Tour of Flanders 2018

pelevin

Matt Stephens is most impressed by Kwiatkowski who looks finished?!

pelevin

Sagan seems to be looking very relaxed & comfortable.

pelevin

I might have written off Kwiatk...i too soon. Still up there.

retalivity

jesus...so many blatant mistakes in the commentary.

pelevin

Since Daniel Oss dropped out, seems that group has lost real momentum.

pelevin

Fabulous effort by Pederson to hang on to Terpstra.

pelevin

Surprised how much leeway was afforded Terpstra by the big guns.

pelevin

Sagan flying but he's looked so great right through the race, don't see why he'd gamble on letting Terpstra get so much ground earlier.

retalivity

pedersen still in between somewhere

Kaisr Sose

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

That'll be the motor effect!

Your unique insight amazes

pelevin

Race looked beautifully poised not all that long ago but now Terpstra surely has it in the bag & a fair bit of an anti-climax as a spectacle given how what looked one not particularly ferocious attack by one of the favourites decided everything. Very obviously the totally deserved winner & Pederson equally deserving of 2nd.

pelevin

Actually looking doubtful for Pederson now.

... Minute later Pederson hangs on well for 2nd.

griffin100

Delighted for Pederson. He worked hard for that.

eeeee

Mads Pederson though, so happy he clung on for second. Well done Terpstra.

Lusk_Doyle

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Your unique insight amazes

It was a joke. Sorry that you felt affronted by it.

Lumen

Is it just me or was this race a bit...dull?

I've really enjoyed the races I've watched this yeart (E3, Dwars, Gent, MSR, even Big Mig's one) but this one felt like a bit of an anti-climax.

Maybe it was just Carlton.

I think the fact it was on since 9:15 this morning might have had something to do with it, I was in and out from the TV all day rather than if the coverage had joined the race later where I'd have likely sat and focused on it a bit more.

TheBlaaMan

Nah, it was a bit underwhelming in the finale all right. Maybe Terpstra himself is to blame - he's not the most inspiring rider and its difficult to root for him to win for that reason - though it was a great ride by him and QuickStep to control the race for pretty much the whole day. Given that Sagan, yet again, had to prove he was prepared to loose the race rather than do all the work to drag up the rest of the group, it's perhaps no surprise. That said, look at the make up of the top 10, it should have been a great race

# Rider Name (Country) Team
1 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
2 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
4 Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team
5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
8 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Veranda's Willems Crelan
10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors

Good result for Van Aert wouldn't be surprised to see him wear a Quikstep jersey in the future.

I think I was more invested in willing Pedersen to hold on to second there at the end.

Few that rode this today are on the start list for Tour of the Basque country tomorrow. Nibali and Kwiatkowski the ones that jump out at me. Thats usually a lumpy race if memory serves.

Lusk_Doyle

When the chasing group caught Sagan and didn't push on that was it. It could have been a great spectacle had they actually workes properly together. Terpstra was close to pedalling squares at that stage and a concerted effort from that group of top class riders would have caught him no bother. However, egos etc...

Icepick

Sagan's take on what happened

Peter Sagan: ‘If the other riders don’t wake up, it’s going to be like this’

“It’s hard to race in my position in the group,” Sagan said. “Also, if the other riders don’t wake up, it’s going to be like this.”

“Quick-Step is a great team because they have many riders at a good level,” Peter Sagan said.

“They can play multiple cards. Quick-Step did a beautiful race. I just think that the other teams didn’t respect the situation and collaborate.”

“It’s not just me that they need to beat,” Sagan said. “We are in 200. In that respect, the other teams were mistaken, I believe. Like this, Quick-Step will go and win all the races.”

“Team Sky? I didn’t know what they wanted to do, but if you take Kwiatkowski as the leader in this race… I think that it’s a little mistaken to attack after the Koppenberg [with Dylan Van Baarle]. To open the race like that is too soon against Quick-Step.”

Ryan Mullen's strava data from Sunday

http://www.stickybottle.com/coaching/ryan-mullen-strava-flanders/

Macy0161

Icepick wrote:

Sagan's take on what happened

Bora burnt Oss way to early for no apparent reason, so a bit rich to blame other teams tactics IMO.

All the non quick steps took the being prepared to lose to win to an extreme.

MPFGLB

Macy0161 wrote: »

Bora burnt Oss way to early for no apparent reason, so a bit rich to blame other teams tactics IMO.

All the non quick steps took the being prepared to lose to win to an extreme.

.Yes BMC & Bora were riding on the front and letting 4 QS stars sit on....blame DSs for that ...Why have Roelants, Kung , Oss and Bergart ride on the front and not force QS to ???

But Sagan has a point though...when down to the top guys they have to work with Sagan...he may win but again he may not but they definitley wont if they dont combine efforts. QS are too strong a team for the others not to work against them