Cobbled Classics 2021 ** Spoilers**

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  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,697
    I bloomin' missed most of the boys...

    Looks like a solo win for Dylan van Baarle

    Both MvdP & Pidcock looking a little wobbly
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,143
    That Viviani crash seemed to happen just before van Baarle went away - could that have disrupted things enough to give him the break?
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    Van Baarle has been looking good so no surprise there
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    By some way, the least exciting of any of the cobbled races.
    The weather can't have helped, but there were a lot of training going on out there.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,613
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/31/macron-to-unveil-tough-measures-as-covid-cases-surge-in-france?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

    Doesn’t bode well for Paris-Roubaix.
    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.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    blazing_saddles said:

    By some way, the least exciting of any of the cobbled races.
    The weather can't have helped, but there were a lot of training going on out there.

    Clearly no dramatics but Van Baarle looked solid throughout plus the chasing group looked to be working hard at times. I thought it was a classy win.
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,599
    webboo said:

    blazing_saddles said:

    By some way, the least exciting of any of the cobbled races.
    The weather can't have helped, but there were a lot of training going on out there.

    Clearly no dramatics but Van Baarle looked solid throughout plus the chasing group looked to be working hard at times. I thought it was a classy win.
    He's clearly strong. He showed it at E3 when he got across to the front group. You just wonder how he could possibly win if the big boys are up for it.
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    There was one or two big hitters in the chasing group and wasn’t Turbodurbo about. ;)
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    webboo said:

    There was one or two big hitters in the chasing group and wasn’t Turbodurbo about. ;)

    The problem was that Campenaerts wouldn't work and was sitting on.
    If he had been coming through, I doubt Van Baarle could have held such a slender lead for 50kms.
    I'm not taking away anything from his win. He took the opportunity brilliantly and surprised everybody with his performance.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    So I'm quite behind but I did finish G-W yesterday - at least I watched it on the right day of the week.

    My thoughts - I thought the Jumbo team performance was really excellent. Not as tactically showy as QS at E3 (because the tactic was all on WvA), but I thought the way they used their riders throught the race and esepcially van Hooydonk's final move to drop the sprinters from the group was quality work.
    _
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,652
    blazing_saddles said:

    webboo said:

    There was one or two big hitters in the chasing group and wasn’t Turbodurbo about. ;)

    The problem was that Campenaerts wouldn't work and was sitting on.
    If he had been coming through, I doubt Van Baarle could have held such a slender lead for 50kms.
    I'm not taking away anything from his win. He took the opportunity brilliantly and surprised everybody with his performance.
    Almost all long solo victories owe as much to the chasers getting tactical as the efforts of the soloist. Not to take anything away from the solo riders, but you have to produce an incredible sustained effort to keep a committed and organised group behind you. Wind direction also an obvious factor.
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  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,652
    The long range forecast for Roubaix suggests sods law will ensure it's cancelled
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  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Ooh, let's hope not although might get cancelled anyway with those winds!
  • dish_dash
    dish_dash Posts: 5,647
    PR postponed to 3 October...
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Ah FFS
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,613
    Balls.
    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.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    As pointed out by INRNG, it's now 1 week after the Worlds in Flanders, so all the riders targeting that will be in form for Roubaix, much like they would have been next week.

    Disappointing yes, but not unexpected and at least there's a silver lining
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    edited April 2021
    I guess we now know when we'll be having an Indian summer.

    Anyhow, could have been worse...........much worse.

    https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/paris-roubaix-organisers-offered-to-cut-cobbled-sectors-in-desperate-attempt-to-save-april-race-date/

    Prudhomme and his staff made a detailed reconnaissance of the Paris-Roubaix route last week to identify sectors of pavé, including the Forest of Arenberg, that they could cut from the route to stop crowds from gathering along the farm tracks and country roads.
    “The goal was to see if by removing certain sectors, we could have more easily controlled the potential crowds."
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661


    No Stybar on Sunday or the rest of the season.
    _
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    rick_chasey said:



    No Stybar on Sunday or the rest of the season.
    The rest of the season?
    I have said it before, but you really should try to read what you post, Rick.

