Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar clash again and it’s hard to see beyond their duel. Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert have real hopes too but even they have their work cut out to find a way past the lead two.
Knowing this it means 20 teams face the challenge to get ahead of events so it’ll be fun to watch how it all happens.
Route: 268km, almost as long as Milan-Sanremo and certainly harder to ride with exposed roads, cobbles and 2,300m of vertical gain that’s backloaded for when the legs feel wooden.
The start moves to Bruges. After the first passage up the Oude Kwaremont the route changes too, a different mix of climbs and cobbles. Then the final 90km are the same as usual with the Berendries and Valkenberg and the by now probably too familiar route, it’s become habit forming for many.
It’s up the Oude Kwaremont again, 2.2km climb which makes it so different to all the other short ramps, steep at the start before dragging up. It’s chased by the Paterberg which is short but overcompensates with a 20% slope and brutal stones.
Then into the Koppenberg, the infamous climb that is now reserved only for the Ronde, no other spring classic uses it. Last year it had many riders walking up a year ago while Mathieu van der Poel rode away but it’ll be dry this time. More cobbles and then the Stationsberg, Van der Poel’s favourite climb for the way riders come in slow and have to use technique and force to get up.
The Finish: left over the top of the Paterberg and the gradual descent and then that long road into the outskirts of Oudenaarde for a flat finish. A determined chase behind can bring back any escapees but it relies on riders with energy left and the willingness to collaborate.
The Contenders: 25 teams of seven riders but it’s hard to see beyond the duel of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE).
For Pogačar a repeat of the victorious scenario where UAE go warp speed on the approach to the Oude Kwaremont to put everyone in the red and then Pogačar launches, using the longest climb in the race where he has a comparative advantage over the field. Van der Poel may bank on this and try to hold on to the Slovenian’s wheel just as he did on the Cipressa so that he can win the sprint, as he did in Sanremo last month, or here in 2022.
Van der Poel can also make the race himself, but at the risk of arriving for the last climb up the Kwaremont with Pogačar on his wheel who can then exploit the climb. Each rider can trade stats, Van der Poel with three wins and his worst result was fourth on his debut; Pogačar has fared no worse than fourth either, but in two past attempts.
Forced to pick between the two the Dutchman gets the nod as he can win in multiple ways while Pogačar has one clear method to try. But it’s close and with Van der Poel one concern is health, he was coughing in his interview after the E3 and there’s been talk of a cold which is a concern when he’s taking on the most complete rider for decades.
Teamwork is probably the plan for Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike alike. Mads Pedersen has been on the rampage of late but how to win? His best hope might be race less extravagantly and play the percentages, hoping he can win a sprint from a small group where Pogačar is tired and Van der Poel makes an uncharacteristic mistake or is sapped from illness; his team can be deployed to guide him or open the race when others don’t expect it.
Ditto Wout van Aert on his Ronde quest, his team showed they can win even if they stuffed up the finish in Wednesday’s Dwars Door Vlaanderen but in part because he cramped up in the sprint and if this was happening after 200km, then it’ll be a concern for 268km too. Still the team is looking cohesive and they’ll be up to make amends but he’s been bothered by Van der Poel of course.
Are there other contenders? Of course but name a rider, then explain how they get past Van der Poel. And then Pogačar. Plus Pedersen and Van Aert? It can happen, it’s sport. But one striking thing so far is how many other teams just can’t get a look in.
Still Filippo Ganna (Ineos) is climbing better this season but the vertical gain doesn’t help, next Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix looks more suitable but he and Ineos have a chance, they’ve got a strong squad with more options. Matteo Jorgenson can play the team role at Visma but it’s surely solo or bust as he won’t want to sprint for the win against others.
While it’s not probable it is still possible the Ronde ends in a group sprint, this is how Luca Mozzato finished second here last year, how Alexander Kristoff finished third before. The headwind could help regroup and someone pops up for surprise win. Think Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) or Mike Teunissen (XDS-Astana) but again if it’s possible, it’s unlikely as the big riders keep riding off with the spoils.
