105th Ronde van Vlaanderen: April 4th, 2021

[Orbit501]

Sagan: "Haha what is happening"

This is how I feel watching a race right from the off.
Seeing the break of the day form is one of the highlights for me, in any race.

Loving the Boonen moves

 

[Volderke]

Love the fight

 

[glassmoon]

some dsqs incoming surely. stupid idea to fight in front of the bunch in high speed.

 

[Orbit501]

Blimey!... Bit naughty from that Astana and Aplecin rider there.
Not sure who they were though.

 

[Kazistuta]

Alpecin DSQ upcoming?

 

[Faserr]

That blocking should be forbidden.

 

[Volderke]

Fedorov and Vergaerde DSQ (agressive behaviour)

 

[tobydawq]

Fedorov and Vergaerde DSQ (agressive behaviour)

A bit weird that Fedorov was disqualified from what we saw. But what was Vergaerde thinking? What an amateur.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

GvA's older son looking embarrassed at publicly greeting Dad.

 

[Volderke]

A bit weird that Fedorov was disqualified from what we saw. But what was Vergaerde thinking? What an amateur.

I don't know if something happened before we saw it, but it seems like Fedorov did something dangerous on purpose before the camera images (just saw it: Fedorov came from the front and used his rear brake. Not a very sportive move, out of frustration because he had Vergaerde on his wheel when he tried to make a move).
Vergaerde responded with a shoulder move.
Fedorov reacted with accelerating and abruptly moving in front of Vergaerde / Postlberger (not very dangerous, only a bit agressive in terms of intimidation).

 

[Keram]

Spend easter sunday with Ronde feels so right to me.

 

[Orbit501]

Fedorov putting the brakes on and dangerously blocking. Silly retaliation by Vergaerde.

Fedorov the most dangerous move. Postlberger seemed to think so too.

 

[Wvv]

GvA's older son looking embarrassed at publicly greeting Dad.

Seems legit, since he only has 2 daughters.

 

[tobydawq]

I really can't see that he applies the brake but perhaps there are better pictures than those I have rewatched.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Here's my prediction for the long breakaway:

• Fabio Van Den Bossche (Sport Vlaanderen)

Yes, I've got one! FvdB is my new favorite rider.

In the final the question will be who attacks where. WVA is best suited for the Kwaremont, because it's a long grind. MvdP might target the Paterberg, because it's short and steep. Alaf might pick the same zone as last year, but DQSt might also attack on the flat sections between the climbs.

 

[sir fly]

Capable break.
Some useful horsepower for the circuit.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Seems legit, since he only has 2 daughters.

Probably why the poor kid looks embarrassed, revealed after being kept secret all these years.

 

[Volderke]

I really can't see that he applies the brake but perhaps there are better pictures than those I have rewatched.

check Sporza twitter for a small video:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1378638324454322179

View: https://twitter.com/sporza_koers/status/1378638324454322179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1378638324454322179%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsporza.be%2Fnl%2Fmatches%2Fwielrennen%2Fronde-van-vlaanderen%2F2021%2Fronde-van-vlaanderen-livestream-ronde-van-vlaanderen-kijk-naar-de-voorbeschouwing1601635864270%2F

You can see Fedorov pulling his right hand (rear most probably) brake.
Admittedly, it doesn't seem to slow him down too much (probably Vergaerd heard the braking), but it's against the rule and potentially dangerous.

 

[ciranda]

Here's my prediction for the long breakaway:

• Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché)
• Pieter Vanspeybroeck (Intermarché)
• Fabio Van Den Bossche (Sport Vlaanderen)
• Thimo Willems (Sport Vlaanderen)
• Kenneth Vanbilsen (Cofidis)
• Timothy Dupont (Bingoal)
• Cyril Lemoine (B&B)
• Imanol Erviti (Movistar)
• Max Walscheid (Qhubeka)
• Marco Haller (Bahrein)
• Nikita Stalnov (Astana)

Nailed one of them.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So the TV coverage from the very start raises an important issue: Antwerp is a bit too early to start drinking my Belgian beers, so where do I break out the Leffe: first cobbles? first hill? first Kwaremont?

 

[Bonimenier]

So the TV coverage from the very start raises an important issue: Antwerp is a bit too early to start drinking my Belgian beers, so where do I break out the Leffe: first cobbles? first hill? first Kwaremont?

150km from the finish at a pace of 0.1leffe/km

 

[Volderke]

So the TV coverage from the very start raises an important issue: Antwerp is a bit too early to start drinking my Belgian beers, so where do I break out the Leffe: first cobbles? first hill? first Kwaremont?

I would drink one everytime a riders is DSQ for agressive behaviour, a supertuck or throwing a gel.
So you can already have 2, probably more to come

 

[gregrowlerson]

GvA's older son looking embarrassed at publicly greeting Dad.

Shouldn't this have been posted in Toby's thread?

 

[Red Rick]

Not sure I'd be so comfortable with the break just having 12 minutes here.

 

[F_Cance]

other teams should not do the work with QS saving every single rider.