Rate the 2024 spring classics season

[sam6]

I noticed that this is done for GTs so why not for the spring classics season? Tbh it just seems like a good opportunity for everyone to moan about how all the races are decided with 50km to go

 

[Red Rick]

Never has it felt more important there be a 0/10 option in a poll

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Underwhelming.......

 

[Devil's Elbow]

That's a very unanimous result so far.

Weakest classic season I've seen, Gent-Wevelgem and Amstel were pretty much the only saving graces for me. Flèche was only good by Flèche standards.

 

[Gigs_98]

Honestly, if I go throug all the races it doesn't seem that bad. For example I think the first 3 Ardennes races were clearly above average. Most of the cobbles races were actually pretty decent and I thought MSR was great (in the very specific MSR kind of way). It's just that the most anticipated races were complete garbage. The solos in Strade, RVV, PR, and LBL were all extremely predictable and extremely boring, but I think what made them even worse was that with all the injuries, the wins never felt truly earned.

If today goes almost exactly the same way, with the only difference of Remco and Roglic being there and just losing Pogacars wheel on the last 100 meters of La Redoute, this win automatically feels so much more epic. Long solos are in a way always boring, but when they come against a great field you are so in awe that it often changes how I feel about the race. But I wasn't in awe today, or in Strade Bianche or in the cobbles monuments, because the eventual winner never did anything I wasn't already convinced he could do beforehand. Today felt like Pogacar was winning another Tour of Slovenia, not a monument.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Voted '5' but I know my eyes are far too bright here

 

[Carols]

3 - No competition in any of the Big Races.

 

[Escarabajo]

Red Rick banned???? was he a moderator in here. No lost love here!
LOL.

5.
Fleche and Amstel Ok.
Liege. Bad

 

[zlev11]

Gent-Wevelgem was very good. Amstel was alright. Fleche was better than usual but still not that good even with the crazy weather. everything else was super underwhelming and disappointing. 2/10.

 

[KZD]

Voted 6/10

While it is a bit generous given the dominance of the winner in 3 out of 4 monuments, we are watching two of the best one day riders ever at their best and the fact that I personally liked those two riders make me give a positive grade.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

6/10

the racing was probably 1/10, but I still gave it 6/10 because MSR was not totally a waste. And the other points come from the fact they are still historic performances by MVDP and Pogacar.
And outside the monuments AGR, FW and Br Pijl were kinda good. And GW maybe a little as well

 

[Volderke]

I gave it 1/10.
I have never seen a duller classics season and I have been following racing since around 1995.

The fact that we have a prime MvdP and Pogacar makes it even worse, as we haven't seen duels of any significance because of the lack of competition, either due to crashes or just no riders even close to the same level.

The crashes were just too hard to watch as well, and because of the subpar weather here in Belgium, I didn't enjoy riding myself that much, either... I hope May and the Giro will at least provide beautiful landscapes and better weather to ride myself!

 

[Wyndbrook]

My rating is 10 out of 10, for the women's classics season.

 

[Keldergoat]

4/10

- Monuments in general very underwhelming: the entertaining 20 minutes of MSR doesn't compensate for the extremely boring RvV, PR and LBL.
- Cobbled monuments aside from the monuments: some strikes, some gutters. Kuurne and DvV awful, E3 good fun, the others somewhere in between. Nothing absolutely memorable in 10 years time.
- Ardennes apart from LBL: good fun. Amstel and BP were really entertaining races, I probably enjoyed those the most. FW was fun though more due to the extreme weather conditions.
- Strade Bianche: maybe even the worst of all. Dominance of one rider seldom equals fun to watch.

 

[tobydawq]

2 out of 10.

 

[Valv.Piti]

4 out of 10 with the potential of a lot higher score, unfortunately. Im not that freaked out about superstars at their peak just dominating, its just pretty sad that we didn't see them go up against each other more.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Voted 5 of 10. E3 and Dwars door Vlaanderen were good. Other posters say that G-W was, too, and I'll take their word for it even thought I can't remember a single thing about it.

Also found it refreshing that teams sent their 4th tier riders to Fleche Wallonne so that they can start their training for bigger targets like GP Wallonie and Japan Cup. How often can we look at the podium of a major classic and get to enjoy wondering, "Who are these people and why are they here?"

 

[pastronef]

Dwars, Fleche Wallonne, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel (and Sanremo but I'm biased) were good. I loved Fleche

 

[Nick2413]

MSR was by far the best monument so far, speaks volumes. But the non monuments were half and half, I liked Flèche, Amstel, GW

 

[Escarabajo]

Red Rick banned???? was he a moderator in here. No lost love here!
LOL.

5.
Fleche and Amstel Ok.
Liege. Bad

Well, we are including the other classics. Those for sure lower the score. they were just bad. The other ones were a 2. So we have 5 for the Ardennes and 2 for PR, TdF and MSR that makes the average a 3.5. If we put more weight on the monuments then is a 3.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

4/10 for a good MSR and amazing performances by MVP and Pogacar.
Other than that: completely anticlimatic and predictable, no duels and no drama, MVP had no worthy rivals on cobble classics (Wout injury, Pogacar skipping Flandres), Pogacar had no worthy rivals in Liege (Evenepoel, Roglic injuries) and Strade (no MVP or Wout there).

 

[AmRacer]

Come on folks, we will watch these races next season. And complain again how boring it was, you know it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Come on folks, we will watch these races next season. And complain again how boring it was, you know it.

I won't. that's how I know they were bad. I usually repeat the races that I consider good. I have had no interest in watching these races. I only went to watch the Fleche again just because of the epic conditions. The other ones were just plain bad. We were robbed of the great duels this year. It is nobody's fault, but it is what it is.

 

[tobydawq]

Come on folks, we will watch these races next season. And complain again how boring it was, you know it.

Why would we necessarily complain again? I rarely rate things particularly low but when you have the four usually best races completely bereft of suspense, it's not a good classics season. And a cold FW will not be able to save that.

 

[Brullnux]

Why would we necessarily complain again? I rarely rate things particularly low but when you have the four usually best races completely bereft of suspense, it's not a good classics season. And a cold FW will not be able to save that.

In fairness, Liege hasn't been one of the best races for like a decade+. But other than that, I totally agree.