Normally others will want to “anticipate”, to get up the road and hope for a self-fulfilling move where enough strongmen are away that they’re too hard to bring back; more more likely they’re up front and so buy an option on hitching a ride when Van der Poel, Pogačar and others catch them. Neilson Powless (EF) is a form pick but he’s probably used up his good luck already. Matej Mohorič (Bahrain) has been discreet this spring but he’s a big game hunter who could hope to profit from others marking each other and float away. Relegated for his sprint last year Michael Matthews (Jayco) could surprise, while Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is in form but not been able to use it because of crashes.
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Van der Poel, Pogačar |
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– |
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Van Aert, Mads Pedersen |
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Ganna |
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Girmay, Matthews, Kristoff, Teunissen, Styuven, Sheffield |
Weather: sunny but cool, just 6°C for the start rising to 14°C later. Crucially there’s a 15-20km/h wind from the north-east and update, this could gust at 30-40km/h so we’re into echelon forming conditions, it’ll depend on how sustained the gusts are. One early test comes with the first cobbles at Doorn in a crosswind. It means a headwind for final section of the course from the Paterberg to the
TV: live from start to finish on Een/Spora for locals and Eurosport/TNT/Max beyond, Flobikes for the US and Canada.
The start is at 10.00am CEST. 3.15pm sees the penultimate time up the Kwaremont-Paterberg combo with the Koppenberg just after. The finish is forecast for 4.15pm.
Women’s Ronde: the finish is after the men around 5.30pm and we’ll see Elisa Longo-Borghini take on Lotte Kopecky with the Belgian world champion are her first win this year. Procyclinguk.com has a detailed preview for a more open race with more contenders.
And it’s not like there’s much to talk about regarding the race.
But here you go:
If MVDP has a cold, Pog wins. Pedersen third.
If MVDP only had a cold, he would surely be over it after a couple of days or even 24 hours. It’s if it turned into a full blown cough then I would worry.
I assume he’s been tailoring his training to try and follow Pog up the 20%, so it should be fascinating to watch if he can do it.
It’s a touch of unknown and could equally be put out to confuse riders although Van der Poel is usually direct and doesn’t play games like this. The cough after the E3 didn’t sound good but after that kind of effort many would be like that too.
Agree completely with J Evans comments above, though I would never quote Vaughters when it comes to tactics….I think Mads is the only rider not named MVDP or Pog who has a chance at winning, as he is certainly capable of beating them in a sprint (not every time, obviously, but certainly more frequently than Powless against WVA).
Agreed. Also, there has to be an element of how much UCI points and promotion/relegation play into teams tactics. EF-Education aren’t worrying about this so JV’s perspective is different. If MVDP and Pog go up the road on Sunday, should we expect Intermarche, XDS-Astana or Uno-X to go all in to catch them or do they start setting it up to be best of the rest and the points at stake? They haven’t got the type or depth of rider that they can burn away on the front and still have team mates left to set-up the riders INRNG has listed in the chainrings for the finale.
But only a few of the teams are riding for points. It genuinely seems that the riders nowadays don’t have a fundamental understanding of tactics. That’s why nowadays when a strong rider does their big solo attack, they’re so rarely caught.
When one or two ultra-strong riders are out front, you need at least one rider (ideally more) from each of the teams in the peloton to work together to catch them. On the flat, they’d usually catch a lone rider – but, as we saw in Gent-Wevelgem where the peloton was 40-strong – they so rarely do that these days.
I have to assume that this collaboration cannot be arranged from the car, and so the riders just don’t do it. I think it might be that we’ve now had radios for so long, and there’s such a focus on fitness, etc. that tactical knowledge has been lost. And I also wonder if the DSs are now of an age where they never learned the tactics either because they were getting it from the radio.
No, I’ve never raced, but I learned these tactics by watching professional riders do this over decades. And these are the basics. Yes, riders like Pog and MVDP are superb, but you can beat them if you work together – and definitely not if you don’t.
It’s no longer chess on wheels, it’s draughts.
I agree. Again.
Maybe a discussion for another day.
I’ve always been against radios.
And soon after the Lance doping scandal they were trying to get rid of anyone who had ever doped.
I remember thinking if they get rid of all the old guys and DSs then no one will know how to ride. It wouldn’t get passed on.
And here we are today.
This may also have to do with the real or imagined increase in crashes.
