let me down too. But that whole team is poor and will not be in existence next year imo.

TCS are a poor team. 2 superstars, a couple of decent riders in Majka and Valgren, a good road captain and nothing else.

bobmcstuff

Anyone know where I can see some highlights of this?

I need to get Eurosport.

RonB

TailWindHome wrote:

Brammier's handlebar notes.

At least he won his weight in beer.

above_the_cows

So my man Adam Blythe didn't finish. He got distracted by an opel corsa low ride with tinted windows, fat tyres and spinners.

curium

Blazing Saddles wrote:

mm1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Wiggins is a lightweight, but nothing new there.

Lightweight who made it back up to the front after hurting his wrist and his knee. Have to ask though, what is the point of Sky being at the front all day until 60k to go? G far too visible all day.

He'll be fine, come next weekend.
He made it back to the front, yet sat on the rear for another 100+kms and contributed nowt.
Instead, he used the fall to take another day off and save himself for next Sunday, where he'll expect G to close down all attacks.

rozzer32

Joelsim wrote:

rozzer32 wrote:

Kristoff really proving he is the main man. Brilliant ride, really top class.

Lotto jumbo on the other hand I think have been by far the worst team at the classics so far. Euskatel would do a better job then them. They can never put Sep in the right place. They always miss the critical moves and when Sep does get in the right position he is always alone. I think he'll have to move to another team to win a classic. Their director sportifs could do with watching a bike race and learning some tactics.

They have a very poor roster.

They had Bram Tankink, Maaten Tallingii and Robert Wagner in the team today. I'd expect better from those guys as they've been round long enough. Sep was the first Lotto Jumbo rider home in 53rd place, next Lotto Jumbo was 69th but a further 3 minutes back. Says it all really, I think they really are a poor team this year. I think they only got Lotto on board with their TdF stage 5 win last year. If they keep up their current form I don't think the team will be around for long. They still have 0 wins to their name this year, not even a single win in the chippers chipper race. If I were Sep I'd certainly look at moving teams. I think Trek might be a good move. Learn from Fabian in his last year and then be the classics main man.

joelsim

Above The Cows wrote:

So my man Adam Blythe didn't finish. He got distracted by an opel corsa low ride with tinted windows, fat tyres and spinners.

lol

iainf72

So, 5/10?

Ashbeck

I've just finished watching the complete live race recorded. Here's what i see:

Sky and particularly Thomas pull too early in races and knacker themselves out. When are they going to learn to sit back a bit and let the others do the work? G has a great engine on him but he's not Superman and can't pull as part of a Sky train for 100km AND then shoot off into a lead break feeling fresh as a daisy.

Rowe pulled superbly for G.

Wiggins must have been in it for a spot of training for next week. I expected a bit more if im honest.

Vanmarcke was a bit of a let down, couldnt work out if he had a mechanical/puncture that screwed him up?

Sagan seems like he's a one man team. Has he even got a team car?

Kristoff is a bit of a beast (but boring as snow in an interview)

And & Dec must have been driving the Shimano support car and letting down KM inflatables for Saturday Night Takeaway.

Having said all that i love this sport, can't wait for P-R next weekend

No_Ta_Doctor

iainf72 wrote:

So, 5/10?

6, but only for the Shimano drivers and deflatable bridge.

joelsim

Having watched it, and including the season so far.

Sagan is hugely overrated, and his team is poor.

Sep is way off and too heavy.

Kristoff is as fat as me but still manages to get stunning results.

Sky have millions behind them but are tactically awful.

Lotto Soudal deserve a medal for making the very best of what they have.

EQS have all the talent in the world but are so far from working as a team.

Degenkolb has a huge amount of talent too.

squired

Purely from a team harmony point of view it can't be good for the lesser paid members of Sky to have Wiggins sitting in doing absolutely nothing when he isn't the designated leader, while they turn themselves inside out on the front. Sky should've tried to mix it up by having someone like Stannard go away with 70-80km to go, to force other teams to ride.

Dull race as far as I'm concerned. No one seemed to be willing to put it on the line. Even 5/10 is generous. I'm hoping for a wet and windy Roubaix to make up for it. Pais Vasco might be interesting in the week too, if only to see how the Yates brothers do.

tailwindhome

RonB wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Brammier's handlebar notes.

At least he won his weight in beer.

See sticky tape on handlebar

disgruntledgoat

YorkshireRaw wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

What happened to Stannard? Just sh*t again? Looking more expensive race by race.

wHa5 about Fenn? DNF again?

Fenn - er, DNS as wasn't actually in the 8....

Stannard was up there pulling still - he broke his back and his wrist last yr - and wasn't exactly sh&t in winning Omloop was he. Didn't he have a crash in a recent race as well?

He was proper sick 3 weeks ago too