I am in

Yes!

Also interested

How about setting up a velogames league to take the work out of it?

Clay! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.

I’m in.

Just saw that Oss moved to Bora. Good for Sagan at Strada Bianchi and elsewhere.

AND Peter Kennaugh. They’re a legit one-day contender now

do you know if it accepts customized scoring? if so i'll take a look




you beat me to it

and as for some trash talking, I'll serve you the way Sydnor served a warrant to Sen. Davis :p

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On a more serious note, I don't know why BMC let Oss go. Dude was such a beast (of burden)...

I don't know anything of custom scoring, but I doubt it. I see they don't even have 2018 Classics set up yet. It was just an idea.

I am in.

Possibly in as well, hopefully being a Belgian gives me some kind of advantage here :p

Are any of them televised (streamed)?

All are televised and streamed in Belgium, not sure about streams with English commentary

FUBO <supposedly> has a bunch of them.

http://www.velonews.com/...-cycling-2018_455699

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

ah, thank you ..... I logged-in just for this thread. i'll play this year provided we don't need shared-doc/google-doc type access. that's usually problematic for me.

this is my favorite time of year. it will be interesting now that we're fully post Fabian/Boonen.
for the people who asked about streaming, steephill is always my go-to.
http://www.steephill.tv/...loop-het-nieuwsblad/

Dave

Exactly this. Neither RBTF nor Sporza has caught onto the fact that non-Belgians are watching using VPN. So a VPN to Belgium does the trick

Otherwise, most of the races are on Eurosport. Years ago, the more "minor" races like Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen, and Bribantse Pijl weren't covered, but I think all are on Eurosport these days. About the only noteworthy race not on Eurosport is the Belgian National Championship

Oh man, that may be difficult. It may be leaning that way for now :(

I am not much of a classics fan, mainly because I personally find riding in cold, rain and on crappy surfaces, not really something I relate to. Plus I am more a fan of climbing and TTing anyway, but I'll follow loosely as a cycling fan.

Also, I don't think you need spoiler on this thread. Anyone who opens a classics thread and is surprised that their viewing tonite of a race that happened, got ruined, is a bit of an idiot. We're in 2018, not 2002....can we all just get rid of the spoiler prefix on cycling threads? (yes, I am on a mission to kill the spoiler thing) :-)

I'll loosely follow Milano San Remo and keep an eye on the spring multi day stage races, before I get excited about the Giro-Tour of California-Dauphine-Tour de Suisse-TdF-Vuelta-Worlds

Dev

Cold weather has arrived on the west coast to create even more stoke just ahead of opening weekend. I'm in.

**Edit: "cold"

Sheeeeit partner, I was acquitted on those charges, so who had the last laugh there?

I'll play you like I played Stringer Bell.

I'm in. This is my favourite time of the year for pro racing. Bring it on!

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_______________________________________________

Damn. That’s some shelter.

Avon told String not to play no away games. Sheeeeeeeeeeit.

Thanks for participating.

Update: that's 8 yeses and 1 maybe so far. So I'll admin this thing on the clumsy google sheets again. If anyone has other suggestions, I'm all ears

Rules as follows (largely same as 2016):

Before the start of the race, pick five riders, three podium positions and two also-runs; each of five entries have to be unique. You can make as many changes to your picks as you want, but this has to be before the start of the race. The points scored will be as such: base point, podium bonus, and winner bonus.

For base point, if any of your podiums and also-runs finish anywhere in the top five, you get one point. For podium bonus, if any of your three podium picks finish on the podium (exact position is not relevant), you get an additional point. For winner bonus, 2 additional points on top of the base point and podium bonus. The most one can score per round will be 5 base points + 3 podium bonuses + 2 winner bonus.

The point system remains mostly unchanged from 2016 except for the winner bonus (changed from 1.5 to 2).

The races for the prediction game are as follows: Het Nieuwsblad, KBK, Strade Bianche, Milano San Remo, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, E3, Gent Wevelgem, De Ronde, Paris Roubaix, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege Bastogne Liege. The two lowest scoring events are dropped from the score. Thus eleven scoring events and thirteen events overall.

Should there be a tie, tie breakers goes as follows:
-Total had the two lowest scoring not been dropped,
-Number of winners picked from all events,
-Number of winners picked from the scoring events,
-Number of podiums picked from all events,
-Number of podiums picked from the scoring events.

Currently, all races are weighed equally. I would prefer to keep this unchanged, though i'm also open to weighing the races by their UCI designation (1.HC, World Tour, and Monuments), should more than half of participants want it this way.

sounds good. is it to early to pick Valverde for Fleche and LBL?

William Hill is an online bookie. Would be cool to pick with odds, but I'm down with the scoring system provided. Thank you.

which edition of LBL? ;)

@trail posted this last year

http://tiz-cycling.racing

This has all you need

Anybody sign up for a Podium Café Virtual Directeur Sportif team? www.pdcvds.com

I see the deadline just passed, but essentially you pick 25 riders out of basically every rider out there (down to Continental level) and watch them accrue points throughout the year at pretty much every single race open to ProTour teams (starting with Abu Dhabi tomorrow). Excited for my team, "Team Mediocre Expectations", to take on my significant other's team, "Peter Sagan and the Little Climbers That Could", for the next 7-8 months.

Best time of the year - it's when I schedule the rest of 'life' around the classics races and when the wife doesn't want to be near me during races because I make her too nervous! I'm stoked and I think it's going to be an exciting season. Go Sep.

