Pro Cycling Thread 2018 - The Classics are here

This last year Eurosport only shows the last hour if the race :confused:
I’d be up for it though obvs

Don’t think Mike and I will arrive in time :frowning:

They’ve shown the full sporza broadcast on cyclinghub.tv in the past, so I’d look there.

"#RideToAbuDhabi MarkCavendish went down in the neutral zone, falling on the same shoulder he broke last year. He got up and chased back to the peloton but had to abondon soon after. More info to come after medical check.

— Team Dimension Data (@TeamDiData) February 21, 2018"

And it’s under way

So opening weekend over and done with.

Omloop - probably slightly underwhelming truth be told. Really ruined by a strong headwind. The two big Belgian teams left pretty much empty handed, despite aggressive displays during the day.

The revamped route didn’t really work either. The distance between Tenbosse and the Muur is too far and the roads too straight, allowing weather conditions to play a larger role in the race. Can see why (apart from money) why Flanders Classics moved the finish away from the Muur/Bosberg finale, and away to the VIP fields of Oudenaarde for RvV. The old RvV route (this year’s Omloop finale) was under threat of being a predictable mass finish, as demonstrated in this Omloop, Valgren’s late attack aside.

Valgren (and Astana) were worthy winners. Strongest team, by far, in the final 30km, but maybe not with the strongest riders. Vanmarcke said he rode aggressively, but the headwind blunted his attacks, although he looked very strong on Kapelmuur. GVA and Naesen were both marked heavily in that select group. both probably rode hard, but not full gas. Not worth showing your full strength if you’re not going to win, and keep matches dry for later in the classics season. The same can’t be said for Lotto Soudal. Wellens is a great rider, but times attacks wrong too often. And then Benoot going straight afterwards meant they had no hand in the finale. QS were there in numbers until it mattered and the Stybar was left on his own. Big opportunity for Colbrelli and Trentin. They both had their best chance of winning a classic so far in their careers, but lacked cooperation in the group in the final 3km to pull back Valgren. Ride of the day probably should have gone to Oscar Gatto, but Wout Van Aert rode the 200km very cleverly, considering the full on CX season he’s had.

K-B-K - not seen highlights yet, but I predicted the top 2 finishers in Twitter competition (and lost in a draw from a hat).

Over in France, Calmejane and Bardet won 2 very tough looking one day races in the Classic de l’Ardeche and the Drôme Classic respectively.

This week sees Le Samyn tomorrow. Brutal race won by Wanty’s Van Keirsbulck last year, and a personal favourite of mine. QS bringing a strong team, as per, what with it being a Belgian semi classic.

Strade Bianche on Saturday. Expect to see Kwiato riding hard and I think Sagan is back in action after skipping opening weekend due to becoming ill after previous opening weekends.

Sunday is the start of Paris Nice. CBA previewing that. Also Dwars Door West Vlaanderen keeps classics season ticking over. And expect to see some decent Italian action at the GP Industria & Artigianato (Adam Yates has twice won this race, 2014 and 2017). Finally, next Wednesday is the start of Tirenno-Adriatico. The races are coming thick and fast now.

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Really thought colbrelli would win once the final selection was made for ohn.

Agree on the naivety of lotto soudal. Far far too early to be trying a one-two punch like that

Waited until 20km to go then Wellens attacking followed by Benoot would have worked a lot more that attacking 40km out.

I honestly thought Colbrelli had that race when I read he had made the final selection.

Pretty straightforward win for qsf at la samyn today. Their team was far too strong for the rest of the field.

Might be reading too much into it, but phil g didnt look TOO thrilled to be finishing second behind team mate terpstra.

Definitely. Reckon that bike change had quite a bit to do with it. Also tbf the Terpstra, Gilbert looked fucked after his dig off the front.

Gaudin looks like a bear riding a bike. Cracking ride from him

Strade Bianche today. Definitely a future monument race. Hard to call the winner as the start list is full of talent. Personally, don’t see Sagan being up there, but you can never rule him out. Going with Kwiato, Valverde, GVA for the top 3.

Hoping it looks like the Giro 2010 stage

And this is from the ladies race, so we might get it

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Live coverage of the Women’s Strade Bianche is a bit of a shit show, isn’t it? No commentary and the race feed has dropped out. Some good architecture and pigeon shots from the finish line though.

This isn’t exclusive to the women’s race. Rai are saying the feed for the men’s is going to be a struggle

Van Aert or Bardet

Benoot Bardet van aert

What a way to win your first pro race

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Fucking awesome that.

Looks like a golem

Let’s hope PR is like this then

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