Haven't gotten a chance to watch KBK yet, but Omloop was the recipe for beating Sagan: make him spend more time in the wind, so that you have a little bit more left at the end to out sprint him. When Sagan loses its typically loses because he did too much work all race (GvA used to have the same problem). But yeah...he's going to get the Cancellara treatment moving forward. But as with Fabian, it's probably not going to matter.
he did the exact opposite today of what he did yesterday. i bet a lot of the other teams and riders though he didn't have much in the tank coming off of his effort yesterday. it kinda looked that way too because he was often seen hanging off the back of the second group on the road. If other riders try to give him the Cancellara treatment, its a huge mistake. Cancellara only had one weapon... long distance attack and stay away for 20-50 km. Riders knew that if they could just sit on his wheel and make it a sprint finish, they could easily pip him. If Sagan is smart, he will just sit up in those instances...there aren't many classics riders who will be around at the end of races like Flanders or Roubaix that can out-sprint Sagan (GVA and Kristoff are the only two that come to mind). I'm most interested to see what Sagan's tactics will be for Milan-San Remo. He has to do something early in that race if he wants to win it, and that's fucking tough as shit because its 283km long. I wonder if Sagan is planning something insane like trying to win Milan San Remo, Roubaix and Flanders....
I don't think that's necessarily true regarding Cancellara. Cancellara won his last P-R in a straight up match sprint. He won his last Strade Bianchi by outkicking everyone in the last few hundred meters. He won his last Flanders with a solo victory from 20km out or whatever, but that's kind of how Flanders goes given the Parcours. You can win the race on the Paterberg. Sagan did the same thing last year. But teams would plan their entire strategy around just making sure that Cancellara was always marked, and typically nobody would do any work with him. When Terpstra won P-R, it was because everyone refused to chase and tow Cancellara back up to Terpstra, and so Cancellara said fuck it, I'm not gonna tow everyone else back too. With Sagan, other guys have generally been willing to work with him. I guess it's because they are more worried about him winning a bunch sprint if the break doesn't stay away, which is what makes him so special, but I'm still expecting to see teams start trying to fuck with him more.
You make good points re: Sagan last year and Terpstra's win... However, I think those two Cancellara victories you mention, his last P-R victory and Strade Bianchi (don't forget his last Flanders victory too), are kind-of outliers when you look at the whole of his career. In almost every classics sprint finish Cancellara ends up 2nd, 3rd, or worse. Most of his classics victories have winning margins of 1:00+. After Cancellara went on that 50 km romp in the 2010 P-R, people were like, oh shit, and the game plan of teams became 'stick to his wheel at all costs'. I think that's why you see the 3-4 year drought between his monument victories. Because he kept trying to ride people off his wheel 20 - 50 km from the finish, it was his only tactic, and it didn't work. Finally, you saw him smarten up... and that's why he won the sprint finishes in the last few years. He realized he needed to save some gas for the end. Not trying to argue, just laying out what I observed.
