Gent - Wevelgem in Flanders Field 2023 March 26, 260.9 km (1.WT)

[fmk_RoI]

I agree with most of what you typed, but this is RECENT cycling. Teams used to have one leader and they took every win that they could.

That was recent-ish cycling. That was not always cycling.

One example: Shay Elliott at the Tour. After his Roubaix stage Stab noted that "I remember the World Championships in Salò last year." The karma bank plays an important role in the sport.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1639991325121495040

View: https://twitter.com/INEOSGrenadiers/status/1639991325121495040

 

[fmk_RoI]

Forget silly games, how about some old fashioned peloton tips & tricks? For example Richard Virenque once bribed Jan Ullrich to win the MTF sprint against him at Courchevel in the 1997 TdF. True story.

Oh my God! People buy and sell victories? Nurse! Fetch me the smelling salts and the fainting couch!

 

[Rackham]

Oh my God! People buy and sell victories? Nurse! Fetch me the smelling salts and the fainting couch!

If you're almost too faint hearted to cope with Festina handing over some cash to a Team Telekom staff member a couple of days after that stage, I dare not share the other really shady not-so-legal borderline sick stuff those guys did back in those days. It belongs in a R-rated comedy show.

In all seriousness though after digesting WvA's decision for a bit I have to say it's probably right up there with the most generous acts I've seen in cycling. Kudos to him for sacrificing a big win for intra-team morale (not as gracious as Roglič letting Evenepoel win the sprint in Catalunya of course, but still, not bad at all). Laporte has a debt to repay here on a human level & I hope he signs a contract extension with Jumbo beyond this season (it expires this year) because he needs to pull, pull & pull some more for WvA from here on.

 

[Billie]

Forget silly games, how about some old fashioned peloton tips & tricks? For example Richard Virenque once bribed Jan Ullrich to win the MTF sprint against him at Courchevel in the 1997 TdF. True story.

bribed lol. It's called buying. It was the most normal thing in the cycling world for so many years. For some reason it has completely dissapeared last 10-15 years.


2 guys alone in front the negotation would start. Two options: Either one of them would pay enough to the other to let him win or they'd race for it in the final kms and they agreed to split the prize money with the other guy.


Freddy Maertens sold and bought more than 50 races in his career.

 

[tobydawq]

bribed lol. It's called buying. It was the most normal thing in the cycling world for so many years. For some reason it has completely dissapeared last 10-15 years.


2 guys alone in front the negotation would start. Two options: Either one of them would pay enough to the other to let him win or they'd race for it in the final kms and they agreed to split the prize money with the other guy.


Freddy Maertens sold and bought more than 50 races in his career.

Not really a tradition to heap praise upon...

 

[Rackham]

bribed lol. It's called buying. It was the most normal thing in the cycling world for so many years. For some reason it has completely dissapeared last 10-15 years.


2 guys alone in front the negotation would start. Two options: Either one of them would pay enough to the other to let him win or they'd race for it in the final kms and they agreed to split the prize money with the other guy.


Freddy Maertens sold and bought more than 50 races in his career.

lol, considering all the other sh*t that went down in those days, I'm not surprised literal bribery & corrupting a result was deemed fair game. Shoot yourself with amphetamines, get to the front & start selling a result for cash. There's some quasi Gordon Gecko levels of business acumen right there. But I digress & this is way off-topic.

The most WvA meanwhile can hope for will be a pay rise from Jumbo. Laporte might need one as well (like I said, his contract expires this year & they haven't sat down to discuss an extension yet).

 

[Mayomaniac]

Apparently the Ganna is ok after the crash, no broken bones or torn muscles.

 

[Lequack]

Jumbo just needs to do a 1-2 break and they can win any classics race

 

[fmk_RoI]

It was the most normal thing in the cycling world for so many years. For some reason it has completely dissapeared last 10-15 years.

It's so gone, in fact, that a millionaire like Froome can't even buy a win.

Since Liège 2010, when K didn't sell the win to V, doesn't count, I guess it ended the year before when Kreuziger offered to buy a Vuelta stage from Deignan.

 

[fmk_RoI]

On the subect of buying and selling wins - which today was not about - Bill Strickland had this to say a few years back: "I think a seasoned fan, especially one who's given it a go in the saddle at some point, is able to absorb some of the nuance."

I don't know - I mean, I appreciate this aspect of the sport. To me, it's part of the complexity, and certainly part of the heritage. One of the fascinating things about bike racing, which I love both as a spectator trying to guess what's happening and as a participant (albeit an amateur one who sucks) is the fluid nature of relationships. In the simplest combination, when you break away with one opponent you become conspirators against the rest of the pack. You desperately need each other - right up until the point when you will turn on each other in the most vicious way. I like the ambiguity and the uncertainty, the unknowable nature of rivals and allies. This is no moral position; it's simply what it takes to win a bike race. Then, from this, it's pretty easy to see how non-fiscal deals might be struck: something like, maybe, ‘Help me win this one and I'll help you win the one in your hometown, when the time comes.' Or even something more strategic: ‘Look, we know you're the better sprinter but I'm going to drop you on the climb before the finish. I'll stay with you if you give me the sprint, so at least you'll get second.' From there, it's not such a leap to include money in these sorts of negotiations. So I see the origin of it, the sense. It's doesn't necessarily become a criminally or ethically dodgy act - sometimes it might be, sure, but I think a seasoned fan, especially one who's given it a go in the saddle at some point, is able to absorb some of the nuance.

