Reporting for duty, sir. And we'll get Jimmy McNulty from his debauchery-induced slumber

to attract the attention this thread deserves, could you change the title to 2019 Spring Classics Thread?

otherwise, Wellens looks good; as does Alaphilippe. GvA is doing reasonably well, and Sagan has looked good. No idea what will happen at Quickstep, as Stybar apparently feels marginalized. Exciting two months ahead

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Link to tally results here

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Rules as follows:

Before the start of the race, pick six riders: three podium positions, two wild cards, and one ultra long-shot. Each of the six 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 wild cards 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. For the ultra long-shot, pick anyone with an odd of less than 30:1 (e.g. 40:1); if this rider wins, you obtain 2 points.

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. Points from all races will contribute this year; so make sure to submit 13 picks in total.

Should there be a tie, tie breakers goes as follows:
-Number of points picked from the four Monument races (Milano San Remo, De Ronde, Paris Roubaix, and Liege Bastogne Liege),
-Number of winners picked from all events,
-Number of winners picked from the four Monuments,
-Number of podiums picked from all events,
-Number of podiums picked from the four Monuments.

Points from all races are otherwise weighed equally.

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Odds as follows

Omloop, from February 27, 2019:



KBK, from February 28, 2019:



Strade Bianche odds, from March 7




Milan San Remo, from March 21



Odds for E3



Odds for Gent Wevelgem




Sorry about a lack of screenshot; hard to get all the info needed for Dwar, as this is a smaller race

Matthieu vd Poel 11/2
Jungle Bob 15/2
GvA 15/2
Ollie Naesen 15/2
Gilbert 8/1
Lampaert 10/1
Terpstra 20/1
Hodeg 25/1
Gaviria 25/1
Pedersen 25/1
Mohoric 25/1
Benoot 25/1
Valverde 28/1
Kristoff 28/1
Stuyven 28/1
Teunnisen 28/1
Bettiol 33/1
Boy van Poppel 33/1
Van Barle 33/1
Keukeleire 33/1
Colbrelli 33/1

Odds for de Ronde



Paris Roubaix odds




Odds for Fleche



Odds of LBL

Stoked for the Omloop and the start of the season!
Will be interesting to see how Quickstep fairs. GvA seems in good form.
Colbrelli I think will have a good campaign... I have no idea what kind of form Matthews is in but I could see him racking up some wins this year too.

 

ef looking good with sep snagging a win, langeveld with a tt podium and phinney seemingly on form.

Yes, this is the best time of the year!

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

There is so much that it’s hard to decide where to start.

Want to see Valgren beats some ass. Will there be a Belgian breakout star with a number seemingly on cusp? Flanders seems to be the one everybody has circled and is most wide open. Terpstra rues cashing his check when he’s obviously marked without a strong supporting cast. OTOH, with the arrival of Gatto, Sagan now has one of the strongest; will be interesting to see if he does indeed skip PR to target LBL.

So close I can smell the frites and mayo.

I can not wait. I will be in Belgium catching a few races and getting some k's in as well!

Ya Valgren is one to watch. He was a surprise last year and he just seemed to pop up all year with decent performances. Another potentially interesting rider would be Roglic in the Ardennes, though he might be more of a GC guy. Benoot's ride at Strade was excellent, so maybe he pops up with some good performances. Speaking of Strade, Bardet's performance there was super fun to watch. A GC climber kicking butt in a gravel classic. All those classics guys should be ashamed of their performance. Stuyven should also be hitting his prime years.

Obviously Van Aert (probably spelled wrong) will have high expectations, though that seems to be a bad thing for such a young rider.

I guess my big question will be if anyone can figure out how to crack Quick Steps tactics. They just seemed capable of controlling so many of the races last spring.

also, thank for starting the thread, and don't forget about the beer :)

i'm on an alcohol restricted diet, but i'll slip in a few glasses here and there. Still have two bottles of La Chouffe N'Ice Chouffe that I need to dispatch

good call on Valgren, and Lutsenko shouldn't be overlooked either.


perhaps without as much cohesion? While Terpstra was never an "A" caliber rider on his own right (just a step below), he has so much nous and TT ability that he can attack over the top and TT away. Not sure who they have this year has that attribute.

