- May 5, 2010
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Prove them wrong
Uhm... I regret to inform you, I forgot to count...
We're just gonna have to take Decathlon's words for it.
Uhm... I regret to inform you, I forgot to count...
We're just gonna have to take Decathlon's words for it.
- Feb 24, 2015
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Not only did Wout look really strong. He outskilled Pogacar on almost every corner. Quite expected from a cyclocross World Champion yet the pressure he was applying made Pog almost loose it. Same thing last year with Van der Poel. They’re going so fast that anyone without their skills will overshoot and make a mistake.
I also think MVDP was genuinely happy that it was Wout who won. They have competed against each other for several decades and MVDP has probably won 8 out of 10. Finally Wout got it right so a very deserved win!
I also think MVDP was genuinely happy that it was Wout who won. They have competed against each other for several decades and MVDP has probably won 8 out of 10. Finally Wout got it right so a very deserved win!
- May 5, 2010
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- Feb 24, 2015
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I believe so. They started racing CX as juniors and came up against each other from the start.
So much happened in the race but I can't help thinking:
WvA had his usual share of mechanics (2 flats). So even though he won, he and his team should seriously look at his material / riding, because he always seem to have flats in Roubaix. Watching slo-mo footage going through corners, you see his (32mm Vittoria) tires are always very much into snake-bite territory, especially compared to Pog's 35mm front Conti S-TR. In any other scenario where MvdP and Pog didn't have so many race-defining mechanicals, he would probably have been on the backfoot like in previous years, and have had a much lower chance of winning the race.
But luck was (finally) just a bit more on his side and MvdP and Pog had bigger mishaps. But the biggest mishaps by the 2 main favorites was how they dealt with their mechanicals. There was a lack of sound decision-making and good team management both in case of Pog / UAE and MvdP / Alpecin.
In Pog's case, any DS would have designated all guys with approx. the same bike position as Pog to ride around him and don't move an inch away from him when he has a mishap. Pog was in a train of at least 3 other UAE riders when he flatted (notice he said he felt he had a slow flat in one of his tires and a big one in the other tire when he stopped, so not an option to change wheels or he had to change both), and none of the UAE gang stopped, not even 100 meters up on the road, to help him chase back or quickly switch bikes.
--> Pog should have had (ALL of) his team mates wait immediately, not just after 5 minutes / a lot of hesitation,... And he should have had a bike from a team mate, immediately. I'm not even going to talk about the amateurish way that Shimano car was on the left side of the road and the other car blocking off the path of other riders almost completely when Pog was stopping on the right, thus blocking the way for every other rider and their uncle.
In MvdP's / Alpecin's case, MvdP should have said 'no' to Philipsen's bike switch offer and tell him to keep riding and thus to wait further up the road (if he wasn't feeling his best). Even with the right pedals, riding on Philipsen's bike was always going to be a serious disadvantage for MvdP on Arenberg. He should always have resorted to Del Grosso for either a bike change or that front wheel change. The one clutch move in the team at that moment was by Del Grosso changing the front wheel for MvdP while he went for a leisurely walk in the forest.
It was the perfect storm that enabled WvA to ride the whole finale from Arenberg in the best possible position (not in the least thanks to the huge lead-out by Brennan into Arenberg, for once Visma got the positioning 100% right). He also handled his second puncture pretty well (his chase was slow but he was lucky with the asisstance from the Bora riders).
Ofcourse he was on a very good day as he re-took the initiative no more than 5K after chasing back to that front group, and from that moment on, when he followed probably the hardest acceleration of Pog (droppin gPedersen), he was riding in full control, and finished it off in great style.
some random observations:
There were quite a few crashes in Arenberg. I saw footage of Vermeersch who flatted his front tire, lost control and crashed in Arenberg. Such crashes would never have happened with tubulars, just saying.
Changing front / rear wheel like Del Grosso did is easy if you have that little hex. key with handle that's standard on many bikes these days (like Giant has it standard, Canyon also maybe)? It surely helps to quickly change a wheel with your team mate.
I can't help but think that neutral service is contraproductive. They often ride in the way of the race, can't seem to get the right wheel, or riders simply don't want / trust their wheels / bikes? I read the neutral service bikes have some set up identically for the top riders (so one set up for e.g. Pog, another for MvdP etc). Pog rode a Shimano bike with the same saddle height / reach / drop etc. So all in all that shouldn't have been that bad of a bike, but still, I always hear complaints about shimano wheels with tires at way too high pressure etc.
Christophe Roodhooft is obviously seriously annoyed with the pedal incompatibility issue in his team. I wonder if he even knew the cleats weren't compatible (you can have the knowledge about riders using a prototype pedal but you could assume cleats are compatible if you haven't tried changing bikes before). He also said that, for the first time, no guys with wheels were allowed half way Arenberg. I honestly don't understand why on the one place where you could really use a spare wheel, guys with wheels aren't allowed.
