POORman of RICHmond

[doperhopper]

Come on, we all know it - WC is The race that is not supposed to be WON, but LOST!

Negativistic wheelsuck-chasingfest by design, starting from the peloton composition, national rivalry, highly unequal teams, often supported by the circuit design/profile.

Screw your neighbor is the motto - you saw the smiles of Boonens/Stybars, happy not that much for Sagan, but rather that the Gerros and Valverdes of this world did not get it, and moreover, the big WC police teams of Italy and Spain went away without a medal, how great is that!

So, thumbs up to the deserved winner, but let's talk about what this race is about: THE LOSERS.

Your favorite ones, please, be it GVA/EBH being 10m behind... or the usual suspects and teams, including the ever-present-and-expected devastating Nibali's attack.

What did they do wrong? And why?

 

[hrotha]

Well, Italy's plan was supposed to be to have the likes of Trentin, Felline or Nibali attacking at every turn and sneaking into every single break, while Viviani saved himself for a potential sprint. Instead, Viviani got into the only break that posed a threat, while all their attacking riders waited and waited. Pretty hilarious.

Nizzolo as backup is about the only thing they did right, even if it didn't work that well either.

 

[doperhopper]

Lovely, no need to speculate, the losers speak without torture: GVA says it was not 10, but just TWO meters on top... and then he got that EBH-cker as a dead weight, ordered by his team not to chase... confirmed by Kristoff as the best possible tactics.

But it gets better, Matthews can't hold it anymore and goes open on Mr. Wheelsucker Of The Decade, because Gerro was wheelsucking... HIM! And even sprinting against him. And here's how to comment with panache: we saw Sagan going and waited for SOMEONE to close the gap... maybe sending subliminal message that he expected this was Gerro's job.

Have to check italian press, must be even funnier.

 

[TMP402]

I agree that the lack of Nibali was frustrating.

 

[Ishiguro]

Lovely, no need to speculate, the losers speak without torture: GVA says it was not 10, but just TWO meters on top... and then he got that EBH-cker as a dead weight, ordered by his team not to chase... confirmed by Kristoff as the best possible tactics.

But it gets better, Matthews can't hold it anymore and goes open on Mr. Wheelsucker Of The Decade, because Gerro was wheelsucking... HIM! And even sprinting against him. And here's how to comment with panache: we saw Sagan going and waited for SOMEONE to close the gap... maybe sending subliminal message that he expected this was Gerro's job.

Have to check italian press, must be even funnier.

Quality dissection of events - enjoyed that!

 

[Gigs_98]

I heard that Nibali had a mechanical in the penultimate lap and he was at the very end of the peloton. After that he had to spend his energy to pull everyone up the last climb to close the gap to the attackers, but in the final he probably just wasnt strong enough, to compete with guys like Sagan, anymore. However its possible that his effort in the penultimate lap was decisive because Sagan was on his wheel who maybe would have worked himself, if Nibali hadn't been there, and I doubt Sagan still would have had the energy left for his attack.

 

[doperhopper]

You can't make this up: Trentin calls for patience, because... waaait - italian team simply needs more years to get together, but it's promising... but hey, even those great previous teams needed few years to start winning!

Well, at least they are already working more or less not against each other, which cannot be said about certain distant parts if the globe.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Good to see that the Belgians daft team selection paid off predictably. Roelandts and Bakelants must have been wondering what the point of picking Boonen's bottle fetchers was when Boonen himself wasn't waiting for the finale anyway. Either of those two could have taken on Gilbert's role leaving Gilbert free for the finale and then Van Avermaet would probably not have been isolated

 

[bala v]

Re:

Good to see that the Belgians daft team selection paid off predictably. Roelandts and Bakelants must have been wondering what the point of picking Boonen's bottle fetchers was when Boonen himself wasn't waiting for the finale anyway. Either of those two could have taken on Gilbert's role leaving Gilbert free for the finale and then Van Avermaet would probably not have been isolated

Gilbert was free for the finale, and Van Avermaet was not isolated, Gilbert was there..

