De Ronde van Vlaanderen (270.8 km), 2024 March 31 (Sunday)

[Pinot's goat]

Riley Sheehan peaking at the perfect time. Was last wheel before it kicked off after tangling with another rider (according to his Strava) but still managed to make it back to G3.

He had illness in Provence after looking good and has been building back since.

 

[scribers]

Time for Pogi to get in the ring, this race needs him now

He has the form

 

[hayneplane]

Is it not possible that the crash today is actually bad for MvdP's winning chances? I see the opportunity for a much more uncontrollable race, without the iron grip og Visma or tre,k that he often exploits.

If he goes to sleep like he did twice in the early part of last years race every team with leaders on the right side of the split need to drive it full gas to bury him while they can.

Barring incidents I can’t see anyone hanging onto MVDP on the final Paterburg even if anyone is left at that point.

 

[Peyroteo94]

MVP will kill the race on Kwaremont and do a 60 km solo. Other teams need to antecipate and brake Alpecin before. If MVP is within a minute when we hit Kwaremont, it is game over.

 

[Blanco]

MVP will kill the race on Kwaremont and do a 60 km solo. Other teams need to antecipate and brake Alpecin before. If MVP is within a minute when we hit Kwaremont, it is game over.

Yep, he'll basically do the "Pogacar".

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Idk, yes you would think that but it will be a weird race. Normally MVDP also needs other riders to make the race hard or to ride with him.

With none of the other top contenders there or in fit shape who's gonna ride with him? And especially in the part until 50k? Could be a really weird race. Although idk how he would lose this without crashing or falling ill. But I said the same when Asgreen won lol

 

[staubsauger]

Idk, yes you would think that but it will be a weird race. Normally MVDP also needs other riders to make the race hard or to ride with him.

With none of the other top contenders there or in fit shape who's gonna ride with him? And especially in the part until 50k? Could be a really weird race. Although idk how he would lose this without crashing or falling ill. But I said the same when Asgreen won lol

Küng

He always works. If Van der Poel can take him with him-> Perfect

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Kung cant sprint to save his life

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Kung cant sprint to save his life

However, Küng is always willing to save his competitors' life.

 

[staubsauger]

Kung cant sprint to save his life

Which makes him an ideal companion for Van der Poel!

 

[Nerlo]

Some serious coping here. WVA injured does not make this harder for mathieu.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Wout van Aert at the Ronde start line on Sunday

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Wout van Aert at the Ronde start line on Sunday

That’s when he gets called upon to hand bikes to his teammates.

 

[Rob5091]

Visma will be having a hard time finding a full team with all their rider problems.

 

[Keldergoat]

Visma will be having a hard time finding a full team with all their rider problems.

They've got quite some depth in numbers no? The brothers Van Dijke are really decent cobbles riders and would be in the starting line up of any other WT race, Van der Sande and Vermote are useful domestiques with loads of experience and I haven't heard any confirmation that DvB is out for next Sunday. Remarkably with so many riders out, they'll still be one of the best teams.

 

[ashhutch1997]

We should start a petition to get Pogacar to race, that's the only way of saving this race..

 

[staubsauger]

Is Mathieu van der Poel going to bomb out the Tour of Flanders at the 1st Oude Kwaremont & Paterberg combo already!? 💣

 

[Stasat]

Kung cant sprint to save his life

He can't ride wet cobbles to save his life either & it looks like we've got rain all day Sunday?

 

[dobrien]

Right when the crash happened I thought "That's it, just not interested in Sunday anymore...". After sitting with this overnight I'm thinking I might have been too hasty. The playing field has been leveled a bit with Lidl-Trek taking a hit, Visma has had issues all spring, Alpecin I don't think has the best support for MVDP for this race, SQS has been nowhere all year, etc. I really think this race has a very strong chance of turning into uncontrollable chaos. Perfect year for a surprise winner IMHO; even if Mathieu tries to force some kind of early selection no one is going to want to help him to the finale. Of course he's still the favorite but I don't think it's a slam dunk at all. Add in rain and this one becomes extremely difficult to predict.

I'm hoping Matteo finds he can handle 270k; the guy is absolutely on flying form, he's showing he's got a nose for being in the right place at the right time in these races, and he won't be remotely as marked as Mathieu will be. Perfect darkhorse bet for me. While I'm gutted for WVA and Stuyven I'm looking forward to this one again.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

He can't ride wet cobbles to save his life either & it looks like we've got rain all day Sunday?

It looks like the bulk of the rain will come after the race so the conditions of the cobbles should be good.

 

[staubsauger]

Hopefully it rains a bit earlier in Flanders on Easter Sunday than the weather forecast predicts on Holy Thursday!

 

[Pantani_lives]

Hopefully it rains a bit earlier in Flanders on Easter Sunday than the weather forecast predicts on Holy Thursday!

The weather forecast is the same like every year:

• Friday: rain
• Saturday: rain
• Sunday: dry
• Monday: rain
• Tuesday: rain
• Wednesday: rain

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Right when the crash happened I thought "That's it, just not interested in Sunday anymore...". After sitting with this overnight I'm thinking I might have been too hasty. The playing field has been leveled a bit with Lidl-Trek taking a hit, Visma has had issues all spring, Alpecin I don't think has the best support for MVDP for this race, SQS has been nowhere all year, etc. I really think this race has a very strong chance of turning into uncontrollable chaos. Perfect year for a surprise winner IMHO; even if Mathieu tries to force some kind of early selection no one is going to want to help him to the finale. Of course he's still the favorite but I don't think it's a slam dunk at all. Add in rain and this one becomes extremely difficult to predict.

I'm hoping Matteo finds he can handle 270k; the guy is absolutely on flying form, he's showing he's got a nose for being in the right place at the right time in these races, and he won't be remotely as marked as Mathieu will be. Perfect darkhorse bet for me. While I'm gutted for WVA and Stuyven I'm looking forward to this one again.

then again, I remember E3 and Mathieu destroyed a field with much fitter/better other favorites over a course 60km shorter with a 44k solo to boot. If he's anywhere near that and Glasgow form I don't think having a team even remotely matters.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Saturday, somewhere in Belgium:
Pogi: I decided to start in Flandres cause I missed my friend Matthieu! No Wout so I don't want him to feel alone on those hills. Plus I had an argument with Urshka and wanted to escape.
MVP: ...

 

[proffate]

Some serious coping here. WVA injured does not make this harder for mathieu.

You don't remember PR 2011?

Cancellara was the most marked rider I can ever remember seeing after his dominant e3, and with Tom Boonen removed by a mechanical it was Canc v World which permitted Vansummeren to steal it.