Paris - Roubaix 2024, one day monument, April 7

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Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
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pastronef said:
51.9 kmh after 2 hours. watching the replay, they're at 143 km to go and Alpecin is driving it so fast, break caught. the speed they went even on the very early sectors wow
wtf I'm at 134km to go, Alpecin kept driving it high speed even after the sector. HIGH FECKING SPEED
Alpecin lead the race until sector 20 Haveluy (then Trek started to ride) they did 150 km on the front at almost 50 kmh
Click to expand...
and that with 2/3 riders.. Riesebeek, Dillier and Kielich all monster rides
 
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Gigs_98

Gigs_98

Feb 18, 2015
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Just watched the race and ugh, this season really hasn't delivered. But well, when you have a few guys who are just way better than their competition but they don't race each other all season, that's what happens. With Van Aert last week and this week go very differently, even if the end result is perhaps the same. If Vingegaard and Pogacar ride the same races there might actually be a fight for the win. If Van Aert and MvdP ride strade bianche, who knows what happens. But they all seem to avoid each other this year. Every time at least two of the "big 6" actually meet the race turns great. It just barely ever happens.

On another note, Mads Pedersen thinking it's actually a "big 7" and he is surely part of it, didn't help. The guy was doing no damage when at the front on the cobbles yet pretended he could go 1 v 1 against MvdP and spent his entire team setting up the favorites attack. Like, I get you also cannot just let the lead group go, but the entire time Trek was riding like a team whose leader was the favorite, not like a team whose main objective had to be to disrupt Alpecin. I think the only thing more annoying than a dominant rider, is his opposition pretending he is actually not that dominant, proceeding to set up the dominant riders win.
 
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Zoetemelk-fan

Zoetemelk-fan

Oct 5, 2009
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Volderke said:
[content deleted]
Click to expand...
Former race speed record holder Peter Post set his record of 45.1 kmh avg. speed in 1964 in likewise stong tailwind. Or "similar" is maybe the right word.

Though, even with these "similar" conditions, you cannot use the record average speed as a basis for comparison.

In addition to changing weather/wind strength/wind direction, the route and length almost always change from year to year, in addition to the significant factor in how the race is run - e.g. some riders riding themselves completely in the dark for the first half of the race just to pull the entire peleton - and then drop out. Or if a race is run with a lot of accelerations, the average speed will logically also decrease.
 
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Zoetemelk-fan

Zoetemelk-fan

Oct 5, 2009
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Danskebjerge said:
Only the ten biggest van der Poel fans think this was a good race.
Click to expand...
OK, this was maybe the occasion to highlight a subject that I've for so long wanted to scream out loud from a Tibetan mountain.

I sense that I am pretty much alone on this forum in my approach on watching bike races .
To me sometimes almost seems like a competition to get there first to be the most disappointed.

I'm not a hard core MvDP fan. In that case I might be 10 times a Pogi fan, if it had to be.
My view has probably changed over the years, when as a young kid I was more interested in heroes and villains.

In general, however, today I am a fan of all participants in a bike race who contribute to a story, written while race is underway.

The race today contributed to a good story for me.

One of the narratives was hero worship. The heroic solo performance.
But for me there were also many other facets and nuances in the race.
Both before and after MvDP's decisive deep stab with the knife.

Part of this is due to the apparent cruel consequences and randomness of this race.
Although the situation looked locked in the pursuit groups, I was never quite sure how it would shape up.
The many punctures and crashes made it a parameter of uncertainty, which brought nerves as an interruption to a more prolonged enjoyment of the heroic solo performance.

However, this element has a very close relationship with today's always belching and over-analyzing commentators.

Here, quiet moments, just the sound of the chain rattling across the cobblestones and then just hints of historical references, the description of the rider and not much else can bring it up to a magical level for me.

For me, it was helped by the fact that I had to be quiet during my viewing. Here, however, I missed the chain rattle.

