Paris-Roubaix 2026, one day monument, April 12

[RedheadDane]

Lol, apparently Mick and Tim van Dijke had by mistake swapped their bib numbers in the morning. So it was in fact Mick who was in the front.

"By mistake"...

 

[YavorD]

he was 2 minutes down at one point

Pogacar was a minute behind and probably dropped another 10 or 15 seconds.
Van Aert also had some issues.

 

[tobydawq]

Thank you for your totally not sarcastic response. I appreciate how wonderful it is to have the same five or so riders and the same two teams win every single race, and of course nobody ever criticised women's racing as being amateurish and not worth watching for the same thing for years upon years only to now think it's a fantastic thing when it happens in men's races.

How often did Wout win a major race?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

On Sporza they saw it because one has a beard apparently.

 

[search]

will both van Dijkes get disqualified now?

 

[Gratemans]

I don't think Pog was acting when he was stretching his back. At first, I did, but he was doing it while Wout was on the front, not looking, at least 3 times.

But that's the fun thing, in hindsight you know he wasn't acting. But when they were racing, I was genuinely wondering if he didn't let a gap fall every once just to lull Van Aert into feeling more confident / stronger.

 

[tobydawq]

On Sporza they saw it because one has a beard apparently.

Yeah, I actually had noticed that earlier in the spring (Tim has a beard, Mick doesn't) but when I saw the number today, I didn't look for facial clues...

And beards are subject to change so you can never know.

 

[Forever The Best]

How often did Wout win a major race?

Not only that but he got 2 wins last season and 0 this season until today. I get where Libertine is coming but Wout wasn't winning like Pogacar or VDP or Vingegaard.

 

[tobydawq]

Not only that but he got 2 wins last season and 0 this season until today. I get where Libertine is coming but Wout wasn't winning like Pogacar or VDP or Vingegaard.

Exactly. If it had been Mathieu and Tadej I absolutely would have understood where she was coming from but not with Wout.

 

[Sciatic]

Crazy af. Finally big Wout won a monument! I think everyone will be happy with his win which is by the way deserved for crowning his career.

2nd monument—but definitely the big one for him.

 

[Squire]

Lol, apparently Mick and Tim van Dijke had by mistake swapped their bib numbers in the morning. So it was in fact Mick who was in the front.

So they're actually gonna do the Yates alternating GT days thing?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

How often did Wout win a major race?

How major does it need to be? The man has 14 Grand Tour stages, 2 Monuments (including today) and at least 5 other Classics to his name.

And with all of his 2nds and 3rds, we have just had so many races with different rotations of the same small handful of riders that it's possible to be both bored as sin of seeing those same teams and riders there, while simultaneously happy for the guy that won because it's a race he ought to have already had on his palmarès and therefore the most palatable of the "SSDD" candidates.

 

[Unchained]

with this logic cycling is a sport for loosers

A bit of study, history of bike racing, it is a sport of losers by the numbers, majority of riders never win or go years in between results. That is the biggest mental crush of the competition. You win, win can't stop winning as a talented junior or elite amateur and you become pro, the best go to World Tour level and you never win again, all the praise and adulation comes to a sudden stop. People who do even a cursory investigation, see guys like Wout have 52 pro wins, rest of Visma with some exceptions have 0-4 wins over their career.
A looser would be more a descriptor of a good break dancer or drunk person at a night club.

 

[Extinction]

Exactly. Pogacar rode like an amateur and Wout was very smart. Cycling is not just about the legs so tactics play a role too and today Wout rode very well.

Well, to be fair, Pog didn't have much of a choice, not wanting MvdP to come back and with LePorte back there he had to pull.

 

[Rackham]

Van Aert's best wins until today were all his TdF stage wins (and yes I place them over MSR 2020 due to the particularity of that edition back then).

But this is absolutely his best result ever. And it's the icing on his career cake.

 

[SorelyBoy]

I don't think Pog was acting when he was stretching his back. At first, I did, but he was doing it while Wout was on the front, not looking, at least 3 times.

Yeah, but he knew the camera was on him and that the team cars have live feed. The general rule is that if you’re suffering you hide it. So it’s possible he was trying to give a false impression as just after he launched an attack on the last big cobbled section. I doubt Wout or his team paid any attention to it either way.

 

[Red Rick]

Van Aert's best wins until today were all his TdF stage wins (and yes I place them over MSR 2020 due to the particularity of that edition back then).

But this is absolutely his best result ever. And it's the icing on his career cake.

2020 Sanremo should be rated higher cause it was over 300km

 

[Libertine Seguros]

will both van Dijkes get disqualified now?

This happened in biathlon several years ago, two of the Russians took each others' bibs by mistake in an IBU Cup race and were disqualified afterward. One of them was Petr Pashchenko, I can't remember who the other one was.

 

[canina82]

I agree, but remember Wout suffered two punctures himself and at one stage was nearly half a minute down on Pogacar. He’s also been in previous editions of this race where he was the strongest and suffered terrible luck. He deserves his flowers for this win. He rode a brilliant race and his win is totally deserved.

He was 25" behind and somehow was lucky Bora helped him.

 

[Unchained]

MVDP was by far the strongest today and Pogacar second. But bad luck

Many in top @20 did bike changes..

 

[SorelyBoy]

2020 Sanremo should be rated higher cause it was over 300km

Meh. PR is just insane. No big climbs but the terrain is ridiculous. If it was a horse race they’d have you up on animal cruelty charges.

 

[Oldman]

Wout and Ted's Most Excellent Adventure! The last 20 km was a measure of ever-diminishing fuel in the tank of both riders. Some will criticize Wout for sitting on in sections that favored Tadej but his #1 job is to stay in the fight. He took turns when he could and his team car could definitely notice that Tadej needed to get out of the saddle to recover every time he took Wout's wheel in the last 10km. That boded well for Wout's sprint and, if they gave and he needed advice it would be: make Tadej lead in the low lane on the track. Tadej's track strategy was losing from the second they rolled in...Wout kicked from the higher bank in a smaller, quicker gear. The gap he got was unbridgeable by Tadej; particularly grinding that big gear. In fairness; that was the maximum rpm Tadej could turn at that point. He may play that in his head for many nights after viewing the video.
Real hero, though: RBH medical staff in Austria that put Wout back together without him losing much form. They worked wonders with Lindsey Vonn to get her Olympic ready, too.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Many in top @20 did bike changes..

Yeah but probably not many had as big a farce as MVDP bike change.

 

[tobydawq]

How major does it need to be? The man has 14 Grand Tour stages, 2 Monuments (including today) and at least 5 other Classics to his name.

And with all of his 2nds and 3rds, we have just had so many races with different rotations of the same small handful of riders that it's possible to be both bored as sin of seeing those same teams and riders there, while simultaneously happy for the guy that won because it's a race he ought to have already had on his palmarès and therefore the most palatable of the "SSDD" candidates.

Van Vleuten also won every time she put on a number, yet there was no limit to how much you appreciated that.

 

[SorelyBoy]

He was 25" behind and somehow was lucky Bora helped him.

Thanks for agreeing with me.