2023 Brabantse Pijl, April 12th

[Valv.Piti]

It striked me yesterday, who even are the Ardennes specialists these years? Its basically only GC-men, thats a far cry from the era of Bettini, Rebellin, Valverde, Gilbert etc. And by that same notion, it seems that these GC-contender (for good reasons ofcourse) focus heavily on Liege, so who on earth is contest Amstel + Fleche when Wout and Mathieu decided not to race?

Edit: Whops, I forgot Pogacar is racing. And the closest to these specialists would be riders like Cosnefroy, maybe Pidcock?

 

[Samamba]

Yeah, probably. Maybe Lotto will take the opportunity to learn that you should never put all your eggs in a lesser rider's basket when you have De Lie in a good position, they had all the cards today and will have a top-3 to show for it at best.

Hmm I would agree, but not in this parcours (incredibly hard to control for a sprint) and also not with Kron, he has shown enough to give him a chance...

They probably shouldn't have disrupped the chase in the peloton tho.

 

[theyoungest]

That begs the question:
Would you rather have a squirrel leading the pack for you, or a unicorn leading the pack for you?

Difficult... the choice between an imaginary creature and a really small one. The squirrel is useless anyway, so I'd gamble on the unicorn.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Hmm I would agree, but not in this parcours (incredibly hard to control for a sprint) and also not with Kron, he has shown enough to give him a chance...

They probably shouldn't have disrupped the chase in the peloton tho.

That's basically what I meant. Perfectly fine to let Kron enter moves, but not so smart to make sure De Lie can't come back by disrupting.

And now it's blown up in their face.

 

[DNP-Old]

Lolto.

 

[Didinho]

Lottofail, for now.

 

[Samamba]

Yeah this is a fail.

Kron way weaker than expected too. Bit weird.

 

[postmanhat]

Lotto should start helping in the chase now. Race might be over yet.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Since when are the cars allowed inside a 10-second gap?

 

[postmanhat]

Yeah this is a fail.

Kron way weaker than expected too. Bit weird.

Yes. Really surprised to see him dropped so easily on the climbs.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I cant remember when the last time was that I saw the swedish NC jersey. Gustav Larsson or something like that? Either way looks good.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Now is the moment to sacrifice your Eenkoorns

 

[Samamba]

Lotto should start helping in the chase now. Race might be over yet.

Impossible to close down a minute now.

Honestly, they should leave. No way they're winning this now. Should go for as many guys in the top as possible for points.

This one is going to hurt mentally for Kron. Dude dropped a whole bunch of climbers just 1 and a half week ago.

 

[Didinho]

Rémi over. QS with Lotto chasing soon.

 

[Red Rick]

It striked me yesterday, who even are the Ardennes specialists these years? Its basically only GC-men, thats a far cry from the era of Bettini, Rebellin, Valverde, Gilbert etc. And by that same notion, it seems that these GC-contender (for good reasons ofcourse) focus heavily on Liege, so who on earth is contest Amstel + Fleche when Wout and Mathieu decided not to race?

Edit: Whops, I forgot Pogacar is racing. And the closest to these specialists would be riders like Cosnefroy, maybe Pidcock?

AGR and Brabantse Pijl are very different from Fleche and Liege here.

I can't decide if it's a lack of talent in the area or if it's Liege just favoring climbers that much.

But Hirschi had only the one wonder year, and then Alaphilippe has seen better days too. I guess you could look at Mike Woods too, but in this era these guys nearly always end up short.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Remi Cavagna you absolute legend! LMAO

 

[Samamba]

Man Healy is insane, great timing also knowing he's out of contract. Will get a serious raise. I wonder if EF can keep him.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

For the second year in a row, Soudal lose this race because their guy can't ride in the gutter on Hertstraat.

 

[search]

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Yeah, probably. Maybe Lotto will take the opportunity to learn that you should never put all your eggs in a lesser rider's basket when you have De Lie in a good position, they had all the cards today and will have a top-3 to show for it at best.

three days after Paris-Roubaix, it's a special situation, to be fair. I can't remember anyone ever featuring in this race after doing Roubaix, at least. He looks good so far indeed, but I don't think this really could be expected.

 

[Samamba]

For the second year in a row, Soudal lose this race because their guy can't ride in the gutter on Hertstraat.

Pretty sure Cavagna would've been dropped somewhere anyways. Healy and Godon are just by far the strongest in the group.

 

[Tim Cahill]

You don't want to bring Godon to the line he's pretty competent I think, Healy struggled to beat Pozzovivo in that Coppi e Bartali velodrome sprint so I don't trust him as much.

 

[RedheadDane]

For the second year in a row, Soudal lose this race because their guy can't ride in the gutter on Hertstraat.

Just to be clear; are you talking about Quickstep in both cases, or did a Lotto rider lose out last year for the same reason?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Just to be clear; are you talking about Quickstep in both cases, or did a Lotto rider lose out last year for the same reason?

QS. Evenepoel had the exact same issue last year.

 

[Didinho]

Cavagna better drop to the peloton after the Moskes. Rest a bit and start chasing.

 

[Salvarani]

I cant remember when the last time was that I saw the swedish NC jersey. Gustav Larsson or something like that? Either way looks good.

Must have been in an ITT, because Gustav has never been won the RR.

Tobias Ludvigsson won the ITT between 2017-2019 and he has been a pro rider for a long time. Has never won the RR either.

After guys like Bäckstedt, Ljungqvist, Löfqvist... Ludvigsson been the only pro for quite some time, until the Eriksson brothers.