Jeff Cup?

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Anybody get the sense that FC somehow was too confident in his own abilities? I don't think he even bothered to attempt bridging when Kwiatek and Sagan went, perhaps counting on the attackers to tire out on the Kwaremont. It almost did happen the way he wanted, but in the end it seems that he ran out of matches.

Haven't read his post race interviews yet... but to me, his team did its job, he was in a good place with his own tactics and it just seemed like a day where the elder patriarch just had to tip his cap to the new elite champ in his prime.. I thought Sagan just rode a perfect race.

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**Edit: Just reading his postrace comments...he just flat out missed the move, you may be right:

"I missed this key moment when Sagan went with Kwiatkowski,” Cancellara said. “I did the maximum today, but I just missed this one second. Sep was the last one to close that gap. [Why not go?] Ask me tomorrow. I do not even know why right now.”

We were watching it while on a trainer ride and I was saying to my buddy "I can't believe FC is letting those two ride away". Then when Sep bridged I just couldn't explain why he didn't go then. My guess is he was just having a bad moment at the worst possible time.

No other explanation for letting 3 of the top favorites ride away from you....that was clearly the moment of the race.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

WOW.

i watched the race up to 40k to go and then had to go do breakfast duty with the s/o and friends. i had to turn my phone off to avoid spoilers from friends. came home and watched the final 40k and boy did it not disappoint.

When Sagan and Kwiak went you could see they meant business, especially after their E3 work they did together. SVM was smart to see the move. I don't think Spartacus was close enough to the front to see the initial move, and by the time SVM went the gap had already gone out a bit. I don't think its a case of Spartacus being over confident. Sometimes you just get beaten by a better rider.

Sagan has been nothing but Mr. consistent so far this season, albeit ending up on the wrong step of the podium far too often. His palmares for just this spring alone would be enough to cement any other rider as a great rider if it they racked up those results across their entire career.

Chapeau to an extremely exciting rider to watch!

 
i wondered that too! devolder even offers him a hand sling just as they are getting away and he doesn't take it. must have been a bad moment .. unless be believed that he could count on ettix to close it down and counter that?

They usually don't have any clue about the race situation, they're frequently expressing their confusion about why such and such team is on the front when the reason is obvious, they not only identify riders incorrectly, they identify riders in a race as guys who retired three years ago. They weren't helped by being on nbcsn almost every time I heard them, which just totally screwed up the production and commercial timing so badly I've turned on pirate Dutch feeds that are grainy instead of watching HD because at least there's enough info to figure out what's going on there. I started watching cycling in 2010, so maybe they were already over the hill and I don't have glory day nostalgia, but I've hit mute rather than listen to them get it completely wrong more than once.

You guys don't get Eurosport in America ?

I agree that the Euro commentary is way ahead of Phil and Paul.

Uh, without jumping through hoops and redirecting our Internet through Europe? No. Sadly.

well, some of us do, by going "grey market" and using a VPN and then paying for it.

Carlton Kirby is actually a bit more like Phil and Paul, but Sean "torty" Kelly, Magnus Backstedt, and Declan Quigley are great.

NB. Eurosport is actually owned by the Discovery Channel, based in Silver Spring, MD

FWIW, i find it much better than say, getting NBC sports and BeIn. The latter actually did Milan San Remo as taped delay for the Monday after the race...

For Roubaix, unless anything changes

FC, Sagan, and Vanmarcke
Stybar and Rowe for wildcard

Cosmo is good, but he's a bit disingenuous. All he does is talk. All Phil does is talk. Neither of them are nothing but entertainers. I'll take a slightly batty, repetitive, but charming Phil over shouting Kirby ANY day.

Echappist, I agree with your point about FC. I think he was overconfident. You have to mark your main rival's move -- especially if you only have one teammate left to do a relatively short pull.

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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

I can commiserate. Warmed up for stage 3 of SDSR by riding stage 1, then was too cautious and tentative (first objective of season is 2 weeks away). Over-ambitious with amount of riding after/before stages and ability to tail-gun a So Cal crit, so they punched my ticket 30/45 min. At least I got to watch Peto get it done first (and came home with all my skin).