Strade Bianchi on Saturday... do yourself a favor, find a good stream and watch this race. It's fucking gorgeous. Startlist (favorites in red) Spoiler AG2R La Mondiale 1 BAKELANTS, Jan 2 BAGDONAS, Gediminas 3 DUPONT, Hubert 4 GENIEZ, Alexandre 5 HOULE, Hugo 6 JAUREGUI, Quentin 7 MONTAGUTI, Matteo 8 PETERS, Nans Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec 11 BENFATTO, Marco 12 BONUSI, Raffaello 13 FRAPPORTI, Mattia 14 MASNADA, Fausto 15 PACIONI, Luca 16 PALINI, Andrea 17 SPREAFICO, Matteo 18 VENDRAME, Andrea Astana Pro Team 21 ARU, Fabio 23 GATTO, Oscar 24 GRIVKO, Andrei 25 KORSAETH, Truls Engen 25 GRUZDEV, Dmitriy 26 MOSER, Moreno 27 SANCHEZ, Luis Leon 28 VALGREN, Michael Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team 31 NIBALI, Vincenzo 32 BOARO, Manuele 33 CINK, Ondrej 34 GARCIA CORTINA, Ivan 35 NOVAK, Domen 36 PER, David 37 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin 38 VISCONTI, Giovanni Bardiani - CSF 41 BOEM, Nicola 42 ANDREETTA, Simone 43 MAESTRI, Mirco 44 PACINOTTI, Nicolò 45 PIRAZZI, Stefano 46 TONELLI, Alessandro 47 VELASCO, Simone 48 WACKERMANN, Luca BMC Racing Team 51 VAN AVERMAET, Greg 52 BOOKWALTER, Brent 53 CARUSO, Damiano 54 DRUCKER, Jean-Pierre 55 HERMANS, Ben 56 KÜNG, Stefan 57 OSS, Daniel 58 QUINZIATO, Manuel Bora - Hansgrohe 151 SAGAN, Peter 152 BENEDETTI, Cesare 153 BODNAR, Maciej 154 BURGHARDT, Marcus 155 MCCARTHY, Jay 156 MÜHLBERGER, Gregor 157 PFINGSTEN, Christoph 158 POLJANSKI, Pawel Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team 71 URAN, Rigoberto 72 BETTIOL, Alberto 73 CLARKE, Simon 74 HOWES, Alex 75 VAN BAARLE, Dylan 76 LANGEVELD, Sebastian 77 SKUJIŅŠ, Toms 78 VANMARCKE, Sep FDJ 81 PINOT, Thibaut 82 BONNET, William 83 LE BON, Johan 84 LUDVIGSSON, Tobias 85 MORABITO, Steve 86 REICHENBACH, Sebastien 87 ROUX, Anthony 88 ROY, Jérémy Lotto Soudal 121 BENOOT, Tiesj 122 DE BIE, Sean 123 DE CLERCQ, Bart 124 MAES, Nikolas 125 MARCZYNSKI, Tomasz 126 MONFORT, Maxime 127 ROELANDTS, Jurgen 128 WELLENS, Tim Movistar Team 101 AMADOR, Andrey 102 BENNATI, Daniele 103 BETANCUR, Carlos 104 BICO, Nuno 105 CARAPAZ, Richard 106 CARRETERO, Héctor 107 DOWSETT, Alex 108 OLIVEIRA, Nelson Nippo - Vini Fantini 111 BAGIOLI, Nicola 112 CANOLA, Marco 113 FILOSI, Iuri 114 GROSU, Eduard Michael 115 KOISHI, Yuma 116 MARANGONI, Alan 117 SANTAROMITA, Ivan 118 UCHIMA, Kohei ORICA-Scott 121 KREUZIGER, Roman 122 BEWLEY, Sam 123 DURBRIDGE, Luke 124 EDMONDSON, Alexander 125 HAIG, Jack 126 JUUL-JENSEN, Christopher 127 KEUKELEIRE, Jens 128 TUFT, Svein Quick-Step Floors 131 STYBAR, Zdenek 132 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca 133 JUNGELS, Bob 134 MARTINELLI, Davide 135 RICHEZE, Ariel Maximiliano 136 TRENTIN, Matteo 137 VAKOC, Petr 138 VERMOTE, Julien Dimension Data 141 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald 142 ANTON, Igor 143 DEBESAY, Mekseb 144 EISEL, Bernhard 145 TEKLEHAIMANOT, Daniel 146 THOMSON, Jay Robert 147 THWAITES, Scott 148 VAN ZYL, Johann Team Katusha - Alpecin 151 BELKOV, Maxim 152 GONÇALVES, José 153 MACHADO, Tiago 154 MATHIS, Marco 155 POLITT, Nils 156 RESTREPO, Jhonatan 157 WÜRTZ SCHMIDT, Mads 158 VICIOSO, Ángel Team LottoNL-Jumbo 161 BATTAGLIN, Enrico 162 LINDEMAN, Bert-Jan 163 LOBATO, Juan José 164 MARTENS, Paul 165 ROGLIČ, Primož 166 DE TIER, Floris 167 TOLHOEK, Antwan 168 VERMEULEN, Alexey Team Sky 171 ROSA, Diego 172 BOSWELL, Ian 173 GEOGHEGAN HART, Tao 