Ronde van Vlaanderen 2026, monument, April 5 (men's)

[noob]

This train incident just shows a lot of "cycling fans" here don't care about entertainment, they just care about one rider not winning.

Yesterday I randomly listened to a youtuber talking about another topic completely, it might have been Nietsche!

They took an example how athletes in competition needs resistance for it to be a challenge and hence enjoyable. Someone who always is way ahead of others gets no resistance and hence it won't feel like an accomplishment. It will just be stacking things without meaning.

I think Pog fans have a lot more fun than Pog himself.

 

[Sciatic]

40” gaps all the way.

For a long stretch the gaps stayed steady at 40” between each of the first 4 riders.

 

[AmRacer]

Yesterday I randomly listened to a youtuber talking about another topic completely, it might have been Nietsche!

They took an example how athletes in competition needs resistance for it to be a challenge and hence enjoyable. Someone who always is way ahead of others gets no resistance and hence it won't feel like an accomplishment. It will just be stacking things without meaning.

I think Pog fans have a lot more fun than Pog himself.

Winning all five monuments, the Tour and WC is a massive challenge, including Romandie and Suisse.

 

[noob]

Winning all five monuments, the Tour and WC is a massive challenge, including Romandie and Suisse.

Not the individual wins no. Not if you don't have resistance in the individual races.

 

[AmRacer]

Not the individual wins no. Not if you don't have resistance in the individual races.

It's at least a mental challenge, and also staying in shape the whole season

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I‘d advise Sheffield against following Mohorič through corners in the future.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

What a monster race of attrition! Five classics stars battling and arriving alone, one by one. Crazy gaps, only two front guys with 50 km to go.

Cograts to Teddy Merckx. Call him Mr Kwaremont or Kwaremonster. What more can one say? The alpha of cycling is continuing his dominant run: 4th monument in a row and chance for a non-calendar slam next week. His dominance is looking to be at its peak and I'm not expecting stage races to be different ( he has to survive Roubaix first). Also congrats to Mattieu on a great fight and to Remco on podium spot on his debut. Credit to Wout and Mads for big fight as well: podium missed today but next week one of them should get a podium spot.

 

[search]

In the end, Picnic managed to beat Burgos by a couple of spots btw, with van den Berg in 62nd ahead of Fagundez in 70th. Although Sainbayar probably got more TV time than half of the other teams together.

Also Ineos (51st) and Topsport (56th) didn't place a rider in the top 50, but the former's result was obviously heavily influenced by crashes.

 

[search]

about the train incident: as mentioned above, a precedent was set in 2018, when 35 guys were taken out of the Scheldeprijs:

https://twitter.com/x/status/981524629301989378

View: https://x.com/inrng/status/981524629301989378


To be fair, that level crossing had overhead- and early flashlights, so much easier to spot than today's one:

Nonetheless, cars going 50kph are of course expected to stop there as well, so I would think it's still the responsibility of the riders. Whether that means a yellow card or dsq then is a different story, but nothing at all seems odd.

 

[ice&fire]

I'm amazed at this forum collective wisdom: the first five men in the race got exactly the same placing in the poll.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm amazed at this forum collective wisdom: the first five men in the race got exactly the same placing in the poll.

That's not the collective wisdom of the forum, it's the utterly sorry state of cycling in 2026.

 

[red_flanders]

I wouldn’t mind if Pogacar eventually distanced himself but what I really feel is missing is the drama around the selection. There was mainly just the one selection, going from 20 riders at the bottom of the Kwaremont to just 2 (one of whom already struggled to hold on) by the top. At least Remco’s pursuit added a bit more interest. But the tactical element of riders deciding which late attack to go with and which to let go and stay in the bigger group—there’s none of that. Just who has the legs when Poggi launches. I can still enjoy watching the race [which might say more about how little I have going in my life ] but I really miss that tactical element.

All good and fair points. I still enjoyed seeing all the stars come out and battle.

 

[Boehmand]

Yesterday I randomly listened to a youtuber talking about another topic completely, it might have been Nietsche!

They took an example how athletes in competition needs resistance for it to be a challenge and hence enjoyable. Someone who always is way ahead of others gets no resistance and hence it won't feel like an accomplishment. It will just be stacking things without meaning.

I think Pog fans have a lot more fun than Pog himself.

I disagree with that youtuber

It just changes the perspective

Instead of measuring yourself against your peers, you measure yourself against history

It's why a great champion like Cavendish, who everyone agreed was the greatest sprinter of his generation, still killed himself for 2 years beyond his natural abilities, to get that record

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I'm amazed at this forum collective wisdom: the first five men in the race got exactly the same placing in the poll.

CN forum experts are the finest in the world. Even @Red Rick (as one of them) can't disagree at heart.

 

[noob]

I disagree with that youtuber

It just changes the perspective

Instead of measuring yourself against your peers, you measure yourself against history

It's why a great champion like Cavendish, who everyone agreed was the greatest sprinter of his generation, still killed himself for 2 years beyond his natural abilities, to get that record

I'm damn thankful I watched only the end of those Cav victories. 21 and 22. Had I been there for the long run I'd get absolutely bored.

 

[Cookster15]

The winner as overwhelmingly expected - congrats to Pogacar, he still has to win the race and not crash. Notable were MVDP's congratulations at the finish. No hard feelings.

The top 5 also quite predictable. Happy for Remco. Best of the rest after the top two favorites.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040840949195047368

View: https://x.com/BikeBlz/status/2040840949195047368

 

[Andy262]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040840949195047368

View: https://x.com/BikeBlz/status/2040840949195047368

Want a croggy Pauline?

 

[Miha81]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040840949195047368

View: https://x.com/BikeBlz/status/2040840949195047368

Urska and Gianetti won't be happy

 

[Lequack]

Urska and Gianetti won't be happy

I imagine so. And to make sense, Pog should've taken Vollering for a ride, and MVDP should ride around with Pauline. Now it just looks weird!

 

[ashhutch1997]

This race has become too hard and selective, the riders were in ones like a mountain stage. They need to take some of the climbs out, otherwise this will become like Il Lombardia.

 

[Andy262]

This race has become too hard and selective, the riders were in ones like a mountain stage. They need to take some of the climbs out, otherwise this will become like Il Lombardia.

We live in an era when the best riders are less distributed across teams. It enables control. The equipment is more reliable, which contributes to less randomness. As a result the strongest riders rise to the top. We had a Ronde which reflects the current state of the sport.

 

[Lequack]

This race has become too hard and selective, the riders were in ones like a mountain stage. They need to take some of the climbs out, otherwise this will become like Il Lombardia.

They made a race just like that, all the cobbles and none of the climbs. It's Paris Roubaix next week!

 

[mikks]

That was a dull race. It’s not even just that Pog won—that was predictable—but there was zero suspense for the minor places and no real tactics. Evenepoel looked strong. It’s almost criminal that he’s already 26 and this was only his first time there.

 

[Netserk]

2024 was more dynamic and uncertain