2021 Donostiako Klasikoa - Clásica San Sebastián, Saturday 31st July (223.5 km)

[Danskebjerge]

Strange last km by Mohoric. Very strange last 30km by Ineos,Jumbo, UAE, DQS.

Hope that commentator never does another race.

Everytime Mohoric is out in front in a race, it gets a bit strange.

DQS didn't do anything strange, though. They shouldn't chase Honoré.

 

[JosefK]

Breakthrough win on the world tour for Powless. Not sure how many wins like this he'll have when he's finished. Maybe not too many, but this is a very nice trophy.

 

[titan31]

Everytime Mohoric is out in front in a race, it gets a bit strange.

DQS didn't doo anything strange, though. They shouldn't chase Honoré.

To me anyway, it felt unlikely Honore was going to outclimb Powless or outdescend or outsprint Mohoric, whereas Alaphillippe is the largest favourite in the group.

If it's me anyway, I tell Honore to sit and do nothing and put whoever has the least left of the two they had around Ala to go to the front and work with Trek.

 

[Tim Cahill]

This commentator seems to have drifted onto a 30 minute polemic about colonialism

 

[KZD]

Surprising to see Powless beating Mohoric in the sprint. Good debut by Ayuso.

 

[JosefK]

Surprising to see Powless beating Mohoric in the sprint. Good debut by Ayuso.

Yes, I was shocked at the outcome, after Mohoric regained Powless's wheel with a couple kilometers to go.

 

[tobydawq]

Yes, I was shocked at the outcome, after Mohoric regained Powless's wheel with a couple kilometers to go.

Apparently, there is a reason Mohoric most often wins alone...

 

[luckyboy]

The riders must be thrilled standing in the cold on the podium watching some people dancing around for 5 minutes instead of taking a shower and celebrating with their teammates..

 

[Tim Cahill]

This little jingle reminds me of the opening of Gangs of New York

 

[Anderis]

The biggest race won by a male American rider since Dauphine 2014?

 

[Andy262]

[QUOTE="titan31, post: 2607885, member

If it's me anyway, I tell Honore to sit and do nothing and put whoever has the least left of the two they had around Ala to go to the front and work with Trek.
[/QUOTE]

To be fair Honore contributed very little up front.

 

[Rackham]

It was a disappointing race because Ineos looked like they were there just to give Bernal training before the Vuelta & Alaphilippe looked unmotivated (or didn't have the legs).

Nice to see Landa on the attack but the others just wheel sucked & appeared disinterested. Oh & special shout-out goes to Mohoric for inventing a new tactic to get rid of rivals in the breakaway: feign a crash & spook the two guys behind into crashing themselves.

The biggest race won by a male American rider since Dauphine 2014?

Is San Sebastian really that much bigger than a stage win in the Tour de France?

I don't have the answer myself, but judging by the TV coverage (or lack thereof in most parts), rightly or wrongly I'd still say a Tour stage win gives a rider more exposure & fame. That would be Sepp Kuss for example who won a stage in the Pyrenees 3 weeks ago in the Tour.

 

[Samamba]

Is San Sebastian really that much bigger than a stage win in the Tour de France?

I don't have the answer myself, but judging by the TV coverage (or lack thereof in most parts), rightly or wrongly I'd still say a Tour stage win gives a rider more exposure & fame. That would be Sepp Kuss for example who won a stage in the Pyrenees 3 weeks ago in the Tour.

It's the same thing , They're both going to breakaways more often than not.

 

[Anderis]

Is San Sebastian really that much bigger than a stage win in the Tour de France?

I don't have the answer myself, but judging by the TV coverage (or lack thereof in most parts), rightly or wrongly I'd still say a Tour stage win gives a rider more exposure & fame. That would be Sepp Kuss for example who won a stage in the Pyrenees 3 weeks ago in the Tour.

Sepp Kuss didn't win a race, though, just a stage.

I definetely rate good WT races like CSS over any stage win anyway. A stage win might be won in a more impressive manner but winning a proper WT race is worth much more points etc. There are 21 stages in each GT and none of them is raced for win by every single rider in the race, unlike classics, so I don't rate stage wins all that highly.

 

[Netserk]

Sepp Kuss didn't win a race, though, just a stage.

