"La Doyenne" Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2022 ***Spoilers***

DeVlaeminck

You mean in terms of grand tours? Yes his type of power suits long climbs and time trials - if he can get his power to weight right that could be his future.

m.r.m.

blazing_saddles said:

m.r.m. said:

Any chasing group with Valverde in it will usually not make the catch. He is utterly destructive in his riding. He will usually not contribute which gets the others frustrated to no longer work. Not really finding fault, because he traditionally had the strongest sprint by far among climbers, so the case can be made for him to save it for the sprint. He also seems to be much more content with coming second or third than other great champions of which he is one, which again ties into his unwillingness to work and sprint for second.
You could call it negative racing, but his consistent results are borne from this.

After the big crash, Valverde's chasing group made the catch and that time everybody else happily sat behind the Movistar duo.
The group of favourites were all playing the same, "keep my nose out of the wind", game. They were all running pretty much on empty.
WVA is much more of an anchor these days.

So it's a bit harsh pointing the finger at the guy who finished 6th in their group sprint, for the failure to make the catch.

You are definitely right about WVA being the anchor now days, but my point does still stand. Valverde gets his teammates to close the gaps, but doesn't really work much himself usually. It's a little different when he tries to win 1 week GC races. In one day races he genuinely doesn't try and saves it for the sprint with there being super famous examples like the WC RR that Rui Costa won (if I'm not mistaken) and it was definitely the case yesterday.
I'm not really finding fault with him. He rides to his strengths. His sprint is/was outstanding, but he certainly never throws caution to the wind.

To me having him in the chasing group almost guarantees the catch won't be made. 😛
I greatly admire his professionalism and all year form though. His race craft is great as well, but I do wish he would risk a little more. Probably too late for that though.

m.r.m.

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

You sort of get the feeling Evenepoel is always going to have to win this way, don't you think?

Something about him reminds me of Devolder.

If he wants to maximise his chances of winning he really needs to be on a team who have THE fast finisher for the races he can win.

But way better, no?

I'm still looking forward to seeing what happens when he makes an effort to lose weight, as he surely will. PCS reckons he's 171cm and 64kg. That's not fat, but there's scope for losing at least 7kg without being underweight.

For one day races being a little heavy probably works for him. He is still the same in terms of aero and probably has slightly more power. Helps with soloing away. He doesn't have any real kick, so won't really outsprint anyone. Don't think the comparison to Cancellara is apt (at most very early Cancellara). He is more like a tiny Küng.

For GC he will definitely need to drop that weight. No way he can stay with Pogacar currently.

rick_chasey

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

You sort of get the feeling Evenepoel is always going to have to win this way, don't you think?

Something about him reminds me of Devolder.

If he wants to maximise his chances of winning he really needs to be on a team who have THE fast finisher for the races he can win.

But way better, no?

I'm still looking forward to seeing what happens when he makes an effort to lose weight, as he surely will. PCS reckons he's 171cm and 64kg. That's not fat, but there's scope for losing at least 7kg without being underweight.

I mean more tactically. It seems Remco's real strength is he is very good solo - not because he's a massive wattage guy but he's very aero for his size and so he's also decent uphill as he's small.

So that lends itself well to long-range attacks, but isn't so helpful when you arrive anywhere near the finish with a bunch of people. There will be other more explosive riders who can follow him from nearer out.

That is rather like Devolder - he was best either in a TT or soloing out front.

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

m.r.m. said:

Any chasing group with Valverde in it will usually not make the catch. He is utterly destructive in his riding. He will usually not contribute which gets the others frustrated to no longer work. Not really finding fault, because he traditionally had the strongest sprint by far among climbers, so the case can be made for him to save it for the sprint. He also seems to be much more content with coming second or third than other great champions of which he is one, which again ties into his unwillingness to work and sprint for second.
You could call it negative racing, but his consistent results are borne from this.

After the big crash, Valverde's chasing group made the catch and that time everybody else happily sat behind the Movistar duo.
The group of favourites were all playing the same, "keep my nose out of the wind", game. They were all running pretty much on empty.
WVA is much more of an anchor these days.

So it's a bit harsh pointing the finger at the guy who finished 6th in their group sprint, for the failure to make the catch.

I felt that it was the Bora duo that seemed to disrupt the one chase that looked like it might work. The 3 riders were closing rapidly, the group behind included the 2 Bora riders and when they made contact they seemed to try missing their turn which ultimately stopped the momentum of the chase.

DeadCalm

rick_chasey said:

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

You sort of get the feeling Evenepoel is always going to have to win this way, don't you think?

Something about him reminds me of Devolder.

If he wants to maximise his chances of winning he really needs to be on a team who have THE fast finisher for the races he can win.

But way better, no?

I'm still looking forward to seeing what happens when he makes an effort to lose weight, as he surely will. PCS reckons he's 171cm and 64kg. That's not fat, but there's scope for losing at least 7kg without being underweight.

