Pro Cycling Chit Chat

[murf]

Pidcock looked good winning his (lesser) classic last week..is he in it today? Would be good to see him try and take on Pog or is that a thankless/ pointless task?

[blahblah]

It was at SB

[murf]

Pidcock looked good winning his (lesser) classic last week..is he in it today? Would be good to see him try and take on Pog or is that a thankless/ pointless task?

Stolen content:
Top favorites: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Outsiders: Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Long shots: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello - Q36.5), Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG), Matteo Jorgenson, Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost)

Both favourites under 2/1 Pidcock has 20/1 available....
https://www.oddschecker.com/cycling/mil ... emo/winner

[unc.si]

Descent off the Poggio is probably Pidders best chance. Of course he's got to be with the front few riders at the top, and even then there's a long way to hold off the likes of Ganna, vdP and Pog when you get to the bottom.

[blahblah]

Or take him out with a crash?

Along with most/all other big hitters

[unc.si]

so close for Pidcock!

Pog 'just' has to win Paris Roubaix to join a very very exclusive club. He would actually be the only non-Belgian rider to win all 5 monuments, joining Merckx, Van Looy and de Vlaminck.

[Mystery]

Excellent finish. Great rides

[blahblah]

so close for Pidcock!

Pog 'just' has to win Paris Roubaix to join a very very exclusive club. He would actually be the only non-Belgian rider to win all 5 monuments, joining Merckx, Van Looy and de Vlaminck.

Not to mention a few GT's

[murf]

Half a wheel....

[unc.si]

Holy week starting on Sunday with de Ronde.

Obviously Pog starts as favourite, but MvdP seems to have recovered from his hand injury in MSR, albeit maybe not at his absolute 100% best? Wout looks to be back close to his top form. Would love to see him win but hard to see how, although he was probably the most impressive rider at MSR outside of Pog. Remco riding is an interesting change to the dynamics. If anyone can reel Pog back after the Paterberg its Remco, although he'd likely to drag others with him and he won't win a sprint against any of them. Remco's presence might turn out to be WvA's best chance of winning. Mads will probably be in the mix, but even though he looked good last week his injuries must surely take the edge off him. If he gets to the finale in a small group though he's fast enough to beat anyone after a long tough race.

Last forecast i saw was OK weather but windy, and given the winding nature of the latter part of the race we're going to see a lot of changes in wind direction relative to the riders. A tailwind after the Paterberg pretty much hands Pog the win (assuming no disasters earlier in the race) but a headwind would make it very interesting.


Then onto Roubaix. Pretty tough to see Pog winning there. He really shouldn't be able to beat the big powerful riders there, but he really does seem to be able to do anything so never count him out.

whatever happens, its the best week in the cycling calendar. Just a pity that they're so hard to watch from the UK. I'll be starting my search for Dutch or Belgian streams via a VPN on Sunday morning!

[blahblah]

Good luck with the stream hunt....

Apparently Brel's last gig was in Roubaix and he wrote so many appropriate songs for the race

[unc.si]

NOS (Dutch stream) working via VPN

[murf]

NOS (Dutch stream) working via VPN

It's on TNT.

[unc.si]

TNT is no use if you don't have a TNT subscription though, unless its free these days?

nice ride by Remco but the result was never really in doubt.

[Mystery]

TNT is no use if you don't have a TNT subscription though, unless its free these days?

nice ride by Remco but the result was never really in doubt.

Access to HBO Max (TNT) comes free with many types of Sky subscription now though.

[unc.si]

good to know. No use to me as I don't have any Sky subscriptions but good that it is at least available in the UK. The Dutch streams work pretty well though tbh. Obviously the commentary isnt in English but you don't really need commentary for a bike race.

[unc.si]

Round 2 tomorrow
MvdP going for 4 in a row (never been done)
Pog going for 5 consecutive monuments (never been done)

Cue Ganna…..

[unc.si]

If Pog does win, which he shouldn’t really be able to but barring accidents is an evens bet, you wouldn’t bet against him winning LBL and Lombardia to make it all 5 monuments in a season and 7 consecutive in total.

VdP favourite for me, although there are plenty of riders capable of springing a surprise if the big 2 watch each other too much or have a poorly timed mechanical or chute.

[unc.si]

Fantastic to see WvA finally win a cobbled monument. So happy for him.
Never really in doubt when they entered the velodrome together.