100th Ronde Van Vlaanderen - April 3rd, 2016 - 255.9k

[meat puppet]

Don't think cance could have dropped sagan today. The latter was simply stronger, as the ending TT match showed. 9 times out of 10 sagan loses. Not today. Also he lost virtually no ground on the paterberg at all.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Paris-Roubaix is going to be a good one! Can't wait....

I know there's a lot of Sky hate on here, but I make no apologies for saying Rowe has a good chance for a serious result there. Knew it before today, but today's result just confirmed that really.

I think Stannard should be good at Roubaix too. His attack to try and bridge was pretty impressive, was absolutely charging up the Koppenberg, but ultimately didn't make it. But yeah, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Rowe is Sky's best rider again next Sunday. Another top 5 is realistic.

 

[rm7]

Re: Re:

Why Fabian? Why? Why would you let Sagan go?

Fabian was incredible up the Kwaremont and Paterberg, would have torched Sagan I think.

Great ride by Sagan tho, well deserved win

I don't know. Sagan looked mightily impressive there too.

Canceralla clearly rode faster than Sagan on the second last climb, when he attacked the first time, but he died a little bit at the end and terpsta etc caught him.

On the last climb they rode equally I think.

 

[Gigs_98]

I know it sounds strange but it would be interesting what would have happened if Cancellara had just sat on Terpstras wheel on the Kwaremont, because at the end he spent a lot of energy there but didnt get an advantage over Terpstra who just sat behind a teammate. At the end Cancellara probably wasnt able to catch Sagan because he spent too much energy before the Paterberg.

 

[Queens Boulevard]

Re: Re:

Why Fabian? Why? Why would you let Sagan go?

Fabian was incredible up the Kwaremont and Paterberg, would have torched Sagan I think.

Great ride by Sagan tho, well deserved win

Big mistake tactically. It cost him the chance of truly competing for victory, but a heroic attempt to fight back.

Paris Roubaix still to come. There's a 2nd chance

I just don't understand. There were two riders who could realistically have challenged him today. One crashed out, so he literally had one man to mark, and he lets him go. Horrible horrible mistake

I don't think he thought Sagan would be that strong. His tactics weren't terrible, Sagan and co. went very early. Sagan ended up doing the lion's share of the work for 40+km. I think Devolder fading accompanied by no other teams helping (Either because they wanted to wear down Canc or because they felt Kwiat and Stijn (Sky and Etixx respectively) were capable finishers, most likely the former) allowed the gap to go out farther than Canc would have ideally preferred, but once they had 20 seconds he had no choice but to wait for the Kwaremont. At that point he just wasn't strong enough. BMC crashing out probably changed the entire complexion of this race but ultimately Sagan was just incredibly dominant and deserved this win.

 

[Red Rick]

Sagan, it depends for whom you mean, but for me it was a great week

 

[togo95]

Come on guys. Surely you can't compare their times up Kwaremont and Paterberg to determine who was stronger. They were in totally different positions. Canc needed to get up to Sagan as soon as possible, while Sagan knew he might have to go all the way alone so he'd better measure his efforts. On Kwaremont he had Vanmarcke on his wheel as well.

 

[Red Rick]

Meanwhile, Tinkoff still hasn't exploded on twitter

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Why Fabian? Why? Why would you let Sagan go?

Fabian was incredible up the Kwaremont and Paterberg, would have torched Sagan I think.

Great ride by Sagan tho, well deserved win

I don't know. Sagan looked mightily impressive there too.

Sagan managed to extend his lead on the flat in the last 13km. That was very impressive indeed. But canc closed a gap of 18 seconds on him in 2 cobbled climbs. Yeah sagan had already attacked, but surely Sagan wouldnt have been able to hold the wheel if they were both together going onto the Kwaremont the 3rd time

You are very convinced. I think you are alone on that, besides maybe Cance > Rest.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Come on guys. Surely you can't compare their times up Kwaremont and Paterberg to determine who was stronger. They were in totally different positions. Canc needed to get up to Sagan as soon as possible, while Sagan knew he might have to go all the way alone so he'd better measure his efforts. On Kwaremont he had Vanmarcke on his wheel as well.

I agree. Cancellara and Sagan rode about the same time on the Pater, but then on the flat part Sagan was faster than Cancellara and Vanmarcke together

 

[togo95]

Juraj Sagan in top 50 in RVV, now we've seen everything

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Why Fabian? Why? Why would you let Sagan go?

