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Gent-Wevelgem (men’s) 2024 (Sunday, March 24)

Page 20 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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Poursuivant said:
MVDP not dusting everyone was a nice surprise today and the best thing to happen for neutrals the week before RVV
Click to expand...
Could well mean MvdP to race a little less aggressive next week because what happened today, and his closest rivals getting overconfident because they think they have more of a chance than they actually have. I could well see a scenario where Trek starts riding after Visma and vice versa, because Alpecin is too weak and MvdP isn't going to control the entire race on his own. Which would set the stage once more for an asswhooping in the final 60km.
 
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Lequack

Lequack

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Great racing today, caught up on the replay and it was a perfect show of teamwork from the Lidl Trek boys, tiring out MVDP and it was enough in the end. Mads really in great form and a great win!

GJcjPCrXMAAYQgk


GJdFRAhWkAAXIdE
 
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LookProGoSlow

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Could well mean MvdP to race a little less aggressive next week because what happened today, and his closest rivals getting overconfident because they think they have more of a chance than they actually have. I could well see a scenario where Trek starts riding after Visma and vice versa, because Alpecin is too weak and MvdP isn't going to control the entire race on his own. Which would set the stage once more for an asswhooping in the final 60km.
Click to expand...
You describe a very plausible scenario here. I think this is what will happen.
 
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staubsauger

staubsauger

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Van der Poel ran out of fuel today, because he'd ridden aggressively on Friday & Sunday though. Especially on Friday when he kinda lured Van Art into going into the red in order to catch him. Which was really impressive. Today Lidl made the Dutchman dig deep himself on the battlefield.

Pedersen certainly was in stellar shape today. Friday however he had a total off day. Spent too much energy early on and bonked after too much work in the favorites group. That's not exactly reliable either.

Visma has his team in shatters currently. Laporte sick. Tratnik fell. Benoot had Covid-19 and isn't fit. Hagenes would've been really needed as a wildcard, but he harmed himself too. There's only Jorgenson. While WvA isn't strong enough for sword to sword against Van der Poel currently.

So Mathieu might just ride aggressively again. Depending on how fresh he feels!
 
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Carrick-On-Seine

Carrick-On-Seine

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staubsauger said:
Visma has his team in shatters currently. Laporte sick. Tratnik fell. Benoot had Covid-19 and isn't fit. Hagenes would've been really needed as a wildcard, but he harmed himself too. There's only Jorgenson. While WvA isn't strong enough for sword to sword against Van der Poel currently.
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Visma's most successful Monument rider is still available but he's shown no form this season at all.
 
Rob5091

Rob5091

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Trek's 3 guys crack MvdP - are Trek the new Visma?
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road...o-beat-mathieu-van-der-poel-in-gent-wevelgem/
Pedersen said that the collective performance in the E3 Saxo Classic showed what was possible.


“I think we picked up what we left on Friday: a really good team performance. [We had] a lot of guys there. We were playing with the numbers. That’s what we need to beat these superstars of cycling. Don’t get me wrong, but on our team we don’t have these superstars. But with the right numbers we are able to beat them.”
Click to expand...
 
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Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Could well mean MvdP to race a little less aggressive next week because what happened today, and his closest rivals getting overconfident because they think they have more of a chance than they actually have. I could well see a scenario where Trek starts riding after Visma and vice versa, because Alpecin is too weak and MvdP isn't going to control the entire race on his own. Which would set the stage once more for an asswhooping in the final 60km.
Click to expand...
tbh i just think MVDP went into E3/GW with the mindset of attacking everywhere to give himself good extra intensity "training", whilst also trying to win because he didn't have those races yet. Kinda paid for the 40k solo in E3 which means he had lesser legs in GW. still sprinted for the win.

next week is incomparable, he'll rest well and likely get even a bit extra from super compensation. Also. Pedersen was ridden at 3 minutes in E3. RVV is much more like E3 than GW ofcourse.
 
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Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

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staubsauger said:
Van der Poel ran out of fuel today, because he'd ridden aggressively on Friday & Sunday though. Especially on Friday when he kinda lured Van Art into going into the red in order to catch him. Which was really impressive. Today Lidl made the Dutchman dig deep himself on the battlefield.

Pedersen certainly was in stellar shape today. Friday however he had a total off day. Spent too much energy early on and bonked after too much work in the favorites group. That's not exactly reliable either.

Visma has his team in shatters currently. Laporte sick. Tratnik fell. Benoot had Covid-19 and isn't fit. Hagenes would've been really needed as a wildcard, but he harmed himself too. There's only Jorgenson. While WvA isn't strong enough for sword to sword against Van der Poel currently.

So Mathieu might just ride aggressively again. Depending on how fresh he feels!
Click to expand...
Pedersen bonked because E3 profile is much harder than GW. No inbetween flats, just hill after hill. Ergo why MVDP blasted him to 3 minutes.

Same way Pogi and VDP closed the gap to Pedersen + put minutes into him in RVV last year. He's just not as good when there's more repetition of hills compared to the flatter cobbled classics as GW and likely PR.
 
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Volderke

Volderke

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Dekker_Tifosi said:
Pedersen bonked because E3 profile is much harder than GW. No inbetween flats, just hill after hill. Ergo why MVDP blasted him to 3 minutes.

Same way Pogi and VDP closed the gap to Pedersen + put minutes into him in RVV last year. He's just not as good when there's more repetition of hills compared to the flatter cobbled classics as GW and likely PR.
Click to expand...
I think the lack of distance plays a part as well, though. Pedersen has never been particularly good in E3, while he is usually up there in the Ronde
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

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Volderke said:
I was inclined to comment about this during the race, but I thought it was better to wait and see the data.
My feeling has always been that a windy GW is at least as hard as the average RVV, e.g. looking at Tiller's power data:

https://www.strava.com/activities/8820681497 (RVV 2023) vs.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11029541804 (GW 2024)

RVV is an hour more, but weighted power is about the same.
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weighted power is not a good comparison. RVV is much more about intervals. And even intervals on hills are completely different than on the flat.
 
Billie

Billie

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Rob5091 said:
Trek's 3 guys crack MvdP - are Trek the new Visma?
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road...o-beat-mathieu-van-der-poel-in-gent-wevelgem/
Click to expand...

The 30 flat kms after the first Kemmel were perfect for these tactics. They used Milan as perfect cannon fodder. Van der Poel basically led the group for like 95% from the moment Milan attacked untill he got caught again. Pithie, Tiller and Dijke could only help with some hesitant pulls. All while his two strongest opponents got a free ride in his wheel.

But in E3 and RVV there is no such long flat sections. The repetitive hills do not give the other guys easier free rides. Even here he tried to use the uphill gravel section and an exposed piece of road to put the guys 'freewheeling' behind him in the gutter.
 
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