Spring Classics 2022

[Gipfelstuermer]

26.02. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
05.03. Strade Bianche
19.03. Milano-San Remo
23.03. De Panne
25.03. E3 Harelbeke
27.03. Gent–Wevelgem
30.03. Dwars door Vlaanderen
03.04. Ronde Van Vlaanderen
10.04. Amstel Gold Race
17.04. Paris–Roubaix
20.04. La Flèche Wallonne
24.04. Liege–Bastogne–Liege


Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

We rode the evening edition with a few very strong pavé teams (Bearclaw, Benfica, Spree), at least in terms of nominal strength. There were more than 10 riders with 80+ pavé from just these 4 teams... Lots of siebing going on, mostly driven by our team. In the end, Gerbi tried a Wout VanAert style attack on the Bosberg but different from his idol, there was one guy who could follow: Schiffbauer (Spree) with more mountain, more pavé, more sprint. They rode together for a while, then Schiffbauer alone and it looked like a sprint between the two. But on the last km the group behind (consisting out of 2 Bears and our second guy Thijs Van 'T Wout) caught up. Kind of surprising given the 30'' advantage from Gerbi/Schiffbauer. Some were seeing a bug, some thought misclick by Spree... anyway, Gerbi got 2nd place in the sprint behind winner Darren Berrecloth (Bear). Congrats Darren.

[flockmastoR]

Missed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, was inscripted for the evening but after all the manager had no time, really wanted to go for the double with Wolfowitz, not that he really would have had a chance in that field.

[Bear]

Really surprising finish and luckily for me, Darren won the race. Omloop always one of my favourites in the early season. And a good result for World Tour as well. Too bad I will miss Strade Bianche this weekend. Big dissapointment, but ok, real life goes first.

[Robyklebt]

Het Nieuwsblad wasn't worth opening this thread for me, our edition too embarrassing... 3 teams. But still was clearly the best edition, the only one that was commented in the general chat!!!

So we start here, my brilliant plan: Lambert leader. Ardila as the lone climber in the group as pressure guy, ride for him in the back, if we come back, he has good chances. But well, 2 other climbers with 7-8 more pavé in the group, one 84-55 with 56.8 pavé for Ardila vs 83-61 with 63.7 pavé and 80-61 with 64.6 pavé. They drop Ardila easily on pavé, he has to chase back, potentially more than once, losing helpers each time... And evne if he manages to arrive to the last km, vs 83-61 he normally just has no chance. But ok, kept Ardila fit... Early attack by 2 Moscas. Then they stop at 5 minutes. Ok, now I wanted a hard race, but like this, ok, attack in the back. Brilliantly right after Mosca had restarted riding. A bit earlier better probably. Tran and Huizinga, with that only 7 riders in the back, Lambert wanted 2 helpers now, (didn't seem to make much of a difference, but still, he wanted 2. Espariat to be able to help him late 1 too... Baas had one early, Ok, that's already 4 helpers, so just gave Lambert 2, Espariat 1 and let Ardila free. Put TEixeira on him for siebs, forgot it once, siebed, when I looked he was 3 minutes back, or 2, didn't matter.. I probably never even should have helped Ardila, after all even if he arrives to the last km he won't win.

So escape, in the back many eager riders, Liberty first, then off in the final... then free and Gipfel, at some point even Gipfel alone.. .with Teodosic as clear favorite that seemed strange, with the 83-61 as favorite of the climbers even stranger... But ok, Gerbi as anti-free as leader a possibility too, then together with Semper?

In the back doing nothing, of course tempted to do some anti-climbers siebs, but why make the race faster when in the escape? You never know if at some point they stop, with free there as favorite almost likely they do Ok, didn't happen, group no chance.
Good sieb by free on the Monte Sante Marie, 10, thus dropping the pavé guys for the rest of the sector, which was the biggest danger for the climbers. Chase by Semper and further back Gipfel, fairly isolated in front. Caught... km 167 3** sieb by Semper, very nice too, then kept going, climbers chasing, attack with Kelvin and Geboers on the last sectore 5**. Here big mistake by the Donkey, he has to be on Kelvin there, was sort of planned, but oh, later, then watching Pogacar sort of forgot it was too late. Lambert 70 and 78 pavé, should be able to follow, even if 5** are a mystery to me, 66-85 with 76 pavé looks strong anyway... Was a good attack, with a companion it could even work. Even if then there's the problem that Lambert has 4 more mountains and 2 more sprint but is slower in the flat and downhill.... so can't really ride much alone without losing too much time. But still worth a try, in the end Kelvin only 7" behind first place.
In the back free could have gone a bit fast still, but he already used his climber on one km, so not THAT much reserve.
Like this was clear, Kelvin caught in the last km, attack, Teodosic and the free climber 4" ahead of Lambert. Lookens the Gipfel climber went all or nothing and tried to follow, didn't work. (Tempo yes alone to at least end up ahead of 700 energy Espariat IMO though a better idea) Liberty off, but no chance to win anyway, Toto mostly asleep the whole race I guess.

A harder race would have made it more difficult for free, but since he had the best card in 2 of 3 scenarios (and even the third, if the race is hard attacking free in the last sector is hard, if he is in tempo there) somehow difficult to make it hard. I went the escape to make him work route, didn't work either.
In the end 3 Lambert 5 Esparriat (because nobody strong in tempo and half of the fit guys in the group didn't attack) so wasn't a complete failure.

[Robyklebt]

Milano-Torino, back at its original place from looong ago... and sprint edition again.
14h not much happening, actually nothing at all, no attacks, rolling, then some Mobster+Donks tempo, sprint
Démarre wins, photofinish, Walinder beaten by a Pixel. Gabel as 4th best sprinter ends up 4th, own train, wasn't sure if that's the right decision, but why not try, but the way it played out really difficult to get more than 4th here.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Forgot to write about Strade Bianche as the team went into holiday, but Roby already with a race report above.

Just one snippet:

in the back many eager riders, Liberty first, then off in the final... then free and Gipfel, at some point even Gipfel alone.. .with Teodosic as clear favorite that seemed strange, with the 83-61 as favorite of the climbers even stranger... But ok, Gerbi as anti-free as leader a possibility too, then together with Semper?

Yep, we were too optimistic for Lootens. Somehow hoped he could followed the 83-61 from free but no. Of course that was based on the idea that Teodosic was not favo but the 83-61. We'll never know but I think the 83-61 wins if he does not ride the hill before the final hill, because even like that he became second directly behind Teodosic.


Then today Milano - Torino, the oldest classic in the calender! Since 1876! Only 7 teams in the evening as there was Nokere today as well. 5 rider escape (2 Coes, 2 Gips, 1 Bear). But the Bear was a sheep in a Wolfspelz today. Ok-ish cooperation was enough not to get caught by the peloton. Ok-ish cooperation also the reason why Severin Savoie attacks on the last +4 to leave the Wolf behind. So final sprint between Levy and Savoie. Levy takes it. Rehearsal failed. Good for the real show! I demand a Milano - San Remo preview now!