Now that there are no commentators anymore who know the art of the simple, I would actually have preferred a signal without commentator track, only with the sound of the riders, their bikes, the DS cars, the fans, etc. It would have been extremely good TV to me.

I have read in several news media that MvDP is setting cycling on a course for disaster.

It must be in the context that people today expect competition with TikTok 15 seconds of action.
I don't need that - I love variety.

I will not exalt myself here. I prefer that everyone has a different approach and POV. I pretty much like it that way. Just reading along here in the thread while the race was underway has been a good extra ingredient, but without this I have been well entertained, too.

I can name races that were 'meh' to me.
Doha, for instance. Only highlight was the early exit in a pulverizing red desert storm. There I had no problems turning off my TV.

OK, I've learned I'm alone here....
 
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skippo12

May 14, 2017
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Gigs_98 said:
Just watched the race and ugh, this season really hasn't delivered. But well, when you have a few guys who are just way better than their competition but they don't race each other all season, that's what happens. With Van Aert last week and this week go very differently, even if the end result is perhaps the same. If Vingegaard and Pogacar ride the same races there might actually be a fight for the win. If Van Aert and MvdP ride strade bianche, who knows what happens. But they all seem to avoid each other this year. Every time at least two of the "big 6" actually meet the race turns great. It just barely ever happens.

On another note, Mads Pedersen thinking it's actually a "big 7" and he is surely part of it, didn't help. The guy was doing no damage when at the front on the cobbles yet pretended he could go 1 v 1 against MvdP and spent his entire team setting up the favorites attack. Like, I get you also cannot just let the lead group go, but the entire time Trek was riding like a team whose leader was the favorite, not like a team whose main objective had to be to disrupt Alpecin. I think the only thing more annoying than a dominant rider, is his opposition pretending he is actually not that dominant, proceeding to set up the dominant riders win.
Click to expand...

Winning G-W against an isolated MVP with a way stronger team lead to some really bad decisions from Pedersen/Lidl-Trek in the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix. Alpecin beat them with their own trick (not that it was needed considering how much better MVP was). Vermeersch covered attacks of relevant opponents and Lidl-Trek burned the last two remaining domestiques trying to chase them. This time Pedersen was isolated against a way stronger Alpecin team.
 
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jaylew

jaylew

Mar 19, 2009
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Tim Cahill said:
VdP couldn't beat Pogacar in Flanders, he won't beat him in LBL even in this form

UAE's entire team, Healy, Carapaz, Pidcock, Skjelmose, Teuns, Jorg will be tough to beat in Amstel
Click to expand...
No, he couldn't beat him last year but he did the year before. It's 1-1 and I'm not convinced Pogacar would have beaten him this year. A shame we didn't get to find out. I tend to agree that LBL will be a bit too hard but I wouldn't completely discount him if he can hold on to this form for another 2 weeks.
 
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Pantani_lives

Pantani_lives

May 3, 2010
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When one rider is very dominant it can be an impressive solo performance, but at the same time a terrible race from an entertainment point of view, because there's no suspense in the final hour. I went for a 20 minute walk after Mons-en-Pévèle and for another 10 minute walk after Carrefour.

With Visma and Lidl-Trek at full strength this could have been a very different race. MvdP could still have won, but he wouldn't have obliterated the opposition. Everything went wrong for the other teams from the beginning: crashes, flat tires... For Alpecin it was practically a perfect race, following the script, with even a sixth place for Vermeersch.
 
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Salvarani

Oct 15, 2017
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Barkintheeye

Barkintheeye

Feb 24, 2015
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ChewbaccaDefense said:
Dammit, I knew there was something I was missing. :D
Click to expand...
What’s certainly missing is the impact of tyre technology. I rewatched Strade Bianche 2016 and the commentators were slightly surprised to find that most riders were on 25 mm tyres instead of the “standard 23 mm” that were typically used in road events. I guess that Cancellara never used a broader tyre than 25 mm but please correct me if I am wrong. This Paris-Roubaix many were on 30 mm and some even on 32 mm which is likely to explain a significant part of the difference in speed. The remaining part? Talent? More riders with higher capacity? More aggressive team tactics?
 