The problem, if you want to call it that, with chasing at Flanders is that the course is so hard. In the final 3rd the climbs are coming one after the other and they’ve already done 160k. If Pogacar and MvdP are out in front it’s because they’ve ridden up one of the climbs, probably Oude Kwaremont, at warp speed and nobody has been able to keep with them. Riders behind will be in dribs and drabs and both less strong and more fatigued than the two out front. They will be slower on all the remaining climbs and probably the flat too. We know now that once out there they don’t tire and the gap goes one way. Its the same with Liege, once Pogacar (or Evenepoel) are out in front the gap increases on the remaining climbs. In the age of the supermen that we seem to be in now for a close race we really need the courses to be much easier.
For there to be any hope at all of a chase and some sort of jeopardy on Sunday we would need a chase group of Pedersen, Van Aert, Ganna and maybe one or two more, who are none of the above mentioned teammates, to work in absolute harmony and not for one moment think of their own chances beyond the need to catch the two in front. Teammates of anyone will just complicate matters. Teammates of Pogacar and MvdP will spoil and teammates of anyone else chasing would be expected to do more work whilst not being anywhere near strong enough, people will start hiding and the whole thing will fall apart. All that said, I can’t see any chance of a successful chase once the Big Two have decided they are gone.
A detail, if I may . . .
For tv viewers in the US, this will not be shown on Max.
It’s probably on Flobikes.
Added the mention above, thanks.
For Australia, SBS has Flanders, Roubaix, Amstel, Flèche and Liege.
https://www.sbs.com.au/sport/article/sbs-cycling-calendar-races-to-watch-in-2025/huwrgb0tj
Yes It’s on FloBikes.
Oh, ironically that’s good news for the fans in Europe as there’ll be British commentary instead of American (as it was during MSR).
Can’t see past Van der Poel, looking unbeatable right now. If he can match Pogi on the Cipressa then surely the Oude Kwaremont has got to be easier?
Looking forward to riding the cyclo event tomorrow, weather looks better than last year. Carbo loading and aiming for the Paterberg on Sunday.
The Kwaremont is certainly less of a climb but it comes after 2,000m of climbing before so in that sense it’s more tiring, gaps can be opened up. But Van der Poel can plan for this attack if he’s still around with Pogačar and others.
It’s not in the preview above but we’ll see how UAE race, they didn’t get the Cipressa just right in Sanremo and we saw them at Omloop trying a move on the Haagehoek which was adventurous, in the sense that it’s a very wide section of road followed by sheltered sections. But in Morgado, Narvaez and Wellens they’ve potentially got more cards to play even if they usually line up for Pogačar when he races, plus Politt, Bjerg and Vermeersch as workhorses.
Team wide it’s advantage Pog. Can’t wait to see how this one plays out. A two horse race is infinitely better than one.
*team wise
Everyone talks Oude Kwaremont down but it’s not at all easy. The average gradient is deceptive as there are some steep parts early on and then a sustained rise at the end. Making it harder is that the cobbles are in quite poor condition in parts so a good line is important and momentum can easily be lost.
In ’23 Van der Poel did match the Pog up the Kwaremont. Twice, even. But three times was one too many.
There are many more climbs in Flanders than in Milano-San Remo, and the climbs are steeper and they are cobbled (which makes drafting more difficult). There is much more chance that Pogi will drop Van der Poel at Flanders than at MSR. And the constant hills will help Pogi stay away if he drops everyone. I really don’t think MVP is so clearly the favourite. While you may be right, I think it will be exciting to see what will happen.
I hope some riders are able to anticipate a bit and the race is exciting. Most of the classics this year have been good in the middle part of the race, I hope that continues.
I liked the gag from Michael Hutchinson last weekend that “you could start watching almost any bike race at 50 km to go and be 90% confident you weren’t going to have missed anything important… …these days you can stop watching at 50 km to go, and the same will usually apply.”
Funny and true. E3 was interesting until it turned into a time trial to the end, I tuned out then. G2 syndrome dominates the end of races these days.
The exciting middle bit is less exciting when you know that the riders won’t work together to bring back the top rider who goes on a long solo effort with ~50km to go. In a race as hard as the Ronde, that’s almost impossible because the chasers won’t be in a large enough group, but it happens in all the other races where these attacks happen.
