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

[Lequack]

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

Probably saw what it did for MVDP dominating the CX season. Probably made his rethink.

 

[Netserk]

World is not ready for blonde Pogacar

He thinks changing form to Super Saiyan will be enough?!

 

[tobydawq]

He thinks changing form to Super Saiyan will be enough?!

The amount of people who make Dragon Ball references on this forum is staggering.

 

[Blanco]

Maybe, but I watched my first race in 68 and I'm pretty sure the term was in use in Cycling magazine in The UK during the 70's.

Term monuments I think first came in 1989 with the creating of the World Cup.
Before that, top 8 one-day races were 5 monuments plus Paris-Tours, Paris-Brussels and Fleche Wallonne. Only rider who won all of them was, to the surprise of many, not Eddy Merckx, but Rik Van Looy. This so called hierarchy last at least to mid-60's, when first Paris-Brussels because of traffic problems was not held for 6 years (1967-1972). In the meantime Amstel Gold Race took it's place on the calendar, and Paris-Brussels was moved to september. The final nail in the coffin for this race was not including it for the World Cup.
First strike for Fleche Wallonne was moving it from Saturday to Wednesday I think in mid 70's (this would give much bigger significance to rival Liege rode on Sunday). The second blow was not including it in the World Cup, but Fleche, unlike Paris-Brussels, survived and stayed pretty big race nowadays.
Paris Tours route constantly changed from 1974-1987, and the led to some loss of it's significance. The race was, somehow included in the World Cup, but since the beggining of that competition it was clear that today's 5 monuments were given greater significance. Race definitelly lost most of it's prestige from 2009 by not being included in UCI World Tour.
As I see, Zuri-Metzgete could only be called "the 6th monument", during the World Cup campaigne (1989-2004), when indeed you could say that it was the 6th biggest one day race.

 

[Wvv]

Term monuments I think first came in 1989 with the creating of the World Cup.
Before that, top 8 one-day races were 5 monuments plus Paris-Tours, Paris-Brussels and Fleche Wallonne. Only rider who won all of them was, to the surprise of many, not Eddy Merckx, but Rik Van Looy. This so called hierarchy last at least to mid-60's, when first Paris-Brussels because of traffic problems was not held for 6 years (1967-1972). In the meantime Amstel Gold Race took it's place on the calendar, and Paris-Brussels was moved to september. The final nail in the coffin for this race was not including it for the World Cup.
First strike for Fleche Wallonne was moving it from Saturday to Wednesday I think in mid 70's (this would give much bigger significance to rival Liege rode on Sunday). The second blow was not including it in the World Cup, but Fleche, unlike Paris-Brussels, survived and stayed pretty big race nowadays.

Paris-Brussels still kinda exists, but it's now called the Brussels Cycling Classic. It has big names among recent winners like Evenepoel, Boonen, Ewan, Démare, Greipel, McEwen, ... and is considered a nice semi classic. Of course clearly below the other mentioned races. Since 2022, it moved from the end of the summer back to early June.

 

[Sciatic]

Term monuments I think first came in 1989 with the creating of the World Cup.
Before that, top 8 one-day races were 5 monuments plus Paris-Tours, Paris-Brussels and Fleche Wallonne. Only rider who won all of them was, to the surprise of many, not Eddy Merckx, but Rik Van Looy. This so called hierarchy last at least to mid-60's, when first Paris-Brussels because of traffic problems was not held for 6 years (1967-1972). In the meantime Amstel Gold Race took it's place on the calendar, and Paris-Brussels was moved to september. The final nail in the coffin for this race was not including it for the World Cup.
First strike for Fleche Wallonne was moving it from Saturday to Wednesday I think in mid 70's (this would give much bigger significance to rival Liege rode on Sunday). The second blow was not including it in the World Cup, but Fleche, unlike Paris-Brussels, survived and stayed pretty big race nowadays.
Paris Tours route constantly changed from 1974-1987, and the led to some loss of it's significance. The race was, somehow included in the World Cup, but since the beggining of that competition it was clear that today's 5 monuments were given greater significance. Race definitelly lost most of it's prestige from 2009 by not being included in UCI World Tour.
As I see, Zuri-Metzgete could only be called "the 6th monument", during the World Cup campaigne (1989-2004), when indeed you could say that it was the 6th biggest one day race.

I will have to check but your description of the 8 top races doesn’t fit what I’m remember going back to the ‘80s. Gent was just as big or bigger race than Flèche, and Championships of Zurich were also close to that level.

