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

[SeriousSam]

Bling is right. He's clearly studied the cycling problem in considerable detail and correctly determined that the optimal strategy is a mixed one when it comes to chasing or not chasing.

“I saw the Lotto guy in front of me and another Lotto guy behind me so I was, like, ‘For sure they’re going to work together and just try and bring them back…’ There’s no point me trying to launch across and bring everyone back and then everyone attacks over me again. So it was a bit of a gamble, not going with Gasparotto when he went.

“Then the [Tinkoff] guys [Michael Valgren] went and still no one chased.

“I had to really gamble from that point that someone else was going to work… and no one else wanted to work. Everyone wanted to sit back and wait for the sprint so from then on it was pretty much: game over. Unfortunately.”

It remains to be seen whether he's favouring the not chasing play excessively. Valgren had a similar decision to make, but because he's a young rider without many notable results, the second place too carried considerable value, so not forcing Gasparotto to do more with the threat of otherwise getting caught was fine.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

"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.

Yep, that's about the sum of it. Just a Gerrans Mk2 then. What a waste.

He really needs to leave Orica - he's obviously not enjoying riding there and needs some fresh input and ideas about how he can win races.

Sky seems the obvious destination - would be a huge upgrade for them on Swift.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

"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.

Yep, that's about the sum of it. Just a Gerrans Mk2 then. What a waste.

He really needs to leave Orica - he's obviously not enjoying riding there and needs some fresh input and ideas about how he can win races.

Sky seems the obvious destination - would be a huge upgrade for them on Swift.

Not so sure, he has said more than once that he thinks he's in the right place to learn and that he looks up to Gerrans for that input and ideas.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

"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.

Yep, that's about the sum of it. Just a Gerrans Mk2 then. What a waste.

He really needs to leave Orica - he's obviously not enjoying riding there and needs some fresh input and ideas about how he can win races.

Sky seems the obvious destination - would be a huge upgrade for them on Swift.

Not so sure, he has said more than once that he thinks he's in the right place to learn and that he looks up to Gerrans for that input and ideas.

I read they're not even on speaking terms now though. I think their relationship completely broke down at the Giro last year and continues to cause friction. Of course, he's sensible enough not to say that he respects Gerrans and the DS's instructions in interviews, but I don't think there is any chance he'll renew his contract at the end of the season.

 

[SeriousSam]

I can't remember what actually happened at the Giro that caused all this bad blood, can someone fill me in?

 

[Echoes]

Re: Re:

Not so sure, he has said more than once that he thinks he's in the right place to learn and that he looks up to Gerrans for that input and ideas.

May I try for a second time to ask you who your avatar is? It was an honest question, I don't why you'd ignore me again. &#128528

 

[saganftw]

hey whats up with matthews hating? didnt you read the article? he trained for hard race but it was too easy and he got confused

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Sonny Colbrelli sound like a name from GTA Vice City

He is indeed named after Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

"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.

Yep, that's about the sum of it. Just a Gerrans Mk2 then. What a waste.

He really needs to leave Orica - he's obviously not enjoying riding there and needs some fresh input and ideas about how he can win races.

Sky seems the obvious destination - would be a huge upgrade for them on Swift.

Not so sure, he has said more than once that he thinks he's in the right place to learn and that he looks up to Gerrans for that input and ideas.

I read they're not even on speaking terms now though. I think their relationship completely broke down at the Giro last year and continues to cause friction. Of course, he's sensible enough not to say that he respects Gerrans and the DS's instructions in interviews, but I don't think there is any chance he'll renew his contract at the end of the season.

It must be a shame for Orica that Gerrans has a year more on his contract than Matthews, because wouldn't you rather keep the guy who is a decade younger?

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

I can't remember what actually happened at the Giro that caused all this bad blood, can someone fill me in?

I don't know what happened at the girl, but Gerrans not helping chase down Sagan probably cost him the rainbow jersey.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

I can't remember what actually happened at the Giro that caused all this bad blood, can someone fill me in?

