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2018 Paris - Roubaix

Page 39 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Who will win Paris - Roubaix?

  • Peter Sagan

    Votes: 24 16.1%
  • Greg Van Avermaet

    Votes: 6 4.0%
  • Philippe Gilbert

    Votes: 31 20.8%
  • Jasper Stuyven

    Votes: 3 2.0%
  • Oliver Naesen

    Votes: 4 2.7%
  • Sep Vanmarcke

    Votes: 12 8.1%
  • Niki Terpstra

    Votes: 24 16.1%
  • Zdenek Stybar

    Votes: 14 9.4%
  • Wout Van Aert

    Votes: 5 3.4%
  • Other

    Votes: 26 17.4%

  • Total voters
    149
  • Poll closed .
Re:

WheelofGear said:
Let's admit it, Roubaix is too flat for PhilGil. He needs hills like in Ronde van Vlaanderen and E3 Harelbeke.
I never got the Gilbert love. He had very little Roubaix experience, none of his attacks looked that strong this classics season and he said he didn't have the form of year ago. I guess people just bought into that #striveforfive stuff.
 
Re:

d-s3 said:
I don't get this criticism for Dillier.
Sagan was clearly strong. Should Dillier not cooperate, Sagan would attack him. Dillier would likely get caught by the group.
This way, he got second and he had (albeit a very distant) chance to win.

IMHO I think they made a deal that Sagan did not go full speed on cobbles and Dillier worked with him on tarmac.

Me neither. Dillier looked pretty tired for the last 20 km and was never going to beat Sagan in any scenario. So best to work for esch other and stay away. The gap closed quite a bit to about 10 km out and it was only from a bit after that you knew they would stay away.
 
Re: Re:

jaylew said:
DFA123 said:
jaylew said:
Pretty sure he did exactly that, even if it was on one of the last segments.
Exactly. If he would have followed Sagan's move then we would have had a proper race on, rather than a procession for the last 40km.
It didn't seem like one to me, maybe because it wasn't one guy, went from 4 to 3 to 2 and I never thought a Sagan win was a given as Sagan looked a bit tired. Dillier looked really strong to me and I thought he had a good shot with his track experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was on pins and needles at the end.
...same here. I understand and agree with DFA123's point, but don't blame Dillier. He didn't stand a chance. Having survived the breakaway, not been dropped by Sagan like the others did, he had nothing left in the tank. Brave rider.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Blanco said:
DFA123 said:
Sestriere said:
Sestriere said:
There won't be a way around QS, I think. Stybar netting a big one would be great. However, this is Roubaix and with all the madness I could definitely see an outsider hanging on from the early break or a super-dom sent ahead with 60 to go get the win. All things considered, obvious Silvan Dillier win is obvious.

Btw, why is Marc Soler racing this?

Who would've thought Sagan was so strong? ;)
I think Dillier will look back on this later in his career and think what might have been. There was no reason for him to take a pull in the lat 5km, let alone go to the front as they passed under the Flamme Rouge.

He'd probably have lost whatever he did, but he certainly didn't give himself the best opportunity to win.

When he looks back on this later in his career, he'll see that he rode like a man!
And lost like a sheep.
He was (rightfully) happy with second place. Yeah, his tactics in the last 3-4km could've been better, but if he'd stopped working with 7km to go, Sagan would have just attacked and he could have ended up without a podium. This is still the biggest result of his career, by a margin.
 
Re: Re:

Brullnux said:
He was (rightfully) happy with second place. Yeah, his tactics in the last 3-4km could've been better, but if he'd stopped working with 7km to go, Sagan would have just attacked and he could have ended up without a podium. This is still the biggest result of his career, by a margin.
Would he though? On a flat road with almost non-existant cobbles? And if so maybe he'd have burnt himself out doing so. Dillier rode a great race, but a terrible final few kilometres. Sure, he will be happy with 2nd place right now, but if he never gets in this position again, I think he might look back on today with slight tinges of regret that he didn't make the most of his big moment.

If you are in the final two at Paris Roubaix, having crossed the Carrefour de l'Arbre, with over a minute advantage to any chasers, you shouldn't be accepting of second place - whoever you are up against.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
jaylew said:
Pretty sure he did exactly that, even if it was on one of the last segments.
Exactly. If he would have followed Sagan's move then we would have had a proper race on, rather than a procession for the last 40km.
It's too bad there's not TV coverage of the assumed cobbles attack. I'm more inclined to believe that they let him run off while looking at each other. It seems illogical, that Stuyven and Vanmarcke (who both looked in control when Terpstra attacked on Carrefour) suddenly could not follow him on Willems a Hem.
 