And by the way, biggest losers are Germany, worked all day for a 15th place. Degenkolb rode really bad race, not that he didn't had legs, he just made some wrong decisions

 

[damian13ster]

From tactical point of view:
Losers are those who went into the break 30km from the finish. I really think they could have fought for victory if not for wasted energy.
It was entertaining though

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I didn't see a single Frenchman until the penultimate lap. Then I realised that it wasn't a Frenchman but a Luxembourger. So yeah, I never saw a Frenchman in the race.

 

[robin440]

Re: Re:

Good to see that the Belgians daft team selection paid off predictably. Roelandts and Bakelants must have been wondering what the point of picking Boonen's bottle fetchers was when Boonen himself wasn't waiting for the finale anyway. Either of those two could have taken on Gilbert's role leaving Gilbert free for the finale and then Van Avermaet would probably not have been isolated

Gilbert was free for the finale, and Van Avermaet was not isolated, Gilbert was there..

And by the way, biggest losers are Germany, worked all day for a 15th place. Degenkolb rode really bad race, not that he didn't had legs, he just made some wrong decisions

What were these wrong decisions? Following Stybar up libby hill?
He said he on libby hill he felt good but then he exploded.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Good to see that the Belgians daft team selection paid off predictably. Roelandts and Bakelants must have been wondering what the point of picking Boonen's bottle fetchers was when Boonen himself wasn't waiting for the finale anyway. Either of those two could have taken on Gilbert's role leaving Gilbert free for the finale and then Van Avermaet would probably not have been isolated

Gilbert was free for the finale, and Van Avermaet was not isolated, Gilbert was there..

And by the way, biggest losers are Germany, worked all day for a 15th place. Degenkolb rode really bad race, not that he didn't had legs, he just made some wrong decisions

What were these wrong decisions? Following Stybar up libby hill?
He said he on libby hill he felt good but then he exploded.

Yeah, I wouldn't be too hard on Degenkolb. He tried to follow attacks and make things happen, rather than passively waiting and hoping for a sprint. It failed yesterday but worked perfectly at Paris Roubaix. 50% return isn't at all bad - probably better than if he was the kind of rider who always tried to keep his powder dry until the last km.

 

[Billie]

Yes indeed. Degenkolb was correct to ride agressive. He was also very smart to quickly jump on Terpstra's wheel.

If you want to criticize the German team I have no problem with that. They played their cards a bit to early. I saw it coming when Geschke blew up trying to follow Vanmarcke with 50 kms to go. They kept taking up almost all responsibilty and only had Martin left in the final 20 kms. They should've let Norway and Australia chase back that group with Boonen and Kwiatkowski.

 

[Andy262]

Still can't get my head around Eddy Boss. The more I've thought about it today the crazier it looks.

With Sagan flying for home he has to work with GVA to bring him back giving an even chance of the three sharing the medals, but if not then Kristoff is still there for the bunch sprint. But no, Get on GVA's wheel then look back for the bunch. Crazy.

 

[Mr.White]

The first mistake is that they burned almost the whole team chasing Boonen group, after that Degenkolb, isloated, goes way too early and tries to mark Stybar instead of letting teams with numerical advantage to do that (Australia, Netherlands, etc), and on top of that he's the first to mark Terpstra's attack after Libby Hill, and that nailed the coffin in his title hopes, he was dead after... Don't get me wrong, he rode brave and aggressive race, but that just wasn't smartest thing to do. If he wanted to attack, then he should do it, but one big attack, not like he did it, marking moves. I mean 15th place on a course that suits him down to the ground, that's a fail if you ask me.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Re: Re:

Good to see that the Belgians daft team selection paid off predictably. Roelandts and Bakelants must have been wondering what the point of picking Boonen's bottle fetchers was when Boonen himself wasn't waiting for the finale anyway. Either of those two could have taken on Gilbert's role leaving Gilbert free for the finale and then Van Avermaet would probably not have been isolated

Gilbert was free for the finale, and Van Avermaet was not isolated, Gilbert was there..

