Luke Rowe

[MartinGT]

I've looked for a thread on him and can't find one.

After a strong start to the season especially at P-N I am rather gutted for him at the Ronde and PR.

Will he have a better chance?

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I doubt mechanicals made that much difference. He was not good enough on the cobbled climbs to do anything in the Ronde (as was the case in Harelbeke) and if he was good enough to be a big factor in PR then his attack would have stuck long enough to be part of the winning move

His best form was for the early season stage races - maybe a by-product of riding for a team that prioritises those races rather than the big one day races

 

[gunara]

Will he ever have any big result in his career? OK, maybe he's never among biggest contenders but weaker riders have won bigger things. He always looked to have enough freedom in many races but not enough freedom to focus on certain races so he always looked stronger when he was less free.

 

[Velolover2]

You doesn't have to win to be a important rider. He is strong as a bull. The perfect road captain for Sky.

He lacks the kick to get away on the climbs and the sprint for the final.. but on the flat, he is one of the best riders in the peloton. In this year's edition of Gent-Wevelgem he attacked from the peloton on the flat after getting dropped on the second Kemmelberg from the lead group. Not many riders can do that.

I don't know if he will win Paris-Roubaix but I'm sure he will podium it some day. Why isn't Sky riding Paris-Tours? With the new gravel tracks and soft hills, it's his best chance of a big win this year.

 

[Scarponi]

Just one of the 7-20th placed riders on their day could podium or even rarely win a big race but always have reasons they can’t

 

[F_Cance]

finally made his mark on a race

https://twitter.com/x/status/1444655592652558345

View: https://twitter.com/ju_drem/status/1444655592652558345

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Mistakes happen and I usually have a lot of respect for Luke Rowe as a bike rider. But this move was not okay, especially not coming from a rider with his experience and skillset in cobbled terrain. You'd expect him to be experienced and cold-headed enough to hold his own line or at least stop his bike. Apparently, he has since explained that he could not control his bike. Even if that is true, he still seemed to be aware that a group was coming up from behind with high speed. In my opinion, it looked like he could have just stopped the bike and waited for them to go past.

A shame really - for everyone involved. Rowe's aggressive attitude on social media about this particular incident doesn't really help him either, but I can't say I am too surprised to see him react like that. Having listened to his podcast with G Thomas, it seems to be a recurring feature in Rowe's life that he receives a lot of fan "abuse" whenever people disagree with him.

 

[Izzyeviel]

he could've done more to prevent it, but it looks like his front tyre just got away from him at the wrong moment and he speared into the centre of the road. He was trying to keep on the right out of the way but ran out of talent. It happens

 

[ciranda]

Please to change topic title to 'Slow Hand Luke'.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Just sad that this was an avoidable incident that happened. Who knows when the flat happened but more could have been done to avoid it. Some can view this as a kamikaze act to hamper Mads and MVP. Maybe instead of riding over wet, uneven cobbles he should have pulled to the side as they passed and started again. Of course there is the argument that it would be much harder to start back up after losing momentum. But he’s just putting himself and others at risk for injury riding on with a flat tire and in bad conditions. In any other situation the rider would be blamed as well. Especially when at that point he is just riding to finish the race.

 

[Escarabajo]

Just sad that this was an avoidable incident that happened. Who knows when the flat happened but more could have been done to avoid it. Some can view this as a kamikaze act to hamper Mads and MVP. Maybe instead of riding over wet, uneven cobbles he should have pulled to the side as they passed and started again. Of course there is the argument that it would be much harder to start back up after losing momentum. But he’s just putting himself and others at risk for injury riding on with a flat tire and in bad conditions. In any other situation the rider would be blamed as well. Especially when at that point he is just riding to finish the race.

So many ways to do it differently. Simply no excuse.