Not a classic but has anyone seen photos of the bike Daniel Mclay from EF Drapac rode at the first stage of Abu Dhabi? Clearly the new aero c-dale but no good photos of it.

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

No, but what about the crazy crash at Abu Dhabi. If the scuttlebutt is correct, the lead car for the peloton had automatic brakes that activated when riders BEHIND the car came close.

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________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

http://cdn.media.cyclingnews.com/.../2/tdw303666_670.jpg

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

I heard that but couldn't figure out why the auto brakes would engage when moving and approached from behind. Seems like a terrible system that is destined to cause many, many accidents.

I think Merckx was actually hiding in the car and hit the brakes - I just said it on the internet so it's true.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

Alrite folks, time to get your picks in.

Changes include: 7 (instead of 8) riders per team, and a harder finale. Used to be that the last obstacle was 20km away from the finish, not that it mattered much, as rarely does this race end with more than 10 riders contesting the win. It’s actually the old RvV finish, with the Muur/Bosberg double to cap off things. Think the 2011 edition that Nuyens won. That was a helluva final 10km, topped in igamesmanship and action only by the 2016 Roubaix finale.

Peto’s not racing on Saturday, so im going with


I’m going with

GvA, Vanmarcke, Naesen
Gilbert and Stuyvens

Naesen broke his nose. Says he's ok. You can still bike with a broken nose, right?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...despite-broken-nose/

Cool. I'm in on that one for the first time. I've built my team around Aru, Naesen, (crossing my fingers he isn't injured yet) Porte, and Lopez.

"A simple question of weight ratios"

Gilbert, GvA, Wellens
Vanmarcke, EBH

GvA, Naesen, Sep
Gilbert, Stuyven

OHN

GVA, Stybar, Stuyven

Postlberger and Wout Van Aert


Stybar and GVA seem to both be on good form and i think people will take more risks knowing Sagan is skipping this weekend. With Wout seemingly peaked a few weeks ago he possibly has the form to hand on with the others who are just starting the season.

Dude, stop copying my choices :p

Sep Vanmarcke, Greg Van Avermaet, Tim Wellens
Jurgen Roelandts, Zdenek Stybar

Damn, I nailed it!

I hadn’t seen yours, but great minds, etc. I swapped in Jesper for Welles and almost had him on the podium.

Stybar, GvA and Vanmarcke
Gilbert and Naessen

For Omloop

GvA, Gilbert, Trentin

Benoot, Trepstra

I really want it to be a showdown between Boonen and Sagan. Oh, wait.

'loop:

Stybar, GvA, Benoot
Bling, van Baarle

that's worthy of a like. LOL






just winging it here. some wishful thinking, some wishing to be contrary.

Het Nieuwsblad
VAN AVERMAET, GILBERT, STUYVEN
ROELANDTS ŠTYBAR



KBK
STUYVEN, VAN AVERMAET, OSS
TERPSTRA, TRENTIN

(edit)
a nice write up here. Loop is one of my favorites. its a great replay when suffering on the trainer.
https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/...d18-the-pez-preview/

this is great; ten picks so far


van Baarle is a good pick. Thought about picking him.

@the Belgian delegation, anyone knows why they got ride of the Taainberg? Yes, i know Boonen retired, but that little hill didn’t disappoint the past two seasons. The exposed false flat at the top was a nasty little surprise that really shredded things.

@the Belgian delegation ... also, what's the weather? someone just told me that it will be below freezing for Loop's start.

5°C and a lot of cold wind (5 beaufort)

Not going to make any outlandish picks for the Omloop:

GvA, Gilbert, VanMarke
Stybar, Wellens

Although I'm really interested to see how Sunweb or Mitchelton-Scott go this classics season.

i'm not liking this course change. still bunched together with 30km to go. small groups of strong riders were formed by this point on the old course...

Trentin or Cobrelli might take this

Well, that was......something.

Interesting to see faves burn matches from 30k ish in. Seemed like a lot of early riding into form going on. Plenty of guys could have followed that last move, but maybe not.

KBK

The moves went at 50km out each of the last three years; so 30 is understandable. This course needs a longer lead-in to be selective.

Also, what happened to Gaiviria?

I am sad whenever Astana wins...

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

Yeah 9 minutes down, I assume some sort of mechanical?

Interesting outcome.

Surprised to see the whole of the race almost come back together in the final few hundred meters. Typically, the last few years, it's been more selective, with a much smaller group in the finale. I thought tomorrow's KBK was the one for the Sprinters this weekend!

I have mixed feelings about Astana - but nice to see Canadian bike company, Argon-18 get a "win". They (Argon-18), are doing some great things!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Working with Astana has been extremely beneficial to Argon. You want to get feedback on a bike ? Give it to Fuglsang for a week. He holds no punches.

That will probably affect my picks for KBK

Greg was probably wishing that Peter was there. Then again, as Greg couldn't follow Vanmarcke, I'm pretty sure Vanmarcke, Stybar, and Sagan would have been contesting the win had Sagan started.

Working with Astana has been extremely beneficial to Argon. You want to get feedback on a bike ? Give it to Fuglsang for a week. He holds no punches.

I'm sure it is.

I remember both Cerevlo's co-founders Phil White and Gerard Vroomen telling me that working with the top riders, on the CSC Team as they were in the early to mid-2000's , was a massive advantage! It coincided with the time that the brand and their business really started to take off!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Think the wind played a huge role in keeping things together compared to prior years.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

Looked like Gaviria sat up as soon as it got tough, like a few openers and then throw out the anchor. He’s my pick for tomorrow.

