Paris - Roubaix 2021 (03.10)

[Red Rick]

He only needs to apologize, if he feels to, to the riders who crashed.
He doesn't owe us anything, and his strong words were (rightly) directed towards bullies that think they can attack him and even claim he did it on purpose.

Oh please. This is just causing a crash and then mouthing off on people criticizing you for causing it. Full **** behavior.

 

[tobydawq]

It's on GCN Race Pass as most other races. It's so cheap that I really can't wrap my head around any cycling fan not subscribing.

 

[Extinction]

Froome was injured entering the cobbled stage in 2014 and the Tour is not a race where you can hide an injury. Nibali put minutes into his rivals because he had a plan and his team executed perfectly.


The Tour is a bike race across all types of terrain. It does not require cobbled stages but the idea that stages which aren't mountains are "contradictory to the tour" is silly. Not everything revolves around GC rider W/KG numbers.

That's why you have stages for the breakaways and the sprints. And jerseys for the different categories, but yellow is the focus and the parcours, in my opinion, should reflect that. Otherwise you risk taking out favorites even before the real battle begins. Even the dynamics of team strategy reflect this. In the Classics it's all or nothing on the day, at the Tour it's a long-game project over 3 weeks: already a dangerous proposition, no need to throw in a circus-like stage just for kicks. Paris-Roubaix at the Tour is not the stuff of a well-planned three week course, considering the probability of GC altering crashings and the dynamics of team strategy over a three-week (not one-day) ordeal. The Tour is not a crapshoot.

 

[Escarabajo]

It's on GCN Race Pass as most other races. It's so cheap that I really can't wrap my head around any cycling fan not subscribing.

In the US it is shared with NBC Sports. Now Peacock. So double the money.

 

[BlueRoads]

It's on GCN Race Pass as most other races. It's so cheap that I really can't wrap my head around any cycling fan not subscribing.

Well, I have ES here and that works fine, so I am not in that situation with cycling, but I can understand the problems of some Americans for instance. Obviously there have often been problems with GCN, and also they don't show some important races, so you have to have a bunch of subscriptions?

Personally I try to buy those gift cards for internet abos if possible instead of subscribing, because if you have a problem, if they book the money twice, if you want to terminate the abo but it doesn't work, there often is only a chat bot to talk to, and that's really annoying. So if you like cycling but aren't a hardcore fan, I can understand you aren't keen on this.

 

[Valanga]

Not sure if this has been posted here already (excuse me if it was).
Florian Vermeersch has put his Strava data online, including power numbers:

Paris- Roubaix 2021 - Florian Vermeersch's 263.6 km bike ride

2nd. What a day…

www.strava.com

370W Weighted Avg Power

And still a decent sprint in the end, pushing nearly 1000 watt for 20 seconds, peaking at 1476.

 

[fbjim]

The US situation is currently silly with multiple subscriptions being required for the whole calendar. GCN is mostly good for the Flanders races and the second tier semi-classics and WT races which aren't run by the ASO.

It's still worth it but just goes to show why the best thing the UCI/cycling could do is make a World Cup-like package again so all the major races can be sold to rights holders as a single package.

 

[BlueRoads]

Not sure if this has been posted here already (excuse me if it was).
Florian Vermeersch has put his Strava data online, including power numbers:

Paris- Roubaix 2021 - Florian Vermeersch's 263.6 km bike ride

2nd. What a day…

www.strava.com

370W Weighted Avg Power

And still a decent sprint in the end, pushing nearly 1000 watt for 20 seconds, peaking at 1476.

If this guy becomes a force please someone tell the German commentators to put the emphasis on the right syllable, VERmeersch is driving me crazier than ALaphilippe.

 

[tobydawq]

Well, I have ES here and that works fine, so I am not in that situation with cycling, but I can understand the problems of some Americans for instance. Obviously there have often been problems with GCN, and also they don't show some important races, so you have to have a bunch of subscriptions?

Personally I try to buy those gift cards for internet abos if possible instead of subscribing, because if you have a problem, if they book the money twice, if you want to terminate the abo but it doesn't work, there often is only a chat bot to talk to, and that's really annoying. So if you like cycling but aren't a hardcore fan, I can understand you aren't keen on this.

Which important races do they not show? They show pretty much everything.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Has this guy Rowe even apologized? Apparently he stated that everybody with an opinion about what he did can go *** themselves.

It was a dumb accident, but there are plenty of people idiots out there who think he did it on purpose.

 

[Volderke]

Oh please. This is just causing a crash and then mouthing off on people criticizing you for causing it. Full **** behavior.

He explicitly said it was about people who accused him doing it on purpose. Those people are nuts imho.
I have my own opinion about how Rowe should have acted, but that's easy when you're watching the race on TV, and it doesn't change anything after the crash happened. I reckon Rowe was annoyed about the whole situation as well.

 

[Bolder]

That's right I don't want an apology either. Maybe he has reached out, don't know. It's still the reaction of a total jerk though.

