2024 European Championships in Heusden-Zolder/Hasselt (September 11-15) Discussion Thread For All Races

[Peyroteo94]

According to who?

Truste me, a lot of people said this. I just hope they were posting after partying big time and some couple of mojitos in their liver.

 

[Brullnux]

See double standards in live action and proceed to ignore it for your own narrative.

You cannot be serious... please let it go it's boring and you're just wrong.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Milan in hard races is so overrated it's not even funny

Yeah, but he was blocked and frankly Consonni blew it, he isn't a great leadout man and the big guys have an easy time manhandling a 60kg guy like him when things get messy.

It's easy to push him away when you're 20kg heavier.

I rewatched it and Rickaert did nothing wrong, it's Consonni who isn't that good in this position. Use him before Trentin (maybe after him, but better before him) and have Ballerini be the leadout man

 

[Red Rick]

You cannot be serious... please let it go it's boring and you're just wrong.

The truth hurts.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

Truste me, a lot of people said this. I just hope they were posting after partying big time and some couple of mojitos in their liver.

I am sure a lot of people said this, in 2023. Unfortunately, it was true at that time. I think everyone would back Merlier and Milan for best sprinter(s) in the world at this current point in time.

 

[carolina]

See double standards in live action and proceed to ignore it for your own narrative.

20s and a fine is the minimal penalty for UCI WT stage races. For the european championships it's only a fine.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He was blocked and Consonni didn't have it, got manhandled and blocked. That said, Milan also looked cooked in that sprint.

Even with the best leadout, he would have been pedalling backward. He had zero speed himself.

 

[Samamba]

Really just happy to see Philipsen lose. Doesn't even have the class to congratulate Merlier, who was far and away the fastest there, and won without the leadout. Philipsen is such a loser.

While I agree about the whole Philipsen thing, Merlier did have a leadout, and a very great one. Van Lerberberghe brought him back from Narnia with like 600m to go.

 

[Brullnux]

The truth hurts.

I have no dog in the pro/anti-Roglic bias fight, and I actually love really obvious cheating (see, Nibali) so will always respect it. If anything, Roglic went up a lot in my estimation after it for his innovation. It was also clearly a penalty and it was like almost a month ago now.

 

[Red Rick]

20s and a fine is the minimal penalty for UCI WT stage races. For the european championships it's only a fine.

Brilliant that double standards are codified in the UCI rule book then.

 

[AmRacer]

Mathieu and Mads trained for the Worlds.

 

[Brullnux]

Even with the best leadout, he would have been pedalling backward. He had zero speed himself.

Imo it's hard to say, he ended up going backwards but not clear how much of that was the fact he kept slowing down after picking the wrong line like three times in a row. Doesn't matter, really, as at the end of the day a bad sprint can be either bad positioning/bad legs/both, and it was certainly a bad sprint.

 

[RedheadDane]

Mathieu and Mads trained for the Worlds.

And then Pogacar wins.

 

[Samamba]

The truth hurts.

The way you still can't see the difference between Roglic and most drafting cases blows my mind. You could say that rules are rules or something and context doesn't matter, which is a fine argument but the whole double standards stuff is just BS and you know it cause it simply isn't the same.

And yes even I was thinking that Merlier was bit much, but comparing them remains stupid.

 

[AmRacer]

Yeah, but he was blocked and frankly Consonni blew it, he isn't a great leadout man and the big guys have an easy time manhandling a 60kg guy like him when things get messy.

It's easy to push him away when you're 20kg heavier.

I rewatched it and Rickaert did nothing wrong, it's Consonni who isn't that good in this position. Use him before Trentin (maybe after him, but better before him) and have Ballerini be the leadout man

Trentin did lots of work chasing breakaways.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Brilliant that double standards are codified in the UCI rule book then.

They probably changed it after the Dutch had been crying multiple rivers in 2019 how unfair it was to DQ him after their u23 got drafted by the teamcar for miles and miles at insane speeds.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Mathieu and Mads trained for the Worlds.

MVDP did a lot of training today with all that yo-yoing, hope it'll be helpful for the Worlds.

 

[Red Rick]

The way you still can't see the difference between Roglic and most drafting cases blows my mind. You could say that rules are rules or something and context doesn't matter, which is a fine argument but the whole double standards stuff is just BS and you know it cause it simply isn't the same.

And yes even I was thinking that Merlier was bit much, but comparing them remains stupid.

I think it's fairly ridiculous to call upon the rules 1% of the time, cite cOnTeXt the other 99% of the time and then claim there's no double standards.

If there should be a rule, it should be applied consistently, not arbitrarily by virtue of amount of outrage created. I don't think that should debatable, but apparently it is.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Merlier winning is disgusting

Why?

 

[Red Rick]

Nr 1 Belgian hater in shambles right now

What? There's plenty Belgians I like. Like those dudes that did the thing... that time

 

[Berniece]

See double standards in live action and proceed to ignore it for your own narrative.

Not the same at all. 1 person deliberately made a bike change to climb better uphill while there was nothing wrong with his bike. The other one had a flat tire.

 

[Red Rick]

Why?

Broke Groenewegens collarbone like 2 races ago

 

[Salvarani]

Was not expecting Mihkels!

A nickel for every time I heard that

 

[Peyroteo94]

Why?

drafting behind his team car for too long

 

[Samu Cuenca]

A nickel for every time I heard that

Good. It was about time someone started to collect rent in this thread.