2015, Ronde van Vlaanderen 264.9 Km

[kareeem]

Re: Re:

As soon as he took Kristoff with him with 40k to go he was riding for second place at best. Should have stopped the attack then and regrouped. Idiotic stuff.

Well, the idea was probably to drop Kristoff on Kwaremont and Paterberg. Which was not an idiotic assumption.

 

[DBotero]

What Vanmarcke,G.or Sagan there is only Kristoff,invincible again.Great performance for the norwegian,poor Terpstra didn't had a chance.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re: Re:

Terpstra got the best result he could. Kristoff was unbeatable.

He didn't have to work with one of the best sprinters in the world. Could easily have allowed the bunch to reform when he saw Kristoff on his wheel and then tried to attack again on the Kwaremont.

You are right, because in a bunch sprint Terpstra had better chance.

Well, obviously not. But he might have been able to get away solo or in a small group on the Kwaremont or Paterberg without Kristoff. Especially if he could have worked with Stybar or Vandenbergh.

As soon as he took Kristoff with him with 40k to go he was riding for second place at best. Should have stopped the attack then and regrouped. Idiotic stuff.

No. The group was waiting for Thomas to close any gap. And he did. So, Terpstra would just hang around being chased down by Thomas. He had an opportunity when Thomas was not dominant and took it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Terpstra got the best result he could. Kristoff was unbeatable.

He didn't have to work with one of the best sprinters in the world. Could easily have allowed the bunch to reform when he saw Kristoff on his wheel and then tried to attack again on the Kwaremont.

You are right, because in a bunch sprint Terpstra had better chance.

Well, obviously not. But he might have been able to get away solo or in a small group on the Kwaremont or Paterberg without Kristoff. Especially if he could have worked with Stybar or Vandenbergh.

As soon as he took Kristoff with him with 40k to go he was riding for second place at best. Should have stopped the attack then and regrouped. Idiotic stuff.

There was 0% chance of that happening with Kristoff in this form. 0% chance.

 

[Sasquatch]

Re:

Terpstra played it ok but imo he shouldn't have done anything in the last 10 km. He was never gonna win in the sprint.

Gamble big, kristoff had no choice but to keep riding and if the other 2 come back terpstra has more chance to win than 1v1 with kristoff.

If Terpstra didn't do any turns in the last 10km, he would have got 4th. Kristoff was just too strong today. No one was beating him, regardless of what happened. Not Sagan, not Van Avermaet. Degenkolb wouldn't have beaten him.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

So Etixx is riding for 2 places in cobbles classics, he should never had worked with Kristoff to begin with. This was more about Terpstra wanted to be the king instead of Stybar !

Spot on. Stybar may have had the kick needed to drop Kristoff / Degenkolb on the last climbs, Terpstra doesn't. Wokring to give Kristoff 30 seconds start before the last climbs was stupid from the team's point of view.

 

[seldon71]

Kristoff superb, Terpstra had no really a way to win...

Remember, it was very late before GVA & Sagan truly got rid of 3rd group. Maybe letting them come back would have worked but it took so long before they were truly clear and just two of them. After that Kristoff had enough HP alone to guarantee 2-man sprint. Letting WHOLE group to come back would have been majestically stupid.

GVA got wrong man to respond in Patersberg... Sagan did fine to counter that attack, but you could clearly see he didn't have much left in his pulls - very like (not as bad) in E3.

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

People really love to jump on the Quickstep hatewagon. Terpstra did nothing wrong, he got the best result he possibly could.

Finally some sense.

I don't like Terpstra at all. But there wasn't much he could've done differently. Clearly Kristoff was stronger on the Pater.. an attack would have done nothing

Definitely.

Yep, So True.

He couldn't drop Kristoff on the Paterberg, so he did the next best thing, work with him and get on the podium.

 

[ray j willings]

Sky !. All show and no go !. Kristoff a beast.

Sky rode ok if you ask me. Too much work but the real Issue was Thomas wasn't strong enough

Awful tactics, wasted to much energy ,Thomas left alone again. Gave the other teams a easy ride in comparison.
Thomas tried to attack but all in vain. Wiggo was a disaster Got dropped way back. Other teams look a lot stronger BMC possibly could have mixed up the race a bit earlier.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

It looked like Kristoff could have dropped Terpstra on the Paterberg but (correctly) decided it was best to keep him around

 

[Trond Vidar]

Kristoffs coach and stepdad on Norwegian TV now: "we have been working for a long time on having an alternative to the usual sprint from Kristoff, and working on much higher general capacity. Great to see it worked today.

We have also worked for years to create a classics rider of Alex, and he has worked patiently for many years with high training loads to get there. He is also very dedicated on doing the job after getting to the level he was at last year, to keep improving. "

 

[Bushman]

Lol at those saying this was an epic Etixx fail. They dont have the riders to just win the race, dont know what the heck you expect. It's like the only reason they didn't win was because of a massive *** up, well thats just stupid.


Terpstra should have sat up a bit earlier though. It would have given him better chances, but it wouldn't have changed much I think. Kristoff was simply too strong.

 

[trevim]

Deserved win from Kristoff.

I think Terpstra was in a bad situation specially because Stybar couldn't go with Sagan. I still think he worked way too much with such a good sprinter but he held the responsibility of leadership quite well.

Vanmarcke? We need him for Roubaix, can't stand another Kristoff or Sky win.

