Scheldeprijs 2023 5 April

[Tricycle Rider]

Just tuned in with about 5km to go, judging by the number of posts in this thread I take it this is no one's favorite race?

 

[glassmoon]

Jasper!!!

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Philipsen wins

 

[Panda Claws]

The one monument Pogi cannot win.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

No broken bones!

 

[postmanhat]

Ewan seems less and less keen on bunch finishes like this, unless he's perfectly positioned, Could do with a result to boost his confidence.

He's become so bad at these. Team couldn't have done more for him.

 

[DNP-Old]

Jakobsen definitely isn't going to the Tour.

 

[yaco]

Reckon, Welsford was very fast and could have contended for the win if he got a clear run.

 

[SHAD0W93]

How close was Cav? Or did Philipsen win by a lot judging by what @yaco said?

 

[Samamba]

God Ewan has become a joke. Lotto needs to fine a way to cut him loose asap. Dude doesn't even seem to try anymore. Himself + train probably 3mil a year for this ***.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

God Ewan has become a joke. Lotto needs to fine a way to cut him loose asap. Dude doesn't even seem to try anymore. Himself + train probably 3mil a year for this ***.

I think they're stuck with him. Ewan knows nobody is giving him anywhere near his current contract after how poor he's been post-2021 Sanremo and therefore has zero incentive to agree to part ways. So Lotto's only hope is that 2024 being a contract year for him lights a fire under his ***, because it's going to be a long 18 months otherwise.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Jakobsen definitely isn't going to the Tour.

I wonder what's up. He hasn't lost his speed but he's just so bad at positioning the entire year. It's like riding without any confidence

 

[search]

I wonder what's up. He hasn't lost his speed but he's just so bad at positioning the entire year. It's like riding without any confidence

didn't exactly see what happened with him today, but during San Juan he mentioned that he prefers to back out of sprints that feel unsafe to him since his injury.

 

[Samamba]

I think they're stuck with him. Ewan knows nobody is giving him anywhere near his current contract after how poor he's been post-2021 Sanremo and therefore has zero incentive to agree to part ways. So Lotto's only hope is that 2024 being a contract year for him lights a fire under his ***, because it's going to be a long 18 months otherwise.

Yeah I know. Thing is Lotto doesn't even have another option for the Tour this year. Too early for De Lie and their climbers are also not ready. So we'll get Ewan + his whole train + Kron again and it will be painful to watch again if he keeps going like this.

I don't even know what's going on with him. Always been a fan, but he rides like he doesn't know how to sprint anymore.

 

[postmanhat]

You could sort of excuse his underperformance in the last two years due to illnesses/crashes/mechanicals, but he hasn't been good in big bunch sprints for a while, and seems to have completely lost his courage for some reason, and any desire to gain the team additional points. Could easily have finished 2 or 3 positions higher today, but sat up with about 50 metres to go despite having a fairly clear run. Just a terrible performance all round on top of so many others, and it's difficult to see any future for him anymore, except perhaps as a .1 sprinter in a smaller Belgian or French team.

His only real differentiator these days is being able to climb better than most fast men, but that's not much in the age of MVDP, Girmay, WVA etc.

 

[titan31]

Yeah I know. Thing is Lotto doesn't even have another option for the Tour this year. Too early for De Lie and their climbers are also not ready. So we'll get Ewan + his whole train + Kron again and it will be painful to watch again if he keeps going like this.

I don't even know what's going on with him. Always been a fan, but he rides like he doesn't know how to sprint anymore.

I think they could go De Lie. Sure, he's young but he's currently better than Ewan. You can bring guys like Kron, Van Gils, Moniquet too and try for stage wins with them.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Strange that Ewan is listed as finishing 8th when he clearly finished half a wheel ahead of Walscheid who is listed as 7th. Is this what happens when you publicly question photo finishes in Belgium?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Strange that Ewan is listed as finishing 8th when he clearly finished half a wheel ahead of Walscheid who is listed as 7th. Is this what happens when you publicly question photo finishes in Belgium?

No, they actually break into your house and beat you with old, hardened waffles and fries if you do that.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lotto just have to swap the races they send Ewan and de Lie to. Ewan might get a bit of confidence if he manages to not mess up stuff like the Heistse Pijl and Paris-Chauny.

 

[jmdirt]

How close was Cav? Or did Philipsen win by a lot judging by what @yaco said?

Cav lead it out and kept it close.

 

[yaco]

How close was Cav? Or did Philipsen win by a lot judging by what @yaco said?

Philipsen won by a bike length from Welsford who probably should have won - Cavendish was around another bike length back with Groenwegen, however Cavendish was in the wind for too long.

 

[jono]

Philipsen won by a bike length from Welsford who probably should have won - Cavendish was around another bike length back with Groenwegen, however Cavendish was in the wind for too long.

Why or how should Welsford have won?

 

[Didinho]

Just tuned in with about 5km to go, judging by the number of posts in this thread I take it this is no one's favorite race?

I went there with the bike but didn't even stay till the final.

Was surprised how narrow the last km is. That's not a road for a mass spint. Even on television I thougth they were gonna crash at some point.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

I went there with the bike but didn't even stay till the final.

Was surprised how narrow the last km is. That's not a road for a mass spint. Even on television I thougth they were gonna crash at some point.

I couldn't even make sense of the last few hundred meters, just too many bodies trying to negotiate a pretty narrow road. Glad nobody crashed toward the very end!

 

[Devil's Elbow]

You could sort of excuse his underperformance in the last two years due to illnesses/crashes/mechanicals, but he hasn't been good in big bunch sprints for a while, and seems to have completely lost his courage for some reason, and any desire to gain the team additional points. Could easily have finished 2 or 3 positions higher today, but sat up with about 50 metres to go despite having a fairly clear run. Just a terrible performance all round on top of so many others, and it's difficult to see any future for him anymore, except perhaps as a .1 sprinter in a smaller Belgian or French team.

His only real differentiator these days is being able to climb better than most fast men, but that's not much in the age of MVDP, Girmay, WVA etc.

Ewan has always tended to sit up in sprints when he realises he can’t win anymore, to the recurring annoyance of the decreasing amount of people who pick him in any sort of cycling game. Only now that a) Lotto need the points and b) Ewan himself is winning less and less, there’s a lot more scrutiny for it.

Yeah I know. Thing is Lotto doesn't even have another option for the Tour this year. Too early for De Lie and their climbers are also not ready. So we'll get Ewan + his whole train + Kron again and it will be painful to watch again if he keeps going like this.

I don't even know what's going on with him. Always been a fan, but he rides like he doesn't know how to sprint anymore.

I do think De Lie is ready for a GT, by the time the Tour rolls around he will be older than Pogacar was when he won it for the first time so he's hardly too young. Can always pull him out after two weeks if he's having to go too deep otherwise.