Omega Pharma Quick Step: Are you kidding me??

[Rollthedice]

It looked impressive because he dropped Sagan. With Valverde there it would have been a different story. It was too steep for Sagan who looks to have many more kilos than Kwiatkovski plus he has been riding on his own most of the race compared to OPQS. On the other hand Canc said:

Kwiatkowski was playing with us

Riders know when another rider’s is on a great day, we can see it. He was pedalling really easy and his team was strong too. He was the only one to get across to Peter and then dropped him

Can't wait to see what's next. Smashing T-A.

 

[Lanark]

It looked impressive because he dropped Sagan. With Valverde there it would have been a different story. It was too steep for Sagan who looks to have many more kilos than Kwiatkovski plus he has been riding on his own most of the race compared to OPQS. On the other hand Canc said:





Can't wait to see what's next. Smashing T-A.

TA is going to be great for Kwiat. Killing Quintana in the mountains, Sagan in the uphill sprints, Martin and Cancellara in the ITT. The new Merckx is born.

 

[GuyIncognito]

The new Merckx

You mean he's going to test positive three times?

 

[Lanark]

You mean he's going to test positive three times?

Clearly a set-up.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Clearly a set-up.

The germans did it. They hate the poles

 

[will10]

I heard the floors on OPQS bus's have been made by Quick step using all their top of the range stuff and using the latest technologies available on floor making. The smoothness of the walking inside their bus's translates to at least a 10% marginal gain on the road.

True story!!!

In all seriousness, lol Ibarguen. I wonder how last year would have gone if Boonen didn't have the ridiculous amount of bad luck he had. Terpstra was pretty weak but Stybar, Kwia, Vandenberg and Chavannel were very strong and they were supposed to be just support riders for Boonen.

With the way they are going this year they may even take their domination to the ardennes with Kwia, something they haven't done since Bettini!!

It says a lot when for last year's Roubaix they had Boonen crash out in Flanders, Chavanel caught up in crashes and splits early on, Vandenbergh crash on Carrefour and Stybar get taken out a couple of minutes later, and yet despite all that, they still put Terpstra on the podium.

With luck on their side this April, would anyone really bet against a possible Mapei repeat? It's certainly possible with the cards they have.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Personally I thought the writing was on the wall for Sagan, Kwiatowskihas been a quality rider for a while, and certainly a superior climber that Sagan. That last climb was steep and long and Kwia let Sagan burn himself out trying to drop him, then exploded last when Sagan slowed. Easy for the better climber.

 

[Marco Pantani]

They're confirming the signs, we've seen a month ago. I wonder how many classics Kwiatkowski is going to win?

 

[roundabout]

Personally I thought the writing was on the wall for Sagan, Kwiatowskihas been a quality rider for a while, and certainly a superior climber that Sagan. That last climb was steep and long and Kwia let Sagan burn himself out trying to drop him, then exploded last when Sagan slowed. Easy for the better climber.

the last climb is less than 1 km long, maybe 600 meters or so

 

[Benotti69]

Dim has compiled a very enlightening list over at velorooms listing all (1999-2012) those who have had their saddle sores treated by the good Doc Ibauguren

http://velorooms.com/index.php?topic=5199.0;topicseen

I wonder did Millar, when he reported Ricco and Piepoli to UCI, mention the doc? Did he mention Ibauguren in his book?

 

[JimmyFingers]

the last climb is less than 1 km long, maybe 600 meters or so

So you think Sagan should win, and Kwia requires to have doped to beat him, on a climb like that after that distance? This seems to be the charge against him? I regard Sagan as a phenom, an outlier, but he's puncheur and got found out by the better climber.

 

[roundabout]

So you think Sagan should win, and Kwia requires to have doped to beat him, on a climb like that after that distance? This seems to be the charge against him? I regard Sagan as a phenom, an outlier, but he's puncheur and got found out by the better climber.

I was merely disagreeing with you that it was a long climb. Kwiatkowski did the last uphill bit in just over 90 seconds. The really steep part was less than that. Over that distance being a better climber is not a major factor.

 

[The Hitch]

Personally I thought the writing was on the wall for Sagan, Kwiatowskihas been a quality rider for a while, and certainly a superior climber that Sagan. That last climb was steep and long and Kwia let Sagan burn himself out trying to drop him, then exploded last when Sagan slowed. Easy for the better climber.

No offense but hill climbs being different to mountains is like cycling 101. Sagan has been one of the best riders in the world on hills since Kwiatkowski was fighting his way through the conti scene and they are the same age.