When Valgren went I thought, it’s over. Great move. He’s flown just under radar of favs but probably not any longer.

How about Van Aert in front group all the way to end? Damn impressive—could be a Strade Bianche dark horse.

+1 on both points. Impressive debut. though is his team invited to Strade?

KBK picks:
Gaviria, Groenewegen, Nizzolo
Colbrelli, Demare

Not sure but the company that owns those races has made various changes to various races over the years. It's interesting that they totally redesigned the Tour of Flanders several years ago, but now incorporated the old Flanders route into today's Omloop.

Yes they are and Van Aert is on their start list.

KBK:

Gaviria, Groenwegen, Nielsen
Cobrelli, Bennett

Gaiviria, Demare, Cobrelli
Debuscherre, Trentin

Gaviria, Trentin, DeBuyst
Roelandts, Sep

KBK

Demare, colbrelli, gaviria

GVA and stuyven

woops......forgot to pick......i'm DQ'd.....just saw Gaviria pop w 70 k left so not him.............

dark horses: Swift, Langeveld, McNally, Bozic, Gatto

ugh, rotten luck for Oss

 Lotto move had a brief shot.This has been a lot of hard racing. Lots of guys look gassed.

I didn't get to see any of today's race but I see that Wisniowski had another high finish. I don't know him. is he a contender?

that flat killed two races at the same time :/

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

he's placed high before; def a dark horse

According to CN, Gaviria crashed over a bidon before the Bosberg, and couldn't reconnect after the bike change. Then abandoned today from pain. Apparently mostly fine. But an inauspicious start his new role as classics leader in terms of durability and strongman skills.

...can we talk about Valverde at Abu Dhabi on this thread?

http://www.velonews.com/...abu-dhabi-win_458030

Looks like he is pretty strong already after that crash in the TdF. I don't know which one of the classics he will do later this Classics season, but will be interesting....OK answered my question:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...-in-comeback-season/

He will be there for Ardennes week.

of course we can, but man, i can't stand Piti...

Points have been tabulated for the weekend. Thanks again for participating. Results may be found here

Same link is provided in the first post




damn, if it weren't for that flat, you'd have picked two of the podium positions.

I did pick the podium, isn’t that worth 7?

KBK picks:
Gaviria, Groenewegen, Nizzolo
Colbrelli, Demare

the podium bonus is in effect only when your podium picks makes it. So in your case, Goenewegen is the only one, and he earned you two points. Colbrelli and Demare are your outsider picks; each of these scores 1 point max (regardless of placing).

Had you picked Groenewegen for the win, you'd have received 4 point for that pick alone.

Ah, gotcha. I don’t follow direction very well...

Valverde showing very good early season form, he’ll definately be a fave for Fleche Wallone
I feel bad for Tom Dumoulin, his Giant bike with Shimano electronic grouppo crapped out again.
Groenewegan looks unstoppable, he made the final sprint look easy.

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res, non verba

Nice pick though.

Thanks for keeping score! I think the velogames league starts with MSR? Wind seemed to be a deciding factor this weekend . we also got a taste of racing without superstars like cancellara, boonen, or Sagan dictating a race. I don't think we should read too much into this week, lots of time for the big players to peak.

GVA did look like he was really suffering, might be right off a training block though. Strada will be very interesting with kiwato, stybar, and Sagan all racing well.

Going to be fun watching Wout. He looked very comfy last weekend.

He was easily matching all the accelerations and attacks. He could easily make the transition like stybar. I would love to see MVDP race, he is like wout but more explosive and naturally aggressive.

you are most welcome. Glad to see everyone participating.

Strade should prove to be a good test for things. Surprised that Alaphillipe isn't competing. Dude took the Maglia Rosa a few years back on a dirt hill section.



correction: I confused his grandfather with Jean Stablinski. MvDP's grandfather is none other than Poulidor, famed eternal second (to Anquetil) who did win one TDF. MvDP's dad is no slouch either, having won a RvV. Bet the kid is blessed with genetics and racing guile

I think we need to wait and see. Stybar and Lars Boom made successful transitions from cross to the road but others like Nys or De Clerq were less successful. Though I should say, whenever they showed Van Aert in the Omloop, he looked very, very smooth.

Agree, Wout has to learn how to win. That will be his struggle. Cancellara was a world class TT rider who could solo away. Sagan can always wait for a sprint or drop bombs on every climb. Boonen was a sprinter at heart with a phenomenal engine. Kiwato might be the closest to an all arounder who is a successful classics rider.

I agree, wait and see but he really looked fresh, spinning like mad, and not struggling to be there it seemed. He might really save some legs on a course like Strade, spinning up the gravel.

Going with Travis McCabe tomorrow at Le Samyn. Go UHC!
:)

Let’s hope, Travis is an A-1 dude.

Quickstep with the 1-2, great racing today. I have a sense Gilbert was not overly happy taking second to Terpstra today.

word. its great to see Niki and Phil on their game.
I hoped Terpstra would show for KBK. I guess I peaked to early.

I am eager to see how Phil rolls through 2018; he could contend in Strade, he's defending the Ronde .... but he says he wants MSR and PR.
it must be awesome to be awesome.

Great, setting up another season of Quickstep self-sabotage!

Gaudin! “ a massive steam engine of a man”

Gilbert could’ve taken a pull or two before dumping him. It was like 2 lions tag teaming a water buffalo.

It was interesting, terpstra clearly offered his wheel when attacking but Gilbert sat on and waited forcing Gaudin to counter. At the same point Gilbert is seen shaking his head looking annoyed, who knows what was going on?

