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

[Barkintheeye]

It's a bit difficult to see on the video (even when going through it frame by frame) if Wright's tube came off first or not.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645095123267604480

View: https://twitter.com/SilverHatchSP/status/1645095123267604480

Jeez, damn, that’s not nice. I have ridden the Arenberg cobbles but seeing the speed and mayhem of the pros is just something different. Damn what a nasty crash.

 

[DNP-Old]

ridicolous comment. He won Omloop with 0 racedays. Then he got injured, ill and injured again. How is that not a valid reason?

Man also got 2nd at the worlds, wildly underrated rider. When he won Roubaix he only gained time on WvA even when the latter was finally unshackled.

Really pathetic comment, that's all I have to say

If you cannot outright drop Van der Poel and Van Aert you are rubbish, haven't you learnt?

 

[Sciatic]

In this day and age the smallest of "mistake" will likely cost you the win on such race. For van Aert it was a crash at Flanders and he had two flats at PR. Considering Laporte had two too. JV likely made some mistakes in regards to equipment used. I somehow doubt it was just "bad luck". Especially considering on how much talk there was about tires and tech before this race from JV side. In all that tech talk they likely forgot about some basics. Like pressure.

I think that argument would be more effective if you get the number of flats for all riders/teams. Maybe you’re right but two guys on the same team have two flats each at Roubaix doesn’t seem at all unusual.

 

[topcat]

If you cannot outright drop Van der Poel and Van Aert you are rubbish, haven't you learnt?

vdP and vA couldn’t drop each other outright either, so they must be rubbish also.
i enjoyed the race a lot. Sure it could have been better. I didn’t enjoy the thread so much.

 

[Open Horizon]

Then he got injured, ill and injured again. How is that not a valid reason?

Where did I say there weren't valid reasons?

He had bad luck this campaign, obviously.

But even with good luck and good form, he wouldn't have won or podiumed.

Man also got 2nd at the worlds, wildly underrated rider.

It's the opposite. His 2nd places in Leuven 2021 and Ronde 2022 are madly oversold. Yeah they look great for his palmares, and he did superb given his modest talents, but they don't reflect him being the top 3 strongest riders of that race; he was allowed significant leeway due to his subdued psychological stature - which he won't be in the future except for semi-classics Jumbo dominate to such an extent they can randomly assign the win to their riders like in Omloop.

I appreciate you coming to his defense though, even if you clearly disagree with my assessment that Van Baarle's Roubaix has killed his chances of winning another monument.

So let's come to the point: how many monuments do YOU believe he will win the next 5 years?

3 perhaps?

2?

1?

 

[proffate]

what's all that hideous screaming and crying in the Arenberg video? Did the spectators not realize they were watching gladiatorial combat?

 

[DNP-Old]

vdP and vA couldn’t drop each other outright either, so they must be rubbish also.
i enjoyed the race a lot. Sure it could have been better. I didn’t enjoy the thread so much.

They are, could not get rid of Degenkolb without taking him out. Remco confirmed best rider in the world.

That being said and on a more serious note, I did not think the race was that good. We didn't see much, if anything, between kilometer 100 and Carrefour de l'Arbre. When things finally should have started happening, we got confronted with a crash and a mechanical to decide the race. Laporte or Van Baarle should have been present to completely switch the race dynamics, but we know how that went.

 

[Sciatic]

Seems like many people forgot that getting a flat tyre isn't purely "bad luck". It's very often also a rider's mistake and not optimal choice of tyre pressure.

That’s probably true in some cases, but also think of it this way: if all 180 (or whatever the start list total) had the optimal tire pressure and rode the cobbles as well as the best cobbles rider, do you really believe there would be no flats in the race? A certain number of flats is inevitable and their will be some randomness to their distribution.

 

[Sciatic]

Spot on!! I'm afraid that poster, like a few on here seems to not understand anything non road cycling; his attitude towards MTB racing is disrespectful as well.

But, um . . . This is being posted on a road cycling forum? There’s no particular reason folks should or would care about other sports or even other disciplines within cycling. And trashing another sport is hardly disrespectful—trashing individual posters is.

 

[search]

From still pictures this was the order in the 'peloton' on first stones of Arenberg:

Walscheid, Pedersen, Ganna, Stuyven, Philipsen, Rex, DSM-rider no idea who, Vermeersch, Wright, Politt, Van Baarle. Mohoric was about 10 positions further back.

Wright and Van Baarle crashed, Politt had to unclip to get around and never got back to the chasing group. Everyone behind was held up or had to brake to avoid the crash.

So everyone but Stuyven and the DSM guy the only guys who got past the crash but didn't make it to the front.

DSM guy was Bittner, dropping back from the group which attacked just before the big guys launched.

 

[Netserk]

The two previous editions were both among the best I've seen (2016 is of course still at the top for me), and this edition was too static and with an unsatisfying finish to join them, but I still think it was at least on par with most of the past decade.

 

[Bolder]

That’s probably true in some cases, but also think of it this way: if all 180 (or whatever the start list total) had the optimal tire pressure and rode the cobbles as well as the best cobbles rider, do you really believe there would be no flats in the race? A certain number of flats is inevitable and their will be some randomness to their distribution.