174 GOLAS, Michal 175 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal 176 MOSCON, Gianni 177 PUCCIO, Salvatore 178 THOMAS, Geraint Team Sunweb 181 DUMOULIN, Tom 182 HAGA, Chad 183 KELDERMAN, Wilco 184 PREIDLER, Georg 185 SINKELDAM, Ramon 186 TEN DAM, Laurens 187 TEUNISSEN, Mike 188 TIMMER, Albert Trek - Segafredo 191 ALAFACI, Eugenio 192 VAN POPPEL, Boy 193 COLEDAN, Marco 194 FELLINE, Fabio 195 IRIZAR, Markel 196 PEDERSEN, Mads 197 REIJNEN, Kiel 198 STUYVEN, Jasper UAE Team Emirates 201 COSTA, Rui (He's in rad form right now. He's the perfect type of rider for a race like this). 202 DURASEK, Kristijan 203 LAENGEN, Vegard Stake 204 MARCATO, Marco 205 MODOLO, Sacha 206 MOHORIC, Matej 207 NIEMIEC, Przemyslaw 208 TROIA, Oliviero My Notes: Most people have this race coming down to Sagan vs GVA. My personal picks are Rui Costa and Zydnek Stybar. Costa is in perfect form coming off a win in the middle east. Stybar loves this race and looked really good last weekend. Quick Step are itching for a classics win too. Tom Dumoulin is my wild-card. This used to be Cancellara's race and I think Dumoulin can do everything that Cancellara used to do and more (he's a better climber). This race has many,many gravel sections that shatter the peloton in pieces. The roads are narrow and there are some steep, punchy climbs on some of the gravel sections. If Dumoulin can position himself correctly and is part of the last selection then end of the race suits him. After the last gravel section, its open roads to the final. Cancellara always used to TT himself to the last climb, a nasty, steep, short climb to the town of Sienna. His TT would give him enough of a gap to struggle up the climb and claim the win. I could see Dumoulin doing the same. Watch out for Rigo Uran. He's not targeting a Grand Tour this year and is targeting Spring Classics instead. Its probably most likely that he's targeting Liege-Bastogne- Liege, Fleche Wallone, and the Amstel Gold Race, but this could be the beginning of his season. Not sure if he has the team to back him up though. Watch out for the Italians, not just Nibali and Aru. For some of these guys, this is the Conference Championship game before the Super Bowl (Giro).[/spoiler]
You think Gerraint Thomas has anything in store for this race? He could do well here if he's got any ambitions for it at all.
he could do well, but I think Sky is here for Rosa and Kwiatkowski and then probably the other Italians (Puccio and Moscon). I think Sky is saving him to target Flanders and Roubaix with Stannard and week long stage races.
Milan San Remo on Sunday. Startlist Spoiler FDJ 1 DÉMARE, Arnaud 2 DELAGE, Mickaël 3 BONNET, William 4 CIMOLAI, Davide 5 GUARNIERI, Jacopo 6 KONOVALOVAS, Ignatas 7 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu 8 ROUX, Anthony AG2R La Mondiale 11 HOULE, Hugo 12 BAGDONAS, Gediminas 13 BAKELANTS, Jan 14 FRANK, Mathias 15 GOUGEARD, Alexis 16 JAUREGUI, Quentin 17 DENZ, Nico 18 VANDENBERGH, Stijn Androni Giocattoli 21 BALLERINI, Davide 22 BERNAL, Egan Arley 23 BONUSI, Raffaello 24 CATTANEO, Mattia 25 FRAPPORTI, Marco 26 FRAPPORTI, Mattia 27 GAVAZZI, Francesco 28 MASNADA, Fausto Astana Pro Team 31 KORSAETH, Truls 32 BRESCHEL, Matti 33 GATTO, Oscar 34 GRIVKO, Andrei 35 LUTSENKO, Alexey 36 TLEUBAYEV, Ruslan 37 SANCHEZ, Luis Leon 38 VALGREN, Michael Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team 