2015, Ronde van Vlaanderen 264.9 Km

[The Hegelian]

Bloody impressive ride by Kristoff. Perfect combination of head, heart and legs.

Head: clearly realised that Terpstra was bloody strong at GW, and clearly had a plan to jump on board his inevitable long'ish range attack. Probably would have followed Thomas and few others too - but it seemed pre-race that there was something inevitable about Terpstra going and making it stick.

Heart: to go with that attack quite a way from the finish - it was more or less the first really serious move. Sure there's "attack as the best defence", but this was more than that. Very gutsy to lay it down so early, and to commit so fully.

Legs: no comment required for this one.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re:

Devolder said he will win it or finish outside of the top 20.

He didn't keep his promise, finishing 13th.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Devolder said he will win it or finish outside of the top 20.

He didn't keep his promise, finishing 13th.

Bummer.

 

[neineinei]

Was there a motor in Terpstras champagne bottle?

https://vine.co/v/OlxAFLWxjVh

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Was there a motor in Terpstras champagne bottle?

https://vine.co/v/OlxAFLWxjVh

The kid is so cute!

 

[Dedelou]

Re:

Some people here have absolutely no clue about cycling. Terpstra did what he could but Kristoff was just clearly stronger.

Kristoff well deserved winner, rode like a great champion today. Respect.

ahhhh! but you don't know .. we have in this forum some of the best tacticians the world of cycling has ever witnessed .. sit back and read you gonna be amazed how they tell you how to win classics. problem is the likes of terpstra are not allowed to get their advice as the racing progresses otherwise.. boy you would see how he would have won

 

[Asero831]

Etixx willing to offer Benoot half a million per year contract?

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Etixx willing to offer Benoot half a million per year contract?

That's fair only if it's for the first year of a contract.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

Etixx willing to offer Benoot half a million per year contract?

That's fair only if it's for the first year of a contract.

Kristoff would be a good replacement for Boonen

 

[greenedge]

I got home at 1 and started watching the recording and it was ok. Not as good as last year's but nothing to complain about.

Great win by Kristoff, Terpstra was very strong and GVA too. However Terpstra should have attacked Kristoff and GVA should have saved his energy for the last two climbs rather than attacking so early.

 

[The Barb]

Re:

I got home at 1 and started watching the recording and it was ok. Not as good as last year's but nothing to complain about.

Great win by Kristoff, Terpstra was very strong and GVA too. However Terpstra should have attacked Kristoff and GVA should have saved his energy for the last two climbs rather than attacking so early.

I hear this kind of comment all the time and I just don't get it. Kristoff was not only the better sprinter but was stronger than Terpstra. In a two-man battle Terpstra therefore had no play. Saying he should have attacked is like saying George Foreman should have knocked out Muhammed Ali. Don't you think he would have if he could have?

 

[JRanton]

Re:

Apparently Sky still hasn't learned the difference between classics and mountain stages. They were riding like it was a GT protecting the Yellow Jersey of Chris Froome.

They had no other rider who had even a slight chance of winning the race. If they did, then I'd agree that the tactic was silly but in reality they were just using up riders who couldn't be in the final anyway (and keeping Thomas out of trouble). There was no major crash in the peloton yesterday which is rare for RVV, and if there had been it would have made Sky's tactic look a lot more effective.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re: Re:

Devolder said he will win it or finish outside of the top 20.

He didn't keep his promise, finishing 13th.

I'll reiterate: he never said that. These were just the stats prior to this edition.

 

[Kwibus]

I must say I never expected Devolder to be up there, so he was better then expected imo.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Apparently Sky still hasn't learned the difference between classics and mountain stages. They were riding like it was a GT protecting the Yellow Jersey of Chris Froome.

They had no other rider who had even a slight chance of winning the race. If they did, then I'd agree that the tactic was silly but in reality they were just using up riders who couldn't be in the final anyway (and keeping Thomas out of trouble). There was no major crash in the peloton yesterday which is rare for RVV, and if there had been it would have made Sky's tactic look a lot more effective.

