E3 Harelbeke 2016 **SPOILERS**

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Comments

  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    gsk82 wrote:
    why wasn't boonen helping the chase? he's nothing more than a domestique, should act like one and stop being a waste of a race number
    He did help, but only after Stybar was dropped and Terpstra was barely hanging on. I think they were hoping Terpstra and Stybar could pull things back and then Boonen could lead out Trentin.
  • smithy21
    smithy21 Posts: 2,204
    I thought they were riding for Boonen, realised too late that he didn't have it, and went with Trentin who couldn't stay with Sagan and Kwia when it mattered.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,548
    EQS screwed it up, but they are several other teams who had numbers in the chasing group who did nothing to aid the chase, they just sat and watched Terpstra and Stybar hold the gap. What were they hoping to achieve?
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    SKYs change of tactics has paid dividends today. Fair step to being the 'best team in the world'.
  • onyourright
    onyourright Posts: 509
    andyp wrote:
    What were they hoping to achieve?
    Perhaps third place as Boonon declared. I agree it was a bit weak.

    Meanwhile, deathless prose from Tinkoff about Sagan:

    “The World Champion looked strong, attacking from 30km out and contesting a two-man sprint finish that saw the Tinkoff team leader cross the line second.”
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    smithy21 wrote:
    I thought they were riding for Boonen, realised too late that he didn't have it, and went with Trentin who couldn't stay with Sagan and Kwia when it mattered.

    They were always riding for Trentin.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651
    Perhaps if Etixx didn't load the front group so heavily with race favourites the other teams might cooperate more? Who wants to help Etixx pull if Boonen is just sitting in?
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • onyourright
    onyourright Posts: 509
    Kwiatkowski put in a 900-watt dig on the Karnemelkbeekstraat when he went with Sagan. No wonder no-one could follow.
  • smithy21
    smithy21 Posts: 2,204
    smithy21 wrote:
    I thought they were riding for Boonen, realised too late that he didn't have it, and went with Trentin who couldn't stay with Sagan and Kwia when it mattered.

    They were always riding for Trentin.

    Yes :lol:

    Even when they say they are not, if he's there, they are always riding for Boonen in my book. When he's 56 they will still try to drag him round to finish in the first group.
  • Turfle
    Turfle Posts: 3,762
    I've reached that point of the season where I root for a Sagan win.
  • LeePaton
    LeePaton Posts: 353
    I must admit I never seen Kwia winning a one dayer again when he moved to sky. I shall enjoy my humble pie.

    Could he be the next PR and Tour winner? Since he has his heart set on a GT.
    It's not so much about winning, I just hate losing.
  • Pross wrote:
    . How many more failures will Lefevre be allowed with the squad he's assembled? Terpstra looks like his best Classics rider but seems to get used as cannon fodder for the team's Belgians.

    Given he owns it id say as many as he wants.

    His problem is convincing so much talent to ride to a plan and Wilfred Peeters is not the man to do it
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • LeePaton wrote:
    I must admit I never seen Kwia winning a one dayer again when he moved to sky. I shall enjoy my humble pie.

    Could he be the next PR and Tour winner? Since he has his heart set on a GT.
    why?? you think since he joined Sky he will forget how to race a bike
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    LeePaton wrote:
    I must admit I never seen Kwia winning a one dayer again when he moved to sky. I shall enjoy my humble pie.

    Could he be the next PR and Tour winner? Since he has his heart set on a GT.

    It was a beautifully executed win. I really enjoyed that. Standard left the rest for dead for third. He doesn't seem to sprint, just goes really fast for a long time!
  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,852
    To put it in perspective though, everyone seems to beat Sagan in one-on-one finishes...
    Half man, Half bike
  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    inseine wrote:
    It was a beautifully executed win. I really enjoyed that. Standard left the rest for dead for third. He doesn't seem to sprint, just goes really fast for a long time!
    It was a long one alright - if you watch the sprint again you can see him in the background launching himself out of the chase group at exactly the same time Kwia jumps Sagan, when he must have been close to 400m out.
  • LeePaton
    LeePaton Posts: 353
    why?? you think since he joined Sky he will forget how to race a bike

    No just didn't see it as a focus of his if he moved, One week stages then a GT.
    inseine wrote:
    It was a beautifully executed win. I really enjoyed that. Standard left the rest for dead for third. He doesn't seem to sprint, just goes really fast for a long time!

    Lets hope they take it to an actual classic now. Would love a Stannard win in a
    It's not so much about winning, I just hate losing.
  • Shadowrider
    Shadowrider Posts: 483
    Spat the dummy.

    Worse looser than Oleg.

    http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ium=Social
  • Shadowrider
    Shadowrider Posts: 483
    Also has this been covered, team DD rider takes 15 hours to finish race.

    http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ium=Social
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    “The whole team was riding very well. At a certain moment we had six of the 25 leaders, then four of the 15, so we were the strongest team, but we didn’t win,” Lefevere added.

    Surely this is ringing alarm bells somewhere in his head.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    The man's an idiot, if you have six of the 25 leaders it's on you to sort yourself out, not complain about everyone else.

    As if anyone was going to work with Etixx to drag them into a potentially winning position - it's stupid.
  • thegibdog wrote:
    “The whole team was riding very well. At a certain moment we had six of the 25 leaders, then four of the 15, so we were the strongest team, but we didn’t win,” Lefevere added.

    Surely this is ringing alarm bells somewhere in his head.

    Oh my God, This
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • thchris1958
    thchris1958 Posts: 117
    Wow, good move by Team Sky, Kwiato wasn't supposed to be in the line-up


    https://twitter.com/michalkwiatek/statu ... 4752378880
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    Here's hoping for a massively fired-up response from Etixx at Gent-Whevs: where the prospect of another capitulation is almost too juicy to contemplate...
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Ah, when will people learn Lefevre treats the press in the same way as football managers do.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Just cos people say things doesn't mean they think it or believe it.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Ah, when will people learn Lefevre treats the press in the same way as football managers do.
    Someone on twitter, either Friebe or Inrng, said something like 'stand by for a Lefevere outburst to deflect attention away from his riders'

    By comment about him never having lost a race, he's just had them stolen from him, was actually a reworking of someone's comment about the football manager Neil Warnock - saying that he was greatest ever manager as he's never lost a match that was his fault.

    Edit: The tweet was from Inrng before the race had even ended: "Wonder if Lefevere is quietly preparing a polemic tweet so he can act as a lightning conductor, saving his riders from thunderous criticism"
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,613
    Just cos people say things doesn't mean they think it or believe it.

    When they keep saying the same thing over and over you start to doubt that.
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    Lefevere gets a lot of stick but he's not on his bike in the race. It's up to the riders, many of whom are vastly experienced, to ride more intelligently.
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    Just cos people say things doesn't mean they think it or believe it.
    No, but when the same thing keeps on happening it suggests that they're not thinking at all.

    I'm hoping Etixx do learn something from this though, it will make the next couple of weeks much more interesting.