I should have warned you about how to handle a SoCal crit with the full, lethal Surf City contingent of crit specialists. :) Tail-gunning is not the way to survive.

Oh, I know, it's not a good way to survive any crit. Rode 2 hours after race yesterday up Baldy and 1.5 this morning with Glendora. Legs were gassed at start line, no stones and any crit skill I once had is in hiding. Good recipe to get dropped, especially here. The first 10 or so laps were death by 1000 cuts.

Pretty close to agreeing with you that 1-2 flips. FC is a master on the cobbles but Peto looked pretty damn smooth on them today (realize they're not the same cobbles, too). What I'm having a hard time figuring is how FC gets rid of Sagan. The course doesn't have the explosive opportunities so it's exposing a mistake like he did to Boonen or Peto gets tired and cramps or something like that. FC hasn't had an answer for him yet, but my gut is in agreement with you. I'm also betting Boonen will be in mix.

Btw, correct me if I'm wrong but Boonen, FC and Sagan all won WC at 25, but the first two also got first monument in same year. IOW, very similar trajectories. But when you add all of Sagan's green jerseys, it's tough to say that he isn't ahead of them at same point in careers.

I'm of the mind that age has kicked in and FC got FC'd by Peto on the steeps. I think he was counting on patience, savvy, and help (didn't get any, no offense, Sep, luv ya) and his TT to bring Sagan back. And, it was a sound bet. It just didn't work. Sagan is otherworldly.

I wouldn't count out FC, Boonan, and other "elders" at PR that might not have the same explosiveness they once had to win Flanders. Also, Stijn Vandenbergh had a great race today. That's a bigga boy going up those cobbles. Remember, Magnus B. won PR.

Good point. PR is probably tricker for Sagan tactics-wise. Saxo has one option while the other teams will likely have multiple. Plus, who is foolhardy enough to ride a break with him, unless they're going for second.

Well, let's be honest....he doesn't exactly have the best history of race tactics when crunch time comes.

That said, he has displayed much better tactical sense this year and his execution in Richmond was masterful.

My gut reaction right now is that FC is going to need to go early, or at least isolate him early and just wear him down. Use his strength, experience and knowledge to expose Sagan as best he can. Get him one-on-one with ~40 or 50K to go, go hard on the cobbles and try to blunt his explosiveness, then go for the kill.

Lots of other contenders as well....,should be a great race.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

If my name was Lance and you were Greg i would be calling your manufacturer to get your bike business in trouble;) I agree though, he's riding above everyone. How that is only he and the almighty knows. I'm a fan either way.

I had no problem getting Eurosport at the Netherlands feeds this morning from steephill. Perfect quality.

FC is also looking very tough and Sep has been there, but not on same level. Seems to me that Sagan has that little bit he was lacking, and had also been far more tactically astute.

i was just rewatching the last 14k on youtube;
Even if Cancellara had gone with Sagan and the two of them had been together at the top of the Pattersburg I just don't see how FC ditches Sagan and comes away with the win. SVM would likely have been out the back door because of the pace, and Sagan's already proven he can jump both in a sprint if it were to come down to that.
The long straight roads with the two of them would be like watching Kristoff and Terpstra last year.

FC's sprint after 250 kms is a lot better than what people give him credit for. Far from a foregone conclusion that Sagan would beat him in a sprint

Have you been listening to Sean Kelly?! It annoys me every time he pronounces it like that! Other than that one extremely minor grievance, I think the Eurosport coverage for the early season has been fantastic; have to agree with the dislike for Paul and Phil, they're usually on Eurosport for the GTs and pretty much ruin it, the latter especially just doesn't have a clue.

As for Sagan's race tactics, I think people are over-analysing it. When Sagan came over the top of the Paterberg on his own, he's basically got to make a decision there-and-then as to whether to go it alone or whether to hold up for some company. SVM aside, the chase group had barely started the climb, so as far as he knew there could still be a bunch of 10-15 riders coming over the top together, cashing in his 12-15 second lead to end up in that would have been crazy, especially seeing as we all know where he's going to place in a bunch sprint.