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

[Bertram Wooster]

A problem addressed by Fuglsang last week, was also decisive yesterday: the motor(s) in front of the leaders.

It was decisive in E3, almost in DDV, and actually, it is decisive in a lot of races.

 

[Lequack]

UAE Behind the scenes

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCADN6AVhYE

 

[Boehmand]

Do you think Mads would have dropped Mathieu, or win a sprint?

He did win a sprint, against MvdP and WvA - seriously dude, go find the highlights from the race

 

[Netserk]

A problem addressed by Fuglsang last week, was also decisive yesterday: the motor(s) in front of the leaders.

It was decisive in E3, almost in DDV, and actually, it is decisive in a lot of races.

it was unbiased and overall pretty unimportant this year , although their predictable movement was exploitable

 

[Breh]

i dont think thats true

you still need someone to drive the selection and a strong team to control before that

e3 , gw and dwars disprove it

Perhaps, but in the end MVDP did win E3, half-assed his pulls in GW and WvA is not an alien in Dwars DV.
But yes E3 is a valid point, on the other hand he did easily solo Omloop?

Truth be told, I didn't get to watch E3 and Omloop in full so you can take my opinion with a ping of salt.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Pogi rode a great tactical race honestly. His team outside of a few guys didnt help, but he just controlled the race with 110 to go basically on his own with a little help from Vermeersch who apparantly was more interested in doing his own race.

I was at the Kwaremont, pretty close to the top, so when I saw WVA being the only one holding Pog's wheel, I dreamt a little. Unfortunately we quickly learned that he basically got dropped just after that point and Mathieu and Remco somehow had made contact.

 

[Netserk]

I was at the Kwaremont, pretty close to the top, so when I saw WVA being the only one holding Pog's wheel, I dreamt a little. Unfortunately we quickly learned that he basically got dropped just after that point and Mathieu and Remco somehow had made contact.

only one dumb enough to go with the hardest punch

van der poel at least learned how to pace kwaremont both times

 

[Valv.Piti]

Ye whatever man, MVP really rode that 2nd Kwaremont perfectly right?

 

[HashRouge]

I counted several moto's(more than 1 at the same time) in favour of Pogacar on 3 important moments. I understand the strongest get that dice. But sometimes it is too obvious. Maybe they are not aware of their own actions, filming from way too close and providing draft. Their footage was seemingly barely used though, so that goes against them as well.

Sorry I know this is from yesterday, but I was just reading back through the thread. I think the motos at the front of Pog/ MvdP yesterday were photographer motos. I had the same thought as you - why are the motos in front when we're only getting footage from behind/ the side? But I follow a lot of race photographers on Instagram and today I have seen several post their photos and there are lots of images of Pog/ MdvP taken from the front. That explains, I think, why sometimes they were there and sometimes they seemed to disappear completely.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Pogacar among riders under investigation after running red light during Tour of Flanders

Tadej Pogacar is among the riders being investigated for running a red light at a railway crossing during the Tour de Flanders on Sunday

www.theguardian.com

 

[Peyresourde]

One thing I would like to mention after the Flemish classic season:

The differences in climbing the cobble walls are really abysmal. If we just look at the 'pure' classic riders, then MvdP is 2 levels above van Aert and Pedersen who are in turn 2 levels above the rest.

After a hard race on a climb like Koppenberg (100 seconds), van der Poel can take 10 seconds out of van Aert and 20 out of the rest. These kind of differences are almost impossibly huge and I also see no new talent that is about to bridge that gap.

Looking at the past, I also think there has never been a rider even as good as van Aert on these climbs. So in terms of climbing cobble walls, MvdP 's explosive ability is an extreme anomaly and only the best climber in history can compete (and that only after a very hard race).

Tour of Flanders is in my opinion the perfect race for van der Poel (not Roubaix), the perspective is just distorted due to another anomaly (Pogacar).

 

[AmRacer]

One thing I would like to mention after the Flemish classic season:

The differences in climbing the cobble walls are really abysmal. If we just look at the 'pure' classic riders, then MvdP is 2 levels above van Aert and Pedersen who are in turn 2 levels above the rest.

After a hard race on a climb like Koppenberg (100 seconds), van der Poel can take 10 seconds out of van Aert and 20 out of the rest. These kind of differences are almost impossibly huge and I also see no new talent that is about to bridge that gap.

Looking at the past, I also think there was never a rider even as good as van Aert on these climbs. So in terms of climbing cobble walls, MvdP 's explosive ability is an extreme anomaly and only the best climber in history can compete (and that only after a very hard race).

Tour of Flanders is in my opinion the perfect race for van der Poel (not Roubaix), the perspective is just distorted due to another anomaly (Pogacar).

You forgot Remco

 

[Berniece]

A problem addressed by Fuglsang last week, was also decisive yesterday: the motor(s) in front of the leaders.