41 COLBRELLI, Sonny 42 BOARO, Manuele 43 BOLE, Grega 44 BONIFAZIO, Niccolo 45 BOZIC, Borut 46 GASPAROTTO, Enrico 47 PELLIZOTTI, Franco 48 VISCONTI, Giovanni Bardiani - CSF 51 ANDREETTA, Simone 52 BARBIN, Enrico 53 BOEM, Nicola 54 MAESTRI, Mirco 55 ROTA, Lorenzo 56 SIMION, Paolo 57 VELASCO, Simone 58 WACKERMANN, Luca BMC Racing Team 61 VAN AVERMAET, Greg 62 CARUSO, Damiano 63 DILLIER, Silvan 64 ELMIGER, Martin 65 OSS, Daniel 66 QUINZIATO, Manuel 67 SCOTSON, Miles 68 VENTOSO, Francisco Bora - Hansgrohe 71 SAGAN, Peter 72 BENNETT, Sam 73 BODNAR, Maciej 74 BURGHARDT, Marcus 75 MÜHLBERGER, Gregor 76 SAGAN, Juraj 77 SARAMOTINS, Aleksejs 78 BENEDETTI, Cesare Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team 81 CLARKE, Simon 82 BETTIOL, Alberto 83 KOREN, Kristijan 84 SCULLY, Thomas 85 SKUJIŅŠ, Toms 86 SLAGTER, Tom-Jelte 87 URAN, Rigoberto 88 VAN ASBROECK, Tom Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 91 BOUHANNI, Nacer 92 CLAEYS, Dimitri 93 LAPORTE, Christophe 94 LEMOINE, Cyril 95 SÉNÉCHAL, Florian 96 SIMON, Julien 97 SOUPE, Geoffrey 98 VANBILSEN, Kenneth Gazprom-RusVelo 101 PORSEV, Alexander 102 BRUTT, Pavel 103 ERSHOV, Artur 104 MAIKIN, Roman 105 ROVNY, Ivan 106 SAVITSKIY, Ivan 107 TSATEVICH, Alexey 108 TRUSOV, Nikolay Lotto Soudal 111 WELLENS, Tim 112 BENOOT, Tiesj 113 DEBUSSCHERE, Jens 114 GALLOPIN, Tony 116 MARCZYNSKI, Tomasz 117 ROELANDTS, Jurgen 118 SIEBERG, Marcel 119 BAK, Lars Ytting Movistar Team 121 BETANCUR, Carlos 122 ANACONA, Winner 123 ARCAS, Jorge 124 BARBERO, Carlos 125 BENNATI, Daniele 126 CARAPAZ, Richard 127 ROJAS, José Joaquín 128 SÜTTERLIN, Jasha Nippo - Vini Fantini 131 NAKANE, Hideto 132 CANOLA, Marco 133 FILOSI, Iuri 134 GROSU, Eduard Michael 135 DE NEGRI, Pier Paolo 136 MARANGONI, Alan 137 SANTAROMITA, Ivan 138 UCHIMA, Kohei ORICA-Scott 141 EWAN, Caleb 142 ALBASINI, Michael 143 GERRANS, Simon 144 HAYMAN, Mathew 145 IMPEY, Daryl 146 KEUKELEIRE, Jens 147 MEZGEC, Luka 148 CORT NIELSEN, Magnus Quick-Step Floors 151 BOONEN, Tom 152 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian 153 BAUER, Jack 154 GAVIRIA, Fernando 155 GILBERT, Philippe 156 SABATINI, Fabio 157 TRENTIN, Matteo 158 VERMOTE, Julien Dimension Data 161 CAVENDISH, Mark 162 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald 163 CUMMINGS, Stephen 164 EISEL, Bernhard 165 THOMSON, Jay Robert 166 RENSHAW, Mark 167 SBARAGLI, Kristian 168 THWAITES, Scott Team Katusha - Alpecin 171 KRISTOFF, Alexander 172 BELKOV, Maxim 173 BYSTRØM, Sven Erik 174 HALLER, Marco 175 HOLLENSTEIN, Reto 176 MØRKØV, Michael 177 ŠPILAK, Simon 178 VICIOSO, Ángel Team LottoNL-Jumbo 181 LOBATO, Juan José 182 BATTAGLIN, Enrico 183 CASTELIJNS, Twan 184 VAN EMDEN, Jos 185 LEEZER, Tom 186 MARTENS, Paul 187 ROGLIČ, Primož 188 TANKINK, Bram Team Novo Nordisk 191 MEGIAS, Javier 192 PERON, Andrea 193 LOZANO, David 194 PLANET, Charles 195 HENTTALA, Joonas 196 VERSCHOOR, Martijn 197 CLANCY, Stephen 198 VAN IJZENDOORN, Rik Team Sky 201 VIVIANI, Elia 202 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal 203 MOSCON, Gianni 204 PUCCIO, Salvatore 205 ROWE, Luke 206 STANNARD, Ian 207 VAN POPPEL, Danny 208 WIŚNIOWSKI, Łukasz Team Sunweb 211 DUMOULIN, Tom 212 ARNDT, Nikias 213 ANDERSEN, Søren Kragh 214 CURVERS, Roy 215 GESCHKE, Simon 216 MATTHEWS, Michael 217 STAMSNIJDER, Tom 218 TIMMER, Albert Trek - Segafredo 221 DEGENKOLB, John 222 ALAFACI, Eugenio 223 COLEDAN, Marco 224 DE