**Paris - Roubaix 2019** **Spoiler Thread**

kingstongraham

It's not a tactical error to do all you can to stay in the front group 60km from the finish.

shirley_basso

Re: MSR, Gilbert has a special bonus built into his contract for PR and MSR so next year he may well have the team riding for him.

bobmcstuff

Worth noting that Bora had a few crashes, Oss went down quite hard at one point and he would usually be there fairly deep into the race. Obviously nothing like the team from DQS but Sagan would have been slightly better supported were it not for crashes.

GVA needs a better team. He was far too far back on a lot of sectors though, since I had him for PTP I was keeping a pretty close eye on him. If he had the legs he says he had there is no excuse for being that far back at critical points.

Alejandrosdog

thegreatdivide wrote:

Sep Vanmarcke had to ride 10k in the 11 sprocket until the team could get him a new bike. The rear mech had given up after an earlier tumble.

ah i wondered why he was so pi d off.

Alejandrosdog

Alejandrosdog wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Sep Vanmarcke had to ride 10k in the 11 sprocket until the team could get him a new bike. The rear mech had given up after an earlier tumble.

ah i wondered why he was so pi d off.

Also i thought he was much older, SVM is only 30 so hopefully he will get another opportunity. I want to see him actually win.

phreak

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

Alejandrosdog

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's appeared a little off the boil for a couple of years now to me.

nickice

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

phreak

nickice wrote:

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Mad_Malx

phreak wrote:

nickice wrote:

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Swift has two MSR podiums?

RichN95.

phreak wrote:

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Doull and Lawless made the podium in semi-classics, but yes they need to do better. As I mentioned on another thread, Ineos are investing heavily in Antwerp so they'll need to hire a big hitter.

phreak

Mad_Malx wrote:

phreak wrote:

nickice wrote:

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Swift has two MSR podiums?

Sorry, I was talking this year. Swift has been injured for most of the year I believe, and both Moscon and Rowe have had some fitness issues (Rowe obviously so), but still, it seems a poor showing. In their time in the sport, they've never really mastered the classics, and two wins in a decade is fairly meagre for a team with their resources. This year just seems to have been worse than most.

tailwindhome

In fairness their best cobbles rider is dicking about at the Tour

bobmcstuff

RichN95 wrote:

phreak wrote:

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Doull and Lawless made the podium in semi-classics, but yes they need to do better. As I mentioned on another thread, Ineos are investing heavily in Antwerp so they'll need to hire a big hitter.

I think it would take a more fundamental shift in focus towards the classics, of course they *could* hire all the best classics riders like DQS, but that's not where they are focussed at the moment. It's always been fairly secondary to the GTs.

gweeds

Come the Giro and Tour and Vuelta it won’t matter. For the man in the street July is what matters and largely true for most sponsors outside of the Belgian specialists no?

dave milne

Good (pre PR) interview with Phil G here https://rouleur.cc/editorial/philippe-gilbert/

Mad_Malx

phreak wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

Swift has two MSR podiums?

Sorry, I was talking this year. Swift has been injured for most of the year I believe, and both Moscon and Rowe have had some fitness issues (Rowe obviously so), but still, it seems a poor showing. In their time in the sport, they've never really mastered the classics, and two wins in a decade is fairly meagre for a team with their resources. This year just seems to have been worse than most.

Ah - looks like my mistake.
TBH these are very much outliers for Swift, must have been something particular about his endurance that made him competitive (twice) after monster distance, not a talent he's been able to engage very often.

RichN95.

bobmcstuff wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

phreak wrote:

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Doull and Lawless made the podium in semi-classics, but yes they need to do better. As I mentioned on another thread, Ineos are investing heavily in Antwerp so they'll need to hire a big hitter.

I think it would take a more fundamental shift in focus towards the classics, of course they *could* hire all the best classics riders like DQS, but that's not where they are focussed at the moment. It's always been fairly secondary to the GTs.

But that's what I'm saying, with the new sponsor having considerable interests in Flanders they may look to distribute their focus more evenly.