It was decisive in E3, almost in DDV, and actually, it is decisive in a lot of races.

Would've given us a completely different race. Evenepoel would have come back, and wouldn't have to use so much energy during the flatter sections chasing the leaders. He would've been dropped every hill, and might have have been able to get back.

 

[Barkintheeye]

One thing I would like to mention after the Flemish classic season:

The differences in climbing the cobble walls are really abysmal. If we just look at the 'pure' classic riders, then MvdP is 2 levels above van Aert and Pedersen who are in turn 2 levels above the rest.

After a hard race on a climb like Koppenberg (100 seconds), van der Poel can take 10 seconds out of van Aert and 20 out of the rest. These kind of differences are almost impossibly huge and I also see no new talent that is about to bridge that gap.

Looking at the past, I also think there was never a rider even as good as van Aert on these climbs. So in terms of climbing cobble walls, MvdP 's explosive ability is an extreme anomaly and only the best climber in history can compete (and that only after a very hard race).

Tour of Flanders is in my opinion the perfect race for van der Poel (not Roubaix), the perspective is just distorted due to another anomaly (Pogacar).

Adding to your spot on observations. Pogacar is an even more extreme outlier. The few things (within road cycling) he still might not be completely superior in executing would be i) sprinting and ii) ITT. It would be the ultimate grab if he also starts winning sprint stages and ITTs.

 

[Peyresourde]

Adding to your spot on observations. Pogacar is an even more extreme outlier. The few things (within road cycling) he still might not be completely superior in executing would be i) sprinting and ii) ITT. It would be the ultimate grab if he also starts winning sprint stages and ITTs.

For Pogacar it at least makes sense to me as he just has the watts/kg uphill, regardless of the length of the climb. We also see that other climbing types like Evenepoel or Jorgenson last year are around the same level as van Aert.

MvdP is basically the worst climber of all these riders. (Even though he should be very competitive on long climbs if his power numbers from E3 are just remotely true).

In terms of sprint, I think Pogacar has mostly been in the 1200 watt range since 2020. Maybe he can hit a bit above 1300 on a good day. I have seen no real change there. And for the TT he would need to improve his position, he has the watts already.

 

[ingsve]

One thing I would like to mention after the Flemish classic season:

The differences in climbing the cobble walls are really abysmal. If we just look at the 'pure' classic riders, then MvdP is 2 levels above van Aert and Pedersen who are in turn 2 levels above the rest.

After a hard race on a climb like Koppenberg (100 seconds), van der Poel can take 10 seconds out of van Aert and 20 out of the rest. These kind of differences are almost impossibly huge and I also see no new talent that is about to bridge that gap.

Looking at the past, I also think there has never been a rider even as good as van Aert on these climbs. So in terms of climbing cobble walls, MvdP 's explosive ability is an extreme anomaly and only the best climber in history can compete (and that only after a very hard race).

Tour of Flanders is in my opinion the perfect race for van der Poel (not Roubaix), the perspective is just distorted due to another anomaly (Pogacar).

I think the main issue with the level difference between various riders is how a single rider can be so much stronger than a group of chasers. That's really what defines the alien era.

In my ideal world you can have riders that are strong on climbs or on the cobbles but once you get back on the flat road, a dedicated group or say at least 4-5 riders should normally be strong enough to take time back from a solo rider. The challenge then becomes whether the gap is big enough to stay away rather than the single rider being far stronger and can just solo into the sunset.

 

[AmRacer]

I think the main issue with the level difference between various riders is how a single rider can be so much stronger than a group of chasers. That's really what defines the alien era.

In my ideal world you can have riders that are strong on climbs or on the cobbles but once you get back on the flat road, a dedicated group or say at least 4-5 riders should normally be strong enough to take time back from a solo rider. The challenge then becomes whether the gap is big enough to stay away rather than the single rider being far stronger and can just solo into the sunset.

Lots of solo riders at RVV

 

[canina82]

The feeling is definitely there.

"Beyond demotivating" - Classics rival says Tadej Pogacar's dominance has taken away all hope from the peloton

Tadej Pogacar’s latest Tour of Flanders victory did more than add another Monument to his palmares. It left even those racing against him struggling to explain what they are up against. Among them was...

cyclinguptodate.com

 

[onefortheroad]

The feeling is definitely there.

"Beyond demotivating" - Classics rival says Tadej Pogacar's dominance has taken away all hope from the peloton

Tadej Pogacar’s latest Tour of Flanders victory did more than add another Monument to his palmares. It left even those racing against him struggling to explain what they are up against. Among them was...

cyclinguptodate.com

And Roubaix is coming.
That will be even more surreal. How in a terrain like that he will demolish the specialists there?
Mountain, flat, next greed will be to win even on a sprint. Ridiculous.