WvA had his usual share of mechanics (2 flats). So even though he won, he and his team should seriously look at his material / riding, because he always seem to have flats in Roubaix. Watching slo-mo footage going through corners, you see his (32mm Vittoria) tires are always very much into snake-bite territory, especially compared to Pog's 35mm front Conti S-TR. In any other scenario where MvdP and Pog didn't have so many race-defining mechanicals, he would probably have been on the backfoot like in previous years, and have had a much lower chance of winning the race.
But luck was (finally) just a bit more on his side and MvdP and Pog had bigger mishaps. But the biggest mishaps by the 2 main favorites was how they dealt with their mechanicals. There was a lack of sound decision-making and good team management both in case of Pog / UAE and MvdP / Alpecin.
In Pog's case, any DS would have designated all guys with approx. the same bike position as Pog to ride around him and don't move an inch away from him when he has a mishap. Pog was in a train of at least 3 other UAE riders when he flatted (notice he said he felt he had a slow flat in one of his tires and a big one in the other tire when he stopped, so not an option to change wheels or he had to change both), and none of the UAE gang stopped, not even 100 meters up on the road, to help him chase back or quickly switch bikes.
--> Pog should have had (ALL of) his team mates wait immediately, not just after 5 minutes / a lot of hesitation,... And he should have had a bike from a team mate, immediately. I'm not even going to talk about the amateurish way that Shimano car was on the left side of the road and the other car blocking off the path of other riders almost completely when Pog was stopping on the right, thus blocking the way for every other rider and their uncle.
In MvdP's / Alpecin's case, MvdP should have said 'no' to Philipsen's bike switch offer and tell him to keep riding and thus to wait further up the road (if he wasn't feeling his best). Even with the right pedals, riding on Philipsen's bike was always going to be a serious disadvantage for MvdP on Arenberg. He should always have resorted to Del Grosso for either a bike change or that front wheel change. The one clutch move in the team at that moment was by Del Grosso changing the front wheel for MvdP while he went for a leisurely walk in the forest.
It was the perfect storm that enabled WvA to ride the whole finale from Arenberg in the best possible position (not in the least thanks to the huge lead-out by Brennan into Arenberg, for once Visma got the positioning 100% right). He also handled his second puncture pretty well (his chase was slow but he was lucky with the asisstance from the Bora riders).
Ofcourse he was on a very good day as he re-took the initiative no more than 5K after chasing back to that front group, and from that moment on, when he followed probably the hardest acceleration of Pog (droppin gPedersen), he was riding in full control, and finished it off in great style.
some random observations:
There were quite a few crashes in Arenberg. I saw footage of Vermeersch who flatted his front tire, lost control and crashed in Arenberg. Such crashes would never have happened with tubulars, just saying.
Changing front / rear wheel like Del Grosso did is easy if you have that little hex. key with handle that's standard on many bikes these days (like Giant has it standard, Canyon also maybe)? It surely helps to quickly change a wheel with your team mate.
I can't help but think that neutral service is contraproductive. They often ride in the way of the race, can't seem to get the right wheel, or riders simply don't want / trust their wheels / bikes? I read the neutral service bikes have some set up identically for the top riders (so one set up for e.g. Pog, another for MvdP etc). Pog rode a Shimano bike with the same saddle height / reach / drop etc. So all in all that shouldn't have been that bad of a bike, but still, I always hear complaints about shimano wheels with tires at way too high pressure etc.
Christophe Roodhooft is obviously seriously annoyed with the pedal incompatibility issue in his team. I wonder if he even knew the cleats weren't compatible (you can have the knowledge about riders using a prototype pedal but you could assume cleats are compatible if you haven't tried changing bikes before). He also said that, for the first time, no guys with wheels were allowed half way Arenberg. I honestly don't understand why on the one place where you could really use a spare wheel, guys with wheels aren't allowed.
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Pogacar fans don't really seem to understand cycling. They're used to one guy just riding off into the sunset whenever he pleases. That's not what cycling is about. You have to play the game. Pogi just happens to be so crazy strong that he doesn't really need to do that. Tactically he's not really a genius. We've seen that yesterday. Neither is Van Aert, by the way, but yesterday he played the game to perfection.
That's why I especially loved this win. Cycling is not supposed to be a sport where the strongest guy always wins. And in this case, I think everyone (except a few very vocal Pogi fans commenting under every single reel on social media) loved to see Van Aert win. Because he's not an untouchable alien, and in cycling you can still win when you're not an untouchable alien... if you play it smart.