In Waregem, for a change, the chasing group tried several options to get their claws back on the Visma break, but just couldn’t, although indeed they came amazingly close. That was one of the most beautiful parts of the race, culminating with the last attempt to jump across by Mads and other strong athlete. As they didn’t succeed, that phase was over and the racing became less intense albeit still enthralling because of the 1 to 3 situation ahead.
I know they’ve pivoted to supporting Evenepoel but it’s still a surprise to see Soudal going into this with no expectations of having a presence up front when it gets down to leaders only. Not all that many years ago they’d send a stupidly strong team to this race and the big question would be if they’d get in each others way.
In Magnier – who has probably renewed and this will be announced soon – they’ve got a contender for the future and are even calling him the new Boonen but as you say it was the way they could fire riders forward that won them a lot. They could have Boonen all over again but wouldn’t have other cards to play.
I wonder what will happen if Remco decides to leave next year. Will they pivot back to being a great classics team? It is certainly less expensive that trying to be a GC team in the Grand Tours, and likely it will also keep their Belgian sponsors happy if they are good in the Belgian classics.
You show the dilemma they have, they’re built around Evenepoel but only so much and he might prefer to move elsewhere, for more support in grand tours (and probably a bigger contract). Then without him they’ll have to redefine things as for years before they were the team where they won a lot and a lot of them won, in all situations except GC in grand tours.
I agree though would prefer Pogacar, and would also give Pedersen the advantage over WVA.
For those in France it’s on FR3 from 13h with Jalabert, Voeckler, Rousse and co.
There was an article on Sporza where Sep Vanmarcke seemed to be suggesting cramping up was pretty common after coming down from altitude. Still think Wout is going to be sprinting for 3rd at best though.
I’d like to see some sort of surprise scenario, a Bettiol or even a Devolder, but I reckon there’s a fair chance it could be down to 2 from 90k to go.
I think two from 90km is quite possible but ever the optimist I hope that teams such as Lidl, Visma, Red Bull, Ineos and perhaps even Uno-X anticipate that possibility and let it play, but keep riding and bring everything back together 90 minutes later.
Directeurs Sportif somewhere have to be thinking laterally and beyond just hoping “their guy” has a super day and can go along with Pogacar and MvdP, which would be their triumph of optimism over recent experience (much like mine…)
Unlikely I know but that would put the cat amongst the pigeons.
I’m not sure that UAE is as strong as advertised, at least I hope not. It would be great if a strong group of outsiders got away for a while, just to throw extra uncertainty into the race. I fully expect no more than three or four riders there at the end, probably less. But hopefully not from 50 km out.
Wva to finish 2nd in a sprint!!!
Really it is a pity to see that Wout has lost the stream of mvdp. They were very close some years ago still. Of course wva has had many problems/injuries, in particular last year, whereas mvdp hasn’t. But still, it seems that while mvdp improved (huge solos in monuments) wva regressed (no wins so far this year).
To be honnest, I am wondering if the Jumbo « peak » strategy, with much training and few races, is the most adequate for wva.
MVDP focused on his own career and on winning one-day races.
WVA focused on being a domestique in grand tours.
It’s happened to many others.
MVDP may well also just be better, but I can’t help but think that if WVA had followed MVDP’s example, he’d have won more races.
true, WVA made the same mistake as Kwiatkowski at Sky.
Probably all paid the same, sadly.
MvdP had his share of accidents across the years, although never as hard as Wout’s in 2024, the most serious one being the back issues due to that grotesque accident during the MTB Olympics. This very last CX season he had to skip several races because of the Loenhout crash, and the one before he suffered that shocking crash in Benidorm. He’s also got recurring knee issues, probably dating back his adolescence, which had him retiring or undergoing surgeries at least a couple of times since 2022.
I don’t think that Wout’s situation is that much about the accidents from a physical POV, even if might still feel a little afraid when shouldering through a thick and fast peloton.
To me, it seems that Van Aert is lacking a bit if punch this spring. This is making it difficult to position correctly when selections happen, and to respond to attacks. And also reduces his sprint. For his sake, I hope this is temporary and he gets it back. Otherwise, it is difficult to see him challenging for the win in any of the big one-day races.
