What eloquence, ultyguy!

Yeah, that was one great ugly ride.

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Bianchi-Campagnolo

That to me was a beautiful display of when your heart, your drive and outright refusal to give up are all that are keeping you going. When your muscles have quit and form is a distant memory you see how strong a rider really is. To me that's a beautiful ride

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Looks like I made a new 90 Proof friend

For sure, guts and glory from Martin.

We need a 'chapeau' icon on ww. He'd deserve it today.

I wouldn't call that an ugly ride by any stretch. Well done to Martin + Garmin.

I am not a fan of cannondale bikes but I like the lines on that one very much.

Some close ups;

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/03/ ... ike_276832

Why is Sagan so favourite for today in Harelbeke? I've read different websites and forums searching for pre-Harelbeke analysis and Sagan has a "favouritism" that I can't see yet, especially when there's someone who has won it 5 times, including last year's edition, and people with great performances and victories in this races.

Because:
1. He has shown much better form than Cancellara this year- 2nd in Strade Bianchi behind his teammate, 2nd at MSR, stage wins in Tirreno Adriatico
2. he can climb almost as well as the climbers on shorter climbs (witness his ride on the Tour stage last year with the tacks)
3. He can sprint with the best of them
4. The course suits him

5. He just learned a valuable lesson in Sanremo.

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Bianchi-Campagnolo

I agree, but what I mean is that cobblestones classics aren't MSR or Tirreno stages. Of course, if a group of 30 or 40 arrives together it's a great opportunity for him, but I want to see how his legs are after a tough race with cobblestones

I think it's difficult to see how Cancellara is, we're gonna see it the next 40 days. I noticed he's a bit "relax" waiting for this month.

Having a good sprint could be useful for E3 or Gent, but isn't really important for Flanders and PR, where it's more difficult to arrive at the final km. in a group. And, as I said before you could have very good sprinting skills, but you need legs to sprint after more than 200 kms with cobbles and hills.

In Sanremo, more than Sagan, it's the rest of the people who learned a good lesson, now they know how to beat him, and he has the pressure of being the favourite in this races. He needs to win minimum one, or more than one classic in the next 40 days, everybody is expecting that.

Today we're gonna see more than how strong people arrive at Flanders, how the rest manage to win and eliminate Sagan. I think the tactic of "everybody against Peter" is gonna be repeated, something that I don't understand in teams like OPQS, for example.

We'll see. An extra 50 or 60 kilometres is a killer...

Sagan was also 4th (alone!) to the top of the Paterberg (13km to go) in the 2012 Ronde. Of course he wasn't able to catch the 3 leaders, but Flandrian cobbles and climbs are clearly not his enemy.

Sagan doesn't seem to learn very well. He has a few tactics, but when others work against him he gets the better of himself. I thought that maybe that was over with at MSR, but its not. It'll be interesting to see just how far he has come in the next few classics because even though he was 2nd at MSR, he has the strength to win and seems to botch whatever it is to take that next step. Stages in stage races and minor races where he can just charge to the win somehow are a different story.

>Sagan doesn't seem to learn very well. He has a few tactics, but when others work against him he gets the better of himself.
Well, he's quite young, isn't he. Show me somebody who still wins regularly when others work against him.

He almost got it in Sanremo. It wasn't like Cancellara the year before when he was sure not to win.

Boonen was just as young when he started winning in a prolific manner.

Almost got it doesn't count. I can't remember who was 2nd in San Remo in 1980 and no one will give a shit in 2030 that Sagan was 2nd.

He was just sloppy last year at Flanders. He often seems to be when the pressure is on. Races such as ToC there isn't much pressure or competition and he's fine. He was great at the Tour last year when it was a late sprint/challenging finish or a break when he could just barge ahead but I can't remember too many instances where he was won based on tactics and not just on brute strength. Aside from Moser, who does he honestly have for support? And who on his team is actually an amazing classics rider that has enough results to really know these races and give him the proper mentorship he needs?

Sagan needs to get onto a different team with some people to learn from.