The classy thing to say is that it wasn't intentional and he's sorry that Mads crashed out. No need to apologize but that communicates self awareness at least.

 

[topcat]

In the US it is shared with NBC Sports. Now Peacock. So double the money.

eurosport. €2 a month. Cycling as you've never seen it before (italy today!)

 

[Leinster]

They did, but not in 2014 except for Nibali, who had not, nor has, ridden Paris-Roubaix. It is a tough call, because Paris-Roubaix is a crap shoot in which the best rider without problems (who may or not have been the best on the day) wins. You can be the best, on the from of your life, and still be screwed by mechanicals and crashes in a way that is unique to the sport. In the past rarely a Tour winner had the qualities to win Paris-Roubaix, but it happened. By contrast a normal Paris-Roubaix winner has no hope of winning the Tour. And frankly eliminating potential Tour winners before we even get to the mountains and decisive stages, because someone or several have broken bones falling on the cobbles of Northern France seems contradictory to what the spectacle intends to be: namely a direct fight between the best grand tour racers in the world where their strengths come to the fore (in the mountains and timetrials). For the rest, we have Paris-Roubaix in the spring.

It’s been said before, but I’d still like to see a TdF route that hits the mountains early, but finishes off with a couple days in northern France including a stage on the cobbles. Planche de Belles Filles on Wednesday, Ardennes-ish day Thursday, Cobbles Friday, 45km ITT Saturday, roll into Paris on Sunday.

 

[Carols]

In the US it is shared with NBC Sports. Now Peacock. So double the money.

And if you want Everything in the USA add $150 for FloBikes beside GCN($50) and Peacock($60)!

 

[Rackham]

The Tour is a bike race across all types of terrain. It does not require cobbled stages but the idea that stages which aren't mountains are "contradictory to the tour" is silly. Not everything revolves around GC rider W/KG numbers.

This is why the Vuelta is my favorite race: summit finishes for nearly half the race with punchy climbs & gradients to make a rouleur's eyes bleed. It's a specialists GT for climbers.

The Tour meanwhile as you describe (& eulogize) offers a sting in the tail: despite all the stages & race profiles which do not revolve around "GC Riders with W/KG numbers", no matter how much diversification the ASO add in terms of mixing the route up with different types of racing (which can suit other specialists), at the end of the day it'll still be invariably won by the rider who combines the best TT & climbing numbers versus his rivals.

So everything else (including hypothetical Roubaix cobbles) exist to shatter bodies & break GC dreams. I don't like seeing the best GC riders crash out because it makes the overall race boring, despite all the heroics by none GC riders in their own stages.

The Tour de France in all its splendor is about epic yellow jersey battles. If there's a cobbled stage in next year's Tour, it'll be about survival, luck & the teammates around the GC leader bringing him home safely. Sure it'll be exciting (not saying it won't be), but if the Tour is won or lost based on that stage, I think the overall race will suffer from it (as it has done in the past due to favorites having a DNF in a dangerous stage).

 

[BlueRoads]

Which important races do they not show? They show pretty much everything.

Apparently not, at least in the US?

 

[tobydawq]

Apparently not, at least in the US?

I have been able to watch pretty much everything apart from the Worlds where I would have had to use a VPN.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Did it rain back in 1989? (I honestly don't know anything about that stage).

No rain, sun. Stage went from Liège to Wasquehal, which is located next to Roubaix. They did 255 kilometers with nine sectors. These sectors added up to 8.5k. All of these sectors were in Belgium and not the difficult ones from PR. Kelly/Fignon tried to attack at 45k to go on the first two sectors. In the end everything together.

There was a cobble carnage stage in 1980. Lots of rain and the most difficult first week after WWII. They also had most of the sectors in Belgium, but at the end they did Camphin-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre. Hinault (PR 1981 winner) beat Kuiper (PR winner 1983) in a sprint of two. Peloton was over two minutes behind. Stage took 8 hours at 30 km/h. They did over 25k of cobbles that day and it was planned that they do another 20k (Saint-Python...) at the beginning and in the middle of the next stage. But they cut some 10k out, because weather was really terrible.

If this guy becomes a force please someone tell the German commentators to put the emphasis on the right syllable, VERmeersch is driving me crazier than ALaphilippe.

It's fascinating how Karsten Migels manages to commentate for over 6 hours and at the same time miss so many decisive moments.

 

[tobydawq]

It doesn't seem like Facebook could handle the fall-out of a wet Roubaix. Or maybe it was Remco's ride today that made it crash?

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Have you seen the documentary that movingtarget had posted a link to downstairs in the cafe? It's very basic... Paris-Roubaix isn't meant for every rider in the peloton, hence, not every pro rider should even try it regardless of the season.

Hope I'm not being nasty toward you, btw., just talking a bit about the Paris-Roubaix.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBTVU9JDrA&ab_channel=MrFixie

This is the best cycling documentary of all time. Love it, watch it every year the days before Roubaix.

The first sector in the race is Neuvilly. They don't do that one anymore today. But is quite interesting, because it is a little version of the Oude Kwaremont. Only with much worse pavement. **** in my opinion.

