Cycling rarely gets the top contenders on form together even if they make it, one of the most frustrating things about the sport.
-
The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
The detour after Redoute was quite good, maybe even a net improvement. We'll see if they'll turn right next year as well.
If we had known that Pogacar wouldn't finish the race, I would definitely have placed a bet on the winning gap being over a minute. Predestined.
Alright, give Evenepoel good weather and some motivation to further increase the gap and its easily 2.30-3 minutes today. Lets be honest now, this was more convincing. We knew the race was over the moment Pidcock was dropped.
I like the new route, the small climb after Redoute is worth shortening the real climb for, Borges into Roche aux Faucons + the drag is quite the final.
Any ideas on what actually happened on La Redoute?
What I saw:
What I saw:
- Remco seemed to hesitate for a very long time, to the point that Van Wilder did not know what to do;
- Once he attacked, his punch did not seem that strong, barely making a gap with Pidock (maybe because of the reduced length of La Redoute?);
- He finally made a clean cut selection on the next small hill, leaving Pidcock in the dust;
They should fix the road on that stretch though. The surface looked worse than the average sterrato sector around Siena. Unless that's on purpose.
Rainy legs? I dno, I was surprised as well when he didn't go earlier and made it more of an explosive effort. Thats the reason Pidcock could follow somewhat to begin with I think.
But credit to Van Wilder as well, he was going very fast so Remco only needed a few hundred meters to detonate the group since most were dead anyways.
I referenced Schleck for the lulz.
But 3 minutes in good weather is pretty lol. He gained like 15 seconds on RaF.
Remco wanted to go a few 100m earlier but his wheel slipped (like last year). You van see this clearly. He paced himself a bit during his attack not to slip a second time. Looks like the bad road of La Redoutte doesn't give him enough grip to transfer his power.
My man Esteban finished 45th, it's respectable considering the long and illustrious list of riders who didn't.
Big Doopie
BANNED
I think your observations are dead on. Hard to know for sure, but it looked like two stages, the second coming when Pidcock refused to help.
The thing to remember is that Remco appears to be strongest exactly when others need to recover. He regularly chooses to attack only once the others have been suffocated by the pace. They need to recover. And that’s when he attacks, often on a false flat when he can take advantage of his aero if he gets the slightest of gaps.
I actually fully expect that he would have at least TRIED the same tactic with Pog still there. Now whether it would have succeeded is pure conjecture unfortunately. Glad that he did not have to take any risks in the wet tho.
I think we'd have that with Pogi present the last two years.
I have to say this was very disappointing news when I woke up. Searches for the crash video doesn't show anything and I'm wondering how it happened? The racing conditions are a bit gnarly and even Pogacar's typical intuitive pack positioning can't protect from everything. Hats off to Remco who closed the deal with a great win. Unfortunately us curbside fans didn't get the cage match we've debated for weeks.....
What happened to the second tier riders climbers who used to do really well in this race? Seems like it’s just full of random names behind the big two
I’m still pissed we didn’t see Nibs vs Contador vs Froome in the 2014 tour. It never goes away haha
Good point. And even if we don't know the exact premises here, it's still bad for cycling. Cycling is essentially about groups having advantages that the lone rider doesn't have - that mechanism is no longer in effect when the riders "from another planet" are participating.
- As other stated, Remco tried to go earlier but he slipped, so he waited a bit.
- His attack did have a punch, it was just that the other were also sprinting as well, they knew it was coming. Hence it didn't look like he was speeding away. it was close enough to the top so Pidcock only lost a few seconds. If you look at how much time he took on the others who were of screen.. it was a very hard punch. This was also the first punch of the day when everyone only did wheelsucking. it wasn't like everyone was working for 40km or so, so guess most people were a little fresher since it was the first explosion of the day.
