Who will win De Ronde 2023?

[tobydawq]

Better late than never.

Hard to pick nine biggest favourites. If you vote 'other', be a dear and specify who you then pick in a comment.

 

[RedheadDane]

Should you also specify if you select "an American"?

 

[Wyndbrook]

first to vote, 100% other.
I'm patriotic, so Pidcock.

 

[tobydawq]

Should you also specify if you select "an American"?

Yes.

And yes, if you think Kevin Vermaerke will win, pick "an American" too. So you don't have to ask about that...

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Need more JV options

Voted TP, have a feeling he'll make one of these attacks stick.

 

[Cookster15]

Better late than never.

Hard to pick nine biggest favourites. If you vote 'other', be a dear and specify who you then pick in a comment.

Thanks. Voted for WvA only because nobody else has and I felt he was “due” a big win.

 

[tobydawq]

Thanks. Voted for WvA only because nobody else has and I felt he was “due” a big win.

Apparently the team hasn't won a cobbled monument since Rolf Sørensen won De Ronde in 1997...

 

[Open Horizon]

In Van der Poel Peak Performance we trust

 

[KZD]

It feels strange not to have a Quick Step rider in the list.

Anyway, I voted with my heart, Pogi for the win.

 

[Red Rick]

Voted Van Aert.

I'm mainly curious how Big 3 votes are divided. Pogacar getting more votes than Van Aert is very surprising to me.

 

[topcat]

I voted someone else. I find it offensive that Ala is not on the list.
(MVDP will win)

 

[SHAD0W93]

Honestly I hope Pog can pull it off and get closer to all 5.

 

[Monte Serra]

The headwind in the final stretch towards Oudenaarde is bad news for solo attacks. My guess is that Pogačar would like to get away on his own, as his sprint didn't seem to sharp in E3. I think that MvdP will get a third win.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642260587349458945

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1642260587349458945

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It would be funny if Vermaerke won now, after being the only American not listed in the poll (even the fake American Pedersen is there), but I guess Van der Poel is the most likely option.

 

[repre]

Voted van Aert, he seems to peaked in the right time. Now he probably will lose

 

[Cassirer]

Last year I found it kind of offensive that the miracle kid on the way to grand Tour goat could win Flanders, but this year I cant wait to see him make the big boys suffer and hope he pulls it off (doubt it though)!

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Voted Van Aert.

I'm mainly curious how Big 3 votes are divided. Pogacar getting more votes than Van Aert is very surprising to me.

How is that surprising, Pogacar is in a great form and he tore the race to shredz last year. What Pogacar did in the KWaremont is almost unprecedented. All it takes is 0.5% more, maybe vanderpoel miss a bidon or get a puncture and has to put some energy to get back to the group , and the elastic on Kwaremont snap. And pogacar won.

I don't think Belgian pozzato has ever looked like winning this race by contrast? Tomorrow is the best chance he has, but in e3 he was completely inferior to vandepoel and pogacar strengthwise, they just rode badly from a tactical perspective and this helped WVA who did a slightly more clever race

 

[Avoriaz]

Much as I want WVA to win, I get the feeling that, like Kelly, this race will elude him.

I think Pog exacts his revenge this year.

 

[jono]

Hypothetical scenario: Pogacar drops WVA and MVDP somewhere in the final Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg combo. How much time does he need at the top of the Paterberg if his two rivals ride together?

 

[Open Horizon]

Hypothetical scenario: Pogacar drops WVA and MVDP somewhere in the final Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg combo. How much time does he need at the top of the Paterberg if his two rivals ride together?

Imagine them each TT'ing that final stretch, chasing each other

 

[Devil's Elbow]

No Benoot as one of the listed options? A Jumbo minion seems the most likely non-big 3 option to me, and then it would have to be him or Laporte.

That being said, Van der Poel is the obvious shout here, only ways he loses that wouldn't be a big surprise are 1) lose a sprint to Van Aert, 2) get dropped by Pogacar, or 3) get outnumbered by Jumbo. And I wouldn't bet on any of those options.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Rooting for Pogačar, but I still tend towards Van der Poel being able to follow him and beat him like last year. It isn‘t clear whether WVA will drop out of contention, come back only to lose somehow or simply demonstrate his monumental weakness in sprints.

 

[Netserk]

No Benoot as one of the listed options? A Jumbo minion seems the most likely non-big 3 option to me, and then it would have to be him or Laporte.

That being said, Van der Poel is the obvious shout here, only ways he loses that wouldn't be a big surprise are 1) lose a sprint to Van Aert, 2) get dropped by Pogacar, or 3) get outnumbered by Jumbo. And I wouldn't bet on any of those options.

Would an accident be a big surprise?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Would an accident be a big surprise?

It's always possible, but it doesn't tend to happen at Ronde to any of the main favourites. The only more recent examples that come to mind are complete freak accidents (Alaphilippe and the motorbike, Sagan and the jacket) that have nothing to do with structural causes. It also doesn't tend to happen to Van der Poel much in general - he doesn't crash often and definitely doesn't injure himself often. So I think it's more likely that he, say, loses the sprint to Pogacar than gets taken out of contention like that, tbh.

 

[hayneplane]

No Benoot as one of the listed options? A Jumbo minion seems the most likely non-big 3 option to me, and then it would have to be him or Laporte.

That being said, Van der Poel is the obvious shout here, only ways he loses that wouldn't be a big surprise are 1) lose a sprint to Van Aert, 2) get dropped by Pogacar, or 3) get outnumbered by Jumbo. And I wouldn't bet on any of those options.

Benoot has practically no sprint at all so would definitely need to be solo to win which limits his chances. Laporte has a very good sprint in long hard races such as the Wollongong worlds where he took a medal from the reduced group sprint for the minor medals which means he has multiple routes to victory.

Voted for Pogacar as I believe in him and really want him to win it. Would be happy with Wout winning but if MVDP aeon I would be a touch bored by the result if not necessarily the way it was won.