2017 Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Feb 25th, 198.3km

[BigMac]

Lovely to see Sagan fans frustrated. Sport dedication prevails against showoffishness. This is a top race and he lost.

2017 road season starts the way 2016 one ended. The Slovakian unable to outsprint Greg after a long breakaway. Only with kilometers of wheelsucking he can. This time no whining like he did all the job like supposedly he did in Montreal (while Greg brought the group to Costa all by himself but well). This time he did less than others and still lost.

Didn't the 2016 season end with sagan winning the wc?

Re-read that post. It's amazing how every sentence but one is a lie.

 

[JRanton]

Re:

A tactical fail by Sky. they pulled and pulled and now there are not in the 1st 2 groups

Legs were the problem, not tactics. Stannard and Rowe were both protected but didn't have the legs to go with the best.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re:

He also said he was cramping the last 20k and the strongest guy won.

GVA also said he wasn't the strongest. Guess they were both correct, but at different points in the race.

 

[frisenfruitig]

God, some of you guys are very childish. Can't you just appreciate the fact that there are riders out there like Sagan and GVA? Why does it have to be one or the other?

I was pretty bummed out by the crashes today, would have loved to see how Boonen would have done.

 

[RedheadDane]

Lovely to see Sagan fans frustrated. Sport dedication prevails against showoffishness. This is a top race and he lost.

I'm a Sagan fan, and I'm not frustrated. Maybe because I'm also a GVA fan. And a Vanmarcke fan. And a Felline fan. And a... oh... you get the point.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Our man in Flanders Brecht Decaluwe has some interesting news from the Trek-Segafredo team bus. Directeur sportif Dirk Demol is seeking out the commissaires to query the result. He said that riders were warned they would be excluded if they went off the road to ride on the pavement, rather than riding across the cobbles. According to Demol, while his team, including fourth-placed Fabio Felline, adhered rigorously to the directive, the three leaders did not... Demol is reportedly going to inquiry whether the race jury will revise the result accordingly... Watch this space...

That would be great. If they were warned, then surely there is no discussion to be had - throw them out.

I agree, if they have been warned beforehand then stick to the freaking rules. It would be a bloody shame, but this evading cobbles has to stop.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

Our man in Flanders Brecht Decaluwe has some interesting news from the Trek-Segafredo team bus. Directeur sportif Dirk Demol is seeking out the commissaires to query the result. He said that riders were warned they would be excluded if they went off the road to ride on the pavement, rather than riding across the cobbles. According to Demol, while his team, including fourth-placed Fabio Felline, adhered rigorously to the directive, the three leaders did not... Demol is reportedly going to inquiry whether the race jury will revise the result accordingly... Watch this space...

That would be great. If they were warned, then surely there is no discussion to be had - throw them out.

I agree, if they have been warned beforehand then stick to the freaking rules. It would be a bloody shame, but this evading cobbles has to stop.

100% agreed.

The reason people don't take cycling seriously is that the rules aren't adhered to.
They want to change that? Apply the rules here.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

God, some of you guys are very childish. Can't you just appreciate the fact that there are riders out there like Sagan and GVA? Why does it have to be one or the other?

I was pretty bummed out by the crashes today, would have loved to see how Boonen would have done.

For some people that's very hard and complicated.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

God, some of you guys are very childish. Can't you just appreciate the fact that there are riders out there like Sagan and GVA? Why does it have to be one or the other?

I was pretty bummed out by the crashes today, would have loved to see how Boonen would have done.

Thats not the case. It's only Echoes who can't admit that Sagan is a great cyclist. I don't think anybody wrote that GVA didn't earn this victory.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5huQJrWAAAOeqn.jpg
hahaha :lol:

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

God, some of you guys are very childish. Can't you just appreciate the fact that there are riders out there like Sagan and GVA? Why does it have to be one or the other?

I was pretty bummed out by the crashes today, would have loved to see how Boonen would have done.

Thats not the case. It's only Echoes who can't admit that Sagan is a great cyclist. I don't think anybody wrote that GVA didn't earn this victory.

portugal11 another notoriously ... well let's not go there... , but he as well.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re: Re:

Very fascinating to see *again* Sagan was a level above anyone else in the hill zone, but then fading towards the finish. I think you could 'see' it the last 20 km that he was fading, while Greg could barely hang on earlier but then looked stronger towards the end.

