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2018 Tour of Flanders

Page 26 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Who will win

  • Peter Sagan

    Votes: 40 28.0%
  • Greg Van Avermaet

    Votes: 12 8.4%
  • Philippe Gilbert

    Votes: 13 9.1%
  • Tiesj Benoot

    Votes: 13 9.1%
  • Michal Kwiatkowski

    Votes: 5 3.5%
  • Sep Vanmarcke

    Votes: 12 8.4%
  • Niki Terpstra

    Votes: 14 9.8%
  • Zdenek Stybar

    Votes: 11 7.7%
  • Wout Van Aert

    Votes: 2 1.4%
  • Other

    Votes: 21 14.7%

  • Total voters
    143
  • Poll closed .
Re: Re:

El Pistolero said:
SKSemtex said:
DFA123 said:
trucido said:
DFA123 said:
Great race by Terpstra. Too easy in the end for Quickstep though. Sagan looked the strongest of the rest but, as usual, his tactics were shockingly poor.

How was GvA and Vanmarcke's any better? Enlighten us.
It looked like they just didn't have the legs. They weren't in the shape to drop everyone on the Paterberg. Sagan was, and should have used some of that energy earlier when Terpstra wasn't already out of sight.

You are always general after the race.
If he close the Terpstra stack and could not follow another from Styber or Gilbert you would have called him utterly stupid.. Like you always did when he lose.

If Terpstra attacks, you follow. End of story. Terpstra was the strongest in the race.
Yep. This is rule number 1 of classics riding. More than half of RVVs and PRs in the last three years have been decided by Terpstra attacks.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Brullnux said:
I don't see how following the most clearly in form rider (who has an average acceleration) on the wheel of a GT rider (with similarly poor acceleration) isn't an obvious choice. Sagan was basically on his wheel as well. He made the wrong choice, which is fine, but it just happens pretty frequently.
Yep, Kristoff won the same monument easily by just following Terpstra when no-one else could. And Degenkolb won Paris Roubaix by following a Terpstra attack. He's the number one wheel you should be looking out for if you want a rider whose attack will stick, and who can easily be beaten in a sprint.

Ridiculous that he wasn't marked more tightly by all the other favourites.
Do not make idiot of yourself. Sure Terpstra would have been pulling Sagan to the finish on his wheel. :D
 
Re: Re:

SKSemtex said:
DFA123 said:
Brullnux said:
I don't see how following the most clearly in form rider (who has an average acceleration) on the wheel of a GT rider (with similarly poor acceleration) isn't an obvious choice. Sagan was basically on his wheel as well. He made the wrong choice, which is fine, but it just happens pretty frequently.
Yep, Kristoff won the same monument easily by just following Terpstra when no-one else could. And Degenkolb won Paris Roubaix by following a Terpstra attack. He's the number one wheel you should be looking out for if you want a rider whose attack will stick, and who can easily be beaten in a sprint.

Ridiculous that he wasn't marked more tightly by all the other favourites.
Do not make idiot of yourself. Sure Terpstra would have been pulling Sagan to the finish on his wheel. :D
Well he did it with Kristoff. Who is a much better sprinter than Sagan at the end of a hard race. So he probably would have done.
 
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Re: Re:

Flamin said:
portugal11 said:
alspacka said:
BalearicBeats said:
More Strides than Rides said:
Avermaet did it! He beat Sagan! Against all odds! Bet he's super satisfied with his riding today...

He and Sagan were the only favorites to attack today (except for Terpstra of course)? I didn't see him skip any turns or anything, he tried at least.

Yes I don't understand GVA criticism here. He clearly was not as strong as previously and BMC did have Roelandts chase while he could.
roelandts had the legs to cover terpstra's attack!! But guess what? they waited for... Sagan!!

This is bullocks, again. Roelandts tried to bridge to Terpstra. Maybe you should stop talking about things you have no clue about. Actually Sagan was at the front when Terpstra attacked :eek:
what? roelandts only went to the front when terpstra was already far
 
Re: Re:

Jancouver said:
Irondan said:
DFA123 said:
Great race by Terpstra. Too easy in the end for Quickstep though. Sagan looked the strongest of the rest but, as usual, his tactics were shockingly poor.
His **** team isn't much help either..

