Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

19. He's only 19! Flamin' hell.

All those cx races has MVDP in top condition- he's looking so mean on the bike, the way he avoided that fella's head on that cobbled wet climb, unreal.
 
Ok, I get the Paul Seixas hype now.
Loving that Van Rysel bike of Seixas as well. And kinda glad he's riding for a French team. Though like English football not winning World Cup since '66 and the UK media scrutiny is murderous, Seixas will have huge French media attention on him too.
 
Yeah. He rode away from Jorgensen, Christen, and Martinez 40km out and stuck it. He's clearly in better form than the other three, but that was fun to watch. It was also fun to listen to. Brian Smith and Jez Cox spent almost all of their airtime talking about this race and racing in general. It was like listening to a racing podcast. Very well done.

Seixas is only 19 years old, and some are comparing him to Tadej. Give the kid some time. He won a ProSeries race by riding away. Let's see how he does in the Giro.
 
Yeah. He rode away from Jorgensen, Christen, and Martinez 40km out and stuck it. He's clearly in better form than the other three, but that was fun to watch. It was also fun to listen to. Brian Smith and Jez Cox spent almost all of their airtime talking about this race and racing in general. It was like listening to a racing podcast. Very well done.

Seixas is only 19 years old, and some are comparing him to Tadej. Give the kid some time. He won a ProSeries race by riding away. Let's see how he does in the Giro.
What race and stage?
 
Faun-Ardeche, UCI 1.Pro in France. Single day race. There's a different race and course tomorrow in the same area.

I refuse to pay the vig for Flo coverage. I'm already paying for Peacock and HBO Max.
 
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He's started the season hungry...

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Van der Poel's artful dodge of a downed rider's head, then decisive solo victory


More separate crashes in this race than I've ever seen by a long shot, one after another. Mind-boggling!
 
Sorry, I can't help it. Every time I see "omloop", I think of something you eat for breakfast in a bowl of milk.
 
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Exactly why I hang out here: I have you guys to point me to the unfamiliar races I would probably have passed over otherwise.
Start of the Spring Classics! Today is the day the real season starts. Best time of the year.

Interesting one to watch, the commentators said that by winning Omloop MVDP has unleashed the curse- no rider has ever won Omloop and Tour of Flanders (The most prestigious Spring Classic, certainly in Belgium) in the same year! I'd say Mathieu will take that as a personal challenge.
 
Hookless debate rumbles on. That's going to take a few spare spokes to fix!

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Yikes! Imagine that happening to you at the speeds these guys ride on the flat?

But was it really the rim's fault? That photo has me wondering if the cascading wheel failure started near the hub end? Or did the tire come off the rim at speed, trashing the rest of the wheel secondarily?
 
Yikes! Imagine that happening to you at the speeds these guys ride on the flat?

But was it really the rim's fault? That photo has me wondering if the cascading wheel failure started near the hub end? Or did the tire come off the rim at speed, trashing the rest of the wheel secondarily?
Some good insight here.

The rim is clearly cracked, most likely from riding on the flat tire. Tire liners will get you to the team car but if you ride on them for too long, bad things happen. When a carbon rim cracks, the spoke tension changes and then even more bad things can happen. Add to that, the wheel had carbon spokes. When they fail, they do not twist or bend, they crack, just like a carbon wheel or frame.

For those that aren't familiar, hookless tires and rims use a rim that has straight, flat sides, and a tire that has a thick, flat bead. They are a lot like automobile tires and rims. There are no protruding tire beads that "hook" into a groove in the inside edge of the rim. There are ERTO specs for all rims, and the UCI has to approve their use, which they did in this case.
 
Great racing today at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (UCI 1.Pro). The race was dominated by UWT teams, but the there were two podium places taken by ProTeam riders. Matthew Brennan took the win after a strong leadout and won by 3 lengths. Mozzato and Trentin (Tudor) rounded out the podium. Jasper the Disaster was up front a lot, had a mechanical, took a bike change from his teammate, swapped back to his bike in the final 10km, and wound up 18th. Milan was up front early as well but disappeared.

I was also keeping an eye on Modern Adventure. Boardman and Christian abandoned early after a crash. Cole Kessler was in the early break that lasted until 45km or so to go. That's when the big UWT teams took over the race, beating the crap out of the peloton and shedding riders in the echelon. Ben Oliver managed to survive all of this and was right up front in the main group with a few km to go. He took a bad line (or was shoved out, I couldn't tell) and had to cross an island, which put him back in the middle of the group as the sprint was winding up. He surfed wheels to get right back to where he was with 1km to go, but got slammed into hard by another rider, had to unclip, and ended up 20th.

Next up on my watch list, the Samyn Classic on Monday, which I will have to watch in the evening.
 
Chris Horner's typically breathless moment by moment recount of the Omloop:

Thanks for the link! I have a hard time listening to Chris Horner for more than a few minutes at a time, so I never made it to the part where he discusses all the crashes. One after another — never seen anything like it!

Guessing that cobbles and wet roads had something to do with it.
 
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