MinnMan

This is a thread to discuss the Spring Classics. I'm psyched to see full-gas racing coming back in the new year.

For the Strada Bianche this year, I think Pogacar has got to be the favorite. Pidock is the defending champ, but I just don't think he's up to Pogacar's level.
WvA and MvdP won't be there.

Lots of Americans in the competitive mix. I have high hopes for Sheffield and Powless. Kuss will be there, and is getting lots of press following the Vuelta, but I really don't think this is his kind of race.

Who else to keep an eye on?

GrainBrain

Riley Sheehan but I think there's too much climbing? Interesting to see if Ide Schelling would do something after his Astana transfer. Lennert Eetvelt is here after his UAE tour raid.

I always hope to see Quinn Simmons do well, or Craddock get lucky from a break. It will be interesting to see how Sepp does but he's such a team player, and atilla valter and Laporte may steal the show along with Tullet maybe. Though I would love to see a tufts vs GC Kuss moment on that final climb.

I'd disagree a bit about this not being a race suited to Kuss, he has shown good work on the TT, he stuffed tufts in the Tour, he's got the mountain bike background.

diphthong

mohoric.

GrainBrain

Jesus Tufts - did I really tune in at 75km into the race to see you go off the front, and now with a +3:20 lead at 70km to go?

I got to see van gils get separation too, but geeze why has van gils been a bit out front wasting energy? Too bad Simmons couldn't go with - did he have a mechanical? Will be interesting to see how everyone handles the final 9%.

MinnMan

He's just too strong.

diphthong

thought pogacar would be a tadej more successfully marked the entire race. ummm...incorrect.

Shadco 

He did an endo over his teammate who finished second whose name I can’t spell when he fell in front of him.

.

MinnMan

Not a whole lot of activity in this thread or, for that matter, discussion about actual (non-fantasy) racing in this sub-forum.

Pogacar looks unbelievably good in Catalunya. I have to put him as the favorite in the TdF this year. Yes, I know that Vingagaard is also in great form, as he showed in Tirreno Adriatico, but after seeing how effortlessly Pogacar climbed Vallter 2000 today, and also seeing how strong his sprint is at Milan San Remo, I think he's got the edge.

I have actually made some efforts to find other places where people discuss world tour racing, but I haven't found much. Discussion boards at Cyclingnews tend to be full of thoughtless one-liners. Anybody know a place that's both thoughtful and more lively?

slcbob

I think one of Pogacar's main competitors at Le Tour will be what he left at the Giro. I'll put him as the favorite on the Corsa Rossa for sure but am suspicious he can hold on for a lap of France, too. He doesn't have the same jour sans risk that Remco does, but somehow Vinegaard has still managed to get ahead of him during the big grinds despite losing some seconds here and there on the punchy stuff. Even without Pogacar pre-gaming a Grand Tour. It will be a heckuva Tour, but I think a little less so after the Giro. Though I hope I'm wrong! And he sure has thinned out his spring (Giro notwithstanding) to try to make me wrong.

I read some Giro GC Wout conjecture but have a hard time taking that seriously watching Pogacar crucify the climbers. I sure wouldn't bet against him for the Maglia Ciclimina, but there are only so many bonus seconds WVA can bank to cover the inevitable bleeding he'll do on some of the peaks after miraculously hanging on and even excelling on others. He's got a bunch of cobbles and bergs in two classics and the cobbled momuments on his program, then the Giro.

I hear what you're saying about the Cyclingnews boards. Very active but lousy signal to noise ratio. I have no good answer for you but if you stumble on one, please let us know. I remember a few years back there was another venue I watched a bit (can't hunt it down now) but everyone thought they were Johan Bruyneel or Sean Kelly so it wasn't particularly congenial discussion.

Every now and then some racing observations make their way into the fantasy threads between our various delusions and dysfunctions, but I can understand how that juice may not be worth the squeeze.

slcbob

The run-in to Brugge-de Panne was packed tight and IDK how they avoided more disaster. Danny Van Poppel went off the road 10k or so out and the cameras followed him for a long time as he tried to slog his way back up to the front. The bunch was edge to edge on narrow roads for a long while. Darn impressive to see the bike handling and bunchmanship of these pros. Particularly after having spent a little recently reviewing helmet cam footage of the local 1/2/3 race.