I love watching a race and trying to predict who's offering what. There was one point on the first Tourmalet stage in last year's Tour when I was saying that in the wildest imagining of what the victory might be worth to one of the racers, a rival rider was in a real-world position to make a million bucks to work hard and not win. I have to say, this sort of thing doesn't play well at all in the US. It's equated with bribes for point-shaving in basketball or American football, or like Pete Rose gambled on his baseball team while he was managing it. (I like to point out that he always bet on his team to win.)

 

[staubsauger]

Apparently the Ganna is ok after the crash, no broken bones or torn muscles.

Knee contusion Migels told on Eurosport!?

 

[Aimar16]

I am sure Jumbo had already decided before the race that WvA would support Laporte today. It's just 'unfortunate' for them that the race turned out to be so straightforward.

After Wout and Laporte had a healthy lead of +30 seconds the bookies immediately started to heavily favour Laporte. Which would only have made sense if there was a lot of money on Laporte winning. I wouldn't be surprised that a few people had inside information on that.

 

[staubsauger]

I am sure Jumbo had already decided before the race that WvA would support Laporte today. It's just 'unfortunate' for them that the race turned out to be so straightforward.

After Wout and Laporte had a healthy lead of +30 seconds the bookies immediately started to heavily favour Laporte. Which would only have made sense if there was a lot of money on Laporte winning. I wouldn't be surprised that a few people had inside information on that.

Jumbo appeared to be happy when the group around Laporte, Van Hooydonck & Pedersen was up the road.
WvA closed off the chase at one point.


If it wasn't for Quick Step & Francaise des Jeux bringing the field back together WvA probably doesn't get back in contention.

 

[fmk_RoI]

After Wout and Laporte had a healthy lead of +30 seconds the bookies immediately started to heavily favour Laporte. Which would only have made sense if there was a lot of money on Laporte winning. I wouldn't be surprised that a few people had inside information on that.

LOL. Give the size of cycling bets, it wouldn't take a lot of money to move the odds, it'd only take a couple of punters. Who were watching what you were watching and could read the race as well as the rest of us.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Knee contusion Migels told on Eurosport!?

Yeah, apparently it's nothing worse.

 

[Aimar16]

Jumbo appeared to be happy when the group around Laporte, Van Hooydonck & Pedersen was up the road.
WvA closed off the chase at one point.


If it wasn't for Quick Step & Francaise des Jeux bringing the field back together WvA probably doesn't get back in contention.

It just proves that Wout was not racing to win. He could easily have gone after Pedersen when he launched his counter attack and bridged to the second group.

LOL. Give the size of cycling bets, it wouldn't take a lot of money to move the odds, it'd only take a couple of punters. Who were watching what you were watching and could read the race as well as the rest of us.

After the attack, Wout odds at 4. Laporte at 1.35. I would say that it takes more than a "couple of punters". For example, in Barcelona today when it was clear that Roglic would not contest the stage, the bookies still favoured him against Remco.

 

[Boes]

Gent Wevelgem is not a classic you should gift away.
I could understand Wout giving away Kuurne or even Waregem, but not this classic race.

If Wout doesn't win RVV or Roubaix he'll be left with E3 and his spring classics will be considered a failure.

 

[Lequack]

They found an even smaller couch

 

[Panda Claws]

Vanmarcke may actually be up there in Paris-Roubaix

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Vanmarcke may actually be up there in Paris-Roubaix

Quick Sep > Quick Step

 

[Sciatic]

Vanmarcke may actually be up there in Paris-Roubaix

Hope so, though things never quite work out for him.

 

[awavey]

I am sure Jumbo had already decided before the race that WvA would support Laporte today. It's just 'unfortunate' for them that the race turned out to be so straightforward.

After Wout and Laporte had a healthy lead of +30 seconds the bookies immediately started to heavily favour Laporte. Which would only have made sense if there was a lot of money on Laporte winning. I wouldn't be surprised that a few people had inside information on that.

well wasnt the TJV DS being interviewed on Sporza during the race ?

and assuming this is the translation not directly in English so maybe it wasnt presented as obvious as this, but was asked "Could it be that Laporte get the win today?" answered "Could be"

 

[Red Rick]

well wasnt the TJV DS being interviewed on Sporza during the race ?

and assuming this is the translation not directly in English so maybe it wasnt presented as obvious as this, but was asked "Could it be that Laporte get the win today?" answered "Could be"

Said the same thing during E3 last year.

The one giveaway is that Laporte was already in attacking moves with Van Aert riding to protect that move before it came back and they flew off together. Laporte was always supposed to get at least a shot for himself today.

 

[theyoungest]

Said the same thing during E3 last year.

The one giveaway is that Laporte was already in attacking moves with Van Aert riding to protect that move before it came back and they flew off together. Laporte was always supposed to get at least a shot for himself today.

He didn't really protect it very well though, when Pedersen jumped across and he didn't do anything about it. That made the situation a lot less ideal for them. He (and Jumbo) was lucky that it came back together.