[flockmastoR]

Morning Milano Sanremo

Don't believe the Donkey, the morning race is the most important one, I mean the afternoon just started while Geoffrey is already drunken after celebrating his win. Well group was not that big, 7 teams. Toto as the only one with a "flat" sprinter, so clear there will be no sprint royal. Pokemonogatari and Rhodan Underdogs left their "flat" sprinters at home. RS Coesitz with old but gold Meir Benayoun classic sprinter. and a bunch of 60+ Klassiks from Rhodan, Schartner, Toto. A&D with Hinton and Karatzoglou and a good support team. Alkworld without any sprinting skills but riders for the hills. To have chances was clear early that Karatzoglou is just helper today. Not too much to controll, after some siebs A&D + Rhodan + Coesitz riders riding back to the peloton and these are also the 3 teams chasing the Poke attack later on. At the Cipressa than the Bobet sieb and Akos in tempo for Schötensack, Bobet carrying Gutierrez who than ressisted Schötensacks tempo. Was relly expecting Otto to gain time in the flat but the gap stayed at 11s. So I needed to weaken Akos and also Nöbauer to come back to the front group before the Poggio and was hoping for Coesitz to save my ass uphill therer. Posada finally attacks on the Poggio followed by Mamlejew from Schartner and they agreed to do a non spirnt. With Posados strenght I already saw no chance to comeback, even gaining on the +1 and not losing time in the slight downhill (Akos as said already weakend). Velichko and finally after an unsuccessfull attack Miyagi together with Nöbauer and Detreköi caucht them back on the very last km gaining 3s there (2s the km before).

Sprint than another chapter: A&D train, was about 50:50 that it works because Hinton was also hanging on Hjermstad for a last km attack. Nöbauer launching for Detreköi and on his wheel Hinton. No second train so relaxing sprint, Poke comes from behind with his 2 man train late, which didn't really bother. Hjermstad going from 200 which somehow results in Hinton and Meir captured. Perfect situation to even wait for another 50m was was too nervous to get stuck completely somehow and was just thinking Hinton can beat Meir from 150m. He did, but it was just few millimeters that decided it finally.

[Robyklebt]

Morning, Morning, Löffel used to win almost every race he did there too! But nice to see at least an afternoon guy continuing to show those morning people how to win.

Afternoon

10 teams, 9 that actually rode.
Donkey with 3 guys in the category. Argh, just a bit too weak:
Bieri, if Gipfel, then joined by Manghi later maybe tries to go for the classics, then Bieri won't be there, he'll be in the Mobster group.
Löffel: With Nödtveidt or behind him? Due to Löffel's higher flat I had hopes to just manage to stay there. Just realized now that actually Nödtveidt has higher flat But then luck? Helping? Form? Anyway, was with him, so that worked.
Gabel: Behind Bosilj, weaker classic, strong flatman but Falkenbier has the same. So will he wait? Does he really need me? Not really... the advantage having me there is that there is a train, you can rely on. Without me Mosca-train possible, but he has done trick sprints in the past, so... and in this situation me doing a train was pretty clear. Then if Bosilj gets the wheel.. chances there.

So my tactic was clear, do absolutely nothing until I'm dropped on the Cipressa and don't mess up my helpers.
Failed on both counts, after nothing at all had happened until the Turchinosiebkm, I couldn't resist and siebed with Carpinteiro. 4 riders dropped, a great success, had the first tempo km, the first sieb, moral winner already.
Failed on helping too, that is almost embarrassing. First managed to bring Löffel down to 980, checked a bit what and how in the first 10 km, saw that changing the helpers wasn't a great idea, left the Löffel helper on the wrong guy. Next after giving Löffel 2 helpers in the downhill from the Turchino, it was Espariats turn to suffer. Plan was Gabel, Löffel, Meucci fit, 1000. Espariat 980/70 or so. Bieri 950 or less, depending how often Espariat could be without helper. Anyway, Espariat went down to 930 until I realized that probably after the Turchino I had done the wrong thing again....

Km 154 finally an attack, 2 Gipfels, followed by a Falkenbier and a Liquigas.
Good reaction by Manghi who went in when it was a bit over 4' advantage. Mobster waited, IMO should have gone in together there, Skoglund and McDonald the 2 guys to be sure to be ahead after the Cipressa. And depending on who they help they could even try to go it alone from there.
Mobster finally joined about 20 km later, I didn't see why he waited that long really. Is not like he had more guys to protect, he has Ritzinger and Kohl, plus one classic... if he had a second Ritzinger, ok, let Manghi do it after talking it over, but like this seemed very unnecessarily "Mobster style".. (Says the guy who did the first sieb and nothing else)
Semper then joined immediately too, he on the other hand had reason not to, he was going to be behind those 2 after a sieb. But show goodwill and they wait, ok. Anyway, group easily under control
Km 221 next 2 Gipfel go, followed by another Falke and this time a Lünen. Monsterman Thijs there, 4 trainings to survive till PR, still 88, but already -2 flat... Thijs being pulled, likely something else was coming. Stronger reaction in the back, keeping them close.
Km 239, Capo Mele, Abbiati and Savoie go, now 6 Gipfel in front, puller Thijs ready. Savoie clearly not helped, Abbiati looking good on the other hand. SAvoie on Cervo, rest Thijs, advantage up to 38" from under 10 before Capo Berta.
Gained a bit more there with Savoie, but then it came back to 36" before the Cipressa. Good reaction in the back by the 3 hills sprinters. Gipfel attack probably better later? Capo Berta seemed predestined for it, but of course knowing that a block there seemed likely, but probably not a strong one.. and then a fit Thijs probably can bring the advantage up to the same level, but everybody slightly fitter. Anyway, good attack that never looked like it could really become dangerous.

Cipressa: On top the Gipfelgroup 1" behind Hoppe the lone Lünen.
38" back, the Skoglund McDonald group, both with 3 helpers
47" back the Nödtveidtgroup, with Löffel. Here IMO a big difference, bigger than expected. In this group IMO a mistake by Semper, Kelvin not there, he should have been the fourth man, with 85 flat 76 downhill. Instead Veteläinen with the same mountain, 66 but 79 flat and 55 downhill. 63 sprint, but forget that as an 80 sprinter vs 2 82 guys you rely on the other guys anyway for the train.
48" back the Liquigroup. HIlariously without the sprinter... 60-57 mountain, his flat helper 56-85, you need to have him help the sprinter there, 6% flat counts. Quite a lot. Maybe too much, but that's how it is. Big mistake, and changes the whole race. Because with his climber there vs Sempers lack of classic, he comes back to Semper.
49" the Liquisprinter
50" Vanspeybrouck and Mosca helpers 56-74
53" Bosilj-armada
54" Gabel-"armada".

Here surprised at how big the difference between Manghimobster and SEmper is, while surprised how close it is between that group and Bosilj-Gabel. Only 7" back? Less than I thought.

After the 5
37" the first group
46" Nödtveidt with Löffel
51" Mosca-Falkenbier-Donkey.
Espariat not as fit as wanted as mentioned before, but 100 form, so good, gained 2" on the first group.
There Manghi out, Mobster in. If Manghi does another km, it's probably quite a difference, Nödtveidt over 10" back, the sprinters 18" not 14".
Here communication problem between Mobster and Manghi, turns out Manghi was right (during the race I would have done the same as Mobster though, 9" seems a LOT, and no classic to make tempo, the sprinters come closer...) But if they would have done it the Mobster/Donkey way it might have worked too, more advantage, fuck semper, sorry but the sprinters are too close... instead they did a mix, one wanted to wait, one ride, finally the worst decision. Communication boys.
Next km 6" and 11" back
Ritzinger in, 7" and 12"
Downhill: 6-12"
Then they waited and 7"
After the downhill still 7", slowly went down, they saved 2" to the bottom of the Poggio.


