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

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Kwibus said:
CheckMyPecs said:
Kwibus said:
Also this overreacting regarding not worthy of WT is silly. There are lots of races not worthy of WT.
Eneco Tour tops my list.

While it was crap in the past I think last 3 years were really good. It has a lot of diversity to offer and there was quite a lot of good racing. Also from far out, so I don't agree at all.

Last year's stage to Houffalize was something. Eneco deserves it's spot. Much better than Hamburg or Poland. Plouay has been quite bad as well in recent years, with Eddy's nice win inbetween to salvage it a bit. Doesn't mean I want them relegated, but they'd go before Eneco.
 
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SafeBet said:
This is last year Sonny Colbrelli rides for a pct team I hope. It remains a mystery why a team like Lottonl went after Battaglin instead of him.

His contract goes into next year I believe. It's worth remembering the guy is still only 25, almost 26. He can still improve and has years to go. Completely agree with you, though. Last year was quite crap for him compared to 2014, but he seems to have recovered from his Annus Horribilis wonderfully. Wasn't there that rumour of him going to SKY a year or so back? Could go to Trek or Lampre. Or maybe even Astana. Deserves a WT contract. Why don't any teams want him smh.
 
Sep 16, 2009
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Brullnux said:
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

That's good news for Alaphillipe and Ulissi for Wednesday.
 
The race is fine. Things I liked among others:

- An outsider won on a perfect timed attack
- No sprint finish.
- Reduced group at the end (30 is fine for me for this race).

If we want harder race and very reduced group then it would be like Tour de Lombardia.

Every classic race has its place in the WT.

If you want longer and a bit harder wait for Liege. ;)
 
Jul 29, 2012
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Escarabajo said:
The race is fine. Things I liked among others:

- An outsider won on a perfect timed attack
- No sprint finish.
- Reduced group at the end (30 is fine for me for this race).

If we want harder race and very reduced group then it would be like Tour de Lombardia.

Every classic race has its place in the WT.

If you want longer and a bit harder wait for Liege. ;)

and even worse racing
 
Mollema had plans to attack, but the sudden showers were very cold and the pace in the bunch was constantly extremely high that it was pretty much mission impossible to attack.

I must say that was how I've seen the race as well. So many attacks that lasted for no longer then 1 km.
Except for Wellens his attack who was able to really create a gap.
 
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BigMac said:
Last year's stage to Houffalize was something. Eneco deserves it's spot. Much better than Hamburg or Poland. Plouay has been quite bad as well in recent years, with Eddy's nice win inbetween to salvage it a bit. Doesn't mean I want them relegated, but they'd go before Eneco.

I know that you were probably too young when the ProTour was created (2005) but you have to know that what we know call the Eneco Tour was by then (2005) an artificially created Tour of the Low Countries based on the remnants of the old Tour of the Netherlands (also sponsored by Eneco), which was way better organised. I mean in that first edition of the Tour of the Low Countries, you had a stage finish on a speed bump, won by Max Van Heeswijk and then in the Ardennes stage you had the whole peloton directed off route, in such a way that Jussi Veikkanen who had been dropped by the peloton suddenly found himself ahead of it and then the breakaway guys (I remember Bart Dockx among them, who was really p*ssed) were held off by the officials in order to add up for the time lost by the peloton. It was a real disgrace. Of course things have changed since then but I still think it's an artificial race (even though politically speaking I'm for a Belgo-Dutch reunion :p). I don't think that race should exist, and wish to see a return of the Tour of the Netherlands. This being said I don't want to sneak into the debate WT worthy or not because I'm against the World Tour as a whole, so no race is WT worthy for me, least of whole Paris-Roubaix. :( World Tour is the problem.

By the way, who is your avatar? :)

Lol I'm posting on the Amstel thread while I haven't seen the race and still don't know who won. :p
 
Apr 22, 2012
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Kwibus said:
Mollema had plans to attack, but the sudden showers were very cold and the pace in the bunch was constantly extremely high that it was pretty much mission impossible to attack.
Pace of the peloton was pretty hard. Kreuziger at least tried to attack but probably in bad moment. I think Kreuziger prepared attack for Wellens, who had easier position then. So it isnt like Kreuziger was very weak, or at least it maybe isnt. It isnt easy to attack against full gas Orica in headwind.
 
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hrotha said:
It was more affectionate than satirical I'd say, like "woooo, this kid is kinda cool and rather good!" rather than "he SUCKS", but that might have been just me.

Well, I think it was a joke from the start, but it used to be a positive joke with a connotation like the one you're describing. It slowly developed into satire and sarcasm.

From "The Great" :p BM to The "Great" :rolleyes: BM.
 
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hrotha said:
"I was super strong and everybody around me was super tired but I was still hoping someone would tow me to the finish line because that's how I roll".

And that right there is why many people don't like Matthews.
+1
This interview sums up perfectly why many people don't like Orica and why people don't like the race yesterday.
When a sprinter says one of the problems for him was that the race was too easy it already shows how dull the race was.
And when the sprinter says he didnt want to follow the moves on the Caubert because there were other riders in front of him and it was their job to chase down the attacks that just makes me angry. The strongest rider in a sprint is the rider who has to chase, thats not only an unspoken rule, its just logical because why should the bad sprinter drag the good one to the line.
And my favorite part of the interview was of course that he didn't know if he or Gerrans should follow Gasparotto, because the team tactic said he should follow the moves on the Cauberg, Gerrans the moves after the Cauberg and since the attack was at the end of the Cauberg Matthews wasnt sure if he should attack or wait for Gerrans to do so. Its like saying to the interviewer that racing instincts is a foreign word for him.
 
Matthew is being a bit disingenuous ..on the Cauberg , over the Cauberg...wtf

Of course Matthews had the instructions to follow on the Cauberg and he didn't follow Gasperotto but hey that was down to
1. Gasperotto attacking too near the top (but still on the climb afaik)
2. the Orica team not sorting it out ...talk about throwing them under the bus
3. No one in front of him closing the gap
4. the race being too easy

Very unlikeable and if he was so strong why did he not win the sprint then?

You can hear the interviewer is impatient with him
 
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White told Cyclingnews "Michael [Matthews] was there when Gasparotto went first. Then Valgren went after that, and he was one wheel behind him. So he didn't have it when it mattered."

"I haven't spoken to Michael or Simon yet"...



I hope someone recorded the moment when Matthews told him "I was feeling super. I hadn't really touched the pedals all day. I was on probably one of the best days that I’ve had on the bike in a long time"
 

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