Eschborn-Frankfurt (1.UWT) 1. May 2018 - 211 km

[Anderis]

Re:

- Finally have no idea why S.Bennett is riding this race when the Giro starts in three days.

Only 12 race days (including plenty of DNFs) since the start of February and 0 in April. I guess adding one race day at this point will rather benefit than hurt him in these circumnstances.

 

[GuyIncognito]

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

 

[Blanco]

Alexander Kristoff, master of world tour races which shouldn't be world tour races.

Such as MSR, RvV, and a few TdF stages.

---

And what just happened with the flags on the WT overall top 10? :lol:

Nobody will deny that Kristoff was one of the best cyclists in the world in 2014-2015, even better than Sagan imo, but since then he has really only won small races or crappy races that are artificially elevated by the UCI(which is something that really annoys me). The amount of crappy WT races Kristoff won is staggering. The same for the European Championships (which is another race that doesn't seem to catch on).

This race is WT, but Paris-Tours or Brabantse Pijl are not? That really hurts man.

This race was always better, and still is, than Brabantse Pijl!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Incredibly lame winner, but great race action. What a dumb move by Gaviria. Did Lampaert have to work that much for Gaviria to screw up like that?

What's so lame about Kristoff?

He is as uninspiring as a cyclist can get.

Can't see that he is so uinspiring compared to other sprinter types. And when I see that Valverde is one of the most popular cyclists on this forum, I wonder how people consider other cyclists as lame/uninspiring.

If we consider how he won de Ronde it's quite harsh, but in general races that aren't inevitable sprints going to sprints is always a bit anticlimactic; Kristoff doesn't have much of an off-the-bike side to make people love him or loathe him like Sagan or Bouhanni, he's now an established name, not an up-and-comer, so people aren't enthused for his progress.

But he's just not the most uninspiring a cyclist can get. That's a battle to the soporific stupor between Simon Gerrans and Louis Meintjes. The former exists only as the threat of what will happen if everybody races like they've been lobotomized, because Simon Gerrans thinks racing is something other people do around him, not something he participates in, and the latter because he's perfectly managed to balance having the right amount of strength to follow the moves with the right amount of strength to say he's on his limit and can't make any - and unlike the guys who used to inspire antipathy but were using that as their weapon to win, like Leipheimer and pre-Mendrisio Evans, Meintjes doesn't actually have a time trial that can be used as a threat, so his entire race strategy is about "falling backwards as slowly as possible" without even the remotest consideration of moving forwards. As such, he'll also have his team chase moves he's not been part of, not collaborate with any attack he forms, and all manner of other things that prevent others from making the race either.

They're far less interesting than Kristoff, because they actively suck energy out of the race. He just mops up the pieces.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

- Finally have no idea why S.Bennett is riding this race when the Giro starts in three days.

Only 12 race days (including plenty of DNFs) since the start of February and 0 in April. I guess adding one race day at this point will rather benefit than hurt him in these circumnstances.

I find it surprising seeing there is only 2 A Grade sprinters at the Giro in Viviani and Bennett.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

:lol:

 

[OlavEH]

Re: Re:

If we consider how he won de Ronde it's quite harsh, but in general races that aren't inevitable sprints going to sprints is always a bit anticlimactic; Kristoff doesn't have much of an off-the-bike side to make people love him or loathe him like Sagan or Bouhanni, he's now an established name, not an up-and-comer, so people aren't enthused for his progress.

Kristoff is actually disliked by many in Norway, much due to the conflict between him and EBH as the Norwegian team captain. While EBH as seen as the shy and humble guy, Kristoff is regarded as arrogant and selfish because has "dared" to criticize EBH while they were both riding for Team Norway. This was especially in the 2016 Worlds where EBH was suppose to be the lead-out man for Kristoff, but seemed to sprint for his own chances instead.

 

[movingtarget]

Matthews becoming the bridesmaid of one day races ? Would like to see him win a good race.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

Touché

Would like to see him win a good race.

Those two things are mutually incompatible.
Unless you mean an important race

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

Touché

Would like to see him win a good race.

Those two things are mutually incompatible.
Unless you mean an important race

You haven’t watched Matthews since he left Orica have you...

 

[Cinemaniak]

Re: Re:

- Finally have no idea why S.Bennett is riding this race when the Giro starts in three days.

Only 12 race days (including plenty of DNFs) since the start of February and 0 in April. I guess adding one race day at this point will rather benefit than hurt him in these circumnstances.

I find it surprising seeing there is only 2 A Grade sprinters at the Giro in Viviani and Bennett.

You know that Danny van Poppel has won bigger races (including a Vuelta-stage) than Bennett, right? And he's a lot younger. So, if Van Poppel is a B-grade sprinter, what makes Bennett an A-grade sprinter?

 

[search]

I'd say neither of them is. Viviani is a class above everyone. Then Modolo. Then those two maybe

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

- Finally have no idea why S.Bennett is riding this race when the Giro starts in three days.

Only 12 race days (including plenty of DNFs) since the start of February and 0 in April. I guess adding one race day at this point will rather benefit than hurt him in these circumnstances.

I find it surprising seeing there is only 2 A Grade sprinters at the Giro in Viviani and Bennett.

You know that Danny van Poppel has won bigger races (including a Vuelta-stage) than Bennett, right? And he's a lot younger. So, if Van Poppel is a B-grade sprinter, what makes Bennett an A-grade sprinter?

