https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 3/2/2024 11:36 AM, AMuzi wrote:
> https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win

I just finished watching that. While it was a truly impressive show of
dominance, it didn't make for very exciting bike racing. To make matters
worse, Pogacar announced at the beginning of the race "I'm going to
attack on that Monte Sante Marie", which is an 11K gravel sector
predominantly uphill, with a 1K 11% section. He did exactly that, and
simply rode away from the leading group of 20 or so. the rest of the
riders kept looking at each other, seemingly expecting someone else to
do the chasing. More impressive about Pogacars win was that this was his
first race of 2024, or 'the first effort art turning the pedals in
anger' as the late Paul Sherwen would say. Was Pogacar impressive? yes.
Did that make the race exciting? no. Though, I will note that the
peloton was hit with some torrential downpours seemingly perfectly timed
to riding the early gravel sections, which added a bit of excitement
before pogecar said 'see you at the finish'.

Contrast that to the womens race, which had a leading group undergoing
constant attacks and teamwork chasing and blocking. It got whittled down
to two riders with 10K to go, the current road world champion Lotte
Kopecky(SD Worx-Protime) and the current Italian road champion Elisa
Longo-Borghini (Lidl - Trek), who attacked each other a few times up to
the final climb to the finish, which Kopecky took handily.

On Sat, 2 Mar 2024 10:36:13 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

>https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win

I kept trying top figure out what a "Pogacar" is. So much for my
knowledge of bike racing :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

zen cycle <funkmasterxx@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/2/2024 11:36 AM, AMuzi wrote:
>> https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win
>
> I just finished watching that. While it was a truly impressive show of
> dominance, it didn't make for very exciting bike racing. To make matters
> worse, Pogacar announced at the beginning of the race "I'm going to
> attack on that Monte Sante Marie", which is an 11K gravel sector
> predominantly uphill, with a 1K 11% section. He did exactly that, and
> simply rode away from the leading group of 20 or so. the rest of the
> riders kept looking at each other, seemingly expecting someone else to
> do the chasing. More impressive about Pogacars win was that this was his
> first race of 2024, or 'the first effort art turning the pedals in
> anger' as the late Paul Sherwen would say. Was Pogacar impressive? yes.
> Did that make the race exciting? no. Though, I will note that the
> peloton was hit with some torrential downpours seemingly perfectly timed
> to riding the early gravel sections, which added a bit of excitement
> before pogecar said 'see you at the finish'.

Yup was a dull race! Shame as last years (mens) with Tom Pidcock was truly
excellent I really enjoyed watching him use his technique.
>
> Contrast that to the womens race, which had a leading group undergoing
> constant attacks and teamwork chasing and blocking. It got whittled down
> to two riders with 10K to go, the current road world champion Lotte
> Kopecky(SD Worx-Protime) and the current Italian road champion Elisa
> Longo-Borghini (Lidl - Trek), who attacked each other a few times up to
> the final climb to the finish, which Kopecky took handily.
>
Perhaps one to watch tomorrow I have no memory or not much so will have
forgotten by tomorrow there names!

Roger Merriman

On 3/2/2024 5:27 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
> zen cycle <funkmasterxx@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> On 3/2/2024 11:36 AM, AMuzi wrote:
>>> https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win
>>
>> I just finished watching that. While it was a truly impressive show of
>> dominance, it didn't make for very exciting bike racing. To make matters
>> worse, Pogacar announced at the beginning of the race "I'm going to
>> attack on that Monte Sante Marie", which is an 11K gravel sector
>> predominantly uphill, with a 1K 11% section. He did exactly that, and
>> simply rode away from the leading group of 20 or so. the rest of the
>> riders kept looking at each other, seemingly expecting someone else to
>> do the chasing. More impressive about Pogacars win was that this was his
>> first race of 2024, or 'the first effort art turning the pedals in
>> anger' as the late Paul Sherwen would say. Was Pogacar impressive? yes.
>> Did that make the race exciting? no. Though, I will note that the
>> peloton was hit with some torrential downpours seemingly perfectly timed
>> to riding the early gravel sections, which added a bit of excitement
>> before pogecar said 'see you at the finish'.
>
> Yup was a dull race! Shame as last years (mens) with Tom Pidcock was truly
> excellent I really enjoyed watching him use his technique.

That was a good race last year. Pidcock went off but never really got
too far away, at one point the chasing group held him at at a few
seconds for a long while, then suddenly gave up chasing in favor of
cat-and-mouse not far from the finish. I remember there was some
controversy about Attila Valta chasing down Tiesj Benoot and bringing a
few other riders with him when Benoot was a few seconds away from
catching Pidcock.
>>
>> Contrast that to the womens race, which had a leading group undergoing
>> constant attacks and teamwork chasing and blocking. It got whittled down
>> to two riders with 10K to go, the current road world champion Lotte
>> Kopecky(SD Worx-Protime) and the current Italian road champion Elisa
>> Longo-Borghini (Lidl - Trek), who attacked each other a few times up to
>> the final climb to the finish, which Kopecky took handily.
>>
> Perhaps one to watch tomorrow I have no memory or not much so will have
> forgotten by tomorrow there names!

It's worth watching even though I gave a spoiler. It was a fun race.

>
> Roger Merriman
>
>

On Sun, 03 Mar 2024 04:44:08 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 2 Mar 2024 10:36:13 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>
>>https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win
>
>
>I kept trying top figure out what a "Pogacar" is. So much for my
>knowledge of bike racing :-)

I missed it, along with the Superbowl, the World Series, the Oscar
shows and etc: I have no idea who the winners are. I just wish I could
miss all the election crap, too.

On 3/2/2024 3:44 PM, John B. wrote:
> On Sat, 2 Mar 2024 10:36:13 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>
>> https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20240302-dominant-pogacar-charges-to-stunning-strade-bianche-win
>
>
> I kept trying top figure out what a "Pogacar" is. So much for my
> knowledge of bike racing :-)

That's "Mister Pogacar" to you.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971