Milano - Sanremo: March 20, 2021

[johnymax]

He was about 3'' behind Sagan on the top.

That was Colbrelli.

 

[Andy262]

It's always good to see an attacking rider win a big race.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1373298510271893510

View: https://twitter.com/TrekSegafredo/status/1373298510271893510?s=20

That first pic is certainly one to hang on your wall. A who's who...

 

[spalco]

Caleb Ewan desperately looking around for anyone to do his work for him was amusing.

Good for stuyvens, great win!

 

[tobydawq]

That was Colbrelli.

No, Colbrelli was in front of Sagan at that time.

 

[Blanco]

Firstly, Sagan usually ends up worse when having a actual lead out. Second, I think they didn't know, what Sagan had left in the tank. If you watch the replay, both Sagan and Schachmann started sprinting at the same time. When Schachmann saw, that Sagan actually is sprinting pretty well, he just sat down.

But why didn't Schachmann pulled the group to catch that duo? Sagan at least has a chance in sprint...

 

[BlueRoads]

I just read van der Poel said the attacks on the poggio came so late? Why didn't he attack earlier himself?? I would have counted on him to do so. When you beat Alaphilippe on a steep climb in Strade, why would you not try to seriously attack on the poggio?
I know van Aert likes to ride a bit more conservatively, but I don't really understand van der Poel, as the biggest favourite here. I thought maybe the distance did more to him than I had thought, but this sentence sounds like it was a deliberate decision to follow wheels instead... But I only read this, didn't see the whole interview.

 

[johnymax]

He was about 3'' behind Sagan on the top.

No, Colbrelli was in front of Sagan at that time.

You are both right. I watched it again and Colbrelli was ahead of Sagan and you could see Mohorič about 5s behind Sagan on top of Poggio. When I was watching live I only saw one rider from Bahrain (Colbrelli). Probably because Mohorič was the last rider shown in that camera view on the top of Poggio and they changed the shot before he completed the U turn at the top, so I missed him.

 

[tomorrow]

But why didn't Schachmann pulled the group to catch that duo? Sagan at least has a chance in sprint...

Same reason. Didn't know what Sagan had in him and Bora wasn't prepared to bank everything on that card. Schachmann actually tried go for it himself, but he had someone on his wheel, so he stopped pulling and decided to wait for the sprint, if it had come.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Everybody talking about SKA "gifting" Stuyven the win, the real mistake was van der Poel being too far down on the Poggio. Had he been where he should have been, he would have been able to join van Aert and Alaphilippe and they'd been gone with the three of them. Now, van der Poel had to start from too far back, and instead of gapping the rest behind WvA & JA, he brought the others back, and it was a big group that stayed together. So Jasper should thank Mathieu more, and Mathieu should feel worse than SKA who basically had no chance than go in the attack.

 

[SafeBet]

For anyone wondering, Ponomar did finish the race. A respectable 83th place, only 3 minutes behind the winner.

 

[Ripper]

I just read van der Poel said the attacks on the poggio came so late? Why didn't he attack earlier himself?? I would have counted on him to do so. When you beat Alaphilippe on a steep climb in Strade, why would you not try to seriously attack on the poggio?
I know van Aert likes to ride a bit more conservatively, but I don't really understand van der Poel, as the biggest favourite here. I thought maybe the distance did more to him than I had thought, but this sentence sounds like it was a deliberate decision to follow wheels instead... But I only read this, didn't see the whole interview.

Ineos/Ganna had been just drilling it up the Poggio I think?

Also - might not have had the legs, distance, perhaps peaked a bit too early (time will tell). Or he was bored

EDIT: Just watched it again. Whatever the reason, he definitely did not have the same acceleration. Perhaps due to legs/stamina, etc., or perhaps he does not accelerate as well off sustained high speeds. But it took him quite a while to bridge up compared to his normal ways.

 

[Red Rick]

So did we actually have tailwind on the Poggio in the end?

Before the race I thought there's no way anyone can stay with Ala/MvdP/WvA. Got that one wrong.

Now the real question is what actually happened on the Poggio. There's no question for me Alas attack seemed weaker than the previous 2 years. Van der Poel ruined his Poggio climb with his positioning. He started the climb like 5 seconds down which is *** deadly on a hill where you have to win positions through the wind and where 5 seconds is like 1.5% of the climb already,

All in all, I think the 3 favorites may have gone too hard in Strade and Tirreno and weren't fully recovered for this one. I also think that VdP isn't that suited to MSR. He loves his short brutal accelerations and recovering from those, but MSR is one 5 minute drag + 1 minute sprint and you should always be below threshold before that.

 

[Ripper]

So did we actually have tailwind on the Poggio in the end?

Before the race I thought there's no way anyone can stay with Ala/MvdP/WvA. Got that one wrong.

Now the real question is what actually happened on the Poggio. There's no question for me Alas attack seemed weaker than the previous 2 years. Van der Poel ruined his Poggio climb with his positioning. He started the climb like 5 seconds down which is *** deadly on a hill where you have to win positions through the wind and where 5 seconds is like 1.5% of the climb already,

All in all, I think the 3 favorites may have gone too hard in Strade and Tirreno and weren't fully recovered for this one. I also think that VdP isn't that suited to MSR. He loves his short brutal accelerations and recovering from those, but MSR is one 5 minute drag + 1 minute sprint and you should always be below threshold before that.

