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

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ChewbaccaDefense

Nov 5, 2013
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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Apparently there was a lot of discussion about who should win and who should be 2nd here. Until Museeuw said: Stop the bikkering or i will drop the both of you on the next pavé. You can be sure the strongest of the three won that day. You don't give away a major win like this.
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...Wout just gave away a major win...not a P-R or Ronde, but it was a nice gesture. You're gonna cry salty tears, regardless, and if he loses next week and/or the week after, you'll strut around like a rooster, talking about how sh*tty he is as a rider. He can't win with you, so save the diatribes. We all know what your take will be in any given situation, so you could just save the bandwidth, but you won't.
 
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jmdirt

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ChewbaccaDefense said:
...umprecedented times, these:
Paris-Roubaix-1996-Johan-Museeuw-Bortolami-Tafi.jpg
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Similar, but not the same.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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ChewbaccaDefense said:
...Wout just gave away a major win...not a P-R or Ronde, but it was a nice gesture. You're gonna cry salty tears, regardless, and if he loses next week and/or the week after, you'll strut around like a rooster, talking about how sh*tty he is as a rider. He can't win with you, so save the diatribes. We all know what your take will be in any given situation, so you could just save the bandwidth, but you won't.
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Clearly you have been reading my posts about Van Aert over the years very carefully. :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
 
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jmdirt

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Apparently there was a lot of discussion about who should win and who should be 2nd here. Until Museeuw said: Stop the bikkering or i will drop the both of you on the next pavé. You can be sure the strongest of the three won that day. You don't give away a major win like this.
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Actually, its very well known that the orders came from the team. The two Italians almost came to a stop waiting for JM to get his flat changed.
 
Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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jmdirt said:
Actually, its very well known that the orders came from the team. The two Italians almost came to a stop waiting for JM to get his flat changed.
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Museeuw was leader, he was also the strongest. That was the reason why they had to wait by Lefevere's orders. That doesn't change that there was bikkering and Museeuw settled the argument. It's revisited in Lefevere's docu series.
 
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Sciatic

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jmdirt said:
I don't disagree with most of what you are typing, but F the other teams, the other teams need to race smarter and harder. The other teams gifted this race as much as WvA did.
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Good point. I guess it’s not part of cycling culture, or maybe all DSs hate each other too much, but I don’t know why the the DSs for two strong teams with 2-3 riders in a chasing peloton don’t call and say “look, let’s each put 2 riders going hard in Team TT mode on the front for 10km,” since it’s the only way we’ll ever catch them. Yeah, other teams will take a free ride, but some might contribute. Our teams don’t desperately need the points so let’s see if we can get one of us a win”

Unrealistic, right?
 
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jmdirt

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Sciatic said:
Good point. I guess it’s not part of cycling culture, or maybe all DSs hate each other too much, but I don’t know why the the DSs for two strong teams with 2-3 riders in a chasing peloton don’t call and say “look, let’s each put 2 riders going hard in Team TT mode on the front for 10km,” since it’s the only way we’ll ever catch them. Yeah, other teams will take a free ride, but some might contribute. Our teams don’t desperately need the points so let’s see if we can get one of us a win”

Unrealistic, right?
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IMO, they are racing not to lose instead of racing to win.

Why would the entire peloton even 'give' them any time? When those two went, every team should have also had two guys closing.
 
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Rackham

Rackham

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It's a difficult decision. I mean if the same happens in Paris-Roubaix & instead of Laporte, WvA is riding solo with Dylan van Baarle, then it's an almighty dilemma for Jumbo.

Honestly I think Laporte should have insisted on surrendering the win back to WvA. His performance was unbelievably strong & he was the best today by far. Laporte could barely follow at the end & he already had a Paris-Nice stage gifted last year by Van Aert & Rog, i.e. personally (this is just me) taking 2 gifts like this is a bit too much, especially in such a big race.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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Rackham said:
It's a difficult decision. I mean if the same happens in Paris-Roubaix & instead of Laporte, WvA is riding solo with Dylan van Baarle, then it's an almighty dilemma for Jumbo.

Honestly I think Laporte should have insisted on surrendering the win back to WvA. His performance was unbelievably strong & he was the best today by far. Laporte could barely follow at the end & he already had a Paris-Nice stage gifted last year by Van Aert & Rog, i.e. personally (this is just me) taking 2 gifts like this is a bit too much, especially in such a big race.
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It's an insult. Not in the least to the race and race organizers.
 
JosefK

JosefK

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Laporte and Wout both looked very happy at the end. Maybe there is something to be said for building morale for future battles. Christophe will be called on for sacrifices in big races/stages to come. Today's race probably means even more for him than for WVA. Maybe ... As I pontificate from my armchair.
 
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fmk_RoI

fmk_RoI

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
It's an insult. Not in the least to the race and race organizers.
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If it's an insult (which it isn't) it's an insult that is worth more to the organisers than a straight up win. It'll generate far more post-race publicity.

Financially, it's also good for WvA, playing the nice guy, someone marketing people will want to associate their clients with.

This is cycling. This has always been cycling. This will always be cycling.

It's why the fans love it.
 
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jmdirt

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fmk_RoI said:
If it's an insult (which it isn't) it's an insult that is worth more to the organisers than a straight up win. It'll generate far more post-race publicity.

Financially, it's also good for WvA, playing the nice guy, someone marketing people will want to associate their clients with.

This is cycling. This has always been cycling. This will always be cycling.

It's why the fans love it.
Click to expand...
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. Other than team orders like discussed above (giving a win to the team leader), name a team leader who gifted a win to a teammate in a race of this importance in the last 30 years (stages maybe...).
 
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