56th Amstel Gold Race: 10 April, 2022

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Colbrelli would have been super dangerous though without his illness and heart attack. The only one who could have beaten Van der Poel in a sprint in Ronde this year?

I think if you compare VDP's Roubaix vs RVV numbers there is no comparison. Especially in the sprint.

 

[SHAD0W93]

He would also be below Ala in the hierarchy for the Ardennes. And I don't think he would lead the team or get the same role for Sanremo at QS.

Yes which might make him have worse results then now. Or maybe he Develdors his way to more monuments. It was a good change of teams and he got paid in a sport that it could be hard to have.

 

[MartinGT]

Re' Kwiatowski. The dude has talent and IMO class. At Sky / Ineos he has hardly 'thrown away his career' He has won;

AGR
MSR
Strade
T-A
Clasica San Sebastian
E3
Volta Algarve
Tour of Poland (his home tour which would have been massive for him)
Won a stage of the Tour

That's some individual palmares. On top of that he's helped Dawg to how many GTs? Other riders to big race wins? He is getting paid well for it no doubt. But throwing away his career? Nah, not having that.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I don't think I remember a worst start of the season for Italian cycling.
All of the Classic guys (Moscon, Bettiol, Trentin, Colbrelli) have had some sort of health issue and Sonny might not ride a pro race again in his life. Pasqualon being the most reliable in he Classics tells you a lot...

The youngsters are even worse. Bagioli keeps crashing and has been sick already twice in 3 months. Covi got sick when he was at peak form. Battistella can't finish a race, Aleotti is totally out of shape and Baroncini broke his wrist in his first race of the season. Man, it's been disappointing.

Glad to see you're doing ok!

 

[Salvarani]

Tratnik somehow is super strong this spring but misses all the splits.

Date	Result			Race	Distance	Points PCS	Points UCI
10.04	12			Amstel Gold Race (1.UWT)	254.1	34	60
03.04	12			Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME (1.UWT)	272.5	42	60
30.03	9			Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME (1.UWT)	183.7	46	60
19.03	9			Milano-Sanremo (1.UWT)	293	60	100

He has been very strong, but maybe needs to ride a little bit smarter. In Ronde he was super-strong the first time up Paterberg. He could have used that energy later on, even though he probably wouldnt have matched either Pog or MVDP that day.

 

[Billie]

Re' Kwiatowski. The dude has talent and IMO class. At Sky / Ineos he has hardly 'thrown away his career' He has won;

AGR
MSR
Strade
T-A
Clasica San Sebastian
E3
Volta Algarve
Tour of Poland (his home tour which would have been massive for him)
Won a stage of the Tour

That's some individual palmares. On top of that he's helped Dawg to how many GTs? Other riders to big race wins? He is getting paid well for it no doubt. But throwing away his career? Nah, not having that.

No one is saying he's been throwing away his career. His spring palmares speaks for itself but still it's a fair point to question his palmares from May onwards. Apart from some timetrials he was only in competition for one GT stage win. You could have expected him to show much more chasing stages in GTs like Alaphilippe, Van Avermaet etc..

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Colbrelli would have been super dangerous though without his illness and heart attack. The only one who could have beaten Van der Poel in a sprint in Ronde this year?

Van Aert maybe. If he'd use his brain.

He would also be below Ala in the hierarchy for the Ardennes. And I don't think he would lead the team or get the same role for Sanremo at QS.

To be fair, he seemed to be even below Pidcock in hierarchy, who's palmares consists of... Brabantse Pijl.

 

[meat puppet]

Tratnik is more of a diesel who never gets tired of grinding his steady high tempo, but often lacks the punch required to make it into the moves.

In amstel vdp produced a bit higher normalised power for 6h than he in de ronde, but the latter was 6,5h. So amstel was not about fooling around either.

 

[Kwibus]

Agree - Matthews did enough work in the group, especially on the flatter parts - I'm disappointed that the group let Benoot ride away for third.

Did enough work? The moment he hits the front he looks over his shoulder and waits for the next to take over. I always a soft spot for him, but really it was so irritating to watch... once again.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Kwiat attacks!

Think this was the first mention in this thread of the eventual winner.

 

[gregrowlerson]

A gap like this has not been brought back once in the last 2 years.

Good call.