I think there was a tailwind, but perhaps someone has more up to date wind condition info?

 

[Wvv]

Stuyven deserves the win because he dared to lose.

Column title in Belgium. Fitting one.

 

[Ripper]

It's already been said in a way, but Ewan was just too good and ended up being a wet blanket for the attack. No one was going to go full in and tow him to the line. And for good reason, considering he still took second.

Good race and interesting to see how much tactics played a role

 

[Red Rick]

I think there was a tailwind, but perhaps someone has more up to date wind condition info?

I rewatched the Poggio, but there's no good indicators of wind there, few bushes seem to indicate some tailwind

That said I think what really happened everyone was waiting for Alaphilippe to blow up the race on that one steep stretch then his attack was pretty weak then the hard part of the Poggio was over and everyone was wheel in wheel.

 

[tomorrow]

So did we actually have tailwind on the Poggio in the end?

Before the race I thought there's no way anyone can stay with Ala/MvdP/WvA. Got that one wrong.

Now the real question is what actually happened on the Poggio. There's no question for me Alas attack seemed weaker than the previous 2 years. Van der Poel ruined his Poggio climb with his positioning. He started the climb like 5 seconds down which is *** deadly on a hill where you have to win positions through the wind and where 5 seconds is like 1.5% of the climb already,

All in all, I think the 3 favorites may have gone too hard in Strade and Tirreno and weren't fully recovered for this one. I also think that VdP isn't that suited to MSR. He loves his short brutal accelerations and recovering from those, but MSR is one 5 minute drag + 1 minute sprint and you should always be below threshold before that.

Also, the MVDP and WVA shape migth also be on the decline after the CX winter, although still on very good level, but not monster any more. They started strong, because they carried the form from the winter, but might slightly fade away. Actually, WVA was always very strong in march, but started to fade away on cobbles. They dominated last year, because thanks to Covid 19, they had enough time to recover before the road thingy happened. This year might actually answer, if it is possible to combine CX and ROAD after all. The april and WCH will tell, that's for sure.

 

[Red Rick]

Stuyven deserves the win because he dared to lose.

Column title in Belgium. Fitting one.

This adagium is so not fitting for this one.

His timing was perfect, but he had nothing to lose making that attack, and all but 5 guys in that group were looking to attack.

 

[Red Rick]

Also, the MVDP and WVA shape migth also be on the decline after the CX winter, although still on very good level, but not monster any more. They started strong, because they carried the form from the winter, but might slightly fade away. Actually, WVA was always very strong in march, but started to fade away on cobbles. They dominated last year, because thanks to Covid 19, they had enough time to recover before the road thingy happened. This year might actually answer, if it is possible to combine CX and ROAD after all. The april and WCH will tell, that's for sure.

That's an interesting theory I hadn't thought about

 

[Ripper]

Also, the MVDP and WVA shape migth also be on the decline after the CX winter, although still on very good level, but not monster any more. They started strong, because they carried the form from the winter, but might slightly fade away. Actually, WVA was always very strong in march, but started to fade away on cobbles. They dominated last year, because thanks to Covid 19, they had enough time to recover before the road thingy happened. This year might actually answer, if it is possible to combine CX and ROAD after all. The april and WCH will tell, that's for sure.

They might ... might ... have still had fatigue in their legs from TA. But really, only a week ago they were destroying people, so I doubt it is a decline. WvA did not look off, but he was definitely not super aggresive either.

 

[Ripper]

I rewatched the Poggio, but there's no good indicators of wind there, few bushes seem to indicate some tailwind

That said I think what really happened everyone was waiting for Alaphilippe to blow up the race on that one steep stretch then his attack was pretty weak then the hard part of the Poggio was over and everyone was wheel in wheel.

It was because of the super-tuck ban! Neutralized the Poggio descent!

 

[Ripper]

Also, what the heck was Pidcock trying to do? There was a lot of pointless burning of matches there. Good training I guess?

 

[tobydawq]

Also, what the heck was Pidcock trying to do? There was a lot of pointless burning of matches there. Good training I guess?

Come on, nobody is training in the final 10 kms of MSR...

 

[BlueRoads]

I am absolutely not sure, because I don't now enough about cycling for that, but to me it didn't look like the B3 were tired, but that each of them looked at the others, that the race wasn't hard at any time - that would, although I don't want to downplay their achievements, explain why a not so in form Sagan and some sprinters could keep up. I mean, they did not come back, they were never dropped. Even Ackermann wasn't far away and we know he's not a great climber. So I don't think Ineos drilled it so hard, but that simply van Aert didn't attack because he doesn't have the poggio punch like vdP and Ala, so chose to wait for them, Ala waited for vdP until it was too late, vdP waited because?? he thought Ala and Wout have already won this, so they must attack, everyone else saw Ewan with them and didn't want to burn their match, and also, there are three favourites to attack...

 

[CyclistAbi]

Likely Wout van Aert worked a bit too hard on Cipressa and as a result no real selection could be made after. Some of that likely comes down to team support but on the other hand i feel Wout van Aert is a few percent less prepared, going in this season. Maybe becoming a dad had some effect and hard to blame him for that. Noticed a bit of that in cyclocross already.

Nonetheless congratulations to Jasper Stuyven, fully deserved.