2026 Classics

[eth-dog]

Opening Weekend starts tomorrow night with Omloop Nieuwsblad and then Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday.

Strade is the following Saturday, then we get into the Monuments. Monument predictions:

Milano-San Remo: Jasper Phillipsen
Ronde van Vlaanderen: Tadej Pogacar
Paris-Roubaix: Mathieu van der Poel
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Remco Evenepoel
Il Lombardia: Tadej Pogacar

 

[Vader]

Some big calls there... Nominating anyone other than MVDP & Pog for MSR is brave. I can only assume Pog isn't riding LBL, if you've named Remco to win that race?

I'll back the winners from last year to repeat
MSR: MVDP
Flanders: Pog
Roubaix: MVDP
Liege: Pog
Lombardia: Pog

 

[eth-dog]

Some big calls there... Nominating anyone other than MVDP & Pog for MSR is brave. I can only assume Pog isn't riding LBL, if you've named Remco to win that race?

I'll back the winners from last year to repeat
MSR: MVDP
Flanders: Pog
Roubaix: MVDP
Liege: Pog
Lombardia: Pog

Nah he is but I feel it's the one race Remco can maybe beat him.

And Phillipsen won it 2 years ago so not really that brave.

 

[Daka]

Visma seem to be cursed this season, with WvA pulling out of the Omloop,
wonder if he did that because MVDP added it.

 

[Vader]

Nah he is but I feel it's the one race Remco can maybe beat him.

And Phillipsen won it 2 years ago so not really that brave.

Jasper is the less brave of the two calls, though it's hard to see him getting over the last climb with Pog & MVDP if they attack it as hard as they did last year.

Given that this is the only Monument which Pog is yet to win, he will be thworing the kitchen sink at it.

 

[eth-dog]

Visma seem to be cursed this season, with WvA pulling out of the Omloop,
wonder if he did that because MVDP added it.

Nah, they'll be setting it up for Phillipsen. If anything Brennan would have been who they set up for.

Jasper is the less brave of the two calls, though it's hard to see him getting over the last climb with Pog & MVDP if they attack it as hard as they did last year.

Given that this is the only Monument which Pog is yet to win, he will be thworing the kitchen sink at it.

He hasn't won Roubaix either mate

 

[Daka]

Very surprised that Pogacar is favorite for San Remo on Sportsbet
MVDP will beat him in 9/10 in a sprint. not sure what the bookies are thinking there...

 

[Vader]

Very surprised that Pogacar is favorite for San Remo on Sportsbet
MVDP will beat him in 9/10 in a sprint. not sure what the bookies are thinking there...

View attachment 2537499

Maybe thinking there's a chance he offloads MVDP on the Poggio this time around?

 

[Daka]

Maybe thinking there's a chance he offloads MVDP on the Poggio this time around?

I still don't know how u can have him favorite,
not saying Pogacar is no chance.

 

[Vader]

I still don't know how u can have him favorite,
not saying Pogacar is no chance.

2.75 vs 2.80 is not a huge difference. They're the 2 clear favourites, which is entirely understandable.

Having anyone else as a favourite would be an absolute long shot.

 

[The Kings Ransom]

Surprised how low Alpecin and Visma are in particular

Without Matthews Jayco might be last.

 

[Daka]

 

[Daka]

Pogacar has lost his two best helpers for San Remo...

2.75 vs 2.80 is not a huge difference. They're the 2 clear favourites, which is entirely understandable.

Having anyone else as a favourite would be an absolute long shot.

 

[Vader]

Pogacar has lost his two best helpers for San Remo...



View attachment 2539196

Will be interesting to see if the flips the favouritism odds for MSR.

... then again, Pog has never been overly dependent on his teammates (though he's had by far the strongest team for the last 2 years). When he goes on a climb, there is simply no rider in the world (not even Jonas) who can go with him for more than a few hundred metres.

