Gent-Wevelgem 2015 *spoilers*

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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Wow - that was some race!
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
G posted this on facebook with the caption "Never give up"...

g.jpg
 

Berk on a Bike

Veteran
Location
Yorkshire
Great race. Props to Luca Paolini. Only 39 finishers and a notable casualty in Edvald Boasson Hagen who broke his collar bone and will miss the rest of the classics.
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
Reckon he's on for Paris-Roubaix. I don't think anyone is close to him on form at the moment, bar Stybar perhaps.

He's targetting Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Wiggins is going for Paris-Roubaix.

I think he didn't win today because he was still recovering from the win the other day.

The same thought crossed my mind - they all looked pretty cooked at the finish, but G had more reason to be cooked than the others in that lead group after his ride on Friday. But it was a very different kind of finish today, so even if he'd been fresher it might not have worked out for him. As FM said earlier though, a 1st and a 3rd is a pretty good weekend's work.
 

400bhp

Guru
He's targetting Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Wiggins is going for Paris-Roubaix.

Yeah, I was aware of that, but I can't see his form dropping, and others form suddenly peaking, for him not to be a serious contender. Even more fortunate for him of the current peeps not starting.
 

beastie

Guru
Location
penrith
Wiggins is gonna have to go some to be plan A at PR. Is he keeping his powder dry? I reckon Stannard is putting all his eggs in one basket also. That makes three potential leaders and G looks strong as any this spring.

Apart from the misfortune to Boonen and Cancellara this has been an excellent Classics season so far.
 

oldroadman

Veteran
Location
Ubique
Great rolling fall by GT. Back in the day some coaches, during the winter, would take their riders into a gym with loads of mats and teach them how to fall off with minimum damage. Something which a lot of new amateurs (and some profis) seem to be unable to do today. Saved me from some worse injuries I'm sure, although sometimes what happens, happens! Which accounts for plated clavicle left and right.... Welcome to Belgium in the "spring"! If this wind keeps going De Panne 3 days will be a bundle of fun - not. And the Ronde will have about 50 finishers tops.
One thing, given the general wind direction, Roubaix might have a cross/tail wind most of the way, and if that happens the fastest average might be on offer. Lovely, 50kph+ all day and 20+ sections. Just hope for no rain. Retirement is wonderful.....^_^
 

The Couch

Über Member
Location
Crazytown
Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke both did too much work in the early phase...
When the live images started (ca. 120K to go), both of them were dragging the peloton too much in the "(wind)fans", while Terpstra, GT and Roelandts stayed (as much as possible) a bit further down in that first fan.

Vdb - like a good helper - gave his wheel to Cav... then apparently raced back to the second chasing group (catching and apparently dropping Cav... - which isn't very helper-like - since Cav didn't make the merge of the 3 groups at about 90K to go) and then jumped multiple times away to try and set-up an escape... my guess would be because at that moment in the race, it's still ok for him to go into an attack, while later on he would need to pull the group along for Stybar/Terpstra
(He was actually the one to start the Vanmarcke/GT group... only he did this while Stybar was getting back to the back of the peloton after a flat.. again not the smoothest of things)
I've got the feeling he wants to show his form (and would like to win something with his form) but he is struggling a lot between his ambitions and having to follow team orders:
  • giving aid/his wheel to team leaders
  • needing to pull the peloton already way before the final (i.e. spending unnecessary energy if you want to ride a good final)
  • being in an attack, but not being allowed to help/ride in it (as again happened until Terpstra had jumped across)... which isn't great to start a fan-base either
He either needs to accept the fact he is riding for a team where he is 4th fiddle at best (Boonen, Stybar, Terpstra) and put his ambitions/struggles aside (and cash his probable nice fee at EQS)...
or (what I secretly would recommend him) go to a team that needs a (co-)leader for this Flanders work, like e.g. Garmin, Orica, IAM or even Astana or Team Lotto.nl
 
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