The Classics

['Dale]

Still looking good, clear and with a soft focus in the pre-race routine in the pic below.

After the Classics superstar that was Fabian Cancellara, this Liquigas-Cannondale racer appeared out of the mist originating from Slovakia. It was the beginning of the modern super star racer profile that borne the next generation of absolute versatility, winning races in Grand Tours to semi-classics to Monuments to rainbow jerseys. Now we see with regularity the versatile champions in Tadej, Wout, Mathieu and even Marianne and Annemiek in the Women's World Tour. 

Will miss The Entertainer - he provided such absolute magnificent performances from the Spring classics to the then Tour of California, a million stage victories at the Tour de Suisse, the triple World Championship feat and, of course his performances in the race for the maillot vert at the Tour de France.

Take a bow, Peter Sagan. See you at the Tour de France for one of your final appearances before you head out to join the mountainbiking challenge for Paris 2024?

Pic by James Startt 

Edited April 11, 2023 by 'Dale

[nathrix]

Roadies way tougher than Mountain Bikers...

 

[Wyatt Earp]

3 minutes ago, nathrix said:

Roadies way tougher than Mountain Bikers...

 

Hard men.

 

 

['Dale]

Meanwhile, a very up tempo half marathon run for triathlete Cameron Wurf after the Hell of the North. 

Functional overreaching? 😶

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

42 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

Meanwhile, a very up tempo half marathon run for triathlete Cameron Wurf after the Hell of the North. 

Functional overreaching? 😶

Flexing

[babse]

3 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Meanwhile, a very up tempo half marathon run for triathlete Cameron Wurf after the Hell of the North. 

Functional overreaching? 😶

This is less impressive than his sub3 argust the other day... 

#6thMonument 

['Dale]

Hehehe

[OVERDRIVE]

27.6km to go and:

[OVERDRIVE]

Pidcock barely got third. I'll always remember his Olympic run, nobody saw which way he went. Road def a very diff kettle of fish 

[Thomo]

Another box ticked.! 👌

 

[SwissVan]

3 minutes ago, Thomo said:

Another box ticked.! 👌

 

If he doesn’t get beaten and doesn’t stop beating some of the best riders in the world by minutes it’s going to become unbelievable……wait, it might be to late?

 

 

[babse]

1 hour ago, Thomo said:

Another box ticked.! 👌

 

Ticking too many boxes too quickly 🤯

[mecheng89]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:06 PM, 'Dale said:

Meanwhile, a very up tempo half marathon run for triathlete Cameron Wurf after the Hell of the North. 

Functional overreaching? 😶

I believe he said afterwards this is in prep for IM, just because the level of the competitors out there is so high. It's clear what his goal is.

So, this shows us it can all be done, it just depends how eager you are to achieve your goal. 

['Dale]

“Mathieu van der Poel told me I should go on the Keutenberg and it is the hardest climb and it suits me the most. He told me that three days ago, he sent me a message. I will thank him for the advice." 

Tadej Pogačar, 2023 Amstel Gold Race Men Elite winner

***
What a ride by Ben Healy too after his earlier peak form at the Mallorca Challenge. Pidcock, always consistent. Slowly getting his levels back up after his recovery from concussion.

Edited April 16, 2023 by 'Dale

[Bub Marley]

This man is just an inspiration. Honestly he makes me want to race my bike again. 

[Thomo]

Are the sponsors also feeling the pinch.? 🤔