2021 World Championships in Flanders: Road Races

[T-Nielsen]

And even if Van Aert had been at his very best, it was never a good idea to have the rider with the biggest target on his back in such a vulnerable position when Remco was done.

The biggest mistake was Remco going from 180 km. Such a waste.

 

[Red Rick]

Since when is there a best nation award and how the hell did we win that?

 

[Breezy1985]

The biggest mistake was Remco going from 180 km. Such a waste.

Left it too late

 

[Netserk]

Btw Kristoff won yet another sprint (for 21st this time).

 

[jaylew]

Valgren hit a really good form at the 2020 Vuelta and has been pretty good since. He has been unlucky with crashes but his form has been good all year.

Yeah, he was decent in the Vuelta last year and ok this year but nothing like 2018 or lately. Anyway, he's fun to watch when he's going well.

 

[limak_]

Alaphilippe benefitted so much from the fact that this was raced hard from that far. All of the attacks of Remcos, Asgreens etc (of course French as well) paved a path for the French success, making the field exhausted as far as they hit the final Leuven laps.

Thanks to that, those short climbs turned out to be long and steep enough for his trademark moves.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Maybe, maybe not. Riding on the front at a hard steady tempo isn't the same as the kind of explosion in the legs Ala has. I don't think he would have been able to go with him. Maybe once or twice but I don't think anyone had the form today to go with him on that last one. But yeah, if somehow he'd been able to go with him every time at least Belgium would have come away with a silver.

Agreed, my point is that he actually had the best legs for Belgium today...I think Alaphillippe was the class of the field, regardless.

 

[Mayomaniac]

This is the Worlds RR equivalent of 2015 Gent-Wevelgem or 2016 Paris-Roubaix.

With a winner not nearly as cool as the former, nor as much of an underdog story as the later.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Alaphilippe benefitted so much from the fact that this was raced hard from that far. All of the attacks of Remcos, Asgreens etc (of course French as well) paved a path for the French success, making the field exhausted as far as they hit the final Leuven laps.

Thanks to that, those short climbs turned out to be long and steep enough for his trademark moves.

Since you put it like that, Quickstep's tactics were superb.

 

[cen]

Van Aert has never been in Alaf's explosiveness class. Not even at his best form.

He outsprinted him in an uphill finish in Tour of Britain stage 4 just a few weeks ago..

 

[Red Rick]

He outsprinted him in an uphill finish in Tour of Britain stage 4 just a few weeks ago..

I think his uphill explosivity falls off a lot in super hard races with a lot of repetitions tbh.

 

[RedheadDane]

All of the attacks of Remcos, Asgreens etc

Again with the cloning riders!?!

 

[jaylew]

Hoelgaard is going to be a huge addition to the Trek classics team. 3 headed mini-monster?

 

[limak_]

He outsprinted him in an uphill finish in Tour of Britain stage 4 just a few weeks ago..

Mind the repetitiveness aspect of Alaf's explosivity as well.

 

[RedheadDane]

Love the Most Popular top-10 on PCS.

Popular

#	Rider	Today	Y'day	Up/down
1	ALAPHILIPPE Julian	6328	1221	▲5107
2	VALGREN Michael	4730	928	▲3802
3	BALSAMO Elisa	4453	14663	▼10210
4	SAINBAYAR Jambaljamts	3861	294	▲3567
5	VAN BAARLE Dylan	3574	408	▲3166
6	HOELGAARD Markus	3547	512	▲3035
7	VAN AERT Wout	2321	1659	▲662
8	POWLESS Neilson	2297	360	▲1937
9	STUYVEN Jasper	1961	633	▲1328
10	COLBRELLI Sonny	1959	1128	▲831

Lots of big names - Balsamo dropping down after making leap yesterday - and then, Jambaljamts Sainbayar! Which, to be fair, is also a rather big name, using a slightly different definition of "big name".

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sainbayar is actually a pretty decent rider, surprisingly good palmarès of those Turkish one day races that are usually dominated by Russian and Ukrainian riders.

 

[Unchained]

These races have been great..Belgian backdrop made it better..stayed up all night coming in and out of sleep to watch the men's race live.. Alaphillipe is really really punchy and he gets cadence going uphill that is truly fantastic..I saw a few times were his trade teammates helped, and after his win watching the congratulations..he is obviously well liked and respected. A really good race for the top 10 riders ,who basically attacked each other to death..
Remco rewarded..much respect

As a person who tries( mostly fails) to speak foreign languages..I can't tell you how impressed I am after riding brutal races the interviewer slams the mic in the face of a rider who is still anaerobic and asks them to answer hard questions..in English the female Italian champ was super impressive

 

[Koronin]

Worst possible winner for this race again. On the other hand, 2021 has shown he's started his decline and he's not going to do much again without help.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Worst possible winner for this race again. On the other hand, 2021 has shown he's started his decline and he's not going to do much again without help.

Like your fav has been doing since forever?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Random fact of the day: The first four riders were all born in 1992.

 

[limak_]

Random fact of the day: The first four riders were all born in 1992.

Lol, always thought van Baarle was older

 

[southwards]

Lol, always thought van Baarle is older

The Sky prison rejuvenates. I always thought Landa was older.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Belgium drilling behind when they had Remco in a nice group with other riders from the big nations was probably their biggest mistake.
Let the others organize the chase.

 

[jaylew]

If you have one of the strongest riders, and completely waste him with 200km to go, i think it's fair to say tactics sucked huge balls.

He didn't look completely wasted to me.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He didn't look completely wasted to me.

At the very least he wasted his chances.