52nd Amstel Gold Race - April 16 - 261km

[the asian]

Rojas finished 5th.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Gilbert's fourth win in the AGR, on 3 different courses. Such a versatile rider.

Two of them were basically the same.

 

[the asian]

Re:

Now get rid of Ans!

I believe they will next year.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

He did go too early, though. Slight headwind and slight uphill meant that sprint was far too long.

 

[GraftPunk]

An excellent edition! The new route seems validated even though it's the riders who make the race.

 

[El Pistolero]

So strange to see Gilbert in a QS jersey lol.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

He did go too early, though. Slight headwind and slight uphill meant that sprint was far too long.

Yep, he clearly went way too early. He opened up a big gap over the first 150m - that's the point where the finishing line should have been if he timed it well. But he still had another 150m to go and easily got caught. Awful timing.

 

[klintE]

Re:

Kwiatkowski going so early was the worst error I've seen in a sprint for ages.

Did you see Paris-Roubaix week ago?
Same mistake, same reason that Stybar went too early

 

[El Pistolero]

Gilbert also won the Ad Fundum contest lol.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

He did go too early, though. Slight headwind and slight uphill meant that sprint was far too long.

He made a good gap but ran out of gas. Gilbert closed it pretty easily.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Best AGR I've seen in a long time!

Gilbert and Kwiaktkowski are two amazing riders a class above the rest today, Gilbert now with an amazing sprint and Kwiat going to early. Not very typical for Kwiat but oh well, Gilbert is a nice winner too.

Today shows why races need to have an easy final 20km or so and have the most difficult obstacles before that; so that the big guns have to make the selection there. In a 260km races with 35 hills (even if a lot of them are "hills" ), it's really not that difficult got Gilbert, Valverde, Kwiat etc. to get rid of the sprinters; but why would they risk that if they can just wait for the final hill to drop everyone? Now they are forced to attack from further out if they want to win.

 

[El Pistolero]

Wtf lol? Second beer as well.

 

[winkybiker]

Re:

YES!!!!! Phil Gil perfect!!!

And Tiz cycling never dropped once in 50+KM !

Tiz is just rocking it this year. Best streaming ever.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Wtf lol? Second beer as well.

Isn't it Radler?

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

There was a moment though were the gap was so huge I thought Kwiato had it. Any other rider would have given up at that point, but Gilbert came back.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Best AGR I've seen in a long time!

Gilbert and Kwiaktkowski are two amazing riders a class above the rest today, Gilbert now with an amazing sprint and Kwiat going to early. Not very typical for Kwiat but oh well, Gilbert is a nice winner too.

Today shows why races need to have an easy final 20km or so and have the most difficult obstacles before that; so that the big guns have to make the selection there. In a 260km races with 35 hills (even if a lot of them are "hills" ), it's really not that difficult got Gilbert, Valverde, Kwiat etc. to get rid of the sprinters; but why would they risk that if they can just wait for the final hill to drop everyone? Now they are forced to attack from further out if they want to win.

The second group never really looked like closing with GVA and Valverde doing the bulk of the work.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Best AGR I've seen in a long time!

Gilbert and Kwiaktkowski are two amazing riders a class above the rest today, Gilbert now with an amazing sprint and Kwiat going to early. Not very typical for Kwiat but oh well, Gilbert is a nice winner too.

Today shows why races need to have an easy final 20km or so and have the most difficult obstacles before that; so that the big guns have to make the selection there. In a 260km races with 35 hills (even if a lot of them are "hills" ), it's really not that difficult got Gilbert, Valverde, Kwiat etc. to get rid of the sprinters; but why would they risk that if they can just wait for the final hill to drop everyone? Now they are forced to attack from further out if they want to win.

This is the first edition on the new course, and they road so hard because a few other riders were caught out. I hope that it keeps providing this action.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

He did go too early, though. Slight headwind and slight uphill meant that sprint was far too long.

Yep, he clearly went way too early. He opened up a big gap over the first 150m - that's the point where the finishing line should have been if he timed it well. But he still had another 150m to go and easily got caught. Awful timing.

Yes and a very un-Kwiatkowski thing to do. He'd played his cards perfectly all race long, including making sure that Albasini, Haas and Rojas weren't around to contest the sprint. And then, one moment of idiocy when Gilbert dangled the bait in front of him and he throws it away. I bet we don't see him go too early again for a long time.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Best AGR I've seen in a long time!