 

[Lequack]

 

[SHAD0W93]

He thinks changing form to Super Saiyan will be enough?!

Just like I predicted in Roglic’s thread back in January.

 

[Gigs_98]

World is not ready for blonde Pogacar

I think that's just his hair-ends bleached by too much sunlight.

 

[Unchained]

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.

Yo lighten up sofa surfer!! Lot's of great industrial park races!!Ziggart ...Sorrento Valley!!or downtown Tijuana w a Filipe payment to the cops to close down the streets!!
I too am bummed not to see a true matchup of the best. But don't make industrial parks a bad thing.. It is sort of depressing to see big trucks and trailers, loading docks and chain link fence as part of the race scenery instead of Italy. !!
Flanders has some beauty that is for sure but like lots of Belgium there is a dirty industrial underbelly!!
I am going Pidcock,
Saw Mohoric on the Irish guy Redman, podcast and he was pretty emotional about what a big win did for his career, I would not mind seeing him or a long shot.
And someone said Del Toro which for sure I would love,all of Ensenada!! But might be a little deeper distance for him being first year at this level.. Never know..

 

[Savant12]

Pog to win, his hair to come last.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

A stalwart defense of industrial park racing, Unchained. Well done!
Unfortunately, it wasn't sufficient to sway my opinion that Van Aert, Van der Poel, Bernal, and Remco deserve to spend some time in the Sarlacc pit for not racing Strade Bianche.

 

[Berniece]

The amount of people who make Dragon Ball references on this forum is staggering.

What’s the average age here? I think we all grew up with it

 

[tobydawq]

What’s the average age here? I think we all grew up with it

I think so too. But there are a lot of things we grew up with that are never mentioned.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

What’s the average age here? I think we all grew up with it

The age spread on here is way too wide for that. You have a decent chunk of users who were already in their 20s when the show started, and you also have a decent chunk of users who weren't born yet/were too young to remember by the time it (originally) ended.

 

[Alexandre B.]

On that note, it's a shame Andrea Piccolo doesn’t race there.

 

[Berniece]

I think so too. But there are a lot of things we grew up with that are never mentioned.

That’s because non of them are as cool as Gohan becoming SS2 vs Cell

 

[Wvv]

That’s because non of them are as cool as Gohan becoming SS2 vs Cell

RIP Android 16.

 

[Mayomaniac]

World is not ready for blonde Pogacar

Looks like straight from the late 90ies...

 

[Alexandre B.]

Little Lenny Martinez will be at the start.

A late addition, but a welcome one.

 

[Rob5091]

Little Lenny Martinez will be at the start.

A late addition, but a welcome one.

Instead of Küng by the looks of it.

 

[shadowrider]

Looks like straight from the late 90ies...

We all known why riders bleached the hair in the nineties (and even later). To mask doping use in a hair sample.
Or Pogacar is guilty of it... or he is very stupid to provoke such an (unjustified?) suspicion.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Little Lenny Martinez will be at the start.

A late addition, but a welcome one.

Martinez, Gregoire and Madouas. Strong. Exciting times for FDJ, looking forward to see how they use them in this race.

 

[Blanco]

I will have to check but your description of the 8 top races doesn’t fit what I’m remember going back to the ‘80s. Gent was just as big or bigger race than Flèche, and Championships of Zurich were also close to that level.

In the 80's yes, they're maybe close, but I would still give the edge to Fleche in that period. Fleche Wallonne was included in Desgrange Colombo right from the start (3 years before Liege), and since then always been a part of premium cycling competitions, until beginning of the World Cup in 1989. Gent on the other hand, although had great roll of honor, wasn't included in Super Prestige Pernod until 1980. Later, same as Fleche, wasn't part of the World Cup, but from 2005 both races were in the World Tour, and I would say that today they're pretty equal in prestige and significance.
Zurich was mainly domestic affair up until mid 60's, with some flashes right after the WWII when Bartali and Coppi attended. In the 70's race was held mid-week in May after Frankfurt, and gained some quality field. From 1979 race was included in SPP, and then it's significance rose, especially after date was moved to mid August in 1988 and from next year was part of the World Cup. In that period you could say that Zurich was bigger race then both Fleche and Gent.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Putting Martinez in the race in place of Kung is about as non-like-for-like as is possible: it's replacing your prop-forward with a fly-half, or a head it or boot it clear centre-back with a nifty little winger.