Great win by Powless, but 3 vs. 1 and Vismal lost is a bit haven’t watched the full replay, but did they ever work Powless with any kind of pronged attack strategy to force him to chase and waste energy? Even if they were gambling on Van Aerts sprint, I think they should have put in on the front chasing a few times to smash his legs a it.
Apparently Benoot did, at ~25 km to go. Powless closed the gap and then contributed a bit more. But even at equal contribution, Powless is still doing a quarter of the turns.
WvA cramping after only ~200 km really doesnt bode well, though granted, it is a bit warmer today.
The women’s race was pretty good too, but G2 syndrome was in full effect.
Kopecky looked rough there for a while, but then managed to outsprint Balsamo. Puck seemed intent on burning as many matches as possible.
Puck has a habit of that.
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Just watched the finish. Feel bad for Wout, but it really harkens back to the glory years of the team. They were nicknamed Rabofail for a reason.
Nice summary.
Though I’m starting to worry more and more about Wout’s form. His E3 sprint for minor placings was also not good. I worry he’s getting the kind of early burnout that Sagan got. All the injuries probably not helping in that regard.
Arrogant dragging him to the line wtf, just take turns attacking!
I’m wondering if he just hasn’t had the training he needs. Big injury last year, rush job into the tour, where he was mediocre, good build into the vuelta before another injury that sidelined him for a while. Enough interruptions to the training and the base is in bad shape, and sometimes that doesn’t come back over a single winter’s training?
It’s really the explosiveness Wout seems to be lacking (not being able to really hit those climbs at E3 when things were popping off, looking lacklustre in the final sprints at E3 and DDV). I wonder if it’s actually too much base - the altitude stuff just building that up and then hoping to add on the anaerobic element leading up to De Ronde/P-R.
I also wonder about perhaps permanent repercussions of some of those injuries, particularly the knee one from the Vuelta. Wout’s knee looks super gnarly, and he was saying back in January that he felt really weak in that one knee - maybe it never really heals all the way.
Could be either way i suppose. Usually i contribute lack of form in the finale, esp cramping like today, to lack of fitness, pushing fatigued muscles to the limit of what they’re able to actually do. Its also possible he’s carrying too much training load from the altitude camp and he’s just tired.
You make a great point with respect to impacts of injury. Even if its possible to return to full form, it may take more time.
I thought this was a good, and revealing interview:
I feel so sorry for him, he’s had a crappy run of luck with crashes and just can’t get back to where he was before.
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Wout is not the same, but he’s still damn good and NP is no Cinderella boy. I hope he’s not too discouraged by this. He didn’t get beat by a chump.
JV rode arrogantly, methinks. Should’ve ganged up on him. Shown some respect. But I guess they thought he was just happy to be there.
NP did just enough to contribute and was where he should have been in the last K. Rode it super smart.
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Wout has always been such a unicorn talent that we probably shouldn’t be surprised - even without the really damn bad injuries - some aspect of that insane all-around ability would start to get rounded off.
The closest comparison as rider to what he has been so far is probably Jalabert, who started off as a guy who won pack sprints, turned into a hilly classics rider, and wound up being a grand tour winner. About midway through the second phase of that, the sprint pretty much went away.
I think it’s pretty clear Wout isn’t going to wind up being a grand tour threat (although, boy… in the O2 vector era, who knows what might have happened) and he may well be able to get the sprint going again, but it’s probably going to take some concerted work that it doesn’t look like he’s been doing.
That was a tough interview that had some brutal honesty and self-reflection too. I can’t imagine giving that shortly after a race outcome like this.
Powless looks more like a pure climber but he’s got a good kick (obviously) - he did win that three-up sprint against Mohoric and Honore in San Seb so its not like this win is completely out of left field. Still feel really bad for Wout but you’re totally right he was not beaten by some chump.
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Neilson’s Strava data is up.
It’s pretty easy to forget this, but Powless was a Jumbo rider for a couple of seasons, and Wout (and the folks in the car) must have felt like they knew exactly what his ceiling looked like.
Whoops.
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That was the craziest race thus far this year. Chapeau to Visma for blowing the race up and only one person being able to go with them. But damn, that must have been the worst podium experience in history for them.
Can’t look at it as anything other than a massive misstep and embarrassment, while Powless set the Stannard for being a baller. Knew he was a clever rider but had no idea he’s that quick. Hopefully it portends of a good year to come after a few close calls 2024.
I do feel a bit bad for Wout. Those guys are reliving a spring-long nightmare each week.
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28 mph…average.
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