GrainBrain

It was interesting to see Landa yesterday attack, then have pogacar go up the road and get, what, :45? Either way the gap between Tufts and Landa was constant for the majority after the attack. So, was Pog just minding his time, was Landa on the limit? Landa didn't seem 100% committed, churning that big gear. Seems very cagey.

Kuss yesterday was let down by the DS who told him to attack over to Landa just as the helicopter shot came on. Kuss was like a bullet!

Props to Tiberi who came third.

MinnMan

Yeah, props to Landa- he is looking very strong this year. I sort of had counted him out as a perennial also-ran. Not sure what will happen in the TdF, where he definitely WILL be an also-ran in the GC, but I'd like to see him take a mountain stage.

Kuss looked like he blew up after attacking beyond his limit.

And Pog just looks unstoppable.

MinnMan

Oh yeah, also Philpsen vs. Merlier, former teammates, made for some good drama in Brugge

GrainBrain

John Milan rode an amazing ride today in Gent-Wevelgem!

MinnMan

Yes, and then an exciting finish. Pederson has looked so good all spring.

slcbob

Lidl-Trek is practically the new Wolfpack.

MinnMan

On the other side, Kuss in Catalunya has to be a disappointment for Jumbo.

But Landa and Bernal did great. So glad to see Bernal reaching back towards top form.

diphthong

milan, pedersen and the 3s' (skjellymo, skujins, stuyven) pretty formidable.

diphthong

will go with philpsen for ddv.

GrainBrain

You wonder if this is why MvdP didn't drop back and try for Jasper in Gent-Wevelgem? Were both on "training" ride?

GrainBrain

Yeah he has, one of those riders stuck in a little rut for awhile? Wicked good endurance, and he figured out how to beat MvdP in a sprint with that wonderful long endurance sprint.

So I checked quick on pcs, maybe not a "rut" with last year's stage win in the tour. You'd think with this form now he is absolutely wanting to win Roubaix. Was it a couple years ago he had a nasty crash and dnf'd? Last year was 4th.

MinnMan

Should be an interesting race. MvdP isn't on the start list, but Van Aert and Pederson are. I'm thinking maybe van Aert is hungry, assuming that he's healed from his crash the other day. Both Jumbo and Lidl-Trek are bringing very strong supporting riders, and so Philipsen only has a chance, I think, if it comes down to a bunch sprint. But I'll guess that the strong teams will do everything to make sure that at the end, only a select group is near the front.

slcbob

I was just thinking about pushing back on that, since it's not such a hard race and may be more conducive to the sprinters than the races it is in between. Then I looked back at the past winners and they're all hard men. Not the quick men we'll see in Schelderprijs. Though Phillipsen has been doing a helluva job hauling himself over the hillingen.

So I'll just shut up and wait. It should be a shoot out. We'll see how WVA does with what's left of Visma. I saw some grumblings that he was sore from his spill on the Paterberg, but tend to dismiss that as PsyOps.

Meanwhile, the GC guys are sharpening the long knives for a week of fun in the Basque country starting Monday, immediately after the high holy day of de Ronde on Easter.

MinnMan

That's a good point. The start list includes Benoot, Jorgenson, Tratnik, which is formidable and AFAIK, they are all still healthy.

Philipsen does seem to be one of the sprinters who can do a reasonable job as a roleur, so he's got better odds than some other fast guys. For example, I'll be very surprised if Girmay is competitive.

Wellens may also be one to watch.

Tomorrow will tell

slcbob

Very formidable. Healthy? I'm half surprised to see Tratnik in the startlist; he crashed and abandoned Gent-Wevelgem, I thought it was for a concussion but may be mixing that up with someone else. Jorgenson is flying and well positioned to be the Milan / Stuyvens play to WVA's Pederson.

I have to wonder if Mads doesn't need to take it a little easy here to set up for going real deep on Sunday. I know these guys are superhuman but there are limits, such as E3 impacting MVDP's G-W. And he's taking dwars off before the Ronde. Throwing a Jeanne Dixon psychic prediction out, maybe we see someone else on Lidl-Trek attacking WVA, with Mads relentlessly on the wheel. Though that's sort of what we saw already.

Other Visma gossip seen mentioned in other dispatches:
- Cancellara didn't make a prediction but said WVA may do better if he focused more
- Kooij has his knickers in a bunch because there is no room for his Van Dijke brother lead out in the WVA-centric Giro roster