2025 Classics

[eth-dog]

Started about 2 hours ago. Omloop Nieuwsblad on right now, Wout the favourite, Kaden Groves probably the best chance at a top 10 from an Aussie perspective. Strade in a week, then the monuments come thick and fast with MSR, Flanders, Roubaix and Liege within 5 weeks of each other. Predictions for the monuments:

MSR: Phillipsen
Flanders: MvdP
Roubaix: WVA
Liege: Evenepoel
Lombardia: Pogacar

 

[largebus]

Best news so far is SBS actually have the rights for the men's Strade Bianche for a change.

 

[eth-dog]

Best news so far is SBS actually have the rights for the men's Strade Bianche for a change.

Had em last year as well

StayLive you can get most of the rest at on $6 a month as well

 

[Over The Post]

... and I'm going to be in NZ with the races finishing two hours later than here

Highlights packages here we come

 

[Vader]

Strade Bianchi was fun overnight.

Pog attacked with 90km to go, but Pidcock was able to go with him. At 50km to go, Pog falls off after losing his front wheel going too fast around a corner (it's 100% self inflicted, nothing wrong with the road and no interference from any other rider). Pidcock keeps going, as he is perfectly entitled to do (the crash was due to rider error, not "bad luck"). Pog re-mounts and sets off in pursuit, rapidly closing the 35 seconds he'd lost and catching Pidcock after only about 3-5 km.

Pog's lovely white nicks are tattered and torn, and there's blood coming from grazes on his arm, shoulder and legs. How much has the crash taken out of him? How much has the chase taken out of him? He's clearly more tentative on the descents, for a while at least.

Pog & Pidcock ride together for the next 20 km. The route contains a loop, taking them past the site of Pog's fall - he gives a big thumbs up as they ride past it for the 2nd time. Then they hit the penultimate white road section...

Pog attacks as soon as the road starts to steepen. Pidcock holds his wheel for about 100m, then the gap opens. By the time they reach the top of the hill Pidcock has already lost 30 seconds, and it's game over. Pog continues to open the gap until he has a lead of 75 seconds, which he maintains all the way to the finish line.

Remarkably, all of the top-10 riders reached the finish line solo, the last of the chasing groups having (presumably) broken up on the Wall of Sienna.

Pog now becomes:

• The 2nd rider to win Strade Bianchi 3 times (along with Fabian Cancellara), and now jointly holds the record for most wins.
• The 1st rider to win Strade Bianchi while wearing the World Champion colours.
• The 1st rider to win Strade Bianchi in consecutive years.

 

[eth-dog]

Guys a freak. If anyone can surpass Eddy, it's him.

 

[botswana42]

when was the last time pogacar crashed like that? 22' tour?

 

[eth-dog]

when was the last time pogacar crashed like that? 22' tour?

He had a bad one 23 Liege which affected his tour Prep

 

[Vader]

Guys a freak. If anyone can surpass Eddy, it's him.

He still has a long way to go to match Eddy. To put it bluntly - for all his outstanding achievements he's still only 1/3 of the way to matching Merckx.

Merckx won all 3 Grand Tours (11x GTs in total), all 5 monuments multiple times (19x monuments in total), and 3 WCs.

Pog has won the TdF 3x and the Giro 1x - but he hasn't (yet) won the Vuelta. That could well change this year, if he backs up after the TdF. With 4x GTs to his name, he's still only 1/3 of the way to matching Merckx's record.

Pog has won Lombardia 4x, Liege 2x, and Flanders 1x. He hasn't raced Roubaix (yet), and he hasn't won Milan-San Remo in 4 attempts. That leaves him short of the sweep, and 12x monuments (total) short of Merckx's record.

Pog has won 1x WC, again only 1/3 of Merckx's total.

Having said all that, Pog is only 26 - and age at which most riders are just coming into their prime. There is every reason to expect that he will build on his already impressive palmares. Pog is almost certainly the best all-round rider since Mercks, but he still has a LOT of work ahead of him to match Merckx's record(s).