Poggio: Great Mbule, kept it at 2" in the first 2 km, then miraculously won 2" on the last 4? No idea why. STrong Vespa attack too, 4" gained, a mystery why the Manghirider that km seemed to collapse? It was Mbule vs Ellen the 2 previous km too.
Even without the greatest classic rider in the history of c4f, Mbule, maybe the flat power in the back could have caught them in the last kms? Maybe, maybe not.
Sprint, pretty straightforward really. Train Bieri-Löffel-Gabel. Vanspeybrouck on the wheel, then Bosilj. Then McDonald. Guarantees that nobody can go early really, the likely result already there was Gabel vs Vanspreybrouck for the win. Biggest danger getting blocked. But unlikely with my own train. Early suicidal try by Liquigas, but blocked, otherwise could have been dangerous.

Intersting finale, decisive IMO:
-Liquigas not understanding the race even in his 700st try. He always has a top contender, always fails miserably. Today just the right helper settings change all. No guarantee he wins, no guarantee he even sprints for the win, but he then is together with Semper. And he had a good team to ride. Anyway, the whole race changes, and he's chances are there. Yes yes, harsh words, today's mistake can happen, I had Espariat in the train at first, no sprint for Gabel... but realized it in my last check.. uff. Today can happen, but LiqLiq has ridden MSR incredibly badly before, so he deserves the criticism.
-Split Manghi-Mobster: Re-seeing it I think going without Semper could have worked too after all. Or waiting immediately too But not doing the same cost them quite a few seconds.
-The mysterious 2" by Mbule superstar on the last 4. Did Manghi take out yes alone? Or why?


Lesser things, no Kelvin, too much help in the back from Liquigas considering his rather small chances in a full sprint (lack of flat means he won't get the wheel he wants most likely)

For me everything worked perfectly, luck in every situation finally, if Bosilj decides to go without me... ok, had Löffel in front for the sprint, but doubt that one would have worked. Falkenbier and Mosca did a great job in the back, me less, but well, Meucci at 100 form and fit surely didn't hurt either. Espariat at 100 form and sadly not fully fit a bit less, but still, gained 2" in his one important km...(Mbule would have gained 2 or 3 on Espariat most likely... so almost there without me too...
Maybe the most intersting MSR of the last few years at c4f, bad start, very interesting finale, that's why it's my favorite classic to ride. The great thrill of the last 50 km, yes, including the km before the Cipressa, when you ask yourself more and more how it will work out, who will do what etc. Favorite classic. Not to win (that's PR) somehow not too excited that I won, but big part of that is Mohoric, the real race, adrenalin already at 1000 from watching the real MSR, at the moment didn't care much, now already a bit happier...

[Bear]

Evening MSR a bit boring actually but sprint was exciting.

No real contenders against the sprinters in this group and just Olaf tried his luck in escape.

Sieb at Cipressa but easy to come back. Poggio blocked very well and last km blocked as well with flat power of Quick, Bahrain and Jago Geerts.

Sprint: Bahrain train and RFM train. Twan in Tore's wheel, Reto behind and then Anatol. RFM starts a bit earlier but Bahrain really strong with Antomäki and Goossens. Reto gets blocked when he tries at 150m I think. Twan still in Tore's wheel. 100m and Tore starts the sprint, very strong. 50m and Twan tries to overtake Tore, but inches decide, Tore wins. Well done. Congrats!

[Gipfelstuermer]

Too many races, not enough time to report...


Milano-San Remo
We rode afternoon edition. 10 or 11 teams... good... our team in excellent form, but without a leader. So it was clear we are going for attacks. Hardly any followers on our attacks, so it was nearly a team time trial. Gip team vs. Peloton. More exciting than expected. There was also a lünen guy in the attack and we were only caught on the Poggio. There, we set the next attack with Vespa who got away with 4'' advantage over the peloton. But by then it was a huge peloton chasing for a mass sprint, so he couldn't make it as he forgot his dropper seat post! GW to Gabel and next year we come back with a dropper seat post!

E3 Harelbeke
Evening edition with Gala, Bear, Imperdor and Liqui. Very strong group in terms of pavé specialists: We came with Van'T Wout, Gerbi, Fischer and Gagneux. Bear with Omloop-winner Berrecloth, plus Demeester, VanDeMoosdijk, Smets and VanDerVen. Liquigas with the 65-86 and 81.2pavé monster Westergaard. Imperdor with Simao Blanco (69-83 and 77.9pavé). Gala as cannon fodder, hihihi. (Very rare that we can say that about him.)
Interestingly, Bear started with the siebs before realising that my team was stronger on the hlls. So I started siebing the Bears but they were strong in the flat and were mostly able to come back. Then on one of the siebs, Liqui had two guys in front (Westergaard and Mancuso(?)) and pressed on. This monster Westergaard was clearly in form and I had to chase hard. Van'T Wout first, then used Fischer and in the end had to use Gerbi as well to bring Westergaard back. For a last km catch. Luckily, we always had Gagneux in mind as the leader. With so many strong pavé riders, a sprint amongst those seemed realistic and Gagneux's 53 sprint is still the best in our pavé team! Sprint was really difficult though. Berrecloth (also 53 sprint) was in front for the sprint, so we had to try something. Gerbi started the sprint and Gagneux went in the wheel. But that allowed Berrecloth to go from 150, so Gagneux tried to follow Berrecloth at 100. He was able to get on his wheel and go around him at 50m. Very close finish. Nice win Probably our best win in a classic since Trevorvano Thompson won Strade Bianche in 2019. Big win also for Luxembourg! And a big win for the 34-year-old Gagneux!

Gent–Wevelgem
Afternoon edition with the hill-sprinter teams T-Mobile and Semper, sprinter team Romoc, plus Liberty and me without a sprinter. I missed more than half of the race because I had no time... stupid daylight savings time, plus I was out on the road with my bike, then breakfast with the gf... at least I was not kicked out of the race! So could still join the race, try a small escape and later ride in the back after being siebed. Normally that was helpful for the 3 sprinter teams because the 91-flat guy Cherro came back and helped block in the end. But then the three sprinters were looking at each other for too long in the sprint. So Liberty's 61-67 sprint train was enough to win.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Dwars door Vlaanderen

We started 100% motivated into the evening edition after watching van der Poel's win in the replay. Good participation in the evening with 10 Teams, including big names like Pokemonogatari, RS Coesitz and Los Galacticos. But the favorites were Twan VanGendt (TVG from Bearclaw Cycling) and Viktor vonGödrich (VVG from our team). The TVG vs. VVG theme had already been fun im the January tour but this was their first clash in a big race.

Bear left the chase of a 6 rider escape (2x Coe, 2x Rhodan, 2x Benfica) to my team although TVG's 85 sprint are clearly better than VVG's 82. You can argue that VVG had the stronger classic/pavé around him but leaving the first 100km all to me... seemed dangerous. Ironically it was neither Bear nor myself who really opened the chase. The group's advantage climbed to 7' until Poke opened the fire with a big sieb and tempo in the 60-80/classics group.

At first, Bahrain (with captain Antomäki 58-75 and 80sprint), Bear and me were not well organized, all riding in different groups. But as the Poke group got more than 1' advantage and included some strong Coe and Rhodan riders, we got our act together and organized a nice chase in the peloton. Which made a lot of sense as none of our 3 sprinters had a strong train and so the race was quite open.