KORT, Koen 225 FELLINE, Fabio 226 RAST, Gregory 227 STUYVEN, Jasper 228 REIJNEN, Kiel UAE Team Emirates 231 MODOLO, Sacha 232 LAENGEN, Vegard Stake 233 MARCATO, Marco 234 MOHORIC, Matej 235 MORI, Manuele 236 SWIFT, Ben 237 ULISSI, Diego 238 ZURLO, Federico Wilier Triestina 241 POZZATO, Filippo 242 AMEZQUETA, Julen 243 BELLETTI, Manuel 244 BUSATO, Matteo 245 GODOY, Yonder 246 MARECZKO, Jakub 247 MARTINEZ, Daniel Felipe 248 MOSCA, Jacopo Favorites: Sagan, Cavendish, Kristoff, Bouhanni, Van Avermaet, Demare, Viviani, Degenkolb, Gaviria, Caleb Ewan, Michael Matthews Sneaky picks for a breakaway: Tim Wellens, Simon Clarke, Jan Bakelandts, Stephen Cummings, Alaphilippe, Kwiatkowski, Tom Dumoulin Sneaky picks for a sprint: Sonny Colbrelli, Simon Gerrans, Sacha Modolo, Nikias Arndt
That's why Sagan is the best. Just about anyone else in his situation sits in and waits for the sprint. That's why you have to appreciate someone like Contador too; not only are they uber talented, but they actually want to race.
totally agree... sagan said after the end of the race that 'results don't matter, putting on a show does.'
I know Sagan has been criticized for doing too much, but this season much more than last you're seeing riders avoid working with him. I hate the because he deserved to win sanremo, will be interesting to see how he responds.
It was because of the bike throw though. He'd have lost by a wider margin of not for a crazy aggressive bike throw.
Pretty disappointed in Sagan's tactics today. Maybe he didn't have it, but to me it looked like he just refused to work while those two guys sat on, so he sat back with them. But given the form GVA is on, I just don't understand Sagan betting on those two guys to be able to bring it back over GVA being able to hold them off.
You're right, Sagan pulled off and said, nope, I'm not closing the gap. He took a gamble that Terpstra would close it, and Terpstra said nope as well. This is the Cancellara treatment. With that said, I think a couple of things are at play here... 1. For all the people saying that this was just a training ride for Sagan, because he's targeting Flanders and Roubaix, I think they're wrong. It shows a hole in his team, one that he needs to patch soon. There isn't too much that Sagan should've done different there, sure, he could've closed the gap, but then I bet Terpstra would've attacked over the top, leaving him gassed. I think the bigger fix here is getting him a big-engine lieutenant to help be there in the groups at the end (like GVA has in Daniel Oss, like Degenkolb has in de Kort, like Terpstra has in Boonen or visa versa). 2. Terpstra not pulling shows that he and his team would rather not have Sagan win than have a chance for themselves... shows how confident they are in their team. 3. Like I said a few days ago... GVA is in rip-roaring form right now. His big goal is Flanders (not Roubaix). The attack by Keukelaire and him was brilliant, they knew if they could get a gap that Terpstra and Anderson would make Sagan work to close it. On top of that GVA is confident enough that he can beat Sagan in an H2H sprint. This worked yesterday, but I doubt Sagan lets it happen in Flanders. Watch for Sagan to go full gas on one of the big cobbled climbs at the end of Flanders. I doubt GVA will be able to stay in touch with him... just like he wasn't able to stay in touch in Milan San Remo.