Agree 100%

Bora should hire Stybar to work for Sagan next year ...

... I think Sagan will retire at the end of his contract. He seems to be annoyed by the tactics of everyone waiting for his attacks or to close every gap.
He knew that from the beginning. That is his problem. Either he gets a stronger team or change tactics. Do something different otherwise he will keep loosing like this. He needs to stop getting annoyed for the same thing. This is getting old. The other riders won't change until he becomes irrelevant.
 
Re: Re:

El Pistolero said:
SKSemtex said:
DFA123 said:
trucido said:
DFA123 said:
Great race by Terpstra. Too easy in the end for Quickstep though. Sagan looked the strongest of the rest but, as usual, his tactics were shockingly poor.

How was GvA and Vanmarcke's any better? Enlighten us.
It looked like they just didn't have the legs. They weren't in the shape to drop everyone on the Paterberg. Sagan was, and should have used some of that energy earlier when Terpstra wasn't already out of sight.

You are always general after the race.
If he close the Terpstra stack and could not follow another from Styber or Gilbert you would have called him utterly stupid.. Like you always did when he lose.

If Terpstra attacks, you follow. End of story. Terpstra was the strongest in the race.
For once, you and I are in complete agreement.
 
Re: Re:

portugal11 said:
Flamin said:
portugal11 said:
alspacka said:
BalearicBeats said:
[quote="More Strides than Rides

He and Sagan were the only favorites to attack today (except for Terpstra of course)? I didn't see him skip any turns or anything, he tried at least.

Yes I don't understand GVA criticism here. He clearly was not as strong as previously and BMC did have Roelandts chase while he could.
roelandts had the legs to cover terpstra's attack!! But guess what? they waited for... Sagan!!

This is bullocks, again. Roelandts tried to bridge to Terpstra. Maybe you should stop talking about things you have no clue about. Actually Sagan was at the front when Terpstra attacked :eek:
what? roelandts only went to the front when terpstra was already far

Terpstra had 50 meters at that point. Makes no sense whatsoever to say fricking Jurgen Roelandts had the legs to cover the -by far- strongest guy in the race :eek:
 
Re:

DFA123 said:
One win and three podiums in 24 attempts at monuments now for Sagan. Surely he is better than that?
Easier said than done. He has a world class punch/sprint, but lacks a good engine. His team is never there when he actually needs them (bora tactics :( ). He's also one of a few who can win by both attacking and sprinting so it can be difficult to decide how he´s going to approach it.
 
Re: Re:

Screecher said:
DFA123 said:
One win and three podiums in 24 attempts at monuments now for Sagan. Surely he is better than that?
Easier said than done. He has a world class punch/sprint, but lacks a good engine. His team is never there when he actually needs them (bora tactics :( ). He's also one of a few who can win by both attacking and sprinting so it can be difficult to decide how he´s going to approach it.
It's the lack of podiums which surprised me most. We all know he's only won one monument. But only three podiums in the other 23 attempts is really poor for someone with such a fast finish.

I guess we should probably re-assess how prestigious a WC win is nowdays as well. Because it certainly appears a lot easier to win than a monument - which never used to be the case.
 
Re:

trucido said:
Will Kwiatek ever be able to get over the final Kwaremont without blowing up?
If he gains 10kg's of muscles and a better engine, surely. He's got the technique for riding cobbles. But he's not going to win RVV as the rider he is right now. Which is also one of the reasons I cast doubt on his presence in the voting poll prior this week.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Screecher said:
DFA123 said:
One win and three podiums in 24 attempts at monuments now for Sagan. Surely he is better than that?
Easier said than done. He has a world class punch/sprint, but lacks a good engine. His team is never there when he actually needs them (bora tactics :( ). He's also one of a few who can win by both attacking and sprinting so it can be difficult to decide how he´s going to approach it.
It's the lack of podiums which surprised me most. We all know he's only won one monument. But only three podiums in the other 23 attempts is really poor for someone with such a fast finish.

