72nd Dwars Door Vlaanderen, 22nd March 2017, 204 km, WT

[Geraint Too Fast]

I think Gaviria was just poorly positioned for the Paterberg.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I don't think anything happened to him. His teammates were up the road, he hung around in the peloton in case someon brought them back.

Of course that makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Kwibus]

Flanders classics(organisation) really needs to stop using the same hills in every damn race.
I read an interview with Boonen a while back where he was talkingg about a training ride where they raced lots of bergs that have never been used in any race and some of them were really hard.

If this doesnt change people will get burned out by these races while these races should be the best.

It's not like there is an infinite amount of that kind of hills in Flanders though. Also who is getting burned out by these races? There are like 6 races that go over these bergs and then we're all done with them for the rest of the year.

Don't get me wrong. This is likely my favourite period of the year regarding cycling, but it does start to annoy me last years and I guess most of all after they changed the RVV final. RvV was unique with it's final, but now it's just like Omloop, ddv and E3, but longer and they change the order of the climbs a bit. It's a bit silly imo, certainly since there are more options.

I understnd that certain climbs will feature in all those races, but they dont all have to feature in the final.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Nairo vs Caleb on the Oude Kwaremont.

Wouldn't that be Dayer? Pretty sure Nairo is in Colombia...

 

[Popchu]

Re: Re:

Nairo vs Caleb on the Oude Kwaremont.

Wouldn't that be Dayer? Pretty sure Nairo is in Colombia...

Nairo did DDV in 2015.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, but wasn't that because there was gonna be cobbles in the Tour? Besides; it's 2017 now.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

 

[johnymax]

Happy for Lampaert. Can't wait for E3, GW and RVV. It's gonna be fun!

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

A lot of riders look like clowns on the cobbles He's 165 cm's and he's on an XXS Scott Foil which is the smallest they make. He's not the shortest on that team, Chaves is 164! Now he would look like a clown on the cobbles, it would shake him to pieces!

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

And Flecha was the only Spanish rider for years who looked at home on the cobbles. For a young pro Ewan is doing alright. 10th place in the MSR and he has never won a race beyond 200 kms. Cobbled races won't be for him unless he adds bulk as he gets older like McEwen and even McEwen struggled to get results on the best races with cobbles.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

And Flecha was the only Spanish rider for years who looked at home on the cobbles. For a young pro Ewan is doing alright. 10th place in the MSR and he has never won a race beyond 200 kms. Cobbled races won't be for him unless he adds bulk as he gets older like McEwen and even McEwen struggled to get results on the best races with cobbles.

He did actually win Hamburg Cyclassic last year and that is more than 200 km's.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

QS masterclass
at last

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

And Flecha was the only Spanish rider for years who looked at home on the cobbles. For a young pro Ewan is doing alright. 10th place in the MSR and he has never won a race beyond 200 kms. Cobbled races won't be for him unless he adds bulk as he gets older like McEwen and even McEwen struggled to get results on the best races with cobbles.

He did actually win Hamburg Cyclassic last year and that is more than 200 km's.

I stand corrected.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

And Flecha was the only Spanish rider for years who looked at home on the cobbles. For a young pro Ewan is doing alright. 10th place in the MSR and he has never won a race beyond 200 kms. Cobbled races won't be for him unless he adds bulk as he gets older like McEwen and even McEwen struggled to get results on the best races with cobbles.

He did actually win Hamburg Cyclassic last year and that is more than 200 km's.

Some would argue that he didn't so much win it as he was given the race from the jury

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re:

QS masterclass
at last

The addition of Gilbert looks good for QS options and his form is also good Waiting for Flanders

 

[GraftPunk]

Re: Re:

Trek tweeted out that Reijnen is ok but doing x-rays to make sure.

TBH, the way it looked I wouldn't really care if he's broken multiple bones.[/

What do you mean by this RHD?

edited for proper html

I honestly feared it was life-threatening for a sec there...

ahhhh, righto!

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

And Flecha was the only Spanish rider for years who looked at home on the cobbles. For a young pro Ewan is doing alright. 10th place in the MSR and he has never won a race beyond 200 kms. Cobbled races won't be for him unless he adds bulk as he gets older like McEwen and even McEwen struggled to get results on the best races with cobbles.

Think Orica thought Ewan could use his power to get up the steeper cobbled climbs in the race - Doubt he will ever ever succeed in this facet - He did make the final of Gent Werelgem in 2016 so he can get through on flat cobbles.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Damn Caleb looks like a clown on the cobbles. Is he riding a kids bike as well? 52?

And Flecha was the only Spanish rider for years who looked at home on the cobbles. For a young pro Ewan is doing alright. 10th place in the MSR and he has never won a race beyond 200 kms. Cobbled races won't be for him unless he adds bulk as he gets older like McEwen and even McEwen struggled to get results on the best races with cobbles.

He did actually win Hamburg Cyclassic last year and that is more than 200 km's.

I stand corrected.

Endurance is not Ewan's issue as he has won Hamburg and been in the final of stages/races 200+km - Versatility is his issue, unless he becomes a GUN sprinter.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Participating in these cobble races will only make Ewan stronger and more versatile down the line. Steep learning curve perhaps.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Participating in these cobble races will only make Ewan stronger and more versatile down the line. Steep learning curve perhaps.

Omloop, MSR type races will suit him best unless he improves his climbing. Bunch sprints will probably end up being his specialty like Cavendish and I think with a bit more experience he will be winning against the best sprinters on harder races. It's amazing that he is already putting out so much power for such a small rider. But he isn't a power sprinter like Kittel or Greipel he is more like McEwen or Cavendish, it's the sudden acceleration more than the power that gets him wins.

 

[Breh]

that and the subpar competition he faces in these less important races.

 

[jsem94]

Gilbert hasn't looked this good for a long long time. Quickstep with a ridiculously strong classics squad.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Gilbert hasn't looked this good for a long long time. Quickstep with a ridiculously strong classics squad.

While I think he was very good, I think Lampeart was the one who was ridiculously strong. Gilbert basically couldn't have asked for a better setup from him a couple of times, but still couldn't drop them

 

[Flamin]

Haven't seen the race and didn't read much about it except results and short summary because of vacation. Did I miss a good race? Worth watching back?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Haven't seen the race and didn't read much about it except results and short summary because of vacation. Did I miss a good race? Worth watching back?

I didn't watch it live either, but caught it last night. It was definitely an interesting race, not anything special tho.