Question What about a fantasy cycling season

[BlueRoads]

Why on earth do they hesitate?! Are they spent? Go, Mads, go Oliver, go Wout...!

 

[Wvv]

Why on earth do they hesitate?! Are they spent? Go, Mads, go Oliver, go Wout...!

It's been a hard, fast race, and just after Carrefour and Gruson they needed to recover. Also MVDP's energy seemed to paralyze them for a moment there.

 

[Wvv]

Stybar and Kragh reach Hem with 8km to go. It's the last significant cobblestone section with a length of 1,4 kilometres.
MVDP faces 9 seconds, tongue almost hanging on his front wheel. A gladiator in the arena, delivering a legendary fight. Will he overcome the last hurdle?
The others are still in contention too, being only 10 seconds behind Van der Poel.

 

[Wvv]

8 seconds ... 7 seconds ... but MVDP is suffering and Stybar finds another big push. Kragh hanging on. Behind it are Van Avermaet and Naesen with a strong acceleration.

 

[Wvv]

Cobbles done, 6,5 kilometres left. Stybar gave the necessary impulse to keep MVDP at distance. The tables are turning in his and Kragh's favour again. Ten seconds!

 

[Wvv]

What a fighter this Van der Poel! But he's losing it. The two are getting smaller again and the pressure is coming from behind him.

 

[Wvv]

With exactly 4 km to go, on this familiar uphill road, MVDP is captured by his pursuers again. Asgreen is controling every acceleration and being the perfect help for his teammate in front. The two have more than 15 seconds again.

 

[Wvv]

Following a failed atempt by GVA and Pedersen, it are Van Aert and Naesen who manage to set up a counter attack. They still seem strong, but Asgreen is on their wheel. We have three people hunting the duo in front now, but there are only 2 kilometres left.

 

[Wvv]

Flamme rouge! The last kilometre of the race, and unless something weird happens, it's gonna be between Stybar and Kragh Andersen. Brilliant work by Asgreen, who keeps Van Aert and Naesen at 13 seconds.

 

[Wvv]

There is the famous velodrome, and the crowd goes wild! One and a half round on the oval, 750 metres in total.

Who is it gonna be, Zdenek Stybar or Søren Kragh Andersen?

 

[Wvv]

Last round, the Dane forces the Czech in the front position. But the former CX world champion uses his bike handling skills to go very high on the track.

 

[Wvv]

180 metres to go and THERE GOES STYBY! Kragh isn't surprised but the dive of the Czech is excellent!

 

[Wvv]

It's ...

 

[Wvv]

 

[Wvv]

ZDENEK STYBAR WINS PARIS-ROUBAIX!

What a big "Finally" for the Czech rider, 34 years of age! After coming close already in his very debut in 2013, reaching the top 10 on six of his previous seven participations with two second places, it's a really deserved and long-awaited victory for Styby!

 

[sir fly]

Who won the sprint for the third place?

 

[Wvv]

Kragh tried to come around in the last straight metres, but didn't have enough left in the tank and finished on a clear bike length. Very strong and promising performance by the 25 year old Dane though.

 

[BlueRoads]

Wow, congratulations! Half of me had expected GvA to win this... But it sounds like a very well deserved victory for Stybar.

 

[Wvv]

In the sprint for the lowest podium spot, it was Van Aert who was just an inch faster than Naesen. Asgreen was a happy fifth and went celebrating with Stybar right away. Van Avermaet proved to be the quickest for sixth, an exhausted Van der Poel finished on a ninth place.

 

[Wvv]

1. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 5:49:11
2. Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb s.t.
3. Wout van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma +9"
4. Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2r-La Mondiale s.t.
5. Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep +11"
6. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team +23"
7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo s.t.
8. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren s.t.
9. Mathieu van der Poel (Nld) Alpecin-Fenix s.t.
10. Dylan van Baarle (Nld) Team INEOS +28"
11. Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep +59"
12. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo s.t.
13. Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Education First Pro Cycling s.t.
14. Niki Terpstra (Nld) Total-Direct Energie s.t.
15. Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation s.t.
16. Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept + 1'17
17. Sebastian Langeveld (Nld) Education First Pro Cycling s.t.
18. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis + 2'02
19. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ s.t.
20. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert s.t.

 

[tobydawq]

What on earth happened to Sagan????

 

[Wvv]

What on earth happened to Sagan????

Caught between two splitups at the wrong time and not his best day. Can happen to anyone.

 

[tobydawq]

I would have thought he had learnt his lesson back in 2016. Apparently not.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Well deserved win for Stybar, which means a fourteenth win for Lefevere's team in twenty-six years. MVDP had a lot of bad luck.

A great piece of objective reporting!

 

[Koronin]

Great win for Stybar. Enjoyed reading the updates. Sounded like a fantastic race.