This is true, but they had riders who could have made it to the last 30km and helped Thomas to close down some attacks, leaving him with more strength to follow the decisive moves. The way the race panned out, it may not have mattered, but it doesn't make their tactics any less pointless.

Also, they did neither one thing or another when they were on the front. They just rode at a reasonably hard pace on the flat, but took the climbs at an easy pace, so everyone in the peloton behind had a really easy ride. They should have tried to make the race really hard from early on - try to put the fastest guys under pressure - or just save themselves to be useful in the final stages. They did neither.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

This is true, but they had riders who could have made it to the last 30km and helped Thomas to close down some attacks, leaving him with more strength to follow the decisive moves. The way the race panned out, it may not have mattered, but it doesn't make their tactics any less pointless.

Also, they did neither one thing or another when they were on the front. They just rode at a reasonably hard pace on the flat, but took the climbs at an easy pace, so everyone in the peloton behind had a really easy ride. They should have tried to make the race really hard from early on - try to put the fastest guys under pressure - or just save themselves to be useful in the final stages. They did neither.

They did try to make it hard but Thomas wasted his energies to be the fastest in all earlier hills except the last where he didn't have energy left.

 

[B_Ugli]

Re: Re:

Apparently Sky still hasn't learned the difference between classics and mountain stages. They were riding like it was a GT protecting the Yellow Jersey of Chris Froome.

They had no other rider who had even a slight chance of winning the race. If they did, then I'd agree that the tactic was silly but in reality they were just using up riders who couldn't be in the final anyway (and keeping Thomas out of trouble). There was no major crash in the peloton yesterday which is rare for RVV, and if there had been it would have made Sky's tactic look a lot more effective.

This is true, but they had riders who could have made it to the last 30km and helped Thomas to close down some attacks, leaving him with more strength to follow the decisive moves. The way the race panned out, it may not have mattered, but it doesn't make their tactics any less pointless.

Also, they did neither one thing or another when they were on the front. They just rode at a reasonably hard pace on the flat, but took the climbs at an easy pace, so everyone in the peloton behind had a really easy ride. They should have tried to make the race really hard from early on - try to put the fastest guys under pressure - or just save themselves to be useful in the final stages. They did neither.

Ultimately Sky need to stop this "ego riding" on the front. Its just an exercise in showing off which shows there inexperience and to some extent arrogance. I find it hard to believe its sanctioned by Knaven as you see them do it in every race.

Note to Sky: There are 150+ other riders in the race with contendors who can share the responsibility of chasing down early breaks so there is no need to waste your riders with heroic tempo riding and "making the race". Its not cool, its not clever and it doesn't make you look like "hard men".

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Apparently Sky still hasn't learned the difference between classics and mountain stages. They were riding like it was a GT protecting the Yellow Jersey of Chris Froome.

They had no other rider who had even a slight chance of winning the race. If they did, then I'd agree that the tactic was silly but in reality they were just using up riders who couldn't be in the final anyway (and keeping Thomas out of trouble). There was no major crash in the peloton yesterday which is rare for RVV, and if there had been it would have made Sky's tactic look a lot more effective.

This is true, but they had riders who could have made it to the last 30km and helped Thomas to close down some attacks, leaving him with more strength to follow the decisive moves. The way the race panned out, it may not have mattered, but it doesn't make their tactics any less pointless.

Also, they did neither one thing or another when they were on the front. They just rode at a reasonably hard pace on the flat, but took the climbs at an easy pace, so everyone in the peloton behind had a really easy ride. They should have tried to make the race really hard from early on - try to put the fastest guys under pressure - or just save themselves to be useful in the final stages. They did neither.

If Rowe was able to make it, Stannard, Wiggins, and maybe Eisel really should have been looking to be in the select group too. I refuse to believe Rowe has become, over the course of two months, a top-20 rider on the cobblestones. He's probably simply the most enthusiastic and willing to sacrifice himself for Thomas since they both come from Wales.

