E3 Harelbeke 2018 *spoilers*
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That was a brilliant race. Hope the rest of the spring is as good.0
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Marshall was dragging him by the sleevepottssteve wrote:What was all that about? Not happy with the marshall?0 -
It would have mattered.
That's Terpstra for you."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Shirley Basso wrote:
Marshall was dragging him by the sleevepottssteve wrote:What was all that about? Not happy with the marshall?
Fair enough.Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0 -
Off to bed....Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0
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Why does everyone hate Terpstra btw?0
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Well that was a fun race. I was a few minutes delayed, as I got spoiled on here with about 6km to go according to my feed...0
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So I missed the final 50km but it looks like Quick step played a blinder.
Terpstra has a rep in the peloton for being a bit nasty in his competitivness for who whoever was asking.0 -
That top 10 is rock hard ! What a lot of talent there is !0
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Well just watched the highlights. Quite a few interesting pointers for the next couple of weeks. For me:
1) Gilbert looks close to the level of last year
2) GvA has a few more percent to find
3) QS look like they are working well tactically for once
4) Not sure what to make of Sagan's ride
5) Benoot needs another year in his legs
6) Moscon is my hero0 -
Milton50 wrote:Well just watched the highlights. Quite a few interesting pointers for the next couple of weeks. For me:
1) Gilbert looks close to the level of last year
2) GvA has a few more percent to find
3) QS look like they are working well tactically for once
4) Not sure what to make of Sagan's ride
5) Benoot needs another year in his legs
6) Moscon is my hero
From what I saw (brilliant race btw)although Gilbert was obviously good he had a pretty armchair ride and failed to bridge across to his teammates. Benoot worked harder than anyone and still managed a good finish. Maybe Sagan is hoping to be as rubbish as possible before smashing P-R and Flanders.0 -
BMC blew that. They had 3 in the final chase group. I think they didn't want to commit to work on the front as a team for fear that it would expose them at the finish and got nowt out of it other than a measly 3rd. You had GVA and then Roelandts attacking whilst Kung was doing his utmost to close gaps smoothly. Nonsense...0
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Quickstep, minus that one big standout star, have absolutely nailed the teamwork. Immense record in the smaller races leading up to this, 6 from 6, wins coming from all over the place too. I am so excited for the rest of the racing, GW can't come soon enough, ditto Flanders0
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inseine wrote:Milton50 wrote:Well just watched the highlights. Quite a few interesting pointers for the next couple of weeks. For me:
1) Gilbert looks close to the level of last year
2) GvA has a few more percent to find
3) QS look like they are working well tactically for once
4) Not sure what to make of Sagan's ride
5) Benoot needs another year in his legs
6) Moscon is my hero
From what I saw (brilliant race btw)although Gilbert was obviously good he had a pretty armchair ride and failed to bridge across to his teammates. Benoot worked harder than anyone and still managed a good finish. Maybe Sagan is hoping to be as rubbish as possible before smashing P-R and Flanders.
Yeah, Benoot is a hardman for sure. Really excited to see what he does in the next few years.0 -
Even if no one else was willing to bring it back surely they would have had a decent shot with Kung and GVA/Roelandts working to bring it back on their own once it was down to under 30 seconds. Leaving GVA/Roelandts a decent shot at finishing it off vs the others in the group, even if they did refuse to work.OCDuPalais wrote:BMC blew that. They had 3 in the final chase group. I think they didn't want to commit to work on the front as a team for fear that it would expose them at the finish and got nowt out of it other than a measly 3rd. You had GVA and then Roelandts attacking whilst Kung was doing his utmost to close gaps smoothly. Nonsense...
I think unless they did that BMC's strength was always going to work against the final chase. Handling it like they did they would have been better off with 2 riders in the group.0 -
Terpstra continues his tradition of quoting E grade Eurotrash songs in his race winning interviews:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 5aTwj&_rdr0 -
BMC are the cycling equivalent of a Mourinho team - far too focused on defence and seemingly unwilling to commit to attack. I wonder if it comes from focusing on GTs so much, where shutting down the race and controlling it is a well used and successful tactic?
QuickStep are the diametric opposite, they use their strength in depth to create race winning situations by attacking to open up the race.0 -
ShutupJens wrote:Quickstep, minus that one big standout star, have absolutely nailed the teamwork. Immense record in the smaller races leading up to this, 6 from 6, wins coming from all over the place too. I am so excited for the rest of the racing, GW can't come soon enough, ditto Flanders
I predicted in the 2018 predictions thread that they would have a great season without the burden of tom boonen. He's been a liability the past couple of seasons."Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago0 -
Hence they both have the potential to look brilliantly powerful and in control, but also completely balls things up by sticking with their usual game plan when it's not appropriate.andyp wrote:BMC are the cycling equivalent of a Mourinho team - far too focused on defence and seemingly unwilling to commit to attack. I wonder if it comes from focusing on GTs so much, where shutting down the race and controlling it is a well used and successful tactic?
QuickStep are the diametric opposite, they use their strength in depth to create race winning situations by attacking to open up the race.
Sounds about right.0 -
gsk82 wrote:ShutupJens wrote:Quickstep, minus that one big standout star, have absolutely nailed the teamwork. Immense record in the smaller races leading up to this, 6 from 6, wins coming from all over the place too. I am so excited for the rest of the racing, GW can't come soon enough, ditto Flanders
I predicted in the 2018 predictions thread that they would have a great season without the burden of tom boonen. He's been a liability the past couple of seasons.
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Rick Chasey wrote:gsk82 wrote:ShutupJens wrote:Quickstep, minus that one big standout star, have absolutely nailed the teamwork. Immense record in the smaller races leading up to this, 6 from 6, wins coming from all over the place too. I am so excited for the rest of the racing, GW can't come soon enough, ditto Flanders
I predicted in the 2018 predictions thread that they would have a great season without the burden of tom boonen. He's been a liability the past couple of seasons.
I seem to remember you were very doubtful QS would have a great season. Well they ballsed up M-S so you might be right but yesterday was another story.0 -
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Rick Chasey wrote:The quick step good in Belgian one dayers prediction is hardly the big short is it?
Quite, but if those one layers end up including L-B-L and Flanders it blows your prediction. You're still probably a safe ground saying they won't win two monuments, I just think they at least have a fair chance.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:The quick step good in Belgian one dayers prediction is hardly the big short is it?
They're always going to look better than other teams in the races that they focus on.. but if you looked at the team work the last few weeks and then compared it to say, 2015, it is a huge contrast. I thought driving it from 90+km out was going to be a mistake but they actually controlled it perfectly, rather than getting loads of numbers in the finale and not being able to capitalise0 -
