# Spring Classics/Spring Stage Races- Spoilers Allowed



## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

Oomloop, KBK, and Strade Bianche have all been fun to watch so far. Quickstep looks poised to have another great spring and MVDP proved that he is ready as well. I am looking forward to seeing where things go from here.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Strade Bianche was good. Van der Poel must've put out 1000+ watts of power on that climb up to Sienna.

I just watched Grote Prijs Jean Peiorre Monsere. Good finish.
Lots of crashes. Must be all the young riders.


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## upstateSC-rider (Aug 21, 2004)

il sogno said:


> Strade Bianche was good. Van der Poel must've put out 1000+ watts of power on that climb up to Sienna.
> 
> I just watched Grote Prijs Jean Peiorre Monsere. Good finish.
> Lots of crashes. Must be all the young riders.


Pretty fun seeing such a high-quality and diverse group at the end of strade bianche.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

I agree with both of you on each of those races. I only watched a little bit of the first, but could tell it was a crash fest. On Strade Bianche, that's part of what makes that race special to me. It's so hard to predict who will win because the course suits different types of riders depending on what happens during the race. It could be a GC type one year, an Ardennes style puncheur the next, a bigger cobbled classics hard man another. It makes it fun.


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## Wetworks (Aug 10, 2012)

il sogno said:


> Strade Bianche was good. Van der Poel must've put out 1000+ watts of power on that climb up to Sienna.
> 
> I just watched Grote Prijs Jean Peiorre Monsere. Good finish.
> Lots of crashes. Must be all the young riders.


Peak was slightly higher than mine at 1362. Of course, his 20s was way higher than what I can maintain. Guy is otherworldly. 









Mathieu van der Poel won Strade Bianche with a 1,000-watt attack


Here are the numbers and a video that show what it took for van der Poel to win Strade Bianche.




www.velonews.com


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

Wetworks said:


> Peak was slightly higher than mine at 1362. Of course, his 20s was way higher than what I can maintain. Guy is otherworldly.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When you can ride away from a fit Alaphilippe at the end of an important race like he's standing still, you're special, period.


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## Wetworks (Aug 10, 2012)

Rashadabd said:


> When you can ride away from a fit Alaphilippe at the end of an important race like he's standing still, you're special, period.


Great point of perspective. It's gonna be a fun Classics season for sure!!!


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

Wetworks said:


> Great point of perspective. It's gonna be a fun Classics season for sure!!!


I can't wait for Roubaix, MSR, Flanders, and the Ardennes. If Wout gets going like MVDP, Alaphilippe, Mads Pederson, and others, it could be bonkers! Even Cav is looking like he might be able to do some damage this spring. 









Mark Cavendish sprints to his best result in years at GP Monsere


British sprinter takes second behind Tim Merlier




www.cyclingnews.com


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

This is my dark horse for a big win this spring. Keep your eye on him. 









Davide Ballerini powers to his second win on stage two of the Tour de la Provence 2021


The Italian sprinter stayed with the punchers on the uphill finish taking the stage in the leader's jersey




www.cyclingweekly.com













Davide Ballerini | Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team


A strong and versatile rider, Davide Ballerini began supporting the team more than a decade ago, when as a young kid he watched on TV as Paolo Bettini…




www.deceuninck-quickstep.com


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## PBL450 (Apr 12, 2014)

It’s great having classics! Hopefully we can start to see fans lining the routes very soon! Omloop and Strada Bianchi were great, agree with the uniqueness of Strada making it such an anticipated race! Quick Step looks dominant, even in Bennett’s sprints at Paris-Niece... The other sprinters just don’t have a chance they are so well drilled!


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

I agree. Wow, the two Slovenians look like they are going to be very difficult to beat again in stage races this year. They are no joke! Simon Yates looks strong as well and Geraint Thomas appears to be back to his old self.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Sunday Mar 14. Great racing today at Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

il sogno said:


> Sunday Mar 14. Great racing today at Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico.


Both races have definitely been really good. I was disappointed to see Roglic go down and injure himself, but I have enjoyed watching how aggressive different riders and teams have been. MVDP is ridiculous lol. WVA too. The rest of the Spring should be fun.


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## KoroninK (Aug 9, 2010)

Just a brief update for the postponed Spanish races from earlier this winter. Valencia will be raced in April. Mallorca, Andalucia, and Murica will be raced in May along with another small Spanish race and one more will be raced in July.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

KoroninK said:


> Just a brief update for the postponed Spanish races from earlier this winter. Valencia will be raced in April. Mallorca, Andalucia, and Murica will be raced in May along with another small Spanish race and one more will be raced in July.


Interesting.


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## KoroninK (Aug 9, 2010)

Rashadabd said:


> Interesting.


When the races were postponing their events I remember Mallorca and Murcia had specifically requested being moved to May.

It'll be interesting to see who and which teams go. As these are WT races the only WT team who will definitely be at all these races is Movistar. Valencia could get riders who are planning on racing either the GIro or Tour, but the races in May obviously won't get anyone going to the Giro and likely won't get anyone going to the Tour unless you get a team like Cofidis or Astana that have multiple Spaniards who may request going to one or two of those races.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

So uh.... Jasper Stuyven is explosive too. He took off like a rocket on that attack. It looked very similar to MVDP's final attack at Strade Bianche. Dude is good. 