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Roku

Roku

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I don't think it was a bad race. People sometimes mistake "bad" with "clutch". I'm thinking of early 2010s Vuelta plagued with muritos that made for exciting 10 mins finishes but awful races.

Watching a team destroy the race ~150 Kms from home and the favourite win with an attack 60 kms from the finish it's not what I call a bad race.

On another note, what a shame the fall by Rex. He was strong enough to be on the main group despite crashing heavy in the Milan and Viviani pile-up. The downside for me is him looking a bit prone to crashes. Kudos for Mihkels, saving the day for the team with his Top-10. Brilliant classics campaign for a 20 year old kid. Hopefully he stays next year at Wanty.
 
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Cookster15

Cookster15

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Pantani_lives said:
When one rider is very dominant it can be an impressive solo performance, but at the same time a terrible race from an entertainment point of view, because there's no suspense in the final hour. I went for a 20 minute walk after Mons-en-Pévèle and for another 10 minute walk after Carrefour.

With Visma and Lidl-Trek at full strength this could have been a very different race. MvdP could still have won, but he wouldn't have obliterated the opposition. Everything went wrong for the other teams from the beginning: crashes, flat tires... For Alpecin it was practically a perfect race, following the script, with even a sixth place for Vermeersch.
Click to expand...
We on the other side of the world rarely get to watch these races live. They are conducted at something like 1:30am - and needing to work (productively) the next day - Monday morning.

So a lack of suspense in the last hour is academic. Having said this, even if I lived in Europe I’d rate the physical and skill significance of MVDPs feat above the entertainment factor anyway. That’s just me.
 
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Zoetemelk-fan

Zoetemelk-fan

Oct 5, 2009
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ChewbaccaDefense said:
Cancellara's fastest ever Roubaix is 5:45:33...20 minutes behind Mathieu...that places him 107th, and finishing ahead of only 4 people who finished inside the time limit, today.
Click to expand...
And that was the 2013 edition, just over a decade ago.

In 1964 Peter Post's time was 5:52:19 / 45.1kmh avg. record speed.
For a route +10K longer.

But presumably a completely different route?
Fewer or more kilometers of cobblestone?
Worse or better cobbles?
Stronger tailwind?
More time spent in the peloton, well protected by teammates?
(clearer "Patron" roles, less chiefs on the same team back then)
Clinical factors?
Drafting?
Fewer demanding hard accellerations?
Other factors?

Most likely not an aero bike.

Just trying to get my point across :p
 
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KOM

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Gigs_98 said:
But they all seem to avoid each other this year. Every time at least two of the "big 6" actually meet the race turns great. It just barely ever happens.
Click to expand...

Honestly its atleast as much epic bad luck for the riders (and us the spectators) this year with the crashes. RVV/PR turned to *** cause of van Aerts crash and in Itzulia we wouldve likely had a very interesting showdown between Vingegaard, Roglic and Evenepoel which also got never happened cause of that terrible crash. The fun thing is it wont get better anytime soon, cause 3 of the big 6 have injuries that will last months and Im allready dreadful as to how boring the giro will likely be,
 
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yaco

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Zoetemelk-fan said:
Former race speed record holder Peter Post set his record of 45.1 kmh avg. speed in 1964 in likewise stong tailwind. Or "similar" is maybe the right word.

Though, even with these "similar" conditions, you cannot use the record average speed as a basis for comparison.

In addition to changing weather/wind strength/wind direction, the route and length almost always change from year to year, in addition to the significant factor in how the race is run - e.g. some riders riding themselves completely in the dark for the first half of the race just to pull the entire peleton - and then drop out. Or if a race is run with a lot of accelerations, the average speed will logically also decrease.
Click to expand...
It's a moot point because there were less cobbles in PR during the 1960.s.
 
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