106th Ronde van Vlaanderen: April 3rd, 2022

[DaveJones2]

Difficult to see past VDP and Pogacar for me.

Got a few ¢ each way on Turgis & Pedersen.

Small possibility of Turgis flying under the radar as his form hasn't been equal to that of last year's classics campaign.

In a very cold, long & attritional race Pedersen stands more of a chance than usual to hang on to a small lead group over the last few climbs. No-one is going to beat him in a sprint at the end.

Should be an interesting race with the anticipated conditions.

 

[Lequack]

How regular people deal with these cobbled climbs

https://twitter.com/x/status/1510192147957493761

View: https://twitter.com/walterdewit/status/1510192147957493761?s=20&t=HfkEVMz3XqcXgOLnXaYthg

 

[Bolder]

^^no excuse now with 32mm tires at 50 psi...

I'm going with Pogacar as the favorite, because I don't think MvdP is ready yet for such a long race. Plus he'll likely forget a layer of clothing and bonk. That said, anyone who can mark Pogacar, will, and that opens the door for Asgreen, Laporte etc.

Edit to add that Victor C. is my sentimental favorite of course...

 

[tobydawq]

Plus he'll likely forget a layer of clothing and bonk.

Great assumption to base an analysis upon.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

I’ll give my 5-1 star favorites
5 star(my stars aren’t working for MVDP)Mathieu Van Der Poel
**** Tom Pidcock, Matej Mohoric, Tadej Pogacar
*** Kasper Asgreen, Anthony Turgis, Christophe Laporte, Tiesj Benoot, Mads Pedersen
** Greg Van Avermaet, Victor Campaenarts, Stefan Kung, Soren Kragh Andersen(he’s on the start list now)
*Yves Laempart, Oliver Naesen, Michael Matthews
Yes, my star lists are on the bigger side. I could see the argument of Mohoric being moved down but other than that this would be my star favorite for De Ronde.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

^^no excuse now with 32mm tires at 50 psi...

I'm going with Pogacar as the favorite, because I don't think MvdP is ready yet for such a long race. Plus he'll likely forget a layer of clothing and bonk. That said, anyone who can mark Pogacar, will, and that opens the door for Asgreen, Laporte etc.

Edit to add that Victor C. is my sentimental favorite of course...

Well, we don’t know if MVDP is ready for a tough 260 km race, but based on his recent form there is no reason he is not the favorite for Flanders.

 

[tobydawq]

272.5 kms! I wonder why there hasn't been a celebration of the length of the race on this forum. I guess it's more funny to decry whenever something is too short than appreciate it when one is happy with something (to be fair, I guess lengths of monuments have never really been controversial given how constant they have been, apart from the strange decision to cut De Ronde to 241 in 2020).

But it will be the longest edition since 1998 and the second-longest non-MSR monument of the millennium (after PR 2000).

 

[Pantani_lives]

I just watched the most recent edition that I hadn't seen yet: 1986. There were strong attacks by LeMond, Planckaert and Bauer, but they were all caught back. In the final 10 km Kelly did most of the work in a group of four, but he lost the sprint to... Van der Poel.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

The race will be won on the kruisberg. If terpstra is in the front he will attack there

 

[Netserk]

But it will be the longest edition since 1998 and the second-longest non-MSR monument of the millennium (after PR 2000).

[Obligatory objection here]

I'm a bit surprised Pidcock and VdP read so much into Pogacar being badly positioned once in Dwars. Van der Poel used to think that he needed to be at tha back of the group on the final kwaremont. He doesn't understand a lot of things

While he should have been only half as far away from the front as he was, it wasn't like he was horribly positioned (Position in the bunch just before the crash). Without the crash in front of him, he would have made the selection.

 

[tobydawq]

There has been made a new version of the extraordinarily good Johnny Depp song:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1509945252529983493

View: https://twitter.com/GroupamaFDJ/status/1509945252529983493

 

[tobydawq]

[Obligatory objection here]

Haha, I know, it hurt a bit to write it.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I just watched the most recent edition that I hadn't seen yet: 1986. There were strong attacks by LeMond, Planckaert and Bauer, but they were all caught back. In the final 10 km Kelly did most of the work in a group of four, but he lost the sprint to... Van der Poel.

Wow, Van der Poel's longevity is mind boogling He looks so young. Valverde is almost a rookie compared to him.

 

[joe_papp]

Got a few ¢ each way on Turgis & Pedersen.

As do I. Sprinkled a few more 50-cent pieces around the top-12 favs on DK (my sportsbook in USA) and surely one of them has to win lol

 

[Krzysztof_O]

If the whole peloton gets in a breakaway it's no longer a breakaway.

Not the whole. Pog will be riding comfortably in 1-person peleton to conserve energy for later letting the breakaway run out of gas.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Van vleuten has competition for tomorrow or will be a walk in the park for her?

 

[Bolder]

Great assumption to base an analysis upon.

That's not what I based it on, but it's been known to happen. I went out for a ride today north of Paris and eff me it was freezing and windy. 270 kms in similar weather is going to be epic.

 

[Red Rick]

That's not what I based it on, but it's been known to happen. I went out for a ride today north of Paris and eff me it was freezing and windy. 270 kms in similar weather is going to be epic.

Yorkshire 2019 was cold. Pog finished ahead of VdP

 

[jmdirt]

So guys, who's the real favorite for tomorrow? Anyone rate Colbrelli? Is MVDP's back ok such that he's really likely to win? I'd like to back someone other than him, but Pog seems a bit of an easy pick...

Colbrelli just got out of the hospital with an ICD implant so he probably won't start.

 

[johnymax]

Yorkshire 2019 was cold. Pog finished ahead of VdP

And that was a neo pro Pogi. He loves the cold. He is the new Špilak.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

And that was a neo pro Pogi. He loves the cold. He is the new Špilak.

Nope.

First 2 sentence correct

 

[johnymax]

Nope.

First 2 sentence correct

What's wrong with the third sentence?

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Nope.

First 2 sentence correct

I’m pretty sure he’s referring to his cold weather tolerance.

 

[jmdirt]

There are several teams that really need to be smart and aggressive, but obviously they also need to have a leader on great form so that they can have something to talk about this spring.

 

[Lequack]

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