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After six plus hours of racing VdP didn't decide his positioning.Never would gave predicted this. Van der Poel really needs to position himself better to win this classic.
Anyway, on to the cobbles.
4. Pidcock has the tactical sense of a brick
Well it was difficult for he and WVA as they were at the front of the chase group, they just left themselves too much to do while maybe paying too much attention to what was going on behind them. Even if Ewan jumped first he still may not have got there in time.And what could he have done diffrently? What was his mistake in last 200m? Should he start sprinting earlier?
I get the feeling he doesn't particularly like this race either. What I can't understand is why he starts the Poggio in 25th position. That cost him more than anything.
Tbh a win for VDP never looked on the cards today. 100 man on Cipressa is a bad sign for punchers.
Nice win by Stuyven, should be talked about much more. Perfectly timed attacked. Played it smart with Kragh.
Evenepol is only 21 years old.This is Pidcock first year in the World Tour
He is 21 years old
This is his first MSR
He beat most of the field including Allaphillipe
Cut the guy some slack ...He is an amasing talent and he will win this race yet
Bit of a ridiculous thing to say tbh ...
What is more he will beat the over hyped Evenepol in races like this is in the future
Yes, after six hours on the bike they were fresh!Under normal conditions, Stuyven is much faster, but as you can see, Stuyven had a huge gap and still SKA bridged very fast. You could see Stuyven bonk big time. SKA probably thought he had better odds beating a cooked Stuyven, than against a fresh Ewan, van Aert and van der Poel... wouldn't you?
Compared to Stuyven, quite.Yes, after six hours on the bike they were fresh!
Yes, thought so too. He constantly seemed torn between going for it and waiting up.Van Aert closed the gap on Pidcock. Possibly he should have kept going when he did that because he had a gap on the others.
Congratulations to Stuyven for rolling the dice and coming up big with his late attack but can’t help feel like he got away with it because of a lack of cooperation behind.
I agree with most of this except maybe that last one as I don't believe Evenepoel is overhyped. And no guarantee he'll ever win here since it's such a crapshoot, but honestly, Pidcock is one of maybe 5 guys you could legitimately argue was the strongest guy n the race. And he's one of the few who actually tried something - twice.This is Pidcock first year in the World Tour
He is 21 years old
This is his first MSR
He beat most of the field including Allaphillipe
Cut the guy some slack ...He is an amasing talent and he will win this race yet
Bit of a ridiculous thing to say tbh ...
What is more he will beat the over hyped Evenepol in races like this is in the future
I didn't see him - it looked like the only Lotto riders there were Wellens and Degenkolb - but obviously he had the legs to be there. Don't think Colbrelli was in that front group either but he was obviously on a good day also whereas other sprinters who looked good on Cipressa like Demare, Kristoff, Laporte and Ackermann were absent in the finaleWas Ewan in the first group after the Cipressa? I can't remember....
yeah, they're exactly the ones to wonder, not the guy who was top 10 every time last decade and was predicted to equal the Zabel record by now. It's MSR, the easiest monument to finish, the most difficult one to win. Those two have definetely the skillset to win it, but the skill is just not enough in San RemoEwan needed a team mate in the final km but he looked great on the climb. Matthews and Ewan both must be wondering what they have to do to win MSR.
Was Ewan in the first group after the Cipressa? I can't remember....