Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021 (April 25th)

[Skalman]

Yeah not fan of the winner , but great win never the less. I dont really get the all the *** talking about Ala though, if you think you know what he should have done instead please enlighten me, he lost to a better guy today and not because of his antics. Don't know if he mistimed when he should start his sprint or he didnt want to go to early, and he was clearly disturbed having Pog on his wheel until he had no choice then to follow.

 

[Leinster]

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

Well I’ll say to that that he a) picked the right one out of Ala, Rog and Pog and b) I (personally) didn’t rate Bala’s chances of making a 5-man selection after the RaF; I would have had his best chance being if a bigger group came to the finish.

 

[ice&fire]

Ineos gave a flagrant display of tactics today

Yeah, they went into Movistar mode. At least they made LBL great again.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah, they went into Movistar mode. At least they made LBL great again.

What Movistar mode? Can't remember Movistar attacking with four riders in a major race.

The biggest mistake of Ineos was not to fly in Gianni Moscon.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Wow, cograts to Tadej on a great win! A couple of hunderd meters before the line I started doubting him (thinking he's too far) but the guy smartly sticked to Ala's wheel waiting for his move and passed him at the end. Before the race I felt that Pogacar would have a great chance (if they let him race) and maybe not racing FW helped him be fresher at the end. First TdF champion who wins LBL since...Hinault. All at the age of 22 - a legend in the making!

 

[Eeslliw]

Yeah not fan of the winner , but great win never the less. I dont really get the all the *** talking about Ala though, if you think you know what he should have done instead please enlighten me, he lost to a better guy today and not because of his antics. Don't know if he mistimed when he should start his sprint or he didnt want to go to early, and he was clearly disturbed having Pog on his wheel until he had no choice then to follow.

I think he should close Pogacar when they passed Valverde. He went to the middle of the road and left Pogacar in perfect position with no one infront, insted he should stay on the right (where they passed) and forced Pogacar to come around him and lose some momentum. What do you think guys?

 

[Leinster]

Yeah not fan of the winner , but great win never the less. I dont really get the all the *** talking about Ala though, if you think you know what he should have done instead please enlighten me, he lost to a better guy today and not because of his antics. Don't know if he mistimed when he should start his sprint or he didnt want to go to early, and he was clearly disturbed having Pog on his wheel until he had no choice then to follow.

I think if you’re Alaf in that situation, you don’t want to be more than 4th wheel back from Valverde, because you don’t know if you can make up that gap in a 200-250m sprint. After that, the timing is instinct and anything else is 20/20 hindsight.

 

[Sciatic]

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



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

I always enjoy what I learn from CN forums about differences in word-usage outside of my language map: I’ve never heard the things on the bottom of sports shoes called “studs”—the terms here are always “spikes” or “cleats.” Studs makes sense but that term here is used for tires, earrings, and adjectives/nouns associated with testosterone.

 

[Skalman]

I think he should close Pogacar when they passed Valverde. He went to the middle of the road and left Pogacar in perfect position with no one infront, insted he should stay on the right (where they passed) and forced Pogacar to come around him and lose some momentum. What do you think guys?

How could he close Pogacar when Pogacar was on his wheel? Pogacar didn't overtake him until the last meter, he had no where to go then to right(too far to the right) because the other 3 where in front of him.

 

[Gigs_98]

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.

I think it's more that he got insanely lucky last year. He hung on for dear life on the RaF, definitely looked like the weakest rider out of that group, but Alaphilippe took out Pogacar and Hirschi before celebrating too early and basically gifting the win to Roglic. I'm pretty certain he wouldn't struggle to keep the wheels of those riders after 150km. It's kinda similar to today. It's not like he was bad, he looked like the 6th best climber, but he just seemed to lack those last 1 or 2 percents after this kind of distance.

 

[Leinster]

I think he should close Pogacar when they passed Valverde. He went to the middle of the road and left Pogacar in perfect position with no one infront, insted he should stay on the right (where they passed) and forced Pogacar to come around him and lose some momentum. What do you think guys?

I agree that he opened up the gap on the right, but the thing is if he stays on the right, would he just have created another sheltered route to the line for Pog? Or maybe, and hear me out on this, maybe Pogacar was just faster on the day.

 

[Big Doopie]

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!

i think he is an extremely exciting rider and fun to watch.

only negative i see is the team that he is connected to... for a lot of reasons.

 

[Big Doopie]

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.

did it also bother you when lemond refused to get time checks while overhauling fignon in that last ITT in 1989?

it adds to the mythology.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

BTW it's symbolic that last two winners of LBL are also two best stage-racers on the planet. Good to see them competing on all fronts.