The big question is whether or not he can conquer Roubaix and MSR? Mercks won both on multiple occasions, so their absence leaves a big hole in Pog's palmares and pretty much puts to rest any claims of being better than Merckx.

 

[eth-dog]

He still has a long way to go to match Eddy. To put it bluntly - for all his outstanding achievements he's still only 1/3 of the way to matching Merckx.

Merckx won all 3 Grand Tours (11x GTs in total), all 5 monuments multiple times (19x monuments in total), and 3 WCs.

Pog has won the TdF 3x and the Giro 1x - but he hasn't (yet) won the Vuelta. That could well change this year, if he backs up after the TdF. With 4x GTs to his name, he's still only 1/3 of the way to matching Merckx's record.

Pog has won Lombardia 4x, Liege 2x, and Flanders 1x. He hasn't raced Roubaix (yet), and he hasn't won Milan-San Remo in 4 attempts. That leaves him short of the sweep, and 12x monuments (total) short of Merckx's record.

Pog has won 1x WC, again only 1/3 of Merckx's total.

Having said all that, Pog is only 26 - and age at which most riders are just coming into their prime. There is every reason to expect that he will build on his already impressive palmares. Pog is almost certainly the best all-round rider since Mercks, but he still has a LOT of work ahead of him to match Merckx's record(s).

The big question is whether or not he can conquer Roubaix and MSR? Mercks won both on multiple occasions, so their absence leaves a big hole in Pog's palmares and pretty much puts to rest any claims of being better than Merckx.

I know. Eddy is Bradman like. It's a hell of a gap and I don't see it happening but if anyone can, it's Pogi

 

[largebus]

He's announced he's not doing Roubaix because of his Strade crash. FFS

 

[eth-dog]

He's announced he's not doing Roubaix because of his Strade crash. FFS

He was never doing Roubaix

 

[largebus]

What a finish! Pogi showing he is mortal not being able to drop MVDP after countless attacks on the Poggio and losing the sprint

 

[eth-dog]

What a finish! Pogi showing he is mortal not being able to drop MVDP after countless attacks on the Poggio and losing the sprint

He's never been able to drop him on the Poggio. The fact he couldn't drop Ganna either...

 

[Orange Agent]

UAE have messed up the last 2 attempts at MSR. This year's plan was much better but they didn't get the train right for the Cipressa. Poggio just doesn't have enough ramp. A few of his attacks were poorly timed too. But he's getting close to getting it.

Now PR has been confirmed. There has been talk he wanted to race it in WC kit. MVDP won both Flanders and PR in WC kit, only one other rider has won PR in rainbow stripes. Its audacious, but he doesn't do things just for fun.

 

[largebus]

He was never doing Roubaix

He must've heard both of us.

 

[eth-dog]

He must've heard both of us.

He's not finishing top 30 IMO. Crazy decision for where he's at

 

[Vader]

The Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlanderen) is on Sunday night. The Ronde is the 2nd of cycling's 5x "Monuments", with the 3rd (Paris-Roubaix) following next week.

SBS coverage starts at 5:55pm, so presumably they're going to show the race in its entirety.

The route can be seen below:

The first 125km are just a casual ride through the Belgian countryside, with the sole aim of putting km into the riders' legs, to fatigue them ahead of the finale. This first section is generally rather boring. The real fun starts with 140km to go, with the first assent of the Oude Kwaremont climb/berg. After that the bergs come in quick succession, until the final run to the finish line.

With MVDP and Pog riding the race, the odds on anyone else winning are astronomical. WVA will be attempting to win his first Monument since the 2020 MSR, but his chances of beating the two greats appear slim at best.

 

[eth-dog]

The Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlanderen) is on Sunday night. The Ronde is the 2nd of cycling's 5x "Monuments", with the 3rd (Paris-Roubaix) following next week.

SBS coverage starts at 5:55pm, so presumably they're going to show the race in its entirety.

The route can be seen below:

The first 125km are just a casual ride through the Belgian countryside, with the sole aim of putting km into the riders' legs, to fatigue them ahead of the finale. This first section is generally rather boring. The real fun starts with 140km to go, with the first assent of the Oude Kwaremont climb/berg. After that the bergs come in quick succession, until the final run to the finish line.