I thought the same watching the race, particularly between 100km and circa 40km to go. That Wout seemed *less* sharp than before, and that perhaps the strategy of spending more time up high in Hotel Parador de las Canadas del Teide, with training rides down to the coast and back up, and less time at the early races (as well as a near-nil cyclocross season over the winter), has NOT worked for him.
He did get a bit better towards the end, and was able to get back with the other 2 strong men of the race (MvdP and Mads), but he still couldn’t force anything from them.
He seemed kind of happy with the result too – or at least not terribly unhappy – interviewed immediately after on Sporza. Van Avermaet and he both looking to take positives from the fact he got better towards the very end, relative to the others. I hope this is a case of perfect peaking for P-R for him. Otherwise, it’s going to look like he/J-V screwed up the off-season and pre-season with too much isolation on Teide, and not enough racing.
ICBW, but I think most of his best spring classics years came off the back of strong CX winter seasons. Including the year he had that amazing TdF. But perhaps my memory is faulty there and someone else will correct me on that.
Van Aert definitely doesn’t (currently) have the ability to ride way into the red/over threshold that Van der Poel does (I don’t think Pogacar has a red line). But he does seem to have a high threshold that he can hold for a long time. Basically he was getting dropped on the steep part of the hills. You wouldn’t expect that to be a problem at Roubaix, his sheer diesel-ness should hopefully work for him. Hopefully he’ll get the rub of the green too.
I find it hard to believe that Van der Poel won’t have any ill effects from crashing at 50+mph too.
He did allude to that in the Sporza studio cabine right after the race*. That P-R would be more suited to him. He was quite happy he did the attack before the start of the Oude Kwaremont, to get a head-start, before Pog ran riot. But.. how did it help him really?
Wout should not be a diesel rider. He used to be a classics sprinter – having enough diesel to get to the end of the tough classics with the best, but with his legs still sharper than the rest to beat anyone else in a final sprint, or even kick away from all the others a bit earlier in the final few KM and hold off to the line. He could not get past MvdP, never mind get near Mads, and MvdP was clearly fatigued and/or demotivated for a sprint for “just” 3rd (“just” by MvdP’s standards at least).
This isn’t classic Wout. And I don’t see how he will win with “just” diesel legs. 🙁
* Poor Belgian riders, they get dragged in for TV interviews – *not* the brief event interviews! – before they even get a chance to wipe the dust off their face. Still looking shell-shocked too from sugar depletion after those long long races (Pog did too in his event TV interview).
Diesel legs does suit a team prioritising support for GC guys though. I agree with the other comments here on the pity of that for Wout’s career. 🙁
Deceuninck and UAE have 12 riders between them to control things until it kicks off with 60km to go.
You can’t see past the big two dropping everyone after that but Lady Luck might play a role in mixing things up a bit.
You’d think Visna will send riders up the road beforehand too.
Always a great race whatever happens.
Will there be anyone younger than Iscar Chamberlain at the start?
Don’t think so, although what’s even more impressive is that a couple of riders of his age more or less (within 12 months) can be expected to *maybe* play a relevant role of sort at some moment of the race, i.e., Magnier and Morgado.
On a lower level, but even closer to Chamberlain in age, Van Mechelen is another interesting youngster with good results last year in U23 cobbles.
Not younger but for a baptism of fire Colby Simmons has turned pro out of the EF devo team and starts the Ronde as his first race.
Durango DEVO spits out another one!
On a related note, anybody else notice that Magnus Sheffield is the second youngest rider In History to start and finish all five Monuments? Seems worthy of notice, w/r/t The Youths.
Thanks for flagging that. Impressive, especially considering the decent results he’s had in those races.
Have a look at ages on top of the classification table of this edition, young cyclists doing well are even more significant.
It’s a pro bike race on a tough and demanding course. I am really looking forward to seeing it unfold and develop, with a worthy winner.
Pogi said in an interview that he thinks he can have an edge with his endurance so they will make the race hard. I expect UAE to go full gas from the first Kwaremont and wither down the peleton from there.
It will be interesting to see who goes up the road early to anticipate and who can hang with Pogacar on the second Kwaremont/Pater. If the latter is nobody, there might be a chase behind that actually works? I don’t think VdP or WvA will care for second place, so if they are there I think they will work for it. After San Remo, Mathieu said that on the Poggio he held to the wheel because in his view, it was either that or park the bike by the side of the road.