I definetely rate good WT races like CSS over any stage win anyway. A stage win might be won in a more impressive manner but winning a proper WT race is worth much more points etc. There are 21 stages in each GT and none of them is raced for win by every single rider in the race, unlike classics, so I don't rate stage wins all that highly.

On the other hand, I'd say that winning the Ventoux stage had greater prestige than most other stages and also greater than say Dwars door Vlaanderen (maybe).

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Is San Sebastian really that much bigger than a stage win in the Tour de France?

I don't have the answer myself, but judging by the TV coverage (or lack thereof in most parts), rightly or wrongly I'd still say a Tour stage win gives a rider more exposure & fame. That would be Sepp Kuss for example who won a stage in the Pyrenees 3 weeks ago in the Tour.

Maybe more TV exposure and acclaim among July fans, but it's 400 UCI points for a classic versus 120 for a TdF stage win so in terms of the season it's a bigger win.

 

[Danskebjerge]

It's great that we have the UCI points to indicate what races are the most important. Otherwise, people would overrate the Tour de France.

The Tour gets a lot of attention because the TV crews are there, and they cover the race stage by stage - but the TV stations rarely send TV crews to places like San Sebastian just to cover one race. I think it's a matter of logistics, to a large extent.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

It's great that we have the UCI points to indicate what races are the most important. Otherwise, people would overrate the Tour de France.

The Tour gets a lot of attention because the TV crews are there, and they cover the race stage by stage - but the TV stations rarely send TV crews to places like San Sebastian just to cover one race. I think it's a matter of logistics, to a large extent.

It's down to marketing a lot as well and in the case of British commentators the opinion that cycling only got popularised in 2012 thanks to the heroic exploits of "our boys" in Team Sly while carefully forgetting Vino denying certain Olympic gold. I'd love it if the five Monument owners could come together with a global TV package but that's back to logistics again.

 

[Red Rick]

On the other hand, I'd say that winning the Ventoux stage had greater prestige than most other stages and also greater than say Dwars door Vlaanderen (maybe).

Probably yeah, but not the group of classics under the monuments, in which I include CSS.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm a bit surprised again by how little time the peloton got back on the climb, but I guess they actually pace the final climb really poorly cause they all wait and attack on the steep part?

Mohoric meanwhile was just advocating for the supertuck by being a danger in the normal position.

 

[saunaking]

Oh & special shout-out goes to Mohoric for inventing a new tactic to get rid of rivals in the breakaway: feign a crash & spook the two guys behind into crashing themselves.

????? You're not the 1st person in this thread to suggest this.
Surely you can't be serious.
Mohoric fakes it, clips out and barely makes a corner just before a descent where he is already the favorite among the break??

No f----ing way this is what happened.

 

[Rackham]

????? You're not the 1st person in this thread to suggest this.
Surely you can't be serious.
Mohoric fakes it, clips out and barely makes a corner just before a descent where he is already the favorite among the break??

No f----ing way this is what happened.

I was obviously being facetious aka not serious.

I mean Rota was literally taken out by Honoré's bike which bounced back into his path & knocked him off like a domino effect. Ergo Mohoric would have to be the greatest evil bike genius ever to make such a cunning plan work.

 

[BlueRoads]

????? You're not the 1st person in this thread to suggest this.
Surely you can't be serious.
Mohoric fakes it, clips out and barely makes a corner just before a descent where he is already the favorite among the break??

No f----ing way this is what happened.

Of course it's not serious. Would have been a work of dark magic!

 

[Escarabajo]

I'm a bit surprised again by how little time the peloton got back on the climb, but I guess they actually pace the final climb really poorly cause they all wait and attack on the steep part?

Mohoric meanwhile was just advocating for the supertuck by being a danger in the normal position.

Bernal wasn't interested and neither was Alaphilippe. So there is that.

 

[BlueRoads]

Bernal wasn't interested and neither was Alaphilippe. So there is that.

Yeah, that was weird, I would have thought both would try to hold on to Mohoric's wheel on the descent - if Powless can make it, they should be able to as well. But I suppose Bernal was not the designated leader today and DQS either thought that they would probably bring the group back and it was enough to have Honoré in front, who without the crash might have sprinted for the win in this constellation, or Alaphilippe didn't feel good enough for a higher pace on the climbs and they thought Honoré was really their best bet.