Zwift Chat

[Peter Salt]

In a sense, I applaud riders who refuse to do the 'standard' thing - in this case, do that last pull. Makes races more interesting.

Haven't seen any post race interviews with Pog yet (if there are any) but I don't think he was upset with the 4th place. I think he was upset about not winning. From a 0 or 1 perspective, i.e. '1' being 'I won' and '0' being 'I didn't win', his decision wasn't illogical. If he pulled he would have definitely got 2nd, if he didn't pull then there's a chance that MVDP would loose his cool or get confused and possibly mess things up. Didn't work this time though

 

[BurningLegs]

I blame his DS rather than him.

He might not have been able to beat MvDP at all, but to me his only chance was to do an all-in TT effort for the final few KM to see if MvDP could be dropped, or at least be ground into a position where he couldn't sprint.

MvDP is a power monster, but everyone knows he has punchy power. And Pog's DS let him take a punch?!

 

[Peter Salt]

I blame his DS rather than him.

He might not have been able to beat MvDP at all, but to me his only chance was to do an all-in TT effort for the final few KM to see if MvDP could be dropped, or at least be ground into a position where he couldn't sprint.

MvDP is a power monster, but everyone knows he has punchy power. And Pog's DS let him take a punch?!

Oh yeah, agree with that completely. He lost the race on that final climb and few last miles and not the sprint.

 

[JuhaL]

Just checked MvDP:s avg power of yesterdays's race. His winning time was something like 6h18min so his avg power was about 290W and max power little bit over 1400W. Nice numbers.

 

[Joffey]

Quite nice for Pog not to win a race he enters

 

[BurningLegs]

Did anyone see that the champagne on the podium had a GoPro attached?

The jokes/memes just write themselves!!

All it’s missing is the money shot!

 

[Peter Salt]

Did anyone see that the champagne on the podium had a GoPro attached?

The jokes/memes just write themselves!!

View attachment 638576
View attachment 638577

All it’s missing is the money shot!

I think it's sparkling wine but yeah... Looks like he's smoking a giant bong

 

[<Tommy>]

Final Stage 5 and GC tables etc for Tour di Splitters. Hope I didn’t miss anyones TT time (@<Tommy> ??)

View attachment 638515

View attachment 638516 View attachment 638517

I didn’t complete the TT Al. In the end I thought it better I do a slightly less intense race just to see where I’m at and try and blow some of the dust off.

 

[bobinski]

It was a great race with a quite the finish!

To be honest I thought they had both F’d it up and would love to have seen both beaten to first place.

 

[BurningLegs]

It was a great race with a quite the finish!

To be honest I thought they had both F’d it up and would love to have seen both beaten to first place.

Ben Turner and Fred Wright did well, didn’t they! Both were in there with the big favourites until fairly late on, and even making a move. Cracking rides from them I thought.

 

[JuhaL]

It was a great race with a quite the finish!

To be honest I thought they had both F’d it up and would love to have seen both beaten to first place.

Agree with that. Honestly I was start to hope that Pogacar and Van Der Poel pay the price for that lurking and comes to 3rd and 4th place.

 

[<Tommy>]

I think people are being overcritical of pogacar really. To me it just looked like he wasn’t thinking about or willing to accept 2nd in his head. But he couldn’t see a way he was going to get 1st either. So he was trapped in the middle. If his mindset was to just settle for second then he would if ridden differently and got second. But then maybe he wouldn’t be the rider he is either.

 

[mjd1988]

I just loved MVDP completely backing himself to win whatever happened. I'd also have fallen over if I tried to look behind me like that

 

[JuhaL]

I was hoping Pogacar's and Van Der Poel's rematch in a Paris-Roubaix later this year but Pogacar don't participate. Pogacar was in a trap because he and MvDP let the van Baarle and Madous to join them to battle for a victory. I think Pogacar did misjudgment and almost MvDP as well. Pogacar confronts van Baarle after a sprint without a reason. Cycling is often like for example 800m and 1500m run, somebody is always in a box, if you are not careful enough you lost your chances.

 

[BurningLegs]

I think people are being overcritical of pogacar really. To me it just looked like he wasn’t thinking about or willing to accept 2nd in his head. But he couldn’t see a way he was going to get 1st either. So he was trapped in the middle. If his mindset was to just settle for second then he would if ridden differently and got second. But then maybe he wouldn’t be the rider he is either.

You're right about riding for second. These guys don't get to where they are with that kind of attitude, do they.

Once he was in a two up, there were lots of ways Pog could lose it and not many ways he could win (maybe even zero)! For what it's worth, I think it's the UAE DS who made the wrong call here - Pog will race what he sees on the road, and his instincts are usually good but he should have been told to avoid taking him to the line at all costs, even if that meant pulling MvDP all the way to the finish in an attempt to grind him down. Not sure if you watched it with commentary but this isn't hindsight, during the race they were calling it that way even before the final climb!

Maybe UAE thought that if it came together at the end that would put more pressure on MvDP and he might crack??

As a neutral I'd have loved it if they both lost it in the end