Paris Roubaix 2021 pre race chat

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Comments

  • That was awesome.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    Pross said:

    So is the thinking still that it is 40km short?

    I'd like to see it pushed out as it develops and people start working out how to ride it. Think it should be as brutal as possible.

    Just that it's here though is a good start
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • I think today was about the best first edition you could hope for. Podium of genuine quality, a bit of mud to burnish its reputation (and make it a "proper" PR), and won in a style that'll be talked about for a while by a rider who can talk quite eloquently about what it means.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593
    ddraver said:

    Pross said:

    So is the thinking still that it is 40km short?

    I'd like to see it pushed out as it develops and people start working out how to ride it. Think it should be as brutal as possible.

    Just that it's here though is a good start
    That was my thinking too. The race was well and truly smashed to pieces when coverage started. Conditions won't have helped but starting with a shorter distance and building as riders get experience of the race seems sensible.

    It feels like women's racing has started to get some momentum now. Better coverage, better organised and financed teams, more high profile racing but possibly still lacking a bit of strength in depth. It feels a lot like I imagine, rightly or wrongly from historic clips, men's cycling was pre-1980s where a few very top riders dominate and can win pretty much any race (with a few others that can pull off a win from a bunch sprint).
  • Dani Rowe made the point that the better financing of women's cycling is already changing the sport because riders aren't selfishly racing for next year's contract. Means there's more of a team game than previously.
  • jimmyjams
    jimmyjams Posts: 784
    Pross said:

    Lizzie confirms she wasn't initially going out to win. I suspected it was a tactic that went "wrong" but I doubt she cares!

    I suppose the idea was for Deignan to spread out the field and lay the foundation down for a van Dijk victory, but van Dijk didn't look at all comfortable on the pavé and kept being dropped by the first 10-12 pursuers. In fact I think van Dijk may have been the first faller when 4 of them went down (she causing at least one, maybe all three, to fall).
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 22,025
    Pross said:

    I don't understand not wearing gloves at the best of times let alone in P-R but Magnus disagrees and he knows a little bit more than me

    I've never understood people's obsession with wearing gloves on a bike. I only wear them on a bike if it is freezing cold.
  • jimmyjams
    jimmyjams Posts: 784
    Of the 129 participants, 92 arrived at the finish, which strikes me as a very good percentage (even if 31 of them were outside the time limit).

    For some, considering they were judged not at all the type of riders who would manage the cobbles well, it was a very good result – like for Cordon-Ragot (8th) and Bastianelli (5th).
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078

    Pross said:

    I don't understand not wearing gloves at the best of times let alone in P-R but Magnus disagrees and he knows a little bit more than me

    I've never understood people's obsession with wearing gloves on a bike. I only wear them on a bike if it is freezing cold.
    Same. Don't like gloves or mitts at all on the bike
    Felt F1 2014
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  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593

    Pross said:

    I don't understand not wearing gloves at the best of times let alone in P-R but Magnus disagrees and he knows a little bit more than me

    I've never understood people's obsession with wearing gloves on a bike. I only wear them on a bike if it is freezing cold.
    You haven't crashed on a bit of road with loose stones?

    Generally it's the damage you can do if crashing. For example, why risk shredding your hands on Stage 1 of the Tour and being in pain or, at least, discomfort for the next week when you can easily protect them? On P-R though it's more I would have thought anything that protects you from the pounding would be a benefit. It feels a bit like not bothering with padded shorts.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    edited October 2021
    Are there highlights on free to air?
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 22,025
    edited October 2021
    Pross said:

    Pross said:

    I don't understand not wearing gloves at the best of times let alone in P-R but Magnus disagrees and he knows a little bit more than me

    I've never understood people's obsession with wearing gloves on a bike. I only wear them on a bike if it is freezing cold.
    You haven't crashed on a bit of road with loose stones?

    Generally it's the damage you can do if crashing. For example, why risk shredding your hands on Stage 1 of the Tour and being in pain or, at least, discomfort for the next week when you can easily protect them? On P-R though it's more I would have thought anything that protects you from the pounding would be a benefit. It feels a bit like not bothering with padded shorts.
    Crashing usually involves pain beyond grazed hands. I can't remember ever injuring my hands although most of my crashes have been off road.

    And get some comfortable bar tape.

    What did Magnus say?
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593

    Pross said:

    Pross said:

    I don't understand not wearing gloves at the best of times let alone in P-R but Magnus disagrees and he knows a little bit more than me

    I've never understood people's obsession with wearing gloves on a bike. I only wear them on a bike if it is freezing cold.
    You haven't crashed on a bit of road with loose stones?

    Generally it's the damage you can do if crashing. For example, why risk shredding your hands on Stage 1 of the Tour and being in pain or, at least, discomfort for the next week when you can easily protect them? On P-R though it's more I would have thought anything that protects you from the pounding would be a benefit. It feels a bit like not bothering with padded shorts.
    Crashing usually involves pain beyond grazed hands. I can't remember ever injuring my hands although most of my crashes have been off road.

    And get some comfortable bar tape.

    What did Magnus say?
    Maybe I'm scarred by a crash I had as a teenager before I started cycling regularly. I slid out on gravel on a bend coming down a remote mountain road in Donegal and ended up with my hands shredded and my friend's mum scrubbing the gravel out. I couldn't have held the bars the next day.

    Magnus reckoned in wet weather no gloves is better as feel is more important on slippery roads. Lizzie's hands were covered in blood at the end.
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,269
    elbowloh said:

    Pross said:

    I don't understand not wearing gloves at the best of times let alone in P-R but Magnus disagrees and he knows a little bit more than me

    I've never understood people's obsession with wearing gloves on a bike. I only wear them on a bike if it is freezing cold.
    Same. Don't like gloves or mitts at all on the bike
    You did see the raw skin from blisters on both her hands when she did the finish line pose?
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,486
    #endofdebate
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 22,025
    pblakeney said:

    #endofdebate

    Nah, just means she needs to ride gloveless more. See Boonen and MvDP as examples.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,486
    Not if she wants to keep her hands as soft as her face. 😉
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,459
    ddraver said:

    G'wan Lizzie!!

    First Womans winner, first British Winner!

    First winner married to a Donegal man.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,459
    ddraver said:

    G'wan Lizzie!!

    First Womans winner, first British Winner!

    First winner married to a Donegal man.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,486
    So good it's worth saying twice. 😉
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    edited October 2021
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,486
    Solid race. Still favour more length, because longer races give you more different types of winners depending on parcours. Short races favour the allroundy types. This is an overarching problem in women's cycling.

    Deignan's control on the wet cobbles was world class!
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444

    They need to sort out the disgraceful prize money discrepancy - Euro 7,500 pot for the ladies and Euro 90,000 for the men!

    Trek are paying the difference now apparently.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    Don't mind me, I'm just power sliding my bicycle...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593
    Pidcock missing this is feeling like a big mistake.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    Given in his season where he’s won a semi classic, a mountain bike World Cup race and an Olympic gold medal I guess he won’t be too disappointed.