2024 Classics thread - Not a spoiler thread
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LOL
Milan still managed a more than decent sprint.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Get TF In!
That's how you beat MvdP. You just need the 3rd/4th strongest classics rider in the peloton, that thrives when the going is hard, and a perfect team performance to work him over. Easy really
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Let's see where he is next week when it really matters.........
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
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Milan with 5th after working his bollocks off for Mads earlier. Chapeau
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The one that really counts for Mdas is a week after that.
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That's just standard MvdP though. Training ride really.
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I am probably out of synch here, but I found that a pretty dull edition of the race.
Pedersen always had the beating of MvDP and the peloton were never in it.
Another long range sort out.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.1 -
Strange take imo. They didn't have much more than 30" over the peloton for most of the race. Mads got beaten in a sprint by Phillipsen, Mathews and Pog a couple of weeks ago and MvdP has been riding everyone off his wheel with ease recently. No way was the sprint a foregone conclusion, and the work that went into gaining that advantage was incredible. The pack came in just 16" after the winners. Superb tactics from Trek.
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I enjoyed the mid section of the race, but when the peloton were riding side by side into the Kemmelberg for the final time and the gap grew, for me, everything was decided.
I guess it’s because I rate Pedersen as sprinter, but not MvDP. Pithie hanging on would have made things a lot less predictable, imo.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.1 -
Misses Terpstra winding people up in the lead group haha.
It was a pretty standard GW, arguably with a weaker chase.
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No, felt the same. I think the action came early, once Mads and VDP had a decent lead the only real question was which would win. Not much concerted chase behind.
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Lead was around 90” for ages. Even the chasing group with Turner never got within a minute.
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That was later, though 90" was pretty much the max they got. For a huge part of the race they (from the group of 6) were about 30" ahead of the chasers. Later on they stayed about 70" ahead of the chasers/peloton (the chasers never got more than about 20" ahead of the peloton). With 10km to go it was 1 minute. There was no place for effing about, they had to ride all the way, only eased off in the last 1.5km
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Obviously, how people feel about a race is entirely subjective. As a huge Mads P fan and honorary Dane, I was obviously excited but nervous about most of it. I really do think there was a knife-edge balance to whether they'd get caught for ages (Asgreen started to take significant time out of them). I think the peloton screwed it up and didn't collaborate, it was a hard start with the echelons and too many were trying to preserve some sort of leadout. Trek got in the way nicely (broad front on Kemmelberg x3?) and the sprint teams left it too late.
Let's not forget, the last Kemmelberg was 35km out - not really a "long distance" thing. Sure Mads P had looked stronger at Kemmelberg x2, but the third time was the harder side and nobody has looked like following MvdP this season when he turns on the afterburners. At that point you can *see* the peloton the background as they're climbing it.
Anyway. I enjoyed it, Thought it was well balanced, exciting and superbly tactical, and My Man™ won.
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Last word goes to Kooij:
“After a 250-kilometre race, I had to wait and see how good the legs were for the sprint. They didn't feel super anymore." – Olav Kooij
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Mads rode that super smart ......
"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 pm0 -
Most of you forget that G-W is a midweek race that got moved to the weekend to try and make it appear more important than it is. The course is dull, and the race is only ever interesting when the weather is sh!t.
Still, good win for Pedersen.
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It was a ok race ....not great . MvdP miscalculated and mads took advantage really well
"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 pm0 -
The bunch were not that far behind ... Mads bluffed MvdP in pulling a lot
"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 pm0 -
Has it? 53 riders finished within a minute of the winner yesterday, I don't think that proves your point particularly.
It always used to be 250 kms long, up until the UCI banned midweek races over 250 kms back in the early 90s, as part of their attempt to establish the World Cup. The problem with the race as I see it, is that the parcours on it's own isn't hard enough to split the race up, so it is totally reliant on the weather being bad to generate an interesting race.
It was much better when it was a midweek race similar in stature to Scheldeprijs.
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That's not true, it's always been a race which sometimes is a bunch finish, sometimes is a small group finish. The change in length has not really changed that.
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THis is a good thing. There are plenty of races where the strongest (almost) always wins, races with different ways of winning have a deeper tactical layer to them. I like the balance.
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Hasn’t DePanne filled that slot?
It’s about as Sheldeprijs like as a race can get.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
It was a ok race ....I thought they were going to get caught but MvDP kept riding towing mads to the line .
"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 pm0 -
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
