World Champs Flanders 2021 *Spoilers*

[matticus]

Slight rewind to Sat. Vos doing her bit for reputation of Dutch women's team 👍

View: https://twitter.com/IssieAtch/status/1441873081815928833?s=19

 

[mjr]

Slight rewind to Sat. Vos doing her bit for reputation of Dutch women's team 👍

View: https://twitter.com/IssieAtch/status/1441873081815928833?s=19

That whole women's podium was just great. Several times everyone tried everything and it was not really possible to predict the podium order until it happened. A bit of a shame Vos now has twice as many road race silvers as golds, but she still has three... I'm sure she'd like another two to tie the record, though!

 

[Mike_P]

You made it sound like Pidcock could have followed JA but chose to follow WVA.

Pidcock did say he thought JA had gone too soon.

 

[matticus]

... and WVA said he didn't have the legs to go with JA. (A refreshingly honest interview).

Finally watched the "final" last night. Pidcock was waaaay at the back of the group when JA went for good. He may know otherwise, but I seriously doubt he could have gone with that attack.

Speculation all round! :P And a great race. Plenty of ebbs and flows; it was particularly interesting watching the lull when Remco peeled off, it felt like anything could happen at that moment and shape the result.

 

[BrumJim]

... and WVA said he didn't have the legs to go with JA. (A refreshingly honest interview).

Finally watched the "final" last night. Pidcock was waaaay at the back of the group when JA went for good. He may know otherwise, but I seriously doubt he could have gone with that attack.

Speculation all round! :P And a great race. Plenty of ebbs and flows; it was particularly interesting watching the lull when Remco peeled off, it felt like anything could happen at that moment and shape the result.

He was very much at the back in an Adam Yates style (or is it Simon), and I suspect he was following WVA's wheel, and thinking that he wanted to pull back JA more than TP did. And then realised too late that WVA didn't have the legs and he had missed the train. TP saving his matches for later?

During the post-race interview, TP claimed that he had the legs, and this was shown in his solo effort which almost reached the 4-man chase group up the road. Just needs a bit more experience.

 

[bitsandbobs]

A shame someone lobbed a pint at JA in the finishing straight. It's not cyclo-cross!

 

[mjr]

A shame someone lobbed a pint at JA in the finishing straight. It's not cyclo-cross!

In his post-race interview in French, JA did thank the Belgian fans for shouting insults at him the whole way round as especially motivating! CyclingNews reports it as "There were many supporters for Belgium and they asked me to slow down. They weren’t sympathetic words but it gave me more motivation.” but I'm not sure if that's an English-language interview afterwards, rather than a translation.

 

[matticus]

A shame someone lobbed a pint at JA in the finishing straight. It's not cyclo-cross!

You've reminded me of this (from 2019):
https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/belgian-apologises-van-der-poel/

 

[semakof]

A shame someone lobbed a pint at JA in the finishing straight. It's not cyclo-cross!

Saw that too.