2018 E3 Harelbeke - 206.5 km - March 23

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Meanwhile, Landa finished in 86th place. Wonder how much he learned ahead of the Tour de France.

Well, he finished, which is more than I expected.

He finished. Movistar said they were sending him there because he needed experience riding the cobbles.

Movistar will be in trouble on the cobbles in july. They can hope that it won`t rain but I expect Quintana and Landa to lose 1-2 minutes even on dry roads.

I expect Valverde to come out of the cobbled section in the best shape.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Meanwhile, Landa finished in 86th place. Wonder how much he learned ahead of the Tour de France.

Well, he finished, which is more than I expected.

He finished. Movistar said they were sending him there because he needed experience riding the cobbles.

Movistar will be in trouble on the cobbles in july. They can hope that it won`t rain but I expect Quintana and Landa to lose 1-2 minutes even on dry roads.

I expect Valverde to come out of the cobbled section in the best shape.

I think Bala will be better than most GC guys but Thomas will likely be in the best shape as I expect he'll be Sky's leader.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Meanwhile, Landa finished in 86th place. Wonder how much he learned ahead of the Tour de France.

Well, he finished, which is more than I expected.

He finished. Movistar said they were sending him there because he needed experience riding the cobbles.

Movistar will be in trouble on the cobbles in july. They can hope that it won`t rain but I expect Quintana and Landa to lose 1-2 minutes even on dry roads.

I expect Valverde to come out of the cobbled section in the best shape.

I think Bala will be better than most GC guys but Thomas will likely be in the best shape as I expect he'll be Sky's leader.[/quote]

Don't discount Nibali either. I agree, Bala, Thomas and Nibali should be in the best shape after that stage. They also aren't the really skinny pure climbers either.

Bala's bigger problem is going to be the TTT. By the time the TTT and cobbled stages are over Landa and Quintana could easily be down by 2 to 3 minutes. That doesn't include the ITT that is somewhere on the route.

 

[woodburn]

That just means Landa will go on the attack and create an amazing spectacle.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

I think GVA just decided that he didn't like his chances at that point where they got it down to 12 seconds and tried for a bigger gap than he got. Gilbert hadn't done anything for a long time and likely would have had that group sprint. GVA probably sensed that and got a bit desperate. Terpstra was just too strong and determined in the end. GVA's gamble didn't pay off, I"m sure he regrets trying to blow things up now, but hindsight is 20/20!!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

I think GVA just decided that he didn't like his chances at that point where they got it down to 12 seconds and tried for a bigger gap than he got. Gilbert hadn't done anything for a long time and likely would have had that group sprint. GVA probably sensed that and got a bit desperate. Terpstra was just too strong and determined in the end. GVA's gamble didn't pay off, I"m sure he regrets trying to blow things up now, but hindsight is 20/20!!

Terpstra deserved that win, but if they would have used their brain and worked together for a few minutes longer, they would have easily caught him. They were at 15 seconds with almost 10k to go (Renaat Schotte handclocked the gap at one point). The fact that they didn't bridge that, wasn't because Terpstra was too strong. But if three guys from the same team can't manage to work together, well, all the better for Terpstra.

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Meanwhile, Landa finished in 86th place. Wonder how much he learned ahead of the Tour de France.

Well, he finished, which is more than I expected.

He finished. Movistar said they were sending him there because he needed experience riding the cobbles.

Movistar will be in trouble on the cobbles in july. They can hope that it won`t rain but I expect Quintana and Landa to lose 1-2 minutes even on dry roads.

This.
Nothing in Flanders is comparable what they will encounter in Bersee or Camphin-en-Pevele. Most cobbled sectors in Flanders are quite well maintained compared with the farm tracks in northern France.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

Nothing in Flanders is comparable what they will encounter in Bersee or Camphin-en-Pevele. Most cobbled sectors in Flanders are quite well maintained compared with the farm tracks in northern France.

Haven't ridden any cobbles in France, but there is a cobbled descent into Hoegaarden, where you don't want to go faster than 10km/h if you don't want to throw your bike in the trash. Brutal.

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Nothing in Flanders is comparable what they will encounter in Bersee or Camphin-en-Pevele. Most cobbled sectors in Flanders are quite well maintained compared with the farm tracks in northern France.

Haven't ridden any cobbles in France, but there is a cobbled descent into Hoegaarden, where you don't want to go faster than 10km/h if you don't want to throw your bike in the trash. Brutal.

With "Flanders" I meant the races in Flanders. I am well aware of the fact that there are some very hard cobbled sections in Hainault, Walloon Brabant and the area of Overijse and Hoegaarden, most of them not used in cycling races.

 

[Emotional Cobble Guy]

Actually in the post-race interviews I hear GVA and Roelandts agreed to go for GVA's sprint. Roelandts wasn't feeling well/sure about his chances. Not so selfish after all.
However both GVA and Baldato (DS) admitted that communication and teamtactics should have been better.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Actually in the post-race interviews I hear GVA and Roelandts agreed to go for GVA's sprint. Roelandts wasn't feeling well/sure about his chances. Not so selfish after all.
However both GVA and Baldato (DS) admitted that communication and teamtactics should have been better.

Roelandts wasn't feeling well, but he attacked 3 times in the last 5km More likely he was pissed off because Van Avermaet ruined the chase...

 

[Jagartrott]

No, Roelandts would try the breakaway the final kms, GVA would wait for the sprint.

 

[El Pistolero]

Landa finished more than 14 minutes down, but at least he finished the race I guess. Most GT contenders are completely useless in a cobbled classic, safe one or two exceptions (Nibali, Valverde)

 

[Anderis]

Re:

Most GT contenders are completely useless in a cobbled classic, safe one or two exceptions (Nibali, Valverde)

It's hard to say. It's a bit different when it's a classic and when it's a cobbled day during TdF, but in the latter we've always had some climbers mixing with the classics specialists. We can't know about the former because most of the GT contenders often don't ride them at all, or just show up once or twice during their career, to prepare for a GT.

I think in 2014, before that cobbled TdF stage, Langeveld said something like Talansky wass stronger than him on the cobbled stuff alone, but it might be the fight for position before a cobbled sector, which would cause some problems against specialists. That could well come with experience.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Landa finished more than 14 minutes down, but at least he finished the race I guess. Most GT contenders are completely useless in a cobbled classic, safe one or two exceptions (Nibali, Valverde)

Jungels would probably do well. Dumoulin. Maybe Mollema.

Someone like Porte (if he stays on the bike) and Uran might surprise also.

 

[Durden93]

Just watched. Great ride by Terpstra, Lampert and QSF. I have my doubts about Sagan in Flanders.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

Landa finished more than 14 minutes down, but at least he finished the race I guess. Most GT contenders are completely useless in a cobbled classic, safe one or two exceptions (Nibali, Valverde)

Jungels would probably do well. Dumoulin. Maybe Mollema.

Someone like Porte (if he stays on the bike) and Uran might surprise also.

I don't really see Jungels as a GT contender, imo he should focus on the classics (cobbles and hills).

 

[Forever The Best]

Excellent race with the race opening up very early. Not happy with Terpstra winning tho. Nice to see Phil looking good.