2016 Strade Bianche, March 5th, 176 km, 1.HC

[johnymax]

What's it with Sagan so often losing sudden power in the last 5km of a race, especially when he has taken initiative before?

Only time it didn't happen seems to be the worlds last year

I think his shape isn't optimal yet and he spends too much energy too early in the race. He is often one of the most generous riders in the attacking group. In the worlds on the other hand he was hidden in the bunch, nowhere to be seen until 3km to go where he launched his devastating attack.

 

[portugal11]

Sagan is way better this year than last year, last year he cracked with 30 km to the finish

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Too early to write Phinney off but his injury was major. He still suffers from the effects of that crash.

I look more to the Phinney before his horror crash. Really good rider with potential, but a future winner of Roubaix? (like a lot of people thought)

I agree we have to wait before we judge him, after his injury. But the things Benoot is showing in the classics at his age, Phinney never did when he was that age.

In the future Benoot is aiming for stage races more than classics. The new Thomas.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Too early to write Phinney off but his injury was major. He still suffers from the effects of that crash.

I look more to the Phinney before his horror crash. Really good rider with potential, but a future winner of Roubaix? (like a lot of people thought)

I agree we have to wait before we judge him, after his injury. But the things Benoot is showing in the classics at his age, Phinney never did when he was that age.

In the future Benoot is aiming for stage races more than classics. The new Thomas.

Please tell me you're kidding, right? Or by stage races you mean the ENECO tour.

 

[stabbin31]

Re: Re:

senza parole

Does anyone know if he was on the Madone or Koppenberg?

If you can get a picture of the fork I can tell you. My guess is that it was a Koppenberg because of the climbs and technical turns ect. The difference between the Domane Classics edition and the Domane Koppenberg is geometry. The Koppenberg has Emonda geometry with shorter chain stays and less rake on the fork. Quicker snappier handling with the Koppenberg. At Roubaix, they would use the Classics edition.

Like I said if I could see the fork I could tell you.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Too early to write Phinney off but his injury was major. He still suffers from the effects of that crash.

I look more to the Phinney before his horror crash. Really good rider with potential, but a future winner of Roubaix? (like a lot of people thought)

I agree we have to wait before we judge him, after his injury. But the things Benoot is showing in the classics at his age, Phinney never did when he was that age.

In the future Benoot is aiming for stage races more than classics. The new Thomas.

Please tell me you're kidding, right? Or by stage races you mean the ENECO tour.

He said in an interview that he wants to lose weight to aim for stage races. He already showed this talent by getting a top 10 on a Dauphiné stage last year. His heart is in the classics, and he knows his strength is at 240km+ races but he also has the physicality to be a stage racer. He's only 21 so it's too soon to tell how he will ultimately develop.

 

[Brullnux]

Noooooo. He should be the next Cancellara or Boonen.

 

[Mr.White]

What's it with Sagan so often losing sudden power in the last 5km of a race, especially when he has taken initiative before?

Only time it didn't happen seems to be the worlds last year

Well I think Sagan is not a real "hard man" for the classics, like Boonen, Cancellara, GVA, Terpstra, etc. He shouldn't take initiative very often, or long way before the finish, cause that way he looses his strength for the finale. He should ride more like Kristoff or Degenkolb, saving himself for the sprint or one decisive attack, like in Richmond

 

[jaylew]

Well, Strade Bianche has officially requested to become WT:

“We’ve made a request for Strade Bianche to be added to the 2017 WorldTour. We’ve been told it’s on the short list and so it was under observation this year. Lets hope it can become part of the WorldTour. We think Strade Bianche has everything needed to go onto become one of the great Classics of the WorldTour,” Vegni told Cyclingnews.

“We’re involved in the organisation of the Abu Dhabi Tour too and it’s also on the short list. I think the UCI’s plan is to have around 20 or so races in the WorldTour but many of them are races that are already in the calendar. I don’t think all the new requests will be given WorldTour status for 2017 but we think Strade Bianche has shown it immediately deserves a place.”

I like the idea.

 

[jens_attacks]

good but make it 220 km long and rain mandatory.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

good but make it 220 km long and rain mandatory.

Sprinklers if sun is out

 

[Arredondo]

What's it with Sagan so often losing sudden power in the last 5km of a race, especially when he has taken initiative before?

Only time it didn't happen seems to be the worlds last year

Well I think Sagan is not a real "hard man" for the classics, like Boonen, Cancellara, GVA, Terpstra, etc. He shouldn't take initiative very often, or long way before the finish, cause that way he looses his strength for the finale. He should ride more like Kristoff or Degenkolb, saving himself for the sprint or one decisive attack, like in Richmond[/quote]

But for us cycling fans, it's better it stays like this

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

But for us cycling fans, it's better it stays like this

With GVA and Vanmarcke still having a few years left in them and with Benoot, Gougeard, Stuyven etc. coming to the fore, I hope we won't have to worry about the sprinters a whole lot in the classics the coming years.

 

[tomorrow]

What's it with Sagan so often losing sudden power in the last 5km of a race, especially when he has taken initiative before?