I would love to see the stats on flats per race, by rider. I think there might be some interesting data there.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

DSM guy was Bittner, dropping back from the group which attacked just before the big guys launched.

Might still be Bittner but there was no DSM guy in that group that went earlier.

Edit: that group contained Scotson, Mihkels, Durbridge, Turgis and Reynders

 

[search]

Might still be Bittner but there was no DSM guy in that group that went earlier.

Edit: that group contained Scotson, Mihkels, Durbridge, Turgis and Reynders

thanks, somehow thought I saw him on the attack at some point. Must have positioned himself perfectly then.

 

[Billie]

It's a bit difficult to see on the video (even when going through it frame by frame) if Wright's tube came off first or not.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645095123267604480

View: https://twitter.com/SilverHatchSP/status/1645095123267604480

Took me about 15 views before I found Asgreen. Forgot to use his brakes

 

[Billie]

Bad spring for Stuyven this year.

Apparently he had a flat tire on Arenberg.

Not his year.

E3: crash right before Taaienberg.
Dwars: Multiple flat tires in the final 20kms.
Ronde: Heavy crash in the big pile up.
Roubaix: flat on Arenberg.

He was not bad in San Remo coming in in the group going for 5th.

Had him at 81/1 for Roubaix. Couldn't believe the odds but lady luck didn't help out.

 

[awavey]

That’s probably true in some cases, but also think of it this way: if all 180 (or whatever the start list total) had the optimal tire pressure and rode the cobbles as well as the best cobbles rider, do you really believe there would be no flats in the race? A certain number of flats is inevitable and their will be some randomness to their distribution.

but if the distribution is random, then why were Jumbo Visma seemingly suffering the most, which fair enough might in itself be completely random distribution, the events themselves arent necessarily linked in the way we like to summarise and correlate them sometimes,

its just we know tyre pressure is a key factor, we know even a choice of line across the cobbles can influence the chance of punctures occuring,other teams were using the same tyres fwiw. sometimes its not just bad luck, or its Paris-Roubaix stuff happens

and is it ironic that Marianne Vos of Jumbo Visma, was also the most notable victim of a puncture in the womens race ?

 

[Netserk]

but if the distribution is random, then why were Jumbo Visma seemingly suffering the most,

They were? I don't think they had any more mechanicals than other teams.

 

[DNP-Old]

They were? I don't think they had any more mechanicals than other teams.

Yeah, wrong place wrong time kind of thing. Philipsen had a mechanical and needed to change bikes too, but got to do so at a very favorable moment, whereas Wout and Laporte had mechanicals at two of the three most important sectors of the race.

 

[Sciatic]

but if the distribution is random, then why were Jumbo Visma seemingly suffering the most, which fair enough might in itself be completely random distribution, the events themselves arent necessarily linked in the way we like to summarise and correlate them sometimes,

its just we know tyre pressure is a key factor, we know even a choice of line across the cobbles can influence the chance of punctures occuring,other teams were using the same tyres fwiw. sometimes its not just bad luck, or its Paris-Roubaix stuff happens

and is it ironic that Marianne Vos of Jumbo Visma, was also the most notable victim of a puncture in the womens race ?

Re: random distribution: let’s say you hear about two riders who competed, over the course of the cobbled seasonfrom Omloop to PR over the course of two years. Exact same equipment, same rider weight, same suppleuse riding over cobbles.

You see the during one stretch of racing one of the two rider had six flats while the other had none. Would you conclude it was a tire pressure issue? That’s a possibility. But six flats in a row is also totally consistent within a random outcome. Play with a coin flip app: https://randomwordgenerator.com/coin-flip.php

I’m not arguing that tire pressure wasn’t an issue. I’m arguing that 2 flats by 2riders on the same team at Roubaix is not enough data to tell you it wasn’t simply random.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Apparently he had a flat tire on Arenberg.

Not his year.

E3: crash right before Taaienberg.
Dwars: Multiple flat tires in the final 20kms.
Ronde: Heavy crash in the big pile up.
Roubaix: flat on Arenberg.

He was not bad in San Remo coming in in the group going for 5th.

Had him at 81/1 for Roubaix. Couldn't believe the odds but lady luck didn't help out.

That might be a worse list than Vanmarcke has ever had in a single spring campaign.

 

[Lequack]

So what's the point of the peloton now using lesser tubeless tires, that are much more dangerous when they fail compared to tubulars? Especially on cobbled stages where the chance to flat is much greater? Is just just a theoretical saving of maybe a watt of energy?

 

[proffate]

So what's the point of the peloton now using lesser tubeless tires, that are much more dangerous when they fail compared to tubulars? Especially on cobbled stages where the chance to flat is much greater? Is just just a theoretical saving of maybe a watt of energy?

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.

 

[Andy262]

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.

 

[Boehmand]

Not surprised at all about Van Baarle's disappointing spring, btw.

Sure, people can point to all the sickness/crashes/bad luck he's been having the past few weeks, and so they can hype him up again as a 2024 Ronde or Roubaix winner, but I don't see that happening. Ever. He already hit the pinnacle of his career last year. Winning Roubaix has now raised his stature to such a degree that his chances of additional successful 'under the radar' winning moves are now null and void.

He's won PR, Omloop, Dwars and gotten 2nd at Ronde, and you think he is overhyped as a cobbles rider?