 

[eth-dog]

So from what I can gleam, Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo and Gent-Wevelgem (Now called "In Flanders Field") will all be covered by SBS. Staylive Cycling is gone and the subscription service you could use is FloBikes, but the price for them is about $40 for a monthly subscription, or $160 for an annual subscription.

In terms of classics Flobikes will have Ronde van Brugge (formerly Brugge-De Panne), the E3 Saxo Classic, Copenhagen Sprint and likely Il Lombardia. I don't think it's worth the subscription tbh. They will have Tirreno and Itzulia for the stage races

 

[Vader]

So from what I can gleam, Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo and Gent-Wevelgem (Now called "In Flanders Field") will all be covered by SBS. Staylive Cycling is gone and the subscription service you could use is FloBikes, but the price for them is about $40 for a monthly subscription, or $160 for an annual subscription.

In terms of classics Flobikes will have Ronde van Brugge (formerly Brugge-De Panne), the E3 Saxo Classic, Copenhagen Sprint and likely Il Lombardia. I don't think it's worth the subscription tbh. They will have Tirreno and Itzulia for the stage races

I could be wrong, but I thought SBS had ALL the monuments (i.e. Lombardia). I'd swear that's what they were advertising last year, though I don't remember seeing the Lombardia pop up in the TV schedule.

 

[eth-dog]

I could be wrong, but I thought SBS had ALL the monuments (i.e. Lombardia). I'd swear that's what they were advertising last year, though I don't remember seeing the Lombardia pop up in the TV schedule.

They haven't had Lombardia for a while. They have the other 4 and Strade as the "unofficial fifth".

 

[Vader]

They haven't had Lombardia for a while. They have the other 4 and Strade as the "unofficial fifth".

I just remember them advertising that they had all 5 monuments. Maybe my memory is faulty. I certainly don't remember seeing Lombardia on SBS, whereas I watched all of the others + Strade Bianchi on SBS. Mind you, Lombardy is at a completely different time of year to the others.

... and why I bothered to watch the whole of MSR I will never know. I'm not sure it's possible to conceive of a duller and less interesting route. This year I will just be recording it, and watching the last 40km. Nothing ever happens before the Poggio anyway.

 

[eth-dog]

I just remember them advertising that they had all 5 monuments. Maybe my memory is faulty. I certainly don't remember seeing Lombardia on SBS, whereas I watched all of the others + Strade Bianchi on SBS. Mind you, Lombardy is at a completely different time of year to the others.

... and why I bothered to watch the whole of MSR I will never know. I'm not sure it's possible to conceive of a duller and less interesting route. This year I will just be recording it, and watching the last 40km. Nothing ever happens before the Poggio anyway.

Maybe the Cipressa, given Pogi has his two best domestiques for MSR missing

 

[Vader]

Maybe the Cipressa, given Pogi has his two best domestiques for MSR missing

Either way, I can happily skip the first 250km, knowing that I won't be missing a damn thing - not action in the race, nor scenery as they ride past.

 

[The Kings Ransom]

You will be able to watch retrospectively via SBS on demand, no need to record anything.

 

[Vader]

You will be able to watch retrospectively via SBS on demand, no need to record anything.

SBS on Demand is only at 720p, and the picture is barely watchable. My PVR records at the full 1080i, and allows me to skip past the ads. I'll take option B every day of the week.

 

[BigVic]

FloBikes and VPN is the best to the US

 

[eth-dog]

Anyway, Strade starts 00:20 Sunday morning on SBS. Hoping Ben Healy can do something to challenge Pogi, although I doubt it.

14 gravel sectors in this years edition

 

[Vader]

Anyway, Strade starts 00:20 Sunday morning on SBS. Hoping Ben Healy can do something to challenge Pogi, although I doubt it.

14 gravel sectors in this years edition

SBS coverage of Strade starts at 00:20. I'm guessing the race starts 2-3 hours earlier, while SBS are still showing the Women's race.