It's still early in the season. I think that Sagan will improve a lot until Sanremo and he will win another Monument this year. I am not so sure, that GvA will win his first.
Sagan did a lot of work today, sometimes 75%. That's for sure too much, but this comes with being Sagan and wearing that jersey.

 

[Gloin22]

http://cyclocosm.tumblr.com/post/157696122137/somewhere-a-marketing-director-is-explaining-to-a

Did anyone post this yet? I wonder how he got himself so high that quickly but good work nontheless

 

[Netserk]

Well, he did seem unfocused during the race.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

Very fascinating to see *again* Sagan was a level above anyone else in the hill zone, but then fading towards the finish. I think you could 'see' it the last 20 km that he was fading, while Greg could barely hang on earlier but then looked stronger towards the end.

It's still early in the season. I think that Sagan will improve a lot until Sanremo and he will win another Monument this year. I am not so sure, that GvA will win his first.
Sagan did a lot of work today, sometimes 75%. That's for sure too much, but this comes with being Sagan and wearing that jersey.

It's not like Sagan is the only rider that is going to improve a lot though. None of the top guys are in their best shape yet. It's true that Sagan did a lot of work though, although GVA surely did his fair share too.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

http://cyclocosm.tumblr.com/post/157696122137/somewhere-a-marketing-director-is-explaining-to-a

Did anyone post this yet? I wonder how he got himself so high that quickly but good work nontheless

The Nate Diaz of cycling.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Is that Sagan cosplaying as Lebowski or did somebody let a hobo in?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

The trolling is evident.

Just use the friend/foe function to stop reading posts of people like that. I do that since recently and it works wonders

 

[tomorrow]

I have been saying this last year, and I think it will be the same this year. Sagan does so much work in the "training" races intentionally, because
1. He really doesn't care if he wins
2. He knows, if he comes to the line alone, he can't be Cioleked, and in Flanders it is perfectly doable for him. So he needs to get used to do a lot of work himself
3. He should get more stamina by doing this, and if he controls himself, his sprint after effort should get better with time(gw last year). This will get handy if he doesn't shake gva on patterberg. In this case, sep would be with them too, so they wouldn't have to be afraid of somebody else coming from the back
4. It makes him look beatable
5. He gets to test, where his opponents currently are with there form(I mean on cobbles). To me, it looked like he was playing with the field today. At first, waaaay back at the bottom of taaienberg, then bridges to sep and gva looking like on training g ride. The he literally drop himself on purpose from first to fifth place on the bottom of molenberg.

Let's just hope, that all the best cobbled specialists stay healthy in Flanders and Roubaix, so we can have enough excitement to remember, when the boring times of the cycling year will come again.

 

[Anderis]

**** I had a short power outage with 2kms to go and didn't see the finish.

 

[DFA123]

I have been saying this last year, and I think it will be the same this year. Sagan does so much work in the "training" races intentionally, because
1. He really doesn't care if he wins
2. He knows, if he comes to the line alone, he can't be Cioleked, and in Flanders it is perfectly doable for him. So he needs to get used to do a lot of work himself
3. He should get more stamina by doing this, and if he controls himself, his sprint after effort should get better with time(gw last year). This will get handy if he doesn't shake gva on patterberg. In this case, sep would be with them too, so they wouldn't have to be afraid of somebody else coming from the back
4. It makes him look beatable
5. He gets to test, where his opponents currently are with there form(I mean on cobbles). To me, it looked like he was playing with the field today. At first, waaaay back at the bottom of taaienberg, then bridges to sep and gva looking like on training g ride. The he literally drop himself on purpose from first to fifth place on the bottom of molenberg.

Let's just hope, that all the best cobbled specialists stay healthy in Flanders and Roubaix, so we can have enough excitement to remember, when the boring times of the cycling year will come again.

If all that is true, which seems a bit unlikely to me - after all he's only won one monument in his career, why didn't he try to attack and drop the others some point in the last 25km. That would have certainly helped with points 2,3 and 4.

