Recent content by Barkintheeye

Well deserved win for FV and nice to see Mohoric make it to the podium! Pidcock really doesn’t have it when courses are this flat and technically easy.

I guess it's a bit like CX courses. If lots of rain the course gets muddy, technical and difficult. If dry, then not so much. Still, if one didn't race it oneself it's hard to tell how difficult it really was. Not all too impressive speed by the elite women coming in about at the same speed...

Elite men start list #1-25 1 Thomas Pidcock GBR 2 Mathijs Loman NED 3 Petr Vakoč CZE 4 Tim Merlier BEL 5 Niels Vandeputte BEL 6 Toon Aerts BEL 7 Florian Vermeersch BEL 8 Mads Würtz Schmidt DEN 9 Kevin Panhuyzen BEL10 Felix Stehli SUI11 Tibor Del Grosso NED12 Laurens Sweeck BEL13 Quinten Hermans...

Generally I believe in sports being apolitical, yet that’s an ideal far removed from reality today. Specifically on IPT it is truly bad when activists - of all sorts and forms - are allowed to have a material impact on sports organizers, teams, sponsors and individual athletes. Still that...

Arrogance is a certain kind of stupid that can only be medicated by self-retrospection. One day - after having lost numerous races to Pog and others - he just might realize that humility is a good thing and will make you stronger in the long run.

Exactly that. Bobsleigh, skeleton, moguls, curling, Nordic combined, ... and the list goes on. I'd say none of these sports can ever be considered "widely participated" and maybe not even ice hockey, speed skating etc.

Because I believe Pog is as tough and proficient as Merckx ever was and also as tough (and almost as proficient) as some of today's most gritty riders that thrive in mud, rain and adverse conditions.

That argument holds up poorly for most of today's best riders, especially Evenepoel - among many others - comes to mind. Pog on the other hand would most likely have been doing really well under such adverse conditions along with riders like Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Van der Poel.

Elite men startlist is massive with some +480 riders. Not that it necessary means much but Valverde is on the starting line which is pretty cool. Would be fun if a CX rider takes the win. Nieuwenhuis for example.

Do we still think Remco is as good as Pogacar albeit just with a little less ”luck”?

Here it has been so dry that my Limus rarely come at use. CX is most fun with different conditions. Only dry courses tend to get less entertaining after a while. A proper mud course really wakes you up 😂

That’s right. And obviously no MVDP. Last year however the Belgian squad really didn’t get their act together. Gianni was questionable in his effort for Belgium and Florian seemed to have a go for himself at least after MVDP caught up with him. There was apparent frustration in the chase group...

Chicanes in a mud race 🫣

The start list has yet to be released. Do we know any other big hitters that can challenge for the victory? Florian Veermersch?

Now that's a little harsh on the skills of MVDP. Not only is he one of a beast in terms of physical prowess. There aren't many (if any) that can measure up to him when it comes to bike handling and riding intelligence, but probably you have a point when it comes to assistance. It seems like...