51st Amstel Gold Race, 249km - 17/04/16

[Orbit501]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

Before start, Nordhaug said that Sky had "by far the best team".

In hindsight, well...maybe not.

Well they did have the best team...for working at the front all day.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Im from Denmark, so not really, but I would have liked Valverde to win a few times yes

Apologies for the remark, i was just a little annoyed reading it first up

Just saying most Aussies would prefer Gerrans go from 25km out in Liege.

I cannot even stand Little Richie Porte or Matthews.

We are a strange country supporting our riders[/quote]
Sorry if I singled you out, that wasn't my intend, most Aussies that I come across often strike me as rather nationalistic when it comes to cycling.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

A few weeks:

Sure its a baby classic but im sure its more than good enough for sky (considering their records afterall)

Don't get why you're hating on SKY classics team so much. The GC and GT team very boring but they are fun in the classics. They always attack like in E3, Milano Sanremo, Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Omloop for example and in Paris-Roubaix they helped to create a great race, first by tactically riding a perfect race with 4 men in the front 15, then ruining it by crashing. I enjoy SKY in the classics.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

Very strong ride by Valgren. Great to see. Lack of experience cost him the win - you're never gonna win by leadouting Gasparotto like that.

Good to see attacks being rewarded.

I think Valgren realized that he would not win. Gasparotto didn't want to take another pull, so he just decided to ride to the finish, at least he would get a podium.

Can't blame Valgren, had he not pulled they'd probably have been caught by the pack. Oh well, nothing redeemable about today's race.

Had he not pulled maybe Gasparotto would have been forced to pull. Classic tale of a veteran taking advantage of a newbie's greenness.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

Before start, Nordhaug said that Sky had "by far the best team".

In hindsight, well...maybe not.

They did have the best team, but only one rider who really had the skills needed to win the race. If he wasn't up to it, for whatever reason, there's not a lot they can do. Similar story with BMC.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

A few weeks:

Sure its a baby classic but im sure its more than good enough for sky (considering their records afterall)

Sky don't have too bad a record in the cobbled Classics though. Sure, they've missed out on the monument ones, but they've won Omloop 3 times, KBK twice, E3 twice, and some minor classics.

In the hilly classics they've never really been able to get a grip on them though. They have had some good placements mainly due to Sergio Henao, but wins seem to elude them. Part of it is that the British development program hasn't really developed any puncheurs - the only British puncheur they've had their hands on is JTL, who was a total Pecharromán, and the best British puncheurs are the Yates brothers who've avoided Sky to date. Of the extranjeros, Henao is still their best bet for these races. Froome showed potential puncheur capabilities in the Tour stage to the Mur de Huy but for the most part their climbers, Henao aside, are about more sustained climbs or are not explosive enough.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

1) By far the biggest result for danish cycling in the last couple of years.
2) Gaspa winning for Antoine
3) Orica failing completely (sorry, but they are just a boring team)

What is not to like about today's result?

 

[DNP-Old]

Why is this race World Tour again?

 

[blackmamba]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

A few weeks:

Sure its a baby classic but im sure its more than good enough for sky (considering their records afterall)

Don't get why you're hating on SKY classics team so much. The GC and GT team very boring but they are fun in the classics. They always attack like in E3, Milano Sanremo, Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Omloop for example and in Paris-Roubaix they helped to create a great race, first by tactically riding a perfect race with 4 men in the front 15, then ruining it by crashing. I enjoy SKY in the classics.

I kinda like how they ride in the classics aswell, I just mean their results has been lacklusters to say the least in the classics, theres no denying that.

 

[Brullnux]

Further down Coquard lived up to hype to finish 4th; Matthews *** up with Orica and finished 5th; Alaphilippe saved himself for the sprint and finished 6th; Ulissi actually performed in a classic for the first time, came 7th; Visconti 8th; PhilGil's Fight Club buddy came 9th and Wellens magically held on to 10th

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Very strong ride by Valgren. Great to see. Lack of experience cost him the win - you're never gonna win by leadouting Gasparotto like that.

Good to see attacks being rewarded.

I think Valgren realized that he would not win. Gasparotto didn't want to take another pull, so he just decided to ride to the finish, at least he would get a podium.

Can't blame Valgren, had he not pulled they'd probably have been caught by the pack. Oh well, nothing redeemable about today's race.

Had he not pulled maybe Gasparotto would have been forced to pull. Classic tale of a veteran taking advantage of a newbie's greenness.

A gamble from Gasparotto and a dillema for Valgren. Some riders won't work regardless.

 

[RedheadDane]

Nice win by Gasparotto.
I'd have liked Valgren to take it, but Gasparotto winning for Demoitie is awesome.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

A few weeks:

Sure its a baby classic but im sure its more than good enough for sky (considering their records afterall)

Don't get why you're hating on SKY classics team so much. The GC and GT team very boring but they are fun in the classics. They always attack like in E3, Milano Sanremo, Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Omloop for example and in Paris-Roubaix they helped to create a great race, first by tactically riding a perfect race with 4 men in the front 15, then ruining it by crashing. I enjoy SKY in the classics.

I kinda like how they ride in the classics aswell, I just mean their results has been lacklusters to say the least the last in the classics, theres no denying that.