I think Strada is the Sagan vs Kiwato show. Possibly Stybar as well, he clearly sat up today saving energy. I would think Valverde would do well at strada, no clue why he is not racing.

Was thinking the same about Strade. It will be more open with Kwiato and Sagan, not to mention GvA and Stybar. Bet Van Aert will be up there too.

I’m not going with Sagan quite yet. Early season, new baby, etc. I’m betting he’s not ready now. And generally, I think they’ve got him programmed for Flanders.
All that said, he can podium off the couch.

Start list for Strade Bianche

this could be the best Strade yet. an embarrassment of riches:

Kwiatkowski, Gilbert, Stybar, Oss, GVA, Sagan, no Fabian ... plus Sep and Phinney and Stuyven thrown in for fun.


Can Tom D ride this race? I am surprised to see him on the roster.

That is a safe bet, Sagan said his two primary objectives are MSR and Roubaix, well that is what his trainer said.

Yeah, that's a good point. Nice that at such a young age you've achieved so much that winning a race like Strade is a shoulder shrug.

That said, tough to be against him.

I don't think it's a shrug at Strade as much as an intentional choice based on winning zero Monuments last year.

I’m really looking forward to watching van Aert. That cadence is cool to watch relative to the others and theoretically at least, he should have some punch left at the end.

Dumoulin finished fifth last year. As long as his derailleur doesn't go kaput, he should be okay

What, no love for Nibali???

I think the finish is too steep for Sagan to win right now but as demonstrated at GP Quebec last year, he can get off the couch and make his mark. Kwiatkowski is looking really good, while Gilbert and GvA not so great last week. My picks:
Kwiatkowski, Stybar, Sagan
GvA, Dumoulin

didn't realize that Nibbles was starting. and speaking of Nibbles and Sagan, anyone recall that one stage of Tirreno where Sagan blasted past Nibbles on a really steep finish? Not sure if Sagan is still capable (I would think he is), but i don't think it's overly steep.

Dark horse pick is Brambilla. Dude bossed the 2016 Giro stage on the white roads. Van Aert is another dark horse pick for superior bike handling in mud

That was an awesome stage. I think Purito was there too, and they basically all gave up when cresting summit and Sagan was still there. Prob the easiest sprint he's ever won.

I don't think Wellens is riding SB.

You're right, don't see him on any start lists. Thanks for pointing that out.

some obvious, some not.

Kwiatkowski, Stybar, and Oss
Gilbert and Phinney. yea, Phinney.

Bold Phinney pick. But I can’t cuz he’s a Boulder dude and bad weather harshes his mellow.
I gotta go with the mudders.

Van Av, Stybar, van Aert.
Sep, Moscon

LMAO
that was good

Almost everything harshes his mellow, especially if it doesn't involve denim.

Kwiatkowski, GvA, Gilbert
van Aert, Dumoulin

Sep, Stybar, Gilbert
Greg VA, Kwiatowski

Sep! Would love to see it happen.

Valverde will be racing. Late addition

You and me both. I think he will have a good season. Haven't seen him as relaxed and putting everything into perspective as this year. What fatherhood can do to a man... :-)

since i know nothing but enjoy reading all of your postings and watching the race

moser, kwia, sagan
van aert, valverde

Wouldn’t be suprised to see brambilla do well here. Has a love affair with white roads. Also strade 2016 he nearly pulled it off after constant attacks to set up stybar (in which Fabian won anyway)
Funny now that brambilla is a trek boy

Strada picks

Sagan, Kiwato, gilbert
Valverde and stybar

has he lost weight? looked quite lively on the Muur

Strade Bianche

Kwiatkowski, Vanmarcke, Stybar

Benoot, Moser

Didn't get the chance to post my picks for K-B-K, so for Strade Bianchi:

Sagan, Kwiato & Gilbert
Stybar and Van Aert

There's a lot of potential contenders here, really tough to whittle it down. Will be interesting to see how much of a factor the weather/muddy roads play. Strade is always one of my favourite races of the year, such a cool parcours.

Kwiato, Sagan, Stybar
GvA, Gilbert

I'll put in Valverde and remove Dumoulin. A piti, but Valverde climbed well last weekend

I can totally see Valverde nailing that final climb in Siena, it's right up his alley... surprising that he doesn't have a solid track record here. That lack of history and his apparent illness this week had me leave him off my list but I can totally see him winning this.

There will be a bunch of crashes and some faves will go down is my prognostication. I sure don’t want to see Valverde rolling the gravel and mud unscathed to get to the climb into Siena, bc he sure could win it. He’s that good, and it’s annoying as hell.

My risky picks last week didn't pan out. Playing it saf(er).

Van Marcke, Sagan, GvA
Kwiat, Haas

wait, he's sick?

nvmd then

Kiwatkowski, GvA, Gilbert
Van Aert and Sagan

weather calls for light rain, low wind, upper 30's to mid 40's, and overcast. I think punctures will take out a few favorites. Sagan's form will be interesting since he just finished his big block of training at altitude and needs to find the race form and "recover". I have a feeling there will be an earlier selection tomorrow to decide the race......Valverde with an early attack?

Sagan, kwiato, stybar

Here in NJ, i don’t have internet and have to rely on cellular data. Might be able to watch the last 20-30 km; mot sure...

Grumbling aside, Should consider myself lucky: still with electricity, and the tree that fell overnight didnt smash the house

Jimmay, you drinking too much again? Quoting game needs work :p

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That's a nice doublet up front. And a sizeable gap

Yeah. Power out here in Va so things are a little cray cray. This race is awesome. Looks just like where we ride every day, except for the villas and what not. Weather too.

