JohnMalcolmson said:

I guess I should be grateful that Moscon didn't take it, but Colbrelli is such a dickhead.

Is it some thing specific about Colbrelli ? or just that stupid laugh cry thing, I don't know much about him apart from he's on the team that changed their name to victorious and like a miracle are 

Not going to make me feel guilty for having him on my fantasy team!

Amazing race.  I watched from 10k before the Arenberg to the finish.  I figured every pave sector could be be critical.  

Some thoughts.  

When Trentin was attacking from the gun (saw the start, too), it said that at least some teams saw that an early break had a serious chance of going all the way.

While it was ridiculously wet, it also appeared to be relatively warm.  That probably made it a good bit easier.  See 1985 and 2001 for comparison .  Still insanely hard.  

WVA is past his peak for the season.  Jumbo Visma rode smartly enough but Wout didn't have the legs.

MVDP appeared to think he was stronger than what we saw.  Sure he turned the screws, but Boivin and Colbrelli brought him back after attacks on pave.  And that he didn't attack Colbrelli after Vermeersch attacked and got caught with 2k to go suggested MVDP knew he had very little left.  

Despite Quick-Step vanishing from the front, Lampaert still flew the flag high.  Lefevre will probably have some pronouncement about this failure in the Belgian papers shortly 

I was relatively satisfied that Roll and Liggett catalogued the shitty things Moscon has done.  It would have been better if he had been caught without the flat and crash. But that the moto camera caught the soft tire before Moscon did had me wondering about where Moscon's head was at.  Sure seemed that his spare bike had too much air in the tires.  Ineos will have a meeting about that.  

I didn't get Boivin's game.  He attacked away from the guy we should have assumed was his leader--Vanmarcke--leaving him for good after the Arenberg.  The he traded pulls with MVDP to get up to his teammate at the front--Van Asbroeck--using lots of energy.  Trading pulls with MVDP starting after the Arenberg seemed really dumb.  I didn't understand why Boivin wasn't making MVDP do just about everything as he had two really good excuses for sitting on.  

But then there's something I can't totally fathom about the race.  There's reason to treat the cobbled sectors like hills.  If you're in a large chase group and there are much smaller groups ahead, the strong riders should contain themselves so they can keep the weaker riders on and get them to work on the smooth sectors.  This would presumably mean the gaps would stay even on the cobbles or maybe expand a bit, and then get reduced dramatically on the smooth.  But we didn't see this happen.  It seemed like the weaker riders in a group, after going over a cobbled sector after chasing, were almost done for the day.   

EF's Rutsch seemed super strong.  But it seemed like in the long run, he just wasted energy. Maybe the above didn't work for him.

Colbrelli's gesticulating about everything bugs me.  But maybe it's charming if you know him. 

Mark Taylor said:

JohnMalcolmson said:

I guess I should be grateful that Moscon didn't take it, but Colbrelli is such a dickhead.

Is it some thing specific about Colbrelli ? or just that stupid laugh cry thing, I don't know much about him apart from he's on the team that changed their name to victorious and like a miracle are 

Yeah, just don't love his mojo.

https://twitter.com/DoCiclismo/status/1409636573285470214?s=20

 

Noticed this kit on the broadcast. Hotness.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/look-1985-la-vie-claire-colours-reimagined-for-paris-roubaix/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXVHeAzh6do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56UTneSPyr8

By any measure, we are living a golden era of cycling. 

https://youtu.be/JINflKEzdRM

What an absolute privilege to be able to witness this with this level of access. 

(caveats for doping)  

eloy said:

Noticed this kit on the broadcast. Hotness.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/look-1985-la-vie-claire-colours-reimagined-for-paris-roubaix/

Ironically, the french sport tycoon that created la vie claire died this weekend.  

The poor Bernard is dead??

eloy said:

https://youtu.be/JINflKEzdRM

What an absolute privilege to be able to witness this with this level of access. 

