Ronde van Vlaanderen: April 7th, 2019

[Laplaz]

Re:

Someone with a 'Van' in his name will win this bike race.

Jasper Stuyvan.

 

[Lequack]

The new riders from Bora and Quickstep are already sightseeing the course.

A bit of lollygagging, the image is actually from here: https://twitter.com/Granthspeed/status/1114138857241497601

 

[SKSemtex]

Re:

Someone with a 'an' in his name will win this bike race.

I have corrected it for you. You are welcome.

 

[Vesica]

Re: Re:

Someone with a 'an' in his name will win this bike race.

I have corrected it for you. You are welcome.

Styban

 

[Vesica]

Re:

I really don't see what GvA has done this year to be a 5* favorite for De Ronde.

I agree with you. He's strong, but not as strong/punchy as in previous years. Styby, Jungels and WVA are looking in more decent form.

 

[tobydawq]

Obviously she meant Silvan Dillier.

 

[RedheadDane]

:lol:
You guys.










(I'll just add a 'Van' in the name whoever wins.)

 

[Lequack]

Pics from 70s & 80s edition:
http://www.cyclingmagazine.de/2019/04/05/fotogalerie-flandern-rundfahrt-15-fotos-aus-den-70ern-80ern/

 

[tomorrow]

Re:

Ten days ago I was thinking that Sagan timed his spring-peak perfectly but I just watched the highlights of Gent-Wevelgem and seeing him suffer on the last Berg when Trentin accelerated is making me rethink that.

There are many contenders, but if I would have to put my money on someone it would definetly be Greg.

well, the truth is, sagan was pulling them all on the plugstreets, so he had right to be a little more tired then terpstra. The problem is we can't know what sagan was trying to achieve with that ride up front for the whole race, even pulling the group, when there still were Ackerman and Seling in the group. If he got to the group just randomly and was aiming to win the race, the wise thing to do would be just stay in the group and see, what would happen. There were many riders from jumbo and trek, and I don't think I have seen van Aert and Degenkolb doing pulls like Sagan. I know we have seen Sagan do some tactically unwise things, but this would be too much even for his measures.
On the other side, if his aim was not to be the first that day, but he somehow knew his form is a little late, or he wanted to prepare for hard race this Sunday, the extra work in GW could actually by benefitial for him.
Nevertheless, nothing new, Sagan is a big mystery for Sunday, by I don't think it will have any impact on other riders' reactions to his attack, ... I think even if Tour of Flanders were to be Sagan's first race this year, they would still consider him being a serious thread.

 

[Lequack]

Astana's promo/action video for the Ronde:
https://twitter.com/AstanaTeam/status/1114165796983451648

 

[Anderis]

Vanmarcke will start.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re: Re:

Gilbert has been pretty underwhelming this campaign.

He's done a lot of work for the team, was leader in P-N, looked strong in G-W. He just needs to attack before Jungels does.

 

[The Hegelian]

Yeah, I think Jungels is QS's strongest card/rider. He's turned into a bit of a classics beast. I can easily see a scenario where's he's got a little gap towards the end of a climb and that's it - never comes back.

 

[Pantani_lives]

The weather forecast has changed from "dry" to "possibility of local showers in the afternoon", but still less than 50% chance of rain.

 

[vladimir]

Re:

The weather forecast has changed from "dry" to "possibility of local showers in the afternoon", but still less than 50% chance of rain.

When was the last time we had a really wet Ronde?

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re: Re:

The weather forecast has changed from "dry" to "possibility of local showers in the afternoon", but still less than 50% chance of rain.

When was the last time we had a really wet Ronde?

1989? In think there was a little rain in 2008 and some editions in the nineties, but the last really wet edition might be as long ago as 1989, with Van Hooydonck.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I don't recall an edition as open as this one. When was the last time we had five equal favorites (Stybar, Van Avermaet, Van der Poel, Van Aert and Sagan) for a race of this magnitude? Can't wait.

 

[Akuryo]

Re:

I don't recall an edition as open as this one. When was the last time we had five equal favorites (Stybar, Van Avermaet, Van der Poel, Van Aert and Sagan) for a race of this magnitude? Can't wait.

Boonen, Flecha, Cancellara, Pozzato, Hoste, Hincapie, Devolder, Ballan, etc. all in their prime a little over 10 years ago? Yeah, Boonen and Cancellara were above the rest most of the time but the field in the later 2000s was not bad either. Last few years was only Sagan/GVA vs. Quickstep to be honest. But also because riders like Vanmarcke, Boasson Hagen and some others did not live up to our expectations. Even Degenkolb, who has two monuments, did not much after 2015 in the classics.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

I don't recall an edition as open as this one. When was the last time we had five equal favorites (Stybar, Van Avermaet, Van der Poel, Van Aert and Sagan) for a race of this magnitude? Can't wait.

I think you mean Van Stybar and Van Sagan.

 

[Anderis]

Van Bettiol will win this bike race.

 

[Jancouver]

***** Štybar, Sagan
**** GvA, MVP, Rowe
*** Van Aert, Politt, Naesen
** Matthews, Dagenkolb, Bettiol, Valgren, Jungels
* Trentin, Terpstra, Kristoff, Benoot, Gilbert, Moscon, EBH, Oss

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

***** Štybar, Sagan
**** GvA, MVP, Rowe
*** Van Aert, Politt, Naesen
** Terpstra, Matthews, Dagenkolb, Bettiol, Valgren, Jungels
* Trentin, Terpstra, Kristoff, Benoot, Gilbert, Moscon, EBH, Oss

Twins?

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/peter-sagan-its-not-all-about-condition-at-the-tour-of-flanders/

Peter Sagan: It's not all about condition at the Tour of Flanders

Sounds like Sagan's downplaying his chances.

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

***** Štybar, Sagan
**** GvA, MVP, Rowe
*** Van Aert, Politt, Naesen
** Terpstra, Matthews, Dagenkolb, Bettiol, Valgren, Jungels
* Trentin, Terpstra, Kristoff, Benoot, Gilbert, Moscon, EBH, Oss

Twins?

I was shuffling the names and completely removing names like Valverde and I moved him from two ** to one * and accidentally left him there.

Nice catch!

 

[Leinster]

Re:

I don't recall an edition as open as this one. When was the last time we had five equal favorites (Stybar, Van Avermaet, Van der Poel, Van Aert and Sagan) for a race of this magnitude? Can't wait.

I feel like Flanders is one that can just as easily go to someone from outside the top 5 favorites as often as not, though. Obviously you have the Boonen/Cancellara years in recent memory, but the history of the race has plenty of winners who you probably wouldn’t have considered (not for a cobbled classics anyway) at the start, or would have been well down the list; Cruquielion, Sorensen, Bugno, Argentin, Kristoff, Gilbert, etc.