Paris-Roubaix 2023, one day monument, April 9 (men's)

[Kwaremonster]

WVA will be bast his prime in 3/4 years. He must win now or he will be one of the biggest IF's in cycling history

Or he waits 8 more years and pulls a Gilbert. While both he and MvdP might decline before you know it and of course its better to win it now, Paris Roubaix seems the one race that you can win from older age when your not the clear favourite.

 

[movingtarget]

Like to see Kung grab the win.

 

[StryderHells]

WVA will be bast his prime in 3/4 years. He must win now or he will be one of the biggest IF's in cycling history

Rubbish! Even if he doesn’t win Roubaix by the time he retires he’ll still finish with a brilliant palmares.

 

[DNP-Old]

Rubbish! Even if he doesn’t win Roubaix by the time he retires he’ll still finish with a brilliant palmares.

Does he though?

 

[StryderHells]

Does he though?

Yes

 

[Berniece]

Rubbish! Even if he doesn’t win Roubaix by the time he retires he’ll still finish with a brilliant palmares.

A good palmares, not brilliant. Enough riders that have had similar palmares

 

[Volderke]

A good palmares, not brilliant. Enough riders that have had similar palmares

only 95 to go

Who is the best rider of alltime?

The ProCyclingStats alltime ranking is led by Eddy Merckx with 3858.7 points, before Sean Kelly (2172.3 points) and Francesco Moser (2127.8 points). Considering the enormous gap between Merckx and Kelly (1686.4) we can conclude that Merckx is the best rider of all time.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[DNP-Old]

Cross winds apparently. Van der Poel to be eliminated from the race at 245 kilometers from the finish.

 

[Volderke]

I hope / pray for crosswind action, it makes the race much harder and won't allow a break to go too far (I personally don't like those editions with a winner from the break as much as those won by a pre-race favourite, maybe the Hayman / Boonen trauma is kicking in a bit ).

 

[OlavEH]

Het Nieuwsblad's star rating for tomorrow:

**** * van Aert
**** van der Poel, Ganna
*** van Baarle, Küng, Pedersen
** Vermeersch, Stuyven, Asgreen, Vanmarcke
* Lampaert, Philipsen, Turgis, Mohoric, Politt

Should rater be something like this:
**** * Van Aert and Van der Poel
****
*** Pedersen, Asgreen, Küng, rest of Jumbo
** and * Best of the rest.

 

[search]

as mentioned, their ratings have a fixed structure, one five star rider, two four star riders, and so on - which I personally think is the best way to do it.

In contrast, here's what Gazzetta came up with today: some favourites, two random two star riders and an Italian.

**** * van der Poel
**** van Aert, Pedersen
*** Ganna, Küng, Laporte
** Philipsen, van Baarle
* Ballerini

 

[Kwaremonster]

A good palmares, not brilliant. Enough riders that have had similar palmares

First of all I'm convinced he will win another one or two monuments at least in his career. If you keep getting on the podium you will win at some point.

But let's say he doesn't, in mu opinion he still will have had a brilliant career. His performances in the tour blow those of many of the riders he's compared with out of the water. That alone should not be understated because that is the only race that is watched all over the world, with all the best riders.

He has also won a decent amount of classics, Olympic silver etc. Ofcourse if you compare him with Boonen or Cancellara then it's looks poor, but so does van det poels record in that case, or alaphilippes.

 

[Kwaremonster]

Cross winds apparently. Van der Poel to be eliminated from the race at 245 kilometers from the finish.

I know it's a joke but that would be quite special, even by his standards, he's been talking about his mistake in the tour of flanders in pretty much every interview since. You would expect it not to happen for a few years, but then it's mvdp, you can never be certain.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Looking forward to see Sam Welsford today in PR.

With his bodybuilder body, he has a clear advantage. I hope the cameras will be on him for most of the race, so we can admire his head-to-toe look: full of muscles, the born Roubaix rider. He has the power which will be needed today. He will be able to rely on his shoulders, neck and arms, which could give him the decisive advantage.

Brutal strength and brutal look on the cobbles to Roubaix. Welsford has the Robert Forstemann body, plus the endurance - I cheer for a podium for Sam today.

 

[search]

Brutal strength and brutal look on the cobbles to Roubaix. Welsford has the Robert Forstemann body, plus the endurance - I cheer for a podium for Sam today.

he came in as a late replacement two days ago, so maybe don't put your expectations too high

Where did you notice his endurance skill, though? As far as I can see, he has never really done any long or hard races, let alone both combined.