Bora has the beef to bring this all back. Impressive. And then Valverde steals it. Grrrrrr.

This ain't coming back; last hill prior to Siena tops out with 15-17 km to go. The front two are gone

3.......I shoulda picked Benoot.....dang

I should have as well. At least got van Aert picked. No one got through this round of picking acquitting himself well

well, hat tip to Bardet for a nice ride. i wanted to pick him, but to my discredit, i thought he was too soft.
that was a tough day for all. strong riders.

Benoot has arrived.

Who signs Van Aert next year? I thought he’d be good here and then didn’t pick him. Smart!

Bardet. Wow. He’s rivaling Nibali for GC riders with panache.

Great racing today, I love this race! Best man in the race wins his first race. But again, what a strong race by Van Aert and what a beautiful style he has. Respect!

i missed it, did benoot ride right through those two?

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http://www.PatGriskusTri.com USAT Certified Race Director
2024 Races: USAT State of CT Age Group Championship/State of CT HS Champs/ CT Club Championship - Sat June 15th (Oly/Du/Sprint) Hopkins Vineyard Tri at Lake Waramaug Saturday July 13th http://www.HopkinsVineyardTri.com

Bridged up, waited a bit to recover, and attacked over the top

Benoot looked like he was having on of those special days, he had the look that he was on fire. My picks were so far off its depressing. My only redemtion was thinking an early move would be key. Wout will start to get marked.

Does today change the way this race pans out? More climbers rolling the dice early?

Sagan and company looked like they checked out early, no serious chase.

Benoot oh so strong.

Funny to see not a single front-runner rolling disc brakes in the epic gravel conditions ;-)

well, Stybar was

I've followed him a bit since seeing him finish third in 2013 UCI U23 WC race in Louisville.

While he his 3x cyclocross WC, I had no idea he was this tough. See this clip from finale in Sienna -- how Bardet got away, Wout was just exhausted. Cyclocross WC does worst remount ever. Legs just failed him.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

He had to get off the bike because he was cramping. Obviously not easy to get back on the bike on a steep uphill with cramping legs.

It's hugely impressive he can go from building a year around 1-hour efforts to getting on the podium of a 5-hour race with stacked field. If/when he dedicates to the road, which seems likely, he could be a beast. Certainly nothing to be ashamed about getting dropped by Bardet.

Indeed. He rode smart too, didn't seem intimidated by Bardet at all. Fun to watch two 23 year olds right there. The Aussie kid Power was impressive. That's a really cool race.

Looks to me like he fell off the bike because he was cramping.

His mental toughness is incredible. He was fighting to stay on the podium.

But it is funny that the World Cyclocross champ tries a flying remount and lands on the rear tire. Ouch. His brain was saying go, go, and his legs said no, no.

Awesome race from those on podium.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Van der Breggen won the women's race on a disc brake bike.

Benoot has been knocking on the door in recent races, yes he has arrived.
Is it too early to speculate Van Aert wearing the Quickstep kit in 2019?
Bardet rode away from a very strong group, chapeau for the 2nd place

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res, non verba

I don't see Van Aert go to Quickstep because they require a full 100% focus on the road. He will get very few chances to do cross - like Stybar or before that, Sven Vanthourenhout, or Iljo Keisse on the track. Unless he is fully committed to his road racing career and willing to end his cyclocross career, I'd think he would go somewhere else where he will get more freedom.

Newest tally is accurate to Strade Bianch; link here

@noodle_soup was the only one who picked Benoot to finish in the top 5. @McNulty was the only one who picked Van Aert to finish on the podium (many others placed him in top-5). Feel there should be some type of bonus for this type of pick. Thoughts?

Also, anyone know what sort of code I should use to parse a non-entry? Right now I'm just putting in a zero (which it effectively is), but it would be nicer to have it show N/A but be converted to numerical zero. Perhaps some sort of IF statement (If any cell = "N/A", return value of zero)?

Kudos to the guy who picked Valverde, I think that if he and Sagen weren't playing the who pulls game he would gave won.

What in the world happened to Van Avermet and Vanmarke?.

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When it comes to the Spring Classics, who owns the US TV rights?
I think most of them are RCS events. Last year, BeIn Sports had RCS rights here in the US and I got to watch most of them on my DVR.
I think BeIn dropped those rights, anyone have them now?
Waking up at 4am on the West Coast to watch a race on dodgy VPN internet on the weekends is not a good option.

Italian events are RCS; Flandrien events are Flanders Classics events; Roubaix, Wallonne and Liege are ASO events. Not sure of who all the U.S. rights holders are, but there are definitely two.

Or you can just use a VPN with connection to Belgium, and RTBF/Sporza will have broadcast of almost all (if not all) events.

Or you can just pony up for VPN and Eurosport, which gives you access to almost all events you'd care to watch. The only one for which they don't have access is the Belgian National Championship

Bike racing. :)

In Excel you can use the "=iferror(B1,0,B1)" In this example, I'm saying that if cell B1 is an error, then put 0. If it isn't an error, then use the value in cell B1. So you should be able to modify it to your needs

tru dat

Thankfully we have the treads about Zwift for entertainment until next classic.

Thanks; I'll go tinker with it


Tirreno Adriatico starts soon (Paris Nice already started).

Oh, I know, have been watching PN. But you should check out the Zwift angst threads, which give sprint stages a run for their money.

I think they just checked out and decided to be safe. No point ending a season with on a crash or getting sick before MSR. Sagan looked fine at the end, they just did not want to push.