Nelson Oliveira surprisingly good and Benoot the revelation of the day of course. Greipel was just spectacular making up for an underwhelming race from Roelandts.

Tinkoff is probably on the Koppenberg. Really, where the f*** was Breschel? Sagan looks weak whenever he has to make a real effort....

Regarding Thomas,I thought he would be stronger with all the hype surrounding him. Still he has learned the hard way what is like to be a favourite for a classic.

 

[Sasquatch]

Re: Re:

Once again, poor tactics from Etixx. Terstra needed to jump with 2km to go if he wanted to win

With probably 0% chance of getting away from Kristoff.
Not sure if he had any chance at all against this winner. He was the strongest today!!

Exactly, the only way to beat Kristoff was to lose him on the Kwaremont and Paterberg. Terpstra basically gave him a 30 second headstart, with was more than enough.

Terpstra lost Kristoff's wheel on the last climb. He wasn't strong enough to put in an attack.

 

[goggalor]

Re: Re:

Terpstra got the best result he could. Kristoff was unbeatable.

True. The strongest rider won today, simple as that. Terpstra did well to get 2nd, looking good for PR.

Kristoff is looking better for PR

Well, yeah, but Flanders is Kristoff's race. Paris Roubaix not as much, but of course with form like this...

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

Lol at people in this forum telling Terpstra to ride like a coward and not pull. I can't believe how reactionary and shortsighted some people are.

If he stopped riding with Kristoff he still wouldn't have won.

But the difference is he would lose his podium place no one will ever trust him in a breakaway again.

Any race he ever attacks in, every other rider working with him would identify him immediately as the guy who will sell them down the river with cowardly cheapo tactics if the breakaway gets a sniff at a win.

An extremely dumb thing for a rider who's best chance to win is from a mid race break, to do.

 

[seldon71]

Re:

It looked like Kristoff could have dropped Terpstra on the Paterberg but (correctly) decided it was best to keep him around

Agreed! No one would have dropped Kristoff on Patersberg. He was in monster-form.

 

[gthx_gthx_]

Re:

So Etixx is riding for 2 places in cobbles classics, he should never had worked with Kristoff to begin with. This was more about Terpstra wanted to be the king instead of Stybar !

When Terpstra went with Kristoff , it was a great tactic to put Thomas in a difficult position , at this point in the race it still looked like Thomas was the strongest. Terpstra failed because he could not drop Kristoff on the cobbled hills. Perhaps Stybar would have done a better job.

Anyway great win for Kristoff.

 

[deValtos]

I don't think Vanmarcke had a mechanical, just bad legs. Ever since the omloop each race he's looked slightly weaker and weaker. Not sure what's up with him, shame, but I didn't expect much from him today.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re: Re:

So Etixx is riding for 2 places in cobbles classics, he should never had worked with Kristoff to begin with. This was more about Terpstra wanted to be the king instead of Stybar !

Spot on. Stybar may have had the kick needed to drop Kristoff / Degenkolb on the last climbs, Terpstra doesn't. Wokring to give Kristoff 30 seconds start before the last climbs was stupid from the team's point of view.

No. The chasers didn't close the gap on the last climb, so Kristoff won on power and riding the last 500m like a boss.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Terpstra got the best result he could. Kristoff was unbeatable.

He didn't have to work with one of the best sprinters in the world. Could easily have allowed the bunch to reform when he saw Kristoff on his wheel and then tried to attack again on the Kwaremont.

You are right, because in a bunch sprint Terpstra had better chance.

Well, obviously not. But he might have been able to get away solo or in a small group on the Kwaremont or Paterberg without Kristoff. Especially if he could have worked with Stybar or Vandenbergh.

As soon as he took Kristoff with him with 40k to go he was riding for second place at best. Should have stopped the attack then and regrouped. Idiotic stuff.

There was 0% chance of that happening with Kristoff in this form. 0% chance.

Well, there was certainly more of a chance than there was of Terpstra beating him in a sprint! I agree that Kristoff looked the strongest rider, but a hard attack by, for example, Thomas, Stybar and Van Avermaet on the last climbs could have distanced him by 5-10 seconds. Terpstra by himself was never going to win.

 

[dicanio_michael]

Re:

Terpstra played it ok but imo he shouldn't have done anything in the last 10 km. He was never gonna win in the sprint.

Gamble big, kristoff had no choice but to keep riding and if the other 2 come back terpstra has more chance to win than 1v1 with kristoff.

Finally some good comments here. Honestly, what did Etixx did wrong today ?
Oh yea, they didn't won which is "impossible" to happen lol

 

[ray j willings]

Sagan,,,something missing

 

[dicanio_michael]

Re: Re:

Hahahahahahahahaha In your face Terpstra...

Wow, pathetic.

Terpstra lost against Kristoff in a sprint, oh he failed horribly

Have you ever watched cycling before?

No this was my first ever race. But it's kind of Funny that Terpstra failed so miserably despite not doing much to cooperate.

Oh! So Terpstra need to be a student of Cavendish and learn proper sprinting now ?

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

Terpstra got the best result he could. Kristoff was unbeatable.

He didn't have to work with one of the best sprinters in the world. Could easily have allowed the bunch to reform when he saw Kristoff on his wheel and then tried to attack again on the Kwaremont.

You are right, because in a bunch sprint Terpstra had better chance.

Yeah, silly Terpstra. Taking a podium in one of the world's biggest races, the name recogniton, prize money etc that comes with it, over an invisible top 20 position.