 

[neineinei]

Rewatched some of it. When the lead group started Kruisberg Kristoff was at the back of the group, with Terpstra in front of him. Terpstra moved up through the group with Kristoff behind him and at the top of Kruisberg they go clear of the group. The attack started at the bottom of the climb, and everybody in the group saw them go.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Re: Re:

Apparently Sky still hasn't learned the difference between classics and mountain stages. They were riding like it was a GT protecting the Yellow Jersey of Chris Froome.

They had no other rider who had even a slight chance of winning the race. If they did, then I'd agree that the tactic was silly but in reality they were just using up riders who couldn't be in the final anyway (and keeping Thomas out of trouble). There was no major crash in the peloton yesterday which is rare for RVV, and if there had been it would have made Sky's tactic look a lot more effective.

This is true, but they had riders who could have made it to the last 30km and helped Thomas to close down some attacks, leaving him with more strength to follow the decisive moves. The way the race panned out, it may not have mattered, but it doesn't make their tactics any less pointless.

Also, they did neither one thing or another when they were on the front. They just rode at a reasonably hard pace on the flat, but took the climbs at an easy pace, so everyone in the peloton behind had a really easy ride. They should have tried to make the race really hard from early on - try to put the fastest guys under pressure - or just save themselves to be useful in the final stages. They did neither.

If Rowe was able to make it, Stannard, Wiggins, and maybe Eisel really should have been looking to be in the select group too. I refuse to believe Rowe has become, over the course of two months, a top-20 rider on the cobblestones. He's probably simply the most enthusiastic and willing to sacrifice himself for Thomas since they both come from Wales.

Rowe was 11th in the Omloop and 31st in Paris Roubaix last year. He hasn't suddenly become a decent cobbles rider in the last two months.

 

[Biggut]

I still do not understand why the group let the two of them go. BMC and Astana were both mob handed in the group. BMC basically gave the race away looking for Rowe to do the chasing after he'd been sat at or on the front for the previous 20k and been in the Sky Train at the front for probably 200k before that. If you have a strong man in the group and 3 men to support him why would you wait for 8k before sending them forward to chase down two riders with such obvious pedigree? Were they that scared of what Rowe had left to support Thomas that they had to let him bury himself. Utterly ridiculous.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Apparently Sky still hasn't learned the difference between classics and mountain stages. They were riding like it was a GT protecting the Yellow Jersey of Chris Froome.

They had no other rider who had even a slight chance of winning the race. If they did, then I'd agree that the tactic was silly but in reality they were just using up riders who couldn't be in the final anyway (and keeping Thomas out of trouble). There was no major crash in the peloton yesterday which is rare for RVV, and if there had been it would have made Sky's tactic look a lot more effective.

This is true, but they had riders who could have made it to the last 30km and helped Thomas to close down some attacks, leaving him with more strength to follow the decisive moves. The way the race panned out, it may not have mattered, but it doesn't make their tactics any less pointless.

Also, they did neither one thing or another when they were on the front. They just rode at a reasonably hard pace on the flat, but took the climbs at an easy pace, so everyone in the peloton behind had a really easy ride. They should have tried to make the race really hard from early on - try to put the fastest guys under pressure - or just save themselves to be useful in the final stages. They did neither.

If Rowe was able to make it, Stannard, Wiggins, and maybe Eisel really should have been looking to be in the select group too. I refuse to believe Rowe has become, over the course of two months, a top-20 rider on the cobblestones. He's probably simply the most enthusiastic and willing to sacrifice himself for Thomas since they both come from Wales.

Rowe was 11th in the Omloop and 31st in Paris Roubaix last year. He hasn't suddenly become a decent cobbles rider in the last two months.

Yeah, about 5th in a not particularly prestigious chasing group in Omloop. His other results are more instructive:
120th KBK, 137th nokere koerse, 66th DDV, DNF E3, DNF G-V, 62nd RVV.

As I say, I think he was giving everything he's got because he cares about Thomas, not because he's better than Wiggins, Eisel, Stannard etc

 

[DBotero]

On-board footage at Ronde:http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/04/video/video-on-board-cameras-at-the-tour-of-flanders_365548