Alejandrosdog

phreak wrote:

nickice wrote:

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Its because theyve focused like mad on GT success. its easier to control in many respects, whereas the classics present themselves on the day, its all or nothing.

pinno

Alejandrosdog wrote:

phreak wrote:

nickice wrote:

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Its because theyve focused like mad on GT success. its easier to control in many respects, whereas the classics present themselves on the day, its all or nothing.

Yes - a la US Postal.
It would take more than one 'big hitter' to create realistic classics campaigns (as RichN said) but I don't know that even the current staff have the credentials to mount that particular hill.
Maybe a 2nd DS?
A lot depends on who and where their marketing is primarily aimed at.

nickice

I wonder if any other teams would take Stannard and Rowe.

Matthewfalle

based on?

nickice

Matthewfalle wrote:

based on?

What? I was more thinking about whether Rowe really deserves a leadership role. Which other team would look at Rowe and make him leader for Paris-Roubaix.

andyp

thegreatdivide wrote:

Sep Vanmarcke had to ride 10k in the 11 sprocket until the team could get him a new bike. The rear mech had given up after an earlier tumble.

Someone needs to teach Vanmarcke how to reset a Di2 rear mech when it's gone into crash recovery mode.

alanparsons

andyp wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Sep Vanmarcke had to ride 10k in the 11 sprocket until the team could get him a new bike. The rear mech had given up after an earlier tumble.

Someone needs to teach Vanmarcke how to reset a Di2 rear mech when it's gone into crash recovery mode.

Looks like it was a bit more than crash mode

https://twitter.com/EFprocycling/status ... gr%5Etweet

Surprised he didn't take a bike off the roof of neutral service though, he was having long conversations with them.

lettingthedaysgoby

"alanparsons” wrote:

Surprised he didn't take a bike off the roof of neutral service though, he was having long conversations with them.

I was thinking that too. I know they’d all rather have their own, but at that point surely any working bike is better than being stuck in one gear?

shipley

andyp wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Sep Vanmarcke had to ride 10k in the 11 sprocket until the team could get him a new bike. The rear mech had given up after an earlier tumble.

Someone needs to teach Vanmarcke how to reset a Di2 rear mech when it's gone into crash recovery mode.

He had several attempts at resetting it to no avail. Much of the video shows him fumbling with the Di2 port trying a reset which, given the terrain, is some feat. Poor bugger, such bad luck.

shipley

Alejandrosdog wrote:

phreak wrote:

nickice wrote:

phreak wrote:

It was mentioned briefly earlier, but what's happened to Stannard? I suspect winning a monument was always beyond him, but he hasn't been anywhere near the final selection in any cobbled race this year.

He's had no significant classics results for three seasons in a row. He hasn't even made the top 10 since 2016. Maybe he peaked aged 27/28 and has been on the decline since.

I suppose to be fair, Sky's classics campaign has been pretty rubbish in general, with the likes of Moscon and Puccio doing nothing, Rowe coming up short and Kwia seemingly being turned into a GC rider. They've been nowhere in any of the classics thus far, with only Kwia doing anything of note with his 3rd in MSR. Apart from him, the best placing has been 18th in Flanders. For the richest team in the world, that's pretty poor.

Its because theyve focused like mad on GT success. its easier to control in many respects, whereas the classics present themselves on the day, its all or nothing.

Agreed and long may it continue. SKY or whatever hopefully will never crack the classics......they are classics for a reason. Exciting, unpredictable, iconic and locally supported with genuine affection. Their ‘lockdown’ tactics would be appalling. I do hope they stick to the TdF and leave the rest alone - it’s a pleasure seeing ‘proper’ racing.

pinno

Shipley wrote:

I do hope they stick to the TdF and leave the rest alone - it’s a pleasure seeing ‘proper’ racing.

The TdF hasn't been a proper race since... 1987 but you're right.

Alejandrosdog

The thing with the classics is after the teams are burned it’s man on man and not in a mincing mountain goat kind of way