Dwars door Vlaanderen - coming soon (March 31)

[tobydawq]

In cycling this is certainly possible. But Merlier doesn't strike me as the type who would do that. And Mathieu is not very good at hiding when he has the legs. So if I had to guess I would say it is true.

But who knows, it could be a big scheme to drive WvA in the nr 1 contender position.

Well, it's not like Mathieu will suddenly have the freedom of Jordi Warlop or Pieter Vanspeybrouck just because he did not appear to be on top today, so I struggle to see what it would accomplish.

 

[SafeBet]

Great improvement from EF with one rider (Valgren) sneaking inside the top45.
cc @Anderis

 

[Panda Claws]

Van Der Poel

"Merlier in the Belgian press: Mathieu told me he was not ok. At first I thaught he was joking but he wasn't. So from that moment we rode for me. "

So, Kirby was right! and

"Kirby is a giant idiot if he didn't see MVDP was training / working for Merlier. " isn't wearing so well.

The sandbagging has begun.

 

[RedheadDane]

Great improvement from EF with one rider (Valgren) sneaking inside the top45.
cc @Anderis

They'll get a top-10 in a WT one-day race, eventually. Maybe Lombardia...

 

[gerundium]

"Merlier in the Belgian press: Mathieu told me he was not ok. At first I thaught he was joking but he wasn't. So from that moment we rode for me. "

So, Kirby was right! and

"Kirby is a giant idiot if he didn't see MVDP was training / working for Merlier. " isn't wearing so well.

leaving out the following statement. It was the first really "hot" day, and Merlier also mentioned a lot of riders in the peloton were complaining about this first unseasonably hot day. With the sudden hot weather a lot of riders have trouble, and Merlier speculated it could have played a role.

Flanders it will be 10 degrees colder again than it was today.

 

[Berflamand]

Lampaert's reaction on the offday of DQS:

I didn't feel good today. I only found my legs after the Trieu. The heat was a shock for my body after last sunday. A lot of riders suffered from it.

I was too far down at the Stationsberg and was blocked two times behind a crash. Asgreen crashed as well, Ballerini seems to be over his top form (so I guess no Ballerini in the team for the Ronde) and Alaphilippe had a bad day.

 

[RedheadDane]

Lampaert's reaction on the offday of DQS:

I didn't feel good today. I only found my legs after the Trieu. The heat was a shock for my body after last sunday. A lot of riders suffered from it.

I was too far down at the Stationsberg and was blocked two times behind a crash. Asgreen crashed as well, Ballerini seems to be over his top form (so I guess no Ballerini in the team for the Ronde) and Alaphilippe had a bad day.

Says something about a team's general aptitude for a certain type of racing, when a 4th place is considered an "offday".

 

[Anderis]

After managing a top50 place in GW, will EF be able to break into top40 here?

Maybe if you set them more ambitious objectives they would be more successful.

See @BlueRoads? I told you it wouldn't work! Should've sticked to a more realistic top50.

 

[Volderke]

I already thought MvdP wouldn't shine today as it seems he can't take the heat (literally) very well.
Is there one race he did well on a very hot day? I can't remember but maybe there is.

Great win by Van Baarle. I had a hard time understanding the tactics in the chase group, but one thing is sure: if the first guy on the road (Van Baarle, Asgreen in E3) is very strong, it has a strong impact (mentally) on the chase.

 

[Red Rick]

I already thought MvdP wouldn't shine today as it seems he can't take the heat (literally) very well.
Is there one race he did well on a very hot day? I can't remember but maybe there is.

Great win by Van Baarle. I had a hard time understanding the tactics in the chase group, but one thing is sure: if the first guy on the road (Van Baarle, Asgreen in E3) is very strong, it has a strong impact (mentally) on the chase.

Wasn't it pretty warm the day he won AGR?

 

[will-10]

DVB has been very good this spring but normally been in the wrong place when the moves go. Underestimate him for Sunday at your peril.

