Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2014, 1 March, 198km, 1.HC

[Netserk]

A potato is faster than Stannard? Ivan Basso would outsprint Stannard? Calling Stannard a *** for working?

I second the egg on face comments. As a matter of fact, there is so much egg on some faces that they've disappeared and can't breath well enough to eat some humble pie.

While I agree that GVA would normally be considered a quicker finisher to Stannard, this was not just a "race" but a race of almost 5 hours, in what appeared to be very cold conditions, and quite a hard race at that.

GVA rode a fantastic race, he was the only one out of quite a large group who latched on when Stannard attacked. The strongest (and apparently most cunning despite all comments to the contrary) man left in this race at that point won. Simple as that.

Sep and Terpstra together could not bring down a gap of near only 10 secs for many kilometers. What's that say about the state of the legs remaining in the race...

EBH sat on for so long and didn't exactly humiliate Sep in the sprint.
It was close.
All five of them finishing together? I think it would have been tight between Sep and GVA. More shared work, and thus fresher legs for GVA and Sep. While I believe based on past sprint finishes that EBH theoretically is the best sprinter in that group, the difficulty of the race would have taken enough speed from his legs that the finish would have come down to GVA and Sep, particularly since Stannard would have probably done an even more disproportionate amount of work to set EBH up and keep the group away, reducing the work for GVA and Sep.

It's sad to see so many down on GVA for coming in 2nd so often. I would trade my racing legs anyday for GVA's.

Some people need to go race their bikes more. It beats cleaning egg.

And where were you with your supreme knowledge during the race?

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

What crap logic is that? So Boonen only had 33% to win the Ronde sprint in '12?

And only 2% in e3?

Stop pulling Stannard you ****ing ***!!!!

Enough said.

 

[kingjr]

Stannard said he was confident he could win the sprint, so why should he have risked anyone catching up again.

 

[Netserk]

Enough said.

Yeah I remember your posts during the race, where you argued that it was sound for him to pull, even though he at some point could see EBH behind.

 

[spalco]

And where were you with your supreme knowledge during the race?

Yeah, it's easy to look smart in hindsight.

Also, not all mid-race analysis in forums like is necessarily objective or reasonable, otherwise the race threads would be boring and we might all just watch Eurosport instead.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Mid-race debates are fine, but calling riders "***", "losers" or just LOLing at crashes proves again that cn is the kindergarten among cycling forums.

 

[Jspear]

OPQWhiners

Don't worry, there's more small races for them to rack wins.

What, like they can't rack up wins in bigger races? Dude, go check your stats.

 

[willbick]

Im sure Stannard would be interested to read this thread to find out where he went wrong

 

[willbick]

tough fuccin bike racing

Why are they called the cobbled classics when they never ride on the cobbles?!

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Ever did the Taaienberg? It's hard enough.
Ever tried staying on the 2cm asfalt ditch on the paddenstraat? It's a skill.

On race radios: Terpstra didn't cooperate with EBH because he was waiting for the group with his teammates, only to realize when the group finally caught him, that almost no teammates were left (only Vandenbergh). If he would have known...

 

[willbick]

Im not saying its easy and of course it was a tongue in cheek comment but it does seem a bit funny that these races are renowned for the cobbles yet most of the time they ride off the cobbles on the verge!

 

[TourOfTexas]

A potato is faster than Stannard? Ivan Basso would outsprint Stannard? Calling Stannard a *** for working?

I second the egg on face comments. As a matter of fact, there is so much egg on some faces that they've disappeared and can't breath well enough to eat some humble pie.

I'll eat some humble pie. I was sure that Avermaet would take the sprint. I forgot that there's a difference between sprinting after sitting in a peloton all day and sprinting at the end of a gritty classic.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

I'll eat some humble pie. I was sure that Avermaet would take the sprint. I forgot that there's a difference between sprinting after sitting in a peloton all day and sprinting at the end of a gritty classic.

That makes sense for a young ladd like Demarre but a pro of 28 years - even when he is Greg van Avermaet - that doesnt make sense.

Lets call it a van Avermaet the next time a good finisher gets beaten like this by a flatiron.

Nice race. Nice podium.

 

[willbick]

Doesnt matter how good yr sprint is. If yr knackered, yr knackered

 

[Afrank]

tough fuccin bike racing

Now this, is real racing. Hard, miserable, wet, it's the kind of racing conditions that makes a cyclist hate bikes...I love it!

 

[Hitchey]

The lack of race radios make things a lot more interesting. However, it is very easy for someone watching on TV to see (what they think is) the whole picture. We can see how much or how little (as the case was) EBH has had to work.

In theory Stannard pulling to force the chasers to work and give EBH an easy ride until they bridge is sound. But Stannard does not know how good EBH is feeling. He does, however, know how he feels and can probably get a decent reading on GVA. This is information that the viewer does not have.

EBH did not look that great sprinting for third and I agree with you that GVA probably suffered from the course and the weather. But Stannard did get the jump on him and arguably that is where he lost the sprint.

Can you win and have the wrong tactics? Yes.
Can you lose and have the right tactics? Yes.

But in the end it is the winning that everyone remembers.

Right on the mark.

Of course, but I doesn't work like that. Else I would trade them again for Sagan's

If we were playing fantasy cycling, naturally. My point there is only that GVA is a damned good rider.

Let's be honest, it was a tactical error that accidentally ended up positive for him.

I don't believe that was the case in this race.
It appeared to me that he rode the best tactical race out of anyone else there. He put the right effort in at the right time when he initiated the winning break, and beat someone regarded as a better sprinter. There was quite a large group there when he attacked. If anyone felt strong enough or aggressive enough to bridge up and contribute, I think they would have. Was there anyone else in that final group who had the legs but not the agressiveness to win? Perhaps. But we'll never know.

And where were you with your supreme knowledge during the race?

Paying attention to the actual race...

 

[will10]

Greg would've won with two gloves.

 

[Flamin]

Just rewatched it. Great great race, love it.

 

[Hitchey]

Greg would've won with two gloves.

You lost me with your post, and I'm not being a smartaas. I really don't get the meaning, I've not heard that one before. I think I get it, but clue me in.

The quote in your signature is a classic, btw. I've forgotten some of the nonsense that's been spewed.

 

[Jspear]

You lost me with your post, and I'm not being a smartaas. I really don't get the meaning, I've not heard that one before. I think I get it, but clue me in.

The quote in your signature is a classic, btw. I've forgotten some of the nonsense that's been spewed.

I think he's referring to the photo several posts back where GVA is only wearing one glove.

 

[kottila]

Ever did the Taaienberg? It's hard enough.
Ever tried staying on the 2cm asfalt ditch on the paddenstraat? It's a skill.

On race radios: Terpstra didn't cooperate with EBH because he was waiting for the group with his teammates, only to realize when the group finally caught him, that almost no teammates were left (only Vandenbergh). If he would have known...

didn't he have a team-car behind them that could've told him he was on his own?

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

I'm not sure the gap was big enough to let team cars pass (mostly race jury allows it when it over 1 minute)

 

[Hugo87]

didn't he have a team-car behind them that could've told him he was on his own?

No radios allowed in the race i think.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

hence the question