    Following his appearance at last week’s Gent-Wevelgem, Zdenek Stybar reported to the Deceuninck – Quick-Step medical team that he was feeling unwell.

    After an investigation by our medical team, it was revealed that the rider from the Czech Republic was suffering from a heart rhythm problem, for which it was recommended that he would undergo an ablation procedure. This procedure was successfully carried out by Professor Pedro Brugada, on Wednesday, at a Brussels Hospital.

    Zdenek has now been cleared to return to training this weekend but it is felt that this Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen would be too early for him to return to competitive racing, so instead he will take some days off to spend time together with his family.
    “But I am lucky that this is a minor surgery, and I am grateful that it happened and has been fixed, not only with the perspective of the rest of my season......"
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    edited April 2021
    If this had been posted a day earlier, I would have said it had somehow been doctored and was an April Fool's joke.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Just watched Dwars. Very odd race, DvB didn't even look like he was riding hard until the last 15km, I lost track of the times he looked like getting caught before reopening his gap but I can't recall seeing such a disorganised chase. Hayter did a great job for him early on by sitting on the original group that may have pulled him back despite having been in the original break himself. Not sure what Camapanaerts was doing.

    I assume MvdP just gave up on there being any chance of a catch and sat up rather than fighting for a minor placing in a chipper. At least I hope that's the case as I have him for PTP tomorrow.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    I think that has been a key feature of the cobbled classics in the past few years

    I've rewatched a lot of them over the last few weeks and it seems if you strike out early you have a good hance if there is discord behind

    As there are lots of "favourites" nowadays it allows for a lot of gamesmanship in the group behind, while a solo attacker can just concentrate on maintaining a high average pace

    Examples off the top of my head are RVV 17, 18, 19, PR 17,18, a couple of KBKs (Stuyven and Asgreen I think) and this years DDV
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    I haven't really watched the more minor cobbled races in the past so it's been strange this season realising just how many races use the same roads. Watching the end of De Panne I thought the one junction looked like the one where the riders had gone the wrong way at E3?? but from the other direction and then they passed the funny boat building and I realised it was.

    Imagine the residents of Surrey if they had their roads closed 3 or 4 times in a few weeks rather than once a year for Ride London!
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    As was mentioned in the chat about Paris Roubaix, cycling in Belgium is a religion
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,953
    It was interesting seeing Pidcock up at the sharp end of the Ronde at the weekend. Traditionally the narrative has always been that classics, and especially cobbled classics, favour bigger guys with explosive power, and yet Pidcock, who is about 20kg lighter than MvdP, was doing ok.

    Is he just a very special talent and he'll be even more special in races more traditionally suited to light riders, or does the narrative need to change about classics being for the bigger guys?
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    Will be interesting to see if he goes to the Ardennes, that's for sure.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    takethehighroad said:

    Will be interesting to see if he goes to the Ardennes, that's for sure.


    He said he is
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,652
    Well he was doing alright until he wasn't... But we assume that's just a distance thing and unrelated to his size? He said he'd been a bit naive in how he used his energy. But it's also possible he's hanging in there by going deeper than the others and pays for it later.

    We know he has the technical skills to ride cobbles.

    Should be fun to watch in the Ardennes
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  • yorkshireraw
    yorkshireraw Posts: 1,632
    No_Ta_Doctor said:

    Well he was doing alright until he wasn't... But we assume that's just a distance thing and unrelated to his size? He said he'd been a bit naive in how he used his energy. But it's also possible he's hanging in there by going deeper than the others and pays for it later.

    We know he has the technical skills to ride cobbles.

    Should be fun to watch in the Ardennes

    He was up there with a few Km to go at MSR as well - although the demands to that point are very different vs. RVV.

    He looked to be flying then just popped. He's only 21 (?) though and been a pro a matter of weeks. You'd imagine a couple more seasons doing these races and he'll be right in the mix.

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