Lesser known races 2024 edition

[GenericBoonenFan]

And even if you did speak it as a non-native speaker, you'd still have to penetrate the Swiss accent.

Case in point: 'Richoard Coaroapoaz'

I always found that German Swiss reminds me of Afrikaans.
Don't know why, but the intonation, use of glottal stops and inflexion swings me that way

 

[Squire]

Dwars door het Hageland is a seriously cool race.

 

[postmanhat]

Dwars door het Hageland is a seriously cool race.

Think it might be my first time watching it, which is annoying as it's a superb course.

 

[Wvv]

Casper van Uden really starting to build a trademark sprint. Always going from afar. Fourth victory of the season, his second in de ZLM Tour. Rune still in the lead with one stage to go.

 

[postmanhat]

Great chase by Arkea, but Uno-X just have so many options in the Belgian races at the moment.

 

[tobydawq]

The front group includes Craps.

 

[Salvarani]

The front group includes Craps.

They are going full gas.

 

[Squire]

They are going full gas.

Loockx like it.

 

[tobydawq]

Loockx like it.

Loockx likes Craps?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Loockx like it.

Well they are powered by Duracell.

 

[Salvarani]

Loockx likes Craps?

I think he prefers creps instead.

 

[Squire]

Well they are powered by Duracell.

Their video link isn't at the moment.

 

[Squire]

Abrahamsen very not happy about not being allowed to contribute.

 

[postmanhat]

There is a UK joke format about people whose surnames can be verbs, in this case something like;

- Lars Craps

- Thanks for letting me know

 

[Tim Cahill]

Vermeersch outright telling De Vries to attack and he won't chase

 

[Tim Cahill]

Gotta be first round the corner after the citadel its so close to the line

 

[kingjr]

Beautifully done by Vermeersch

 

[ingsve]

Uno-X was right not to have Abrahamsen work. He couldn't beat Vermeersch anyway and Tiller and Wärenskjold were the strongest in the group behind.

 

[Squire]

Surprised the group behind wasn't closer at the finish. There was quite a bit of looking around between Vermeersch and Abrahamsen while De Vriijs was distanced, so expected the gap to close more.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Surprised the group behind wasn't closer at the finish. There was quite a bit of looking around between Vermeersch and Abrahamsen while De Vriijs was distanced, so expected the gap to close more.

I was surprised they weren't caught 5 km before the line.

 

[ingsve]

Such a nice race. It really is a mini-Strade Bianche down to every details in the gravel, climbs and short uphill finish.

 

[ingsve]

Surprised the group behind wasn't closer at the finish. There was quite a bit of looking around between Vermeersch and Abrahamsen while De Vriijs was distanced, so expected the gap to close more.

I think the chasing group had a lot of dead legs since Wärenskjold could hang on for 5th. Normally he shouldn't be the fastest in a climb like that against a random group of riders.

 

[postmanhat]

I think the chasing group had a lot of dead legs since Wärenskjold could hang on for 5th. Normally he shouldn't be the fastest in a climb like that against a random group of riders.

Yes, looked like it was raced full-on from about 100K. Nice to see Warenskjold get a decent result again. Thought he'd be a monster this season, but doesn't seem to have progressed at all so far.

 

[Squire]

I think the chasing group had a lot of dead legs since Wärenskjold could hang on for 5th. Normally he shouldn't be the fastest in a climb like that against a random group of riders.

I guess Rex having Planckaert there made everyone else do nothing, so there wasn't a lot of good legs actually chasing. I'd say the finish was very suited to Wærenskjold, but the surprise for me is that he beat the likes of Hermans after having bridged across a significant gap to the 'group of big favourites' after the main separation. But I guess he also got some good recovery in the final kms while everybody was sitting on the Planckaert train.

Anyway, great race. Definitely tuning in to this one next year as well.

 

[ingsve]

Yes, looked like it was raced full-on from about 100K. Nice to see Warenskjold get a decent result again. Thought he'd be a monster this season, but doesn't seem to have progressed at all so far.

He was very strong in Roubaix though despite riding poor tactically at the back of the group all the time so he missed out on attacks constantly and had to muscle his way back on his own several times. Also with Kristoff being in good sprinting shape he has perhaps gotten fewer chances in bunch sprints this year.

Edit: Just looked at his points and he is actually 70-80 points ahead of last year at this point of the season so I guess he is more of a fall rider so the best is perhaps yet to come for him this season.