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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5101
Location: Nashua, NH4/7/19 9:29 AM |
SPOILER - Interesting finish to Flanders - SPOILER
I was rather surprised, but pleased to see a winner from an American team. It seemed that everyone else was just too gassed to mount a solo chase and there was no organization, due to most of the chase group being from different teams, which meant there was nobody to sacrifice to the chase. Sometimes the bold move pays off!
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henoch
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 1690
4/7/19 7:09 PM |
For sure that was an Epic win, the crazy thing is that this guy has never had a single win in his (pro) career, not even in any minor races, so his first win is De Rode, holy you know what :)
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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5101
Location: Nashua, NH4/8/19 7:27 AM |
I wasn't familiar with him either, but perhaps we will be going forward. Maybe the lead group let him go figuring that he was not a real threat...until he was and then it was too late.
It turns out that he's had some high finishes in significant races and he's only 25 years old (he apparently turned pro at 19), so his Flanders win doesn't seem suspicious.
https://cyclingtips.com/2019/04/the-weekly-spin-alberto-bettiol-solos-to-victory-at-2019-tour-of-flanders/
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henoch
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 1690
4/8/19 8:00 AM |
Yeah I totally agree with you, I think the big guns kind of let him go, figuring they could reel him back in, and then once he had the gap, he was stronger then they thought.
Also kudos to EF, it was a complete team win, not sure how much you watched but Sep Venamrke and Sebastian Langeveld were unbelievable, and I dont think he wins with out those 2, if you want to explain to a non cycling friend how cycling is a team sport, so the the last 45k of this race, just awesome.
And as to your last comment, I was in no way insinuating doping, it hadn't even crossed my mind, I was just saying how cool it is that his first even big win is the biggest race of em all.
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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6894
Location: Maine4/10/19 4:18 PM |
The ol’ late breakaway
I love that move. On any level of racing, from cat 5 (or citizen races when those existed) to the Ronde or World Championship, a late breakaway usually doesn’t work but sometimes does work, depending mostly on the dynamic of the chase group. When it works, I think it’s usually because the chasers wait for someone else to take it out.
Kind of reminds me of the pick and roll in basketball. One of the first things you learn as a kid, it still dominates in the NBA. Simple, but a certain amount of the time inevitably works.
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