Lesser known races 2025 edition

[RJH]

Good training ride from MvdP! Magnier a good 2nd, the best of the rest.

Kubis Top10 again… Great

 

[theyoungest]

His mother is French, and his grandfather is Poulidor

I think Sciatic was pulling our jambe a little.

 

[Rob5091]

Kubis Top10 again… Great

Yep, his agent will be busy probably.

 

[Sciatic]

Ha! The podium “steps” are beer kegs

 

[Didinho]

Ha! The podium “steps” are beer kegs

And the beers have cassettes as holders.

 

[Salvarani]

Van der Poel already attacking with 65km to go.

So boring those attacks

 

[Unchained]

De Lie really needs to decide what he wants with his career, rather than being a not-quite sprinter annex not-quite classics rider. Against proper opposition he is basically only good at uphill sprints like Québec.

He rode very well, had a great chase after mechanical required a new bike, worked hard, rejoined and was out of gas for the sprint. Good race for Belgian champ!! Respect for national colors!!!

 

[Peyroteo94]

What a letdown MVP. Drink like a man!

 

[Sciatic]

What a letdown MVP. Drink like a man!

At least there’s one aspect where Wout is still better than

 

[Tim Cahill]

Think we can safely say good job to whoever told Magnier to stuff his face over the winter, look forward to seeing what he can do in the monuments.

 

[Samamba]

De Lie really needs to decide what he wants with his career, rather than being a not-quite sprinter annex not-quite classics rider. Against proper opposition he is basically only good at uphill sprints like Québec.

He has decided. He wants to be a classic rider. Meaning he will just be one of these guys who eventually can get decent results in harder classic but can't win cause he threw away his sprint.

Anyways, I don't think that had anything to do with today. He has always had that explosivity problem. I don't like the bad luck excuse, but today he was actually quite unlucky. What are the odds just the guy before you unclips the second before the sprints actually starts. He wasn't even in a bad position.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Ha! The podium “steps” are beer kegs

Kind of a balancing act because the kegs were a bit small, and they additionally had to hold a beer in their hand!

It's all good, nobody fell off. lol

 

[Samamba]

De Lie's positioning is a special kind of awful

Wasn't in a bad position (6th position) when Hofstetter unclipped? Not perfect but you're obviously exaggerating. If anything it got way better this year (only positive thing about his season so far)à.

 

[Red Rick]

Wasn't in a bad position when Hofstetter unclipped?

He's half way down a 20 man group and can't sprint because a guy unclips how is that not a bad position.

 

[Red Rick]

To me De Lie is a slightly worse Boonen in a time where Boonen's archetype would be obsolete anyway. Add no positioning skills and you're gonna have a hard time getting classics wins beyond the odd Gent Wevelgem.

 

[Peyroteo94]

To me De Lie is a slightly worse Boonen in a time where Boonen's archetype would be obsolete anyway. Add no positioning skills and you're gonna have a hard time getting classics wins beyond the odd Gent Wevelgem.

Jesus Christ, one of the worst comparisons here... Boonen is the perfect classics rider for PR. Maybe RVV would be impossible to win but not PR.
But please, comparing him with De Lie? They are not similar at all.

 

[Samamba]

He's half way down a 20 man group and can't sprint because a guy unclips how is that not a bad position.

6 or 7th position with the first guy being Fedorov doing a leadout in a group of like 25 riders is not half way down and is also not "awful" at all? He is literally maybe 20cms behind Magnier and in front of Jeanniere at that point. Biermans behind him and he got 4th. I've just rewatched the whole unclipping thing 10 times. He was in pretty bad position like 15 seconds before that but when it happened he wasn't. According to your standards only Van der Poel, Kubis and Maybe Magnier are in good position.

If Hofstetter doesn't ride into Kubis his back wheels and unclips or Mozzato doesn't drop back just exactly the second it happens, he would've been completely fine.

 

[Unchained]

To me De Lie is a slightly worse Boonen in a time where Boonen's archetype would be obsolete anyway. Add no positioning skills and you're gonna have a hard time getting classics wins beyond the odd Gent Wevelgem.

Is there another rider named De Lie? The current Belgian champion is 22 years old!! He is racing well, today included!!
And I know it's the back story, but dedicated camera shots had him standing on the road waiting for a bike. Worked through the caravan, and camera followed him as he picked off riders one by one until he reached the front and in the end he was just spent, completely toast.
Anyone who thinks he didn't get a boost of confidence even from the loss, no way! Yes he lost but did it with style!!

 

[staubsauger]

It's just painful to watch man. When is he going to realize he needs to work on that. Yes it's bad luck that Hofstetter makes him slow down but this is worse than Kristoff and you're 22 years old man.

Stone me but De Lie seriously should have signed with DSM once Lotto relegated!

 

[Samamba]

Stone me but De Lie seriously should have signed with DSM once Lotto relegated!

Stoning might be a bit over the top, but this is definitely the worst take I've seen all day. DSM is probably the worst fit ever.

Now maybe Quick Step would be another dicussion.

 

[Brullnux]

To me De Lie is a slightly worse Boonen in a time where Boonen's archetype would be obsolete anyway. Add no positioning skills and you're gonna have a hard time getting classics wins beyond the odd Gent Wevelgem.

Nah, Boonen was closer to someone like Sagan than De Lie. Big flat engine and had the ability to drop people on climbs and win solo – and did so very regularly. Doing him a big disservice here, it's not like he'd only win in sprints.

 

[yaco]

I worry about DE Lie on technical finishes. Anyway, he has again missed KBK.

 

[Samamba]

Anyway, he has again missed KBK.

Damn he missed a 16th place in KBK, so sad

 

[Red Rick]

Is there another rider named De Lie? The current Belgian champion is 22 years old!! He is racing well, today included!!
And I know it's the back story, but dedicated camera shots had him standing on the road waiting for a bike. Worked through the caravan, and camera followed him as he picked off riders one by one until he reached the front and in the end he was just spent, completely toast.
Anyone who thinks he didn't get a boost of confidence even from the loss, no way! Yes he lost but did it with style!!

22 is the new 26.

I don't see any indicator he's better now than he was 2 years ago.

 

[Peyroteo94]

22 is the new 26.

I don't see any indicator he's better now than he was 2 years ago.

But you still compared him with the most successful rider of all times on cobbles. Mind blowing!