Flanders is this weekend boys. Oh so beautiful... Startlist Spoiler Bora - Hansgrohe 1 SAGAN, Peter 2 PFINGSTEN, Christoph 3 BURGHARDT, Marcus 4 KOLAR, Michael 5 SAGAN, Juraj 6 BODNAR, Maciej 7 SARAMOTINS, Aleksejs 8 SCHILLINGER, Andreas Quick-Step Floors 11 BOONEN, Tom 12 GAVIRIA, Fernando 13 GILBERT, Philippe 14 KEISSE, Iljo 15 LAMPAERT, Yves 16 STYBAR, Zdenek 17 TERPSTRA, Niki 18 TRENTIN, Matteo Lotto Soudal 21 BENOOT, Tiesj 22 DEBUSSCHERE, Jens 23 GALLOPIN, Tony 24 GREIPEL, André 25 MAES, Nikolas 26 ROELANDTS, Jurgen 27 SIEBERG, Marcel 28 WALLAYS, Jelle BMC Racing Team 31 VAN AVERMAET, Greg 32 DILLIER, Silvan 33 DRUCKER, Jean-Pierre 34 ELMIGER, Martin 35 KÜNG, Stefan 36 QUINZIATO, Manuel 37 OSS, Daniel 38 VENTOSO, Francisco Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team 41 VANMARCKE, Sep 42 VAN ASBROECK, Tom 43 LANGEVELD, Sebastian 44 BETTIOL, Alberto 45 PHINNEY, Taylor 46 SCULLY, Thomas 47 BEVIN, Patrick 48 VAN BAARLE, Dylan Trek - Segafredo 51 STUYVEN, Jasper 52 THEUNS, Edward 53 DEGENKOLB, John 54 FELLINE, Fabio 55 RAST, Gregory 56 COLEDAN, Marco 57 DE KORT, Koen 58 VAN POPPEL, Boy ORICA-Scott 61 HAYMAN, Mathew 62 KEUKELEIRE, Jens 63 DURBRIDGE, Luke 64 DOCKER, Mitchell 65 JUUL-JENSEN, Christopher 66 HEPBURN, Michael 67 MEZGEC, Luka 68 CORT NIELSEN, Magnus AG2R La Mondiale 71 VANDENBERGH, Stijn 72 NAESEN, Oliver 73 BAGDONAS, Gediminas 74 DENZ, Nico 75 DUVAL, Julien 76 HOULE, Hugo 77 GOUGEARD, Alexis 78 BARBIER, Rudy Team Katusha - Alpecin 81 KRISTOFF, Alexander 82 MARTIN, Tony 83 HOLLENSTEIN, Reto 85 KUZNETSOV, Viacheslav 86 HALLER, Marco 87 MØRKØV, Michael 88 POLITT, Nils Astana Pro Team 91 BRESCHEL, Matti 92 DE VREESE, Laurens 93 GATTO, Oscar 94 GRIVKO, Andrei 95 GRUZDEV, Dmitriy 96 KORSAETH, Truls 97 LUTSENKO, Alexey 98 VALGREN, Michael Team Sky 101 STANNARD, Ian 102 ROWE, Luke 103 MOSCON, Gianni 104 PUCCIO, Salvatore 105 KNEES, Christian 106 DOULL, Owain 107 VAN POPPEL, Danny 108 WIŚNIOWSKI, Łukasz Dimension Data 111 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald 112 DOUGALL, Nick 113 EISEL, Bernhard 114 FARRAR, Tyler 115 JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Reinardt 116 REGUIGUI, Youcef 117 THOMSON, Jay Robert 118 THWAITES, Scott Movistar Team 121 AMADOR, Andrey 122 ARCAS, Jorge 123 CARRETERO, Héctor 124 OLIVEIRA, Nelson 125 ERVITI, Imanol 126 BICO, Nuno 128 SÜTTERLIN, Jasha Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team 132 BONIFAZIO, Niccolo 133 BOZIC, Borut 134 GARCIA CORTINA, Ivan 135 COLBRELLI, Sonny 136 FENG, Chun Kai 137 PER, David 138 PIBERNIK, Luka Team LottoNL-Jumbo 141 BOOM, Lars 143 ROOSEN, Timo 144 TANKINK, Bram 145 VAN HOECKE, Gijs 146 VAN EMDEN, Jos 147 WAGNER, Robert 148 WYNANTS, Maarten FDJ 151 DÉMARE, Arnaud 152 DELAGE, Mickaël 153 GUARNIERI, Jacopo 154 HOELGAARD, Daniel 155 KONOVALOVAS, Ignatas 156 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu 157 LE GAC, Olivier 158 SARREAU, Marc Team Sunweb 161 ANDERSEN, Søren Kragh 162 ARNDT, Nikias 163 BAUHAUS, Phil 164 CURVERS, Roy 165 DE BACKER, Bert 166 SINKELDAM, Ramon 167 