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A sprinter wins. To be expected.
What was unexpected was the way in which he won.
What was unexpected was the way in which he won.
Mostly corpses coming across the finish line. I'm guessing Lampaert was quite dead as well. Best rider won - clearly.
Without any abuse I’m not familiar with the riders who came 2nd and 4th. Any potential for a good classics career or just taking advantage of a smaller race ?
Olav Kooij is a young sprinter who had 12 wins last year. Frederik Frison does great impressions, most famously of Peter Sagan.
I can't think of more bizarre tactics than those employed by Quick Step today - You back in your sprinter and if you want to attack the group with your numbers you do it in the last 5kms.
Awesome to see Rickaert back at a high level after his struggles.
Deserved win for Philipsen, strongest guy in the race. First 4 guys were probably the strongest all around.
Lampaert with some weird tactics, wasn't ideal for him with 2 super fast guys but trying to beat them in a sprint is the only thing he shouldn't have gone for. Atleast try an attack like Frison, even if it doesn't work.
Deserved win for Philipsen, strongest guy in the race. First 4 guys were probably the strongest all around.
Lampaert with some weird tactics, wasn't ideal for him with 2 super fast guys but trying to beat them in a sprint is the only thing he shouldn't have gone for. Atleast try an attack like Frison, even if it doesn't work.
I was very impressed by Frison bridging up to the front trio. At that moment it was clear that the rest of group 2 was out of steam.
In an ideal situation ? You attack the group and bring two riders who are infinitely faster in the sprint, while you have your sprinter who would have come one or two in the sprint.
That's not what happened. He found himself in an attack with two sprinters, but he didn't do anything, just sat on for 15 k. He should have attacked though in the final, not wait for the sprint, that's the stupid part.
Wow! Superb race.
Seeing all those top sprinters line-up and being up there as well, but actually having to ride like classics contenders. Really special. Enjoyed it very much. All of them were working at the front at one point. Not just Philipsen, but also Jakobsen, Demare, Gronewegen, Ackermann etc.
Hugely impressed by Philipsen. Kirsipuu won Kuurne once attacking solo to forcome being attacked. Philipsen constantly worked at the front as well. Well deserved win. Nice win. Special win, because you don't win like that too often being a sprinter.
Atrocious conditions of course. You saw how completely tuckered out Demare & Gronewegen were in the final. Demare actually was the one that had to let go when Philipsen upped the tempo.
Ackermann did some nice work for Molano. Who probably due to his chase after the mechanical was too weakened himself in the end.
Jakobsen actually was in 2nd last position of the group, when Philipsen went. So he might have faded already by that point. So it wasn't complete nonsense tactically to let Lampaert stay in the front group. But he obviously couldn't capitalize from his position, since neither he attacked himself nor Philipsen & Kooij started looking at each other.
Bram Welten really was bad luck Bram today. If he has his mechanical just some kilometres later, he easily gets back to the front group through the caravan.
DSM actually had Van Uden in the initial front group, but still pulled in the peloton to reel them back in. Only to miss the out-tray with Van Uden, Welsford & Dainese later on. Beyond stupid. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Kooij already showed that he has improved with this performance. He was up there at the 2021 Omloop as well, but had to let go off the favorites once Alaphilippe attacked to make the race hard and get rid of Kooij. Today he was the one being able to stick with Philipsen. When other big guns as Demare & Gronewegen where completely tuckered out. So Kooij can handle a hard race it seems. Good to know. Maybe Lefevere doesn't need to bid super high for De Lie, but rather takes on Kooij.
Fredheim looked strong as well. He already was in the initial front group wasn't he? Gave his fair share of workload. Maybe a bit too much as mentioned above. Once Waerenskjold was dropped he could have sat down a bit more in the group. It looked as if Fredheim slept a bit in the crucial moment, when Philipsen attacked though. Ironically that was the moment where he probably should have taken the turn himself, rather than relying on Demare's strength which obviously wasn't there anymore. Still nice outing for the young gun of course.
Impressive how Frison closed that gap on his last legs. Sadly one could see why he's mainly used as a workhorse then.
Seeing all those top sprinters line-up and being up there as well, but actually having to ride like classics contenders. Really special. Enjoyed it very much. All of them were working at the front at one point. Not just Philipsen, but also Jakobsen, Demare, Gronewegen, Ackermann etc.
Hugely impressed by Philipsen. Kirsipuu won Kuurne once attacking solo to forcome being attacked. Philipsen constantly worked at the front as well. Well deserved win. Nice win. Special win, because you don't win like that too often being a sprinter.
Atrocious conditions of course. You saw how completely tuckered out Demare & Gronewegen were in the final. Demare actually was the one that had to let go when Philipsen upped the tempo.
Ackermann did some nice work for Molano. Who probably due to his chase after the mechanical was too weakened himself in the end.
Jakobsen actually was in 2nd last position of the group, when Philipsen went. So he might have faded already by that point. So it wasn't complete nonsense tactically to let Lampaert stay in the front group. But he obviously couldn't capitalize from his position, since neither he attacked himself nor Philipsen & Kooij started looking at each other.
Bram Welten really was bad luck Bram today. If he has his mechanical just some kilometres later, he easily gets back to the front group through the caravan.
DSM actually had Van Uden in the initial front group, but still pulled in the peloton to reel them back in. Only to miss the out-tray with Van Uden, Welsford & Dainese later on. Beyond stupid. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Kooij already showed that he has improved with this performance. He was up there at the 2021 Omloop as well, but had to let go off the favorites once Alaphilippe attacked to make the race hard and get rid of Kooij. Today he was the one being able to stick with Philipsen. When other big guns as Demare & Gronewegen where completely tuckered out. So Kooij can handle a hard race it seems. Good to know. Maybe Lefevere doesn't need to bid super high for De Lie, but rather takes on Kooij.
Fredheim looked strong as well. He already was in the initial front group wasn't he? Gave his fair share of workload. Maybe a bit too much as mentioned above. Once Waerenskjold was dropped he could have sat down a bit more in the group. It looked as if Fredheim slept a bit in the crucial moment, when Philipsen attacked though. Ironically that was the moment where he probably should have taken the turn himself, rather than relying on Demare's strength which obviously wasn't there anymore. Still nice outing for the young gun of course.
Impressive how Frison closed that gap on his last legs. Sadly one could see why he's mainly used as a workhorse then.
Armchair cyclist
Moderator
Glances quickly at top ten: "A few surprise names among the sprinters in that mass bunch sprint,"
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Also a hat tip to Jonas Rickaert who got his best ever WT one-day result with 6th place in just his second race day after a 6-month lay-off due to a femoral artery surgery (his second within the last year).
the problem was that Jacobsen couldn’t bridge across. I don’t think he played it wrong. He was banking on philipsen and kooij being too tired, but they weren’t. Philipsen was a beast today.
Superb racing today! Great to watch and nice to see the strongest rider in the race taking the victory. Even if the Steppers did mess up a bit with the Lampaert move, think Philipsen would have won today anyway.
Sam Welsford at one point tried to bridge to the front 18 on his own, came within 50 m, but then drifted back to the bigger group behind. A pity - I'm guessing he was strong enough to be among the first group, but was poorly positioned earlier.
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