That's why I liken it more to the Daytona 500 than the Super Bowl. Dale Earnhardt won over 100 races and 7 championships, but it took 19 tries to win his only Daytona 500.
Unfortunately we have zero clue about Nascar over here- probably as much knowledge as you have about the Grand National!
They all worked too damn hard when in that group with Pog! And why? Every gilt edged rider in the race was in that group, nobody in the remains of the peloton was a threat, if Pog wanted to keep away then let him drive it. Remco was stupid (again) by challenging Pog on one hill, it wiped him out and Pog, as he always does, just calmly kicked on and Remco had gone into red for rest of race he was what 20 seconds behind but could not get back on? It was clear after that that MVDP was constantly on the limit and was not going to be able to keep up once Pog punched again on the Oude Kwaremont.
For Remco, sick of being caught out by other riders sudden gear shift acceleration on the mountain climbs in the early season stage races, so switches back to the king of one day classics, where it must really grate to get caught out by other riders (ie Pog) sudden gear shift acceleration on the steep hills!
Big question is will Jonas have enough left after the Giro?
He'll have six weeks to recover. I don't know. This will certainly be a factor.
Remco should stick to time trials and stay away from roundabouts.
Seriously. He's a world class talent that rides like a Cat 5.
That's what did for him in the Ronde; he had to show off/challenge Pog on a climb, half wheeling him then taking the lead and when the cobbles turned steep, Pog smoothly accelerated (as he does every.single.time.) and Remco was blown. Stupid. He showed over the next 20km as he trailed Pog & MVDP that he kept in touch, they were still in sight but he couldn't bridge, so he still had it in the legs and theoretically would have been there until at least the last time up the Kwaremont where finally MVDP was dropped. Even then as even Pog was tiring by that point, MVDP and Remco working together might have caught Pog in last 10k but who knows. I think MVDP did everything right bar perhaps working too much in the big group, but by being the sole survivor to Pog's attack, he was gone, shattered, you could see he was just hanging on, and easy to see one more attack on a climb and he'd lose contact which is what happened. Crossing line in second place he didn't even lift his head, totally gone, crushed and probably thinking he'll never beat Pog.
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