 

[Eeslliw]

How could he close Pogacar when Pogacar was on his wheel? Pogacar didn't overtake him until the last meter, he had no where to go then to right(too far to the right) because the other 3 where in front of him.

Just watched it again. I stand by my words. Basically Pogacar would be boxed in if Ala would stay on the right because everyone was going to the same direction (right). It was pretty close at he finish line, so if Pogacar would have to come around and lose some momentum it would be enough.

 

[Fernandez]

BTW it's symbolic that last two winners of LBL are also two best stage-racers on the planet. Good to see them competing on all fronts.

Yep, slovenian power. They can do it all, even sprint...

 

[Big Doopie]

BTW it's symbolic that last two winners of LBL are also two best stage-racers on the planet. Good to see them competing on all fronts.

agreed.

traditionally/historically -- LBL and Lombardy were most likely to have a GT winner -- it may the length of the hills that are better for riders who can also get over cols and but still have TT power.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Well, a sprint between the world champion and the Tour winner can't be bad. And there was real racing from La Redoute until the end. I think this course should stay the way it is.

For Alaphilippe this race seems to be cursed, a bit like MS for Sagan. Pogacar is building an impressive list of wins, and it seems to go so easily. I wonder if he can keep this up for many years - or is he one of those early blossomers?

 

[Skalman]

Just watched it again. I stand by my words. Basically Pogacar would be boxed in if Ala would stay on the right because everyone was going to the same direction (right). It was pretty close at he finish line, so if Pogacar would have to come around and lose some momentum it would be enough.

So what you mean is that he should let Pogacar overtake him and then followed in his wheel and overtaken him in turn, all this in what? 225 meter?
You see he moved past woods to the right with Pogacar on his wheel, should he then sit up let Pogacar pass him and follow? then he loose, seems very complicated in that short distance at that speed. Maybe i just doesnt understand what you mean? if he moved even further to the right he would be guilty of the same thing as last year, and would be demoted

 

[Krzysztof_O]

agreed.

traditionally/historically -- LBL and Lombardy were most likely to have a GT winner -- it may the length of the hills that are better for riders who can also get over cols and but still have TT power.

Obviously it's true, I heard from the commentators today that LBL had 4500 vertical meters. It's hard to believe that it was so much but cumulated effect of climbs obviously helps GT guys tremendously (even if climbs are short). Still, for a few decades no LBL winner was the best GT guy at that time (some of them were very good but not the best, Schleck was 2nd best in 2009) and now we have recent two LBL winners being the same as recent two GT victors, wow.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Pogacar has shown progression of his breadth
2019 - OutClimbing Valverde and Roglic
2020 - OutTTing Roglic and Dumoulin
2021- Almost OutTTing Ganna and destroying van Aert in hilly terrain and almost catching van der poel and outsprinting JA
these are Merckxian achievements
While we were waiting for Bernal and Evenepoel to showcase their talents, he has already achieved. I see him wininng all GTs and all monuments in the vein of Merckx

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

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 ?

because one of those two guys has a whole career of winning small group sprints under his belt and the other attacked seriously. Gaudu had to know he wasn’t going to win that sprint. Four out of five guys aren’t going to win a five up sprint, but the only one who has behaved stupidly is the one who goes in knowing he’s one of the four and does nothing to give himself an alternative route.

 

[Big Doopie]

Obviously it's true, I heard from the commentators today that LBL had 4500 vertical meters. It's hard to believe that it was so much but cumulated effect of climbs obviously helps GT guys tremendously (even if climbs are short). Still, for a few decades no LBL winner was the best GT guy at that time (some of them were very good but not the best, Schleck was 2nd best in 2009) and now we have recent two LBL winners being the same as recent two GT victors, wow.

there were at least 20 years in there when certain clinic-related matters were upending any natural hierarchy and affecting who was suitably prepared for these races.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I think it's more that he got insanely lucky last year. He hung on for dear life on the RaF, definitely looked like the weakest rider out of that group, but Alaphilippe took out Pogacar and Hirschi before celebrating too early and basically gifting the win to Roglic. I'm pretty certain he wouldn't struggle to keep the wheels of those riders after 150km. It's kinda similar to today. It's not like he was bad, he looked like the 6th best climber, but he just seemed to lack those last 1 or 2 percents after this kind of distance.

Yeah, I agree with you, +250km one day races are clearly not his biggest strength.

 

[gunara]

Missed the race and have to be content with Tiz half an hour recording for now, looked like an o.k. race for Liege. Valverde was trapped into a no-win position so quickly, not sure how that happenned to someone who has raced small group finale since the bronze age.

Also, only now I realize Pog is not very popular in this forum, while for me he's probably the easiest to be okay with among the new superpowers, followed by van der Poel.