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

[Samamba]

That photo above reminds me what a solid race Laurenz Rex rode. Was very quick to latch onto the van Aert move, then held his own for a long way. After being dropped batted on nicely for a solo 8th. Nice performance.

Mikhels was the Intermarché guy following the initial Van Aert move, not Rex. Rex bridged with Ganna. Not to take anything away from Rex his performance but people seem to forget that everyone who wasn't behind the Arenberg crash or didn't have a flat there bridged to the front group. That crash ruined the race for almost everyone and made sure that the riders who got through secured a good result.

 

[Volderke]

If not for the puncture Wout would have won PR and at least 7 other monuments.
Let’s review: MVDP is about to attack, Wout sees it (he’s riding a great race and is very strong), MVDP gets slowed down in the racing incident, Wout finds himself ahead and keeps pushing. MVDP catches him and drops him. It’s unclear when Wout punctures and when he first realises he has a puncture. MVDP and WVA were both very strong but didn’t have exactly the same strength. It’s not clear if either could have dropped the other without incidents. Without incidents, it’s most likely it would have been a 2 man sprint. That could have gone either way. I’d bet on MVDP.

It’s very clear when Wva flatted: before the 90 degree curve. He told in an interview he felt the flat going into that curve. That curve was when he still had a gap to mvdp.
that being out of the way, they were indeed a good match. Mvdp said so in his interview, that they would have gone to the velodrome together, without wva’s flat.

 

[Red Rick]

Boonen said weather was perfect for Roubaix, with rain 2 days before, so there's dirt between the cobbles but not all dried up and blown away, making cobbles faster, which in turn makes the race harder.

 

[Nick2413]

Boonen said weather was perfect for Roubaix, with rain 2 days before, so there's dirt between the cobbles but not all dried up and blown away, making cobbles faster, which in turn makes the race harder.

Interesting but wouldn’t that somewhat negate the effect of cobbles? The faster the cobbles the more similar to pavement?

 

[Red Rick]

Guess who van baarle said crashed first in Arenberg?

Spoiler

Fred Wright

 

[Sciatic]

Interesting but wouldn’t that somewhat negate the effect of cobbles? The faster the cobbles the more similar to pavement?

Maybe he meant perfect for the riders since the pave’ would pound on them less.

 

[Oldermanish]

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these wheels don't even come in tubular versions any more. No amateur wants to deal with glue.

Can't. Can't deal with glue but somehow can deal with a sploog of goo inside the tubeless. Oh wait, they can't do that either.

 

[Oldermanish]

If not for the puncture Wout would have won PR and at least 7 other monuments.
Let’s review: MVDP is about to attack, Wout sees it (he’s riding a great race and is very strong), MVDP gets slowed down in the racing incident, Wout finds himself ahead and keeps pushing. MVDP catches him and drops him. It’s unclear when Wout punctures and when he first realises he has a puncture. MVDP and WVA were both very strong but didn’t have exactly the same strength. It’s not clear if either could have dropped the other without incidents. Without incidents, it’s most likely it would have been a 2 man sprint. That could have gone either way. I’d bet on MVDP.

Without incidents it would likely have been the two major protagonists setting up Degenkolb. I'd wager he can sprint with both. It's not like he doesn't know how to ride the last 20 km of this race.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Rex bridged with Ganna.

Ah, ok, that explains why Rex touched Ganna‘s buttocks softly, when they arrived in the first group…

I saw his touching, and thought, „Maybe these two will kiss as soon as they reach the Velodrome?“… ;-)

 

[tobydawq]

Ah, ok, that explains why Rex touched Ganna‘s buttocks softly, when they arrived in the first group…

I saw his touching, and thought, „Maybe these two will kiss as soon as they reach the Velodrome?“… ;-)

I had quite an amusing experience with my friend who I was watching the race with. Before the start he chose a few random pairs of riders we had to pick in a head-to-head duel - the randomness being limited to riders with quite similar names, so one of the duels was Rex vs Bax.

Then of course they - two comparative no-names - proceed to both make the final selection and finish inside the top 15.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Kinda makes sense that Ganna and Küng were faster than the top 2 in the Forest of Arenberg. Really rough cobbles, but no corners, so it's just about raw power and the extra weight helps to stabilize you. I say it suits Ganna the most of all the sectors because the CX guys can't use their better bike handling skills to make a difference in the corners on this one.

 

[search]

Mikhels was the Intermarché guy following the initial Van Aert move, not Rex. Rex bridged with Ganna. Not to take anything away from Rex his performance but people seem to forget that everyone who wasn't behind the Arenberg crash or didn't have a flat there bridged to the front group. That crash ruined the race for almost everyone and made sure that the riders who got through secured a good result.

it played a part, but Rex came into that position by being able to follow Küng and Ganna through Arenberg, so he certainly did very well.

Last year Kristoff said that Wanty's setup was best one he had ever ridden on the cobbles, and I think going by the results, it could very well have been a bit more than just marketing talk. With Rex, Devriendt and Petit they have had some surprisingly good showings in Roubaix the past two editions.

edit: brainfart

 

[RedheadDane]

I had quite an amusing experience with my friend who I was watching the race with. Before the start he chose a few random pairs of riders we had to pick in a head-to-head duel - the randomness being limited to riders with quite similar names, so one of the duels was Rex vs Bax.

