Race Thread

[Armchair Cyclist]

I am on my 5th day in a row of watching cyclo-cross; I had mayonnaise on my chips with last night's dinner; I received a half-crate of Leffe as a Christmas present.

I'm worried that I might be becoming Belgian...

 

[jono]

Great race. I think Alvarado needed to pass Pieterse by the top of the run up because Pieterse gained time on the second half of the course every lap.

Good performances by the Canadians. Top 15 for Ava Holmgren, 25th for Isabella after being in the 40s mid way through the first lap. She must be coming off illness or injury or else she would have started racing when her sister did. Another creditable race from the 16 year old Carrier.

 

[theyoungest]

Great race by the front three. Although frankly it was a mistake by Pieterse that brought Alvarado and Brand back into the race, she was clearly the strongest.

Van Empel isn't bad, but she has said she can't go into the red at the moment and you could see that again today. She just doesn't have that extra gear.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Two mechanicals spoil the mens battle

 

[Tim Cahill]

All over for Pidcock and Van Aert already unfortunately, course is absolutely treacherous, would love to have a crack at that.

The winner is automatically the one who tries to stay on the bike up the entirety of the hill.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Nice to see most - if not all - of the top riders of the women’s field at the start line. Quite much better than the men’s field. Are the men’s race schedule more busy or are the women just tougher

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Wout should have not tried to fight Ronhaar through that corner.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Pidcock not far behind Wout

 

[DNP-Old]

Pidcock not far behind Wout

Almost 2 minutes?

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Almost 2 minutes?

He went by the Polish rider, who I thought had only been passed by Wout earlier in the lap...guess it wasn' the same rider.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

We recently had the first podium without a Belgian for some years (followed the next day by another): this looks like it could be an all Dutch podium (6 of the top 7 at present): when did that last happen?

 

[DNP-Old]

Van der Poel is probably riding it at 95%, but Van Aert is comfortably the quickest around the course currently. He's definitely improving.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I'm going to say it, Wout passed Ronhaar, and then Ronhaar muscled his way back around, and Wout tried to pass back on the outside...Wout should have been more patiend, but f**k Ronhaar anyway. Looking like he may finish off the podium. Good.

EDIT: He seems to be recovering...pity that.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Wout crushing laps now

 

[DNP-Old]

Van der Poel is a tokkie.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Spit on a fan?? What an a$$hole.

 

[Tim Cahill]

I can't tell if my eyes are deceiving me or not

Surely some sort of mistake

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Baloise Trek not too bothered about maximising their chances in the overall.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I never really liked Mathieu anyway, but after seeing that, he can f**k off forever. What a d!ck.

 

[KZD]

I am a Van der Poel fan but didn't exactly like to see him spit on those fans even though they were probably insulting him or his own.

A pity that Pidcock and Van Aert had mechanicals early on, the latter seemed to have the legs to put up a fight.

 

[DNP-Old]

Baloise Trek not too bothered about maximising their chances in the overall.

That was the plan, according to Nys. He wants to let them fight for it themselves, because the margins are so small it wouldn't be fair to assign positions.

 

[jono]

A perfect race for Wout fans: a mechanical to excuse another loss to Mathieu, and a new and surely to be much-hyped reason to hate Mathieu.

 

[DNP-Old]

I never really liked Mathieu anyway, but after seeing that, he can f**k off forever. What a d!ck.

He's always been much of a simpleton with his cars and such, but this is something else.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

As in his Australian hotel, he doesn't seem to be a man of thought-out responses.

Edit: It seems that it was "only" booing, and I would suspect some verbal abuse. I might have made more of an excuse for him if something had been thrown at him, as the commentators were ready to assume.

 

[Tim Cahill]

If they were just booing him and giving him some tepid grief then some kind of ban/dq is probably warranted.

I'm all for the occasional Cantona response but it has to be very very justified.