79th Gent-Wevelgem, 26th March 2017, 249 km, 1.UWT

[KGB]

The best cobbled classics rider of the last two years did not crash out.
Exactly and was beaten with Sagan.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

There is not any even little question mark Sagan beat Cancellara even in solo,period.You really can not compare GVA with Fabian.

I'm not comparing GVA with Cancellara. They are completely different riders. GVA is way more dangerous to Sagan, because he is the better sprinter at the end of hard races.

In any event, Cancellara lost RVV last year due to a tactical error in not following the decisive split. Impossible to say whether or not he was stronger or weaker than Sagan physically.

 

[trucido]

Nice to see Keukeleire with a result in a cobbled classic, it's been overdue.

I hope to see Sagan do what he did there more often, but obviously he'd never try that in a monument.

 

[Arredondo]

Another great race. Cycling really has been mental this year! Love it!

I don't think GvA is the strongest rider atm. Sagan is still, which maybe sounds weird, the bigger rider of the two. He is marked all the time, which gives the opportunity for Greg to go at the exactly right moment.

The difference between the two is not that significant, but i still think Sagan can drop GvA on Paterberg. But the big problem for Sagan is: can he reach the bottom of it together with Van Avermaet? And at the absolute front? I doubt it, because despite the fact Postlberger and Juraj Sagan have showed themselves the past races, Bora is way too weak to control things in the final.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

"I don't know what terpstra was doing, I'm not his teammate"

"Against everyone, this is not sport, this is cheap"

Not too happy is peter, great interview like, like the authenticity

Sounds like he cut off his nose to spite his face. It was much more in his interests to close the gap than it was for Terpstra - who had relatively little chance of winning with that run in.

Of course Terpstra wouldn't have won from that group. He should still have closed that gap immediately. When you have two of the best sprinters behind, you don't let 2 riders go without having a man with them.

Alternatively you don't close the gap yourself, because you assume the guy who has a better shot of winning will close it. You don't assume he's going to throw his dummy out of the pram and refuse to work to prove some kind of point.

It was probably a tactical error by both. But Sagan criticising Terpstra for not bridging is ridiculous when he did nothing himself - and had more to gain by doing so.

If you're an idiot. The gap was only there because Sagan sat up. It would have taken no energy for Terpstra to close it immediately, but he refused to do so.

Well why didn't Sagan close it then either? Seems a pretty huge tactical error to prove some kind of point. And again, he was the rider of the two which had more to lose by not closing it. So there's no point whining about it in an interview afterwards; he made the decision to play games and lost because of it.

 

[Escarabajo]

So Sagan prefers to lose than let others suck his blood!!! LOL

I guess he gambled when he let the gap go and then tried to bridge on his own and couldn't. Realized that he didn't have the energy.

Nice racing!!!

 

[Netserk]

If he wanted to close it, he wouldn't have sat up and created it. Pretty *** obvious.

 

[Billie]

Fitte Peeters about as red from anger as a human can be

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

There is not any even little question mark Sagan beat Cancellara even in solo,period.You really can not compare GVA with Fabian.

I'm not comparing GVA with Cancellara. They are completely different riders. GVA is way more dangerous to Sagan, because he is the better sprinter at the end of hard races.

In any event, Cancellara lost RVV last year due to a tactical error in not following the decisive split. Impossible to say whether or not he was stronger or weaker than Sagan physically.

Such a ridiculous post...

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

There is not any even little question mark Sagan beat Cancellara even in solo,period.You really can not compare GVA with Fabian.

I'm not comparing GVA with Cancellara. They are completely different riders. GVA is way more dangerous to Sagan, because he is the better sprinter at the end of hard races.

In any event, Cancellara lost RVV last year due to a tactical error in not following the decisive split. Impossible to say whether or not he was stronger or weaker than Sagan physically.

I think Cancellara was just as strong as Sagan physically. His ascent of the Paterberg was just as quick. But for sure, he couldn't have dropped him in the final. Which means Sagan most likely would have won anyway.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

So Sagan prefers to lose than let others suck his blood!!! LOL

I guess he gambled when he let the gap go and then tried to bridge on his own and couldn't. Realized that he didn't have the energy.

Nice racing!!!

Yeah, perhaps he over-estimated his own strength in thinking he could bridge or under-estimated that of the front two. A little humiliating to then have to work with Terpstra in a failed chase that they both created through their stubborness.

 

[jaylew]

I just hope GVA can follow all this up with PR or RVV, otherwise it will be a bittersweet year for him, I think.

 

[Gigs_98]

I still think that only looking at their physical strength Sagan is by far stronger than GVA. Yeah, Sagan lost against Greg very often in the last two years but in every single case Sagan was beaten tactically. For the same reason I don't think GVA crashing out in the Ronde last year changed anything. Had he stayed in the Cancellara group, Cancellara would have dropped him and had he gone with Sagan, Sagan would have dropped him. The problem for Sagan seems to be that everyone is marking him because he is two levels above them. But then they think just marking Sagan is enough to win so they get beaten by GVA who is one level above them.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I just hope GVA can follow all this up with PR or RVV, otherwise it will be a bittersweet year for him, I think.

