Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021 (April 25th)

[Billie]

The supertuck rule lol. Are you allowed to take your ass of the saddle on downhills to stretch your back?

Tbf if anyone should have been DSQ'd today it was Vollering when she threw her bidon where it was not allowed, to the wrong side of the road and clearly endangering others.

 

[Ricco']

That rule needs a "yellow card".

Like in Race Walking, where when the athletes don't walk with the required "position", they are given warnings before being thrown out of the race.

 

[RedheadDane]

That rule needs a "yellow card".

Like in Race Walking, where when the athletes don't walk with the required "position", they are given warnings before being thrown out of the race.

Like they at least already implemented with the Litter Rule. And I'd say purposely littering* is worse than supertucking for two seconds.

*Of course it's hard to always know when it's on purpose, and when it's an accident.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Nice race. Pogacar won. He is probably the only cyclist that I don't like in the Worldtour. I need to find a way to like him if I am to continue watching cycling for many years. At least he give us good action in the races.

Nice to see Carapaz giving us a little scare.

Can relate to the feeling, as it was like that for me with Froome for most of the previous decade.

 

[Lequack]

He was hardly supertucking, his butt was still touching the seat and wasn't like Froome like all on the top tube.

 

[Red Rick]

I agree, before the 2019 Tour happened I always saw him as overrated on +5min climbs.
Roglic is clearly not as explosive near the end of a 250km race, looks like 2020 was a bit of an outliner because of the post-Tour supercompensation.
Reminds me of his results in the Italian Autumn classics in 2019 when he was a monster in the Giro dell' Emilia, but couldn't drop the other favourites in the Giro di Lombardia.

Alaphilippe went from overrated on 5 min+ climbs to overrated finisher overnight.

Roglic is probably the clearest example of 200 vs 250km right now, but I wouldn't be extremely hasty making too many conclusions. But he's so good after 200km he can fall off a bit and still be competitive. Don't know how much work he puts into it though.

 

[Eeslliw]

Roglic is clearly not as explosive near the end of a 250km race, looks like 2020 was a bit of an outliner because of the post-Tour supercompensation.
Reminds me of his results in the Italian Autumn classics in 2019 when he was a monster in the Giro dell' Emilia, but couldn't drop the other favourites in the Giro di Lombardia.

Nah at that Lombardia he was probably the strongest and came there as a super hot favorite (two semi-classics win and Vuelta), Mollema attacked and he made mistake letting it go. In a group with him, nobody was willing to work, he than attacked but it was too late. I think he fu*ked himself tacticly there more as to fade at the end.

 

[PeterB]

If they wanted to disqualify Carapaz for that, they should have done it right at that moment. By allowing him to continue with his attack they affected development of the race.

Unless they would not DSQ him if he had won the race...?

 

[Pinot's goat]

Hirschi seems to be getting closer to last year's level now, this race probably came a week too soon, the late start to the season ruined his chances.

 

[bigcog]

He was hardly supertucking, his butt was still touching the seat and wasn't like Froome like all on the top tube.

Yeah, think it's a harsh call.

 

[RedheadDane]

If they wanted to disqualify Carapaz for that, they should have done it right at that moment. By allowing him to continue with his attack they affected development of the race.

Unless they would not DSQ him if he had won the race...?

Unless they wanted to double-check the footage to be sure whether or not he'd been supertucking?

 

[Koronin]

Nice race. Pogacar won. He is probably the only cyclist that I don't like in the Worldtour. I need to find a way to like him if I am to continue watching cycling for many years. At least he give us good action in the races.

Nice to see Carapaz giving us a little scare.

Interesting. I don't mind Pogacar. Not in my list of favorites, but don't dislike him. There are a handful of riders I actively cheer against, so am more than happy to see him beat those riders which includes 2 of the riders in that group today.

 

[Carols]

I don't know. I can't get warm with Pogacar. There's nothing really to be said against him, but he just appears so cold and too focused for me.

I understand. His talent is amazing and he seems a really nice guy, but I'm not warming up to him either just yet.

Honestly I wanted Bala to win once the final selection was made.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

He was hardly supertucking, his butt was still touching the seat and wasn't like Froome like all on the top tube.

I don't see how he is in breach of the rule

The points of contact are hands on the handlebar, seat on the saddle and feet on the pedals.

 

[Leinster]

Pogačar and Valverde re my picks for this race. Both are in good shape and like a hard race

Chapeau for this call before the start.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I don't know. I can't get warm with Pogacar. There's nothing really to be said against him, but he just appears so cold and too focused for me.

For me, I think it's because I usually root for the underdog. Pogacar has become best-of-the-best so quickly that there was barely any time to appreciate him as an up-and-coming rider which means that there's nothing to build liking him upon for me. Van der Poel is somewhat similar in this regard but compensates by riding extremely aggressively.

 

[Bonimenier]

Chapeau for this call before the start.

Everyone picked these 2 + Alaphilippe and Roglic. Not that impressive of a call .

 

[Hugo Koblet]

2nd and 3rd.

The story of French cycling in this race these last years.

Hmm, how do you figure? The last five years, only one Frenchman has finished 2nd or 3rd (Bardet was 3rd in 2018).

 

[Escarabajo]

What about him don't you like? He seems like a nice kid, and a great rider.

I don't know, maybe making it look so easy everywhere doesn't bode well with me. He is breaking records in the process. I thought this was a hard sport!
Yes, he looks like a nice dude!

 

[jmdirt]

I feel like these guys should practice their bike throws.
EDIT: I don't think it would have made a difference in this case as TP was clear, but JA's throw was bad.

Congrats to Demi and Tadej!

 

[Salvarani]

Hirschi seems to be getting closer to last year's level now, this race probably came a week too soon, the late start to the season ruined his chances.

If they been able to race Fleche he might have been even better today also.

 

[happytramp]

Unfortunately for me it was POG's ditching of his power meter the day he put in one of the craziest TT's in living memory that's somewhat put me off him.

 

[Breezy1985]

What sneak attack? The moment when he thought about it before a corner and pulled up? Or did I miss one?

Ya the one where he comes off the back but realized that he won't get away from Ala on the flat so held on for the sprint and came 3rd.

Why is he dumb but not the 2 guys he beat in the sprint ?

 

[Breezy1985]

Seriously? Because he was supertucking(ish) for maybe two seconds, and - as the Danish commentators pointed out - might having simply (briefly) forgotten about the rule in the heat of battle.

If you forget about the rule not to studs up tackle in soccer it's still a red card.

 

[RedheadDane]

Ya the one where he comes off the back but realized that he won't get away from Ala on the flat so held on for the sprint and came 3rd.

Why is he dumb but not the 2 guys he beat in the sprint ?

And possibly had a cramp. Or at least the beginning of one.

If you forget about the rule not to studs up tackle in soccer it's still a red card.

Well... I'm pretty sure studs up tackling is actually harmful.