Gent - Wevelgem, WT, Sunday March 27th

[hfer07]

Re:

Pleased for Peto. I see Berto Contador has had a couple of ales this afternoon:

Grande @petosagan !!!Enhorabuena!!!!Congrats for the victory Peterrrr!!!

Alberto thinking to himself: About damn time we break that second place curse

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I am not sure if I am happy about this win or not. Happy that his form is great and he can sprint on the end of long atack unhappy that he has no ace to play with in Ronde anymore. He has just put another mark on his Jersey. Nobody will underestimate his sprint anymore. And nobody even Cance will pull him to the finish.

I don't think it matters too much. He was the strongest rider on the cobbles today, so he will almost certainly make the front group. Riders like Canc, Stannard, Terpstra and Vanmarcke have to get into a smallish group to have a chance of winning - so they won't have much choice other than to work with Sagan - because they'll struggle to drop him on the cobbles. Plus Sagan has shown again today how much unselfish work he will do in such a group - riders may even want him there.

The bigger worry is that he still won't be able to sprint well at the end of a tough race. Today was easy compared with the monuments so he was still relatively fresh. We know riders like Canc, Stybar, GVA and Kwiatkowski can kick hard at the end of a long, hard race - Sagan still has yet to prove this imo.

 

[yespatterns]

Classy rides by the front four, I think Sep was probably just cooked from the earlier efforts and not sandbagging on his turns. Gotta love the classics season!

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Classy rides by the front four, I think Sep was probably just cooked from the earlier efforts and not sandbagging on his turns. Gotta love the classics season!

he said he was sandbagging in his interview

 

[Billie]

Re: Re:

I am not sure if I am happy about this win or not. Happy that his form is great and he can sprint on the end of long atack unhappy that he has no ace to play with in Ronde anymore. He has just put another mark on his Jersey. Nobody will underestimate his sprint anymore. And nobody even Cance will pull him to the finish.

I don't think it matters too much. He was the strongest rider on the cobbles today, so he will almost certainly make the front group. Riders like Canc, Stannard, Terpstra and Vanmarcke have to get into a smallish group to have a chance of winning - so they won't have much choice other than to work with Sagan - because they'll struggle to drop him on the cobbles. Plus Sagan has shown again today how much unselfish work he will do in such a group - riders may even want him there.

The bigger worry is that he still won't be able to sprint well at the end of a tough race. Today was easy compared with the monuments so he was still relatively fresh. We know riders like Canc, Stybar, GVA and Kwiatkowski can kick hard at the end of a long, hard race - Sagan still has yet to prove this imo.

they went full gas with 160 kms to go and it never was quiet again. Plus today's race was only 10k's shorter than next week and there was loads of wind. Would not say today was much easier than next week

 

[VanBsr]

Cancellara said he was fighting cramps in the final 5k

 

[phanatic]

Re:

Great win by Peter the Great. Well deserved.

He and Cancellara will put up a big fight in Flanders. Really looking forward too it!

Me too. I just caught the results, Sagan and Spartacus look super strong this year. I hope Fabian remembers his rule of how he would like to win and explodes the race from 50 km out.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Ha. Teaching the doubters a lesson. Good on you, Peter!

 

[SeriousSam]

Cancellara said he was fighting cramps in the final 5k

Plausible. Towards the end when he was at the front, not pedaling, waiting for someone else to take a turn, you could see his legs shaking violently.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Sep was absolutely impressive today. After that effort bringing back the second echelon, I was convinced he was cooked. But then he attacked on that hill, managed to follow the two monsters and sprinted very well at the end.
He will be very close next week.

 

[del1962]

This was a very different finish to other times Sagan has been in a small group, the great thing for him is that the last 2k was slow, he didn't have that time allowance in E3, you wonder had it been one on one against canc if it had been manomano, or had the pace needed to be faster in the run in because of a closing bunch, this finish seemed to suit his explosive power perectly

Good to see him get the 2nd place money of his back

 

[yespatterns]

Re: Re:

Classy rides by the front four, I think Sep was probably just cooked from the earlier efforts and not sandbagging on his turns. Gotta love the classics season!

he said he was sandbagging in his interview

Darn, I thought he was better than that. Ah well.

 

[trevim]

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

 

[Anderis]

Cannondale 8 DNFs.

 

[JRanton]

Great race today. I still make Cancellara quite a big favourite for Flanders but Sagan really answered a few questions today.

I'm a bit gutted that Stannard DNS'd as I think he'd have gone very well with Friday's legs. Rowe did well but just missed the crucial split with GVA and Stybar.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Cannondale 8 DNFs.

