On a recent interview on Wedu. Bernard Hinault was talking to Johan Bruyneel about his 1981 season in the rainbow jersey. The year before he ended up in 4th when Franceso Moser won. He said he was ultra motivated with the rainbow jersey that year and was in shape “early” and when he arrived in the velodrome he eyed the flags and knew when he had to go. There were 6 of them in the sprint including Moser from the previous year.
I can’t recall if Boonen won Paris Roubaix in the rainbow jersey. He won the rainbow jersey in 2005 after winning in Roubaix the same year. Mathew Van Der Poel did the same in 2023. Sagan won worlds in 2016 and won in Roubaix in 2017 in rainbow.
Edit: (Sagan Worlds Jersey 2017, Roubaix 2018…Sagan won three in row at Worlds so I lost track)
So can anyone get to the velodrome in Roubaix with MVDP and beat him in sprint this year?
Too bad Van Aert won’t be on the line. Or do things change in the velodrome if Jasper Phillipson arrives in the same group with MVDP
Here is a startlist but I don’t know how real it is:
I have to think that Jasper would pay MvDP back for San Remo and lead him out if they are together in a small group. But I guess it comes down to who has the best legs. I can’t see MvDP giving up a chance to a Roubaix / Flanders double in rainbow unless he knew his legs were absolute trash. Absent bad luck, I feel like we’re in store for another MvDP solo win.
Too bad there is no Van Aert. I wonder how Mads Pederson recovers with 10 days from his crash. It would be really interesting if Jasper and MVDP arrive at the velodrome together (different than Hinault and Moser in 1981 as these guys were on rival teams).
Yeah agreed on Wout. Last year he looked to be the only one holding MvDP’s wheel on that last attack on the cobbles. Mads has to be the favorite among the “who can hold onto MvDP”. If Jasper and MvDP are together towards the end, I could see them sending Jasper up the road and forcing everyone else to chase. Then a MvDP counter attack.
Thanks for the catch, I have edited to reflect 2017-18 period.
This was asked, but I have to ask again…why are you opening another thread to discuss what we are or will be discussing in the cycling thread? I thought the unwritten rule in these forums was to keep ITU and cycling races in a single thread.
The more threads we have about the same topics, the more spread we are, then the lesser quality of the discussions.
Thanks for the catch, I have edited to reflect 2017-18 period.
This was asked, but I have to ask again…why are you opening another thread to discuss what we are or will be discussing in the cycling thread? I thought the unwritten rule in these forums was to keep ITU and cycling races in a single thread.
The more threads we have about the same topics, the more spread we are, then the lesser quality of the discussions.
Where can we find a compilation of the unwritten rules?
Personally, I find the single thread concept a bit anachronistic. It may have made sense at some time in the past, but it makes it almost impossible to follow the discussion for any given race when everything is thrown together in one thread. Not for nothing, this is made all the more frustrating because there’s a handful of folks who refuse to quote the comments they’re responding to, and frequently you may have to go a page or two upthread to find out what the cryptic posts even mean.
Let’s get back to discussing the racing. How is this chicane being designed? I just see a 70kph race to get to the front of the chicane before it slows down in the chicane before hitting Arenburg cobbles. I guess brake slamming and slinky effect on the peloton on a chicane in a tarmac is better than hitting the cobbles full out at 60kph jockeying for position. It definitely favours a smaller rider (ex Pidcock…is he racing?) getting through before the horses take over on the cobbles
Pidcock is down for the count after a crash during a recon in the basque country. He’s also more of an Ardennes guy. You could maybe see van baarle doing something, although I’d think all eyes will be on him, plus he has positioning issues
This was asked, but I have to ask again…why are you opening another thread to discuss what we are or will be discussing in the cycling thread? I thought the unwritten rule in these forums was to keep ITU and cycling races in a single thread.
The more threads we have about the same topics, the more spread we are, then the lesser quality of the discussions. Personally, I find the single thread concept a bit anachronistic. It may have made sense at some time in the past, but it makes it almost impossible to follow the discussion for any given race when everything is thrown together in one thread. Not for nothing, this is made all the more frustrating because there’s a handful of folks who refuse to quote the comments they’re responding to, and frequently you may have to go a page or two upthread to find out what the cryptic posts even mean.Personally I find the single thread concept makes complete sense for effectively a series: the spring monuments and supporting races: all the STers who know what they are talking about (does not include me) are there and contributing.
I agree with your preference for using the ‘Quote’ function so others can see the context of the post/reply, but I cut the quote down (with care) to the part relevant to my post (see above). @devillish_Paul is frequently posting on (t)his thread: serves to keep it alive (front page) as opposed to joining all those interested on the ‘spectators’ long term thread which floats because of its general interest strength. Which is fine. He thinks ‘special to (each) event’ threads are better (and has explained his rationale in detail, drawn from his experiences going right back to his college successes). See his “what’s happening in RvV with 5 hours gone” thread for that rationale (if you can find it).
Do you think chicanes sound like a bad idea?
From when I raced mountain bikes and nordic skiing, I don’t think chincanes are a bad idea from going from a high speed segment to a narrowing slower speed section in a race. I don’t have experience from my road cycling days as I never did any road races that had that dynamic. But from other sports the physics of how things plays out just make things safer.
In terms of where, what gets posted, its like a cafe with many people and different conversations. Just because a general conversation is going on in one place, does not preclude specific conversations at another part of the cafe. Not sure why people are bent out of joint about people ACTUALLY HAVING A DISCUSSION about sport. That’s what a forum is for. Can we just live and let live and not try to control what others do? No discussion here is harming another discussion elsewhere.
Over on the swimming side, there is a general NCAA swimming finals thread and a very specific separate thread about Leon Marchand. Both serve their purpose. Marchand’s 4:02 500yd free was insane and worthy of its own specific thread. No one there is complaining that people are not discussing Marchand’s specific race inside a general thread. If someone disagrees with that philosophy they can avoid one or the other swimming thread, or avoid both if it makes them upset enough. For those of us who are interested in the overall meet and a specific race, we got best of both worlds.
Here is Tom Boonen out sprinting Hincapie in 2005 at the velodrome. George is in the team Discovery gear, a few months before pacing Lance to number 7!!! What tire width and what PSI were these guys riding back in those bone jarring times?
Many teams would have 25mm-27mm tubulars specially for the cobbled classics (A Dugasts or similar). They would be put on just for these races and stored the rest of the year.
I assume these guys will be on 32mm tubeless these days:
Route map with timings for Sunday
Here is summary on the cobbles sections, fives star section starts where they are putting in chicane before Trouee d’Arenburg preceeded by the 4 star section just before.