Fabian was incredible up the Kwaremont and Paterberg, would have torched Sagan I think.

Great ride by Sagan tho, well deserved win

I don't know. Sagan looked mightily impressive there too.

Canceralla clearly rode faster than Sagan on the second last climb, when he attacked the first time, but he died a little bit at the end and terpsta etc caught him.

On the last climb they rode equally I think.

Sagan was allready on the attack for over 10km and he only had to sustain his lead instead of trying to close a gap.

Big difference. I think it's quite clear Sagan was the strongest today, but if Cancellara had followed when Sagan went they would've probably finished together.

 

[carolina]

his team was very good today. gatto lasted almost the hole race.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Meanwhile, Tinkoff still hasn't exploded on twitter

He should be celebrating. Peter and Bertie are the only bright spots in the absolute mess Tinkoff has turned the team into ever since booting Bjarne out.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Juraj Sagan in top 50 in RVV, now we've seen everything

Dayer Quintana finishing ahead of Cance in Milano-Sanremo was even crazier.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Meanwhile, Tinkoff still hasn't exploded on twitter

He should be celebrating. Peter and Bertie are the only bright spots in the absolute mess Tinkoff has turned the team into ever since booting Bjarne out.

He's in Thailand, so he probably slept through it

 

[johnymax]

Re: Re:

Why Fabian? Why? Why would you let Sagan go?

Fabian was incredible up the Kwaremont and Paterberg, would have torched Sagan I think.

Great ride by Sagan tho, well deserved win

I don't know. Sagan looked mightily impressive there too.

No way. Sagan was doing work in front for several kms already while Fabian followed wheels behind. He had Devolder, Katusha and Astana doing the chase. And Sagan clearly showed who was the strongest rider in the last 12km. Remember 2013 what a huge difference Cancellara made in the last part which is best suited to his TT skills. But today he didn't stand a chance also with Vanmarcke helping him. So I seriously doubt Cancellara would have gapped Sagan. Probably the pair would have rode away and decide the winner in a 2 way sprint. But this way was a lot more exciting.

 

[jaylew]

Canc (laughing), on why he didn't go with Sagan and Kwia - "I don't know, ask me tomorrow"

He did say that Kwia went at a strange time with Stannard still up the road.

 

[Queens Boulevard]

Called Kwia's attack annoying, also said he still thought he'd catch Sagan on the flat to the finish referencing Sagan's general lack of strength at the end of long races. Sounds like he just underestimated the move and Sagan in general. Also 4 hours of sleep the night before a race like this Canc? Lacking those marginal gains.

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Canc (laughing), on why he didn't go with Sagan and Kwia - "I don't know, ask me tomorrow"

He did say that Kwia went at a strange time with Stannard still up the road.

he messed up right there. When your biggest competitor goes, along with other world champ, even if you think it is too early or the wrong time, you follow their wheels. You dont have to work but you cant let them slip away ... the lesson learned came too late for Fabian ...

 

[trevim]

Claeys just got 9th in his first ever monument. Freakin' belgians and their classics

 

[Billie]

Re:

Canc (laughing), on why he didn't go with Sagan and Kwia - "I don't know, ask me tomorrow"

He did say that Kwia went at a strange time with Stannard still up the road.

Stannard was just caught actually

 

[SeriousSam]

Cancellara had only 4 hours of sleep?

Full sleep Canc would have ripped Sagan for sure. Should be put into a footnote in the Wikipedia article of the race.

 

[pedromiguelmartins]

Re: Re:

Why Fabian? Why? Why would you let Sagan go?

Fabian was incredible up the Kwaremont and Paterberg, would have torched Sagan I think.

Great ride by Sagan tho, well deserved win

I don't know. Sagan looked mightily impressive there too.

Sagan managed to extend his lead on the flat in the last 13km. That was very impressive indeed. But canc closed a gap of 18 seconds on him in 2 cobbled climbs. Yeah sagan had already attacked, but surely Sagan wouldnt have been able to hold the wheel if they were both together going onto the Kwaremont the 3rd time

No he didn't. Fabian was never closer than 15 seconds on those hills. And that was while "resting" at that group.

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Cancellara had only 4 hours of sleep?

Full sleep Canc would have ripped Sagan for sure. Should be put into a footnote in the Wikipedia article of the race.

Yes.
I was surprised to hear. The whole farewell thing got to him.