Well, guilty as charged here, as i partook as well.

Absolutely.

Sep had a mechanical on sector 7 and had to wait a while to get a new bike. Then chased since the field had split - before running into the man with the hammer. Big bonk and 17 minutes behind the winner.

i crush people on Zwift.........

Are you even an "A", bro?

dude....i rock a 5.2 wkg..........i just, ya know, don't like the whole roadie scene........

5.2 w/kg for a minute? That’s cute 😜

If there's an A Hole group I might have to look into it.

Will admit screen shot echappist posted about the guy doing 1000 watts for 7 minutes is pretty comical.

Just checked it out. That’s hilarious. Froome Dombrowski would go legit 7th and 8th. Well, Joe anyway..
Zwift needs a World Tour team.

Is it just me, or is Quintana getting more whiney every year? Becoming less of a fan http://www.cyclingnews.com/...r-de-france-victory/

I can do 1000W for 30min but need my generator on.

Sounds like the little dude wants the team built around him a la Sky and Froome and le Tour.

Valverde and Landa are probably not the foxhole type guys he needs, but if they decide to really ride for him, I think they'd crush people. But NQ probably hurts his chances of that happening by talking- other than to say these guys are great and wonderful and great teammates. It'll be fun watching Landa go off half cocked.....

To be fair there are few GC prima donnas who *haven't* gotten in public spats with either teammates, management, or both.

Lemond-Hinault (most famously)
Lance-El Pistola (allegedly comical thinks like ordering the team bus to leave Contador behind).
Wiggins-Froome

This Quintana one is relatively mild.

won't be the first time Landa pulled that stunt. I believe he did it at Astana to "audition" for his next job

Contador's was LA's doing; people who rode with AC praised him as a GC leader and would ride out of their skin. In fact, his raid on Fuente De was partially successful because of the assist from former teammate.

But Quintana's complains are about more than outright leadership. Last year he complained about management forcing the double (his dad's comments were worse). Now saying he might or might not go hard at non-GT races to focus just on Tour. Hard to see how taking shots at teammates and management will work to his benefit.

Landa & Aru vs Contador was one of the GT best battles in quite some time. So on second thought, maybe "letting the road decide" (e.g. they race for themselves) will be more entertaining after all.

Teammate. It's all about Landa. The team rides hard for Quintana. (Well I question Valverde a bit, but still).

But yeah, his defensiveness is not a good look, I agree.

anybody want to do some informal picks for TA stages and PN? GC, stages.............I missed today at TA but tomorrow etc.....

It took you this long... ?

Froome to win both.

Tough luck for Cav these days.

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

Guy cannot catch a break.

Poels and GT FTWs.

I predict he will have manufactured "bad days" to avoid forcing the race producer to have to alter the podium after the fact should things not work out well for him.

Big sprint from Kittel today. Sagan also looked good, getting up off deck and still nabbing 2nd. OSS did good work for him on run in, could portend of good things.

I think Oss is my favorite rider. Brings his lunch pail to work every day.

He could be Sagan's Paolini....in a good way.

Oss is a hoss. Great pickup for Bora. I didn't follow up on the post race quotes from Strada Bianchi but they had Burkhardt and Oss with Sagan in the chase group. Guess they said eff it when others wouldn't work? Burkhardt was chasing, Sagan was with him and Oss was back sort of waiting to go it seemed. Or maybe they were all just gassed like everyone else. There is always that possibility.

Sagan was glued to Oss' wheel today, looks like a high degree of trust there.

Strade was just weird how it went down. Fact that three were there instead of Sagan on own almost seem to accomplish what they want. Wonder if there was some gamesmanship going on to imply they'll be there in force for the key ones, and other teams can no longer just mark one guy.

They did ride together on Liquigas.

In Oss and Burghardt they have two workhorses, and one of them has actually won Gent Wevelgem from a break. I wonder why BMC let either of them go; confounding... I'd certainly take Oss over Roelandts

Zabel was nails today for Kittel. Bailed him out of serious trouble in the closing kilometers and did a textbook delivery to the front.

Yes. Crazy argy bargy from 2 k in. Kittel was more than just a big dragster. Great finish.

loved that finish today, great attack....all the hitters were there and the kid nailed it

Tirreno doesnt disappoint

Surprised that Sagan and Stybar got popped early. Perhaps saving themselves for something else?

Wondered about that too, Gilbert also threw out the anchor early. If this is a measured approach to MSR it could make for one crazy race.

Sunday's finish has a cracker of a finish. Really steep wall that tops out with 3km to go, dips down, only to climb up again. Sagan did really well in a similar finish last year. Perhaps saving himself for that while watching GvA blow himself up for a useless placing?

i just think that the same big names won't be popping in April, May, June........not that they don't want to win these too, but most certainly riding into form and so the others see opportunities....Wellens looks good, hope he gets the top step soon

That finish today was balls to the wall, Sagan seemed to pop or turn it off after Sky started attacking in the last k to bring it back. I think they knew he was gone. I would love to see the power data on that attack!

i'm thinking Rigo Uran goes well on the finish climb

The Paris Nice crash today was awful. I thought Alessandro De Marchi died. I have no idea how the hell he got back on the bike after that. Pro cyclists are crazy.

damn, it's all happening at Paris Nice

Agreed. Paris Nice was absolutely phenomenal today. Soler rode a hell of a ride. I would love to see some power data from that lead group. Terrific efforts all around!

watching TA over here.......this finishing circuit suits Sagan who was goofing and popping wheelies and complaining yesterday.....after to 200+k days guys look gassed but maybe PS is sandbagging........Keisse is a beast in the break........I think aside from the actual crappy surfaces, Italy has the most amazing roads........very similar to VA, along with the poor maintenance

indeed

that last stage of Paris Nice is usually a cracker of a finale


well, come to PA or NJ; those roads are a lot worse...

