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Quick-Step didn't really have control over this, but the other teams made it easy for them. Merlier ist just the strongest sprinter here.
They could just climb Superga from the easy side and have a finish in Torino aftwards, something that actually resembles a warm-up for MSR...Wanting it to be more of a warm-up for MSR?
Would also explain the change in time.
They could just climb Superga from the easy side and have a finish in Torino aftwards, something that actually resembles a warm-up for MSR...
Oh no, you're spot on when it comes to them wanting to have a warm-up race for MSR. It's just the execution that's really poor...Just my guess. I'm not RCS.
Just my guess. I'm not RCS.
But they definitely need to be defended?
Even I can acknowledge that this change is utter crap.
Half the peloton knocked out by a crash. Welcome to literally any Belgian sprinters' race.
They added that curve to make the finale safer... lol. This area simply isn't safe for a sprint but the terrain is not selective enough for anything else unless the weather cooperates.
Too easy for Merlier.
It's pretty obvious that RCS were allowed the opportunity to move Milano-Torino to this date to compensate for Tirreno-Adriatico being forced closer to Strade Bianche (hurting both races) to appease ASO. It's also reasonably obvious that the flat edition of this race in 2020, which was also the Wednesday before Sanremo, has led RCS to believe it's the perfect slot to have all the big-name sprinters battling it out, only they haven't realised/refused to accept that the reason that edition had a stacked field was because the calendar was completely different that year for obvious reasons. So very typical that the compensation for one thing being made worse is something else also being made worse - why on earth would you not move Gran Piemonte (which has also been pan-flat two years running) to this slot if you wanted a sprinters' race here and left Milano-Torino untouched rather than trying to fix what wasn't broken in the first place?They could just climb Superga from the easy side and have a finish in Torino aftwards, something that actually resembles a warm-up for MSR...
Yep, Nokere deserves all the notoriety, even more so than Scheldeprijs. Keep in mind that this is also the race that forces people to pay if they want access to Nokereberg on race day.Well for some reason the damage was limited this year in those races, but well Nokere always delivers ofcourse.
Yes should just make this race harder. Too many accidents have happened here. A race in any other country would get demolished by media and Belgian public for having this track record. It would be a great parcours with a lot of wind and bad weather, but when it's a bunch sprint, it's just not good.
It's pretty obvious that RCS were allowed the opportunity to move Milano-Torino to this date to compensate for Tirreno-Adriatico being forced closer to Strade Bianche (hurting both races) to appease ASO. It's also reasonably obvious that the flat edition of this race in 2020, which was also the Wednesday before Sanremo, has led RCS to believe it's the perfect slot to have all the big-name sprinters battling it out, only they haven't realised/refused to accept that the reason that edition had a stacked field was because the calendar was completely different that year for obvious reasons.
I agree that it didn't make much sense to begin with, but if the trend of very select finishes in Sanremo continues, they may still end up with a stronger field of sprinters in Milano - Torino in a year or two.
They have Tirreno lol. They can simply put a very MSR like stage in there, but then they never do that either.Oh no, you're spot on when it comes to them wanting to have a warm-up race for MSR. It's just the execution that's really poor...
...and they also are evidently incapable of publishing the full results within an hour and 40 minutes (and counting) of the finish. That might be the slowest of this season so far.Yep, Nokere deserves all the notoriety, even more so than Scheldeprijs. Keep in mind that this is also the race that forces people to pay if they want access to Nokereberg on race day.