2018 PRO thread

[Antoine]

given that he just won PR the week before, he doesn't have to do anyone any favors and pull them to the line.

Shutting down the race 1.5 km or so before the finish didn't do any favors to the public , the organizers, his team and their sponsor either.
Valgren is a good winner but at least sagan and Valverde were stronger.
Bora just renewed their sponsorship for 2 years more and the way Sagan rewarded them is by not trying to win, at this point he had 90% chance to win and 99% to make a podium.
The fastest guy in a group has to pull in this situation, at least a decent pace and not slow down the group like he did.
Dillier gave a great example of sportsmanship, Sagan has no clue.

[tymon_tm]

erm, with all fairness - Sagan did work this time, together with Valv and Fuglsang mainly. but it's not his fault Astana had 2 guys, one of whom was just resting to make the final attack. and it's not entirely his fault either the group was too big for everyone to work and he didn't feel like bringing A-class riders to the finish line. same criticism can be poointed at Valv, Alphaville or Wellens - why didn't they work their asses off to bring Valgren back?

at this point Astana won the race tactically - Fuglsang helped ensure the group won't be chased down, Valgren finished it off. and again - how many racers per team were there in Amstel? how many teammates Sagan had?

[BdaGhisallo]

Daniel Friebe Retweeted EL PAÍS Deportes

El País report: former US Postal doctor Luis García del Moral told the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2016 that Michele Ferrari helped "prepare" Spanish cyclists for the '96 Atlanta Olympics.

Interesting in that Indurain and Olano took gold and silver in the men's individual TT. It also lays bare the fantasy that Indurain won the Tour de France clean.

Did anyone who was paying attention in the 1990s ever believe that fantasy in the first place?

[pastronef]

finally Astana and Quickstep are taking back cycling to where it belongs, after the pesky Brits ruled it for a few years. the old traditional cycling nations like Belgium and Kazakhstan
oh wait

[Kjetil]

Ah, Buth the Kazak team is really Italian you know, Beppe Martinelli and all...

...

Why should Sagan go for a minor race like AGR? He should have been in Lanillis on Sunday, not Maastricht.

[Multebear]

Shutting down the race 1.5 km or so before the finish didn't do any favors to the public , the organizers, his team and their sponsor either.
Valgren is a good winner but at least sagan and Valverde were stronger.
Bora just renewed their sponsorship for 2 years more and the way Sagan rewarded them is by not trying to win, at this point he had 90% chance to win and 99% to make a podium.
The fastest guy in a group has to pull in this situation, at least a decent pace and not slow down the group like he did.
Dillier gave a great example of sportsmanship, Sagan has no clue.

Nobody has to do anything. That is the beautiful thing about cycling. It's a dynamic game of chess. I always prefer the strongest guy to win, but I also like the most cunning guy to win. The only thing I dislike is when a wheelsucker wins. Sagan had zero obligation to do anything. Tactics is always very difficult for him, because he usually is the strongest, and everybody looks to him. And what if he did? What if he did pull all the guys to the line to prevent Valgrens win. It would just have been someone else, who'd win, and everybody would criticize Sagan for not riding smarter.

[cdncyclist]

Completely agree with this - in fact my opinion is even further out, I think it is fantastic when the strongest guy, or strongest team, is thwarted by beautifully executed tactics - this is what makes racing beautiful (and very different from events that are designed to identify the strongest - time trials, or some of the track events).

Sagan *should not* have pulled back Valgren, it would have been foolish of him to do so. I also appreciate that while Sagan does like to win, he also appreciates the daring attacks, and doesn't just try to snuff everything out.

[nathanong87]

anyone think that valverde should have done more work to bring it back to a sprint. Even depleting himself further by chasing (along with others) I think* he still would have been heavily favorited. Those digs he put into sagan and wellens were no joke.... but there is this running image of valverde in my head that he like doesn't want to work along side a small group in the finale. Other amstel gold races come to mind (when him and gerrans were chasing down gilbert).

[TonyM]

And not to forget it is “just” Amstel.....Liège-Bastogne-Liège is much more important for Valverde, Sagan etc....

[peted76]

Daniel Friebe Retweeted EL PAÍS Deportes

El País report: former US Postal doctor Luis García del Moral told the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2016 that Michele Ferrari helped "prepare" Spanish cyclists for the '96 Atlanta Olympics.

Interesting in that Indurain and Olano took gold and silver in the men's individual TT. It also lays bare the fantasy that Indurain won the Tour de France clean.

Did anyone who was paying attention in the 1990s ever believe that fantasy in the first place?

LOL surely 'no-one' believes Indurain won the TdF clean!

[Fiery]

... but there is this running image of valverde in my head that he like doesn't want to work along side a small group in the finale. Other amstel gold races come to mind (when him and gerrans were chasing down gilbert).

Yeah, I have this picture of Valverde stubbornly staying second wheel in whatever group he’s in, only to jump out and sprint to the line in the last hundred meters or so - even though he’s actually sprinting for a podium position, the wheel he was following was obviously spent, and the actual winner was ahead within sight the whole time. I’m sure there were lots of races that prove me wrong, but I got a strong impression that he would often rather wheel suck onto the podium than risk it all for the win.

[Rondje]

I think the Amstel is the only Ardenne race Valverde hasn't won yet. Maybe it is because it doesn't end on a hill anymore? You can't just sit on a wheel and burst it out on the Cauberg without holding it on the 1/1.5km straight line afterward. Like you can in Huy and LBL.

This year Amstel probably had the strongest start list we've seen in a classic this year. Doesn't make it as important as a monument of course, but it shows the versatility of the course and a lot of riders feel they stand a chance to win and dare to race those crazy road furniture roads.

[Frolle]

Really nice custom paint job for Lopez

[maquisard]

Pozzovivo, one of the few people that actually looks worse than Froome on a bike!

[spud]

given that he just won PR the week before, he doesn't have to do anyone any favors and pull them to the line.

Shutting down the race 1.5 km or so before the finish didn't do any favors to the public , the organizers, his team and their sponsor either.
Valgren is a good winner but at least sagan and Valverde were stronger.
Bora just renewed their sponsorship for 2 years more and the way Sagan rewarded them is by not trying to win, at this point he had 90% chance to win and 99% to make a podium.
The fastest guy in a group has to pull in this situation, at least a decent pace and not slow down the group like he did.
Dillier gave a great example of sportsmanship, Sagan has no clue.

maybe I was watching a different race, but Sagan was on the front when the break went, therefore he WAS ALREADY PULLING. It was Valverde who "should" have reacted, but he didn't. You won't win very many races if everyone knows you will always pull back the break. Letting that break go was a relatively inexpensive way of demonstrating that he won't be whored out by the rest of the group - if they want to win, they have to work and take their chances as well. Valgren did it right, Sagan did not do it wrong.