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Baloise Belgium Tour 2021 (June 9-13)

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That was not good from Remco. He pulled those guys for so long and they just played him like a drum.

But maybe he was just going for GC as others said...I don't quite believe that, however...
He's done this a thousand times. He doesn't care. He knows he can't sprint, if he starts playing games for stagewin every time, he would lose a lot more in GC.
 
That was not good from Remco. He pulled those guys for so long and they just played him like a drum.

But maybe he was just going for GC as others said...I don't quite believe that, however...

No, he just couldn't drop them. He doesn't have the punch and the hills were not long enough for him to drop them. They could recuperate in between and he couldn't which aggrevated it a bit more. That and he want the GC, so him freewheeling to recuperate was not an option.

You could see the same thing in baloise two years ago. He is about around the same level now as when he started in the pro-peleton. He has some way to go (as indicated by himself as well).
 
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He's done this a thousand times. He doesn't care. He knows he can't sprint, if he starts playing games for stagewin every time, he would lose a lot more in GC.

...and that is, frankly, his appeal.

he could have also waited for the ITT and stage 4, but he didn't.

and for someone who watched merckx live, that is why he is exciting and that is why these really early comparisons are made. its not about the palmares. it's the style of riding. just doesn't care. ride hard. merckx did that many times with great success. however, he also dragged dozens of wheelsuckers all the way to the finish line and watched them outsprint him. Verbeeck, DeVlaeminck and Dierickx all did that just in the spring classics of 1975. it happened all the time. riders simply hanging on for dear life as merckx attacked from far out, only to beat him in the sprint. really only remco rides that way (and VDP on occasion).

*Before anyone gets their panties in a twist, I am NOT comparing the talent of remco and merckx. simply pointing out why his style of riding is really exciting for some of us.
 
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Only in Flanders do they give the leader a pony keg... :D

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...and that is, frankly, his appeal.

he could have also waited for the ITT and stage 4, but he didn't.

and for someone who watched merckx live, that is why he is exciting and that is why these really early comparisons are made. its not about the palmares. it's the style of riding. just doesn't care. ride hard. merckx did that many times with great success. however, he also dragged dozens of wheelsuckers all the way to the finish line and watch them outsprint him. Verbeeck, DeVlaeminck and Dierickx all did that just in the spring classics of 1975. it happened all the time. riders simply hanging on for deal life as merckx attacked from far out, only to beat him in the sprint. really only remco rides that way (and VDP on occasion).

*Before anyone gets their panties in a twist, I am NOT comparing the talent of remco and merckx. simply pointing out why his style of riding is really exciting for some of us.
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What happened with Campenaerts? He was with Remco with 10km to go. Then I lost my stream and when I looked at the results I found him more than 4 minutes down. Crash, cramps or he just couldn't follow anymore and blew up?

Anyway it was almost a deja vu from 2019 Tour of Belgium. Back then Remco with a similar attack started an impressive series of results that continued until his crash in Lombardia. Let's see if history repeats itself. Logic says yes.
 
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What happened with Campenaerts? He was with Remco with 10km to go. Then I lost my stream and when I looked at the results I found him more than 4 minutes down. Crash, cramps or he just couldn't follow anymore and blew up?

Anyway it was almost a deja vu from 2019 Tour of Belgium. Back then Remco with a similar attack started an impressive series of results that continued until his crash in Lombardia. Let's see if history repeats itself. Logic says yes.

Cramp - he blew up even harder than Ballerini did and had to get off the bike to sort it out. It was pretty much in the same place on the circuit as well.
 
What do you expect from today's time trial, apart from Evenepoel?
A lot of guys you didn't expect or ever heard of, coming in with a good time. It's 11k only, it's super unpredictable with a peloton of which you don't know half the riders or their skills/strengths. I'll keep an eye on Schelling, Bouwman, Lampaert, Gradek, Gilbert, Philipsen, Eekhof (kind of interested to see him go), Fisher-Black (as well), Frison, Guernalec...
 

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