It’s hard to predict, but I hope for a similar thriller like we got in San Remo, with probably either Wout or Mads (or both) in the Ganna role.
I thought Tom Pidcock might give Flanders’s a try. Would have been worth a star?
His team haven’t been invited so no star because no start this time. He’s got invites to the Giro and Vuelta this year so will have plenty to aim for, plus we’ll see him soon in the Ardennes classics.
They’re on the start list on PCS, with Nicole wearing number 181
Nizzolo! Flippin’ autocorrect.
Doh, quite right. And Fabio Christen will go in the early break and win now… or maybe not.
😂
I look forward to reading how the race unfolds, in the old days I could watch it live on a screen type thing with colour and everything!
miss your presence on twitter, you were the best account to follow for news, didnt overpost, didnt underpost, everything was just right!
Thanks, if anyone wants something similar then https://bsky.app/profile/inrng.com
… no lame crypto scam ads, no owner trying to boost their politics into your timeline, a free Tweetdeck equivalent, and best of all I think, sharing links to other sites, whether new posts here or more often news and stories elsewhere, doesn’t get suppressed.
I’ll sign up to Bluesky just to subscribe to your account. I’ve been looking for a reason to.
And good riddance to X.
WvA needs to retire; he’s done. I said—on here 2? years ago—he’d never win another major race after MVdP beat him at the CX worlds in Hoogerheide. (In one of the all time classic CX races!) Lo it has come to pass. WvA is a psychological shadow of his former self, reduced to Vuelta stage wins. Why Visma signed him up again, I don’t know. It was looking back into the past with rose tinted glasses.
He’s probably earning seven figures so can’t see him stopping too soon. Joking aside, given a clear run without injury it’ll be interesting to see what he can do. A win is possible tomorrow or the following Sunday (the forecast has just switched to rain) and if not then the maglia rosa is possible soon too.
He’s not done yet but of course isn’t in the same bracket with Evenepoel, Pogačar, Van der Poel these days but then nor is Roglič. One reason Visma gave him the “eternal” contract is because even if he doesn’t win a Monument this spring he’s so useful to them elsewhere.
That last sentence: Indeed; that’s why he’s such a great rider to root for–he can be selfless for the team and he has helped them win a ton.
I really hope he returns to winning ways, because he’s been so much fun to watch.
Is he supposed to ride the Tour again this year?
Thank you! Recency bias in the extreme has clouded the vision of a lot of people. WvA had a very rough year last year, and was still amazing in the Vuelta and would have won the points jersey and maybe more without the crash. He has also been involved in some of the greatest stages in GTs in the past 20 years, which is strangely undervalued in the comments on this blog. I was extremely impressed by his response to blowing it in DDV; he clearly thinks about his team rather than just himself, even with the Belgian press hanging over him all the time. He’s a great champion even if he never wins another race.
A bit harsh. OK, he is not on the rise anymore. But he can still deliver beautiful things. I think there is something about life itself reflected in a great champion coming to terms with his waning powers. I it something we have to witness as well, as we have witnessed their rise and peaks.
But yeah, we can hope he doesn’t go out like Froome.
I don’t see any reason WVA should be finished either: it’s not like he’s not too old.
What perplexes me is why they’ve tried this altitude camp way of preparing for the two big races, in contrast to his main competitors’ doing the big races earlier in the season. Maybe it’ll prove to be a stroke of genius, but if it doesn’t all he and his team have done is give him fewer chances to win races.
For me, he should be doing all five monuments, every single year, and all other races should be secondary to those.
Thankfully WvA decides when he gets to retire, when the risks outweigh the rewards, and when he feels he has nothing left to prove or contribute, not us here in the cheap seats. I believe we’re years from that point – if Vingegaard is to again contend against Pogacar for the Tour GC the task will be exponentially more difficult without Van Aert, irrespective of his current classics form.
As for his personal motivation and goals, I expect he’ll be chasing Paris- Roubaix for some time yet, and racing today is another step towards that.
For me he’s been most impresive in GTs, riding for himself but also burying himself for his team. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a great TDF this year, that really seems where he shines.
Andrew
Agree with all. He’s slated to do both the Giro and Tour, and will be essential for whomever Visma will run as captains.