Gilbert and Kwiaktkowski are two amazing riders a class above the rest today, Gilbert now with an amazing sprint and Kwiat going to early. Not very typical for Kwiat but oh well, Gilbert is a nice winner too.

Today shows why races need to have an easy final 20km or so and have the most difficult obstacles before that; so that the big guns have to make the selection there. In a 260km races with 35 hills (even if a lot of them are "hills" ), it's really not that difficult got Gilbert, Valverde, Kwiat etc. to get rid of the sprinters; but why would they risk that if they can just wait for the final hill to drop everyone? Now they are forced to attack from further out if they want to win.

The second group never really looked like closing with GVA and Valverde doing the bulk of the work.

That group was a bit of a disgrace, GVA and Jungels aside. Valverde started working hard only when it was too late, the gap went out massively everytime Felline and Wellens were onthe front suggesting they were soft pedalling a bit. And Costa and Barguil were inexplicably sitting on the back doing absolutely nothing.

 

[Echoes]

Epic fail to all those who predicted a bunch sprint at the announcement of the route change. It was clear that the moment the harder climbs were further away from the finale, the race had chances to be more open.

Hopefully now, Liège-Bastogne gets rid of Saint-Nicolas and Roche aux Faucons (as even Pescheux advocated for).

Shame Greg couldn't compete for top10. He still sprinted the big group didn't he? Hopefully he can keep it up to Liège next Sunday and target Liège next year. What a rider again. How many of these guys have raced Paris-Roubaix?

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

He did go too early, though. Slight headwind and slight uphill meant that sprint was far too long.

Yep, he clearly went way too early. He opened up a big gap over the first 150m - that's the point where the finishing line should have been if he timed it well. But he still had another 150m to go and easily got caught. Awful timing.

Yes and a very un-Kwiatkowski thing to do. He'd played his cards perfectly all race long, including making sure that Albasini, Haas and Rojas weren't around to contest the sprint. And then, one moment of idiocy when Gilbert dangled the bait in front of him and he throws it away. I bet we don't see him go too early again for a long time.

Yes he botched it. With Gilbert in front with 600 to go Kwia didn't have to move until Gilbert did.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Epic fail to all those who predicted a bunch sprint at the announcement of the route change. It was clear that the moment the harder climbs were further away from the finale, the race had chances to be more open.

Hopefully now, Liège-Bastogne gets rid of Saint-Nicolas and Roche aux Faucons (as even Pescheux advocated for).

Shame Greg couldn't compete for top10. He still sprinted the big group didn't he? Hopefully he can keep it up to Liège next Sunday and target Liège next year. What a rider again. How many of these guys have raced Paris-Roubaix?

Epic fail for Gilbert.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

In a two-man sprint there's always one rider losing. Saw no mistake by Kwiato, Gilbert was just a bit better today. They are on par in terms of sprinting quality anyway.

He did go too early, though. Slight headwind and slight uphill meant that sprint was far too long.

Yep, he clearly went way too early. He opened up a big gap over the first 150m - that's the point where the finishing line should have been if he timed it well. But he still had another 150m to go and easily got caught. Awful timing.

Yes and a very un-Kwiatkowski thing to do. He'd played his cards perfectly all race long, including making sure that Albasini, Haas and Rojas weren't around to contest the sprint. And then, one moment of idiocy when Gilbert dangled the bait in front of him and he throws it away. I bet we don't see him go too early again for a long time.

Yeah, if there was one rider in the peloton you would expect to be cool and convert a situation like that into a win, it would be Kwiatkowski. He never finishes 2nd or 3rd in a straight up battle with one or two riders like that.

Maybe he just underestimated Gilbert and thought he could get a gap and hold it comfortably, but surely was easier just to delay the sprint a bit. The chasers behind were still miles back.

 

[The Barb]

Re: Re:

Kwiatkowski going so early was the worst error I've seen in a sprint for ages.

Did you see Paris-Roubaix week ago?
Same mistake, same reason that Stybar went too early

Totally different. GVA faster than Stybar so Stybar had to try to get a winning gap. In this case the shorter the sprint had been the greater Kwiatkowski's chance of winning. He simply had to wait until Gilbert went first, or the last 100m, whichever came first, and he wins. He's usual so tactically sound, which is why I'm so surprised.