turdburgler wrote:
Was this just beautiful tactical racing, pure power or the peloton making a mistake? (Or some combination?)
My take it was closer to a hammer beat down than great tactical racing.
When the original break was getting close-ish, Remco got away on Mt Pleasent with a group of 25 that had no other A-list favorites, but good representation from France, Italy, Netherlands - and a couple other Dutch riders. The other A-listers either couldn't follow or (more likely) decided to stick with WvA.
Remco was not subtle in that group, he just hammered it. And in my opinion some in that group weren't very smart, taking turns attacking, which only served to soften each other up before Remco dropped the hammer. I get why they were attacking - the group was too big and at risk of stallling. But Remco predictably attacked. And it again was not subtle. He just went to the front in clear view of everyone who knew exactly what was coming, and then rode everyone but Lutsenko off his wheel. Lutsenko only lasted a lap.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it did seem like a mistake by the big teams. But it's a tough gamble because if they had dedicated all their guys to keeping Remco under control, then WvA was just waiting for his turn. I guess they were banking on Remco being tired from the Vuelta, and WvA being the true first option of Belgium. And it was obviously a bad gamble.
Quinten Hermans is the unsung hero. He did some good work disrupting the chase of Remco by the break as soon as Remco got away. He was the unlikely "most significant cyclocrosser" of the day.