 

[Netserk]

To be fair, he seemed to be even below Pidcock in hierarchy, who's palmares consists of... Brabantse Pijl.

Sure, but he went to Sky in 2016. He had a better role in 2016-2019 there than he would have had in QS in the same period (and since then too).

 

[gregrowlerson]

Matthews second name is pathetic racing, so no surprises there.

Excellent PR to keep that under wraps.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513247968597524487

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/BenjiNaesen/status/1513247968597524487?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

This explains how bad AGR organizers are.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Tratnik is more of a diesel who never gets tired of grinding his steady high tempo, but often lacks the punch required to make it into the moves.

In amstel vdp produced a bit higher normalised power for 6h than he in de ronde, but the latter was 6,5h. So amstel was not about fooling around either.

yup, but apart from his 1min power every other value was lower. Partially because of the course of course. But also because he wasn't as good as last week. And maybe he wasn't as good because of the course as well.

People forget Flanders has a largely flat run in until the hilly sector. Amstel Gold Race is just hills, hills and hills all day. I can imagine it would tire out MVDP more. He's just not as naturally gifted at this as a true puncher/climber type. On a good day obviously he can compete, otherwise you wouldn't win AGR and be 6th at LBL. But here more than in Flanders he needs super days to win

 

[Roku]

Maybe he was hoping for a transformation since he was 25-26 at the time of moving to Sky and had the 11th place in 2013. If he stayed at Quickstep I would think the results would stay the same. Maybe a little better or worse from the Wolfpack. He absolutely should have had more than 1 GT stage at this point.

Kwiatkowski never looked good in super high mountains. I don't think he could have had a chance in any GT. Stage hunting, definitely.

He might have had a few more chances in other teams and a schedule a bit better suited to his strenghts (I think he should have skipped a few Tours), but I don't think he missed tons of opportunities due to riding in Sky/Ineos, so generally agree with your post.

 

[gregrowlerson]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513191379484225540

View: https://twitter.com/BenoitCosnefroy/status/1513191379484225540


Cosnefroy wants a finishing photo for this too!

Brilliant post!

 

[SHAD0W93]

Kwiatkowski never looked good in super high mountains. I don't think he could have had a chance in any GT. Stage hunting, definitely.

He might have had a few more chances in other teams and a schedule a bit better suited to his strenghts (I think he should have skipped a few Tours), but I don't think he missed tons of opportunities due to riding in Sky/Ineos, so generally agree with your post.

That’s why he was maybe hoping for a transformation after seeing the results Sky had with some worse riders then him and he already reaching 11th and would have been 10th without Navarro’s breakaway.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Tratnik somehow is super strong this spring but misses all the splits.

Date	Result			Race	Distance	Points PCS	Points UCI
10.04	12			Amstel Gold Race (1.UWT)	254.1	34	60
03.04	12			Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME (1.UWT)	272.5	42	60
30.03	9			Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME (1.UWT)	183.7	46	60
19.03	9			Milano-Sanremo (1.UWT)	293	60	100

Not bad.

I see tow 1nd dna 2st ereth.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

SafeBet lives!!!

 

[meat puppet]

yup, but apart from his 1min power every other value was lower. Partially because of the course of course. But also because he wasn't as good as last week. And maybe he wasn't as good because of the course as well.

People forget Flanders has a largely flat run in until the hilly sector. Amstel Gold Race is just hills, hills and hills all day. I can imagine it would tire out MVDP more. He's just not as naturally gifted at this as a true puncher/climber type. On a good day obviously he can compete, otherwise you wouldn't win AGR and be 6th at LBL. But here more than in Flanders he needs super days to win

Agreed. Also thanks to how np is calculated, some inflation, if you will, due to highly variable power outputs is a well known thing. The Amstel course lends itself to this more than the Ronde does imo.

Yet, my point was simply that Amstel was raced quite hard, too.

 

[SHAD0W93]

SafeBet lives!!!

Or is it their ghost?

 

[CyclistAbi]

Just wondering where are all the analyses this year? Last year it went on for days. What is different this year?

 

[Bonimenier]

The French have had one hell of a season in the classics so far.
Podiums in MSR, E3, GW, RVV and Amstel, all without Ala.

All without Ala and all without victory.

 

[SafeBet]

Glad to see you're doing ok!

SafeBet lives!!!

Or is it their ghost?

Have I become part of a meme I'm not aware of?