Liege Bastogne Liege-7 hour monument, Sunday, April 21, 2024

[Taxus4a]

Nah, Carapaz just totally blew up that's why he wasn't even in the second group. He always does this trying to follow Pogacar or Vingegaard, goes completely in the red and then bonks.

Maybe, but he wanst so bad later...and maybe he worked for Healy. he waited for next group, that is for sure, how much exausted he was, I dont know, but q pity he was the only to try to follow Pogacar. With just another rider with Carapaz, IMO we have seen another race very different..but of course Pogacar has no rival if Evenepoel is not here.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Pogacar made the ultimate mother-in-law joke today. His win was so easy to predict that you would almost overlook how impressive it is. Just show up, drop everyone, and that's it. In the post-race interview he said he was suffering, but my impression was that the others were suffering much harder.

I feel a bit sorry for Bardet. That guy was second in the Tour, second in the WC, and now second in LBL. He'll probably finish his career without a major win, not counting Tour stages. He would deserve one major win, but he always comes out against one stronger rider.

 

[staubsauger]

Nah, Carapaz just totally blew up that's why he wasn't even in the second group. He always does this trying to follow Pogacar or Vingegaard, goes completely in the red and then bonks.

To be fair, it worked up towards Portet & Luz Ardiden in 2021. Carapaz simply has been a non-show since his move to Education First.

I think if Bardet had ridden the 2016 Giro d'Italia in theory he could have gotten a big win @Pantani_lives. Eventually that's purely hypothetical of course. Before he fell ill at the 2022 Giro d'Italia he looked the strongest climber on Blockhaus however. He's obviously past his prime now.

 

[Slavique Nuke]

Fortunately only 10 days till Eschborn-frankfurt.

What I remember from last year's race is that the TV coverage was terrible, GPS was worse than 1.1 Italian race. The little racing that was shown was more akin to MotoGP.

 

[Oldermanish]

Pogacar made the ultimate mother-in-law joke today. His win was so easy to predict that you would almost overlook how impressive it is. Just show up, drop everyone, and that's it. In the post-race interview he said he was suffering, but my impression was that the others were suffering much harder.

I feel a bit sorry for Bardet. That guy was second in the Tour, second in the WC, and now second in LBL. He'll probably finish his career without a major win, not counting Tour stages. He would deserve one major win, but he always comes out against one stronger rider.

The French adore riders that give it all, even if they don't succeed.

 

[Oldermanish]

Pogacar made the ultimate mother-in-law joke today. His win was so easy to predict that you would almost overlook how impressive it is. Just show up, drop everyone, and that's it. In the post-race interview he said he was suffering, but my impression was that the others were suffering much harder.

I feel a bit sorry for Bardet. That guy was second in the Tour, second in the WC, and now second in LBL. He'll probably finish his career without a major win, not counting Tour stages. He would deserve one major win, but he always comes out against one stronger rider.

This reminds me a little of Remco's classic solo last year. He got a gap with iffy road traction and some headwinds to the finish. The effort to the finish was tactically simple: you only have to TT faster than the strongest single chaser.....that you have already dropped. Take no unnecessary chances and the pursuers will race for second pretty quickly. Great job by Pogi. He knows how to hurt himself just short of fatally.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Random question but what happened to Hindley? I swear he was top 10 over La Redoute but the results show him at 52nd, 12 minutes back. Did he crash?

 

[Tricycle Rider]

After Itzulia we will never hear or watch anyone injured in a crash ever again. How is Canal?

According to the English translation (I don't speak Spanish) he had suffered a head injury (but no brain injury) and some bruised bones, but apparently nothing dramatic, he'll be under observation overnight.

I don't know how to repost Twitter stuff, so I'll just copy and paste from Movistar's Spanish Twitter post.

Tras su caída en la
@LiegeBastogneL
| #LBL, el gallego sufrió un traumatismo craneal, por el que ha pasado test y pruebas negativas para lesiones óseas y cerebrales.Carlos sufre heridas y contusiones en hombro izquierdo y ambas rodillas, sin otras lesiones que reseñar.Pasará la noche en observación, siguiendo el protocolo de contusión craneal, en el Centro Hospitalario Reine Astrid de Malmedy, Bélgica.

 

[Bolder]

To be fair, it worked up towards Portet & Luz Ardiden in 2021. Carapaz simply has been a non-show since his move to Education First.

I think if Bardet had ridden the 2016 Giro d'Italia in theory he could have gotten a big win @Pantani_lives. Eventually that's purely hypothetical of course. Before he fell ill at the 2022 Giro d'Italia he looked the strongest climber on Blockhaus however. He's obviously past his prime now.

Every time I think Bardet is past his prime he comes up with a ride like today. I’m continually impressed by how good he is in long hard races and bad weather for how spindly he is. He looks in shape for a top 5 at the Giro right now…

But having no punch and no TT, and a tendency to crash and fall ill in GTs has limited his palmarès.

 

[kingjr]

According to the English translation (I don't speak Spanish) he had suffered a head injury (but no brain injury) and some bruised bones, but apparently nothing dramatic, he'll be under observation overnight.

I don't know how to repost Twitter stuff, so I'll just copy and paste from Movistar's Spanish Twitter post.

Tras su caída en la
@LiegeBastogneL
| #LBL, el gallego sufrió un traumatismo craneal, por el que ha pasado test y pruebas negativas para lesiones óseas y cerebrales.Carlos sufre heridas y contusiones en hombro izquierdo y ambas rodillas, sin otras lesiones que reseñar.Pasará la noche en observación, siguiendo el protocolo de contusión craneal, en el Centro Hospitalario Reine Astrid de Malmedy, Bélgica.

That's good to hear. Looked really nasty, seemed like he went stiff the way fighters sometimes do when they get knocked out.