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There is no shame coming to the velodrome from the break of the day and losing a sprint to a guy wearing rainbow jersey for three years.

Haters will hate and badmouth Dilliar's tactics but he did well and standing on the Roubaix podium along with the world champ and previous Roubaix winner is quite an accomplishment.
 
What an amazing show of strength by Sagan! Last year's attacks in this race proved how strong he was, but I never thought he'd repeat those tactics and to win like he did was amazing, clearly one of the best riders over the last 20 years. To me it seemed more satisfying than RVV because at least the chase group actually collaborated behind, they just weren't strong enough, furthermore the Quickstep domination of the spring was getting too predictable. It seemed like QSF burnt up the legs of everyone but terpstra too early (I think next year Gilbert will go better, he looked very strong but not at ease on the flat cobbles compared to some).

Great rides by Dillier (an amazing result and incredibly underappreciated at BMC last year), Phinney (best ride since his crash) and even Terpstra (don't know how he got away in the end).
 
Re:

greenedge said:
What an amazing show of strength by Sagan! Last year's attacks in this race proved how strong he was, but I never thought he'd repeat those tactics and to win like he did was amazing, clearly one of the best riders over the last 20 years. It seemed like QSF burnt up the legs of everyone but terpstra too early (I think next year Gilbert will go better, he looked very strong but not at ease on the flat cobbles compared to some).

Great rides by Dillier (an amazing result and incredibly underappreciated at BMC last year), Phinney (best ride since his crash) and even Terpstra (don't know how he got away in the end).
In the last 2kms they realised they were not getting Sagan back and Stuyven attacked. GvA responded and Terpstra attacked when they had caught Stuyven. Vanmarcke said he was totally empty and couldn't respond anymore.
 
Re:

Jancouver said:
There is no shame coming to the velodrome from the break of the day and losing a sprint to a guy wearing rainbow jersey for three years.

Haters will hate and badmouth Dilliar's tactics but he did well and standing on the Roubaix podium along with the world champ and previous Roubaix winner is quite an accomplishment.
You could say pretty much the same about Hayman if he would have finished 2nd to Boonen a couple of years ago. But he took his chance and is now in the history books as a Paris-Roubaix winner.

Dillier's ride and tactics were great. Until the final few kilometres, when they were horrible.
 
I don't see this as an amazing show of strength but rather as a brilliant tactical victory. Obviously Sagan was strong, if not the strongest (we'll never know), and that's a large part of what allowed him to stay at the front, but the key was his tactics. He had forgotten this is what he needs to do, so it's good that he remembered.
 
Re:

rehy90 said:
Terpstra messed it up pretty bad...after attack from Gilbert and Stybar it was his turn..he was the one to follow Sagan. I dont know what he was doing.
Did Lampaert also get caught up in the crash with Kristoff? I wonder if that messed up their tactical plans somewhat.

On a side note, I noticed Kristoff finished the race in 57th position? wtf? That looked a broke collar bone for sure, what kind of rider doesn't just call it a day and get in the team car at that point? fair play to him.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Jancouver said:
There is no shame coming to the velodrome from the break of the day and losing a sprint to a guy wearing rainbow jersey for three years.

Haters will hate and badmouth Dilliar's tactics but he did well and standing on the Roubaix podium along with the world champ and previous Roubaix winner is quite an accomplishment.
You could say pretty much the same about Hayman if he would have finished 2nd to Boonen a couple of years ago. But he took his chance and is now in the history books as a Paris-Roubaix winner.

Dillier's ride and tactics were great. Until the final few kilometres, when they were horrible.

There were calls for Dillier to stop riding from way out, even while the gap was coming down fast, which were insane. But yes, last couple of km he could've played a bit. It looked like Sagan slightly eased up at one point on Carrefour, perhaps Dillier was too polite as a result. Perhaps he was just physically and mentally fatigued having not much experience in such situations.
 
Re: Re:

alspacka said:
DFA123 said:
Jancouver said:
There is no shame coming to the velodrome from the break of the day and losing a sprint to a guy wearing rainbow jersey for three years.

Haters will hate and badmouth Dilliar's tactics but he did well and standing on the Roubaix podium along with the world champ and previous Roubaix winner is quite an accomplishment.
You could say pretty much the same about Hayman if he would have finished 2nd to Boonen a couple of years ago. But he took his chance and is now in the history books as a Paris-Roubaix winner.

