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

[postmanhat]

2 SDW's in the group behind yet Kopecky so insistent it has to be herself that she drags Persico along, really hope itll bite her in the end

Think she knew what she was doing. No one even remotely as strong as her on these climbs.

 

[Didinho]

They can all be great but I actually think Van Empel has the most road potential. With she and Pieterse it may come down to how much they focus on the road and how much mountain bike they wind up doing.

Yeah she looks a little bit stronger and also faster. I'm gonna watch her live in Brabantse Pijl, she will be up there. Yesterday she was up against SD Worx but was really strong. In Brabantse and Waalse pijl she can fight for the win already me thinks.

 

[jaylew]

Yeah she looks a little bit stronger and also faster. I'm gonna watch her live in Brabantse Pijl, she will be up there. Yesterday she was up against SD Worx but was really strong. In Brabantse and Waalse pijl she can fight for the win already me thinks.

Completely agree. Cross isn't exactly the same but she was certainly faster in a sprint and a better climber than the other two there. Can't wait to see her really focusing on the road

 

[Samu Cuenca]

If she can keep this form going, the rest should be possibly happy she's not riding FW and LBL. The weight loss has made her better than ever before.

 

[jaylew]

Good chance SD wins anyway but it would have been nice to see how this would have played out if the incident on the Koppenberg hadn't happened.

 

[JosefK]

Lotte stomp.

 

[Andy262]

Persico just looked too light on Oude Kwaremont, lost traction. Pog almost did the same when he put the afterburners down second last ascent.

 

[postmanhat]

Persico not pulling in the chase. Must fancy her chances in the podium sprint?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Persico not pulling in the chase. Must fancy her chances in the podium sprint?

I'm not sure she has a lot left in her legs. Vollering will probably win it.

 

[Andy262]

Commentators are like ‘Elisa has worked so hard to get back on…..’

No, they all sit up and everybody just cruises onto the back again. It’s frustratingly defensive riding,

 

[Peyroteo94]

Women should be sooner than men's race. How can we promote women cycling when we see this dreadful race after one of the best and thrilling Ronde we ever witnessed?

 

[Didinho]

Women should be sooner than men's race. How can we promote women cycling when we see this dreadful race after one of the best and thrilling Ronde we ever witnessed?

Also most of the spectators are gone before the women arrive. But you would miss a lot from the men's race.

 

[Red Rick]

Also most of the spectators are gone before the women arrive.

They do start drinking around 10 AM don't they?

 

[Dk one]

That was a bit boring.

 

[theyoungest]

Almost seemed like Vollering didn't know Kopecky was up ahead.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

No offence to Marty on TV, but that was a pretty lacklustre race.....the other teams don't have an answer whether in legs, or race tactics....

 

[RedheadDane]

(1)Also most of the spectators are gone before the women arrive. (2)But you would miss a lot from the men's race.

1: Their loss.
2: Not if both races just get full coverage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Women should be sooner than men's race. How can we promote women cycling when we see this dreadful race after one of the best and thrilling Ronde we ever witnessed?

...and then either half the audience switch the women's race off and don't see it, or they miss the action in the men's race. As I said in the thread about it, that would work fine at races like Flèche where the action is condensed into a small amount of time no matter who is racing (and the women are in fact more likely to race from further out), but at de Ronde where actions 120km out could be significant, it's less likely to be beneficial.

I'd say that it's a mixed blessing borne out of the stage in professionalisation that women's cycling is at. They are at the stage where the races need beefing up for difficulty as the number of riders who are at a high enough level is increasing, and now they would benefit from increased diversity in styles of riders that can make it to the top; they are at the same time still at the point where there are only a small handful of top teams with sufficient funding to be competitive across the calendar and so a couple of overpowered teams like SD Worx are division-killers, especially if they continue to be as ruthless with the grey areas of the sport's behavioural code.

Edit: "Kasia, are you disappointed not to have been able to fight for the victory at the end there" I was waiting for her to say something like "have you seen how many top 5s, top 10s I have in major races since I last won one? Of course I'm disappointed but I'm pretty used to it by now"

 

[Lequack]

So Kopecky did a Pogacar. Very strong win, the whole team basically.

 

[Lequack]

Women should be sooner than men's race. How can we promote women cycling when we see this dreadful race after one of the best and thrilling Ronde we ever witnessed?

I also think so. I mean sometimes you have a boring men's race and people are more hungry to watch the women's race after, but usually I think finish earlier is a better strategy.

 

[jaylew]

Women should be sooner than men's race. How can we promote women cycling when we see this dreadful race after one of the best and thrilling Ronde we ever witnessed?

That was a bit boring.

No offence to Marty on TV, but that was a pretty lacklustre race.....the other teams don't have an answer whether in legs, or race tactics....

Would likely have been much better if Weibes going down on the front on the Koppenberg hadn't created the winning break.

 

[Lequack]

Would likely have been much better if Weibes going down on the front on the Koppenberg hadn't created the winning break.

Good team strategy though.

 

[pmcg76]

Yeah, a race destroyed by the Koppenberg hold-up and dominance of SD Worx. To me Van Anrooj looked the strongest and should have attacked on Kwaermont when gap was close instead of waiting for Paterberg. Nobody from the chasing group seemed to push it on the Kwaermont as even ELB got back on before the end of it, and the gap to Kopecky really opened there.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Would likely have been much better if Weibes going down on the front on the Koppenberg hadn't created the winning break.

SD Worx probably still win, and indeed potentially still with Kopecky as the strength she showed meant that I find it difficult to believe anybody would have lived with her in a fair fight, but certainly it doesn't feel like a fair fight was won.

They're probably a bit lucky that Lippert had a problem at the same time, otherwise Wiebes and Kopecky both putting their feet down and blocking the road creating the winning selection looks a lot worse than it already does. Incidents like the Jumbo-Visma Vuelta a Burgos one feel pretty bad, like, the team creates a situation through crashing, mechanicals etc. which it then profits from. It isn't done deliberately so it isn't like, say, Yves Lampaert and the Quick Step morality train at the Tour of Belgium last year, but after seeing a few of these incidents it does feel like there should be some kind of repercussion for creating a situation where the team responsible for the incident are the only ones to benefit. SD Worx are already a crazily overpowered team, without being handed this kind of advantage too.

 

[Lequack]

Some more pics