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Sagan has been heavily marked for the last few seasons.
A lot of the riders are happy to give up their race rather than work with him.
Anyone ordered a Bora extractor yet?
No idea about the Merida as it was shown from the helicopter but it was uphill and not fast.
Sagan will now win PR just out of frustration
Is Kwiatkowski riding PR? 😉
Did anyone figure out what the hell happened to Sep Vanmarke? The road there is pretty innocuous so a bit surprised he binned it.
Commentators theorised his front wheel had been grabbed by the central slot between the two concrete slabs that made up the road at that point. It definitely had that look about it.
VanMarke's wheel got trapped by the central expansion joint - lots of Flemish side roads are concrete with big ridges and gaps..
QS will be gunning hard for P-Rx and will bring-out the A-team - Sagan and Bora lack the strength in depth to cover all the moves IMO. Dry weather all week means it's gonna be dusty.
They were letting Sagan do most of the work; I really couldn't see them working with him to bring Gilbert back ... the gap would have prob been bigger at the end if Sagan hadn't crashed.
Hard to say what would've happened had he not crashed. But I reckon more than likely it would have ended up as him and Van Avermaet chasing down Gilbert without a whole lot of assistance from anyone else. Who knows if they would have caught him. Gilbert was strong!
Anyone spot that Merida snap in half on a low speed off up a climb? One of the Bahrain-Merida riders
I noticed broken bikes more than once, on fairly innocuous accidents...
what a race though, best I've seen since the Boonen / Fabian face offs
What a ride, chapeau to Gillipe Philbert.
The Merida looked like it had snapped in the middle of the down and top tubes. Odd.
A great win, but considering how close Van Avermaert was at the finish I reckon if he and Sagan hadn't crashed, the result would have been different.
A great win, but considering how close Van Avermaert was at the finish I reckon if he and Sagan hadn't crashed, the result would have been different.
Gilbert rolled in for the last half k soaking it all in and got off and walked over the line holding his bike above his head.
Yeah, with about 400 metres to go he looked over his shoulder and sat up. Before then he looked like he'd eased off a little too (but probably only the last km).
Fantastic race though I felt the edge was taken off it by the fall from Sagan.
Of course that's part of racing and it's always a risk trying to ride on the edges along that stretch of road.
I thought GvA was a lot more visible in the work in the chase group than he sometimes is. Obviously winning the RvV is more significant to him than probably any other race.
Shame that Naesens went down too though. He's been super strong recently.
The road where Vanmarcke fell is bloody horrid. Bumpy as hell, always slippy with some really nasty gaps in the slabs. (but he should know that as it's not far from his home)
Was interesting watching him harangue the motorbikes for an update on his gap once his radio ran out of batteries, makes you realise the extra interest a radio ban could introduce.
It looked like there was no way he could stay away, then suddenly there was no way they could catch him. And that was before the crash.
Amazing effort.
Sagan's face after his crash was brilliant, so angry with himself.
Van Avermaert lost 30 seconds in his crash.. he finished 30 seconds behind Gilbert! Cracking race love some afternoon Leffe drinking too!
Is there a highlights reel anywhere? I only watched the first few km's then went out for the day.
Youtube is your friend! After Eurosport take an age to upload their catchup footage.
I thought Sagan showed real class not to go mental after that crash I'd be slamming my bike into the ground and ripping the railings down etc...
Tweet from Sagan showing his left arm caught a jacket which pulled him into the railings:
[url] https://twitter.com/petosagan/status/848891489153404928?s=09 [/url]
Still a class response though
Interesting to see what Specialized do with those rim brake Roubaixs, they wont want to sell them but have to by UCI rules.
The owner of that coat must be feeling a bit sheepish today.
I'm amazed how sanguine he was - "these things happen".
Re sagans crash, surprised it doesn't happen more. It was mental on that hill. Must've been 20,000 pissed and sunburnt people.
Gilbert and boonen looked strongest each time through. I think Tom looks good for roubaix
Boonen looked in the best form we've seen in ages, it was fabulous. It would be fantastic if he did well and Quickstep are so strong right now it has to be possible but it's roubaix - anything can happen
chakaping - Member
The owner of that coat must be feeling a bit sheepish today.
Said to the wife, Don't think anyone will be claiming that jacket.
Edit: nope, just looked again. Burn the jacket!
Cancellara reckons that riding along the barriers there is a calculated risk and that's why Sagan just views it as one of those things.