Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde, 28th-30th March, 2.HC

[sir fly]

Phil looks so good... Chapeau!
De Ronde's going to be epic!

 

[portugal11]

I'm wondering how kristoff was able to win ronde.

 

[SafeBet]

Very impressed by Consonni, this was a hard stage.

 

[Arredondo]

We have three top dogs for Flanders.

No way Sagan or GvA are going to drop Phil on the hills. Especially not Van Avermaet.

 

[therhodeo]

Quite impressive by Gilbert. His strength will only make Quik Step's tactical blunders Sunday that much more tragic.

 

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

Gilbert shouldn't bury himself to hold the distance, Durbridge has a big engine, let him catch up and work with him.
Edit: My god, Phil is in monster shape!

I thought the same as well, but he has maintained the gap till now. All these years wasted in BMC...

Just image how his palmares could look like if he rode for a great team durning those years...

He was not in bad team. He was just too lazy Riding like this thay could win a lot with GVA.

Yea this was probably a big factor. Sitting on a nice contract and already had a nice career means you don't need to kill yourself as much in training every day. But then after a few years and a team change you get the motivation back, it's normal.

 

[May0maniac]

Forget about the ds, Gilbert should be the one to calling the shots for the Hotsteppers and the Ronde, he seems to know more about smart racing.

 

[portugal11]

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

 

[Forever The Best]

Also a great ride by Backaert, attacked on Berendries, tried to follow Phil and Durbridge on the Muur and still finished 6th.

 

[Irondan]

Quickstep have some serious firepower going into Flanders with the way Philgil and GVA are riding, only Quickstep could play their tactics wrong and come out empty handed... Sagan has some serious competition.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Forget about the ds, Gilbert should be the one to calling the shots for the Hotsteppers and the Ronde, he seems to know more about smart racing.

Indeed. Still can't forget the epic fail in last and this years of Gent-Wevelgem :lol:

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re:

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

I think he will just go early too avoid being trapped like he did at the E3.

 

[sir fly]

Re:

We have three top dogs for Flanders.

No way Sagan or GvA are going to drop Phil on the hills. Especially not Van Avermaet.

The tactics will be crucial... If any of the three wants to be sure - he'll have to finish it off solo.
The problem is, as you've already mentioned, they're so equal.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

Yes, but they seem to be at their best when they've got a clear leader like Gilbert or Boonen for Paris-Roubaix who's calling the shots and who everybody else respects.

 

[May0maniac]

I know that this isn't the most impressive filed, but Canola finishing in the top 10 is still a great result for him.
Modolo wasted waaay too much energy by pulling the group and attacking when he had Consonni in the front group.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

Yes, but they seem to be at their best when they've got a clear leader like Gilbert or Boonen for Paris-Roubaix who's calling the shots and who everybody else respects.

Do you really think that stybar and terpstra want to work for them?

 

[trucido]

Would be nice to see a RvV shootout of GvA vs PhilGil vs Sagan

 

[Lexman]

Re: Re:

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

Yes, but they seem to be at their best when they've got a clear leader like Gilbert or Boonen for Paris-Roubaix who's calling the shots and who everybody else respects.

Do you really think that stybar and terpstra want to work for them?

Stybar said that PR all would be for Tommeke

 

[therhodeo]

Re: Re:

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

Yes, but they seem to be at their best when they've got a clear leader like Gilbert or Boonen for Paris-Roubaix who's calling the shots and who everybody else respects.

Do you really think that stybar and terpstra want to work for them?

Stybar said that PR all would be for Tommeke

I think last year proved he's worth that for sure.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

The problem with quickstep is they have many leaders and few domestiques, so gilbert will be very limited for ronde

Yes, but they seem to be at their best when they've got a clear leader like Gilbert or Boonen for Paris-Roubaix who's calling the shots and who everybody else respects.

Do you really think that stybar and terpstra want to work for them?

Stybar said that PR all would be for Tommeke

I think last year proved he's worth that for sure.

And he's in better form this year. Not good enough for the Ronde, but he will be hard to beat in PR imo. For me Degenkolb is the top favorite

 

[Jagartrott]

Gilbert almost begged BMC to be allowed to ride the cobbled classics the past two years, but he wasn't allowed. The BMC management should have spotted that Gilbert's characteristics suited the more open style of these classics much more than the very controlled style in the hilly classics of the last years. But they didn't.

 

[LaFlorecita]

That's a great result for Consonni!

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

That's a great result for Consonni!

Yes, I always thought that he could become a sprinter for hilly one day races, but I didn't expect him to do so well as a neopro in a hard race with cobbled climbs.
It also shows that he's got a great engine, that was a hard race with cobbled climbs and he only weights 60kg, he's a pretty small guy.

 

[Velolover2]

Great ride by Gilbert.

Durbridge strong as predicted. Do you think he is going to be in top 10 in the Ronde?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Gilbert to demolish the field today on Muur!

Not seen the stage yet, but seems like this is what happened...

PHIL GIIIIIL Cant wait for De Ronde now, what a race it will be!