I think people tend to judge Pogacar fans by the two or three members of the forum who shout the loudest. There are a lot of us who are much quieter about it and don't think he needs to win every race. I've mentioned before that he is the reason I got into cycling, but that was during the 2022 Tour de France, when he was getting beaten up by Visma. I prefer the version of Pogacar that doesn't win everything, and was delighted that Wout won yesterday. But then I might be unusual (going by this forum!), because I like pretty much everyone in the peloton. Apart from Tiberi, of course.
- Jul 15, 2023
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Here’s the thing chaps, a rider like Wout is built for the likes of Paris Roubaix. But for a lifetime of bad luck, he’d have won at least three of these things. But that context, plus the obvious fact he’s a really great human being who is universally respected and loved within the cycling world, made this win the most beautiful of all, the best result in cycling for at least twenty years. All things being equal, cyclists with the physical attributes of Pogacar should not be able to compete with the likes of Wout in this type of race. That he can raises all sorts of questions, but that’s for another forum.
- Jan 9, 2023
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It seems like there was a record number of flat tires this year, especially for the favorites. There must be a reason for that, since the roads were mostly dry. All the new knowledge about tires and the kilojoules saved are wasted on flat tires.
My hypothesis is that maxing out tyre width is not such a great idea if you can't get enough clearance between tyre and the frame. Tires today also have a box-like profile instead of a round one, which could cause more sidewall tears.
My hypothesis is that maxing out tyre width is not such a great idea if you can't get enough clearance between tyre and the frame. Tires today also have a box-like profile instead of a round one, which could cause more sidewall tears.
It’s true that Van Aerts best wins seem to come off sucking Pogis wheel/Van Der Poel not being there…
But if Pogacar was the greatest cyclist he would have won yesterday.
You have to say fair enough to Van Aert for this one, it’s not his fault Van Der Poel can’t use the right pedals, or whatever happened there
But if Pogacar was the greatest cyclist he would have won yesterday.
You have to say fair enough to Van Aert for this one, it’s not his fault Van Der Poel can’t use the right pedals, or whatever happened there
- Feb 24, 2015
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That's going to be an interesting topic for the next coming year. Not having compared with previous versions this year's race is still a real standout when it came to puncturing (only Bisseger of top contenders not puncturing?).
It seems counterintuitive with +32 mm tires, tubeless, possible inserts etc. Compare that what riders used some ten years ago, 28 mm tubs and earlier 25 mm.
Speed must be the one factor that contributes both with higher impact but also increased probability (risk) of hitting the wrong cobble i.e. no time choosing the right line. Yet teams and tire manufacturer will have to adapt.
- Feb 24, 2015
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Team tactics become completely critical. Actually as many in the team as possible should ride a setup as close as possible to that of the team leader. When hitting some of the more important sectors - or the ones where service is hardest to be provided - each team member should know exactly what to do if the team leader punctures. Some should continue to ride and some should give service. It has to be planned in advance.
Clearly neither UAE, nor Alpecin and not even Visma got this perfect. Anyway very happy that WVA got it right!
When Van Aert was Mexican, Van der Poel Kazakh and the French were still FrenchPretty Much
All due respect to those deranged people who think that Flanders is the biggest/most epic monument of the year, but yesterday proved once again that you are totally wrong. Nothing beats Roubaix.
- Oct 5, 2009
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"I can choose only one", my wife said.
So last sunday - near 8 hours of predictability with just as predictable prelude.
Yesterday: garden work, apart from 1-2 min text updates now and then + last 18k.
Next year I have to tell my wife that you can't choose between your kids.
So last sunday - near 8 hours of predictability with just as predictable prelude.
Yesterday: garden work, apart from 1-2 min text updates now and then + last 18k.
Next year I have to tell my wife that you can't choose between your kids.
This was so telling; I had a cousin text me to the effect he thought Pog was being dumb for waiting until the velodrome, and I replied “He’s not being dumb, he just can’t, if he could have dropped him here he would have.” Even before Camphin-en-Pévèle in an overhead shot of the two it was apparent Pogs shoulders were rolling some while Wout was rock solid in the upper body; Wout was on a day for sure.
I wish there was a single emoji which would encompass feelings of impotent rage, disbelief, profound sorrow, resigned helplessness, a desire to hit one’s head against a wall repeatedly, and deep feelings of anomie, for that is the emoji I would select for this post.
We feel your pain. 🤬💩🤮🤣😜🤡😭😕🫣
Looks like a scrappy little tijuana bantamweightOMG Wout looks so tiny
French guy looks at least 10 years older than him.OMG Wout looks so tiny
- Aug 9, 2021
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It probably did save your cortisol levels though as omg was this race insanely stressful to watch combined with the enjoyment.
- Aug 9, 2021
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It seems that's a French thing? Without naming names French riders tends to look older :O
That will be just about enough time for me to get past the massive hangover I imposed on myself…I’ll need the time. 😜🤮
This is a big one for sure; those pack dirt paths are like tarmac when conditions are like they were yesterday.
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