Jasper Stuyven: There were a lot of fast guys on the Poggio, so I knew I had to go all or nothing


The Belgian overcame the odds to take the biggest victory of his career




www.cyclingweekly.com


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

I was pretty surprised by the Flanders finish. Am I the only one? MVDP actually sat up and shook his head. Asgreen is no joke.


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

There seemed to be talk before the race that he'd be a contender for the win-- but still many would be surprised to not see van Aert or van der Poel, right?

Paris-Roubaix moved to October due to COVID...


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

It would seem that both MvdP and WvA are discovering their limits. Killing it through the Cx season then trying to continue at the same level right into a spring classics was questionable. Now suddenly they’re running out of gas at just the wrong moments.

It is also instructional to watch Chris Horner’s comments on his YouTube vlog, The Butterfly Effect. He’s especially critical of Jumbo Visma tactics.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

jetdog9 said:


> There seemed to be talk before the race that he'd be a contender for the win-- but still many would be surprised to not see van Aert or van der Poel, right?
> 
> Paris-Roubaix moved to October due to COVID...


Agreed, Asgreen was definitely in good form, he won earlier this Classics campaign. I was still shocked to see him outsprint MDVP and ride WVA and Alaphillippe off his wheel though.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

JSR said:


> It would seem that both MvdP and WvA are discovering their limits. Killing it through the Cx season then trying to continue at the same level right into a spring classics was questionable. Now suddenly they’re running out of gas at just the wrong moments.
> 
> It is also instructional to watch Chris Horner’s comments on his YouTube vlog, The Butterfly Effect. He’s especially critical of Jumbo Visma tactics.


Valid points for sure. No human can be on 100% of the time all season long. We've seen that with Sagan and others recently too.


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## PBL450 (Apr 12, 2014)

Rashadabd said:


> Valid points for sure. No human can be on 100% of the time all season long. We've seen that with Sagan and others recently too.


It really drives home the point of training specificity... The perfect fitness window is small and fragile... 

That finish shocked me! It also looked like maybe WvdP knew his legs were shot as he was caught in a smaller gear? 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

PBL450 said:


> It really drives home the point of training specificity... The perfect fitness window is small and fragile...
> 
> That finish shocked me! It also looked like maybe WvdP knew his legs were shot as he was caught in a smaller gear?
> 
> ...


Agree. He definitely sat up and I've never really seen him do anything like that during a sprint finish in cyclocross, road or MTB. Not sure what happened, but my guess is his legs just didn't have it for such a long sprint after all they had been through.


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## KoroninK (Aug 9, 2010)

Happy to see Asgreen win Flanders. Surprised he was able to win the sprint. He's been in good form for the classics.

I was happy to see Valverde win GP Miguel Indurain. Yes, yes, it's just a small 1 day race in Spain, but still nice to see.


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

Valverde definitely looks good right now. Alpecin Fenix are not going to be able to hold on to Philipsen for long if he keeps doing things like this.









Philipsen beats Bennett to win Scheldeprijs


Cavendish takes podium placing




www.cyclingnews.com













Jasper Philipsen overpowers Sam Bennett and Mark Cavendish after brutal day in Scheldeprijs 2021


Deceuninck - Quick-Step looked nailed on to take the victory, but it was Alpecin-Fenix rider Philipsen who emerged on top




www.cyclingweekly.com


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

One for the old(er) folks.... Happy for him.









Tour of Turkey: Mark Cavendish wins stage 2


Manxman takes overall lead after first win in three years




www.cyclingnews.com


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## upstateSC-rider (Aug 21, 2004)

Congrats to Tom Pidcock on his first big win, another great new rider.
Can't wait to get a healthy Remco back in the mix with this amazing new lead group.


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## BCSaltchucker (Jul 20, 2011)

Love that sprint today at Amstel Gold! Kinda looks indeterminate to me. But the broadcast and CN did not show the photo finish camera images yet! Is the UCI suppressing this? The broadcast did show the image of an official's ipad, but that is even more ambiguous. of course both deserved the win!!


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

Big win for TP in Amstel Gold for sure. It sounds like he had an unfortunate crash today. Mr. Alaphilippe did his thing again though. No surprises there lol.


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## KoroninK (Aug 9, 2010)

Thankfully Alaphilippe did NOT win LBL, thank you Pogacar for preventing that.

Valverde is at best on his 2019 level and it's obvious that's the best he's going to manage again and at 41 he's never learned to how to be tactically smart. When Valverde retires, I'm fully done with the sport. There's no one else in the peloton I care enough about to look for races to watch (and that requires they win for me to actually look for the race). Once Valverde retires the entire rest of the field I either don't like at all or don't care one way or the other about.


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

Cracks me up how much you don't like Alaphilippe. 🙂

Valverde birthday win would have been a nice story but oh well. 

I was hoping Gaudi would steal it, he came in second so many times last year. 

For a second while they were playing cat and mouse I thought they might get caught there.


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