2018 Strade Bianche, 1.UWT, 03.03.18

[WheelofGear]

Nibali is extremely overrated. He is racing it almost every year but he can't even get in top 10.

I don't think the course suit him at all. Unlike pavé of France, these hills are too explosive for him.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

Edit: Ok, Nibali is riding it. But he doesn't have a chance. Even Andy Schleck was able to get a top 10, but Nibali can't after all these years.

 

[SKSemtex]

The good thing for Sagan is that this time it is not all peloton against one man. Kwiatko is a two-time champion, eager to join Cance in the club. It is not on him to do all the selection, to chase all the attacks, to do extra work to keep the attack alive.
He is very hard to beat on those occasions unless he was babysitting little bit more than he should.


The list of favorites is amazing. This going to be epic. Kwiatko vs Bala vs Sagan vs Styby vs GVA ......... up that narrow street of Sieena.

BTW is Theuns riding this?

I would add Gilbert, Moscon and Lutsenko to round up that list.

Thatś why dots are there. Minimum 5-6 names can be added there.

This race should be the first race after PR. Top cobbles riders versus top Ardennes riders in top form.

 

[DFA123]

The good thing for Sagan is that this time it is not all peloton against one man. Kwiatko is a two-time champion, eager to join Cance in the club. It is not on him to do all the selection, to chase all the attacks, to do extra work to keep the attack alive.
He is very hard to beat on those occasions unless he was babysitting little bit more than he should.


The list of favorites is amazing. This going to be epic. Kwiatko vs Bala vs Sagan vs Styby vs GVA ......... up that narrow street of Sieena.

BTW is Theuns riding this?

I would add Gilbert, Moscon and Lutsenko to round up that list.

Gilbert is a great shout. Definitely one of the absolute favourites imo. He looks in very good form, so it's certainly possible that both him and Stybar make the final selection. Then one of them can attack (probably Gilbert as the slightly less explosive of the two) a la Moser or Brambilla; and they probably won't be caught.

I guess the same scenario could happen with Moscon as well, but he's yet to really prove himself as one of the very best on the sterrato, whereas Gilbert is a former winner.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

His team doesn't have any obvious leader

Sonny.

 

[Sestriere]

Re: Re:

His team doesn't have any obvious leader

Sonny.

I would be surprised if he played a major role in this race.

 

[yaco]

My outsider is Haas - Could be trouble by the dirt roads, though he'll do fine on the last climb.

 

[search]

interesting to read so many names that will be dropped for good with 100km to go. Has there ever been an edition of the Eroica where the win wasn't fighted out between the strongest ~handfull of riders only? But sure, there's a small chance to win a sprint for 3rd or so for guys like Colbrelli, Haas or probably even Valverde

 

[WheelofGear]

What I love about Strade Bianche is that is it a elimination race. The strongest rider always win.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

His team doesn't have any obvious leader

Sonny.

I would be surprised if he played a major role in this race.

Being Bahrain leader in this race doesn't necessarily mean playing a major role.
It is quite obvious that a 100% Nibali would be a better choice for them, but he didn't look particularly close to 100% in his last race, so I have my doubts. Of course it's Nibali so you never know.

 

[Velolover2]

Kwiatkowski is the favorite. Followed by Stybar, then GVA, then Sagan, then Valverde, then Gilbert and then the rest with Moscon, Felline, Vanmacke, among others as the most prominent.

 

[Anderis]

Julian Cardona will shock the cycling world by winning this race with Alex Howes and Tom Van Asbroeck coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

His team doesn't have any obvious leader

Sonny.

I would be surprised if he played a major role in this race.

Being Bahrain leader in this race doesn't necessarily mean playing a major role.
It is quite obvious that a 100% Nibali would be a better choice for them, but he didn't look particularly close to 100% in his last race, so I have my doubts. Of course it's Nibali so you never know.

There are two declared leaders, Sonny and Nibali with Visconti in a free role. For Nibali, Strade is too early in the calendar and the explosive climbs don't do him any good. As for building his form, I don't think we'll see a particularly good Nibali until Amstel.

 

[WheelofGear]

The funny thing about Nibali is that I think he has a better chance in Roubaix than a relatively short race like this with small, steep hills.

It's the same with the Tour of Flanders. I don't get why he is targeting it. I see him as a top 10 candidate for Roubaix, but not De Ronde. His has the right age, size (for a climber), endurance and bike handling skills for Roubaix.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Kwiatkowski is the favorite. Followed by Stybar, then GVA, then Sagan, then Valverde, then Gilbert and then the rest with Moscon, Felline, Vanmacke, among others as the most prominent.

According to the bookies, he’s 2nd favorite. Then Stybar, Valverde and GVA.

A lot of people like to bet on Sagan!

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Kwiatkowski is the favorite. Followed by Stybar, then GVA, then Sagan, then Valverde, then Gilbert and then the rest with Moscon, Felline, Vanmacke, among others as the most prominent.

According to the bookies, he’s 2nd favorite. Then Stybar, Valverde and GVA.

A lot of people like to bet on Sagan!

Yeah, it's because he is the most famous name. But as a poster mentioned above, while this race is great for him.. it's not the one that suit him the most. It's Flanders.

For Kwiatkowski and Stybar, you can't make a better route.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

The funny thing about Nibali is that I think he has a better chance in Roubaix than a relatively short race like this with small, steep hills.

It's the same with the Ronde van Vlaanderen. I don't get why he is targeting it. I see him as a top 10 candidate for Roubaix, but not De Ronde. His has the right age, size (for a climber), endurance and bike handling skills for Roubaix.

Ronde is not a target, he is just testing it, has no idea what to expect. As for Roubaix, he's still first and foremost a GT rider, it doesn't fit properly in his preparation and it's too dangerous to just to ride for fun. Maybe later.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Anyone have a rough estimate as to what time the race would likely finish?

 

[Googolplex]

According to the timetable, 15:14 - 15:44 CET.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

According to the timetable, 15:14 - 15:44 CET.

Thanks! That’s good news, for me.

 

[SafeBet]

Both Eurosport and RAI going live at 13.50 is not good news though.
I don't really understand why they don't extend the coverage for such a beautiful race.

 

[Samamba]

Re:

Both Eurosport and RAI going live at 13.50 is not good news though.
I don't really understand why they don't extend the coverage for such a beautiful race.

Maybe you can find a Sporza stream somewhere, they're going live at 12.25!

EDIT: Apparently that's for the women race.

 

[Koronin]

I think Kwait and Stybar are the favorites. For me Valverde is next, then GVA, then Gilbert (due his form not as good as last year), then Sagan.

Yes, Valverde doesn't like bad weather or cold weather and many times does struggle with it. However, he also actually does have some good results in bad and cold weather. It just really depends on how he's feeling both physically and mentally when the race starts.

 

[Laplaz]

No one mentioned Benoot, but i think he can do really well here.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Its amazing how many comments this race already has. It hasn't even started yet!

It really shows how highly real cycling fans rate the race, myself included. Especially this year the race seems to be loaded and everything up in the air, the best of the best versatile classic riders going up against each other on pretty much equal ground: Kwito, Sagan, Valv, GvA, Gilbert, Stybar... amazing.