Hopefully more a case of Ganna not being his usual superhuman self than Küng being amazing today, which should mean that Van Aert has a real shot at the stage victory.
This is as crazy as Van Aert imo, the guy weighs fecking 66kg while Van Aert, Ganna and Küng are all around 80kg. The time trial he beat Roglic in last year was on the Planche des Belles Filles but if he establishes himself as a great flat TT as well, he's gonna be able to dominate for a long time (unless Evenepoel becomes as good as we think he willVan Aert what a beast! No idea why I like him that much, maybe because he kinda reminds me of Ullrich? Rolling tank! Probably also because he looks healthy compared to these super light weight climbers.
Speaking of super light weight climers, Pogacar casually grinning over the line with basically the same time as Ganna in a flat ITT
).Steep climbing in high altitude? Miguel Angel Lopez put half a minute into him on Col de la Loze. But yeah, I`m more joking than being serious, he`s crazy. Ineos (but actually all the other teams with GC aspiration as well apart from JV and Roglic) look screwed trying to match him in the upcoming TdF especially with two ITTs of 30km in it.
Honestly can't see past VDP or Van Aert for this one. Unless Alaphilippe has an extraordinary punch on the Cipressa or (most likely) Poggio, he's not gonna get rid of them. They're just by far the strongest riders in the peloton right now, they can follow on the hills and are very fast at the finish too. Only slight on VDP is that he has gassed in long (250km+) races before but he still won the Ronde last year so think he'll be grant if he's a bit careful with his energy during the first few hours.
I think it'll be decided right there yeah. All depends on how it unfolds though. I don't think Van Aert can follow VDP if he goes full blaze but if he's alone and Van Aert is in an elite group, they might catch him again. But if, say, VDP is joined by Alaphilippe and there's hesitation in the background then they're gone too.
I think if VDP gets a gap on van Aert, it will be a small one. Not large enough to go solo to the finish line. Even if both VDP and Alaphilippe get a small gap on van Aert, I think he can close that down. His steady power output is insane, it's just the short bursts that are a bit lacking at the moment.
Aaaand the Roubaix region goes into lockdown for four weeks.
I swear, fecking French, if you feck this up again
Bring on the Ronde!Gent-Wevelgem rarely disappoints these days. I'd probably place it just behind P-R, Strade Bianche and De Ronde for entertainment value. Sometimes even ahead of De Ronde. It was a mighty sprint by van Aert.Yeeeesssss Wout, get in!
What a race again
I haven't yet but have indeed heard that it's pure class. Probably gonna save it for Saturday to get properly hyped for the Ronde.
Don't know Van Aert program but if Roubaix gets cancelled maybe he extends his first peak until the Amstel Gold Race, think that must suit him as well although probably not as well as someone like VDP (and Alaphilippe of course).With even stricter measures announced across all of France yesterday, this was basically just a formality at this point. They might try to reschedule but I wonder how realistic that is. It's not just about finding a free spot on the calendar, it needs to fit into the schedules of classics riders. It's a mess.Roubaix officially postponed. As if we needed another reason here to hate the French
Week or two weeks after Lombardy is what I'm reading most frequently. Think finding a date might not be the hardest part but indeed it will suck for the riders that need to be at full peak of their powers at the tail end of the season with basically nothing else to train for.
That's what I'm worried about. The world championship is on September 26. Lombardia is on October 9, which is 2 weeks later. That would put P-R three weeks after the WC. Considering most riders want to reach their absolute peak at the WC, keeping it going for 3 full weeks after a tough summer that includes the Olympics, is far from ideal.
Me too, but it does give riders a nice target to peak towards. Considering the world championship will be in Belgium on a typical Flandrien circuit, we should see the same names there as those who typically target Roubaix. So it could be worse I guess. That won't help my mood next week on Sunday though.
I was raging for Asgreen to idiotically pull up until 1.5km because I was sure VDP would smoke him in the finish. Wow, what a surpriseNah, he`s a generational talent and it would be a big waste if he wouldn`t try to turn himself into a GC contender at least for 1-2 years. If it doesn`t work out he still has enough time of his career to focus on classics only.
De feck just happened
Don’t agree and agree with @Ainu. He’s entering his prime now, try to win as much classics as you can until you’re 30 and then see which direction you wanna take your career, not the other way around. Classics are clearly his strong suit and not the one or three week races. Why try to transform? Even winning the Tirreno (currently the highest race achievable unless he completely gives up the classics) doesn’t compare to the Strade or Gent-Wevelgem, let alone the Ronde, San Remo or Roubaix.
