Fred van Vlaanderen

congrats on pulling through!

Congratulations!!

Another great job!!

I've really been loving every video, so no real suggestions other than keep doing what you are doing. 1. The editing works 2. The music is great and suits the vibe 3. Love the fact that you're continuously talking to different guys in the team and not only focusing on the front 4 (Matt & Chris, Haley & Sofia). Looking forward to seeing the rest! You guys are doing great.

I would think that the increase in mechanicals would be due to a couple of factors: a. riding in bunches (i.e. not always being able to choose your lines, following distance, wheels picking op rocks and throwing in front of others), b. fatigue and c. generally just riding faster and harder compared to training and then mistakes happen. I very seldom have issues when riding alone, but issues seem to be more frequent in races.

Long story short, Forster struggled with form/fatigue.

Blevins way too strong in the finale. Flippen well played by Spez.

Speed Company playing it very smart tactically. They can potentially be pulling off another coup d'etat.

Cat and mouse going on in the men's race. Very interesting tactics.

Wait what? I have so many questions. Running with cycling shoes or barefoot/socks... Surely freeing the bike along some of the 35km... Just sounds hectic on that terrain to be running that long. Anyone with more info on this story, please share.

I've been watching everyday. Really nice behind the scenes stuff.

Oh for sure. No doubt in my mind. I was trying to make the point about the size of the ego in the different genders and referenced Putin as @eala mentioned him in the post. Wasn't trying to make the point that it is solely an ego thing (although ego will perhaps play a significant role). But people like that are definitely crazy.

Yeah, but I feel that people generalise too much with this. The ave. male and the ave. female are very similar in most things and I would argue the same about ego. I agree that men will on average have larger ego's, but at the extreme points of the spectrum (where people like Trump, Putin, etc. would be) the largest ego's will be exclusively male. However, very few men are actually like Putin and one must just be mindful of that.

Definitely plays a huge role.

At least I've got respect for the impeccable timing of the ads... lol

For sure!! Those last minutes of comrades are excruciatingly good television. My wife (who was struggling with injury) and I sneaked in the last three seconds of the Two oceans marathon 56km and we still quite regularly watch the TV footage of that to relive the emotions.

While I do think there is merit to what you are saying in the broad spectrum, I doubt that it will apply to the top contenders. I would think those ladies are competitive as hell. While the average Jane might be less competitive than the average Joe, I'd bet that the top ladies are close to being as competitive as the top men.

Valid points. My issue is not so much gender (although there are obviously arguments to be made), but missing of live race action. I get the exact same irritation when you watch a grand tour and they show replays of the winner up front while the GC contenders are dueling attacks on the lower slopes which I want to see live. I would prefer for HL (especially like 5-10min inserts) to be shown after the live racing action. Personal preference, I guess. I was intrigued by Private Client Holdings and their bid for the stage, but then had to settle for the men's race HL instead.

Absolutely agree. So silly to show HL while there is still live racing.

Plus one for GRX mentioned above. It should work (in theory)

Well done you biscuit!!

Ja, well said!

Valid point. These okes are professionals after all, so I'm sure it would be a calculated decision. Very curious into the decision process.

Sprint coming up. Scott-Sram my pick.