(caveats for doping)  

Also , I thought her words at the press conference about the appetite for women's cycling was spot on  

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/paris-roubaix-runner-up-florian-vermeersch-posts-incredible-ride-to-strava

It's interesting the numbers for the sprint. If it were state line I might have taken him out with 1124 for 20. Actually Matt would have taken him out ;^) But then again maybe not when you factor power to weight. For comparison, someone more my size like Griepel was hitting 1903 max and 1326/20 in a typical stage race and still getting dusted by the lighter, more explosive Gavirias and Ewans.

NO ONE THAT RIDES THE STATE LINE WOULD BEAT VERMEERSCH. EVER.
(unless he lets you)

I mean I can't even being to describe the level of smoked any of us would experience.

Let me unpack that a bit more Eloy... I'm talking about sprinting against the Vermeesch with 260kms of cobbles in his legs, and he's cramping, and he missed his finish bottle. And we are just jumping out of the bushes outside the velodrome as per a typical Prospect Park race. Can someone work that up in Photoshop?

Pretty much sums up the day for Jumbo–Visma
https://youtu.be/FPrymKXFUKM

WVA's folded too: 

https://twitter.com/VVGenechten2/status/1516417097794043921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Wonder how Shimano feels about that

Matt Budofsky said:

Wonder how Shimano feels about that

When Team Sky broke a bunch of wheels at the Tirenno-Adriatico TTT, Shimano was quick to say that Sky was using narrower tires than recommended--they claimed the team was riding 21mm tubulars when 23mm were the narrowest they recommended or some such.

I suspect they're going to say that they were riding the tires flat.  But the folding seems weird to me; I'd sooner expect to see the rim crack in one place than folding.

Someone mentioned in the comments that Laporte flatted at beginning of cobble section and just rode the wheel to destruction.

Will next year's Roubaix tech innovation be alloy rims? 

Wow those rims imploded

PatrickGrehan said:

Will next year's Roubaix tech innovation be alloy rims? 

Wow those rims imploded

Noodle-tech

There seemed to be quite a few flat tires at Roubaix this year.  I was surprised by that.

I figured pretty much everyone had sealant in their tires--Tubeless (obviously), but the disadvantages of running it in tubulars and tube-type clinchers are pretty small.  Supposedly, at least as far back as 2010, the Cervelo Test Team was running sealant in their Paris-Roubaix tubulars.  

Also noticed that the transition from cobble to the “smoother “ section at the side of the road were pretty deeply rutted 

Not totally sure, I am guessing these may have been tubular flats and that weird forces wanted to unglue a very well glued tubular, so the whole rim collapsed. Maybe.

Other than the amazing racing, one take away that I’m still hung up on from the women’s race is that EF still includes SVB as a title sponsor and in the team name even though SVB as a company is donezo. Do we think they’ll stay a title sponsor until the end of the season?

Thinking to another recent example somewhat similar example, when FTX collapsed last year Mercedes immediately removed them as a sponsor. 

Technically, Silicon Valley Bank remains a bank in existence, but under new leadership and as "division" of First Citizens Bank. (i.e. SVB never actually stopped operating, FTX full on closed down) --I would expect sponsorship to be reconsidered for 2024 

But let's talk bike racing, because the level of awesome the Women's race was full on crazy town awesome!

that makes sense.

I think Paris-Roubaix was the first, and possibly only, monument, to be shown on American broadcast television.

It was 1984.  Probably because they were afraid Americans wouldn't get into it, CBS made it a 22-minute episode with history, interviews and music videos.  I think it might have won an Emmy award.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPbUz3jSA7g

It was also the first Euro bike race I had ever seen on TV.  And because my family had recently bought a VCR, I recorded it.  They eventually recorded over it.  

I then made sure that wasn't going to happen in 1985.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88VPhYz5qoY

If you don't want to watch the whole thing, checking out the Theo de Rooy interview is a must.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1VbX34tq1o

And the music...new-agey syth.  Totally unforgettable.

https://jralong.com/2023/04/07/john-tesh-wrote-the-soundtrack/

Watching John Degrnkolb after the finish was heartbreaking on so many levels