Rate the Race: Paris-Roubaix 2021

No_Ta_Doctor
No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,692
edited October 2021 in Pro race
So after 19 years wait for rain (and 2.5 years wait for *any* race) we finally got a wet one.
Epic conditions, riders looking like golems, crashes galore and only the strongest of the strong prevailed. How do you rate it?
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Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Not worth the 900 day wait (or 19 years, however you want) but it was missing some juice because of the position on the calendar.

    It was a good race and it felt like a good PR. Not a classic.
    _
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    A great spectacle but not a great race to watch.

    It's weirdly French Fighter of me but I didnt enjoy the sit in sprinter beating riders who were stronger. I'm usually understanding of it but it sat badly yesterday for no reasons I can make out whatsoever...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 22,025
    I always struggle a bit remembering past races, but probably the second best of the last 10 editions.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,486
    Too much of a lottery for me.
    Entertaining to watch as a spectacle though.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
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  • poweredbyidris
    poweredbyidris Posts: 848
    Other than Moscon's problems, nothing really happened between Arenberg and the last 100m. Was set up brilliantly in the early stages, but just fizzled out
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Probably the best edition I've ever watched (which isn't saying much) apart from Matt Haymans win.
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,127
    epic battle. I had intended just watching the final 30km but sat down at midday and didn't get up until 5pm. Amazing riding in those conditions. Three big battles going on out on the road with always a chance it would come back together, or not.
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  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    shirley_basso said:

    Probably the best edition I've ever watched (which isn't saying much) apart from Matt Haymans win.

    Agree
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,692
    An 8 from me. Gains a couple of points for being the first wet edition I've watched live, but lacked some tactical intrigue
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  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    edited October 2021
    It was the first edition for a few years in which we had a breakaway form many kilometres before the cobbled started.
    Not just that, but it was both big and strong.
    The major disappointment there being that they lost Kung, Oss and Doull.
    Plus we saw the mighty DQS dismantled, rider by rider.
    The conditions gave emphasis to the endurance and suffering that the riders experience over the course of 6 hours and 260kms.

    Of course, nothing is ever perfect and we all have our idea of what constitutes a great race.
    But if this wasn't a such an edition for some, I would suggest that it could be a lot longer than 900 days before they get their version of a proper Paris-Roubaix.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • andyrac
    andyrac Posts: 1,205
    Gave it an 8; would have been a 9 if MvdP had won.

    I have to admit, I'm not a fan of Colbrelli, and I don't know why ( he may well be a decent chap) - and I don't really have a problem with his tactics; you do what you can to increase your odds of winning; but I can't warm to him for some reason.
    All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."
  • hanshotfirst
    hanshotfirst Posts: 403
    What more do you people want from a Roubaix?
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,108
    I'm rating it against expectation - and with PR expectation is high. So a 7 - a decent edition of the race.
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  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Oddly I always have pretty low expectations of PR, it's Flanders I always expect to be a belter.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    hanshotfirst said:

    What more do you people want from a Roubaix?

    Boonen and Canc in top form, obvs.
    _
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593
    Thought it was worth the wait for a wet edition and despite a few comments that it made it a lottery the cream still rose most of the way to the top.

    It would have been good to see what would have happened if Moscon had the puncture but hadn't fallen as it would have forced the three chasing into being a bit more proactive and it would have been good if the Van Aert group provided a bit more jeopardy in their chase but the race was in the balance for a long time and gave us a close finish. Hopefully Vermeersch is a Classics contender in the making and not a one hit wonder.
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,183
    shirley_basso said:

    Oddly I always have pretty low expectations of PR, it's Flanders I always expect to be a belter.

    I concur very much with this, and really enjoyed it.

    Really can’t see how anyone could give it below 7.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    Not seen many that are a more enthralling watch.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,912
    edited October 2021
    "Where is the help? There is no help"

    Only beaten by 1994 edition

    https://youtu.be/Ok5DktZVohk
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,823
    Paris Roubaix will always rate highly. The first 200 k were great. but then it was a survival race rather than a tactical one so it slightly fizzled out.

    A lack of DQS at the front always makes a race poorer, too
  • alan_a
    alan_a Posts: 1,589
    Thank you for posting this. Love it,
    mididoctors said:

    "Where is the help? There is no help"

    Only beaten by 1994 edition

    https://youtu.be/Ok5DktZVohk

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  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    Being a Mavic mechanic with 4 wheels when 5 angry riders surround you must require some serious crisis negotiation skills...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • andyrr
    andyrr Posts: 1,823
    takethehighroad said:

    Paris Roubaix will always rate highly. The first 200 k were great. but then it was a survival race rather than a tactical one so it slightly fizzled out.

    A lack of DQS at the front always makes a race poorer, too

    I rated it as an 8 but for me it’s maybe closer to a 9 - at 200k there were multiple individual potential winners and multiple groups where a winner could emerge from which helped hold attention to the end. Could Moscon hold on, would vdP break his companions or burn himself out, who would hit misfortune, could van Aert pull clear of his group etc. Such a different race to any other recently seen it was a great race to sit and watch unfold.
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,486
    edited October 2021
    I loved it. Would have preferred it slightly drier to make it still enormously skill based, but slightly less of a crap shoot.
    Nonetheless, i watched pretty much the entire race and the tension build up was palpable. It had everything a great one day race needs with big favourites (working too much 😝), wild cards from the break still being there and unlikely potential winners. Not to mention Moscon's enormous heartbreak.
    So many riders had such incredible rides. It was amazing to watch and I enjoyed every minute. Slightly less punishing conditions would have maybe resulted in more attacks towards the end like in the Boonen Hayman edition, but that isn't enough to detract points.
    It was my favourite race of the year along with Strade Bianche. 10/10. Would watch again (in 6 months 😉).
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,127
    m.r.m. said:

    Would watch again (in 6 months 😉).

    with my goldfish memory I could probably watch it again in 6 months on replay having forgotten I'd watched it in the autumn

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  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,719
    I went for 8, but for the spectacle rather than it being the greatest race ever.

    Moscon, though :)
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