Eschborn-Frankfurt 2021 (September 19)

[postmanhat]

What a strange non-sprint. Everyone waits till the final bend, by which time it's too late to make any impact?

 

[Andy262]

What on earth are BEX doing all that work for from 10km or more out? Race after race. Matthews is nowhere near fast enough.

 

[RedheadDane]

What on earth are BEX doing all that work for from 10km or more out? Race after race. Matthews is nowhere near fast enough.

Matthews has his sights on a much bigger competition!

 

[yaco]

What on earth are BEX doing all that work for from 10km or more out? Race after race. Matthews is nowhere near fast enough.

It was fine that Matthews attacked earlier and tried to get away BUT once it came back together, they should have allowed Mezgec to contest the final, as Matthews had used up too much energy in the break.

 

[Orbit501]

What's the plan here, drink the vase full of beer then put the flowers in, or do the flowers like beer too

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This always used to be a really interesting race, with a balance between the durable sprinters and those trying to salvage something from Classics season / winding down after Classics season, and interesting escapee groups. A few years ago you had an edition where 500m from the line you still weren't sure whether both Domenico Pozzovivo or André Greipel were in with a shout or not. Even in the editions since they added the circuits (since they moved away from the Henninger Turm finish on Hainer Weg, which is a pretty meh finish to a modern péloton but was at least an obstacle) there's been a few good ones, like the one Wegmann won from the reduced bunch in 2010 or the edition Moreno Moser won from a group of 4, but increasingly it just seems there's no belief on the part of anybody that it's worth trying to foil the sprint, so nobody strong enough to potentially do so bothers.

 

[tobydawq]

This always used to be a really interesting race, with a balance between the durable sprinters and those trying to salvage something from Classics season / winding down after Classics season, and interesting escapee groups. A few years ago you had an edition where 500m from the line you still weren't sure whether both Domenico Pozzovivo or André Greipel were in with a shout or not. Even in the editions since they added the circuits (since they moved away from the Henninger Turm finish on Hainer Weg, which is a pretty meh finish to a modern péloton but was at least an obstacle) there's been a few good ones, like the one Wegmann won from the reduced bunch in 2010 or the edition Moreno Moser won from a group of 4, but increasingly it just seems there's no belief on the part of anybody that it's worth trying to foil the sprint, so nobody strong enough to potentially do so bothers.

And all big teams select sprinters and sprint trains which makes a sprint an inevitability.

 

[staubsauger]

I did watch an interesting race for 3 1/2 hours, only for everything exciting I saw to become completely meaningless in the last half hour.

If it that doesn't tell the route is far from being optimal I don't know what does.

 

[Unchained]

I watched and kept wondering about all the road furniture, you name it train tracks,road cones and some single lane squeeze..I was stoked to see no big crash!! Afterwards seeing Dekenkolb jump pretty early ,he didn't have the top end that day..
As a fan I knew it was a long shot but I was hoping that Gilbert had something in the tank but it was not to be..Gilbert and the Gorilla will go off into the sunset wo any more podiums..Bora was bored Sagan in form would have slaughtered..

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I did watch an interesting race for 3 1/2 hours, only for everything exciting I saw to become completely meaningless in the last half hour.

If it that doesn't tell the route is far from being optimal I don't know what does.

Problem is that the money comes from the Finanzplatz institutions, so they want the finish downtown. In the Henninger Turm days the finish was on Hainer Weg which at least meant some uphill even if it would be an uphill sprint, or a circuit that offered the opportunity to outfox the sprinters. There's also a really nice short climb on the east side of Frankfurt on Röhrborngasse in Bergen-Enkheim (at the end of the U7 line) which is 800m at 9% or so with a max reported near the top of 20%. I used it in my attempt at fixing the race parcours in the Race Design Thread.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

It was fine that Matthews attacked earlier and tried to get away BUT once it came back together, they should have allowed Mezgec to contest the final, as Matthews had used up too much energy in the break.

Why are they so insistent on riding all out for Matthews in races where the finale is just too easy for him to win? I don’t get why they never seem to even consider an alternative plan.