Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres 2023, one day monument, April 2 (men's)

[Krzysztof_O]

The tactical genius of yesterday's winner should be stressed more. When a photo of Pogacar walking up the Paterberg with cyclotourists was posted Vans and their teams must have been laughing and celebrating Tadej's mistimed peak. They were overconfident and a video of Wout storming past an amateur was posted to break the Slovenian's morale completely. And then on Sunday...oh wait, Teddy is actually pedaling and not so slowly!

 

[Valv.Piti]

QS problem also is that riders like Senechal and Lampaert (who in theory is protected and rarely does any work) are flat out mediocre. Alaphilippe is off form and Ballerini, well, he's pretty mediocre as well, so that leaves everything on Asgreen who isnt at his best level.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I wouldn't want to enforce a DQ on Ballerini over an incident that clearly wasn't his fault, and I hope he has no lasting effects of the incident yesterday.

However, while we all know that it is permitted for a rider to finish a race wheeling his bike ver the line rather than riding it, should it not at least be the rider himself who is puching/carrying it?

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Belgian Pozzato is not at his best because he didn't win and he's apparently too good to not win. Alaphilippe is not at his best because he never wins. Van der poel is not at his best because he did CX. Asgren is no at his best because he got dropped. Pogacar is not at his best because he was more alien in PDBF/Tignes. Pidcock was not at his best because he got a bonk. Laporte was not at his best because he did a minor crash in the start. Degenkolb was not at their best because he did a crash in 2016. Senechal and Lampaert is not at their best. Etc etc.

Is the biggest race of the year , but thanks to the insight of the fans here i know now that no riders were at their best for this race. That's strange. I presume everybody is timing their peak for sckeldeprijs midweek. Thanks guys.

 

[RedheadDane]

Degenkolb was not at their best because he did a crash in 2016.

And the big issue here is the fact that someone frikkin' went and cloned Degenkolb!

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Belgian Pozzato is not at his best because he didn't win and he's apparently too good to not win. Alaphilippe is not at his best because he never wins. Van der poel is not at his best because he did CX. Asgren is no at his best because he got dropped. Pogacar is not at his best because he was more alien in PDBF/Tignes. Pidcock was not at his best because he got a bonk. Laporte was not at his best because he did a minor crash in the start. Degenkolb was not at their best because he did a crash in 2016. Senechal and Lampaert is not at their best. Etc etc.

Is the biggest race of the year , but thanks to the insight of the fans here i know now that no riders were at their best for this race. That's strange. I presume everybody is timing their peak for sckeldeprijs midweek. Thanks guys.

Finally a voice of reason on this forum

 

[Ricco']

Degenkolb saved DSM from having a worst RvV than Astana Development Team.

 

[Lequack]

Now you too can enjoy Horner

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT6pjCvUdm4

 

[Didinho]

As good as the final was yesterday, I would love to see the Muur back in the final.

 

[search]

Now you too can enjoy Horner

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT6pjCvUdm4

Gilian van Klierbluck is my new favourite rider, I think

 

[Danskebjerge]

Now you too can enjoy Horner

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT6pjCvUdm4

It's a good point - the speech bubble. And it's bad for cycling. Unless you're the kind of fan who thinks "sheer power" (as someone wrote) is the highlight of cycling. Go and watch weight lifting instead, is my advice to them.

 

[Valv.Piti]

As good as the final was yesterday, I would love to see the Muur back in the final.

Looking at Omloop and previous Tour of Flanders, I certainly would not. Im not an expert, but it seems a lot harder to link those really hard climbs close to Muur-Bosberg. This just is a lot better honestly.

I think it being at 100 km was perfect.

 

[Carols]

Merckx in 1969. Even more incredibly in 1970 he was 3rd in Flanders then won Paris-Roubaix AND the Giro/Tour double. That is a season surely even Pogacar or Evenepoel could never match.

Things like this is why there'll never be another Eddy. And I was there to see him in his Prime People throw around Great and Legend like water these days. When you've been around as long as I have (Anquiteil was my first hero) you wait a few year (quite a few) before thinking someone is Great. Pogi has the Potential to be a Great.

EDIT: There are Generational Greats and there are ALL Time Greats. Recent generational greats are riders like Contador, Boonen, Cancellera, Froome etc. etc. Based on Personal Bias I'll add Nibali to that list. All time Greats are a VERY Few.

 

[Didinho]

Looking at Omloop and previous Tour of Flanders, I certainly would not. Im not an expert, but it seems a lot harder to link those really hard climbs close to Muur-Bosberg. This just is a lot better honestly.

I think it being at 100 km was perfect.

I know it's hard to put the Muur back in here, but I grew up with it. That was the special part of the Ronde everyone was waiting for. One of my first memories when I started watching cycling.
Maybe Pogi will never ride it in his career if it stays like this. And the Muur wasn't in the Omloop if I remember correctly.

