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72nd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (02/03-2019) - 200 km

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Some watts by Stybar:

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There was once a funny discussion on this forum about cobbled classics specialists vs hilly classics specialists.

Seeing Wellens and Teuns in top5 today and a fairly average 61 kg hilly classics specialist Alex Howes, in his first ever cobbled classic, being 2nd best finisher of his team packed with experienced cobbled classics specialists, doesn't fit the agenda that cobbled classics specialists are somehow superior.
 
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Anderis said:
There was once a funny discussion on this forum about cobbled classics specialists vs hilly classics specialists.

Seeing Wellens and Teuns in top5 today and a fairly average 61 kg hilly classics specialist Alex Howes, in his first ever cobbled classic, being 2nd best finisher of his team packed with experienced cobbled classics specialists, doesn't fit the agenda that cobbled classics specialists are somehow superior.
I think this is more of a problem with the term 'hilly classics' and 'cobbled classics'. I mean, there's not many hilly classics: AGR, FW, LBL, San Sebastian and Lombardia. And there are all very different to each other.

AGR, for example, is way closer to something like E3 or Omloop in terms of skills needed to win than it is to Lombardia or even Liege.
 
I know, it's not me who coined this rather artificial division many riders are hard to be put in due to their versatility. There are so few days in cycling calendar with cobbles that riders participating in them will always be forced to look for another niche to be useful for their teams for the rest of the season.
 
Chapeau Stybar & QS (so that's QS1 - CCC 0)! good race to start the season.

GvA tried his darnest to drop guys but just didn't have it. Maybe some team help would have helped - though they had a spate of mechanicals/punctures.
 
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Anderis said:
There was once a funny discussion on this forum about cobbled classics specialists vs hilly classics specialists.

Seeing Wellens and Teuns in top5 today and a fairly average 61 kg hilly classics specialist Alex Howes, in his first ever cobbled classic, being 2nd best finisher of his team packed with experienced cobbled classics specialists, doesn't fit the agenda that cobbled classics specialists are somehow superior.
As far as I remember, that was basically just El Pistolero trolling.
 
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boneshaker said:
Congratulations to Stybar.

It is very strange that this is his first victory in a classic after the Strade Bianche in 2015.

Well, he is in the best classics team so there was almost always some team-mate upfront and he was forced to stay back. He does not have the sprint of Sagan or GVA and engine of Terpstra. Attack from a small group close to the finish is probably only scenario when he can win.
 
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Robert5091 said:
Chapeau Stybar & QS (so that's QS1 - CCC 0)! good race to start the season.

GvA tried his darnest to drop guys but just didn't have it. Maybe some team help would have helped - though they had a spate of mechanicals/punctures.

Like CCC stood a chance against the world's best Classics team.
 
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Flamin said:
Not sure about that at all. He didn't look good. Basically what he's looked like all winter. I hope he can still turn things around but for now it looks like MVDP will smoke him on the road as well.
It's as if everything either of them does, always has to be in relation to how the other will do. :)

He was 13th today, and finished in the same bunch as Van Baarle, Matthews, Jungels, Trentin, Naessen, Lampaert... within 20 seconds of Stybar, and ahead of the bunches with Terpstra, Colbrelli, Valgren, Roelandts, Teunissen, Stuyven, Vanmarcke... If that's bad, then all those other guys can just pack it up and go home for the rest of the season. Also, all the guys finishing ahead of him, were older.

It's his first race since his CX season ended about a month ago. If anything, i found his performance quite promising. Especially compared to his CX season.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Flamin said:
Not sure about that at all. He didn't look good. Basically what he's looked like all winter. I hope he can still turn things around but for now it looks like MVDP will smoke him on the road as well.
It's as if everything either of them does, always has to be in relation to how the other will do. :)

He was 13th today, and finished in the same bunch as Van Baarle, Matthews, Jungels, Trentin, Naessen, Lampaert... within 20 seconds of Stybar, and ahead of the bunches with Terpstra, Colbrelli, Valgren, Roelandts, Teunissen, Stuyven, Vanmarcke... If that's bad, then all those other guys can just pack it up and go home for the rest of the season. Also, all the guys finishing ahead of him, were older.

It's his first race since his CX season ended about a month ago. If anything, i found his performance quite promising. Especially compared to his CX season.

Result doesn't say much. Last year he was much stronger yet finished 32th.

Fact is he got dropped on the Muur by most of the guys you mentioned (apart from those who were ill or had a complete off-day, hence it's not really relevant to bring them into the equation). He looked okay up until the Molenberg, but was pretty much spent from there on.

Again, last year he looked stronger, and of course I'm going to use that as the benchmark to judge his performance. I didn't say it was bad either, did I? I think it's pretty normal to be kind of worried, though I'm not writing him off just yet obviously.
 
Again, most of the other guys have had some racing in their legs. Last year his CX season was also different than this year. There was clearly a build-up towards march. This year, he pretty much maintained the same (disappointing) level throughout the winter. I already predicted weeks if not months ago, that he would suffer to match last year's results (or performances), but i don't consider yesterday's performance to be indicative of that.
It's also possible, that last year the stretch was too long, from januari to april, so he now might be trying to peak a bit later, with RVV and PR in mind. We'll know soon enough.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Again, most of the other guys have had some racing in their legs. Last year his CX season was also different than this year. There was clearly a build-up towards march. This year, he pretty much maintained the same (disappointing) level throughout the winter. I already predicted weeks if not months ago, that he would suffer to match last year's results (or performances), but i don't consider yesterday's performance to be indicative of that.
It's also possible, that last year the stretch was too long, from januari to april, so he now might be trying to peak a bit later, with RVV and PR in mind. We'll know soon enough.

Did he state anywhere that his approach towards the classics is different this year? Because as far as I know, he tried the exact same thing in CX, which was peaking towards the Worlds. It's just that he didn't have the same shape as last year.
 

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