With MVDP and Pog riding the race, the odds on anyone else winning are astronomical. WVA will be attempting to win his first Monument since the 2020 MSR, but his chances of beating the two greats appear slim at best.

He couldn't even beat Powless in Dwaars Door.

 

[largebus]

Colour me shocked, you know who won. He'll have more opposition i.e. less hills at Roubaix though.

 

[Vader]

He couldn't even beat Powless in Dwaars Door.

He came within less than half a bike length of the podium in the end.

 

[Vader]

Colour me shocked, you know who won. He'll have more opposition i.e. less hills at Roubaix though.

The question is whether or not Tadej can fulfill his ambition to "complete" cycling, becoming only the 2nd rider to do so (after Eddy Merckx)?

To complete cycling a rider needs to win all 9 of the major races:

• 3x Grand Tours (Tour, Giro, Vuelta)
• 5x Monuments (MSR, Flanders, Roubaix, Liege, Lombardy)
• World Championship Road Race

You can arguably add the Olympic Road Race to that list, but most people don't.

To date, Tadej has won 6 of the 9 races (some of them multiple times). Those missing from his palmares are the Vuelta, Roubaix, and MSR. I doubt there is anyone on the planet who thinks he can't/won't win the Vuelta, it's just a matter of him actually entering. That leaves MSR and Roubaix as his great challenges.

He's tried to win MSR on several occasions, getting on the podium but never the top step. It's possible he could win it one day, if MVDP isn't there to stop him. That leaves Roubaix as the great unknown - and we'll see just how he handles this challenge next weekend.

Tadej can never be considered Merckx's equal until/unless he "completes" cycling, given that Merckx managed to achieve it. He is already, however, unquestionably, the 2nd greatest rider in history.

 

[Orange Agent]

Absolute cracker of a race. MVDP crashing and being caught out of position a number of times was the difference. Expecting the same at PR, he doesn't need hills to do damage, his race craft and bike handling skills are good enough to win it. Witnessing greatness in every race he starts.

 

[Vader]

Absolute cracker of a race. MVDP crashing and being caught out of position a number of times was the difference. Expecting the same at PR, he doesn't need hills to do damage, his race craft and bike handling skills are good enough to win it. Witnessing greatness in every race he starts.

He and WVA both had problems mid-race, but were both there at the finish - albeit a minute behind the untouchable Pog.

It will be interesting to see how Pog goes in Roubaix, where he won't have any hills or bergs to use as a launch platform for his trademark attacks.

 

[Vader]

Paris-Roubaix, AKA the Queen of the Classics, AKA The Hell of the North, is on next Sunday. SBS coverage commences at 7:05pm AEST, so I assume they're covering the race from start to finish.

The race is 259.2km in length, with 30x cobblestone sectors, plus the 300m ceremonial sector just outside the stadium at Roubaix. The longest sectors are #28 & #17, both 3700m in length. As always, the hardest (5-star) sectors will be #19 Trouee D'Arenberg, #11 Mons-en-Pevele, and #4 Carrefour-de-L'Arbre.

The first cobblestone sector comes ~95km into the race, so you can probably skip/fast forward the first 85km. After that, the action comes thick & fast.

The route map is shown below:

Race organisers have added 2 new sectors, #23 and #24, both before the Trouee D'Arenberg. More importantly, they've changed the approach to the Arenberg forest for the 2nd year running. Last year they made the riders go through a chicane, just before entering the forest. This year they're diverting them using existing roads instead:

The objective here is to slow the riders down, making it safer for them as they enter the Arenberg forest.

The last 2 editions have been won by MVDP, in dominant fashion. This year he'll have a new contender, in Tadej Pogacar, as the Pog attempts to "complete" cycling. Pog has done really well on the cobblestone stages in the Tour de France, so it will be interesting to see how he goes in the Hell of the North. Other possible contenders include Top Ganna, Mads Pedersen, and WVA, though history does suggest that this is one race where rank outsiders do have a chance (e.g. Matt Hayman) - though things would have to go drastically wrong for MVDP & Pog for this to eventuate.