And by the way, biggest losers are Germany, worked all day for a 15th place. Degenkolb rode really bad race, not that he didn't had legs, he just made some wrong decisions

Gilbert had been trying to get into moves prior to the finale and presumably had used up quite a lot of energy. Van Avermaet was obviously isolated when it was just him chasing (with EBH in tow). A fresh Gilbert would probably have been able to go with those two

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Lovely, no need to speculate, the losers speak without torture: GVA says it was not 10, but just TWO meters on top... and then he got that EBH-cker as a dead weight, ordered by his team not to chase... confirmed by Kristoff as the best possible tactics.

But it gets better, Matthews can't hold it anymore and goes open on Mr. Wheelsucker Of The Decade, because Gerro was wheelsucking... HIM! And even sprinting against him. And here's how to comment with panache: we saw Sagan going and waited for SOMEONE to close the gap... maybe sending subliminal message that he expected this was Gerro's job.

Have to check italian press, must be even funnier.

I remember a few times in Amstel, where GVA has been the dead weight himself

 

[Flamin]

Re:

Good to see that the Belgians daft team selection paid off predictably. Roelandts and Bakelants must have been wondering what the point of picking Boonen's bottle fetchers was when Boonen himself wasn't waiting for the finale anyway. Either of those two could have taken on Gilbert's role leaving Gilbert free for the finale and then Van Avermaet would probably not have been isolated

How they eventually raced kind of justified bringing a few 100% domestiques imo.

The goal is to select the best 9, not the 9 best. With GvA, Gilbert, Boonen and Vanmarcke, the team already had enough potential winners/outsiders. Vanmarcke, twice the rider Roelandts or Bakelants is, was told to attack at 50-60k from the finish (which he was disappointed about but accepted it like the classy guy he is). Where would Roelandts/Bakelants fit in? They would have had to work even earlier and I doubt they would have been happy about it.

If plan A was a bunch sprint, then Roelandts had to be there, but the plan was a hard race for Greg and Gilbert. Therefore, understandable choice for me to select fully committed doms who are in good shape.

 

[IndianCyclist]

GVA. had legs, probably last chance at worlds

 

[maltiv]

Re:

GVA. had legs, probably last chance at worlds

The course in Bergen should suit him just as well, if not better, than this one. Cobbles there as well and more climbing.

 

[fauniera]

Re: Re:

The course in Bergen should suit him just as well, if not better, than this one. Cobbles there as well and more climbing.

Do you have details about that? I wasn't able to find anything except that it is supposed to be a course for Kristoff.

 

[robin440]

Re:

GVA. had legs, probably last chance at worlds

Last chance? If there are some strong winds in Doha next year he could try something, 2017 Bergen is a good course for him. He´s only 30.

 

[memyselfandI]

Re:

Still can't get my head around Eddy Boss. The more I've thought about it today the crazier it looks.

With Sagan flying for home he has to work with GVA to bring him back giving an even chance of the three sharing the medals, but if not then Kristoff is still there for the bunch sprint. But no, Get on GVA's wheel then look back for the bunch. Crazy.

EBH did the right thing. Against GVA and PS he is riding for bronze for shure, so players play, I was positively surprised he did what he did. Shows that Norweigians were after gold, not bronze. If you put Terpstra in place of EBH for example, he would have reached for bronze. That's the difference, gold or nothing.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

EBH did the right thing. Against GVA and PS he is riding for bronze for shure, so players play, I was positively surprised he did what he did. Shows that Norweigians were after gold, not bronze. If you put Terpstra in place of EBH for example, he would have reached for bronze. That's the difference, gold or nothing.

He didn't do the right thing at all. If Norway wanted gold with Kristoff, EBH needed to bridge to Sagan, and THEN sit up. But I'm curious about why you assume EBH would have no chance in the sprint?