rattle rattle rattle bobble bobble rattle rattle  🙂

spectator wipeout!

I always find it ironic that a MTB website forum gets more interest for road racing, than the XC World Cups……

mental race into a relative normal corner! tense peloton ?

Where’s the best place for a live text feed?

rains started! as is the racing! love the Visma rider No to Mads request for a turn 🙂

Where’s the best place for a live text feed?

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-flanders-2024/elite-men/live-report/

Lizzie Diegnan crashed out of the Women’s race. 🙁

💥

Koppenberg!

Gnarly day out on a bike by any measure.

We saw MvDP go on the second ascent of the Kwaremont….looked in a league of his own. Had to leave to head back for the ferry, just seen that he’s got two minutes on everyone!

Impressive stuff!

Heartbreak for Bettiol and Teuns on the line – after working so hard for so long only to be caught literally in the last 50m…

Wow 😮😮😮😮

Conditions in the Women’s race absolutely grim, it’s pouring down now. Exciting race, still really open. Group of favourites has been ebbing and flowing for the last 15-20km.

Close finish! I was rooting for Vos but it wasn’t to be.

the men’s race really needed the baby faced assassin once WvA was ruled out.

So was Matthews disqualified?

So was Matthews disqualified?

Relegated but not disqualified from what I can see. So no podium for him

Yes relegated to the back of the group for an irregular sprint.

Great tactics by Lidl Trek in the women’s race.

When you sprint at 45 degrees across the track you can expect to be put to the back of the bunch by the comm! MVDP was in a class of his own as soon as it got uppy and slippy.  Love it when the bunch comes to a halt and start running. Absolute chaos. Will watch the race in full on the turbo, then the ladies race hilights next week. Then… Hell of the North. Pray for a nice cold wet blast of weather.

Then… Hell of the North.

Schelderprijs first!

https://www.cyclingnews.com/scheldeprijs/

Wednesday for both Men’s and Women’s races.

Then it’ll be time for Hell of the North!

The weather in the women’s race was proper minging….Watched both races from 60km or so out. Both showed that you have to be at the front on the Koppenberg to not get caught up in the falling-off mayhem that always happens, even in the dry. It’s not like it’s a new phenomenon either – people have been falling off there for decades! 🙂

The impressive thing about MVdP yesterday was at around 100km to say 50km to go, he sat back and watched others attack and was supported by his team very well. He never panicked but let the likes of Jorgensen and Pederson blow themselves up. Neither Lidl or Visma seemed able to organise their numbers into a coherent plan to put pressure on

Pretty cool that Nairo made the top 15 yesterday. Bodes well for Movistar this year

When you sprint at 45 degrees across the track you can expect to be put to the back of the bunch by the comm!

I’ve seen a lot of comments on social media to the effect that it wasn’t as bad as some, no danger caused etc.  I find it hard to accept that – he clearly impeded Pollitt and there was no danger because Pollitt came off the gas, otherwise he’d have been in the barriers (ask Fabio Jakobsen how that feels). But I’ve been criticised (maybe justifiably) for being naive as regards racing etiquette, so maybe I’m wrong.

Pretty cool that Nairo made the top 15 yesterday.

In what?

Nasty crash in the Women’s race. Broken arm for Lizzie Deignan and a broken jaw/teeth for Marlen Reusser. That’ll change things a bit for Roubaix.

criticised (maybe justifiably

nah. Head down straight at the line, no veering. Dem’s de roolz. He was all over the road. Might claim tiredness but clearly impeding other riders. Any team would have lodged a complaint.

No Cav in Schelderprijs. He’s going on a training camp.

Women’s results from what sounded (I was only following the live feed) to be a bit crashy.

1 WIEBES Lorena Team SD Worx-Protime 03:12:00
2 KOOL Charlotte Team dsm-firmenich PostNL + 00
3 FIDANZA Martina Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling + 00

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/scheldeprijs-women-2024/elite-women/results/

Men’s
1 MERLIER Tim Soudal Quick-Step 4H 17′ 04″
2 PHILIPSEN Jasper Alpecin-Deceuninck ”
3 GROENEWEGEN Dylan Team Jayco-AlUla ”

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/racing/results/scheldeprijs-tim-merlier-takes-revenge-on-jasper-philipsen

OK, now it’s time for the Paris-Roubaix build up!
I have to say that since even the full on race bikes became a bit more “all round”, I’m actually quite glad to see the back of the whole Paris-Roubiax mystique and special modifications stuff that got endlessly promoted – most riders now are just using normal race bikes, maybe with wider tyres. Gearing has got higher anyway as average speeds have increased, aero bikes are perfectly capable on cobbles so no need for the special edition cobble-specific machines. Just get on and ride it!

I’m actually quite glad to see the back of the whole Paris-Roubiax mystique and special modifications stuff that got endlessly promoted – most riders now are just using normal race bikes, maybe with wider tyres. Gearing has got higher anyway as average speeds have increased, aero bikes are perfectly capable on cobbles so no need for the special edition cobble-specific machines. Just get on and ride it!

I’d have to disagree with that. For me the weird and wonderful modified bikes were part of the joy of Paris-Roubaix.

Not having them takes something away from it in my mind.

I’m with @crossed and in general I have zero interest in bike technology at all!

This is apparently the chicane they’re building at the entrance to Arenberg in an attempt to stop the mad 60kph dash for positioning…. 😳

Is this a joke? 🤔 https://t.co/WkkUe2YC5U

— Mathieu Van der Poel (@mathieuvdpoel) April 3, 2024

Posted 3rd April, surely they’re a couple of days late with it?

Could you imagine the carnage of a group hitting a chicane like that, still desperate to be the first into Arenberg?

It would be a shame if they were to try and mess with the run in to Arenberg, the crazy sprint for position is one of the highlights of the race!

I agree, I think there’s just going to be a mad 60kph dash for a narrow chicane instead. All it’ll do is push the crash back to about 20m earlier. 🤷🏻‍♂️

There’s no complete start lists online yet but obvious omissions are WvA and Lizzie Deignan.

Official website (which also mentions the chicane by the way so it’s not an April Fool) is here:

https://www.paris-roubaix.fr/en/

That’s just ridiculous.
Arenberg will be awful, I’d imagine, if you’re hitting it at slower speeds and trying to get up speed on the cobbles. Especially so this year as it looks like it might be damp.

Maybe they should just have it like the sportive? When you get to the start of the sector you just have to slalom between the halfwits who think it’s a great idea to block the road to take photos.

Surely that chicane is an April Fool? That descent down to Arenberg is the most dramatic part of the race. I did the sportive years ago and the sense of doom approaching that gap in the forest was like nothing else. Somehow the cobbles are extra slippery no matter what the weather.

What are they going to do to stop riders having nasty crashes on tarmac? We’ve had several so far this year.

I think it was the riders who asked for safety measures to be fair. It’s hard to appreciate how bonkers the Arrenberg is on a road bike unless you’ve tried riding it. Doing it at the speeds they hit it must be terrifying.

I think it was the riders who asked for safety measures to be fair.

Yes it was – I think it’s a bit divisive but there are some riders coming out strongly in favour of it.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/paris-roubaix-contender-matteo-jorgenson-voices-strong-support-for-new-arenberg-forest-entry-chicane/

The problem is that it’s the first selective cobble sector of the race so there’s a sprint for position before getting singled out. If the big bunch sprinting into it is a problem then the correct fix is probably more selective cobble sectors before it to thin out the race, not a stupid tarmac chicane to sprint into instead.