We managed to bring the two groups together roughly 10km before the finish. Sprint finish here à bit unrealistic compared to real life but as long as we don't have wind and narrow roads as a feature, that's how it is.

Then the sprint. Thijs Van'T Wout with a fantastic lead out for VVG, faster than the 52-66-80 Bahrain train and the
62-55-53-85 train Bear train. This allowed VVG to launch from 400m but of course that opened the chance for the other sprinters. Benayoun (72) on Antomäki (80) wheel and Guerra (78) somehow made it onto TVG wheel. Antomäki I think from 250m, but TVG gets his wheel at 150m. They come really close but VVG brings it to the line. His 5th win but by far the most important one in his career so far. Good end to the March classics and successful rehearsal for RVV.

With E3 and DDV in our 2022 Palmares, we are à bit more relaxed about the upcoming races. Sunday will be interesting. Still don't know what to do with the form and who will be leader. Gagneux because he won E3? VVG because he won DDV? Van'T Wout because everybody expects Roubaix form? Vespa because classics have the best chances? Gerbi because 60-86 with 83 pavé seems best skills for the race? Lootens because he is Belgian? Savoie because 60 sprint might be decisive? ...

[Bear]

Good Report as always. I did not ride in the beginning because I was not sure we will cooperate. And I needed all riders for chasing after a sieb.

Congrats for a really good spring so far. I would be happy to stop sprinting to second in the upcoming races

[Gipfelstuermer]

Ronde van Vlaanderen

Normally wanted to start afternoon edition, but the race was postponed and we had to start in the wild evening edition. 10 teams made it to the startline, including legends like Pokemonogatari and Los Galacticos. The strongest individual riders, on paper, were Claas Schiffbauer (67-86 with 84 pavé) from Rsc Spree - identical to the initially planned afternoon edition - and Sander Westergaard (65-86 with 81.2 pavé) from Liquigas-CND. But the strongest teams, on paper again, were perhaps SL Benfica (523k, including Luis Forte 73-75, 75pavé) and maybe our team (492k, including E3 winner Gagneux - 60-80 with 80 pavé - but without DDV winner VonGödrich).

Some teams were missed though! Mosca, Bahrain-Mehrida and Bearclaw not at the start... they were all prepared for Sunday evening, but could not make it on Monday. Very annoying with the server problem... but 10 teams at the start line was indeed good for a race in 2022.

Pre-Race interview with Pokemonogatari:
Gipfelstuermer: good evening
Pokemonogatari: the group seems strongr thn yesterday afternoon
Gipfelstuermer: evening often the strongest

With Felix Fischer we managed to bring a rider into the 10-rider initial escape (3x Poke, 2x Liqui, 2x Gala, 2x Rhodan). Benfica chased as Spree missed the first few km. By km50, Spree led the chase. The escape never got more than 5' advantage despite complaints from their team managers. Good work from Benfica and Spree in my point of view. It was the sort of escape that is hard to catch if you give them too much time.

Molenberg the first real sieb. Urameshi from Pokemonogatari. Same thing on Berg Ten Hout. Then VanTheemsche (Pokemonogatari) and Seabra (Sl Benfica) started the fireworks on the Kanarieberg. Less tempo before the first passage of the Oude Kwaremont and the Romoc Riders Rezek and Dalvoorde attack. We followed with Vespa. SL Benfica followed with Verissimo. 20'' advantage as VanTheemsche led the peloton over the Oude Kwaremont and then attacked with his teammate Joestar. 4 Riders able to follow: Pereira from SL Benfica, Sainsbury vom r QUICK, CastelloRuiz from Gala and we followed with Abbiati. So a group of 9 riders with 15'' advantage before the first passage of the Kwaremont. Sainsbury vom r QUICK forced his tempo there, with only Pereira, CastelloRuiz and Abbiati able to hang on.

This group of 4 riders looked very strong. Sainsbury 73-81, Pereira 72-79, CastelloRuiz 67-83, Abbiati 71-81. All between 70 and 75 pavé. All seemed fit. Poke, Liqui and Spree in the chase, but the group increased its advantage to 1'20'' advantage before the second and final passage of Oude Kwaremont & Paterberg. Then finally the Schiffbauer sieb on the lower part of the Kwaremont. Then Westergaard on the upper part of the Kwaremont. Advantage halved to 39'' ! Gagneux and Webster (Pokemonogatari) fought and stayed in Westergaard's wheel ! Schiffbauer siebed, but came back before the Paterberg ! On the Paterberg, again Westergaard, again halving the advantage to only 23''.

So 4 against 4 for the 12km run-in to Oudenaarde: Sainsbury/Pereira/CastelloRuiz/Abbiati vs. Schiffbauer/Westergaard/Webster/Gagneux. Big advantage for us to be the only team with a rider in each group. Abbiati continued, Gagneux refused to ride. But then Westergaard stopped, Gagneux stepped in in second group. I thought: Why not ride in both groups if I have chances in both? But then Sainsbury out of tempo in front group, although he was second-strongest sprinter there with 57 sprint. So Abbiati attacks there! CastelloRuiz the only to follow! 2 riders vs. 6 in the back. 59 vs. 55 sprint in front. CastelloRuiz wants to do it like van der Poel, wait, wait, wait and then sprint.... but the 2 riders get overtaken by the other 6 as Schiffbauer sets another attack! So Abbiati and Castello Ruiz suddenly out of contention.

Then the final sprint of the 6 riders: Westergaard leads the group with Gagneux and Webster in the wheel. Webster opens the sprint at 200m, then Gagneux goes from 150m, Westergaard from 100m. Gagneux takes the win! Half a bike length ahead of Westergaard. Schiffbauer third.

01. 00:00:00 Gaspard Gagneux (Gipfelstuermer)
02. 00:00:00 Sander Westergaard (Liquigas-CND)
03. 00:00:00 Claas Schiffbauer (Rsc Spree)
04. 00:00:00 Andrew Webster (Pokemonogatari)
05. 00:00:00 Ryan Sainsbury (r QUICK)
06. 00:00:00 Roberto Pereira (S L Benfica)
07. 00:00:37 Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)
08. 00:00:37 Aldo Abbiati (Gipfelstuermer)

Post-Race interview with Liquigas-CND:
Liquigas-CND<00:31>: very nice and entertaining RVV edition in the evening!
Liquigas-CND<00:32>: would have been great wity Bahrain and Bearclaw.
Liquigas-CND<00:33>: anyway Gipfel won "the 2022 only real RVV in C4F"
Liquigas-CND<00:35>: congrats Gipfel!

Post-Race interview with Gipfelstuermer:
Gipfelstuermer: puh, this was exciting
Gipfelstuermer: my first monument
Gipfelstuermer: thanks for a nice race
Gipfelstuermer: but now we really need to fix the server and save the game. I hope luques will hand the game to Alkworld, who has more time and a lot of passion at the moment.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Amstel Gold Race

I was on time for the afternoon edition, wohoo! Well, only able to make helper settings, then came online 50km into the race, but ok, nothing happened until then. It's always the bad part about the afternoon. Never know if I am on time when I go cycling in the morning... But the nice part is watching real race in parallel. Except if they finish exactly same moment, like today, and both with exciting last km. That was too intense for me.

