104th Ronde van Vlaanderen (243 km) | 18 October 2020 | Unmasked Spoilers

dastardly00

The 104th Tour of Flanders should have been the second Monument of 2020, and then it was changed to the penultimate Monument, and now it's the final one of this very bizarre year.

The course is 24 kilometres shorter than last year and the Muur van Geraardsbergen has been cut from the race, but the Oude Kwaremont, Koppenberg, and Paterberg are still included.

The big favourites are Wout van Aert & Mathieu van der Poel. There is no Peter Sagan of course who is at the Giro d'Italia, while Greg van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert are injured. The current World Champion Julian Alaphilippe makes his debut at the Ronde, while the 2019 World Champion Mads Pedersen is also taking part. Previous winners of Flanders racing today are Alberto Bettiol, Niki Terpstra, and Alexander Kristoff. From an Irish perspective Ryan Mullen is riding. The full startlist can be found here - https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/ronde-van-vlaanderen/2020/startlist





Live TV coverage on Eurosport/GCN with Carlton Kirby, Sean Kelly, Philippe Gilbert, Dan Lloyd & Adam Blythe.

That was interesting, the Astana car stopped for the Lotto rider who crashed there. Mechanic hopped out with wheels and all before the Lotto car arrived

dastardly00

Not much to report yet.

6 riders in the breakaway with a 7'38" lead (Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Samuele Battistella (NTT Pro Cycling), Danny van Poppel (Circus-Wanty Gobert), Gijs Van Hoecke (CCC Team), Dimitri Peyskens (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles), Fabio Van Den Bossche (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

Tom Van Asbroeck stopped on the side of the road in his home town to say hello to his little kids and wife. The kids were all excited so it was very cute

Cobbles in about 6km

Chips Lovell

Giving the Tour of Flanders commentary gig to Carlton Kirby is an act of wanton vandalism to a venerable and much loved monument, akin to Isis blowing up Palmyra.

dastardly00

Taxi for Muhlberger. He decided to throw a musette on to the side of the road, the string got caught in the handlebars and down he went. He got quite a clatter off the road.

paddy no 11

Where can I watch this now that giro is on eurosport

dastardly00

There has been a ridiculous amount of wheel changes and bike changes so far. It seems a lot more than normal.

irishrover99

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Where can I watch this now that giro is on eurosport

It seems they are switching between races.
It’s like match of the day on the last day of the season.

irishrover99

irishrover99 wrote: »

It seems they are switching between races.
It’s like match of the day on the last day of the season.

Or maybe not. You can never tell with Eurosport scheduling.

paddy no 11

irishrover99 wrote: »

It seems they are switching between races.
It’s like match of the day on the last day of the season.

Yeah could stick with flanders really nothing will happen in giro until last climb

dastardly00

Crash for Wout van Aert. He landed on the grass on the side of the road so he shouldn't be too hurt. The crash caused a few other riders to crash including Tim Wellens even though they weren't near van Aert.

He's back in the peloton now

Dodge

It’s usually contractual to be fair. They might *have* to show the Giro

Brilliant Eddie Boss through the level crossing before the bunch got held up by it

dastardly00

Less than 100 km to go and the pace in the peloton has really increased, plus there is a bit of a drizzle as well.

I think WvA has been towards the rear of the peloton for the last while... might be struggling after his crash

dastardly00

Nils Politt has changed his bike for about the fourth time today

dastardly00

If this was a Formula 1 race, the drivers would be changing to intermediate tyres.

It's a bit damp and muddy, and a few riders have ran wide on corners ending up in the grass

mewso

paddy no 11 wrote: »

Where can I watch this now that giro is on eurosport

Its well worth signing up to the Eurosport player. I opted for the annual one which I think was about 40 something quid. Great value really especially since all of the cycling streams are available in uninterrupted mode (no ads).

neris

dastardly00 wrote: »

Taxi for Muhlberger. He decided to throw a musette on to the side of the road, the string got caught in the handlebars and down he went. He got quite a clatter off the road.

https://twitter.com/OutOfCycling/status/1317772037197336576?s=19

dastardly00

Some top riders starting to go on the attack now.

Crash and mechanical for Sep Vanmarcke... loads of time lost.. disaster

velo.2010

Chips Lovell wrote: »

Giving the Tour of Flanders commentary gig to Carlton Kirby is an act of wanton vandalism to a venerable and much loved monument, akin to Isis blowing up Palmyra.

I'll be honest, I'd rather have Kirby on commentary than Hatch. With commentators in socially distant booths, Hatch has become insufferable, barely allowing Brian Smith a word in edgeways. Kirby copes with it much better IMO.

dastardly00

Looked like a very sore fall there a minute ago.

Kwaremont up next... I think MvdP will go a for a long range attack

Dodge

Dodge wrote: »

It’s usually contractual to be fair. They might *have* to show the Giro

Delighted to be wrong on this. Happy to see Flanders on my TV here!

dastardly00

Koppenberg up next!

Sean Kelly is so much more enthusiastic on the big days when it kicks off.

dastardly00

Imagine if Romain Bardet won! :eek:

dastardly00

Alaphilippe looking very good

Richard Hillman

A dream Breakaway. Although it would only be complete if Cancellara came out of retirement.

Richard Hillman

Oh dear, Alaphilippe looks done

dastardly00

Holy fook Julian :eek:

Mefistofelino

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Oh dear, Alaphilippe looks done

That was a nasty -and unnecessary-crash