Super interesting, by the way, is the startlist. Basically, it's an absolute five-star field that bridges the gap from the beginning of the 60s with Poulidor four days before his 40th birthday to the mid-80s. 21-year-old Hinault was also at the start, he signs in at 19:10 with number 84, but is only seen from behind. Funny enough is that at the same moment we have the narrator talking about the french not having won the race in ages.

In addition the current Tour de France winner Thévenet, the slightly over the zenith Merckx, Zoetemelk and the classic giants of the time with De Vlaeminck, Maertens, Moser, Kuiper, Godefroot, Planckaert and Raas are all at the start.

 

[Extinction]

It’s been said before, but I’d still like to see a TdF route that hits the mountains early, but finishes off with a couple days in northern France including a stage on the cobbles. Planche de Belles Filles on Wednesday, Ardennes-ish day Thursday, Cobbles Friday, 45km ITT Saturday, roll into Paris on Sunday.

I don't think there would be any interest on the part of the organizers and sponsors to have the race go over the cobbles two days from the finish. Too much is at stake, too great a risk of denaturalizing the event. I mean nobody would want to see a dominant rider over the cols and tts crash suddenly, unavoidably, catastrophically and be eliminated, not because of his ability, but simple misfortune on a course that is best left to an April day's outing for that day's glory. The luck (or lack there of) factor becomes too significant for a three week odessey, in which the most efficient engine over high mountains and tts has always detetmined the outcome and rightly so. The Tour has its own logic and reason, the classics something else.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Have to admit, that I on live signal yesterday only had the opportunity to watch the race from 22k to go.
Now I've watched from the start until 67k to the finish line, and from those parts I cannot fathom folks yelling about Colbrelli wheel sucking. Either some ppl have bad memory or simply didn't watch the race, except for the last hour maybe (?). What I've just witnessed so far is Sonny Colbrelli animating the favourite group on several occations on the last 50-60k's incl. his breakout up to the group in front.
A long, exhauating and maybe not so clever move, however a strong effort teying to put MvdP and van Aert under pressure.
And then when MvdP rejoins and put the group under pressure, Colbrelli is immideately there and even doing more pulls in the front.
And then in the finale Colbrelli answers fully on Carrefour de l'Abre on MvdP's attack.

So still with reservations, haven't yet watched a 45k part in the finale, I would postulate he has largely been one of the riders who has helped to animate the race, of what I've seen until now.

And so if the next part is hesitation and wheel sucking, thats a part of a great race, too.
Think I've mentioned it before, I'm very keen of classics where the cunning cheats the less cunning, due to clever tactics and having the sense of the right moments.
Yesterday, however, I think it was both the smartest and the strongest rider who won the great cobblestone trophy.
Ofcourse previous historic P-R long distance rides of Cancellara, Boonen, Tafi, etc. are fantastic, but I like the excitement to be spread out right to the velodrome.

For me this is the best edition since 1993, no maybe even better I think - and yet still have to watch 45k to get the full picture ;-)

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Have to admit, that I on live signal yesterday only had the opportunity to watch the race from 22k to go.
Now I've watched from the start until 67k to the finish line, and from those parts I cannot fathom folks yelling about Colbrelli wheel sucking. Either some ppl have bad memory or simply didn't watch the race, except for the last hour maybe (?). What I've just witnessed so far is Sonny Colbrelli animating the favourite group on several occations on the last 50-60k's incl. his breakout up to the group in front.
A long, exhauating and maybe not so clever move, however a strong effort teying to put MvdP and van Aert under pressure.
And then when MvdP rejoins and put the group under pressure, Colbrelli is immideately there and even doing more pulls in the front.
And then in the finale Colbrelli answers fully on Carrefour de l'Abre on MvdP's attack.

So still with reservations, haven't yet watched a 45k part in the finale, I would postulate he has largely been one of the riders who has helped to animate the race, of what I've seen until now.

And so if the next part is hesitation and wheel sucking, thats a part of a great race, too.
Think I've mentioned it before, I'm very keen of classics where the cunning cheats the less cunning, due to clever tactics and having the sense of the right moments.
Yesterday, however, I think it was both the smartest and the strongest rider who won the great cobblestone trophy.
Ofcourse previous historic P-R long distance rides of Cancellara, Boonen, Tafi, etc. are fantastic, but I like the excitement to be spread out right to the velodrome.

For me this is the best edition since 1993, no maybe even better I think - and yet still have to watch 45k to get the full picture ;-)

Great Post thanks

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Just have to weigh in on the moronic move by Rowe...he tries to give us the "I do this for a living so you commoners need to STFU," defense. He indicated that we have no idea what it's like to ride on the pave of Arenberg with a flat front...yeah, because I'm smart enough to not ride a flat on one of the worst sections of cobbles in France...in the rain...you know, because it's pretty freaking predictable that control will be an issue. Fk us? No, Luke, fk you. You cost a contender his chance...an you weren't the contender.