So... 9 teams in the race. The typical afternoon teams and some other big names of RSF were there. I list all teams: Pokemonogatari, Big Donkey, Hansa, Liquigas, AAD, TMA, lünen, Lula. TMA with Skoglund as the big favorite but since a hill sprint is never easy to organize, Lula was the only one to escape. Would Liqui help for Mizil? Would Hansa help for Flückiger? Would the Donkey help for Lôffel? Amstel always difficult to predict as normally nobody puts form there... why form on Amstel when you can have it for RVV, Roubaix or LBL?

Well, of course we wanted to test the hill sprinters! Escaped with Van'T Wout and RVV-Winner Gagneux. Liqui with two riders following. Hansa and TMA in the chase quickly. Group never got more than 5', so seemed hopeless. Poke started the action in peloton with some proper siebing. That brought Hansa and TMA into trouble a little bit as they had already burned some energy chasing the escape. But from time to time they came back and it seemed alright. After another Poke sieb, the peloton had a good advantage over the dropped riders and Poke tried an attack on the flat. We followed with Gerbi. 7 riders involved. But Poke blocked himself. Only 3'' advantage. Group was dead soon. Later a similar situation. Big Donkey attack with a number of followers. But blocked by Poke. So again caught quickly. Lots of riders involved in those attacks, wasting a lot of energy, so seemed perfect for TMA and Hansa.

But the siebing continued and there was good cooperation in the classics group (Poke, Big Donkey, AAD) who rode to keep the hill sprinters (TMA, Hansa, Liqui) at distance. 30'' advantage and even Ritzinger couldn't bring them back! Then roughly 10km before the finish the decisive attack: VanTheemsche went alone on the flat. Abbiati jumped across on the +5. The two going alone onto the last few km, classics not strong enough to catch them. 7'' advantage on the last km. VanTheemsche vs. Abbiati in RSF, Kwiatkowski vs. Cosnefroy in real life. It was simultaneous. So we forgot to give Abbiati the right hint: "Suck on VanTheemsche wheel. He is stronger in Sprint!" Abbiati was a bit overconfident, I guess. He attacked a few km later than VanTheemsche so hoped to be as strong as him in the sprint, but wasn't. Going from 150m was good, but VanTheemsche came around on the last few meters. Not a foto finish as in real life, but it was a close one. GW Poke.

Summary: Watching real race in parallel is awesome... just wish the real race could always finish at least 20min before or after the RSF race We should have some dynamic min-tact adjustment depending on how fast the real race is! So if the finish looks to be simultaneous, there comes a slightly earlier mintact in RSF. Perfect! Nice solution! I will put that on the list of the 1,000 improvements that Luques just needs to allow Alk/me to deploy!

[Robyklebt]

Back to reporting...

Wanted to leave RVV to Manghi, after all he did write nice reports 1 or 2 years ago, but the great man obviously feels threatened by praise... ok, so no Vlaanderen report, already forgot most of it anyway. Ah, was on the wrong day too, another reason not to write.

Schelde somehow wasn't worth a report

Amstel not anyway

So Brabant. And Carpinteiro won!

For once I think I'll manage to be short: Nothing happening at all at first. Falkenbier offline, without helpers it turned out. Donkey with helping mistake, 2 helpers for Carpinteiro, 0 for Huizinga, the guy we thought was our best chance. Quaghebeur with form 100, but chances... hm. Middle late attacks? Following Gipfel? Meucci since he has the flat Francis hasn't anymore. Anyway, Huizinga down to 922, probably the Falkenbiers were similar?

Km 114 attack Baas and Carpinteiro. 2 reasons, 1: see who reacts, nobody going, and seemed to me I was one of the teams with the least chances, waiting till the end no real option, wait another 50 km an reaction is immediate. 2: No need to misuse Baas (free riding till then) as a helper, go with Carpinteiro, give his 2 helpers to Huizinga.
kmn 115 Weber from letter-salad Masi tries to join. 48-86 with 70 sprint, no puller. Thinking for 2 km, no, I won't wait. He comes close, going red while I'm still green then blue, then red as well. Wasn't happy, hoped to be able to sneak away green, then have enough energy to still hold my own with Baas on the flat km (high flat guys sometimes lose surprisingly little with low energy too) and put in Carpinteiro at the end. Red, a km with Carpinteiro on hill to put Weber at 20", in downhills he always came closer again...

Falkenbier with Hammami chases, but too slow.

Donkey feels he'll win this pretty soon, late attack, 90 km from the finish. At 64 km from the finish we breached the 6" per km needed for the chasers. 6'27" it was. There was still unsure, but soon after felt that this had to be enough. Getting over 6"/km on a still fresh(ish) rider in front is not that easy. Probably around km 55 or so to go felt I won it.

Only Falkenbier riding, later Mobile joins, I thought was a bit strange, didn't think Kohl could follow in the end and Skoglund hopeless anyway. Gipfel working, joined very late.

km 168: Baas dropped, 5", decided to wait. ride together till the next 4*, then Carpinteiro. No real reason, Carpinteiro could have gone, but I was already kind of nervous again I think.
Km 173: A strange sieb by the salad man with a very weak rider at the next 4*.. .or maybe somebody else in and fast out that km? The peloton then waits for the dropped riders, who were at 4'51" or so? waiting 10" or so seconds, seemed they still felt no urgency to chase. Baas dropped and Carpinteiro goes alone.

Getting nervous though, a bit earlier was confident, after seeing the non-reaction in the back at 173 should have been more confindent, but.... even went blue for no sensible reason a few km, save energy to be faster in the end, some deep thoughts like that.

Then just riding, red, doing some designing Romandie, because I was getting more and more nervous. Favorite negativity. It really was clear I'd win it at this point, but. Anyway, always came back soon, worried about 15 km rules then...

Then temptation to humiliate the guys behind... take tempo out a km... again, back to designing to stop idiocies.

Km 202 An attack attempt by Quaghebeur, had to try with 100 form. Even if he gets away caught anyway.

km 205, Carpinteiro attacks again and loses only 20" 1'17" advantage in the end.
In the back a group around Mbule away, Huizinga follows, thought he would with 1000 energy, but he was at 928 some km before... but Mbule not much more I guess, so ok. All sort of strange preset sprints in group 2 and the remnants of the peloton by Mobster, so Huizinga gets second place, and Quaghebeur-MEucci second and third in their group, that's 9th and 10th. Cannibalistic tendencies

So Carpinteiro strikes again. A few days ago Seven Down and Mobster underestimated him too... I even complained, hey have you seen that I attacked? Yeah, Würstlinge in front SEven replied... and Carpinteiro won.
Today the same finally. I almost said, don't underestimate Carpinteiro when Hammami was riding green while Baas and Weber did their red race ahead... but managed to keep my mouth shut.

Huizinga second nice, lucky. But with 1000 energy I was confident he'd follow. Then winning difficult.. hoped a bit for a blocked attack by Mbule because of too many followers while nobody at Huizinga who if he attacks gets away? Sort of what I thought happened with Vienuolis when he got second behind Tobar in 2018, Brabant double wins are in in the Donkey world.... but saw now that then nobody actually tried, going for sprint and only Vienuolis tried, so different thing.

Anyway, winning Brabant is always nice, with the nice escape by Carpinteiro even nicer.

