Todays time trial set me up to men RR. I am looking forward to it. 100th anniversary WC in Flanders. How cool is that? Super cool for me. Obviously I want Sagan to break history record but he is not prime favourite anymore. Anyway I like how hard he is trying recently. He was quite active in Benelux Tour in some stages and attacked left and right at Tour of Slovakia. My gut tells me Colbrelli will win this spectacular bike race.
P.S. I saw down the thread climbs but is there som cobbles sections or even better cobbled climbs? Obviously not famous Ronde climbs.
Sagan said that seeing so many people, which were rooting for him, gave him a plenty of energy. He didn´t hesitate in any of those stages to attack and make a show for the crowds. I think it worked out perfectly. Despite the lack of stage winning, he demonstrated his strength with a dominant performance. Of at least two stages that were supposed to be quite boring due to its mostly flat character, he made a spectacular race. Uphill and downhill breakaway attacks, sprinting for an intermediate and polka-dots points cost him a lot of energy and possibly the stage victories, as well. On the contrary, the effort guaraanted him an overall classification leadership.
The sprinting competition at the Tour of Slovakia did not belong among the best, but it still had its quality. Bol, Hodeg or Steimle, all of them were decent competitors. Unfortunately, his top sprint is not top anymore, but is good enough to catch up with MVDP or Colbrelli, which are the cyclists who should be there – in the final meters of the WC or PR.
After all, what Sagan did not lack was consistency, though. Tenth in the prologue, then second, second, third and second in the bunch or reduced sprints. He is always there with the best and statistically, when you are all the time among the best, is it even possible not to win once in a while?