Big races deserve their own threads…
Pog has gotta be the hands-down favorite after what he did at UAE Tour, but Allaphillipe, Tim Wellens and Thiejs Benoot are all gonna give him a stern challenge, I think. As well as that guy who won a rainbow jersey in CX.
Can’t wait…have loved this race since Day 1.
It has all the makings on an epic race. I just wish Wout was also there to see if he could ride the others off his wheel before the final climb.
Is Wout definitely not racing?
I haven’t read any of the previews yet, it’s definitely been a great watch recently.
Listening to the GCN preview they said that neither Wout nor Matthieu Van der Poel were riding SB this year.
Bummer. Doesn’t surprise me I suppose. MVdP is still building back. Wout obviously has some big goals as he looks in fantastic form already. Even out of base he could win it.
Yeah, Wout is racing Paris-Nice…definitely has his eyes set on some bigger goals (read: Flanders & Roubaix).
Side note - Roubaix is 2 weeks after Flanders this year. French elections are the Sunday that normally would have been Roubaix, so they moved the race back a week.
So this year it is Flanders -->Amstel —> Roubaix. timing form will be interesting for both sides of those races…those that want to peak for the northern classics and those that want to peak for Ardennes classics.
Interesting stuff.
Wout seems to have put a very thorough plan in place with his coaching team. Fascinating thing about these races is not just timing your own effort, but who shows up on a completely different schedule either by design or accident.
I think Wout really wants some big wins…he made comments last year about too many 2nd places and not enough wins. And with MVP still on the sidelines, I think he is gonna try and grab Flanders and Roubaix now.
Good article re: tire and gear choices for tomorrow….honestly surprised we haven’t heard of teams running tire inserts. Seems like a no-brainer so riders can keep going if they get a flat. Remove the need to wait for a team car and ride to the end of a sector where they may have mechanics w/ wheels.
Looks like Tom Pidcock is out (stomach virus). Top riders not racing including the past two winners of the race, ugh. Not good.
This is is usually such a great race maybe we’ll get a surprise winner. Or Ala will do his thing. Not sure how his form is though.
Shame about the lack of would-be favourites in the start list. I’m thinking Ala for the win
Most of them will be racing Milano Sanremo we get our first taste of the pog and rog show. 2 weeks before Flanders, 4 weeks before Roubaix!
Praying Pidcock’s stomach virus doesn’t take him out for too long…
Well that sucks…
still plenty of good guys left…should still be a great race.
Dumoulin also now out w/ COVID…not that I really would have expected him to be much of a factor. Probably just helps JV rally behind Benoot (as they should be doing).
Wow….crazy wind. MASSIVE pileup @ 100km to go. Allaphillipe flips over his bars after the wind pushes other riders into him and then slide out in the gravel. Looked like at least 30 riders down.
ETA - Benoot is out as a result of the crash, JA is chasing back is almost 2 min down in the peloton. He could well be out of it….even with 90k to go, the wind is so strong I don’t think he can get back.
JA may get back on….peloton seems to have taken their foot off the gas a bit. Gap is down to 50” now.
YIKES!!!
Pog on a mission…goes solo w/ almost 50k to go and it looks like he may pull it off. Gap is growing consistently.
Wow.
ETA:
Holy shit what an effort - unbelievable that he’s pulling this off
Over 1/4 of the race solo in brutal wind….and he made it look easy.
Wow. Kid has no fear.
Maybe as importantly - nothing to fear