- since his attack was late, and the descend was wet, pidcock could come back while still being blown. If he didn't slipped earlier, pidcock would have blown earlier and dropped like a rock on la redoute. The semi climb after came to fast for pidcock to unblow his legs. so he continued his blow on that climb. (or something of that effect)
Big Doopie
BANNED
Don’t want to put this in the Pog thread. Seems best here. But a little while ago, a heated discussion had poginators (or simply Remco haters) saying the two were not even close based off of Pog’s spring. I warned that things/perceptions could change as they did last year based off of the riders goals.
Pog has had an absolute stunningly super spring (even better than last spring!).
However, as I mentioned during that discussion, should Remco get a result at LBL and then at the Giro, he could potentially take over as #1. Should he actually WIN the giro, then he would be the holder of two GTs at the same time at age 23…
I agree that Pog is the best rider at the moment, but to say he is in a “completely different league” is utterly ridiculous.
Pog has had an absolute stunningly super spring (even better than last spring!).
However, as I mentioned during that discussion, should Remco get a result at LBL and then at the Giro, he could potentially take over as #1. Should he actually WIN the giro, then he would be the holder of two GTs at the same time at age 23…
I agree that Pog is the best rider at the moment, but to say he is in a “completely different league” is utterly ridiculous.
I too really don't like the finish-line on Quai des Ardennes, I would much prefer Parc d'Avroy. I also don't like the long plateau after RaF, better to descend Côte du Sart-Tilman.
I've had my eyes on Rue Ravinhay as a final difficulty: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42641266
If one wants to skip RaF and make Redoute the only major climb in the finale, it needs a different approach. Maybe Lorcé is worth reintroducing.
The trend of LBL was to be a very closed race usually decided in a sprint or a very late solo (the Valverde years were quite boring), even three or four years ago the consensus was that Redoute would never be decisive again (of course, this was when there was still a little climb after Roche au Falcons). The fact that there are riders who can break open a race even against a peloton is generally a good thing, especially because there's more of them. In this race Pogacar would likely have featured as well, there's still Roglic and some others who were not in top form today (e.g. Gaudu) who would've been more competitive. I think this particular win was a dominant rider against weak competition, but it was still better to watch than average riders riding defensively. As long as there's multiple dominant-like riders (which there are) it's completely fine and good for the sport, as most of them happen to have some personality as well which is not a given.
Completely agreed, Arnout.
Nothing is worse than too much bland equally. I'm really looking forward to Glasgow as we'll have several beasts ready to take matters in their hands and to shape the race to their will.
Congratulation to Remco Evenepoel for the win.
Considering how everything was geared towards this years LBL edition i was looking forward in witnessing what will happen in the white group. Unfortunately, as it often happens, we were cheated of that. But OK a champion still won. Tratnik was impressive today and i enjoyed watching his effort.
Considering how everything was geared towards this years LBL edition i was looking forward in witnessing what will happen in the white group. Unfortunately, as it often happens, we were cheated of that. But OK a champion still won. Tratnik was impressive today and i enjoyed watching his effort.
Did you try sending your suggestion to the race organizers? (FYI: this is a serious question, not as a joke or as a laugh)
but glassglow might not feature Pog & vingegaard. WVA rides the tour, so depending how vingegaard does, he might be out or burned as well. (unless he restricts his efforts).
Think only VDP and Remco are making a real goal out of it?
Last edited:
TRENDING THREADS
-
World Championships 2024: Men's Road Race (September 29)- Started by Devil's Elbow
- Replies: 2K
-
Coppa Bernocchi Oct 7/Tre Valli Varesine Oct 8/Gran Piemonte Oct 10- Started by Berniece
- Replies: 282
-
Il Lombardia 2024, one day monument, October 12, farewell to Domenico Pozzovivo- Started by Lequack
- Replies: 159
-
-
Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread- Started by DNP-Old
- Replies: 28K
-
Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers, Extensions, and Rumours Thread- Started by RedheadDane
- Replies: 11K
-
Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread- Started by Lequack
- Replies: 21K
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
-
The thread of "Neilson Powless is not powerless anymore thread"- Latest: Armchair Cyclist
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram