Amstel Gold Race 2024 ***spoilers***

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Comments

  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,819

    Oh, one more to add to the list of Kirbyisms

    "I've never seen a rough road in The Netherlands"

    5k later

    "Dust from the road flying in the riders faces, making it tough on the rough roads"

  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,473

    Van der Poel should probably swallow his pride and retire.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,544

    Van der Poel should probably swallow his pride and retire the white shorts in which he doesn't win....


    FTFY

  • andyrac
    andyrac Posts: 1,195

    I think that was almost a 'schooling in public' type of ride........never really put himself in the race.

    All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."
  • Webboo2
    Webboo2 Posts: 977

    Michel Kwiatkoski reckoned MVP’s team were all knackered from PR and therefore couldn’t control the race.

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,543

    Only three of the team, including Van Der Poel, started both races. So that's clearly bollocks.

  • Webboo2
    Webboo2 Posts: 977

    Well maybe he was knackered then.😉

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    He said he had good legs, more that the team struggled to control the race and the race is harder for him than in PR

  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,473

    If he had good legs it makes no sense he didn't also bridge when either Hirschi went or Pidcock bridged. He had 3-4 opportunities to jump without even attacking himself. He could have also gone with Jorgenson.

    Looked to me more like he didn't have the legs, either because he is training hard in Spain for LBL and carrying too much fatigue or because he has a very human drop in absolute focus after winning the two main objectives of his classics campaign.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,595

    He could be saving his matches for Sunday and only went in case he could win without putting much effort in.

    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,907

    He could be faking it for liege .... He has already won Amstel...

    "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
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,473
    edited April 16

    Doesn't make much sense to me since Pogacar will neither care if he was saving himself or faking it, when they face off at LBL.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    It wasn’t obvious to me that was the winning move tbh

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,543

    Pidcock afterwards, when asked if he thought that was the winning move, said that he didn't know at the time, but thought Amstel was a race where being at the front in the final was key, which is why he went.

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,280
    edited April 17

    It maybe wasn't 100% but when you look at the strength in depth of that group then it was clear that they stood a good chance, at the very least. For clarity, that did become obvious when MvDP didn't go.

    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.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    Sure and if you're Pidcock you can go without too many people worrying. He's exactly the kind of Tier 2 favourite who ought to go in a move like that.

    If MVDP went the move was definitely dead and he'd have used up some bullets.

  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,461

    Maybe he was just setting down a marker that he isn't going to be the one to always close things down. We've seen it so many times with big favourites that they get leaned on to do the work by opportunists.

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,646

    Possible, but the group composition - with so many teams represented - made it unlikely there would be much help. Only EF and Israel put any work into the chase I think

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