Liege Bastogne Liege-7 hour monument, Sunday, April 21, 2024

[QueenStagiaire]

He looked a bit similar after another win this year but I can't remember which one it was. But yes he looks sickly. Drained of blood. (I'm not implying anything but rather meaning he looks like a vampire took all his energy) :/

Gianetti looked like a vampire today and he‘s had an interest in human blood. Suspicious, Suspicious

 

[noob]

Those damn Cofidis riders!

And for what? 18th...

OMG I had forgotten about Martin!

 

[proffate]

If Pog wasn’t here and Bardet, Carapaz, Bernal, Van Gil were racing for the win, I don’t believe MVDP would have caught them today. That didn’t mean it would be that way in the future —but in the future he’ll have Remco and perhaps someday Vingegaard, as well as Pog to try to hang with.

Well I guess we'll never know, but I don't think Bardet could have tried any harder than he did (and the others you listed, likewise), whereas the group that finished behind the two leaders could have tried harder than they did. So if tactics were different it could only have helped MvDP. But if Pog weren't there at all then the race might have been less controlled to begin with and MVDP may have needed to deal with more long range attacks from Healy etc.

 

[how yes no?]

After the race was over, I thought it passed without one surprise, then I heard the rendition of the Slovenian anthem... does anyone by any chance know where the *** did the get this? was it played live in some local music way? or where did they find this recording?

 

[noob]

Pogacar looks fine, you guys are really overdoing the appearance analysis. The guy has just ridden 250km with 4500m altitude in cold weather of course he looks a bit drained.

Did anyone suggest the race had nothing to do with it?

 

[meat puppet]

Not so
Much in LBL

Well, it was, and I'm talking in general here.

Here's the deal: In the sky era everyone knew that we were in for a dull, timid race. Now we know that one of the superhumans will take off and solo from 82k out, or a bit less if we are lucky.

The latter insults my admittedly limited intellect more.

 

[zlev11]

what a shitty spring

 

[Sciatic]

Well, it was, and I'm talking in general here.

Here's the deal: In the sky era everyone knew that we were in for a dull, timid race. Now we know that one of the superhumans will take off and solo from 82k out, or a bit less if we are lucky.

The latter insults my admittedly limited intellect more.

Since this is the LBL thread I am talking specifically.
Sky didn’t have much impact on one-day racing with the exception of a few individual performers like Kwia.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

not the most interesting race as expected.

VDP is gonna need to lose kilo's and have an LBL without remco/pogi to stand a chance. Probably needs to skip Flanders/Roubaix as well. But he was never lost much time to the others and kept returning even though he didn't have the legs.

However ig Pogi/Remco keep riding lbl no shot. Basically did the same as Van Aert now

 

[Peyroteo94]

Someone misses Valverde's uphill sprints? I don't think so...

 

[Taxus4a]

A bit like Wva podium last year?

A bit, but WVA is a rider who has been quite Up on the hight mountain stages. He won at Ventoux at le Tour...WVA is a more complete rider..he ido able to get the five monuments, as well as Pogacar, MVP no...today was 3, but very far to win. And this year without WVA, Roglic and Evenepoel.

 

[Brullnux]

Well, it was, and I'm talking in general here.

Here's the deal: In the sky era everyone knew that we were in for a dull, timid race. Now we know that one of the superhumans will take off and solo from 82k out, or a bit less if we are lucky.

The latter insults my admittedly limited intellect more.

I think it depends what part of the sky era you compare it to. 2012-2016 was by and large dire – almost every Grand Tour was one sided (all the Tours, 2013 Giro) or kind of boring (2012 Giro, 2014 Giro, 2016 Giro). The vueltas were kind of better but because they were very much second rate, so people cared less about them. Monuments were also all, routinely, terrible – countless Ans sprints, no-action MSRs, some of the most defensive Paris-Roubaixs of all time, riders only just getting used to the Oudenaarde finish and waiting until the last 15km. Some major exceptions (2016 PR), but it was pretty bad.

2017-covid was much better, especially in monuments. Since COVID it's been up and down, and this year has been very bad, but 2022 and 2023 were clearly better than the Sky era. To think otherwise is just doomerism, I think.