In the monuments, yes, but they are one of the best team for classics overall

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Unbelivable how Sky flops yet again tho how many years its been now without a classic ?

Actually shockingly bad considering their budget and riders

A few weeks:

Sure its a baby classic but im sure its more than good enough for sky (considering their records afterall)

Sky don't have too bad a record in the cobbled Classics though. Sure, they've missed out on the monument ones, but they've won Omloop 3 times, KBK twice, E3 twice, and some minor classics.

In the hilly classics they've never really been able to get a grip on them though. They have had some good placements mainly due to Sergio Henao, but wins seem to elude them. Part of it is that the British development program hasn't really developed any puncheurs - the only British puncheur they've had their hands on is JTL, who was a total Pecharromán, and the best British puncheurs are the Yates brothers who've avoided Sky to date. Of the extranjeros, Henao is still their best bet for these races. Froome showed potential puncheur capabilities in the Tour stage to the Mur de Huy but for the most part their climbers, Henao aside, are about more sustained climbs or are not explosive enough.

They had Dan Martin as well - but tried to turn him into a track rider, so he switched allegiance.

edit.. the British development programme that is, not Sky.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

1) By far the biggest result for danish cycling in the last couple of years.
2) Gaspa winning for Antoine
3) Orica failing completely (sorry, but they are just a boring team)

What is not to like about today's result?

I was just thinking what a great podium this is - only Rosa sneaking into top 5 could have made this result better for me

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Orica did actually attack (Albasini) and they gave it a go during the week as well (Impey) plus last year (Clarke). Not that marking rubbish either. Of course this doesn't excuse all the other times but perhaps they are becoming a bit less one-dimensional

It is amazing though that you end up with a 20 man group at the finish most of whom have no chance of actually winning. All of them know that Wellens is going at some point and if you ever wanted to follow and work with anyone it would be him because he just gets his head down and rides. And of course he rides off on his own

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

Very strong ride by Valgren. Great to see. Lack of experience cost him the win - you're never gonna win by leadouting Gasparotto like that.

Good to see attacks being rewarded.

I think Valgren realized that he would not win. Gasparotto didn't want to take another pull, so he just decided to ride to the finish, at least he would get a podium.

It's not about expecting Gaspa to take another pull, it's about forcing him to launch his sprint before 200m to go or whenever he launched it.

Do you think that Gaspa would have sat up as well if Valgren had sat up 300m to go or do you think he would have accelerated and gone for the win?

It made perfect sense for Valgren to take over and pull when he did. Then, depending on the gap to the bunch, it was all about the timing of when to stop pedaling, which he failed.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Why is this race World Tour again?

To keep the Dutch happy. Not a bad reason, but they should do it better.

 

[HelloDolly]

Its hard to know who had the biggest fail...The Orica Gerrans/Matthews shamble or the SKY runaway train

I wanted SKY to back Swift ...well as the second rider after Kwait....He can climb and he could contest a sprint but he was used up by the time KWait was dropped

And Orica may have been better to leave one of those 2 at home...in fact Impey looked the best on the climb and poor Hayman Paris Roubaix champion pulling for that

 

[BalearicBeats]

Re:

Orica did actually attack (Albasini) and they gave it a go during the week as well (Impey) plus last year (Clarke). Not that marking rubbish either. Of course this doesn't excuse all the other times but perhaps they are becoming a bit less one-dimensional

It is amazing though that you end up with a 20 man group at the finish most of whom have no chance of actually winning. All of them know that Wellens is going at some point and if you ever wanted to follow and work with anyone it would be him because he just gets his head down and rides. And of course he rides off on his own

I'm guessing Bakelants was quite angry at himself for not following Wellens, and Sep because he couldn't close the gap. Still, today was actually a nice race for the last 10 km instead of the usual 3 km!

I think Orica didn't race all too negatively, with Albasini indeed trying to attack. Gerrans is to blame though, he should have worked at the front with Vanendert and others would have followed suit I think. It's amazing how he seems to completely ride at the other end of the group avoiding all contact with Matthews (which he was supposed to do until the Cauberg but not afterwards). In the end Matthews didn't have a convincing sprint though, Colbrelli won this by quite some bike lengths and really amazed me.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I dont know if its fair, but I like Matthews much more than Gerrand, altho Matthews honestly is as negative racer as Gerro. There just something associated with Gerrans...

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Sure its a baby classic but im sure its more than good enough for sky (considering their records afterall)

E3 Harelbeke > AGR

No way. More interesting certainly, but Amstel is bigger race

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Why is this race World Tour again?

To keep the Dutch happy. Not a bad reason, but they should do it better.

The race shouldn't just lose WT status because of some crappy recent editions. Else even the Tour wouldn't escape that criteria.

Vattenfall or Plouay have been just as boring if not more and aren't nearly as historic.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ugh what a dreadful race. If it werent for Wellens it would have been even worse. Please change the course back

 

[BigMac]

Re:

I dont know if its fair, but I like Matthews much more than Gerrand, altho Matthews honestly is as negative racer as Gerro. There just something associated with Gerrans...

Maybe the fact that he admitted to looking up to Gerrans for inspiration and teachings.