I think he wanted to break the race up early - particularly when Boonen crashed so quick step were a bit disorganised - because the longer it stays together, the more vulnerable he becomes to teams with numbers in the group. Towards the end, the expectation is on him to chase down every attack, and if Quick Step or Lotto have multiple numbers he cant win. Even though it cost him a few matches, it's way better for him to get it as every man for himself as early as possible. Then he just didn't have the strength to drop GVA or beat him in the sprint.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

http://cyclocosm.tumblr.com/post/157696122137/somewhere-a-marketing-director-is-explaining-to-a

Did anyone post this yet? I wonder how he got himself so high that quickly but good work nontheless

The Nate Diaz of cycling.

Lol, yep...definitely acting weird there.

 

[tomorrow]

I have been saying this last year, and I think it will be the same this year. Sagan does so much work in the "training" races intentionally, because
1. He really doesn't care if he wins
2. He knows, if he comes to the line alone, he can't be Cioleked, and in Flanders it is perfectly doable for him. So he needs to get used to do a lot of work himself
3. He should get more stamina by doing this, and if he controls himself, his sprint after effort should get better with time(gw last year). This will get handy if he doesn't shake gva on patterberg. In this case, sep would be with them too, so they wouldn't have to be afraid of somebody else coming from the back
4. It makes him look beatable
5. He gets to test, where his opponents currently are with there form(I mean on cobbles). To me, it looked like he was playing with the field today. At first, waaaay back at the bottom of taaienberg, then bridges to sep and gva looking like on training g ride. The he literally drop himself on purpose from first to fifth place on the bottom of molenberg.

Let's just hope, that all the best cobbled specialists stay healthy in Flanders and Roubaix, so we can have enough excitement to remember, when the boring times of the cycling year will come again.

If all that is true, which seems a bit unlikely to me - after all he's only won one monument in his career, why didn't he try to attack and drop the others some point in the last 25km. That would have certainly helped with points 2,3 and 4.

I think he wanted to break the race up early - particularly when Boonen crashed so quick step were a bit disorganised - because the longer it stays together, the more vulnerable he becomes to teams with numbers in the group. Towards the end, the expectation is on him to chase down every attack, and if Quick Step or Lotto have multiple numbers he cant win. Even though it cost him a few matches, it's way better for him to get it as every man for himself as early as possible. Then he just didn't have the strength to drop GVA or beat him in the sprint.

Yes he could have, if the win mattered to him. And if I am right, the training matters to him more than the win, and therefore the work done during the race is more important than getting the tactics perfect. I think that after the years, he knows how to win. But I can be wrong.

 

[Flamin]

Yeah, agree that Sagan couldn't care less about not winning here. This was all about having an excellent training ride and a win would be just a nice bonus. On Sporza they said Bora didn't even recon the route, which is pretty remarkable to say the least. Of course it's not a new one but you still want to memorize the key points in the week before the race. I mean, if you saw Sagan coming off the front and dropping all the way to the back of the group (even behind dead guys from the early break like Jules and Bagdonas) litterally 200 meters before the Molenberg, you can't say you're serious about this race.

Anyway, rewatched some key moments in the race. Sagan had to cut through the grass, almost coming to a standstill, to avoid the mass crash on the run-in to Taaienberg. Impressive how fast he got to the front again when it was full gas to the base.

The complaints from Trek about riding on the sidewalk (on Karel Martelstraat) are actually very legit. When the chasing group jumps on the sidewalk, you see a moto from the jury(?) making clear gestures that they should ride ON the cobbles, while nobody cared about the front group. What a joke.

Surprise of the day was probably Felline. I think he was in a 3rd or even 4rd group after Taaienberg, trying to chase back. Then another moment that caught my attention was right after the Molenberg. The group was very stretched out and he was almost at the back of the group when a gap appeared a few wheels in front of him, somewhere halfway the group. Seconds later you see him bridging alone while those other guys (Theuns and Roelandts among others) are suddenly 100m behind. And of course taking 4th place at the end.

 

[carolina]

As usual, the UCI doesn't have the balls to enforce the rules:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sidewalk-riding-sparks-anger-at-omloop-het-nieuwsblad/

This is ridiculous. GVA admitts he knew the rules, but he just didn't give a *** about them... They should be disqualified.