Strade Bianche 2025, March 8, one-day classic (men's)

[KoopaCycling]

I've seen Remco on sterrato Giro stage)) Almeida left the team after his performance

That's disingenuous for a number of reasons.

 

[KoopaCycling]

I don't know a rider who said SB is his goal for the season.

A goal, not THE goal, but you're just trying to nitpick.

 

[Salvarani]

I've seen Remco on sterrato Giro stage)) Almeida left the team after his performance

True

 

[Netserk]

It's magical thinking to me that a rider that can be top 2 on Cote de Pike while nosebreathing on stage 1 of the Tour couldn't possibly do well in a one day race.

Why is his track record then so bad? If Liège or Lombardia was held as the first stage of a GT, I think Vingegaard could do well (plausibly win without Pogi present). Strade Bianche as it is now? No way. I also don't think he'll ever top-10 the Ardennes classics.

 

[Tymek]

I think that yesterday crash only added the Aura to this win. Crash, but still dominance.

 

[scribers]

Can win or can win vs Pogacar?

Strade doesn't suit Evenepoel in the slightest.

Not head to head against pogi. Pog doesn’t always race it and maybe he will stay on it.

Very well. I just want to point out:

-Anquetil won LBL and Gent-Wevelgem
-Merckx was Merkx
-Van Impe had several top 10 finishes in 1 day classics
- Armstrong won Fleche Wallone and San Sebastian
- Thevenet became second in both LBL and Lombardia
- Fignon won San Remo and Fleche Wallone
-Stephen Roche was second in Amstel and LBL and finished tp 10 in other classics
- Lemond was secon in San Remo, third in LBL, 2nd in Lombardia and had top 10 finishes in oyther classics
- Indurain won San Sebastian and was top 10 in LBL and Fleche Wallone
-Riis won Amstel and finished top 10 in lombardia
-Ullrich won HEW and Giro del emillia
- Pantani finshed top 10 in Fleche and LBL
- Contador finished top 10 in LBL and Fleche
- Schleck won LBL
- Sastre top 10 in San Sebastian and Giro del emillia
- Wiggins top 10 in Roubaix
- Evans won Fleche and numerous top 10 finsishes in 1 day classics
- Zoetemelk won Amstel and Fleche
-Rominger won Lombardia, Giro del emillia, and had top 10 finishes
- Zulle finished 3rd in Fleche
- Nibali won Lombardia and San remo
-Roglic won LBL and Giro del emillia,
- Simon Yates finsihed top 10 in 1 day classics
- Evenepoel won LBL and San Sebastian
-Gimondi won San Remo Lombardy, Roubaix
-Garzelli 2nd in San Sebastian and LBL, top 10 in San remo and others
-Basso won Giro del emillia and several top 10 finishes other races.
- Di Luca won LBL, Amstel, Fleche Wallone, Lombardia
-Caraparaz top 10 in Lombardia and Fleche Wallone
-Bernal third in Strade Bianchi.

It's not a matter of capability, but of goals and desires.

dog that’s a lot of research to make a point!!!

(Armstrong won Amstel and worlds too. Could have won more things but bruyneel sat on his tour riders.
Hinault might be the closest outlier Merckx aside for a GT and classics specialist)

 

[pastronef]

Why is his track record then so bad? If Liège or Lombardia was held as the first stage of a GT, I think Vingegaard could do well (plausibly win without Pogi present). Strade Bianche as it is now? No way. I also don't think he'll ever top-10 the Ardennes classics.

he probably doesn't even remember racing those races, or knows the list of the 5 monuments

 

[scribers]

Vingo has raced a number of one day races and never did well in them before visma fully converted him into a July faberge egg. Not sure what he’s doing in this conversation

 

[KoopaCycling]

I've looked it up out of curiosity. From TDF 21 onwards which was when he broke out really. Never heard about him before that point (I imagine his results were nothing to speak of before that).

-'21 12th in Emillia and 14th in Lombardy
-'22 DNF in Fleche & LBL. 33th in Faun-Ardeche, won Drome Classic, and 16th in lombardia
- '23 Zero 1day Races it looks like.
- '24 DNF San Sebastian
- 25 Only has WC in Kigali planned as 1 Day race.

I guess i brought him up cause in theory he has all physical qualities needed. He can TT (so he can solo away), he can climb. he has a kick (not in the same ballpark as others but an uphill kick all the same) he can descent. Isn't as accident prone as Roglic., ... .

Guess he just don't really care about 1 day Races though. Very curious about how he'll show up in Kigali. If he can motivate himself for that race, and if so how he'll perform should he prove to be actually motivated. Big question mark around that i guess. In theory he should be a contender. But i guess reality so far has proven much different.

 

[Red Rick]

Why is his track record then so bad? If Liège or Lombardia was held as the first stage of a GT, I think Vingegaard could do well (plausibly win without Pogi present). Strade Bianche as it is now? No way. I also don't think he'll ever top-10 the Ardennes classics.

For guys like Vingegaard I think it's mostly timing, they primarily focus the PN/TA-Itzulia block and when the Ardennes roll around they really need rest.

In addition, they try these races so rarely the sample size is very low, and with guys like Pogacar being around there's basically 0 reason to try either.

WC last year has pure stage racers Ben O'Connor and Enric Mas getting 2nd and top 10, with both coming out of the Vuelta in a good shape. Mas proceeds to get top 5 in Lombardia. Roglic meanwhile empties the clip entirely in the Vuelta and washes up completely in the fall classics.

Also think Fleche is much easier to do while running out of steam than Liege, see Landa in 2023.

