SPOILER of the YEAR

[Nomadmax]

Originally Posted by merckx

la was the dumbest m’effer in the peloton.

^ truth ^

[trener1]

Not to derail the thread..... but Lance's really dumb move was declining to give Floyd a spot on the team in 2008 (or whatever year that was).

Ok.. back to Worlds

[fourflys]

1. I agree that, if Pogi is on something, it would be pretty crazy to win so one-sidedly.. I can't believe his trainer/coach/etc would let him keep doing that race after race..

2. I think Pogi is just a once in a generation racer that is just that superhuman at this point in his career.. maybe some others have a similar capability (or at least close to it) and maybe just aren't as "eff it, I'll just go" as Pogi seems to be.. as he said in his interview, that was a stupid move he did at 100k and he was lucky it worked out.. it seems his moves like that aren't planned..

3. I'm having fun watching Pogi.. maybe it comes out at some point that he, and only he, was on some super-secret sauce that just made him that much better.. maybe.. but I'm going to choose to be optimistic and just enjoy it while I can.. trying to always question, see the bad side, being pessimistic is just too tiring for me.. I see way too much other confirmed sorrow, etc, I don't need to assume it is everywhere..

[mercretas]

As a Tadej fan, it was a great race to watch. There were a few minutes in the last lap when he took a bit of a breather and the gap started to shrink where I got nervous that he no longer has the legs to win, but then he blew up his lead again. The triple crown is an amazing achievement.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by Spoker

I can see Remco's frustration with nobody willing to pull.
I also think a race with an in form WvA may have ended differently.
Incredible ride and guts by Pogacar.

Yes, what I meant above

[holliscx]

Michael Woods eating out of Tupperware during the race with a spoon is the real WC

[reuben]

Originally Posted by holliscx

Michael Woods eating out of Tupperware during the race with a spoon is the real WC

If I remember the commentary correctly (Anthony McCrossan?), it's some sort of carbonate to help with digestion of all of the glucose they consume.

[denapista]

Pogi is playing Chess while the other guys are playing checkers... Everyone is undermining his race knowledge, outside of his talent and training. I follow his training on IG and he puts in the work.

He attacked with 100km to go and none of the favorites went with him, basically letting him TT away to a win. Pogi is smart and understands the lack of working together in the peloton. This is exactly what transpired when he attacked. The peloton went full nuclear with no one wanting to chase it down.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by denapista

He attacked with 100km to go and none of the favorites went with him, basically letting him TT away to a win. Pogi is smart and understands the lack of working together in the peloton. This is exactly what transpired when he attacked. The peloton went full nuclear with no one wanting to chase it down.

I understand not wanting to go with the immediate attack (assuming anybody even could) but the inability to reel him back in over the next ~60 miles is insane. That's a lot of time to get a rotation going and the group was still a decent size (10+ right, or am I misremembering the timing)?

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by Alistair

I understand not wanting to go with the immediate attack (assuming anybody even could) but the inability to reel him back in over the next ~60 miles is insane. That's a lot of time to get a rotation going and the group was still a decent size (10+ right, or am I misremembering the timing)?

It was several riders, but the presence of Remco and VDP meant that no one else was doing the work to drag those two to the podium. Classic Group 2 syndrome. That's why Skuijns refused a couple turns and then later broke away with Healy- he knew that group as composed had zero shot at cooperation.
Honestly, that race was over when Remco decided to bridge up to Group 2. There's an alternate timeline where Belgium organizes an all-out chase with its 8. (!) riders and brings everything back together in a lap or lap and a half. Instead, they dithered about then seemed to act like this wasn't a Defcon 5 serious problem for them. I don't think I ever saw Jasper Stuyven, Q Hermans, or Tiesj Benoot in the wind once, and what are they even doing there if not domestiquing for Remco?

[trener1]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

, they dithered about then seemed to act like this wasn't a Defcon 5 serious problem for them. I don't think I ever saw Jasper Stuyven, Q Hermans, or Tiesj Benoot in the wind once, and what are they even doing there if not domestiquing for Remco?

I don't want to be rude.... but I am not sure what race you were watching Quintan Hermans and Victor Camparnats went to the front and rode ALL OUT for as long as they could, they did actually bring the gap down ever so slightly, then MVDP attacked, and they got blow out the back, the commentators were also talking about Tiesj, he was did not help pull, but he was on a bad day, they showed him getting gaped on some really small "climbs", I can't comment on Jasper.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by trener1

I don't want to be rude.... but I am not sure what race you were watching Quintan Hermans and Victor Camparnats went to the front and rode ALL OUT for as long as they could, they did actually bring the gap down ever so slightly, then MVDP attacked, and they got blow out the back, the commentators were also talking about Tiesj, he was did not help pull, but he was on a bad day, they showed him getting gaped on some really small "climbs", I can't comment on Jasper.

Yeah, it was a really long race, and they had already ridden for 100 miles when Pogacar first attacked. The course was basically never flat, so not a good for an efficient chase. The reason Pogacar stayed away wasn't because of tactics, it was fitness. By the end, even as Pogacar started to look like he was struggling, everyone in the chase group was struggling too.

[trener1]

There was one point during the race, maybe 65k to go or something, there were like 6 Belgium guys at the front.
I can't seem to find a good photo gallery anywhere but they were DEFINITELY chasing all out

[rwsaunders]

Tim Wellens: “We should have been more up front when Tadej attacked… Just before the World Championships, I went to train with Tadej in Monaco. He said then that he wouldn’t wait until the final lap. I thought he was joking.”

[trener1]