2018 Ronde van Vlaanderen 1UWT. Antwerpen › Oudenaarde (266.5k) *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles

Starting this one a bit earlier to give a couple of days for wild speculation and Rick's Boonen reminiscing.







Previous Winners

2017: Phillipe Gilbert (bel)
2016: Peter Sagan (svk)
2015: Alexander Kristoff (nor)
2014: Fabian Cancellara (swi)
2013: Fabian Cancellara (swi)
2012: Tom Boonen (bel)
2011: Nick Nuyens (bel)
2010: Fabian Cancellara (swi)
2009: Stijn Devolder (bel)
2008: Stijn Devolder (bel)
2007: Alessandro Ballan (ita)
2006: Tom Boonen (bel)
2005: Tom Boonen (bel)

rick_chasey

Forget Boonen reminiscing; it’s 20 years since Museeuw won solo.

Here he is in the church van Geeradsbergen describing and reminiscing when the burning in his legs as an athlete at the top of his game was equivalent to an orgasm.

https://youtu.be/om-t_25lrZM @ 2:18

mididoctors

that map is totally pointless.

blazing_saddles

Well, those are the only 2 maps available and but for Lasterketa's nifty bit of handiwork, the profile would be even worse.
I guess I could have stopped at the thread title.
Starting race threads sure is a thankless task around here, sometimes.

Here is some more pointless information.

Het Nieuwsblad
5 stars:- Sagan
4 stars:- van Avermaet, Gilbert
3 stars:- Benoot, Vanmarcke, Kwiatkowski
2 stars:- Terpstra, Stybar, Trentin, Stuyven
1 star:- Nibali, Naesen, van Aert, Moscon, Lampaert

inseine

Apart from the fact that Nibali isnt riding the star rating shows how open the race is this year.

blazing_saddles

inseine wrote:

Apart from the fact that Nibali isnt riding the star rating shows how open the race is this year.

He's not?

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/ro ... /startlist

http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html ... d=MjgzNjM=

http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.be/sites/ ... 18_1_0.pdf

ducknumber1

Is it Sunday yet?

DeVlaeminck

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Well, those are the only 2 maps available and but for Lasterketa's nifty bit of handiwork, the profile would be even worse.
I guess I could have stopped at the thread title.
Starting race threads sure is a thankless task around here, sometimes.

But much appreciated by many of us

rick_chasey

Terpstra 2 stars???

#outrage

arnuf

Rick Chasey wrote:

Terpstra 2 stars???

#outrage

He's not Flemish, eh?

inseine

Blazing Saddles wrote:

inseine wrote:

Apart from the fact that Nibali isnt riding the star rating shows how open the race is this year.

He's not?

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/ro ... /startlist

http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html ... d=MjgzNjM=

http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.be/sites/ ... 18_1_0.pdf

Vincenzo Nibali: ‘I’m not going to risk my season in the Tour of Flanders’
Read more at
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racin ... b9vloK2.99

He's in, he's out, he's in......

peteco

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Well, those are the only 2 maps available and but for Lasterketa's nifty bit of handiwork, the profile would be even worse.
I guess I could have stopped at the thread title.
Starting race threads sure is a thankless task around here, sometimes.

But much appreciated by many of us

Me included.

Pete

peteco

Today's Niuewsblad (courtesy of Twitter and William Fotheringham).

gweeds

mididoctors wrote:

that map is totally pointless.

Much like your post.

Thanks Blazing - it's always appreciated.

milton50

Surprised they gave Sagan 5 stars.

I guess they must think he's been sandbagging the last few weeks.

rick_chasey

arnuf wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Terpstra 2 stars???

#outrage

He's not Flemish, eh?

Damn straight.

blazing_saddles

Rick Chasey wrote:

arnuf wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Terpstra 2 stars???

#outrage

He's not Flemish, eh?

Damn straight.

Inrng have ratings that you might prefer, Rick.

INRNG
5 stars:- No one
4 stars:- Peter Sagan, Philippe Gilbert
3 stars:- Greg Van Avermaet, Niki Terpstra
2 stars:- Sep Vanmarcke, Michał Kwiatkowski, Tiesj Benoot
1star:- Lampaert, Naesen, Štybar, Moscon, Roelandts, Boasson Hagen, Trentin, Stuyven, WvA

Their complete preview piece.

http://inrng.com/2018/03/ronde-van-vlaa ... more-33212

DeVlaeminck

Kwiatkowski a bit low there?

rick_chasey

Phil Gil at 4 stars with no wins this season and the winner of E3 and someone with great form at 3 stars is wrong.

lettingthedaysgoby

Can’t wait for this. So many guys in with a good shout of the victory.

shirley_basso

Rick (or anyone else) can you recommend somewhere showing this in central Cambridge?

Ta

rick_chasey

Espresso library is the likeliest candidate (no guarantees though)

No_Ta_Doctor

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Het Nieuwsblad
5 stars:- Sagan
4 stars:- van Avermaet, Gilbert
3 stars:- Benoot, Vanmarcke, Kwiatkowski
2 stars:- Terpstra, Stybar, Trentin, Stuyven
1 star:- Nibali, Naesen, van Aert, Moscon, Lampaert

*Spoiler alert:* Het Nieuwsblad was won by Valgren.

I'll get my coat.

Gweeds wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

that map is totally pointless.

Much like your post.

Thanks Blazing - it's always appreciated.

I think mididoctors was commenting on the graphic itself, rather than Blazing's topic starter.

milton50

Yeh, I can't speak for mididoctors but I didn't read it as having a go at Blazing for posting the map.

ocdupalais

What is it with map graphics in cycling generally? They are nearly always shite. It’s particularly bad in the big glossy road cycling periodicals and their travel pieces. The Cyclist, Procycling...I’m thinking of you, amongst others...
Basically this

m.r.m.

Hahahaha. It's utterly fitting for cycling. Always amateur hour, whenever possible.

Really looking forward to this year's race. Seems more open than for a very long time. Really no clear cut favourite outside of possibly Sagan.

ocdupalais

Tiesj Benoot has really impressed.
He’s been making GVA, in particular, pull some excellent faces so far this season. It’s a shame he obviously had the same ballet teacher as Froome...
It’s a shame, too, that his team is diminished: I can see him doing a lot of damage on Kwaremont- and particularly Paterberg. But then I can’t really see how he’d stay away solo to the finish unless he’d crushed the entire QS Team...

rick_chasey

OCDuPalais wrote:

Tiesj Benoot has really impressed.
He’s been making GVA, in particular, pull some excellent faces so far this season. It’s a shame he obviously had the same ballet teacher as Froome...
It’s a shame, too, that his team is diminished: I can see him doing a lot of damage on Kwaremont- and particularly Paterberg. But then I can’t really see how he’d stay away solo to the finish unless he’d crushed the entire QS Team...

21st Century Eddy Bosberg .

ocdupalais

My new tactic is to bet a few quid on the riders I nearly chose for PTP.

ocdupalais

Tiesj Benoot =

21st Century Eddy Bosberg

Mmm...Dreamy thought!

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

Tiesj Benoot has really impressed.
He’s been making GVA, in particular, pull some excellent faces so far this season. It’s a shame he obviously had the same ballet teacher as Froome...
It’s a shame, too, that his team is diminished: I can see him doing a lot of damage on Kwaremont- and particularly Paterberg. But then I can’t really see how he’d stay away solo to the finish unless he’d crushed the entire QS Team...

21st Century Eddy Bosberg .

Who's Eddy Bosberg? The only 20th century Eddy I know is Merckx. He's not Merckx.