I think as a rider I would take winning Omloop, E3 and GW over just RVV. The monument stuff is a bit overblown imo, GW is nearly the same distance as RVV and has loads of history as well. E3 is basically the same race as well, just without the flat first 100km.

 

[trucido]

I still think that only looking at their physical strength Sagan is by far stronger than GVA. Yeah, Sagan lost against Greg very often in the last two years but in every single case Sagan was beaten tactically. For the same reason I don't think GVA crashing out in the Ronde last year changed anything. Had he stayed in the Cancellara group, Cancellara would have dropped him and had he gone with Sagan, Sagan would have dropped him. The problem for Sagan seems to be that everyone is marking him because he is two levels above them. But then they think just marking Sagan is enough to win so they get beaten by GVA who is one level above them.

Sagan is GvA's best teamate.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Sagan is stronger on those cobbled climbs than GVA though, if he gets to the last Kwaremont - Paterberg combo in RVV with GVA he can drop him and win solo like he kind of did last year. What he doesn´t want is to be with him after the climbs are over. I don´t think anyone can match Sagan on those climbs now that there´s no Cancellara.

Exactly my thoughts as well. I think Sagan is a little bit stronger on the hellingen, based on today and based on last year. I guess we don't have a lot of evidence to compare against, but I'm just struggling to recall GVA ever dropping Sagan on the climbs, whereas I can find a few examples of the opposite. GVA appears tactically smarter if Sagan does not get rid of him though. Both are equally big favourites for sunday, I'd say.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

There is not any even little question mark Sagan beat Cancellara even in solo,period.You really can not compare GVA with Fabian.

I'm not comparing GVA with Cancellara. They are completely different riders. GVA is way more dangerous to Sagan, because he is the better sprinter at the end of hard races.

In any event, Cancellara lost RVV last year due to a tactical error in not following the decisive split. Impossible to say whether or not he was stronger or weaker than Sagan physically.

I think Cancellara was just as strong as Sagan physically. His ascent of the Paterberg was just as quick. But for sure, he couldn't have dropped him in the final. Which means Sagan most likely would have won anyway.

I'm really not sure if Cancellara would have lost a sprint against Sagan. One week before the Ronde Sagan lost a two men sprint against Kwiat by 4(!!!) seconds. It really depends on the rest of the race and if Sagan had needed to go fast on the last two kilometers.

 

[DFA123]

Another thing from earlier in the race today, is that Degenkolb looks to be hitting some nice form. Probably not good enough on the hellingen for RVV, but must be pretty close to being favourite for PR right now.

 

[Escarabajo]

I still think that only looking at their physical strength Sagan is by far stronger than GVA. Yeah, Sagan lost against Greg very often in the last two years but in every single case Sagan was beaten tactically. For the same reason I don't think GVA crashing out in the Ronde last year changed anything. Had he stayed in the Cancellara group, Cancellara would have dropped him and had he gone with Sagan, Sagan would have dropped him. The problem for Sagan seems to be that everyone is marking him because he is two levels above them. But then they think just marking Sagan is enough to win so they get beaten by GVA who is one level above them.

Sagan is GvA's best teamate.

This.

GVA gets the benefit from Sagan's marking.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

lol. "greg sprints better after a hard race then sagan"

well that's usually because Sagan has to do twice as much work. When he doesn't and tries to 'ride smarter', they get caught. It's the curse of having a greater sprint imho.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re:

Another thing from earlier in the race today, is that Degenkolb looks to be hitting some nice form. Probably not good enough on the hellingen for RVV, but must be pretty close to being favourite for PR right now.

Yes and with Felline and Stuyven he has a great team

 

[Screecher]

Quick-Step Floors should start marking GVA and not Sagan if they want to win anything. It doesn´t seem like it will work the other way around. Sagan is not prepared to close every gap because it lost him many races before, where as GVA can sprint just as well after a hard effort.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

I just hope GVA can follow all this up with PR or RVV, otherwise it will be a bittersweet year for him, I think.

I think as a rider I would take winning Omloop, E3 and GW over just RVV. The monument stuff is a bit overblown imo, GW is nearly the same distance as RVV and has loads of history as well. E3 is basically the same race as well, just without the flat first 100km.

I don't think he feels that way. Frankly, I doubt many riders in his situation would. Just look at Sagan - he'd won several classics but was still criticized for not having picked up a monument - and that's even with a Worlds win. He's already said this year is all about finally about getting a monument win.

 

[Red Rick]

To me it seems that Sagan will be the man to beat on the hills and GVA will be the man to beat after the hills.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

To me it seems that Sagan will be the man to beat on the hills and GVA will be the man to beat after the hills.

That looks a nice summary of how it is. Perhaps quickstep will still have a role to play as well, especially if Gilbert can maintain his form.

Difficult to see anyone else being much of a factor.