Gent - Wevelgem, WT, Sunday March 27th

[cellardoor]

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

I saw the race and I'm not sure how he missed it One minute he was on Sep's wheel and the next minute Sep was in the Sagan group and Stybar was in a chase group with GvA.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

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

Yikes...thoughts and prayers...I hope he makes it.

 

[Volderke]

Re:

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.

I agree. I should have known that some keyboard warriors think differently, but Vanmarcke did his very very best today and I know he will always ride if he has anything left. He only started 'sandbagging' in the last 2K, and he missed like 2-3 turns after Kemmel, because Sagan and Cancellara were monstrous in their ride up the Kemmel, and Vanmarcke already had to dig deep earlier in the race + he attacked on Baneberg.

For me it was all the same if Sagan, Cancellara or Vanmarcke won, they all deserved it, but maybe Sagan the most. Sagan / Cancellara are a step above the rest. Maybe Vanmarcke and Van Avermaet can be in the mix, but I don't see any of the Quickstep riders on this level (yet).

 

[Mr.White]

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.

It was so easy that Cancellara had cramps in the finish Sagan is ready for the big one!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Do you even like cycling? Seriously. What a loser.

Did you really need to add the last part?

Yes. Anyone that is on a cycling forum and hates cycling is what? Hating Sagan on a cycling race is hating everything great cycling stands for.

People are allowed to have opinions without being insulted, i'm not a fan of Sagan myself but even if I was and someone wasn't happy he won I wouldn't be calling the person a loser. Nothing wrong with a bit of civility in a discussion

That's irrational fanboyism. Hating or loving particular riders just because "why not". I don't enter in those childish plays.

I like cycling. That means liking every ciclist that leaves it all on the road. No one has been doing that more than Peter.

There are reasons to like or dislike people besides what they do on the road, and just because somebody is a great racer doesn't mean that that necessarily overrides negative personality traits.

For example, I dislike Michael Albasini not because "why not?" but because he's shown himself to be a racist s**thead. I don't care how much excitement he brings to races, I can't be happy to see him succeed. The same goes for Sagan, albeit for different reasons. I just try to stay out of it instead, to stop myself getting into the inevitable arguments, since his fans seem to be just as aggressive in their defence of Sagan as anybody (even including me) ever gets in their hatred of him, and they also have the advantage of numbers..

 

[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.

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

I saw the race and I'm not sure how he missed it One minute he was on Sep's wheel and the next minute Sep was in the Sagan group and Stybar was in a chase group with GvA.

Yeah, it wasn't quite shown on the TV coverage but as they were coming over the top of the Kemmelberg, Sagan and Cancellara had a slight gap ahead of Vanmarcke, Stybar, GVA and Rowe. Vanmarcke presumably managed to bridge to the front two on the descent but Stybar wasn't able to follow and that created the gap.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

David Boucher twitters that Demoitié hasn't survived.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

David Boucher twitters that Demoitié hasn't survived.

So far he's the only one. Let's just pray it isn't true

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

David Boucher twitters that Demoitié hasn't survived.

Oh boy, that is just wrong. Too many fkng motorbikes around. Now here you have it

 

[Billie]

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

I saw the race and I'm not sure how he missed it One minute he was on Sep's wheel and the next minute Sep was in the Sagan group and Stybar was in a chase group with GvA.

Yeah, it wasn't quite shown on the TV coverage but as they were coming over the top of the Kemmelberg, Sagan and Cancellara had a slight gap ahead of Vanmarcke, Stybar, GVA and Rowe. Vanmarcke presumably managed to bridge to the front two on the descent but Stybar wasn't able to follow and that created the gap.

Stybar was in GVA's wheel on the descent of the Kemmel. At the top they were actually in Sep's wheel but not a surprise that Greg lost Sep's wheel cause he's not a good descender

 

[Hakkapelit]

I dont´t quite get it, how come although there have been an increasing focus on the motos in the last months the amount of incidents seems to continuely increase? Are they letting even more photos in all the time?


Great race from the top4 btw.

 

[johnymax]

I haven't seen the race yet but I'm happy with the results. Congrats Peter! I'm gonna watch it now.

 

[yespatterns]

Good thoughts out to Demoitie and his. Such a shame no matter the circumstance.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

David Boucher twitters that Demoitié hasn't survived.

So far he's the only one. Let's just pray it isn't true

Wanty has tweeted that he is still alive and surrounded by his family but is in a very serious condition, so Bouchers tweet was incorrect

 

[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

I saw the race and I'm not sure how he missed it One minute he was on Sep's wheel and the next minute Sep was in the Sagan group and Stybar was in a chase group with GvA.

