Recent content by Open Horizon

Whatever, I'm out.

Did you just delete my excellent post?

Where did I say there weren't valid reasons? He had bad luck this campaign, obviously. But even with good luck and good form, he wouldn't have won or podiumed. It's the opposite. His 2nd places in Leuven 2021 and Ronde 2022 are madly oversold. Yeah they look great for his palmares, and he...

lol. And that ladies and gentleman, is what they call historical revisionism. A tool often employed by people who feel unable to let go of their emotional agenda when it clashes with reality.

Not surprised at all about Van Baarle's disappointing spring, btw. Sure, people can point to all the sickness/crashes/bad luck he's been having the past few weeks, and so they can hype him up again as a 2024 Ronde or Roubaix winner, but I don't see that happening. Ever. He already hit the...

Agree that Amstel and Strade were more iconic and dramatic. San Remo too even if we don't have great footage from his actual attack there. But if any rider deserved that win yesterday, it was Mathieu. He literally attacked more from the leading group than all other rides combined. He spent way...

If Pogacar isn't around, even the greatest road classics are basically WvA vs MvdP duels, with the rest reduced to a bunch of NPC's Confirms that the CX races last winter many here frown upon were world class cycling races too. Gavere, Zilvermeer, Diegem, Benidorm, Hoogerheide :hearteyes:

Wout said that he didn't want to ride together with MvdP to the finish from far, because he worried Mathieu would attack from behind his wheel and drop him like in previous weeks. IMO this is typical for why MvdP usually gets the better of him. Wout is more neurotic and too easily persuaded to...

I love to watch E3, and Wout did great by winning race, so, yeah, on paper you can call it 4-1 in duels if you want. But that ignores reality. This E3 was a preview race for De Ronde. MvdP even called it a 'good training' and was quite happy afterwards. From a morale sense, E3 was far...

Wonder why he rode so defensively today if he was feeling good. His best shot imo was riding together with Mathieu to the Velodrome from far out, getting rid of Philipsen. MvdP might have gone for it.

That said...for some reason I felt more elated about MvdP's San Remo win than about this one. Perhaps because it was more unexpected (after his doubtful Tirreno and Strade), perhaps because there was less luck involved, perhaps because Pog was there, perhaps because there was more peak drama in...

4 big duels with MvdP so far this year. Hoogerheide, San Remo, De Ronde, Roubaix. 4 famous defeats. This can't just be a physical thing.

Kelderman unfit for the Giro, Van Baarle sick for De Ronde and crashing out of Roubaix. This coming after the Dumoulin disaster, it seems Jumbo's big Dutch signings are cursed.

Yep, absolutely amazing how different the world looks now compared to 90 days ago. Back in January, his back was playing up again. Wout had beaten him easily in two sand crosses. The Wollongong incident was still fresh in everyone's minds. The Tour de France had been a disaster. It seemed WvA...

Yeah, with Roglic out compared to last year, and Van Baarle in, they lack high mountain power.