Wout’s 2022 Tour was full of iconic efforts, and should have a strong place in cycling lore for a long long time. That stage win in the yellow jersey, multiple others in the green jersey – which he won. A short but monstrous effort to pace his GC team-mate on a climb, and burn the other GC contender away – green jersey leading the yellow jersey and a previous tour winner.
That was a great tour all round really. (E.g. Matthews’ win on stage 14).
Quinn Simmons for the long range win. His groups goes way long and holds off the chasers as MVDP is under the weather and Ineos neutralize UAE.
Possible yea. Probable TBD.
He’s not on the start list.
I’m rooting WVA, but please anyone than the Slovenian outlier…
for WVA….
No more Eurosport but Carlton Kirby is still with us 🙂
f….
Looked good for a while, but sigh…
Absolutely stunning race – a reborn WVA and a much closer fight than expected.
A pity about the Slovenian outlier, but otherwise a classic.
Yeah, on reflection an absolute thrilling RVV. I don’t get VLAB’s tactics, but we may learn more about it. Except the winner everything you could reasonably ask for. I’m usually not a Van Aert fanboy, but this was quite a show.
Well I *am* a WVA fanboy and yes, he thrilled me this time. He was so nonchalant in the first half that I though he was only in for the ride, but he knew when to move. He is obviously still a fraction behind top-3 but I wouldn’t bet against him even in P-R. 🙂 I think the Visma tactics were simply a reflection of TB and MJ being roasted.
The Giannetti hug at the end is always so unseemly.
My day has been saved, found an excellent Live feed with a great commentary team! Result! in more ways than one.
How the race was won in brief: Four 75kg riders riding in a group can not close a 20 second gap on one lonely 65kg rider in 10km of flat, straight road with a headwind.
… after 260km and 2000m of climbing.
Well, not all get the Gianetti special sauce…
And this season, not all seem to get it even at UAE itself! They probably got little left, so they spend it wisely.
OTOH other teams apparently must have their own recipe, as they have sported some good collective strength more than once…
Jokes apart, in Classics, as it’s more often than not the case, you get classy top riders competing for the win as it’s much less about sheer athletical factors, just check the proportion of stage race victories vs. Classics in the «team projects» which were involved in proven doping practices during the last 3-4 decades.
Gianetti is smart enough to know that he should only run one outlier.
You mean something along the lines of he himself racing side by side with, say, Pascal Richard, Rebellin, Zülle, Totschnig, Luc Leblanc etc. or more a lovely couple thing à la Riccò and Piepoli when he was DS?
gabriele,
I think Gianetti is smarter than that.
“PREVIEW” Now contains SPOILERS – thank you numbnuts above!
This is so akin to people complaining or even getting angry because they received a whatsapp at night and got woken up by the bip of notification…
Spoiler – after the race has finished it’s no longer a preview….
Except when there isa following feature “How the race was won” thank you your welcome.
*you’re
🙂
That guy who urged you wit a gun onto your head to read comments after the race has finished, is he still in the same room now?
This seems to be a race where the parcours is such that it’s easy to predict who is in with a fighting chance. Note top four picks of IR took the, yep, top four places. That or I’m going to start asking him to buy my lottery tickets.
Much different than MSR, for sure.
When men and women were waiting in the same room for the podium ceremony, Liane Lippert was the odd one out… six riders, but she was the only one not having been or currently being Road Cycling World Champion, the latter being the case of both winner.
I wouldn’t bet against her retrospectively correcting that anomaly some time in the next 3-4 years.
She has a few years in hand compared to some of the other big names at the moment.
So the new dopper is pajacar
Nobody(but lance) can climb sprint and do cobbles. He is better dopper than the rest like lance.
Dopper? A porte-manteau of top and doper? I like it. But come on, it’s just all that Z2 he does. Revolutionary. Gianetti knows.
No, I think it’s shorter cranks. Or longer. Pick your marginal gain.
Perhaps he has one of each? Nobody else does, which might explain why nobody else can match him
Excellent post ^___^
I’m going to try that right now 😀
Mmmm I’ve got *two* conspiranoic theories to explain the above message by Chris.
1) Somebody there at CN left the Clinic’s keys on the canteen’s table so the inmates got loose (in fact, other elements do hereby support this conjecture).