Sep is doing great, with a nice win yesterday but I am more impressed with his performance in the time trials lately. Because to win a classic he'll need to be stronger riding solo.

woohoo - one week away from Omloop
i'm wondering if Mads development continues

Jimmy is in the Twitch.
It’s been a dreary ass winter and I’m ready for some racing banter.
Echap, I’ve been trying to re up Eurosport with the TunnelBear but they’re not accepting my payment as it’s not a “registered” card in the UK. Have you encountered this?
I’ll get a Brit pal to fix their wagon if I have to. Jimmy is going to watch his racing.
Was just on the rollers watching that Remco kid win the U23 WC rr. Good gracious, he’s a little freak. Wolfpack guy now. Of course. Will be fun watching him develop.
Sep got off to a good start. Always pulling for the Sep.

EF should be fun with Woods, Sep, and an apparently physically-and-mentally-with-it in Phinney.

There's not a Natural Born Closer (tm) among those three, but they should be in the mix.

I'M also eager to see the cyclocross "big guys", Van Aert and Van Der Poel mix things up for the spring classics.

Louis :-)

I believe Woods learned to race last year, and gained a lot of confidence from the Vuelta win and LBL and the WC podiums. I’m guessing we see more patience from him this year that will pay dividends.
Yo Dude Phinney won me over with his PR ride and otherwise being solid. He’s 28 and I hope he has good health and luck again at PR.

Van Aert is like Stybar, a very good cyclist but will likely win very few races. He lacks that last few percent to win races. He is not a sprinter and not really the TT monster engine. Van Der Poel is another story, i think he has that extra few percent to actually be very good. The problem is he is committed to MTB through the next olympic cycle and the MTB/CX double is a brutal season in and of itself.

Can't wait to see how Mathieu van Der Poel goes in his first concerted attempt at them cobbles.

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/wielerkalender/2019


One week out from Omloop het nieuwsblad, and then sundays can be dedicated to riding in the morning, and drinking a beer on the couch horizontally in the afternoon.


How do non-dutchies or non-belgians follow these races?


We're lucky with live TV coverage

Is my room made up? I’m staying at your house through Flanders.

FloSports has stepped up its game big time so the viewing is looking pretty solid this year. Between that, NBC Gold and GCN we ought to be able to get most of em for pretty low cost, less than beer budget.

Lampaert is also poised to notch a big win. Between him and Jungle Bob also doing cobbled classics, DQC should be just fine.

Mads, Benoot, Colbrelli, Stuyven, Valgren... lot of talent poised to win a big one.

Bring your Tacx trainer and swimming trunks :D

eff, they are onto us like the way they were onto your fake serial killer ruse you conjured up with Feamon

i'll have to see; subscription runs out in early March. If Flo Sport can step up, that'd be great, though I suspect i may need to pirate the NOS/Sporza feed...

c'mon Eurosport, I'm literally telling you to take my money!

loop, Loop, LOOP! checking ST for the first time in weeks, just in time to see the Classics thread. thank you jeebus, its Classic time!!!




US-er here, looks like I can sign up for Fubo on 3/1, pay $89 with a coupon, and get thru LBL. it will be money well spent for a luddite like me.

*** Twilkas reminded me about adding to subject for easy finding. Let’s all please give him a round of applause for saving us from scrolling through 5 threads about tire pressure and 4 on merit of running an untramarathon the weekend before IM.

But to comment on your comment, I watched a lot of cross on Flo and was pleased with coverage. One limit is it there doesn’t seem to be an option to sling to Chromecast but there is Apple TV. I haven’t used the latter or TV in my office since October so hopefully it still works.