Hm, still too long, but who cares.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Paris - Roubaix

On Easter Sunday little participation with 8 teams in the evening, but that was actually the biggest group today. The biggest group and also the high quality group. With Furpach and FL joining, two faces from the morning/ afternoon and then we had the specialized pavé teams Benfica, Bear and Bahrain there as well.

We had 11 out of the Top 20 pavé riders currently in the game (with at least 1 point):

Aguas 86,3 (Benfica)
vantWout 86,2 (Gip)
Gerbi 84,0 (Gip)
vandeCock 84,0 (Bahrain)
Demeester 83,9 (Bear)
Rosado 83,9 (Benfica)
Felgen 83,6 (Furpach)
VanDeMoosdijk 83,6 (Bear)
Goossens 83,4 (Bahrain)
Berrecloth 83,0 (Bear)
Klinkenberg 82,6 (FL)

The race began after 20km with a Romoc attack (Alasko & Botero). They got up to 17 minutes but that melted quickly when Benfica opened the serious chase. With his team of 8x 74+ pavé, he really controlled the race easily from beginning to Carrefour de l'Arbre where Aguas set his attack to gain 9" on the remaining group. vantWout siebed, but Gerbi, Demeester, Felgen and VanDeMoosdijk survived that as well. The five rider group caught Aguas and so the group of six went into the sprint.

Gerbi and vantWout from the front with Demeester and Felgen in the wheel. Felgen went from 150 and that's as good as it gets. vantWout and Demeester were both too late from 100. GW Felgen.

Thijs' second place can't make us happy but it makes team planning a bit easier. Thijs can retire soon while our RVV hero Gagneux will deserve to ride Giro & TDF. The same applies for L-B-L of course. If we can win in Liege, that rider will go to Giro & TDF ! Hopefully we have a group of 8+ teams there again next week!

[Bear]

Bahrain and Berrecloth with RVV Form I suppose. So hard for them to stay with the others after Thiys siebed. With Berrecloth I am not in the position to do a bad sprint. Would have liked to win but ok with Furpach winning and 3rd after the race. Planning for next year is on the way and hope to come back stronger in 2023. I will look for a suitable leader on the youth market...

[Robyklebt]

Paris-Roubaix

Afternoon, 6 teams. Much much much better than I had feared for a while. But still, 6 teams... a bit demotivating. And I really had hoped to be able to ride against Gipfel with his team, but ok, Easter clearly not the ideal date for c4f races.

6 teams, Schiffbauer-Baas-Nöbauer with most pavé, 55-53-47 sprint. Favorites in this order. Spree rather shitty team, Donkey the best team.

Nothing happens, I didn't even sieb early, somehow seemed all pointless. But Arenberg I had to, Baas siebs. Shock, Spree chases with his number 3 already! Just 1 km I think, after all I stopped after 1 siebkm, but still.

A bit later another sieb, maybe first one by me, Liq does more, since my guys had fighting off I only have 3 guys in front. Not happy. Liquigas continues, good plan actually, if the strongest team is weakened, weaken it more. I let drop Bradman quite soon, was confident I would come back. Then LIquigas stops, Spree goes in That was unexpected and rather counter productive in a way, like this he opened up the race for attacks, he had no chance to control it until the Carrefour de l'arbre. I was happily or rather unhappily chasing behind. Then Spree evne puts in his nr 2, 81 pavé, nr 5 or 6 in the race.... and then attacks. Weird stuff, but in a way actually this made sense.

Like this he had almost the best position. If he doesn't take over after Liq stops, he still has only 3 riders in front, me 6? Possibly even 7? Don't remember. And the risk that I try something early with Tran-Bradman for sure was there, if there was a chance I would have. By keeping me back, then going, he had me chase (but I would have taken control of the race around there anyway) and more importantly he kind of blocked any early attack by me. Yes, could have gone with the Bradman Tran attempt, but what happens then doesn't help me, then it's not Spree that chases, he has nothing, but Bahrain, Poke, LIquigas that attack behind me, if they can't follow directly... And then I'm in trouble. So while this Spree action was unexpected and weird, it was kind of good in a way for him, not sure how planned it was, but it almost guaranteed that Schiffbauer would be carried to the Carrefour de l'arbre.

So chased there quite happily again, one dangerous attack attempt by Poke, before a pavé, Bradman does the pavé, 2", but then did a km with Baas, which I then forgot later... and a km on asphalt is very bad, pavé no problem, asphalt costs...

The **** sector before the carrefour, Bradman siebs, 4 ahead, Bradman goes in the asphalt km, Carrefour then Schiffbauer and Baas in tempo, Schiffbauer attacks, 3"? Nöbauer and Baas get him back immediately. Not what I expected or hoped, hoped that Schiffbauer goes yes alone and maybe maybe manages to drop Nöbauer. Think not that likely, but at least some fighting? And IF he goes, then in the second km. Not the first..
Bradman rides until the last pavé
Baas attacks on the last pavé, Schiffbauer can't follow, but is in tempo. Nöbauer there. I then rode too much. Nöbauer won.

For much of the race I didn't care much, just not that motivated in this small group... even when the sprint started, ok, I'll be second again, who cares... But some time during the sprint it started to bother me not to win... Grrrrrr. What an idiot. Last year second, but think did a good race, did the siebs in the right moments, one mistake, last pavé, just follow and maybe I win, maybe second in sprint. This year wasn't thinking much, otherwise on the Carrefour I put in yes alone too, didn't have it. for sure not enough to drop Nöbauer, but maybe he fights. Then the attack on the last ***, can do it, but then need to be flexible enough to let him back. When Nöbauer goes out, let Schiffbauer back. Normally I would remember the early asphalt km tempo with Baas, but forgot it, was just riding. Should have been fully concentrated and hard, Schiffbauer can come back, he normally won't ride, but ok, let's see what Nöbauer does then. So after the race I was pissed off... raced stupidly, not concentrated enough.
AAD winning without any tempo, that is ok (well no, he already had the mistaken idea that to win on pavé you have to be passive, which isn't the case, now I'll never convince him that I'm right ), I just let him go out too much in the end, forgetting my costly km earlier. And he was clever too, coming in after the attack, then going out at the end, had he not come in I might have been clever enough to go out and wait for Schiffbauer. Like this once he went out... not. Bah, bad race by me.

[Robyklebt]

Flèche Wallonne

5 teams, ok with the Alps parallel and being a very specialized race we often similar groups in the past too, ok, maybe was 6, not 5, don't remember, but small too, so bothered me much less than in France.

89-88-87 then my 2 heroes, 85-84. Likely that my 4 year winning streak would come to an end.

Sieb, somehow thought we were closer to the goal, but well, was ok, rather from too far than too late.
Attack with Huizinga and Drinkwater. Pretty hard chase.
Espariat and Bieri next, soon after Asier, going red when blue would definitely have been enough. Then riding, riding, but against 2 teams was too much, no chance. When Huizinga and Drinkwater went it was even 3 teams...
5" before the last km, Asier obviously already not fit, finally he was 12" back, so lost much less than I had anticipated. Vs only 89 or only 88 I might have had a small chance (but they would ride it differently and the 87 might help more then) but 2 teams was just too much. And attacking blue gives me maybe 5" over the whole thing...Maybe green would have been enough? Still not the missing 13". Wasn't great masterplan attacks either, just turned out to be a bit closer than I had thought it would be, thought I lose over 30" in the last Mur aschent. But here ok, did neither a good nor a bad race, just rode and tried, nothing gained, nothing lost.


