Its just the perfect balance of challenging in the right spots so that the best rider pretty much always wins unless they gang up on the favorite so much that a teammate can take it (looking at you stijn devolder)
Correct. Bettiol was probably the last surprise winner but it was him just hanging on and making a move at the perfect time. The two best riders were there with him and just didn’t mark him
Felt for sure that Pogi and MvdP would be gonig to oudenaarde together, but all of a sudden MvdP was done
Didn’t get to watch live but saw he crashed pretty hard with like 125km left yeah? Seems like that always catches up with you.
that mightve been part, he also had a few truly sloppy positioning mistakes that forced him to spend unneccesary energy
MVDP still the favorite for Roubaix, or can Pog pull it off on his first try? Mads & Wout (based off his performance today) seem to be in form so maybe they can spring an upset.
Pog can 100% pull it off. MVDP should be the betting favorite though. Ganna is on a streak right now too but I wonder if he peaked for MSR and Flanders.
CNBC only televised the last 40 km but it was still a fun watch. Poge’s crash followed by a flat tire 15 km later did him in. MvDP rode a great race.
Would’ve loved to see what happened if Pogi didn’t crash, but that’s literally the story of every Paris-Roubaix. It’s not simply luck obviously (MVDP winning 3 years in a row is proof of that), but those little things like staying upright if your rear wheel slips or making that split second adjustment to keep from going into the barrier are skills and MVDP is the best in the world at that (along with having perhaps the best engine ever too). When Pogi was calling for the team car to get gels (when no one else was) and then crashed into his own team car and was insanely lucky to not go down I kinda figured he was cooked either way.
Agreed. Barring something miraculous I don’t thing Pog was beating MVdP on Sunday. He seem done way earlier than usual. I was pulling hard for Colby Simmons to do something. He showed a lot for a first year pro in his first monument. Good things to come for that kid
I think you should keep in mind that he wasnt able to close the gap after the crash and he lost about as much time as MvdP with their respective material changes. Youll of course never now for sure, but i think a non-sick MvdP in Flanders wouldve been the more intriguing counter-factual