Murcia - Almeria - Jaen (February 10th, 11th & 12th)

[hayneplane]

One of those dull formulaic races where there is no meaningful action because every team is basing their strategy on a bunch sprint so they are barely even doing training ride pace.

That said I am still watching!

 

[Netserk]

Now he moved back up to the front.

 

[Netserk]

Auch.

 

[Didinho]

Chaos.

 

[Didinho]

Moschetti? Kooij?

Hard crash.

 

[Netserk]

Kooij as expected.

 

[Didinho]

De Lie had to start early from behind. Sprinting with his goggles in his shirt. New aero stuff.

 

[Netserk]

Van Aert unintentionally causing the crash by sitting up.

 

[Faserr]

Foto finish?

 

[scribers]

Van Aert unintentionally causing the crash by sitting up.

I thought he drifted straight back. Seems like that’s on the guys behind him

 

[scribers]

Chaos.

The whole peloton was moving left to right so much I’m surprised the crashes didn’t come until the end. I wasn’t surprised some guys went down

 

[Lequack]

If they had made the finish 5km @ 10% they would have avoided these dangerous finishes.

 

[yaco]

Kooij looked a bit underdone as he got the most perfect lead-out from Van Aert and just got the bickies - De Lie often loses the wheel in bunch sprints which gives him an impossible task at the finish.

 

[KZD]

Moschetti almost won again but this duo Van Aert + Kooij will be very difficult to beat in the Giro.

Hope the riders that crashed are ok.

 

[tobydawq]

That was really, really close. Pretty funny celebration by Kooij who thought he had done something stupid (he had but it didn't cost him).

 

[kingjr]

Kooij looked a bit underdone as he got the most perfect lead-out from Van Aert and just got the bickies - De Lie often loses the wheel in bunch sprints which gives him an impossible task at the finish.

He also isn't all that great on flat finishes.

 

[Sneekes]

I thought he drifted straight back. Seems like that’s on the guys behind him

I agree, Van Aert maintains his line as compared to the white line on the road, but the barriers funnel slightly squeezing those over his right shoulder. Not WVAs fault. We really need to look at the placement of barriers at sprint finishes.

 

[Samamba]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1756736921269678495

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1756736921269678495


So the reason why some sectors got removed seems clear

I would say, just do a good old cyclocross, but hey that's just me

 

[Netserk]

I agree, Van Aert maintains his line as compared to the white line on the road, but the barriers funnel slightly squeezing those over his right shoulder. Not WVAs fault. We really need to look at the placement of barriers at sprint finishes.

The problem was not that he moved, but that he coasted where riders behind him were sprinting, and his placement meant that they could only pass him on one side, but I think the rider who crashed saw him too late to get on the other side of him.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

The problem was not that he moved, but that he coasted where riders behind him were sprinting, and his placement meant that they could only pass him on one side, but I think the rider who crashed saw him too late to get on the other side of him.

They crashed because once again the race organisers couldn't be bothered to put the barriers in a straight *** line.
Honestly m8, we all learn in kindergarten how to draw a *** straight line. The fact that the UCI still hasn't implemented a rule about this means they just don't give a bloody testicle about rider's safety.

 

[Sciatic]

The problem was not that he moved, but that he coasted where riders behind him were sprinting, and his placement meant that they could only pass him on one side, but I think the rider who crashed saw him too late to get on the other side of him.

But doesn’t the lead out guy do that at every sprint finish, meaning upcoming riders need to be aware there is going to one guy going slower than the rest in the final 50-100 meters?

 

[Didinho]

They crashed because once again the race organisers couldn't be bothered to put the barriers in a straight *** line.
Honestly m8, we all learn in kindergarten how to draw a *** straight line. The fact that the UCI still hasn't implemented a rule about this means they just don't give a bloody testicle about rider's safety.

Yeah I said it here before that they all better have these big yellow barriers like in Flandres. I've tried to move them in Leuven at the Worlds, in the Scheldeprijs and at the Primus classic. Rock solid. What I can see here in Murcia with a lot of people at these finishes, maybe they lean forward with some rows to see better and they move in some places. Not so good for staying in 1 line, I assume they put it like that before the race, like we all expect.
Safety first in my opinion.

 

[Samamba]

So this is the parcours for tomorrow now. It's still hard with the given rain and the small dirt roads, still a possibility there will carnage.

Start list looks really good with Van Aert, Ayuso, Kuss, Oconnor, Kwiatkowski, Rodriguez, Wellens, Lazkano, Soler, ...

And I've heard yesterday that a wild De Lie might replace Florian Vermeersch on the start list. No official confirmation from Lotto on their Twitter tho. And I think it's still too hard for him if the superteams make it super hard.

Edit: confirmed, De Lie at the start.

 

[Netserk]

But doesn’t the lead out guy do that at every sprint finish, meaning upcoming riders need to be aware there is going to one guy going slower than the rest in the final 50-100 meters?

Often riders can pass those on both sides in the closing meters.

 

[Sciatic]

Often riders can pass those on both sides in the closing meters.

Good point—in this instance it squeezed the rider behind toward the railing.