2) It was actually written by some undercover Pajacar fan who tries to discredit all the doping innuendo this way.
Lance “do cobbles” was pure gold…
I guess it’s to be expected when people win in the way Pog does in a sport with the unfortunate history cycling does, that message boards etc start attract the rants and casual vindictiveness of the keyboard warriors ready to spoil it for the rest of us.
There’s a surprising number of poor takes on this particular page which I guess means we can expect a difficult summer once the TDF rolls round!!
To say WVA should retire just after he’s finishing second at Dwars and still coming off a difficult string of injuries last season is outrageously daft and I’m not sure it’s even worth engaging with that level of stupidity? We might see WVA on the slide and struggle to imagine him refinding his best form, but obviously he’s still at an extremely high level, with a good contract and value to the team otherwise, plus a young family to support etc etc. The world is more complicated than losing to MVDP/Pog a few times and packing it all in, and it’s painfully juvenile to be unable to see this wider picture.
Similar with the dull Gianetti sauce waffle. I think the thing that’s irks the most with that kind of commentary for us diehard fans, is that the writers somehow think it’s revelatory to any of us who’ve followed cycling for multiple decades? You’d think they might have the forethought to assume all us grizzled veterans might watch every cycling era with the knowledge it could come crashing down at any moment? We know the risks of being a fan, we just decide to balance our enjoyment of the sport with a healthy scepticism of varying levels dependent on our in depth knowledge of the subject – rather than the wide-eyed ignorance assumed by those ready to call us idiots for even switching of a race and enjoying a sunny afternoon.
People are allowed suspicions but give credit to your fellow commenters that they might not be fools you think and instead choose to wait for either time or the relevant authorities to reveal whatever underhand methods were or were not used in each era we watch. What else can we do if we want to remain happy and sane?
I guess it’s also tough with so many Anonymous’ flying around as it seems like one Anonymous is a day tripper dropping an obnoxious broadside and another Anonymous is a regular here who’d do us all a big favour if they might just add a 1 or A or similar after their name! I for one do not know which is an Anonymous to chat with and which is just best to let fly away to another more angry space where they can get their kicks annoying a less informed and thoughtful message board.
Good write-up. I’ll agree with most and I think it is unfortunate to have all these insinuations flying around. Not only about Pog – I recall a load of frankly disgusting stuff about Remco and about Vingegaard, especially after the Dormancy stage, where quite a few idiots tried to hint his performance was a suspicious outlier, fueled by some doubtful stuff.
I don’t like Pog as a rider (personally he seems to be nice enough) and I consider his physical performance to be an outlier in itself but I have no reason to believe it is anything than legit. And I would wish we could view all riders that way.
And yes, I don’t get all the anonymous stuff.
I can’t believe people could be so unfair to Remco. As if it was a sprinter, even!
For me it’s hard to enjoy watching this win, when the beaming bald head of Gianetti is blinking in the sun at the finish line like a strobe light. Reminding us all that Pogacar, who he proudly hugs like a son is basically riding for the same team as Riccó, Piepoli and Cobo. Now funded by a modern slave nation by the way.
It makes me think of all the former riders who rode during the EPO era, who are now either running the sport, or commenting on it. The same commentators who sing Pogacar’s praises.
On the other hand I don’t know if the sport is simply now returning to normal times like when Merckx, Hinault, Fignon raced where the riders who were naturally gifted won most of the races, and Pogacar is simply the most naturally gifted of this era.
I choose to say what I think to remain happy and sane. You remain silent and wait. I believe there is room for us all if we can rise above posting incoherent anonymous nonsense.
Quite poor to put the focus on athletes when the vast majority of relevant cases really implied a structured system, and those which really impacted the results were fostered by a political coverage at the highest level.
Maybe you can be a climb sprinter too, one day after you finished elementary school and learned to write proper
If Pogi wants to become a truly great one in a general sense (hence not only looking at his palmares, which are just about the greatest ever), he should distance himself from people who are so tightly connected to former doping, AND from states with dubious reputation (eg. United Arab Emirates). If we can not hold the most giftet sportsmen/women morally accountable for their work choices, than who?
And stop riding Shimano equipment, among other things.
Unfortunately I agree. I still don’t have any evidence against Pog, and will have to give him the benefit of doubt but the Arab team is a poor choice.