Cobbled Classics 2022 *** Spoilers***

gsk82

Blythe is going along nicely now. His only weakness is "Remco" who I assume must be his secret son.

Pross

poweredbyidris said:

For all the plaudits for Blythe, thought Rob Hatch was abysmal for the finish on Saturday. Must be difficult to commentate on a fella that's out on his own, but it was a solid 10 mins of hyperbole that got tiresome real quick

The repeating himself thing is getting worse too, the repeating himself thing is getting worse too!

DeadCalm

Pross said:

poweredbyidris said:

For all the plaudits for Blythe, thought Rob Hatch was abysmal for the finish on Saturday. Must be difficult to commentate on a fella that's out on his own, but it was a solid 10 mins of hyperbole that got tiresome real quick

The repeating himself thing is getting worse too, the repeating himself thing is getting worse too!

<<Hatch>>That is the best post on the Pro Forum EVER. People will be talking about that post for years to come.<</Hatch>>

m.r.m.

DeVlaeminck said:

I'm not saying he's a doper but assuming the data on blood lactate accumulation is accurate wouldn't some forms of doping affect that anyway ? In other words the doping might be the reason his physiology appears exceptional.

Not meant rhetorically.

Seems entirely plausible. I don't know enough about doping to say; but would certainly only be logical for doping efforts to target areas like lactate rate, VO2 max, or muscle synthesis.

Regarding Hatch, as mentioned before, he would probably be decent if he could simply tone himself down. I find him almost as unbearable as Kirby, but if he could simply relax and let the race breathe and not try to turn every race and every performance into the greatest ever, he may be decent.

I find Millar, Lloyd, Stephens much better. Blythe is really good. Jose Been is a bit like Hatch unfortunately. Haven't heard enough of McEwan yet.

By living in Europe for so long, you tend to pick up a little bit of languages through osmosis, so sometimes listening in to the other broadcasts on YouTube or wherever is quite nice. While hardly understanding them is a major issue, tonally I enjoy the Danish, Belgian and Dutch commentaries much more than the ones I'm fluent in (German, English).

Pross

I find Millar has the opposite effect, you could be watching the genuine 'race of the century' and he'd be talking about it like it was a dull Tour transition day.

m.r.m.

Yes, there is a point to that, but if you put him with 1-2 more excitable people it can balance out quite well.

JimD666

..

kingstongraham

Pross said:

I find Millar has the opposite effect, you could be watching the genuine 'race of the century' and he'd be talking about it like it was a dull Tour transition day.

Are you saying he needs to find some way to enhance his performance?

blazing_saddles

Next up, tomorrow afternoon we have the 76th Danilith Nokere Koerse 190kms.

The route has been slightly beefed up this year, with smattering of some minor climbs and some pave, most notably on the finishing circuit, which at first glance looks unchanged.

blazing_saddles

Quite a few crashes in the women's race, mostly on the cobbles and the ones that had coverage, were on uphill cobbles.

Lorena Wiebes made it two on the trot, to get the dominant Dutch back in charge.

blazing_saddles

I don’t really know where to put this but since we are talking Classic: Julian Alaphilppe has bronchitis and is out of Saturday’s Milan-San Remo.

TheBigBean

blazing_saddles said:

I don’t really know where to put this but since we are talking Classic: Julian Alaphilppe has bronchitis and is out of Saturday’s Milan-San Remo.

I'd put in the MSR thread.

jam1e

TheBigBean said:

blazing_saddles said:

I don’t really know where to put this but since we are talking Classic: Julian Alaphilppe has bronchitis and is out of Saturday’s Milan-San Remo.

I'd put in the MSR thread.

I'd put MSR in the shit small races thread.

blazing_saddles

This is what is left after the UCI take a perfectly fine, little stage race and reschedule and repackage it. Today's excuse for a Belgian semi classic.

JimD666

They missed a bit with the iron at the beginning

ocdupalais

I notice there’s still room for a 7th rider for UAE at E3, according to procyclingstats. What chance you-know-who might slot in as an option?

ocdupalais

None, it would seem - to answer my own question…

blazing_saddles

OK, it's time to get serious in Belgium with the run into Flanders and the first of a double header weekend. The most Ronde-like race on the calendar, E3 kicks things off tomorrow.





Hills:

Katteberg (750 m; 6%) – 175 km
La Houppe (1880 m; 4,8%) –116 km
Kanarieberg (1050 m; 7,7%) – 111 km
Oude Kruisberg (800 m; 4,8%) – 102 km
Knokteberg (1260 m; 7%) – 96 km
Hotondberg (1200 m; 4%) – 92 km
Kortekeer (1000 m; 6,4%) – 84 km
Taaienberg (700 m; 6,3%) – 80 km
Berg ten Stene (1300 m; 5,2%) – 70 km
Boigneberg (1000 m; 5,2%) – 67 km
Eikenberg (1250 m; 6,2%) – 62 km
Stationsberg (700 m; 3,2%) – 57 km
Kapelberg (750 m; 7,1%) – 45 km
Paterberg (400 m; 12,9%) – 42 km
Oude Kwaremont (2200 m; 4%) – 39 km
Karnemelkbeekstraat, E3 Col (1530 m; 4,9%) – 31 km
Tiegemberg (750 m; 5,6%) – 19 km


Top competitors:

VAN AERT Wout
MOHORIČ Matej
ASGREEN Kasper
KÜNG Stefan
LAPORTE Christophe
VAN POPPEL Danny
STUYVEN Jasper
VAN BAARLE Dylan
SAGAN Peter
SENECHAL Florian
PEDERSEN Mads
VALGREN Michael
TURGIS Anthony
VAN AVERMAET Greg

Preview with a Sporza narration:

andyp

Proper racing. Love it.

rick_chasey

Apologies if I missed it but is there a start list?

JimD666

rick_chasey said:

Apologies if I missed it but is there a start list?

For E3? https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/e3-harelbeke/2022/result/startlist

rick_chasey

Thanks. That's perfect.

JimD666

draft..........

JimD666

Honoré (Quickstep) and Ackermann (UAE) both non starters

rick_chasey

Some strong teams here but Quick Step ain't one of them.

Jumbo, AG2R, Total and Trek

blazing_saddles

rick_chasey said:

Some strong teams here but Quick Step ain't one of them.

Jumbo, AG2R, Total and Trek

Jumbo have lost Tosh after a crash

blazing_saddles

We are now live with 111kms to go with Dan Lloyd and Robbie McEwen on comms

takethehighroad

Onto the Kruisberg

This is proper Flandrien

1st Jupiler of the day being opened

rick_chasey

Glorious weather.

blazing_saddles

takethehighroad said:

Onto the Kruisberg

This is proper Flandrien

1st Jupiler of the day being opened

Definitely, so I think I will join you with a Leffe.