His first pro win was outsprinting Purito on a hill finish. He's podiumed the Amstel Gold Race, he was the strongest rider here last year, he won the Liege stage of the Tour, he owned everyone on Chietti 2 years ago (including Nibali, who by your logic should win since hes a great climber). In short he is an absolute boss on hill finishes, the exact type of obstacle they faced yesterday.

And Kwiatkowski has only been a quality climber since he joined OPQS last year anyway.

 

[GuyIncognito]

None of those were a wall as steep as yesterday's
It was his job to know that Kwiatkowski was always going to be a lot better on that climb.

Not that that in any way invalidates how ridiculous OPQS are

 

[Netserk]

None of those were a wall as steep as yesterday's
It was his job to know that Kwiatkowski was always going to be a lot better on that climb.

Not that that in any way invalidates how ridiculous OPQS are

 

[ralphbert]

So you think Sagan should win, and Kwia requires to have doped to beat him, on a climb like that after that distance? This seems to be the charge against him? I regard Sagan as a phenom, an outlier, but he's puncheur and got found out by the better climber.

IMO Sagan was well beaten before the final hill, you could tell he was completely broken and suffering while Kwia was smoking a cigarette while eating a pancake and pedalling with one foot out.

 

[Saint Unix]

Personally I thought the writing was on the wall for Sagan, Kwiatowskihas been a quality rider for a while, and certainly a superior climber that Sagan. That last climb was steep and long and Kwia let Sagan burn himself out trying to drop him, then exploded last when Sagan slowed. Easy for the better climber.

Climbing has nothing to do with it in races with short, steep hills. The likes of Bettini and Cancellara are examples of mediocre climbers who do well when the hills require bursts of raw power, rather than sustained effort. Sagan has been a better "puncheur" than Kwiatkowski over the past years, and should do better than the Pole in races like the Strade Bianche. He definitely has more of the raw power than Kwia, as evidenced by his sprinting prowess.

At the end of it all it came to who had the most strength on that final climb. Kwiatkowski still had fuel to burn at end of the hill. Sagan didn't. The margin of victory was much larger than the difference in quality between the two, because Sagan realized he couldn't win and rolled leisurely across the finish line.

It was a great race, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary happen.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Kwia has trained for short bursts of raw power according OPQS performance director Jose Taus. Next time we will see him doing this in the saddle.

 

[Ferminal]

Let's talk if he drops Sagan on Poggio or Kwaremont/Paterberg. Unlikely Kwiatkowski races those though so it will most likely be him dropping a tired Sagan on Cauberg.

 

[Benotti69]

......

It was a great race, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary happen.

I think we should be looking for 'out of the ordinary' because ordinarily these guys are dopers and have been for decades

 

[hrotha]

Let's talk if he drops Sagan on Poggio or Kwaremont/Paterberg. Unlikely Kwiatkowski races those though so it will most likely be him dropping a tired Sagan on Cauberg.

Personally I'm tired of always having to wait for the next big race before being allowed to pass judgment, all while OPQS plays with everyone in the classics for a couple of seasons in a row.

It's not Kwiatkowski. It's not Chavanel. It's not Terpstra. It's not Vandenbergh. It's not Meersman. It's not Van Keirsbulck. Hell, it's not even Ibarguren. It's all of them combined.

 

[TailWindHome]

Personally I'm tired of always having to wait for the next big race before being allowed to pass judgement,

That's quite a statement when you think about it.

 

[zigmeister]

Didn't they can Levi when he confessed to USADA basically ending his career?

I understand what you are saying TS, but they seemed to have changed their tune. Just giving them a "hard time" doesn't solve sh!t.

 

[King Boonen]

So, it seems to me Kwiatkowski is having the kind of progression that everyone thinks a rider should have. He's young, he's looked good for a number of years and he's now coming good, early in the season when others might not be in peak shape.

The results don't seem hugely surprising so far based on what he has done previously do they?

 

[Parrulo]

That's quite a statement when you think about it.

Why? Hrotha is absolutely right. OPQS has been dominating the cobbled classics for years now so what exactly are waiting for to pass judgement? Another PR 1-2-3 like they have done before?

The fact that on this very thread i said Terpstra looked weaker than expected last year (compared to his team mates), yet he still finished third in PR says a lot about the overall level they have been showing.

Hell, if PR goes well for them Boonen, Stybar, Terpstra and Vandenbergh could all be inside the top 10 and no one would be surprised!!!

And now with Kwia showing super form and looking like 2011 Gilbert (i wonder who was his doctor that year . . .) on the hilly classics it is only getting more ridiculous.