Dillier's ride and tactics were great. Until the final few kilometres, when they were horrible.

There were calls for Dillier to stop riding from way out, even while the gap was coming down fast, which were insane. But yes, last couple of km he could've played a bit. It looked like Sagan slightly eased up at one point on Carrefour, perhaps Dillier was too polite as a result. Perhaps he was just physically and mentally fatigued having not much experience in such situations.
Yeah, it's difficult to fault him too much. He made a tactical blunder at the end, but like you said, given his inexperience in these situations it's understandable. I think it may weigh on his mind in the future though.

It would have been interesting if Naesen would have made it into the GVA/Terpstra group. Then he really would have had a valid reason to stop riding and would have been in a superb position to win the race. But Naesen let him down in that respect.
 
Btw Sagan could not get rid of Dillier on cobbles. Dillier was on cobbles probable even stronger than Sagan.
It was asphalt where he could get rid of him with strong attack going to the red for few seconds.
Sagan let Dillier lead in cobbles a lot, but when they were on roads and he made a pull distance always grew between them and chasers.
 
Re: Re:

alspacka said:
DFA123 said:
Jancouver said:
There is no shame coming to the velodrome from the break of the day and losing a sprint to a guy wearing rainbow jersey for three years.

Haters will hate and badmouth Dilliar's tactics but he did well and standing on the Roubaix podium along with the world champ and previous Roubaix winner is quite an accomplishment.
You could say pretty much the same about Hayman if he would have finished 2nd to Boonen a couple of years ago. But he took his chance and is now in the history books as a Paris-Roubaix winner.

Dillier's ride and tactics were great. Until the final few kilometres, when they were horrible.

There were calls for Dillier to stop riding from way out, even while the gap was coming down fast, which were insane. But yes, last couple of km he could've played a bit. It looked like Sagan slightly eased up at one point on Carrefour, perhaps Dillier was too polite as a result. Perhaps he was just physically and mentally fatigued having not much experience in such situations.

Just like GVA before 2015. He lost but ride square and fair. He kept to lose but we liked his ride and attitude.
Look at Simon Gerran. He won but.... we all knows.
Hope Dillier could have a great future.
 
Re:

Jungle Cycle said:
1523204921-turgis.png
:D
 
Re:

rehy90 said:
Terpstra messed it up pretty bad...after attack from Gilbert and Stybar it was his turn..he was the one to follow Sagan. I dont know what he was doing.

I just rewatched that segment. Terpstra and Gilbert weren't even in the front group when Sagan went. GVA had just been brought back by a group of 10-15 and the bunch with Gilbert leading was just about to close the gap when Sagan went. Only QS guy in the front group who would have been able to go with Sagan was Stybar who was sitting in the back of the front group.

Terpstra was well back at that point and in no position to bring back Sagan so I guess the tactical error was in Niki not being one of the guys to jump on the GVA attack as it left him well out of position for a counter
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Jancouver said:
There is no shame coming to the velodrome from the break of the day and losing a sprint to a guy wearing rainbow jersey for three years.

Haters will hate and badmouth Dilliar's tactics but he did well and standing on the Roubaix podium along with the world champ and previous Roubaix winner is quite an accomplishment.
You could say pretty much the same about Hayman if he would have finished 2nd to Boonen a couple of years ago. But he took his chance and is now in the history books as a Paris-Roubaix winner.

Dillier's ride and tactics were great. Until the final few kilometres, when they were horrible.

Dillier's real target is Tour du Finistère, 6 days later. He came Paris Routaix for training, take turns and accumulate serious kilometers. Look, he just not take a *** to win there.
 
Re:

hrotha said:
I don't see this as an amazing show of strength but rather as a brilliant tactical victory. Obviously Sagan was strong, if not the strongest (we'll never know), and that's a large part of what allowed him to stay at the front, but the key was his tactics. He had forgotten this is what he needs to do, so it's good that he remembered.
Sagan was smart to recognize that after Gilbert's and Stybar's attacks, QS was depleted. Also, the group was making the elastic, ready to explode. Finally, he saw how GVA was able to open up a gap easily. When he attacked, GVa had just produced a big effort, all looked at QS to do the work, and only Terpstra was fresh. Brilliant on Sagan's part. Having said that, few races offer such a situation. And for the first 20km, the gap was small, there was the fear that he was dangling and would be caught. I think that he was also very smart to use the remnants of the breakaway for as long as he could, when he would have been able to drop them quickly.
 

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