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De Brabantse Pijl: April 14th 2021

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He actually got dropped once on the climbs. Van Aert looked effortless on the climbs. But like in every race, he couldn't help himself doing too much work.

Okay, I don't know... I watched more with one eye. But I got the feeling he looked very strong on the climbs... hm.

About doing the work... yeah, maybe, but then he just was the biggest favourite in the race... in the Worlds he should have worked more in my opinion to make the others work more, too... It's just a very difficult decision when people know you have such an engine and such a sprint.
 
He actually got dropped once on the climbs. Van Aert looked effortless on the climbs. But like in every race, he couldn't help himself doing too much work.
also have a feeling many people are completely underrating Pidcock's explosiveness in races up till 200km.

In CX this season he was, at points, even more explosive than VDP. (But then lost that time again in technical parts)

I was not surprised at all seeing him outsprint Van Aert. Not 1 bit
 
About the Moskesstraat:

According to Tomas Van Den Spiegel (Flanders Classic) there was no mortar used in the reconstruction, they got rid of the tarmac spots and all the old cobbles were used. With the rain everything between the cobbles should be washed away by September.

So at the WC it should be close to the same difficulty level as before even if today it probably is a lot easier to ride on.

View: https://twitter.com/tomasvds/status/1382297341634486275

From now until September I will take it upon myself to stop at the top there on every ride and piss down the hill to make sure they look nasty again :p
 
also have a feeling many people are completely underrating Pidcock's explosiveness in races up till 200km.

In CX this season he was, at points, even more explosive than VDP. (But then lost that time again in technical parts)

I was not surprised at all seeing him outsprint Van Aert. Not 1 bit
Pidcock is explosive, sure, but I didn't expect him to win that one. I thought he would either go first and perhaps get the jump on Wout, but then fade, basically the reverse of what we just saw. Or, if coming from Wout's wheel, he would make up half a bike length or so but not more.
 
And although I find it actually a good thing not all races are completely dominated by a few guys it's just incredible how high our expectations are regarding these guys. Van der Poel still won Strade and got second in de Ronde, plus several more wins and good placings... van Aert won G-W, and was close to the top in almost every race he was in... I just can't call that disappointing. When you are (believed to be) that strong it becomes a tactical problem, and in our times there are other strong riders who are always very close. So it's no wonder they can't just dominate the one-day-races. (And like I said, that's a good thing.)
 
It hasn't been a particularly good spring for Van der Poel and Van Aert fans but I hope summer will bring better results.

Anyway good win by Pidcock.
I don't really agree.

Mathieu won strade in spectacular fashion, 2 tirreno stages of which 1 in spectacular fashion. And then had a string of great results in the remaining classic, albeit not winning. But he certainly made the race in RVV.

And Wout had that fantastic tirreno and GW win.

Yeah, they won no monument,
Yeah, they could've won more.
But don't forget most ppl ride against them forcing them to do most of the work. So it's much harder to still win that way as the chances improve for other fresher people who don't have to do as much. It's the same position every top favorite has been in for years. Not even Boonen and Cancellara won monuments every year

They are also currenlty 2-3 in the world ranking behind Pogacar if I'm not mistaken. (Wout probably 1 again after this race)...
 
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