TEUNISSEN, Mike 168 WAEYTENS, Zico UAE Team Emirates 171 CONSONNI, Simone 172 GANNA, Filippo 173 KUMP, Marko 174 LAENGEN, Vegard Stake 175 MARCATO, Marco 176 MODOLO, Sacha 177 TROIA, Oliviero 178 ZURLO, Federico Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise 181 VAN HECKE, Preben 182 PLANCKAERT, Edward 183 RICKAERT, Jonas 184 SALOMEIN, Jarl 185 SPRENGERS, Thomas 186 STEELS, Stijn 187 CAPIOT, Amaury 188 VAN LERBERGHE, Bert Wanty - Groupe Gobert 191 VAN KEIRSBULCK, Guillaume 192 BACKAERT, Frederik 193 KREDER, Wesley 194 OFFREDO, Yoann 195 ANTONINI, Simone 196 VAN MELSEN, Kevin 197 VANSPEYBROUCK, Pieter 198 VEUCHELEN, Frederik Vérandas Willems-Crelan 201 DEVOLDER, Stijn 202 BILLE, Gaetan 203 CORDEEL, Sander 204 DE BONDT, Dries 205 DUIJN, Huub 206 DUPONT, Timothy 207 VAN ZUMMEREN, Stef 208 VERGAERDE, Otto Direct Energie 211 ANDERSON, Ryan 212 CARDIS, Romain 213 CHAVANEL, Sylvain 214 DUCHESNE, Antoine 215 COQUARD, Bryan 216 MORICE, Julien 217 PETIT, Adrien 218 PICHOT, Alexandre Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 221 CHETOUT, Loïc 222 CLAEYS, Dimitri 223 HOFSTETTER, Hugo 224 LAPORTE, Christophe 225 LEMOINE, Cyril 226 SÉNÉCHAL, Florian 227 VAN STAEYEN, Michael 228 VANBILSEN, Kenneth Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij 231 ASSELMAN, Jesper 232 DE VRIES, Berden 233 LIGTHART, Pim 234 MOURIS, Jens 235 VAN DER HOORN, Taco 236 VAN GINNEKEN, Sjoerd 237 VAN GOETHEM, Brian Wilier Triestina 241 POZZATO, Filippo 242 BERTAZZO, Liam 243 DRAPERI, Matteo 244 FONZI, Giuseppe 245 MOSCA, Jacopo 246 ANDRIATO, Rafael 247 TURRIN, Alex 248 ZHUPA, Eugert Favorites: Tier 1 - Sagan, Van Avermaet Tier 2 - Sep Vanmarcke, Jon Degenkolb, Jens Keukeleire, Kristoff, Ian Stannard, Niki Terpstra Tier 3 - Boonen, Boasson Hagen, Demare, Lars Boom, Tiesj Benoot, Stybar, Jens Debusschere, Jasper Stuyven, Tony Martin Longshots - Sebastian Langeveld, Gilbert, Mathew Hayman, Stijn Vendenbergh, Alexis Gougeard,
Sagan had just done a turn, and Terpstra was refusing to pull, so Sagan said fuck it and let GVA and JK go up the road. Everybody hates Terpstra, and Sagan clearly wasn't in the mood to put up with him yesterday. There is also a gif of Sagan purposely riding off of his line to head butt Terpstra on a climb earlier on. Sagan basically said in the post race interview that he decided he didn't want Terpstra to have a chance to win because he was being a bitch, so he didn't take an extra turn to close the gap when Terpstra refused to pull through. Soren Anderson also claimed Terpstra refused to work, and then Terpstra got mad and spit in his face. In short, Terpstra has long been known as a real piece of shit (both on and off the bike) and I'm not surprised Sagan said fuck it, neither of us will win then. I do think things are starting to get to Sagan mentally though. After MSR he called everyone he was racing against "a bunch of fucking dickheads." However, at some point he's gotta call people's bluff, and show that he's willing to lose a race if the other team's tactics are just to fuck with him. He can't have everyone knowing he's always going to do all the work just because he can. But if this had been a more important race for him, I don't think Sagan would have been playing games.