I think Kwiatek takes this

edit: Uran as outsider

Sagan 2nd and Kwiatek 3rd. Kwiatek should take the stage race with his time trialing prowess.

GvA looks out of it; hang on to the chase group, but last of the group; even Vanmarcke finished ahead. Really doesn't bode well for his spring.

Sagan looked like he handled Kwiatkowski pretty easily on that finish, but agree on him in position to take GC.

GvA... Looked like a world beater a few weeks ago and now almost off the back.

Just pointing out that my prediction that Froome would have some "bad days" out of respect for possible retro-active suspension gets some credence. No stage or GC relevance (except helping teammates at times).

He's had bad days but if manufactured or not isn't clear. Who knows, it's conjecture.

Gaviria doesn't look so great when the big boys show up.

That was remarkable even for Sagan. Calling him ftw at MSR.

Kittel looks like he's *finally* back to 100%. Certainly helps that he's got great team support.

indeed

I think he bags two big classics this spring. That effort to latch back on and go through the pack like a hot knife in butter was remarkable

His biggest concern is to decide on how he wants to win: he has a decent chance (say 4:1 to 3:1) of winning from a group sprint, and he has a better chance of creating enough separation on and descending the Poggio. But the latter also comes with the possibility that someone following his wheel won't pull through, in which case, his chances of winning would decrease. Best scenario for him would be a redux of Richmond, where he escapes alone, use the descent to his advantage, and cruise home. Hope he bags one that way. Even better would be pulling a Sean Kelly (chase down an attacker by descending like a madman, and pip the attacker on the line).

Yeah, MSR will be tough to punch it on Poggio for a sprint from small group with risk of someone not pulling, or have his team drive it hard and wait for a sprint. Considering how he did against Kittel this week, and especially today, the latter might not be a bad way to go.

The people who could beat him in a group sprint include

Kristoff
Degenkolb
Demare
Matthews
Gaviria
Groenenwgen

I think Matthews is injured, and Degenkolb is off form. Kristoff is also abit off, leaving Gaviria and Groenenwegen. Not sure if the latter could handle the distance though

Gaviria is out with fractured hand. Might be a touch too much, too soon for Groenewegen.

Oss did more great work today. He's looking more and more like the missing link.

Possibly Caleb Ewan. I'm not *predicting* Ewan to beat him, particularly after an MSR-distance race, just pointing out that if he's coming off a friendly wheel in the final 100m, it's game on.

Wonder how the lack of sprinter depth will change team strategy. Could see more quality guys going for break.

would be fun to see a redux of that infamous 2013 edition (minus the "intermission," of course). That was a helluva race, epicness on par with the most dreary of Paris-Roubaixs

Oss is such a Workhorse. What a great teammate to have.

I may be away so I am throwing in provisional picks now. no brave moves here.


Demare
Sagan
Kittel

Gilbert
Ewan

Sky will be interesting in MSR with no true sprint card to play like last year. Kiwat last year could simply say he has Viviani and follow Sagan. Now Sky has to take initiative, same for BMC. In many ways this plays into Sagan's hand. He wants a brutally hard run in to the line, even a small break and he likely does not have to force that to occur. Either way he is the clear favorite. I do find it funny that people do not consider him a true sprinter and then he is neck and neck against Kittel all week. Not to mention his 20 second sprint averaging 1300w last season ;)

Demare and Viviani are the two most dangerous sprinters who can easily get over the climbs; Ewan is more of a gamble, you never know what you will get out of him. Colbrelli can also sprint very well after a long hard day and he has zero issues with the climbs.

I still think it will be chaotic and it will come down to a reduced bunch sprint, 5-6 riders. Bora/Sky/BMC all clearly want to make it as hard as possible this year. Even quickstep has a card to play in that game.

Provisional picks:

Sagan
Colbrelli
Vanmarcke

Viviani
Kwiatkowski

Really good points--harder the better for Sagan, because the Poggio isn't likely selective enough to get rid of him, while teams will not want to see Kittel after it. Viviani could be his biggest threat; he's looking good.

The brave break gets caught. Sagan, though encrouable, cannot out sprint Démare and Viviani or other pure sprinters who may or may not make it to the bunch, even if they get towed there by a team car. My gut pick is Demare, though not official yet.

Quoted for those who were suggesting some of those others could out sprint him.

That was the hula dance sprint, I think the exact number was 1298 for 18 seconds.

Giddy up!


http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/peter-sagan-and-kwiatkowski-in-a-war-of-words-before-milan-san-remo/

Really good points--harder the better for Sagan, because the Poggio isn't likely selective enough to get rid of him, while teams will not want to see Kittel after it. Viviani could be his biggest threat; he's looking good.


MSR is always really hard to predict. It's monstrously long, and while it does often come down to a "sprint", the big sprinters if they make it into the finale, and over the Poggio and back down, most likely will have no support with them (no trains/lead-outs), and nearly 300km of riding in their legs when it is go-time, so their usual explosive snap, is not what it usually is after shorter races.

That's why a true all-rounder and opportunist like Sagan, who is often working alone in finales, who has a very good sprint himself, who has a great instinct, intuition and experience, and can out-sprint in this situation the energy sapped legs, of the Viviani's and Kittels, has to always be a favorite!