I don't know what happened at the girl, but Gerrans not helping chase down Sagan probably cost him the rainbow jersey.

It's always about a girl.

 

[infeXio]

I like how Matthews describes a race that's raced hard and has loads of attacks "negative" :

The way I trained for it was for it to be a super hard race and maybe like a super negative race too where lots of guys would be attacking and it was going to be a really hard race.

In the end it was actually super easy. All we did was just roll around all day."

 

[HelloDolly]

How can Mtthews go to SKY for goodness sake to learn to win one day races ???

And how many more top riders can they stuff into one race...So he goes to SKY and Kwait works for him or he works fro someone else ...madness

The pile em high SKY tactics in not necessarily working...better if the concentrate on the talent they have
Plus Ben Swift could have done a good job yesterday if he had some backing
Maybe Matthews could become the new Edddy Boss in the SKY Tour team
Gosh so ridiculous to suggest one team can facilitate all these riders

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Not so sure, he has said more than once that he thinks he's in the right place to learn and that he looks up to Gerrans for that input and ideas.

May I try for a second time to ask you who your avatar is? It was an honest question, I don't why you'd ignore me again. &#128528

Oh, I didn't ignore you! I didn't see it, where was that?

It's Fernand Moulet, sorry.

I don't know much about him, I just really liked the photo.

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

Sonny Colbrelli sound like a name from GTA Vice City

He is indeed named after Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice.

Too cool to be real yo.

 

[yaco]

Re:

Michel Matthews in his own words

http://www.ridemedia.com.au/interviews/michael-matthews-the-amstel-gold-race/

Ah Well - He will be the a domestique for Albasini and A.Yates at Flech Wallone. Will ride LBL if S.Yates is still injured.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

"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.

Nah - As I posted yesterday, when a peleton full of teams having multiple riders, allows 2 riders not going full gas with 1.8km to go to win the race is a peleton issue - It's not the fault of one team or rider.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

I can't remember what actually happened at the Giro that caused all this bad blood, can someone fill me in?

I don't know what happened at the girl, but Gerrans not helping chase down Sagan probably cost him the rainbow jersey.

Nah - Bradley McGee was the DS at the Worlds - Gerrans had 3 riders working for him and Matthews had 2 riders working for him - A baffling piece of strategy.

 

[Mr.White]

Gerrans won 2x more Monuments then whole Sky Team since their foundation

 

[Anderis]

Re:

Gerrans won 2x more Monuments then whole Sky Team since their foundation

I think he actually won infinity times more monuments than the whole Sky Team.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Gerrans won 2x more Monuments then whole Sky Team since their foundation

I think he actually won infinity times more monuments than the whole Sky Team.

Matthew Hayman won infinity times more monuments than the whole Sky Team

 

[trucido]

Re: Re:

I can't remember what actually happened at the Giro that caused all this bad blood, can someone fill me in?

I don't know what happened at the girl, but Gerrans not helping chase down Sagan probably cost him the rainbow jersey.

Doubt it, Gerrans didn't have the legs.

 

[classicomano]

Re: Re:

I can't remember what actually happened at the Giro that caused all this bad blood, can someone fill me in?

I don't know what happened at the girl, but Gerrans not helping chase down Sagan probably cost him the rainbow jersey.

Doubt it, Gerrans didn't have the legs.

Enough legs to sprint to 6th place behind Matthews. Guys a ***.

 

[Sciatic]

honestly - who foresaw Gasparoto as winner of AGR at all?

glad he did win though

Okay, so I did not correctly predict HOW he would win, but:
viewtopic.php?p=1902097#p1902097

If (yes it' a big if) an early attacker could pull it off, I'd say it would be Gasparrato. He was eager to attack early on Wed (showing his displeasure when a small group refused to work to stay away) and though he let Vakoc get a gap on the last climb (he waited too long and had to go around Alaphillipe) he kept the gap the same the rest of the way up,

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gaspa did win it before.. and he has been 6th and 3rd in Liege as well. One of the most underrated 'Ardennes' specialist