Only time it didn't happen seems to be the worlds last year

Well I think Sagan is not a real "hard man" for the classics, like Boonen, Cancellara, GVA, Terpstra, etc. He shouldn't take initiative very often, or long way before the finish, cause that way he looses his strength for the finale. He should ride more like Kristoff or Degenkolb, saving himself for the sprint or one decisive attack, like in Richmond

Well, from my point of view, currently, Sagan knew, that he stood no chance in the finish both in Omloop or Strade. That's why he attacked. As far as Strade is concerned, that's why he tried to go clear from Cancellara and Stybar in the last sectors. He simply knew, they held the upper hand in the finale.
Given that this was only 3rd race day(I don't count the Tour de san luis) after the high altitude training, his results are not that bad. Also, last year showed him, that he won't beat Degenkolb or Kristoff in the finale of cobbled classics. And if for some reason, there is no Cancellara in the race, everybody will wait for the others to drop them. As tinkoff doesn't have riders to maintain such a pace that those 2 would be dropped, he must rely only on himself, and that means attack from far distances that he would probably like. He tried to stay in the bunch in past, it didn't work for him either. So he's trying to prepare himself to be able to do that. He seems better at this compared to last year.
If it proves that he can't do this either, his only chance left would be some superstrong team like ettix, but such one, which won't screw up every finish like it is with ettix recently.

 

[manafana]

A great race, make it world tour then eurosport have show it over Biathlon. Ha no wait didn't even have a stream in english for paris nice prologue.

 

[SafeBet]

Bit of a letdown compared to the previous few editions though. I'm not sure I like the WT status request. Ultimately it could mean more strong domestiques, more teams interested in a top20 placement and more conservative racing overall.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Bit of a letdown compared to the previous few editions though. I'm not sure I like the WT status request. Ultimately it could mean more strong domestiques, more teams interested in a top20 placement and more conservative racing overall.

I would say this last edition has already been ridden as if it was WT. The field was much better than 50% of actual WTs and lots of people rode for a top-10 placement.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

I would say this last edition has already been ridden as if it was WT. The field was much better than 50% of actual WTs and lots of people rode for a top-10 placement.

I agree, but most viewers seem to have enjoyed it.
Throw in 4-5 other WT teams with the ambition to finish top10 and it's the perfect recipe for a last km uphill sprint to me.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

I would say this last edition has already been ridden as if it was WT. The field was much better than 50% of actual WTs and lots of people rode for a top-10 placement.

I agree, but most viewers seem to have enjoyed it.
Throw in 4-5 other WT teams with the ambition to finish top10 and it's the perfect recipe for a last km uphill sprint to me.

Well, I have enjoyed it. Granted, it was not nearly as good as 2014-2015, but it was still a good race. Better than any of last year's monuments (maybe except Lombardia), for example. I'm afraid there are no races that are guaranteed to blow up at 50 kms to go anyway. This race can. As simple as that. It can also be an uphill sprint like in 2011 though, and it was not even 1.HC at the time.

If the official status of WT makes it overcome the 200km barrier, I'm fine with it.

 

[Gigs_98]

I was also a bit disappointed that there was still a pretty big peloton before the penultimate sterrato section but then after the race finally exploded it was extremely entertaining and especially the finish was just great. Surely the race could have been way better too but there is no guarantee that as a WT Race with a better field combined with a harder route it will be worse than it is now with already strong riders and a slightly easier route.

 

[Eshnar]

I think that the route has only one big flaw (besides the length), and that is the section between Monte S.Marie and Monteaperti: it's longish (18 kms) and too easy overall.
My solution would be to deviate west and and then north to the village of Guistrigona, where it looks like there is a nice sector of sterrato 1.1kms long, with 400m of descent and 400m of 10% climbing, and then west again to Monteaperti. The length would be reduced by 4 kms, but especially there would be another non trivial sterrato sector midway.
Either way, this race needs another 40 kms in the first half. Of which, 10-20 kms on sterrato. It would be very easy to achieve, they just need to want it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Why are you guys so obsessed with making the race longer? I know its the general consensus among nearly everyone in here (especially in the race design thread and if you are opposing such things, you are in for a bad time...), but it has probably been the best one day race the last 3 year, managing that with under 200 km. I don't really see the need to make it longer. However, as you point out, the race was a little bit too neutralised after Monte S. Maria, but at least we got one of the best finals I can remember in some time.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Why are you guys so obsessed with making the race longer? I know its the general consensus among nearly everyone in here (especially in the race design thread and if you are opposing such things, you are in for a bad time...), but it has probably been the best one day race the last 3 year, managing that with under 200 km. I don't really see the need to make it longer. However, as you point out, the race was a little bit too neutralised after Monte S. Maria, but at least we got one of the best finals I can remember in some time.

In 2014 and 2015 the race was exactly 200 kms long. Only this year was shorter.

 

[Echoes]

Up until 1989 most semi-classics easily exceeded the 200km mark. For example, the Omloop then Het Volk had a length of 244km !! The same could be said about the Walloon Arrow, about the Tre Valli Varesine, about the E3 GP. Paris-Brussels was the longest single-day race of all, it exceeded the 300km mark.

Hein Verbruggen was the undertaker of the cycling classics. In order to highlight his newly created World Cup he imposed a shortened distance to every non-World Cup event. From 1990 on none of them could exceed 210km, except Paris-Brussels because of the natural distance that separates the two cities but it still was shortened to 240k at first and then to 215k and was discarded as a Brussels Cycling Classics.

Longer distances, restoring the traditional lengths of these races is just making them justice. Whatever the entertainment on TV might be.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Why are you guys so obsessed with making the race longer? I know its the general consensus among nearly everyone in here (especially in the race design thread and if you are opposing such things, you are in for a bad time...), but it has probably been the best one day race the last 3 year, managing that with under 200 km. I don't really see the need to make it longer. However, as you point out, the race was a little bit too neutralised after Monte S. Maria, but at least we got one of the best finals I can remember in some time.

In 2014 and 2015 the race was exactly 200 kms long. Only this year was shorter.

Oh, I thought it was just under 200 kms, not that it makes any difference really. But sure if it goes WT, the length will probably be reverted to 200 or above, but I think this race is a good example that a classic can be extremely hard AND super entertaining not going Flanders/Roubaix-mode if the route is hard enough