mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Do they still ride Specialized? Awful tyres from an awful company IMO
Spring Classics *Spoilers*
- Thread starter Archie
- Start date
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BalkanExpress
Legendary Member
- Location
- Brussels
Yes...but possibly no.... Certainly for Paris Roubaix a lot of teams run non-sponsored tubulars often FMB or Dugast. I imagine Strada would be similar, ( I now have a good excuse to look at lots of race photos to check
).To further complicate matters, I have seen FMB tubs with Specialized tread on them, (special order) so in fact the answer may be "Yes, but no, but actualy sort of yes"
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Alan Phillips seemed to play that textbook, refusing to go on the front for the last km and starting his sprint as late as possible to avoid being caught by the proportion, but could do nothing about Wout.
Andrew Br
Still part of the team !
- Location
- Chorlton Cum Hardy
In a similar vein, look how stable (and fast) Van Aert was through the corners on the last descent where Alaphilippe looked to be right on the ragged edge. I think it's acknowledged that Apaphilippe is a good descender: Van Aert looks to be in another league.
SWSteve
Guru
- Location
- Bristol...ish
WvA looked so smooth on the descent, made me jealous of his ability to use the whole of the road when flying downhill.
also, Alaphilippe had some punctures(you might have heard) which may have had an impact on him trying to get ahead of the pack (with WvA) to get a2-up sprint rather than a larger bunch
Adam4868
Guru
Yes was a masterclass...regarding descending.I reckon some bike riders make it look effortless and are full of confidence.Sagan,Nibali,Mohoric,Bardet are just a few of the top of my head.Whilst some can descend fast enough but give you the jitters watching,taking massive risks.
Froome to name just one ! Effective but scary to watch.
Froome to name just one ! Effective but scary to watch.
Andrew Br
Still part of the team !
- Location
- Chorlton Cum Hardy
That's the difference though: Van Aert was using most of the road but he wasn't drifting wide and he was half a metre from any apex. Alaphilippe was continually jinking away from the edges on the exit of the corners costing him time. It was interesting that Van Aert went ahead (easily) on the rest of the descent and Alaphilippe was happy to follow. He (Alaphilppe) was also much smoother through the corners after that.
I think it's down to technique/ability rather than tyre grip.
The sprint too: Alaphilippe's bike was going left-right which, presumably, was scrubbing the tyres and turning some of his power into heat. Van Aert's more linear motions were just propelling him forward.
It would be interesting to see their respective power outputs in the sprint: I suspect Van Aert's was lower (adjusted for weight if there was a gradient: aero wise they looked on a par to me) just because he wasn't "crabbing". If it had been raining, Van Aert would have been even better off; putting the power down when grip is reduced seems like a useful cyclocross techique
ETA: when we're descending, we can't (usually) use the whole of the road because they're not closed. Even if they were, we'd be nowhere near even the worst pro descender.
MasterDabber
Über Member
- Location
- Surrey and the Lot in France
Paris - Roubaix has just been cancelled for 2020. It was always likely to happen unfortunately.
Bollox
SWSteve
Guru
- Location
- Bristol...ish
Was planning on doing a rain dance to justify spending 6 hours sat in front of my TV with some Duvel & La Chouffe. Never mind
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Duvel and zapping does make their plots more challenging, but less memorable. Much like trying to watch two races on the same day in this year's calendar!
I'm sad to see Roubaix cancelled but it's probably the correct decision because it looks a difficult course to secure as "closed doors", the situation is worse than it was for the Tour de France and lots of the TV audience would be looking at Italy anyway.
BalkanExpress
Legendary Member
- Location
- Brussels
A bit of me thinks that the riders may have dodged a bullet. I know we all like a wet Roubaix but thete us a big difference between April and November and that is fallen leaves. Wet and muddy cobbles ate bad enough but a layer of wet decomposing leaves on top is sketchy as hell. Thete would almost certainly have been broken bones.
DRM
Guru
- Location
- West Yorks
I think you’re right, it would have been really dangerous from a riders perspective, as well as the Covid-19 and spectators reason.
