Mattias Skjelmose: The Blond Assassin

[SHAD0W93]

Party pooper alert?

It’s relative on how the person views it and this was a great win for Skjelmose. I’m sure with everything in his post, he will have fond memories and remember this win for a long time.

I think they are on par.

The monuments are the equivalent to the Grand Tours in 1 day racing.

The next tier in stage racing is P-N, Tirreno, Catalunya, Itzulia, Romandie, Dauphine and TDS.

In 1 day racing the next tier is Omloop, Strade, E3, Wevelgem, Dwars, Amstel, Fleche and San Sebastian.

They are comparable but I’d rather win a stage race vs one day and he also had a great performance during that race. I also don’t think Omloop, Dwars, and San Sebastian are on that tier. I’d have them below it.

 

[tobydawq]

TDS is more prestigious race than AGR.

I really don't think that's a fact.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't know about you lot but I'd rather win an Amstel Gold Race being Pogacar and Evenepoel in a 3 man sprint than a TdS that everyone mainly remembers for the tragic death of a fellow rider.

 

[Brullnux]

Amstel is obviously a more prestigious race than the Tour of Switzerland. There is a much bigger drop between Grand Tours and one-week stage races than Monuments and Amstel/Ghent.

 

[Red Rick]

Amstel is obviously a more prestigious race than the Tour of Switzerland. There is a much bigger drop between Grand Tours and one-week stage races than Monuments and Amstel/Ghent.

I'd place the groups fairly close to each other overall but Amstel is arguably the most prestigious of it's class while Switserland at this point may be the least prestigious if we go by it's palmares the last 15 years.

 

[Rou]

It's obvious he values AGR more than TDS because he beat two mutants who are the face of cycling nowadays. The same way if Roglic beats Vingegaard in a Vuelta he would value it more than a Giro.

 

[Red Rick]

It's obvious he values AGR more than TDS because he beat two mutants who are the face of cycling nowadays. The same way if Roglic beats Vingegaard in a Vuelta he would value it more than a Giro.

I doubt Rog prefers his 2020 Vuelta win over his Giro win.

 

[Berniece]

It's obvious he values AGR more than TDS because he beat two mutants who are the face of cycling nowadays. The same way if Roglic beats Vingegaard in a Vuelta he would value it more than a Giro.

Indeed, it's the way he did it, the opposition, and the level op the opposition. The TDS he won was also against Evenepoel, but he wasn't in great shape, while now he actually is which makes the win more impressive.

 

[Brullnux]

I'd place the groups fairly close to each other overall but Amstel is arguably the most prestigious of it's class while Switserland at this point may be the least prestigious if we go by it's palmares the last 15 years.

I'm biased because I don't rate one-week races as highly as others, but I think fundamentally riders are much more likely to target races like Strade Bianche, Ghent-Wevelgem, E3, and Amstel than Switzerland, or even other one week races outside of maybe Paris-Nice. One week races act as prep for races in 1-4 months' time, normally, which diminishes their importance.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm biased because I don't rate one-week races as highly as others, but I think fundamentally riders are much more likely to target races like Strade Bianche, Ghent-Wevelgem, E3, and Amstel than Switzerland, or even other one week races outside of maybe Paris-Nice. One week races act as prep for races in 1-4 months' time, normally, which diminishes their importance.

They really aren't prep races at all, they are largely targets for different riders. Plenty of riders mainly target the stage races in the spring and then show up for the Ardennes as an afterthought. In fact, not one of the winners of the spring GC races is even showing up for the Ardennes which they're supposed to be prep races for. Yes, Jorgenson a very 1 day heavy schedule, but he specifically targeted Paris Nice within that schedule.

And I really don't see how we can treat E3 as a race that is actively targeted when it is 100% the main prep race for the real target and everyone races it because of it's low opportunity cost. And that's really the big differentiator. Most GC riders don't go for more than 2 WT stage races in the spring while classics riders can do like 5 one day races below the monuments. And even despite that, GW is usually skipped by RVV contenders, Fleche and Amstel have both had some rather poor fields in recent years too. Strade is beloved by fans but mostly it's just Pogacar showing up and killing an otherwise B-tier field as a training ride.