Next LBL

Team:
1 S. Bieri He was bought as LBL leader, 73 with 6x sprint was the plan by now, if possible more, he is at 69 and 64, doesn't matter, he gets no 1 doesn't mean we actually ride for him. But we might?
2 I. Ardila: He can sieb, maybe help
3 A. Basterretxea: He can be one of the leaders. Or if Ardila feels better, they can change roles
4. A. Carpinteiro: Early escape?
5. C. Drinkwater: Possible attacker
6 T. Espariat: Possible attacker
7 R. Huizinga: Possible attacker
8 O. Lambert: Possible attacker
9: A. Short: Helper

So bring my 8 best mountain guys plus Carpinteiro... not very confident it will work, since I have hordes of 68-70 mountain guys. One 75 would be much more useful:)
Mostly hope for a 20 team race. I'll settle for 12

[flockmastoR]

Paris-Roubaix

AAD winning without any tempo, that is ok (well no, he already had the mistaken idea that to win on pavé you have to be passive, which isn't the case, now I'll never convince him that I'm right ), I just let him go out too much in the end, forgetting my costly km earlier. And he was clever too, coming in after the attack, then going out at the end, had he not come in I might have been clever enough to go out and wait for Schiffbauer. Like this once he went out... not. Bah, bad race by me.

Hihi, see I was right. Thanks to sum up the race, was not really seeing much. Was on the app some times before the last 20km. When I looked just 4 riders in front, not even trying to check if I can bring someone back. Had Nöbauer on fighting all the race. Just came on (app) the moment to join tempo at the second hard pave km with Baas (?) then out again. From that moment regular app watching but no clue what happened before. Was a bit surprise to see Nöbauer in top 2 finally. Started to do tempo and then just thought I gamble a bit. First had the feeling to have no chance at all, and surprised to be in front in the sprint. Finally my settings from the beginning were enough to win PR (following Baas, 100m sprint) for the first time, one time helper rebalancing and a bit of watching in the end.

[Robyklebt]

7 teams for LBL, just not enough.

Donkey with a criminally overpriced team, 570k, 2 climbers, 5 classics, 70-68 mountain an 60-80+ 56-84...

Quantity over quality. 2 climbers made sense though, one as sieber/helper, one to hang on Oetker or other 80-70, then win the sprint... (if the others forget to sprint at least)

Favorites as I saw them:
-75 classic with 60+ sprint from Schartner.
-Detreköi, 71 and 61 sprint AAD

Start, Schartner goes, I'm a bit baffled, AAD goes with 2 1 km later, a third Schartner goes.

I'm rather lost ..and still half on app, T-Mobile in, I do my helper adjustments and join. 1-2 km later. With the wrong guy:) Short, 100 form instead of Carpinteiro, helpers fucked up too...

They give up, another attempt by AAD a Cake-man there, since I already fucked Short wasn't going to let either of Schartner or AAD go ahead anymore.
Don't remember if it was 2 or 3 attempts overall, think 2? Anyway, then put my guys on AAD too, but nothing else happened.
Schartner was in a bad mood for the rest of the race... unfit monster, 910 at the start he said

A LiqLiq helper saving action, but nobody had planned any siebs

Short-Carpinteiro attack, chased caught.

The aiebing started: Ardila siebs, the Schartner whose name I forget, stays in front, Akos with or sometimes even behind Bieri
Didn't check others, should, but not that concentrated...

Then the first attack, Lambert-Drinkwater. Originally was thinking about leader Bieri and Lambert or Huizinga going, but with Akos not that strong Bieri for the finish became sensible. So those 2.

Tschernak+Mancuso follow. Reaction behind soft. Schartner there riding with weak guys I think? Green at first was enough for Lambert to keep them away. Attack green as well..

La Redoute, Drinkwater in, Mancuso in and out, Tschernak dropped, unfit. Mancuso in. We gain lots of time immediately. Over 2' Behind.... nothing. Poor T-Mobile riding. Schartner still in "victim" mode it seemed. Lula riding a bit sometimes. So T-Mobile. Right imo, not top favorite but why play Manghi and rather "not lose" than "not win". Seems to be the mindset of certain managers, working and then not winning seems to be a loss, but not working so never being in the position to win isn't. It's actually the opposite! Anyway Mobster tried for his outside chance. Then had enough, a bit of LiqLiq, not trusting Mancuso in front, then Schartner, who them attacked with his dead guy. Over 3' in front... Through if we continue.

Roche aux Faucons, horribly named hill, why not Donkeys??? Mancuso out. Drinkwater after the climb too.
In the back Cano and the Schartner ahead, Donkey AAD chasing. Before the climb hoped to come back, but soon clear wasn't happening. Small climb, both Drinkwater and Mancuso attack, Drinkwater 1" ahead... Kept it kept it, then up to 2" in the downhill. LBL won. Despite 3-4 km of rolling before the final attack.

Ridiculous race really .. Just 7 teams, ok I wasn't fully concentrated the whole time either, not that motivating, but not riding with a 75 classic, weakened ok, but still ahead of the other guys with sprint.... Just weird.
One attack at 50 or so km from the goal was enough. No real reaction weakest helpers chasing or nobody at all .. only after the Roche behind some interest was really shown. Even the attack, was clear at some point some Donks would go, but only AAD and Liquigas following. No Lula, Imperdor, Mobster. Yes on the wrong guys maybe

You could say I played out my quantity advantage to perfection, but really everybody just surrendered... Nobody should win LBL like this or rather nobody should give LBL away like the mini-peloton we had did. Only one trying, Mobster. But with weaklings...But yes why use Liivik etc when others aren't even ready to use their own weaklings? He showed interest, with a normal chase he might go with better guys too later, but like that? He tried, using more.... what for if Schartner is even sabotaging the chase instead of riding...

[flockmastoR]

Afternoon LBL:

Yes Akos on paper really not that bad. Have just checked after Donkey pointed at him. Usually with 71 mountain and 61 sprint he is somewhere in the top 5 favorites. But no form was obvious too. Tschermak the kind of guy hanging on the 2nd last escape group (worked well, usually this group has no chance) and Heuser was meant to be in the final escape group (he has the flat and some sprint and he was helped). Tschermak the guy to ride after the siebs, so I think 2 red km before the attack + not helped throughout the whole race. Had to overhelp Akos from time to time to have a little chance if the winner comes out of the peloton, but was clear soon that he has no chance. Riding in the back with Bieri makes absolutely no sense if it is about the win. Bieri slowing down an even shapeless Akos and outsprinting him in the end.

In the end, hanging there with Heuser already gives me a good chance, not sure how it than changes the way the group rides. Don't even remember who won from the peloton, the Liq guy or the weakened monster of Schartner.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Liege–Bastogne–Liege

Evening again with a nice large group of 11 teams, including friendly FL (evening is the new afternoon), the Rhodan's (late evening better than early evening), all the big, experienced evening teams (Poke, Gala, Bear, Coe) and also Idefix, Romoc, Viromet, CBJ. Lots of climbers and classics in the peloton, but no obvious favorite. Poke with a >600k team, our team also expensive with >500k, including our 2 Belgian climbers Pagie (85-59, 55sprint) and Lootens (80-63, 56sprint) as well as our two Italian classics Vespa (74-78, 55sprint) and Abbiati (72-81, 55sprint). Team Viromet with the strongest classic (Justyna Unold, 76-80). Rhodan with the strongest classic sprinter (Andre Rascon, 74-78 with 68 sprint). FL with underdog Armleder (71-76 with 67 sprint).