 

[staubsauger]

Every time I think Bardet is past his prime he comes up with a ride like today. I’m continually impressed by how good he is in long hard races and bad weather for how spindly he is. He looks in shape for a top 5 at the Giro right now…

But having no punch and no TT, and a tendency to crash and fall ill in GTs has limited his palmarès.

Weirdly enough Bardet used to have a decent punch when he came up in 2012!

 

[Rackham]

Pogacar made the ultimate mother-in-law joke today. His win was so easy to predict that you would almost overlook how impressive it is. Just show up, drop everyone, and that's it. In the post-race interview he said he was suffering, but my impression was that the others were suffering much harder.

I feel a bit sorry for Bardet. That guy was second in the Tour, second in the WC, and now second in LBL. He'll probably finish his career without a major win, not counting Tour stages. He would deserve one major win, but he always comes out against one stronger rider.

I have no disrespect for Bardet but his second place is a bit like VdP's third place, i.e. a roll of the dice based on the tactics & movement of others. Carapaz wasted a load of energy chasing Pog & then the others wasted time looking at each other after la Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, i.e. which allowed Bardet to build his definitive gap.

It's why IMO it's impossible to extrapolate his performance here into something in the Giro or Tour.

There was basically Pog... & then the rest.

 

[Red Rick]

Random question but what happened to Hindley? I swear he was top 10 over La Redoute but the results show him at 52nd, 12 minutes back. Did he crash?

I'm pretty sure he wasn't in the first 10 over La Redoute, that looked to be Vlasov to me.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

, i.e. a roll of the dice based on the tactics & movement of others. Carapaz wasted a load of energy chasing Pog & then the others wasted time looking at each other after la Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, i.e. which allowed Bardet to build his definitive gap.

That's what racing is mate?

Bardet clearly the second best in this race taking into account legs and tactics

 

[Red Rick]

Bardet has always been a very good rider for these type of races, but typically lacked the raw W/kg and sprint to get a win. 2nd in Insbruck 2018 for example

 

[Rackham]

That's what racing is mate?

Bardet clearly the second best in this race taking into account legs and tactics

Bardet's second place in the TdF had way more value than his second place in Liège today. Re-read my post, i.e. my point (which I'll repeat) is based on Bardet's form (certainly at this point on his career) it's not possible to extrapolate this second place finish in Liège today into any predictions for the upcoming GT's (like top 5's etc. like during his prime years).

 

[shalgo]

Biggest gap between first and second in Liège since 1980.

Pogi Giro win confirmed.

 

[shalgo]

As far as I can tell, the last person to podium the Ronde, Paris-Roubaix, and LBL in the same season was Adrie van der Poel in 1986.

And now the most recent to do it is his son.

 

[KZD]

Pogačar doing what everyone expected of him, a solo from La Redoute while putting lots of time into his rivals and frankly I don't think anyone would have beaten him today, even Remco.

Bardet with a great second place, I wasn't expecting this from him at this point of his career but he showed that he still has it and sharing a monument podium with 6 time winners, Pogačar and Van der Poel has to be one of the highest points of his career.

Van der Poel did a really clever race, apart from the fact that he got caught up on that crash but he managed to use his endurance and sprint to finish ahead of many riders that climbed better than him. I still don't think that he can beat Pogačar or peak shape Remco here but if he peaks for this and Pogačar skips the race, who knows.

Honourable mention to Carapaz that is showing quite good legs while coming back from injury and even though he couldn't follow Pogačar at least he tried. Bernal attack up Roche Aux Faucons was also quite nice to see even though he didn't had much left in the tank.

 

[Tonton]

Bravo Romain! Unfortunately for him (and Matthieu), Teddy Merckx was there. Another amazing win for the highlights machine.

 

[Winnen]

Congratz to Pogacar, he was outstanding (as expected). Not expected (by me): Bardet! Great result, chapeau! Van der Poel third by riding smart (with the exception of being too far back during the crash). Great result, not as impressive as I had hoped. But we all knew that he would have a hard time vs the climbers.

Van der Poel en LBL are as Federer and Roland Garros. He could win it, but the stars need to be aligned. Federer needed only Nadal not to be there, MvdP needs more stars to be aligned. Not worth it to fully focus on IMHO.

Can you imagine if this race had Pogacar, Evenepoel, Vingegaard, and Roglic? A monument deserves a monumental lineup.

Spring has ended. I feel a bit down. How many days until the Giro?

 

[RedheadDane]

And now the most recent to do it is his son.

We know what to expect 38 years from now.

 

[kingjr]

I have no disrespect for Bardet but his second place is a bit like VdP's third place, i.e. a roll of the dice based on the tactics & movement of others. Carapaz wasted a load of energy chasing Pog & then the others wasted time looking at each other after la Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, i.e. which allowed Bardet to build his definitive gap.

It's why IMO it's impossible to extrapolate his performance here into something in the Giro or Tour.

There was basically Pog... & then the rest.

Bardet was excellent today, second strongest in the race, IMO.

 

[Cookster15]

Congrats to Tadej Pogačar!

Not sure why I had an inkling of doubt that MVDP might be able to surprise, I should know better!

Happy to see Bardet grab a worthy 2nd.

Pog's wins are becoming hugely predictable because he is just that much better than everyone else.
Everyone should watch the below video (posted by someone else yesterday) to get a gauge of what the peloton is currently thinking about Pog.

Tom Pidcock Strade Bianchi interview

I am also thinking what we are seeing is kind of confirming what Mou was warning us . Remember, he came off a stint at altitude. Roll on the Giro.

 

[Bolder]

Weirdly enough Bardet used to have a decent punch when he came up in 2012!

Really? I don’t remember that, but I confess I didn’t follow him closely until a few years later.