Tour of Holland

Latest comments

• spdlmtdrvr17-04-2026
  I went back and watched the whole chase. There are plenty of heli shots. You never see a wall of motos. Occasionally, one camera moto gets too close. But the leading group has one too. I think he was hallucinating.
• OCexile17-04-2026
  indeed, infinite complexities. so the best way to tell who the strongest was is to look at the podium and just roll with that.
• MidnightRider17-04-2026
  Clearly not everyone understands. Not only is bad luck part of it, there is a difference between leading and chasing. Different groups/pairings, different tactics. It seems worth noting, for example, that when MVDP had closed to within 20 seconds at the 54km mark, Wout launched and Pog followed. They quickly built the lead back out to 40 seconds, which means they had not been fully on their limit. They were sensibly holding back just bit, no doubt due to the big gap to MVDP. But when he got close they were able to move on, at which point they had to play a complicated game with each other: attacking at times, cooperating at other times, testing each other while trying to protect their lead and still save something for the end. They slowed strategically as they got near the finale, then more yet once they got on the track. The chase group, which was still racing full gas, closed down some of the remaining gap at that point. The claim that MVDP was stronger because his elapsed time was lower misses all of that, and the claim that he would have dropped the other two is absurd.
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  Rafionain-Glas17-04-2026
  Monuments are more prestigious and are difficult but there's no question that surviving a brutal week-long stage race is harder. And even if Monuments should be awarded more points, twice Catalunya is sh*te
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  Rafionain-Glas17-04-2026
  That battle between Nordhagen and Omrzel for the final stage the baby Giro was fabulous. Also because Luke Tuckwell got the pointy end of the stick
• Pogboom16-04-2026
  Froome style.
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  Rafionain-Glas16-04-2026
  I think you're overdoing it. He's beaten plenty of top riders (Lipowitz, Ayuso, del Toro, Almeida etc.) but he lacks Grand Tour experience. Just because he's done well in weeklongs doesn't mean he'll do well over 3 weeks. He might crack and hit a ceiling like Remco. Better to see at the Vuelta
• PogiFan2Day16-04-2026
  The Volta Catalunya GC is 400 Points and Paris-Nice GC is 500 points. The stage race wins are 50 or 60 points. The monument races are 800 points. Clearly the monument races have more points than 1-week tours. I think it's much harder to win one day races and the point system is right the way it is.
• OCexile16-04-2026
  it’s not even really about who manages the mechanicals the best most of the time. it’s just plain BAD LUCK. wout didn’t “poorly manage his flat tire” a few years ago when he had his blowout right at the end when he and mathieu were almost certainly headed for a heads-up in the velodrome. just bad luck.
• OCexile16-04-2026
  i’m a big fan of mathieu, so for people like me that factoid is a bummer, but that’s roubaix. it’s just highly attritional. mathieu has had his share of very good luck the last three years: no ill timed mechanicals at all, while both wout and pog didn’t get off as easy. so while it’s in some sense objectively true that mathieu was the strongest (elapsed riding time), that doesn’t matter a HOOT. the history of PR is a history of broken wheels and fouled derailleures. way it goes. couldn’t be happier for Wout. such an indomitable spirit. great, great champion.