 

[meat puppet]

Sky didn’t have much impact on one-day racing with the exception of a few individual performers like Kwia.

Agree. But Sky era is but a device to periodise cycling. In so doing it is a more general notion that extends beyond, and thus does not allow a very focused zoom on, the spring classics.

My point is simply that outrageous solos were more the exception in spring classics between, say, 2012 (Boonen did his raids then) and 2018 (Gilbert's RVV was that year, wasn't it), and IMHO one can extend the era to 2020 or the COVID-19.

After that they have gradually become the norm.

 

[Taxus4a]

If someone could have go with Carapaz at Redoute we have seen another race. Carapaz had to wait the Next group, other way he would have been at 10 seconds of Poggio at the top. Imagine Bardet going with him..a good colaboration and not sure tongo solo for Pogacar toll the end.

 

[RedheadDane]

and 2018 (Gilbert's RVV was that year, wasn't it)

No, 2017.

 

[Brullnux]

Agree. But Sky era is but a device to periodise cycling. In so doing it is a more general notion that extends beyond, and thus does not allow a very focused zoom on, the spring classics.

My point is simply that outrageous solos were more the exception in spring classics between, say, 2012 (Boonen did his raids then) and 2018 (Gilbert's RVV was that year, wasn't it), and IMHO one can extend the era to 2020 or the COVID-19.

After that they have gradually become the norm.

The classics were really not fun for a long time, though. I think there's a lot of revisionism about the 2012-2017 classics, as if most of them weren't really dull until the last 20km. I am sure if we go back 000s of pages and bring up race threads/race voting for that period, you will see that complaint being repeated over and over.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

If someone could have go with Carapaz at Redoute we have seen another race. Carapaz had to wait the Next group, other way he would have been at 10 seconds of Poggio at the top. Imagine Bardet going with him..a good colaboration and not sure tongo solo for Pogacar toll the end.

Nah, Carapaz just totally blew up that's why he wasn't even in the second group. He always does this trying to follow Pogacar or Vingegaard, goes completely in the red and then bonks.

 

[Gigs_98]

The classics were really not fun for a long time, though. I think there's a lot of revisionism about the 2012-2017 classics, as if most of them weren't really dull until the last 20km. I am sure if we go back 000s of pages and bring up race threads/race voting for that period, you will see that complaint being repeated over and over.

Yeah I think if multiple "big 6" members are in a race, the racing is way better than in the "Sky era". It's only when there is one guy so much better than the rest, like today, that you can reasonably argue races like the annual Ans sprints were more exciting.

 

[KOM]

Holy fk people are always results oriented, but this is ridiculous. MvdP was like the 20th best climber in this race, you guys

 

[Peyroteo94]

The problem is: There is no big 6. I am the only one who can see that?
In GT's, the gap between Vingegaard/Pogi and Remco is abysmal! Roglic is far away but a lot closer than Remco.
In Flanders, only a duel between MVP and Pogi can give us excitement. WVA is not close anymore.
In Roubaix, WVA is capable of beating MVP but he has bad luck in this race.
In hilly monuments, we don't know how Remco would behave against Pogi but if we take out Remco, Roglic is nowhere near the level of Pogi. In fact, I fear Pogi is really in a league of his own.

 

[BigCoward]

Since his first liege, he's averaging 2.27 place in 11 monuments.

 

[jmdirt]

A strange race overall, with TP doing exactly what he planned.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Would’ve been very nice if MVDP could have contested Pog but realistically that was only a dream. Some +10 kg is an impossible obstacle to bridge at Redoute or Faucons.

Have we ever seen a stronger rider P4P than Pog? The Double looks almost in the bag. Can Vingo stop him?

 

[Filippo_3467]

Fortunately only 10 days till Eschborn-frankfurt. Then we can see real racing again and not a walk in the park for 1st. All monuments besides San Remo were complete trash this year.

 

[YavorD]

Since his first liege, he's averaging 2.27 place in 11 monuments.

He'd be even further up if he didn't finish 4th in a sprint of 2.