#121

See I love Roubaix, but flanders just edges it for me

#122

they’re definitely the best two. Rank plenty of mere classics/semi-classics ahead of the other monuments.

#123

L-B-L is the one I’ve always struggled with. The history of the race is legendary with Merckx raiding on his own, Hinault and the snow ect. But it’s route changes have nullified the action in the race through the ardennes and it’s quite a boring one to watch

#124

yeah, no point watching anything other than the last 5 minutes.

MSR is fine, but always plays out in much the same way.

Usually forget to watch Lombardia tbh

#125

Lombardia’s slot as the final race of the season isn’t true anymore. Think it is quite isolated on the calendar with no other large races around.

MSR wears that watch the last 5mins thing on it’s sleeve though. You know what you get with MSR.

#126

but then you’ll miss Nibali’s doomed solo attack a couple of minutes beforehand!

#127

Meh

1 Like
#128

Pumped (I’m driving back from Leeds and there’s a chance I might miss some, if not all, of the racing)

#129

Buzzing for the race this weekend, although I have to take my folks to the airport and got band practice 3-6 on the Sunday so going to have to wait for the highlights and try and avoid social media during the day.

Got some Duvel in the fridge already.

Obviously want Sagan to win but would be perfectly happy to see Van Avermaet do it as well, he’s a machine at the moment. No way though, not gonna win Omloop, E3, GW and Ronde in the same year… no way, right?

#130

reckon yer man gilbert could be in with a shout…

2 Likes
#131

If Sags and GVA weren’t in their current form, maybe yes. But those two are the outstanding favourites. He’ll be top 10 but I reckon we’ll see something from Boonen. Last RvV and all that. Huge motivation for him and he’s been quietly doing well in the classics so far.

#132

Holy fuck.

This is Gilbert’s for the taking now.

#133

warny called it

solo 60km attack! what a ride.

1 Like
#134

classic Belgians

1 Like
#135

Well, just caught the highlights. What a mental race. Chapeau to Gilbert on winning with one of the most aggressive solo rides I’ve seen in De Ronde since Cancellara a few years ago and his 50km attack.

Honestly don’t think he’d have stayed away if Sagan, GVA and Nassen hadn’t crashed, but you play the cards you’re dealt. He attacked early and deserved the win (also pulled incredibly hard on the front of the peloton with 100km to go as the bunch ride towards the Oude Kwaremont for the first time, so was obviously on a great day).

Poor Vanmarcke, that was a heavy crash. there were a lot of crashes in the race, more so than usual, and the race was sculpted by it.

Anyway, roll on next Sunday and Paris-Roubaix (I’m working and will miss this too)

#136

couldn’t figure out wtf vanmarcke had hit until i saw the pictures of the road slabs

pretty unlucky getting tripped up in the middle of them

#137

Feckin’ heck. Great race. Don’t think anyone was catching Gilbert, crash or no crash. He was eking out seconds on the bergs rather than losing them.

Feel really sorry for Tom.

#138

Ok - posted that before watching the last 10km. Could sagan/Gva working in tandem have brought back Gilbert suffering in a headwind? Quite possibly. Still: prob the ride of his life, which is saying something.

Where the hell did Terpstra come from??

#139

Pretty much how most Belgian roads are made

#140

Good to see Kittel win the Kittelprijs