 

[Berniece]

The fact that Lefevre been wanting Remco at Flanders says enough imo when it comes down to his capacity of winning that race. Remco just has other goals. The only race Remco bike handling would be a problem for would be Roubaix imo.
But that is just my opinion. As he never raced Flanders or SB i can only make arguments.

Flanders would definitely be a possibility for Evenepoel, since he has the time and in-house knowledge to position him properly.

 

[scribers]

I've looked it up out of curiosity. From TDF 21 onwards which was when he broke out really. Never heard about him before that point (I imagine his results were nothing to speak of before that).

-'21 12th in Emillia and 14th in Lombardy
-'22 DNF in Fleche & LBL. 33th in Faun-Ardeche, won Drome Classic, and 16th in lombardia
- '23 Zero 1day Races it looks like.
- '24 DNF San Sebastian
- 25 Only has WC in Kigali planned as 1 Day race.

I guess i brought him up cause in theory he has all physical qualities needed. He can TT (so he can solo away), he can climb. he has a kick (not in the same ballpark as others but an uphill kick all the same) he can descent. Isn't as accident prone as Roglic., ... .

Guess he just don't really care about 1 day Races though. Very curious about how he'll show up in Kigali. If he can motivate himself for that race, and if so how he'll perform should he prove to be actually motivated. Big question mark around that i guess. In theory he should be a contender. But i guess reality so far has proven much different.

If Vingo can’t upend pogi in the tour they will look for ways to diversify him. Some contract amounts have to deliver and he ain’t no Froome on this. This would be intriguing for fans

 

[Lequack]

If Vingo can’t upend pogi in the tour they will look for ways to diversify him. Some contract amounts have to deliver and he ain’t no Froome on this. This would be intriguing for fans

Maybe they will even let him ride the Tour of Slovenia some time.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

The only negative thing I'll say about Vingo is that I wish he raced more one-day races. but I say that purely for my own entertainment because I want to Pog-Vingo-Remco-Pidcock-VdP-WvA go against each other as frequently as possible.

 

[Rule #9 apostle]

If Vingo can’t upend pogi in the tour they will look for ways to diversify him. Some contract amounts have to deliver and he ain’t no Froome on this. This would be intriguing for fans

I think being one of two realistic challengers to the tdf is just about as valuable as it gets, contract wise. Also since his strenghts are perfectly suited to gts, doubt he will ever give classics a real go. Should definitely look to clean up the non-pog gts though. (And i dont know why he never starts lombardia, i guess life gwts in the way)

 

[KoopaCycling]

Van der Poel vindt van wel, hij sloeg Strade Bianche bewust over door de extra moeilijkheidsgraad in het parcours. Die werd in 2024 al van 184 naar 213 kilometer getild. 'Ik zat zelf op de fiets, dus heb er niet heel veel van gezien. Ik heb natuurlijk wel de samenvatting bekeken en het was een supermooie race', was hij allereerst als wielerfan heel blij met wat Pogacar en Pidcock zaterdag hadden laten zien op het Toscaanse gravel.


'Ik heb er zelf goede herinneringen aan, maar door het nieuwe parcours is het meer een wedstrijd voor klimmers. Dan moet je realistisch zijn en je doelen elders stellen', vervolgde Van der Poel zijn uitleg.

Seem VDP shares my opinion on SB having become more of a climbers race instead of a perfect mix for all.

 

[Berniece]

Seem VDP shares my opinion on SB having become more of a climbers race instead of a perfect mix for all.

Benoot also had the same opinion

 

[houtdffan]

There is nothing wrong with a PR-type race for the GC riders.

The classics riders have PR, SB is the analog for the GC stars

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I've seen Remco on sterrato Giro stage)) Almeida left the team after his performance

Our great Fausto also had to leave the giro after that stage because of the stress of managing remco

 

[Salvarani]

Our great Fausto also had to leave the giro after that stage because of the stress of managing remco

Lefevre is retiring now as well

 

[KoopaCycling]

There is nothing wrong with a PR-type race for the GC riders.

The classics riders have PR, SB is the analog for the GC stars

I understand what you're saying. But in my mind the races were already nicely divided between Omloop to Roubaix and then Amstel till LBL. But then Flanders became more for climbers, and SB which seemed the one race which offered a perfext mix changed as well. It was nice seeing all those guys lineup against each other in the past, and all of them seemingly having equal chance to win it.

In time i'll enjoy it more, and view it as a nice grittier climbers race. I mean it remains a nice race. Atm i just liked it better before.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Our great Fausto also had to leave the giro after that stage because of the stress of managing remco

This was the main reason why Fausto didn't become the second Coppi but remained the first Masnada.

 

[scribers]

Seem VDP shares my opinion on SB having become more of a climbers race instead of a perfect mix for all.

4000 m of vert makes the race too hard for heavier classics riders. Bruyneel said cancellera could not win in excess of 2000 m

 

[scribers]

I understand what you're saying. But in my mind the races were already nicely divided between Omloop to Roubaix and then Amstel till LBL. But then Flanders became more for climbers, and SB which seemed the one race which offered a perfext mix changed as well. It was nice seeing all those guys lineup against each other in the past, and all of them seemingly having equal chance to win it.

In time i'll enjoy it more, and view it as a nice grittier climbers race. I mean it remains a nice race. Atm i just liked it better before.

Oomloops is officially too easy for even classics riders due to development in equipment and rider capabilities. There is an opposite effect to limiting difficulty that needs constant review against peloton evolution

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Our great Fausto also had to leave the giro after that stage because of the stress of managing remco

See you later, Remco hater.

4000 m of vert makes the race too hard for heavier classics riders. Bruyneel said cancellera could not win in excess of 2000 m

He won SB three times and they had around 3000m.