Bennett is quicker than Modolo - In this Giro, Viviani and Bennett are the A Grade sprinters.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Since when is Sam Bennett a A-grade sprinter?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He isn't. People are now just making stuff up. If Bennett is an A-sprinter than the list of A sprinters is very long.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

If we consider how he won de Ronde it's quite harsh, but in general races that aren't inevitable sprints going to sprints is always a bit anticlimactic; Kristoff doesn't have much of an off-the-bike side to make people love him or loathe him like Sagan or Bouhanni, he's now an established name, not an up-and-comer, so people aren't enthused for his progress.

Kristoff is actually disliked by many in Norway, much due to the conflict between him and EBH as the Norwegian team captain. While EBH as seen as the shy and humble guy, Kristoff is regarded as arrogant and selfish because has "dared" to criticize EBH while they were both riding for Team Norway. This was especially in the 2016 Worlds where EBH was suppose to be the lead-out man for Kristoff, but seemed to sprint for his own chances instead.

EBH is the biggest tool ever. He has no right to be a leader in big races as he always manages to lose the sprint, no matter who is with him. Just look at his sprint in Dwars door Vlaanderen. I also remember him refusing to take over from GVA at the 2015 WC and thus missing out on the podium, maybe even gold.

 

[PeterB]

Re: Re:

If we consider how he won de Ronde it's quite harsh, but in general races that aren't inevitable sprints going to sprints is always a bit anticlimactic; Kristoff doesn't have much of an off-the-bike side to make people love him or loathe him like Sagan or Bouhanni, he's now an established name, not an up-and-comer, so people aren't enthused for his progress.

Kristoff is actually disliked by many in Norway, much due to the conflict between him and EBH as the Norwegian team captain. While EBH as seen as the shy and humble guy, Kristoff is regarded as arrogant and selfish because has "dared" to criticize EBH while they were both riding for Team Norway. This was especially in the 2016 Worlds where EBH was suppose to be the lead-out man for Kristoff, but seemed to sprint for his own chances instead.

EBH is the biggest tool ever. He has no right to be a leader in big races as he always manages to lose the sprint, no matter who is with him. Just look at his sprint in Dwars door Vlaanderen. I also remember him refusing to take over from GVA at the 2015 WC and thus missing out on the podium, maybe even gold.

But in Richmond he did not cooperate with GvA exactly because of team instructions, no? Probably also he regarded that as a missed opportunity and his subseqient own sprinting in Doha had origin in that experience.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

Touché

Would like to see him win a good race.

Those two things are mutually incompatible.
Unless you mean an important race

You haven’t watched Matthews since he left Orica have you...

No. I try, but he's always hidden behind someone else.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

If we consider how he won de Ronde it's quite harsh, but in general races that aren't inevitable sprints going to sprints is always a bit anticlimactic; Kristoff doesn't have much of an off-the-bike side to make people love him or loathe him like Sagan or Bouhanni, he's now an established name, not an up-and-comer, so people aren't enthused for his progress.

Kristoff is actually disliked by many in Norway, much due to the conflict between him and EBH as the Norwegian team captain. While EBH as seen as the shy and humble guy, Kristoff is regarded as arrogant and selfish because has "dared" to criticize EBH while they were both riding for Team Norway. This was especially in the 2016 Worlds where EBH was suppose to be the lead-out man for Kristoff, but seemed to sprint for his own chances instead.

EBH is the biggest tool ever. He has no right to be a leader in big races as he always manages to lose the sprint, no matter who is with him. Just look at his sprint in Dwars door Vlaanderen. I also remember him refusing to take over from GVA at the 2015 WC and thus missing out on the podium, maybe even gold.

But in Richmond he did not cooperate with GvA exactly because of team instructions, no? Probably also he regarded that as a missed opportunity and his subseqient own sprinting in Doha had origin in that experience.

Afaik, there wasn't race radios, and as such there were no explicit team instructions for that case. Kristoff was captain and EBH should mark moves, but that doesn't take the responsibility away from him to think for himself and help GVA bridge up to Sagan, so that he could anchor both of them then. He was just extremely stupid.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

Touché

Would like to see him win a good race.

Those two things are mutually incompatible.
Unless you mean an important race

You haven’t watched Matthews since he left Orica have you...

No. I try, but he's always hidden behind someone else.

So you haven’t...

 

[yaco]

Re:

He isn't. People are now just making stuff up. If Bennett is an A-sprinter than the list of A sprinters is very long.

Bennett is A Grade in this field - We are discussing this race being the Giro - The sprint field in the Giro is weak - California and Slovenie will have stronger sprint fields.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

Touché

Would like to see him win a good race.

Those two things are mutually incompatible.
Unless you mean an important race

You haven’t watched Matthews since he left Orica have you...

No. I try, but he's always hidden behind someone else.

You need to watch more racing.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

I have no problem with what Gaviria did. Coming back from injury completely out of form he went for the surprise move. Sure. It worked at Paris - Tours.

But what on earth was Bennett doing? He went, saw everyone was on his wheel with more than twice a sprint's length to go....and kept going? What? Did he think he was leading out a teammate behind Matthews or something?

Turning right when the route turns left was definitely the surprise move.

Touché

Would like to see him win a good race.

Those two things are mutually incompatible.
Unless you mean an important race

You haven’t watched Matthews since he left Orica have you...

No. I try, but he's always hidden behind someone else.

You must have missed the Tour 2017.

 

[RedheadDane]

^ Or this very race...