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European Championships 2019 - Alkmaar

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Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
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15 woman front group. Home winner very likely from here if this goes the distance. The Dutch have 5: Wiebes, Pieters, Brand, Blaak and Vollering. Lorena Wiebes is also clearly the strongest sprinter in the group. Germany and Italy also well represented, with three each: Klein, Kasper and Brennauer for Germany, and Longo Borghini, Cecchini and Guderzo for Italy. The Germans, if they can shake Wiebes, will be happy to sprint as Klein and Brennauer could contest with the other Dutch women, but Italy will want to avoid it with Cecchini the only one of their three who can sprint. Christine Majerus, Susanne Andersen, Aude Biannic and Anna Henderson are interloping alone. Great ride by Henderson to be there, she's very young but very promising. She also has a good sprint on her. Majerus is a very canny rider of course and getting rid of her will take some doing.
 
Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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DNP-Old said:
Is the Dutch women's team the most tactical inept team ever assembled?
Click to expand...
Well, to be fair, they are by far the strongest, and the other teams didn't even TRY to get something out of it, until it was too late (only GB and BE later on made an effort). The fact that the GPS was WAY off also didn't help. At one point, the gap had dropped to 1m25 when GB and BE were chasing, but the GPS said it was still 1m45.

So i can understand that they tried to break free from the chasing group when the gap was big enough, hoping to create a smaller group with more Dutch women that could bridge with the front, in order to get another clean sweep for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They quit attacking when they didn't get away. Ok, so far nothing wrong. They know they are this strong.

But then, they start chasing in the final. The only possible explanation would have been (and even the tactically inept Ruben Van Gucht understood this) was to put pressure on the German and Italian riders in the break, so that the Dutch girl in the break, could refuse to work, saying her team was closing in. So if the Italian and German girls wanted a podium, they had to work and the Dutch girl didn't... But she just kept working in the break as well.
 
M

MADRAZO

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Well, to be fair, they are by far the strongest, and the other teams didn't even TRY to get something out of it, until it was too late (only GB and BE later on made an effort). The fact that the GPS was WAY off also didn't help. At one point, the gap had dropped to 1m25 when GB and BE were chasing, but the GPS said it was still 1m45.

So i can understand that they tried to break free from the chasing group when the gap was big enough, hoping to create a smaller group with more Dutch women that could bridge with the front, in order to get another clean sweep for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They quit attacking when they didn't get away. Ok, so far nothing wrong. They know they are this strong.

But then, they start chasing in the final. The only possible explanation would have been (and even the tactically inept Ruben Van Gucht understood this) was to put pressure on the German and Italian riders in the break, so that the Dutch girl in the break, could refuse to work, saying her team was closing in. So if the Italian and German girls wanted a podium, they had to work and the Dutch girl didn't... But she just kept working in the break as well.
Click to expand...


The huge error was not having Pieters sit on the wheel, if they were not satisfied with that trio staying away. Just like last year their tactic seemed bizare
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

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yaco said:
I suspect it's a case of the Dutchies failing to listen to their DS - Struggle to think of any other logical reason.
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I dunno, remember Baku? Two Dutch women in the group of 4, including by far the best sprinter in the group. So the other Dutch woman, who (at the time) couldn't sprint, attacked on a climb, taking two climbers who can't sprint with her and dropping her teammate who can, and then attacked again when her teammate who was the best on the flat rejoined the group. She then lost the sprint to two non-sprinters, leaving the Netherlands with 2 in the decisive group of 4, and finishing with 3rd and 4th. Including losing a sprint to Kasia Niewiadoma, thought at that point to be impossible for anybody not named "Mara Abbott".
 
Lequack

Lequack

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Flattest race on earth. Guaranteed sprint finish.

EBrZiU2WkAEzsT7.jpg:large
 
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