I'm assuming Stewart vs Stewart was another one.

 

[tobydawq]

I'm assuming Stewart vs Stewart was another one.

Yes. The full list:

Van den Berg vs Van den Berg
Rex vs Bax
Kristoff vs Eckhoff
Stewart vs Stewart
Trentin vs Fretin
Vermeersch vs Vermeersch (also a nail-biter)
Renard vs Grignard
Reynders vs Reinders
Tiller vs Dillier (whom we usually just call Diller)
Van Gestel vs De Pestel

A five way battle between Lampaert, Rickaert, Allegaert, Planckaert and Van Aert was also briefly on the table.

 

[Barkintheeye]

It’s very clear when Wva flatted: before the 90 degree curve. He told in an interview he felt the flat going into that curve. That curve was when he still had a gap to mvdp.
that being out of the way, they were indeed a good match. Mvdp said so in his interview, that they would have gone to the velodrome together, without wva’s flat.

In the (english) interview he says: "...but when I took the corner on Carrefour de l'Arbre I almost crashed because I flatted in the back...". He might have said something else when interviewed in Flemish?

It's impossible to see in the TV-sequence but it looks like he is hitting something going through the corner. Then clearly he looses speed relative to Van der Poel and gets overtaken. The GCN commentators notice quite late that Van Aert has a flat.

 

[tobydawq]

In the (english) interview he says: "...but when I took the corner on Carrefour de l'Arbre I almost crashed because I flatted in the back...". He might have said something else when interviewed in Flemish?

It's impossible to see in the TV-sequence but it looks like he is hitting something going through the corner. Then clearly he looses speed relative to Van der Poel and gets overtaken. The GCN commentators notice quite late that Van Aert has a flat.

Rolf Sørensen noticed it as soon as he was on the radio.

 

[Red Rick]

Kinda makes sense that Ganna and Küng were faster than the top 2 in the Forest of Arenberg. Really rough cobbles, but no corners, so it's just about raw power and the extra weight helps to stabilize you. I say it suits Ganna the most of all the sectors because the CX guys can't use their better bike handling skills to make a difference in the corners on this one.

The bigger reason is that Van der Poel and Van Aert had no reason to go full gas in the Forest. Ganna was closing a gap. Van Aert wouldn't have wanted to drop Laporte and turn it into a mano a mano at 95km to go.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The bigger reason is that Van der Poel and Van Aert had no reason to go full gas in the Forest. Ganna was closing a gap. Van Aert wouldn't have wanted to drop Laporte and turn it into a mano a mano at 95km to go.

I agree, but the point that Arenberg is more about raw power and less about bike handling skills because no corners still stands.

 

[Netserk]

This has to be the worst Itzulia-Roubaix week ever.

I think 2015 was clearly worse.

 

[Netserk]

Kinda makes sense that Ganna and Küng were faster than the top 2 in the Forest of Arenberg. Really rough cobbles, but no corners, so it's just about raw power and the extra weight helps to stabilize you. I say it suits Ganna the most of all the sectors because the CX guys can't use their better bike handling skills to make a difference in the corners on this one.

Küng was with Van Aert and Van der Poel through Arenberg.

And Mads Pedersen dropped Ganna there.

 

[Didinho]

Rolf Sørensen noticed it as soon as he was on the radio.

I've watched it many times now and he still went normally fast trough the corner but then he looked back and that's the point for me where he knew. So between the turn and when he talked with the radio. That's my guess. When you're on the attack on Carrefour, you don't look back, certainly not when you know you got a good gap. But with a puncture you never know exactly when it happened. It doesn't matter in the end.

 

[Volderke]

Guess who van baarle said crashed first in Arenberg?

Spoiler

Fred Wright

Wright had a front flat and wasn't able to stay upright. 30 seconds into this clip.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645058329692065792

View: https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1645058329692065792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

 

[tobydawq]

Wright had a front flat and wasn't able to stay upright. 30 seconds into this clip.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645058329692065792

View: https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1645058329692065792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
">April 9, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So, now he has taken down Van Baarle and Roglic. That's half of Jumbo's best riders.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

KOM van het segment 'Final Paris / Roubaix'. Van Aert legde deze 5,47 kilometer nog af aan 49,8 (!) kilometer per uur en verbeterde de oude recordtijd uit 2019 met maar liefst tien seconden. En Van der Poel zonder Strava ging er nog harder...

KOM segment "final Paris / Roubaix" of 5,47 km/h, Van Aert got it with an average of 49,8 km/h and almost 10 seconds faster than the previous record of 2019. This while in the same segment VDP gained time (but without strava). Mad

 

[proffate]

Can't. Can't deal with glue but somehow can deal with a sploog of goo inside the tubeless. Oh wait, they can't do that either.

Well personally I hate sealant as well and am perfectly happy with wide rims and latex tubes, but when I do have to deal with tubeless (i.e. gravel/mtb) it's still less bad than gluing sew-ups.

I'm wondering if the tubeless tires we saw fall off were of the hookless rim variety.