 

[Valv.Piti]

It is now, and that race is so bad at the moment (probably also due to the biggest riders not riding). Just look at the route, its too easy until the final.

 

[Red Rick]

Looking at Omloop and previous Tour of Flanders, I certainly would not. Im not an expert, but it seems a lot harder to link those really hard climbs close to Muur-Bosberg. This just is a lot better honestly.

I think it being at 100 km was perfect.

Omloop is such a bad representation of the old Ronde route because it has none of the hard hills before de Muur van Geraardsbergen, while the old route still had the Kwaremont-Pater-Koppen-Taaienberg sequence, but that would just be a little too early to be the finale.

De Muur is objectively the hardest climb in Flanders apart from some unusable stuff, but the hardest part is right before the top so people don't attack before that bit and as a result gaps are usually still quite small on the top. Would be funny to see Pog nuke it from the bottom

 

[DNP-Old]

Viewership records in Vlaanderen for both the male and female race. And that's without counting Dutch viewership (I think). De koers is alive and well.

 

[Red Rick]

Viewership records in Vlaanderen for both the male and female race. And that's without counting Dutch viewership (I think). De koers is alive and well.

Wait there were people left in front of the television and you're telling me not literally every Flemish person was on the sides of the roads drinking Duvels from 10 AM?

 

[staubsauger]

Omloop is such a bad representation of the old Ronde route because it has none of the hard hills before de Muur van Geraardsbergen, while the old route still had the Kwaremont-Pater-Koppen-Taaienberg sequence, but that would just be a little too early to be the finale.

De Muur is objectively the hardest climb in Flanders apart from some unusable stuff, but the hardest part is right before the top so people don't attack before that bit and as a result gaps are usually still quite small on the top. Would be funny to see Pog nuke it from the bottom

The old route created action from far out. Which was just perfect for the season opener after a winter of road cycling abstinence.

With the new route too often the decisive part of the race, eventually is just the final.

It is now, and that race is so bad at the moment (probably also due to the biggest riders not riding). Just look at the route, its too easy until the final.

Actually there use to be more big names riding the opening weekend lately, than for example when Gilbert won the 2008 Omloop.

But maybe we just tend to remember only the memorable editions, and compare them with the current editions.

 

[DNP-Old]

Wait there were people left in front of the television and you're telling me not literally every Flemish person was on the sides of the roads drinking Duvels from 10 AM?

I hope not, because Duvel is disgusting.

 

[staubsauger]

I hope not, because Duvel is disgusting.

There's still the lank Brouwerij Martens sells as beer though.

I was impressed by La Chouffe, fine brewage!

 

[Red Rick]

I hope not, because Duvel is disgusting.

Fair that's indeed the primary concern with the situation I sketched

 

[Netserk]

Overall Quickstep did a good race. Really solid tactics and signs of life from Asgreen. Merlier also put in tons of work by entering the breakaway and working for his teammate, like Greipel back in the day at Lotto. Who cares if he potentially isn't competitive after the first week of a gt if he's a big teamplayer and a workhorse in the cobbled classics? Their main problem is that 3 guys are clearly head and shoulders above the rest in this race and they usually take the bull by the horns and blow the race apart rather early, so they are less vulnerable to getting outplayed by the numbers gain and Quickstep also lacks someone who can stay with them.

I do wonder if Sagan and Cancellare should have tried the same in 2016 when they were clearly the 2 strongest (or Sagan + GvA later). Blow the race apart earlier, so Quickstep no longer have the numbers to make your job harder.

The crossers are always ready to pull through and let the strongest man on the day win, so it's easy for them to cooperate.

That wasn't the case for Greg. Cancellara also usually preferred to wait until he could make his winning move, which is why he preferred to wait for Kwaremont in 2016.

 

[Boehmand]

Wait there were people left in front of the television and you're telling me not literally every Flemish person was on the sides of the roads drinking Duvels from 10 AM?

They are all watching on their phones, until the race comes by

 

[Valv.Piti]

I just rewatched Flanders 2016 and it was so weird to watch the race. Cancellara is literally just sitting up when Sagan, Kwito and Sep attack and relies solely on Stijn Devolder to keep it close before Kwaremont. Had he been stronger, no problem, but he needed a more extra percent and therefore couldn't catch Sagan. He definitely would have had a better chance if he acted differently instead of only thinking about last time up Kwaremont.

Greg's two best seasons were 2016 and especially 2017. I think he would've won the ladder, but he got unlucky both years where he was the biggest favorite along with Sagan. He was soooooo good in 2017, was undropable for peak Sagan and was a complete menace in the sprint in small group sprint. I definitely consider peak Greg a better cobbled classics rider than Sagan, but his true peak was only 1-2 seasons, and he really wasnt the same before or after, although quite consistent.