Well said with the bolded stuff. People on his own team dislike him. Totally agree with you here. After Omloop when he was bashing Vanmarcke for not attacking, I thought it was funny. After MSR and now this, its clearly starting to get to him a bit. When people started doing this to Cancellara, it fucked him up. He let it get to him. Sagan has gotta know that he's the toughest son-of-a-bitch out there and that if he attacks enough, he will fucking shatter people. I think he's going to be fine, but this weekend is gonna be one hell of a test.
Ah, okay. I read it as something like him thinking GVA/Keukelaire would break or slow up. The just not wanting to play ball makes a lot more sense. He also called out Terpstra afteward on his social media accounts. heels, to your thing about Sagan attacking on the final climbs, it makes me wonder how things would've been different on Sunday if he'd been better positioned on the last climb. Looked like he closed that gap with ease, but he started so far back that it just got him up with GVA by the top.
The great inrng's Flanders preview here. Greg Van Avermaet, Peter Sagan Philippe Gilbert, Alexander Kristoff – John Degenkolb, Sep Vanmarcke, Oliver Naesen Stuyven, Benoot, Theuns, Rowe, Durbridge, Keukeleire, Felline Personally, I want Sep to win, but I'm afraid that his crash a few weeks ago may have derailed his form.
helluva ride by Gilbert. not a fan of his but gotta give him his due. plus, its always awesome to see the Belgian champ win a big Belgian race, much less the biggest of them all. GVA lost exactly 30 seconds in the Sagan crash and GVA finished 30 seconds down... so one has to think that Sagan/GVA/Terpstra would've caught Gilbert if not for that. Amazing ride by Dylan van Baarle from Cannondale to finish 4th. Every year he gets closer and closer to the podium. He's going to win this race one day. Watch him next week in Paris Roubaix too, especially since Sep might be out after his crash.
Gilbert definitely earned every bit of that win, one of the most impressive and longest off the front efforts I can recall. Is Boonen the first rider in history to suffer chainsuck on 2 differnet bikes within 50' of each other? Lastly, when they mentioned the legs on the fences/barricades that should and usually have blockage or padding covering them would probably grab someone, who in their right mind would have guessed they would have grabbed the best bike handler the sport has maybe ever seen? Exciting race.
in other cool Flanders news. Coryn Rivera won the women's Tour of Flanders. She's a 24 year old American. First American ever to win Flanders.
only two more races for Tom Boonen. Scheldeprijs tomorrow through goes through his hometown. Then Paris Roubaix this weekend.
i haven't.. but I do have a set of DVDs from the spring classics from ~2007 - 2010 that i use when on the trainer.