That was almost too easy!
It's crazy to think what he can achieve in the coming years!
Flandern, Paris roubaiz and wc

He said De Ronde is key objective, which will mean a kicking in early races this demanding.

Yes. And I noticed JA trying to squeeze him a bit, ride next to him, etc. Didn't get anywhere with the Terminator. That was huge. Literally.

He reminds of a young Boonen, doing just about everything and with presence.

Those purple jerseys are atrocious. Really couldn't tell who was who and had to do a double take when the rider list came up (to figure out which purple jersey represented which team).

Gotta feel for Longo Borghini, got bullied into doing all of the pulling only to get chucked aside like an orange squeezed of its juices in the finale. Then again, that was probably a still a better finishing position for her than had she sat back, as I doubt she could match A vdB and Van Vleuten on the uphill.

Also, the cameras seem to have missed the reeling back of vdB-Blaak and Long Borghini's first attack. All the sudden, the camera got trained on Vos (and another rider), and I had no idea why they weren't showing the leaders. Only when the groups got back together did I realize it was gruppo compacto.

Spot on. Van Vleuten would have dropped her uphill. That said, vdB-Blaak played that perfectly. Its damn near impossible for any of these teams to make good choices against Deceuninck SD Worx.

---

First returns on opening two weeks (hope my upload works)

ClayDavis way out front with a solo (MvdP-esque) attack, scoring in every race so far
Strade has allowed for a legit chase group to organize

tb, you don't get two points today for having WvA twice.

Feel free to check my math, but pretty sure I have it correct based on my interpretation of rules.
1 point for any of your 5 on podium, 1 point for podium bonus, 2 points for winner bonus

Hopefully Velon have the numbers on the MVDP attack. That was like a bomb going off. Holy hell.

The way VDP dispatched Ala jet like he was some junior was insane...

---

----------------------------
http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise

I have to put that final move down as one of the most impresive I can remember seeing. My pre-race bet was that VdP or Van Aert would need to solo home to beat JA, who I consider the punchiest rider in the World Tour. VdP did more than his share of the work coming into the climb, he probably weighs about 10 kilos more, and he still dropped JA like a bad habit on the steepest part of the climb. I don't think JA just through in the towel either, given that he dropped Bernal rather convincingly. It isn't like that guy can't climb.

Other thoughts were Gogel's impressive ride and EF's Simon Carr looks to be a legitimate talent. My only critisism of him would be that he tends to be launching the attack that comes just before the one that sticks. He needs to be a bit more patient,

Really happy for Gogel to get a top placing. He has always showed a lot of promise and its nice to see this. Agreed on Carr. It's amazing to me seeing Carr and even more so Pidcock coming in to these races and placing where they are. Just insane talent at an early age these days.

Must-see TV: Tirreno is stacked. Pogacar, Bernal, GT, Quintana, Nibali, WvA, MvdP, Sagan, Alaphilippe...

So?

I think Alaphillipe was already pretty cracked. Though to be fair he was cracked by MvDP's *other* bananas acceleration.

MdVP has certainly figured out how to deploy that CX-style ramp acceleration to devastating effect.

WvA clearly not on his best form.

DNS. I thought being mentally cracked from work week yesterday (and thus lacking fight), combined with snow adding to 3.5 hour drive each way, were good reasons to keep powder dry a little longer. Still managed to entertain myself https://strava.app.link/7lQyhJo5peb

Nice Plan B.

A buddy just invited me to join him in June for the Best of Both Race out there. Looks like a blast. Is the weekend before Amateur Road Nats, will be heading to Florida with my daughter. Trying to negotiate "permission" for both.

My wife just sent me that race info, looks like a lot of my rides.

Paris Nice Stage 1
Bennett
Demare
Pedersen

Merlier goes early and destroys the sprints at Grand Prix Monsere. Cav in second.

Also, for anyone who hasn't seen it, a few fans posted roadside videos of MvdP going hypersonic on LFF.

ok, rant time....GCN+ is pissing me off, i watched the early race, the Grand Prix, and then when that was over, switched to Paris Nice, and I get that error communicating with the server, error...WTF what's up wid dat?

---

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

Are you in North America? A bunch of the guys from there had issues last week with KBK and / or Omloop with the same issue. I think many ended up streaming for free from Tiz Cycling.

yup, Central Mass...I used Tiz last week for KBK, on the expert advice of the folks on this thread, it might have been you! Actually my NBC Sports Gold subscription is still good, so I'm watching it with that, but there's no audio....I need to sort out that VPN thing. any idea whats going on with GCN+?

---

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

In the US, I think the streaming porivders split up the pie. So even though GCN lists all the races, looks like in US, only get highlights. Wathcing it on NBC sportsgold.

do you have any audio?

---

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

Yes. Streaming through Roku. Not sure if that makes any difference.

I’m watching on Gold app (with audio).