On the first few km, a large escape goes, 13 riders from 6 teams, including Poke with 2 pullers for Joestar (67-79-79). We have RVV winner Gaspard Gagneux in the escape, mostly out of fun, trying to make it 2 monument wins for him. Rhodan leads the chase in peloton, allowing only 2' to 3' in the beginning. So Gala takes the opportunity, attacks with two more riders (he already had two in escape) and bridges across, effectively bringing 35-years-old well-known Pedro CastelloRuiz (67-82-72) into escape. So 15 riders (4 Gala's, 3 Poke's, 2 FL, 2 Bear's, 2 Coe's, 1 Gip, 1 Romoc) in escape.

With only Rhodan chasing, advantage goes up to 7' but of course the group is a bit unbalanced with the largest teams in escape having the strongest riders there. So nobody really joins Gala or Poke in tempo. Then we take our decision: Gagneux is ordered back into peloton to help chase. No chance for him to win out of the escape, so rather work in peloton. Of course he is annoyed with the decision, but let's face it: A 60-79 without form, without helpers, cannot hold on to 67-80's in L-B-L.

As we join the chase, of course Rhodan takes a break. Understandable but seemed dangerous with such a large group maintaining its 7' lead. At Cote de Mont-le-Soie, with 90km to go, CastelloRuiz and Joestar decide to go alone. The chase in the back continues, mainly our team, but some help from Rhodan and Viromet. With 31km to go, they have 4' before Côte de la Redoute, where we had our fanclub cheering us up. Rhodan fanclub was also there singing a song. With 14km to go, they have 2'20'' before Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, where the race explodes. We sieb with Pagie at the +10. Vespa is 1'' ahead of Rascon and Unold. But they come back on the +4.

So 4 groups: CastelloRuiz and Joestar still in front, then a group of climbers, then the classics group with Rascon, Unold, Vespa and Levy among others. Then another classics group including Armleder. No coordinated effort in the classics group, but somehow Rascon, Unold and Vespa all ride 1 or 2 km and catch the climbers. Then Rascon waiting for the second group to catch up and control for a sprint Rascon vs. Armleder. But attacks keep coming out of that group. Unold tries multiple attacks, Levy tries as well. Gaetan Bohu (Pokemonogatari) and Francisco Sastre (Romoc Riders) also try their luck, but all attacks are blocked or have everyone following. We lose contact with Pagie, but Lootens and Vespa stay in that group. The duo CastelloRuiz / Joestar is caught with only 5 or 6km to go. We almost forgot second group with Romoc and FL, nearly came back with Armleder, but they are missing 3'' in the end.

Finally the sprint out of a 12-rider group, including the 2 escapers and the strong climbers/classics. Everyone is focussed on Rascon of course, but he is there alone. Lootens and Vespa follow Rascon. But Bohu goes from 500m! Rascon closes the gap to Bohu immeditaly. Then we launch Lootens at 350m, Vespa takes Rascon's wheel. Rascon has to try and catch Lootens, overtakes him at 200m. Then Rascon stops his sprint to drop back into Looten's wheel! Not going to call it a tricksprint because it's a small group, but let's say, a very dangerous move! Nobody expected that move and nobody tried from 150m. Then Rascon again from 100m, Vespa still in the wheel. Vespa takes it from 50m and overtakes Rascon!

Very happy with Vittore's win in Liege. Our first win of La Doyenne and it completes a nice spring classics campaign 2022. Gagneux winning Harelbeke & RVV and Vespa winning L-B-L. Both deserve a guaranteed spot in our Giro and TDF line-ups. Today we were also very happy with Pagie's and Lootens' performance. Training bad but performance in race was excellent. But still not sure if they are strong enough for the upcoming Grand Tours...


01. 00:00:00 Vittore Vespa (Gipfelstuermer)
02. 00:00:00 Andre Rascon (Rhodan Underdogs)
03. 00:00:00 Moshe Levy (RS Coesitz)
04. 00:00:00 Gonzalo Arteaga (Los Galacticos)
05. 00:00:00 Luuk Lootens (Gipfelstuermer)
06. 00:00:00 Wil Ruprecht (Bearclaw Cycling)
07. 00:00:00 Jade Campagne (Idéfix)
08. 00:00:00 Gaetan Bohu (Pokemonogatari)
09. 00:00:00 Francisco Sastre (Romoc Riders)
10. 00:00:00 Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)
11. 00:00:00 Justyna Unold (Team Viromet)
12. 00:00:00 Jonathan Joestar (Pokemonogatari)

13. 00:00:03 Aaron Armleder (Team FL)
14. 00:00:03 Roni Meiyr (RS Coesitz)
15. 00:00:03 Alberto Petito (Carrera Blue Jeans)

[Robyklebt]

AAD

For me Akos more than a top 5 rider. Potential winner, but potentially nothing too.
Ignoring the form, energy, normally I would expect the following situation after the Roche aux Faucons:

Mamlejew in front, catching the climbers
Cano next
Akos next. Gottwald with him (I completely ignored him in my inrace analysis though... figured that out only now)

So then.... How big are the differences? Akos+Gottwald close to Cano, can Akos catch him? Yes, with the downhill I think.
Mam in front, how much? What does he do? Ride and risk then not being strong enough to drop the climbers, then be beaten by them in the sprint? Caught anyway? That almost sure, on the last 6 the Liquigas climber will get Mamlejew. Unless one of the 2 basques that are in front decides to ride that km for him, hoping that he then doesn't attack but rides. Or that LiqLiq does one of his great 1 day race decisions and keeps Zeballos in front... Can happen. Or does Mamlejew wait for Cano, or for Akos and Cano immediately? So that then you 2 can ride together, lose less energy, keep the sprint advantage? Don't know.... in all situations Bieri is behind and chasing and not coming back anyway....
But looking at that, for me Akos is number 2 behind Mamlejew. With Cano 3, Gottwald now 4, hadn't seen him, really noticed him, there's T-Mobile-A written, so must have ignored him. Sorry Mobster...

Then of course after the first sieb it became clear that Akos wasn't at 100 form, no way of knowing that earlier, unless I remember Flanders, which I don't. (Probably there in form then?) And that Mamlejew while top, probably still the best in the mountain.

And that changed things for Bieri. Instead of having to go early I thought it was worth a try, so Espariat and Basterretxea for him. And for me actually even for the win Bieri and Akos collaboration was good. IF we catch them (but we weren't even close) then it's perfect for you. Hang on Bieri, I have the "train"... Or the mass Asier-Espariat-Bieri. Possible that I would have gone on LiqLiq, but for sure put in the safety train next to it, to be able to jump there. Then you in the wheel, Mamlejew with less energy and less flat (I think) behind. Danger then the 2 others, Gottwald and Cano... but you still have the Boaz card, 53 sprint. If I go at 150 with Bieri, and you too, you stay in my wheel, if you go and I don't, Bieri is out. But the Gottwald-Cano danger remains... Or you could do your train with just Boaz.. .but there the risk of me then jumping there if nobody is there is pretty big...

Anyway, I thought Akos+Bieri made sense for both. But as it turned out wasn't for the win, we never had a chance to come back to Cano-Mamlejew. Next year then!