Forum menu
Looks like Faulkner is toast. Shame that Cecilie didn’t make the break.
Looks like Faulkner is toast.
I so want her to hang on for this! She's done a phenomenal ride.
Man. I flippin' love this race.
An honorable mention goes to Puck Pieterse who unironically celebrated 6th place.
He might have been a great rider but Phil Gil lacks a certain je ne sais quoi in his reports from the back of the motorbike.
Men's race has properly woken up now as they come onto one of the longer sections of gravel. They're really drilling it!
70km to go
bit disappointing wante haven't brought Biniam Girmay :/
💥
Bloody hell that boy can descend!
looks like a man on a mission
An honorable mention goes to Puck Pieterse who unironically celebrated 6th place.
Bit disappointed she didn't do a one handed Wheely whilst hi fiving the crowd.
Pidcock...boom....
GCN has no commentary?
GCN is fine here
Pidcock has certainly forced this to kick off!
Weird. I have the background sound such as the helicopter but the commentary won't cast to the tv
Sometimes there’s a stream with no commentary and one with (**** knows why). Might be worth exiting and seeing if there’s a second option
MvP doesn'[t look to be on his best day
As soon as I stop casting the commentary come on my phone so it's not the stream
Ah didn’t realise you were casting, not sure what’s going on there then
Ooft, 23km solo coming up (hopefully)!
Going to be close!
Dramatic stuff.
Right, 10 mile TT...
every time I see this with a Brit in the second group I think the manpower has to prevail, but they piss about waiting for someone to take the initiative and the soloist stays away.
Why do i suspect it won't happen today?
This is nailbiting stuff!
Come on Tom!! Odds against but bloody hell
I can hardly bear to watch !!
lol through and off and they would of had him!
lol through and off and they would of had him!
Yeah but it's such a tough finish that no-one wants to waste themselves to bring it back then be dropped on the final climb. They're kind of racing for 2nd place now but it's still in the balance.
Just don't try any tail whips Tom!
🤣
Yeah but it’s such a tough finish that no-one wants to waste themselves to bring it back then be dropped on the final climb. They’re kind of racing for 2nd place now but it’s still in the balance.
they must’ve been able to see him at points there. Nobody would’ve even have to bury themselves if they’d just kept cooperating a little longer. It’s done now though, not coming back unless Pidcock explodes
Shame MVdP isn’t on it though
he looks a tad tired 😀
had to go out so had it on pause, just caught up with the last 10km. Fabulous ride, and so glad my earlier prediction was proved wrong (or, was it weird reverse psychology?)
https://twitter.com/INEOSGrenadiers/status/1632100595417980937?t=gO-7UFUj13T3WBc8DYZUnA&s=19
Some pics from the Ineos twitter feed.
Paris-Nice starts tomorrow then the next Classic is Milan-SanRemo on 18th!
Really great peice on the mens race by Kate Wagner of Derailleur:
https://derailleur.substack.com/p/pale-grit?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
She points out that Pidcock didn't just win cos of second group syndrome - he really had to dig for every advantage to keep the chasers at bay.
Good race. Not enough "wild" horsey action though - I think that could catch on as a feature
She points out that Pidcock didn’t just win cos of second group syndrome
Being in a group has it's pluses and minuses - Tom didn't have anyone with him to waste time manoeuvring, but he also didn't have anyone with him to share the work. He won. Says so in the paper.
p.s. I'd love to have heard what was said in the Jumbo-Visma bus on the way home!!
bet the atmosphere in the jumbo visma team bus was frosty 🙂 snap on the edit
p.s. I’d love to have heard what was said in the Jumbo-Visma bus on the way home!!
I want to know what was said on the SD Worx team bus!
Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering were racing it right to the line - almost like each had reneged on the thought of gifting the win to the other. Would be fascinating to know if there were team orders like "Kopecky is the team leader, she gets it" or "Kopecky won last year, help Vollering to the win".
And Vollering was either very understated or still really annoyed in her first post-race interview...
Wonder if Vollering was more annoyed at Faulkner seeming to block her (twice?) on the final climb?
I would have thought the sensible team instruction would be "if two of you come to the line together and there's no chance of you being caught them it doesn't matter who wins, it's up to you".
unfortunately pidders will be marked man @ flanders now along with WvA & MvdP though after yesterdays performance he has to fancy his chances!
25km of frantic racing @ Paris Nice. fascinating pre tour "who's the boss" going on between visma & uae
wow!
25km of frantic racing @ Paris Nice. fascinating pre tour “who’s the boss” going on between visma & uaewow!
Yep, full gas racing throughout, great stage.
That's on for a week and Tirreno-Adriatico starts tomorrow, featuring a certain Mr T Pidcock.
Cav is also supposed to be riding although it's interesting to note that his leadout man Cees Bol is at Paris-Nice.
Both finish next weekend then it's back to the one-day races on 18th March with Milan-San Remo.
Think I'll start a separate thread for the stage races. Too scared to click on this thread in case there's any P-N spoilers (which there weren't yet thanks to @Klunk's careful wording).
Does Strade Bianche count? I know it's not officially a spring classic but it does get the main classics riders entering. Watched the highlights last night and thought it was a good race.