 

[tobydawq]

he came in as a late replacement two days ago, so maybe don't put your expectations too high

Where did you notice his endurance skill, though? As far as I can see, he has never really done any long or hard races, let alone both combined.

Skijumper Roglic Fan sees a lot of things the rest of us mere mortals don't.

 

[StryderHells]

A good palmares, not brilliant. Enough riders that have had similar palmares

He‘s still 28 and hasn’t retired yet, he’ll finish up with a brilliant palmares even if he never wins Roubaix.

 

[Berniece]

He‘s still 28 and hasn’t retired yet, he’ll finish up with a brilliant palmares even if he never wins Roubaix.

Depends on what he’ll win, if it’s more E3, GW and TDF stages I don’t feel it’s a brilliant palmares. Just very good

 

[KZD]

Curious to see how De Lie is going to fare in his first cobbled monument.

I am going with Van der Poel for this one more of a heart pick though as I don't think this race suits him as well as RVV. If Pedresen doesn't have bad luck I think he will fight for the win too.

 

[Volderke]

Depends on what he’ll win, if it’s more E3, GW and TDF stages I don’t feel it’s a brilliant palmares. Just very good

he's already way past winning GW, he just gave one away.

He just didn't realize he's not yet in the big monument winning mode. And I feel it won't happen today, as his injuries (bruised ribs) are a clear disadvantage, not only because it hurts when breathing (you simply can't go as deep) but also it will have prevented him from sleeping well in the past week.

 

[Berniece]

he's already way past winning GW, he just gave one away.

He just didn't realize he's not yet in the big monument winning mode. And I feel it won't happen today, as his injuries (bruised ribs) are a clear disadvantage, not only because it hurts when breathing (you simply can't go as deep) but also it will have prevented him from sleeping well in the past week.

Yeah I don’t expect him to win either. What I like about him is that he’s straightforward and honest. So if he says he isn’t feeling that good he isn’t feeling good, and he needs to feel good to win. Although if there is a race where the best doesn’t necessarily win then that’s Roubaix

 

[dobrien]

as mentioned, their ratings have a fixed structure, one five star rider, two four star riders, and so on - which I personally think is the best way to do it.

In contrast, here's what Gazzetta came up with today: some favourites, two random two star riders and an Italian.

**** * van der Poel
**** van Aert, Pedersen
*** Ganna, Küng, Laporte
** Philipsen, van Baarle
* Ballerini

Wow, imho Asgreen's absence seems like a big oversight to me; I think he'll at least be in the final and would not be shocked if he podiums.

MVDP alone at the top seems right to me. He got spanked last week by Pog and I'm sure that has stung all week; he is in great form, he has a solid team, and will be raging to make a statement of his own today. Barring the usual Roubaix disasters I think we're in for a big show from him.

Not sure what to make of Wout; downplaying his chances this week may be truth or just games, but personally I don't get the warm fuzzies about his chances. Really hope I'm wrong; I would love to see him win and get that cobble-shaped monkey off his back.

Ganna is my big curiosity; I want to believe he'll be in at the kill, he would add a huge amount to the final. This is a much different story than MSR however; how he looks coming out of Mons-en-Pevele will be interesting to see...

Küng and Pedersen look right.

Laporte is not going to sneak away with this today; I don't think that this is going to be one of 'those' days. MVDP and others are not going to let happen what happened yesterday and I think any break will be kept on a relatively short leash; Laporte is going to be all in working for Wout. He's strong but I don't think he's going to get into the situation he needs today.

It's going to be extremely fast today; nice weather, cobbles will not be dusty, nor as slippery as on a wet day and the peloton will not be afraid to ride hard. For the lovers of epic Roubaix conditions probably the worst possible 'perfect' storm.

 

[Salvarani]

Yves Lampaert will win this one.

 

[RedheadDane]

A couple of brilliant - IMHO - from some of the Danes:

Bjerg: My plan is to just stick to Mads' wheel, then I'll probably get to the velodrome in front... if I can keep up.

Pedersen (asked about his preparation): You want the detailed version, with shitting in the bus?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Taking a big *** before a big ride is the single best predictor if you're gonna have a bad, good or great day. Everybody know that!