Strade Bianche 2024, March 2, one-day classic (men's)

[Escarabajo]

Bernal choosing not to ride.

Egan Bernal will not be in #StradeBianche :"There will be other changes to your calendar, we will talk about it in the coming days"

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Here we go again. He was at the start list but I am not surprised. They are following Horner's advice to detail. LOL.

Reading the article, it talks about optimizing his racing kilometers now. O Gran Camiño was a good surprised to the team so that they decided to sit down and change his program. Not sure what that means. Oh well.

 

[Sciatic]

Forty to fifty years ago it was all about the Tour of Zurich being the sixth monument.
Guess what, race no longer exists.

I think if altitude training camp shenanigans and ultra focused peaks keep prompting the best riders to skip it then the race is going to lose some of its recent luster. Still a gorgeous race to watch regardless of who is there.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Can't overstate my disappointment at WvA , VdP ,and Remco for not racing this.
And et tu, Egan? You join Team Charmin as well?
Best one-day race. But ok, you guys go race through some industrial park in Flanders instead.

 

[Savant12]

Valter has been Top 5 in the last two editions. The question is: can he podium if he gets his tactics right?

 

[Sciatic]

Can't overstate my disappointment at WvA , VdP ,and Remco for not racing this.
And et tu, Egan? You join Team Charmin as well?
Best one-day race. But ok, you guys go race through some industrial park in Flanders instead.

Would like to see Roglic here as well.

 

[Rob5091]

2018 when Bennot won, was the last wet Strade Bianche, what's the forecast at the moment?
Shame about Bernal not starting, I suppose Ineos think he's going to win the Tour now!

 

[SafeBet]

2018 when Bennot won, was the last wet Strade Bianche, what's the forecast at the moment?

Saturday might be the only dry day in the whole week. Good chance the sterrato will be muddy anyway if it keeps raining like it has the past few days.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Looks like it’s going to be a crude version this year. Muddy from several days of heavy rain (Thursday and Friday in particular) and few of the really big names participating.

 

[Lequack]

 

[QueenStagiaire]

That looks like a stereotypical AI-generated image.

 

[Lequack]

That looks like a stereotypical AI-generated image.

No it's just Italy.

 

[sam6]

Can't overstate my disappointment at WvA , VdP ,and Remco for not racing this.
And et tu, Egan? You join Team Charmin as well?
Best one-day race. But ok, you guys go race through some industrial park in Flanders instead.

Remco hates gravel, look at his reaction to the Strade stage in the Giro. No way he is ever racing here! He doesn't have the bike handling skills to compete here

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Remco hates gravel, look at his reaction to the Strade stage in the Giro. No way he is ever racing here! He doesn't have the bike handling skills to compete here

It should be noted that that was 3 years ago, and that he's physically, and perhaps also mentally, stronger than back then, when he was returning from injury in what appeared to be a less than optimal way. I can't see why he shouldn't be able to do well in this race, if he targeted it. Sure, he wouldn't be a favourite against Pogačar or Van der Poel at the moment, but nobody else would be either.

 

[Gigs_98]

I never realized they had changed the route but I kinda like it. Monte Sante Marie has honestly sometimes been a bit too hard for how "close" it is to the finish. I think the shorter sections actually make for better racing.

And of course this will be an obligatory Pogacar victory.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

It should be noted that that was 3 years ago, and that he's physically, and perhaps also mentally, stronger than back then, when he was returning from injury in what appeared to be a less than optimal way. I can't see why he shouldn't be able to do well in this race, if he targeted it. Sure, he wouldn't be a favourite against Pogačar or Van der Poel at the moment, but nobody else would be either.

It was another fck up of epic proportions by the team, as they knew from Adriatica Ionica '19 that he was helpless on gravel. They did f* all to prepare him for that stage. One or two off-seasons ago, they finally sent him to do a Specialized sponsored gravel race in the US, i think with Cattaneo. It didn't get a lot of attention and he said he enjoyed it. Whether he did i don't know, but at least i hope he learned how not to crash.

 

[shadowrider]

Pogacar to attack with 42 KMs to go and seal the win with “moto assistance” the last 10 kms.

As usual for the (lonely) rider in front. As long Van Vliet is not the racedirector, fixing the race with his car, there will be no major problem.

 

[Sciatic]

I never realized they had changed the route but I kinda like it. Monte Sante Marie has honestly sometimes been a bit too hard for how "close" it is to the finish. I think the shorter sections actually make for better racing.

And of course this will be an obligatory Pogacar victory.

It’s longer now as well, isn’t it?

 

[shadowrider]

It should be noted that that was 3 years ago, and that he's physically, and perhaps also mentally, stronger than back then, when he was returning from injury in what appeared to be a less than optimal way. I can't see why he shouldn't be able to do well in this race, if he targeted it. Sure, he wouldn't be a favourite against Pogačar or Van der Poel at the moment, but nobody else would be either.

He could be mentally stronger, but one can not control the psychological reaction entering a gravel section. In addition, there are also descents on gravel. Even as a fan of Evenepoel I'm convinced that his legs will still slam shut entering a gravel section. On the downhill stretch where Pidcock rode away last year with his technique and courage, Evenepoel would lose 40 seconds compared to Pidcock, also 30 seconds to the other topriders. If he wasn't already quite far behind before then.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He could be mentally stronger, but one can not control the psychological reaction entering a gravel section. In addition, there are also descents on gravel. Even as a fan of Evenepoel I'm convinced that his legs will still slam shut entering a gravel section. On the downhill stretch where Pidcock rode away last year with his technique and courage, Evenepoel would lose 40 seconds compared to Pidcock, also 30 seconds to the other topriders. If he wasn't already quite far behind before then.

We'll see how much he's improved when we get to the Tour, unless that stage gets altered due to bad weather, or it simply turns into a random crash fest.

 

[Cookster15]

Looking at those who won't turn up its almost impossible to look past Pogacar. Even if Wout and MVDP did race Pog would be favorite.

Weird that Remco doesn't like gravel. If he could focus on learning to ride on gravel in a positive way I am sure he could do a long range attack and nobody would see him again. How did Pog learn?

 

[Lequack]

World is not ready for blonde Pogacar

 

[Rob5091]

This is how a winner looks like! None of this blonde hair do stuff!

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Blonde Pogi vs. untucked Kyrie. A battle for the ages.
(sorry for the NBA content).

 

[tobydawq]

World is not ready for blonde Pogacar

A bit rich that he was teasing Mathieu when he got a haircut...

 

[Blanco]

Forty to fifty years ago it was all about the Tour of Zurich being the sixth monument.
Guess what, race no longer exists.

Forty to fifty years ago monuments were not monuments...