 

[Salvarani]

Nice to see a good result from Kristoff.

I dont think bad form has been the issue so far. He has just had bad luck in almost every race up until now.

Interesting to see how he goes in Ronde.

 

[Bonimenier]

Wasn't it pretty warm the day he won AGR?

It was pretty much as warm as it was today, but the difference with the previous days wasn't that high which seemed to be the issue today for a lot of riders.

If he really does have problems with the heat, he's not going to have a good time in Tokyo this summer.

 

[BlueRoads]

See @BlueRoads? I told you it wouldn't work! Should've sticked to a more realistic top50.

But hey, they did come closer to 40 this time... so yes, they didn't reach the aim but they obviously pushed themselves to their absolute limit. Always set your dreams high! The sky is the limit!

 

[Ricco']

Is there one race he did well on a very hot day? I can't remember but maybe there is.

Maybe one of the XCO World Cups of 2019 (Val di Sole ?). From what I remember from that year Les Gets was held during a heatwave and he failed badly, but he went into that race straight from altitude training.

 

[Sciatic]

That 2nd group seemed to me to have decided they were’ t going to go too deep to make the catch unless Van Baarle showed clear signs of cracking. At one point when Greg rotated to the front he was chatting and laughing with the adjacent rider. We usually don’t see that when a group has really switched “on” to chase.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Magnificent win by Van Baarle. Van der Poel seemed to be on a very bad day; it certainly didn't look like he was taking it easy. Alaphilippe is harder to figure out as it did indeed seem like he was just on a training ride before Flanders.

 

[BlueRoads]

Magnificent win by Van Baarle. Van der Poel seemed to be on a very bad day; it certainly didn't look like he was taking it easy. Alaphilippe is harder to figure out as it did indeed seem like he was just on a training ride before Flanders.

Van der Poel said Alaphilippe said he wasn't feeling good either.
I suppose there's nothing to take from that for either one for Sunday.

 

[KZD]

I don't think neither Van der Poel or Alaphilippe had a good day but for MVDP is more concerning due to the him having a worst team and he doesn't like to hide whatever the race he competes in.

Van Aert is looking like the number 1 favourite for de Ronde, I would say.

Good win for Van Baarle today, dangerous outsider together with Asgreen.

 

[jono]

For me Van Aert was already the favourite for Sunday, but I think it would be unwise to draw any definitive conclusions from today's race.

 

[BlueRoads]

Viviani in hospital?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Van der Poel said Alaphilippe said he wasn't feeling good either.
I suppose there's nothing to take from that for either one for Sunday.

Yeah, I read that as well. Before the race I thought that Alaphilippe would take it easy today, so perhaps I'm biased by that.

 

[RedheadDane]

Viviani in hospital?

Didn't even realise he'd done this race! I thought he was in France.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I don't think neither Van der Poel or Alaphilippe had a good day but for MVDP is more concerning due to the him having a worst team and he doesn't like to hide whatever the race he competes in.

Van Aert is looking like the number 1 favourite for de Ronde, I would say.

Good win for Van Baarle today, dangerous outsider together with Asgreen.

Mathieu isn't often off his game, but when he is, it's more easily a bad day. I wouldn't really draw too many conclusions from one bad day. He could flip the switch back to dominator mode by sunday. We've seen this in Cyclocross too often, once or twice per season he's not good and immediately he's much worse than expected... then 5 days later he's back on his moped.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I already thought MvdP wouldn't shine today as it seems he can't take the heat (literally) very well.
Is there one race he did well on a very hot day? I can't remember but maybe there is.

Great win by Van Baarle. I had a hard time understanding the tactics in the chase group, but one thing is sure: if the first guy on the road (Van Baarle, Asgreen in E3) is very strong, it has a strong impact (mentally) on the chase.

he destroyed Schurter in some really hot weather in MTB. Multiple times btw.

I don't think he is really effected by weather unless it's really really cold and rainy in fact...