I love watching the last hour or so of MSR every year. The reality is nothing really happens until then.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I have a feeling Sagan has never really liked Kwiatkowski or his racing style. There seems to be mutual respect between GVA and Sagan, they both race all out until the line. At the same time what was Kwiatkowski supposed to do? Lead Sagan out in the sprint?

more like begrudging acceptance. GvA, for the most part, is not as talented as Sagan. GvA usually seem to climb a bit better, but Sagan has a much better bunch kick. The sprinting is more of a toss up when they are in a small break though.

The whole kerfuffel w/ Kwiatkowski seems overblown though. One funny observation is that some people who chides GvA for relying too much on Sagan throw out bucketloads of praises for Kwiatek. In my opinion, both operate similarly when in a break with Sagan. Both mostly give equal contribution in a long break but bluffs Sagan when the break is formed close to the line. Kwiatek forced Sagan to do the lion share's work during the last 3km of the 2017 MSR, almost never pulling through. Similarly, GvA forced Sagan to do the lion share's work at the 2016 GP Montreal, and Sagan essentially pulled for the last 4-5 km, first chasing down a break and then leading out the sprint.

And Sagan has more recently called bluffs and sat up, letting a break roll away. If he'll do that when a monument on the line is a different story, not to mention he's got a very strong squad around him and won't likely need to. If he and Oss are in a selection of 10, one of them will have a very good shot of taking it.

Time to start thinking about rest of my picks.

Sagan, Viviani, Kristoff
Trentin, Colbrelli

Racing "styles" is always an interesting conversation.

Boonen was a favorite of mine but I saw him give away one Roubaix by attacking his group that had gotten away. No one in the group could have beaten him in a sprint. It was simply bad ass machismo which was cool on the one hand but made me groan at the time. They of course caught him and I forget who won. I used to watch him work in a break group and he'd always do more than or at least as much as the others. It's the code, the way you're supposed to ride. Sagan is the same way. Swashbuckling and what not.

Boonen ripped Degenkolb for sitting on him last Roubaix, said it was cowardly riding. Others would say smart. Degenkolb might say it was all he could do to hang there. It was T Boonen after all.

It drives me nuts to see all these guys looking at each other and not working and blowing races. I get it, it's such a fine point at that level, you can't burn matches but you gotta be in it to win it. Sagan used to do too much and he's now shown he will let a race go if he has to. That's a big development. And the other guys sure don't want to tow him in but they end up with no shot instead of some shot.

I think there are certain personality types out there.

The Tom Sawyer- He is charming as hell, and convinces you and others to paint the fence, that it will be fun. And then drops you. But you can't help but like him.

The Jackel- He is not to be trusted, period. And he will assassinate you and you'll never even know he did it. Denny Menchov. I don't think Menchov said 5 words his entire career. Those 5 words may have been, "Where is my blood bag?"

The Scorpion- He is just not right. He's in it to start shit. The frog as he's ferrying the scorpion across the pond: "Why'd you sting me? Now we both drown and die." "I'm a scorpion. It's what I do." (Shrug....) The scorpion doesn't win much and just effs things up for others. No one likes him. Bouhanni.

The Diva- Always whining about something and very high maintenance. Bouhanni

The Foxhole guy- He'll always be working for his mates, and they'll take full advantage of him because his mates are scorpions and jackels. He never wins but if he does, everyone is really happy for him. Nicest guy out there. Matt Hayman

The Alpha Dog- Everyone knows he's the man, he doesn't have to tell them, he wins a lot but also works for others and is respected. Boonen.

The Faux Alpha Dog- He think he's the man, but everyone knows he's not and if he ever works for others they hear about it for a calendar year. Voeckler

Guess this all makes it a great poker game.

I always thought cancellara was a diva whenever he lost...used to always whine about something rather than just accept a loss.

umm, obviously Hayman?


chapeau.

Yeah, Voeckler is definitely the type. Never works well when the camera isn't on him, but starts pulling hard (both in terms of physical exertion and facial muscle movement) when the limelight is on him...

As alluded to by @Carl Spackler, one helluva Foxhole guy is now on Bora. Another (in the form of Marcus Burghardt) is also on Bora.

As for Divas, Wiggo and Froome are the biggest onse of the past decade.

Bernard Hinault is the embodiment of a Jackal. Pulled some really underhanded shit. Vino is the most Jackal of riders in the past decade, and that honor has been passed to Valverde. Neither dude can be trusted. I'd argue that Stijn VDB is the most-Scorpion like (more than Bouhanni). A look at his actions during the 2015 Spring Classics tells you all you need to know re: his character



exactly. Mind you FC whinged after having won the MSR, RvV, and PR, as only after he's won one of each did people refuse to work with him. Cancellara is also quite arrogant, as evidenced by his performance at Mendrisio Worlds. He decided to take it to climbers by attacking on the climb and the descent, and then whinges when he's forced to close gaps (well, if you are so dominant, you should close gaps), and then whinges some more when no one would pull through after the gap is closed. At the same time, the group that was just caught has now sailed up the road.

I like Sagan's attitude (and Sagan) a lot more. That would have been difficult to say five years ago, but he's matured a lot.

yeap. Sagan has a much better attitude. He accepts if he wants to win, he needs to do whatever he can to do it, rather than moaning about how other people have worked together to beat him.

When I snuck out for a ride between rain and hail today I contemplated whether to try and catch finish before leaving for a ride event, or attempt a complete social media blackout until getting home late afternoon to watch. This is a big decision with high risk/reward.