The 59th Amstel Gold Race 256kms ***Spoilers***

[Adam4868]

Wow....late to watch the race and too much drink !
Chapeau Skelly....rode such a clever race, stoked to see Remco back though and in such top form 😍
Can Pog get his legs back for Wednesday.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

And, now, rather than Lidl actually doing any work on the front, they send someone to chase potatoes. Ffs.

Well the potato was caught and roasted, and "someone" won the race!

In all seriousness, the chasing group was too large to work well together. Pog was gaining time at that point, and there were no real domestiques left. Skjelmose put himself out there to encourage Remco and others to jump over to him and form a group that would work better together. It was a perfect tactical decision - not without risk, but calculated. If it didn't work then hopefully Nys gained an easy ride toward the sprint. Bear in mind that at this point pretty much everyone thought they were racing for 2nd place.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

The footage of Skjelmose asking ‘have I won’ and finding out he has won is incredibly sweet! As was his post race interview! I love it when the underdog wins!

 

[phreak]

Well the potato was caught and roasted, and "someone" won the race!

In all seriousness, the chasing group was too large to work well together. Pog was gaining time at that point, and there were no real domestiques left. Skjelmose put himself out there to encourage Remco and others to jump over to him and form a group that would work better together. It was a perfect tactical decision - not without risk, but calculated. If it didn't work then hopefully Nys gained an easy ride toward the sprint. Bear in mind that at this point pretty much everyone thought they were racing for 2nd place.

Significant hindsight bias there. He took a punt, and it paid off for him, so fair play, but it was Remco who brought that back. Would Remco have done that without Skjelmose? I suspect so. Would Skjelmose have done that without Remco? No chance.

 

[mididoctors]

Significant hindsight bias there. He took a punt, and it paid off for him, so fair play, but it was Remco who brought that back. Would Remco have done that without Skjelmose? I suspect so. Would Skjelmose have done that without Remco? No chance.

Yeah true to a point or did remco wait till someone got off the front convincingly enough to goto ...he was very keen to have skjelmose with him .... Just for the interference effect alone Lidl would have behind was just the edge you need .


The other big factor in this race compared to both Roubaix and RvV was head wind rather than cross tail . Remco aero effect was enhanced

 

[mididoctors]

Checking the wind on the run in of liege may be wise for PTP

 

[ddraver]

I have a feeling they're not going to forget about her twice...

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Significant hindsight bias there. He took a punt, and it paid off for him, so fair play, but it was Remco who brought that back. Would Remco have done that without Skjelmose? I suspect so. Would Skjelmose have done that without Remco? No chance.

Not really hindsight bias, it's a fairly standard tactic that if the group aren't working you attack it and try and form a new one. That's not going on a potato hunt, and it's certainly not so stupid as to warrant a "FFS". If nobody jumped over to him then either he stays away for 2nd pace (what everyone apart from Remco was racing for) or gets pulled back but gives Nys a free ride as long as he's away. None of this is rocket science, and it's very much in character for how Lidl-Trek especially have raced in recent seasons - willing to collaborate, but aggressive with it and not really tolerant of people who won't pull.

No he wouldn't have pulled Pog back alone (and for the record I don't think Remco would have either), but he wasn't trying to. Remco clearly motions for him to get on the wheel when he comes up, so even Remco thinks help was needed. Skjelmose says it was about 80% Remco and 20% him, which is a pretty honest appraisal. He told Remco he couldn't really help on the climbs but would pull on the flats, and that's what he did.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Yeah true to a point or did remco wait till someone got off the front convincingly enough to goto ...he was very keen to have skjelmose with him .... Just for the interference effect alone Lidl would have behind was just the edge you need .


The other big factor in this race compared to both Roubaix and RvV was head wind rather than cross tail . Remco aero effect was enhanced

At least Skjelmose is small enough to get some effect of drafting Remco, unlike poor WVA who was essentially in the wind the entire time they were away together

 

[Adam4868]

Remco is in top shape coming back,as well as being fresh and hungry !
Not taking anything away from Skelly,he rode a clever race and deserved the stage... but without Remco at this race Pog wins for me.
The mistake of both Remco and Pog was to underestimate Skelly 😁

 

[TomDW]

Preferred the women's race, they actually neck the beer on the podium.