I mean more tactically. It seems Remco's real strength is he is very good solo - not because he's a massive wattage guy but he's very aero for his size and so he's also decent uphill as he's small.

So that lends itself well to long-range attacks, but isn't so helpful when you arrive anywhere near the finish with a bunch of people. There will be other more explosive riders who can follow him from nearer out.

That is rather like Devolder - he was best either in a TT or soloing out front.

Totally accept all of this if we are only talking major one day races. With regard to Devolder, I get the similarities, and although I firmly believe Evenepoel is way better, I suspect he'll be marked tighter, so it may be that he doesn't get many more victories in classics or monuments than Devolder unless, as you say, he has a WVA equivalent to act as anchor.

The weight loss would be all about achieving something in a Grand Tour, which he's not going to do with his current weight.

rick_chasey

Yeah sure - it’s more the tactical sitch.

phreak

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

You sort of get the feeling Evenepoel is always going to have to win this way, don't you think?

Something about him reminds me of Devolder.

If he wants to maximise his chances of winning he really needs to be on a team who have THE fast finisher for the races he can win.

But way better, no?

I'm still looking forward to seeing what happens when he makes an effort to lose weight, as he surely will. PCS reckons he's 171cm and 64kg. That's not fat, but there's scope for losing at least 7kg without being underweight.

I mean more tactically. It seems Remco's real strength is he is very good solo - not because he's a massive wattage guy but he's very aero for his size and so he's also decent uphill as he's small.

So that lends itself well to long-range attacks, but isn't so helpful when you arrive anywhere near the finish with a bunch of people. There will be other more explosive riders who can follow him from nearer out.

That is rather like Devolder - he was best either in a TT or soloing out front.

Totally accept all of this if we are only talking major one day races. With regard to Devolder, I get the similarities, and although I firmly believe Evenepoel is way better, I suspect he'll be marked tighter, so it may be that he doesn't get many more victories in classics or monuments than Devolder unless, as you say, he has a WVA equivalent to act as anchor.

The weight loss would be all about achieving something in a Grand Tour, which he's not going to do with his current weight.

He said after his Lombardia crash that he lost 5kg and was 59/60kg.

https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/evenepoel-says-weight-loss-due-to-shedding-puppy-fat-not-muscle-mass/

blazing_saddles

CW have done the usual piece, rating the teams performance, for the whole of the classics season.
Bound to be one or two talking points among their score awards.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/classics-team-ratings-how-did-each-mens-squad-perform

50x11

blazing_saddles said:

CW have done the usual piece, rating the teams performance, for the whole of the classics season.
Bound to be one or two talking points among their score awards.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/classics-team-ratings-how-did-each-mens-squad-perform

Is there any cycling media that isn't behind a pay wall now? A terrible way for a sport trying to gain fans. Fair enough on genuine articles or interviews, but on race results and puff pieces. Are their product reviews behind pay walls?

webboo

50x11 said:

blazing_saddles said:

CW have done the usual piece, rating the teams performance, for the whole of the classics season.
Bound to be one or two talking points among their score awards.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/classics-team-ratings-how-did-each-mens-squad-perform

Is there any cycling media that isn't behind a pay wall now? A terrible way for a sport trying to gain fans. Fair enough on genuine articles or interviews, but on race results and puff pieces. Are their product reviews behind pay walls?

Sticky bottle has a reasonable amount of International news plus everything that happens in the Emerald Isle.

andyrac

50x11 said:

blazing_saddles said:

CW have done the usual piece, rating the teams performance, for the whole of the classics season.
Bound to be one or two talking points among their score awards.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/classics-team-ratings-how-did-each-mens-squad-perform

Is there any cycling media that isn't behind a pay wall now? A terrible way for a sport trying to gain fans. Fair enough on genuine articles or interviews, but on race results and puff pieces. Are their product reviews behind pay walls?

I have to agree; Cycling Tips, and Cycling News allow, is it 5?? free articles per month. Even old articles/ tech reviews count. That's pretty poor in my view. VeloNews is similar. And there seems to be more articles on Pinkbike which are 'beta' behind a paywall.

MattFalle

If you select "private" mode on your search engine or clear all cookies it sometimes resets it all and allows you to view more articles

50x11

MattFalle said:

If you select "private" mode on your search engine or clear all cookies it sometimes resets it all and allows you to view more articles

Both Cycling weekly and Cycling tips allow you 5 more articles if you do this then you're back to square one.

I would pay for Cycling tips but they are soooo inconsistent with their articles sometimes going months without anything of interest and their reviews are clearly open to the highest bidder that'll pump some advertising money into the site.

JimD666

draft clearance

orraloon

Pidcock at front of peloton though.

Wtf is this doing here and now? Ah. Think at the time I got an 'awaiting moderation' notification, I assume because of the surname. Spot on for a cycling website innit. The modbot is not v efficient is it.