Yeah, it wasn't quite shown on the TV coverage but as they were coming over the top of the Kemmelberg, Sagan and Cancellara had a slight gap ahead of Vanmarcke, Stybar, GVA and Rowe. Vanmarcke presumably managed to bridge to the front two on the descent but Stybar wasn't able to follow and that created the gap.

Thanks guys, it looks like Styby is not in the same form as last year.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

David Boucher twitters that Demoitié hasn't survived.

So far he's the only one. Let's just pray it isn't true

Wanty has tweeted that he is still alive and surrounded by his family but is in a very serious condition, so Bouchers tweet was incorrect

Is the bloody fvcker serious??? Tell that somebody has died if he wasnt sure. I dont understand this ...

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

David Boucher twitters that Demoitié hasn't survived.

So far he's the only one. Let's just pray it isn't true

Wanty has tweeted that he is still alive and surrounded by his family but is in a very serious condition, so Bouchers tweet was incorrect

Is the bloody fvcker serious??? Tell that somebody has died if he wasnt sure. I dont understand this ...

He has tweeted since that he can't confirm it himself, just reporting what a friend of Demoitie had said.
Very irresponsible to trump family and team in announcing anything, especially with less than certain information, but I'll assume that he didn't expect his twitter to reach a wide audience.

Much more irresponsible is AD.nl, a sports news site, who have a headline on their site announcing his death but in quote marks, which acknowledges that it is unconfirmed, but whose twitter feed makes the statement without scare quotes. And that is intended to reach a wide audience. Is there a Dutch version of the Press Commission?

Whatever the situation is, all best wishes to Demoitie and all those close to him.

 

[Flamin]

Boucher is a disgusting ***

 

[sir fly]

As the cobbled Monuments are nearing - the racing is getting better and better.
Cancellara shouldn't rely on the sprint, and that's great news for viewers.
In fact, only Sagan has the luxury of waiting for the sprint, judging by today's race. And I didn't forget Kristoff, just not believing he can bounce back in such a short period.

Hoping to hear good news about Demoitié.

 

[WildspokeJoe]

Cannondale 8 DNFs.

Invisible. Merger was obviously a mistake.

 

[Volderke]

Unfortunately, more newspapers reporting Demoitié deceased...
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/952/Wielrennen/article/detail/2659113/2016/03/27/Belgische-wielrenner-Antoine-Demoitie-25-overleden-na-aanrijding-met-motor.dhtml

 

[jmdirt]

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.

Do you really think they "let" those guys go? That's racing, stronger riders ("better legs") ride away.

 

[Der Effe]

Sad, sad news about Demoitie. Very good cyclist as well.

Racing wise, too bad Demare has such a sucky team around him or he might have had this in the bag as well.

 

[Kwibus]

Regarding the cristism on Vanmarcke which I found rather harsh if you keep in mind what he allready did during the entire race.
Vanmarcke:

Vanmarcke was not among the fastest riders in the group by reputation – he has twice lost sprints to Cancellara with Monuments on the line, after all – but he admitted that he couldn’t even entertain the idea of trying to attack alone in the closing kilometres.

“They ride very hard,” he said of Cancellara and Sagan. “I was the weakest from the three when taking pulls. I can admit that. There’s no shame in that: it was a world champion and a man who has probably won ten classics and been the world time trial champion.”

In the final, four-up sprint, it was Kuznetsov who blinked first and opened his effort from distance. Sagan overhauled him to prove an emphatic winner, but Vanmarcke declared himself content to come away with second place.

“I was dead. I gave a lot to stay up front. I know that I have a bit of a sprint at the end of a race but to beat Sagan and Cancellara is hard. I’m pleased with second place,” he said.

“Sometimes they say second place is the most thankless position, but I’m pleased to finish second today instead of third. I narrowly missed out on the podium in Harelbeke in a similar position, but now I’ve taken second place with a simple bike throw. That’s often taken for granted.”

Sounds like a honest answer. Nothing wrong with the way he rode. I'd say he was rather impressive.

 

[Kwibus]

Very nice racing today. The hilly zone was pretty much the slowest part of the race.... Except for the explosion on the final 2 hills (mostly the last one).

Finally Sagan won and I'm reallllly happy for him.
I really like what he said postrace when the journos were nagging him about allll his 2nd places. He admits that he wants to enjoy himself more then just riding for the win. I love the way he entertains us, that's for sure. I hope he keeps on doing it!
Ofcourse he's in a position to race like that. If you are that good you can, but with his quality he could win heaps of races if he rode more intelligent. Thank god he doesn't!