I guess we should probably re-assess how prestigious a WC win is nowdays as well. Because it certainly appears a lot easier to win than a monument - which never used to be the case.
It's not easier to win a WC in general, but it does seem easier for Sagan in particular. For whatever reason he's not getting marked as much in those races. He can just hide in the peloton and do 1 strong attack/sprint, which is the perfect situation for him.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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Re:

Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Finally I hope Valverde will be crushed in Fleche and LBL by anybody.

Won't happen, those races are too easy to control and nobody wants to win LBL and FW besides Valverde. Otherwise they'd race more aggressively, like in the cobbled classics.
 
What's up with GVA this season? The sprint finish still seems to be there and he is still there or thereabouts, but he has looked pretty average on the cobbles and can't make any kind of gap? It looks like last year might just be a one off freak, rather than a true Indian Summer to his career.

Or perhaps he's got an eye on more hilly races this year. He's mentioned Amstel a few times, and even the WC could be on his radar I guess.
 
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Re: Re:

Cance > TheRest said:
trucido said:
Will Kwiatek ever be able to get over the final Kwaremont without blowing up?
If he gains 10kg's of muscles and a better engine, surely. He's got the technique for riding cobbles. But he's not going to win RVV as the rider he is right now. Which is also one of the reasons I cast doubt on his presence in the voting poll prior this week.

He's got a better engine than Sagan but yes looks too light at the moment.

Still the current rider with the most potential (albeit small) to win all the monuments before he gets off his bike. Time is against Gilbert unfortunately.
 
Re: Re:

Screecher said:
DFA123 said:
Screecher said:
DFA123 said:
One win and three podiums in 24 attempts at monuments now for Sagan. Surely he is better than that?
Easier said than done. He has a world class punch/sprint, but lacks a good engine. His team is never there when he actually needs them (bora tactics :( ). He's also one of a few who can win by both attacking and sprinting so it can be difficult to decide how he´s going to approach it.
It's the lack of podiums which surprised me most. We all know he's only won one monument. But only three podiums in the other 23 attempts is really poor for someone with such a fast finish.

I guess we should probably re-assess how prestigious a WC win is nowdays as well. Because it certainly appears a lot easier to win than a monument - which never used to be the case.
It's not easier to win a WC in general, but it does seem easier for Sagan in particular. For whatever reason he's not getting marked as much in those races. He can just hide in the peloton and do 1 strong attack/sprint, which is the perfect situation for him.
I guess the difference is that a WC can be a really easy or a fairly controlled race (at least for something that is 250km), whereas a monument can't be. Even MSR gets very chaotic and unpredictable at the finish.

I suppose when valuing WC wins you really have to dig a bit deeper and look at the course as well. Whereas monuments are much more static in their value.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Screecher said:
DFA123 said:
Screecher said:
DFA123 said:
One win and three podiums in 24 attempts at monuments now for Sagan. Surely he is better than that?
Easier said than done. He has a world class punch/sprint, but lacks a good engine. His team is never there when he actually needs them (bora tactics :( ). He's also one of a few who can win by both attacking and sprinting so it can be difficult to decide how he´s going to approach it.
It's the lack of podiums which surprised me most. We all know he's only won one monument. But only three podiums in the other 23 attempts is really poor for someone with such a fast finish.

I guess we should probably re-assess how prestigious a WC win is nowdays as well. Because it certainly appears a lot easier to win than a monument - which never used to be the case.
It's not easier to win a WC in general, but it does seem easier for Sagan in particular. For whatever reason he's not getting marked as much in those races. He can just hide in the peloton and do 1 strong attack/sprint, which is the perfect situation for him.
I guess the difference is that a WC can be a really easy or a fairly controlled race (at least for something that is 250km), whereas a monument can't be. Even MSR gets very chaotic and unpredictable at the finish.

I suppose when valuing WC wins you really have to dig a bit deeper and look at the course as well. Whereas monuments are much more static in their value.

Less cohesion in national than trade teams to mark him out imo.
 

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