It’s nice to hide them since tarck has the function, but that said, if I click on this thread I fully expect spoilers.
1 Like
spoil away imo
Both races were really fun, it’s been so exciting to see how animated the classics have been in recent years. Chantal van den Broek Blaak’s effort on the 13 km into the finish was absolutely sick.
Bro classics have always been animated
One year I was in Bulgaria when Tom boonen won P-R and I peeked into a bar where it was playing and I was like “tom boonen!” And these dudes were like “yeahhhhh!” And started doing cocaine motions
It was hilarious and I don’t speak Bulgarian
3 Likes
Classics are where the legends are made
Grand tours are where they’re proven
1 Like
I felt like he caught with his pants down, guys coming up had more speed and he was boxed in? Epic watch.
3 Likes
the mansplainer on my cycling team is pissed about pogacar’s tactics. but once he failed to drop van der poel over the last climb what was he supposed to do? he can’t even out sprint van der poel from second wheel, he’s not going to lead out
Pogacar has one of the best sprints from a GC guy this side of Valverde and MVDP isn’t known for having the most punishing kick. I think Pogacar overestimated himself and paid the price. Hubris is a thing.
2 Likes
His strava showed a 1400w kick at the end. That can punish people in these circumstances.
that strava file was nuts
i think if you asked the peloton “who would win a two-up sprint at the end of flanders, between mvdp and pogacar?” like 95% of the peloton would say mvdp
i think if you asked “mvdp and pogacar show up on the starting line together, who will win” you’d get a way different answer
3 Likes
That second question is so course dependent, though. Especially in the case of Flanders where one of the two riders in question has actually won the race (twice now!) and the other hasn’t. That said, Pogacar has more monuments to his name than VdP.
3 Likes
ok i should have said “starts FLANDERS” because that’s what i meant.
1 Like
Robbie Mcewan’s* take was
“He got himself so squeezed in between the two but he really did make a, what you’d have to call, with all due respect to Tadej Pogačar, a junior error coming into a sprint like that. You just can’t afford to let riders come back with momentum like that. He did it to himself, I’m sorry to say. It’s another learning experience, maybe dropping back out of University and back to primary school when it comes back to a sprint for the finish.”
*Robbie’s been such an awesome addition to the GCN commentary crew. Easily my 2nd favorite after Jose Been.
9 Likes
3 Likes
The GCN team is really excellent these days, though Marty Macdonald is pretty annoying
1 Like
Is he? I can’t stop looking at his cotton candy coif.
maybe its just that he sounds like Ant McCrossan, who I find incredibly grating
1 Like
i do not like ant mccrossan either!
1 Like
He’s a big boi tho and better know for a long sustained final effort than an explosive one. And he’s inconsistent to a degree. I agree Pogacar probably never had a chance. But I can see why he thought he did. Leaving it late was probably an attempt to get just enough jump on MVDP that he wouldn’t have enough time to react. Poga does have a pretty impressive kick for a GC guy after all.
2 Likes