E3 Saxo Classic 2023, one day classic, March 24

[Lequack]

Pog in front of his Belgian fan club "Pogiboys"

 

[Netserk]

Because I do it by checking each team's roster and comparing it to the start list.

And no, you're right about the other thing. I did consider Remco and Roglic but they are yet to perform in a race like this, so I left them out.

I think De Brabantse Pijl and the Leuven WCRR are close enough, and it did seem like you were scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit, so their absence stood out

 

[Netserk]

Live images now!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

LIVE

 

[Netserk]

They seem to be on La Houppe now.

 

[BR2]

Pog in front of his Belgian fan club "Pogiboys"

I don't know what's worse, grown up men calling themselves Pogiboys or what they made of Pogacar's face.

 

[Netserk]

Mostly headwind until they reach Knokteberg. After that it will be all-out battle for position before Taaienberg, as the wind direction makes it even more focal than usual.

 

[Lequack]

I don't know what's worse, grown up men calling themselves Pogiboys or what they made of Pogacar's face.

Or being a Belgian and not having a Remco fanclub.
Now I wonder if they have a Vingegaard fan club Vingeboys too.

 

[Samamba]

These races have become ridiculous. Literally a bunch sprint towards every single little hill. And not just 3 or 4 teams that are battling for it, no 15 teams who all try the same thing.

And in the end it will be Jumbo in front on the Taaienberg.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Why are the kids doing a giro balloon salute?

 

[Lequack]

These races have become ridiculous. Literally a bunch sprint towards every single little hill. And not just 3 or 4 teams that are battling for it, no 15 teams who all try the same thing.

And in the end it will be Jumbo in front on the Taaienberg.

You can mostly thank race radios for that. Every single rider getting the same information into their headset to be in the front. And leads to a lot more crashes too.

 

[Samamba]

You can mostly thank race radios for that. Every single rider getting the same information into their headset to be in the front. And leads to a lot more crashes too.

Meeh, teams are just better prepared. They all know what to do, how to race these races. In the past it was 4 teams that wanted the front and then 20 riders from other teams that were happy to be behind those teams. Same with bunch sprints, every team knows how to do a leadout now. Every sprinter gets 3 guys in front of them and they all want to be in the top 5 with 300m to go. In the past they were just battling to get the wheels of 3 or 4 topsprinters.

But yes, racing has become way more stressful because of it. Even watching it more stressful.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Toby, where is the negative start list? I hear you ask.

No worries, it's coming here (reminder: all riders who could potentially have featured in the pointy end of the race but who are absent):

Jan Tratnik
Mick Van Dijke
Tim Van Dijke
Tim Merlier
Casper Pedersen
Mauro Schmid
Bert Van Lerberghe
Jonas Rickaert
Gianni Vermeersch
Taco van der Hoorn
Heinrich Haussler
Jonathan Milan
Andrea Pasqualon
Danny van Poppel
Magnus Cort
Mikkel Honoré
Hugo Hofstetter
Michael Matthews
Edward Theuns
Alexey Lutsenko
Gianni Moscon
Tom Pidcock
Magnus Sheffield
Geraint Thomas (well, he is a previous winner)
Marc Hirschi
Victor Campenaerts
Arnaud De Lie
Andreas Kron
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Dylan Teuns
Mads Würtz Schmidt
Stian Fredheim

Considering some on your list, i'd add Vansevenant, Van Wilder, Evenepoel, Tulett, and i have a sneaky suspicion Skjelmose and Hermans could do this as well.

 

[Didinho]

Considering some on your list, i'd add Vansevenant, Van Wilder, Evenepoel, Tulett, and i have a sneaky suspicion Skjelmose and Hermans could do this as well.

Quinten Hermans is not absent.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Quinten Hermans is not absent.

Oops, was checking the wrong team

 

[Netserk]

It'd be nice of the heli zoomed in on the front of the peloton. It's a bit hard now to spot who sits where.

 

[Netserk]

UAE gone from the front of the peloton now. EF, Jumbo and QS at the front. Ineos and Bahrain nearby.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Bettiol in good form surely if EF are doing this

 

[Netserk]

MvdP at the front now that they are on the narrow road.

 

[BR2]

Or being a Belgian and not having a Remco fanclub.
Now I wonder if they have a Vingegaard fan club Vingeboys too.

Vingaboys, likely. "Boom, boom, boom. I want you in my room." I might join them to sing along.

 

[Netserk]

Stuyven? off the road.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Stuyven? off the road.

Think it was Vergaerde, looked like a 7 at the end of the bib.

 

[Netserk]

5 Jumbos at the front.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Pogacar in a less-than-ideal position by the looks.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Holy *** a huge attack from VDP