What's happened to Langeveld?

 

[JRanton]

Re:

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

What do you mean? They're really strong but just don't quite have a guy who can follow the very best. Trentin and Stybar just missed Kwiatkowski and Sagan's move on Friday and Stybar again today just missed the Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke move.

 

[del1962]

Great race today. I still make Cancellara quite a big favourite for Flanders but Sagan really answered a few questions today.

I'm a bit gutted that Stannard DNS'd as I think he'd have gone very well with Friday's legs. Rowe did well but just missed the crucial split with GVA and Stybar.

Real shame Rowe and GVA didn't make it, less bothered about the stepper (although I like Stybar) as he waited for the group,

Steppers not having a great cobbles campaign so far

 

[Akuryo]

Re: Re:

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

What do you mean? They're really strong but just don't quite have a guy who can follow the very best. Trentin and Stybar just missed Kwiatkowski and Sagan's move on Friday and Stybar again today just missed the Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke move.

I don't trhink they missed it. They thought they could reel them in for Gaviria which obvously did not work out in the end. But still, the Colombian finished second out of that group.

 

[trevim]

Re: Re:

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

What do you mean? They're really strong but just don't quite have a guy who can follow the very best. Trentin and Stybar just missed Kwiatkowski and Sagan's move on Friday and Stybar again today just missed the Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke move.

I didn't watch the race but I would expect Quickstep to place more than 1 rider in the top 10 of any flandrien race, specially when you look at Boonen, Stybar, Terpstra and Vandenbergh on the start list. Hats off to Gaviria though, monster talent.

 

[Ricco']

Demoitie is in critical condition after an incident with a motorbike. My best wishes are with him.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

What do you mean? They're really strong but just don't quite have a guy who can follow the very best. Trentin and Stybar just missed Kwiatkowski and Sagan's move on Friday and Stybar again today just missed the Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke move.

I don't trhink they missed it. They thought they could reel them in for Gaviria which obvously did not work out in the end. But still, the Colombian finished second out of that group.

Of course they missed it. You don't let a group of Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke go up the road at that stage of the race! The strongest riders were at the front as is normally the case in a cobbled classic with 30km to go.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

What do you mean? They're really strong but just don't quite have a guy who can follow the very best. Trentin and Stybar just missed Kwiatkowski and Sagan's move on Friday and Stybar again today just missed the Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke move.

Can you describe how Stybar 'missed it'? I didnt see it live and there is only 11km video

Anyway gratz to Sagz, he is such a enjoyable rider to watch

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I am not sure if I am happy about this win or not. Happy that his form is great and he can sprint on the end of long atack unhappy that he has no ace to play with in Ronde anymore. He has just put another mark on his Jersey. Nobody will underestimate his sprint anymore. And nobody even Cance will pull him to the finish.

I don't think it matters too much. He was the strongest rider on the cobbles today, so he will almost certainly make the front group. Riders like Canc, Stannard, Terpstra and Vanmarcke have to get into a smallish group to have a chance of winning - so they won't have much choice other than to work with Sagan - because they'll struggle to drop him on the cobbles. Plus Sagan has shown again today how much unselfish work he will do in such a group - riders may even want him there.

The bigger worry is that he still won't be able to sprint well at the end of a tough race. Today was easy compared with the monuments so he was still relatively fresh. We know riders like Canc, Stybar, GVA and Kwiatkowski can kick hard at the end of a long, hard race - Sagan still has yet to prove this imo.

they went full gas with 160 kms to go and it never was quiet again. Plus today's race was only 10k's shorter than next week and there was loads of wind. Would not say today was much easier than next week

Nowhere near as hard imo. There is about 1000m vertical less climbing on cobbles in GW than RVV. That's a huge difference.

Working for 45 minutes at threshold in a break at the end of the race, is completely different than repeatedly going anaerobic up cobbled climbs for over three hours. It's the latter that really saps Sagan's strength.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Just looked at the results, is Quickstep really that weak?

What do you mean? They're really strong but just don't quite have a guy who can follow the very best. Trentin and Stybar just missed Kwiatkowski and Sagan's move on Friday and Stybar again today just missed the Sagan, Cancellara and Vanmarcke move.

I don't trhink they missed it. They thought they could reel them in for Gaviria which obvously did not work out in the end. But still, the Colombian finished second out of that group.

That sounds more like a bad excuse for Stybar not being able to follow Fabian, Peter and Sep. Stybar wasn't that strong on friday either. He was just lucky to be sucked back to the front group on Fabian's wheel.