Thanks for another great report Marco!
19th is one place better than he was in RVV for Kasperkiewicz, but still not quite enough. My team unfortunately does not profit from its depth as I like in RVV have a few riders just outside the top 50.
Congrats knockout!
What a win that was. Perfect timing from Blythe on the velodrome, I'm not sure I would even believe it if I was in knockout's shoes now That win surely must be rated at the very top, even counting all seasons they've been in the game?
Anderberg with a decent race for us. Unfortunately he was on the back foot from the very start when selections were made. Happy to see him fight to the finish and never give up, and 23rd is okay. Suspect his sprint cost him a top 20, which gives something to work with going forward.
Thank you for the nice report, Marco! I enjoyed that for a monument, and you described the tension and excitement well, both with pictures and your text.
Even two hours after reading the report, Im completely shocked and speechless. I didnt believe for a second that Blythe had a chance to win this race. Even when he entered the velodrome in the front group i thought he would screw a good chance at a podium finish by his positioning too far towards the end of the group.
In a way, this always felt like "the race" for Evonik. I know, Vlaanderen was a better fit for us throughout the years due to Van Avermaet but ever since Tom Boonen raced head to head towards a 2nd place as a wildcard team in 2015, this was the race that felt the most like a "home race" of choice.
When Van Avermaet won Vlaanderen in 2018, it was like a growing sensation. I felt like that day he had a chance to win early on and it was a growing anticipation throughout the race hoping he finally beats Bewley. This was a completely different feeling. I had a bad feeling throughout. There were lots of times where he looked to be with worse positioning than usually. The team depth wasnt as impressive as in every other cobbles race this season as Blythe and Neilands were early isolated. He missed out on larger groups of favourites that attacked. He made several attempts that were quickly stopped. And entered the velodrome closer to the end of the group. And all of that, usually isnt the best indication for the finish. Yet he prevailed. When i realized that he had a proper chance, it hit me like a flash and i had to skip back to the previous 2-3 screenshots and captions to make sure i read correctly. Feels great man
Thanks everyone for the nice words - guess i will have to make a seperate reply to some of the posts later but for now i just have to take it in further. Thank you Marco for the great read. When you win, every report looks good but even through the periods were Blythe seemed to be a bit weaker today, i felt like i was reading a very entertaining and detailed one. Im sure that i will enjoy this report more than just once in the next couple of days. Thank you!
Ignoring Pedersen's puncture, I think we did a fairly good race, just lacked an attack from Wisniowski. I've been surprised by the lack of attacks from him so far, hopefully it will soon come to an end. When it ended in such a big sprint and with all the traffic, it's always a bit of lottery. Could have been better, could have been worse.
Congrats to knockout on the win. Blythe raced very smart from start to finish and the little bit extra in the legs, I guess. Chapeau!
Congrats to knockout! And really well done reporting by Marco. I'm a bit disappointed in Spengler, but even if he finished in the group he probably would have finished last in the sprint regardless
I think his cobble stat is high enough but his lack of back-ups is really showing.
Van der Hoorn once again the best rider from my team but outside top 50.
Van Hooydonck not a single top30 and just one top50 actually in the cobbled races this year. Not that I have high expectations, but at least hanging on to a top20 here and there with his stats was hoped.
Once again, thanks everyone for the nice words, much much much appreciated
SotD wrote:
Well if I wanted to win the PT that surely was the nail in the coffin. Evonik absolutely smashing it this season!
matt17br wrote:
For sure this is Evonik's year tho, look at that
Season is far from over and lots of racing is yet to come. My team has lots of races to continue delivering and since Van Stayen and Skujins havent looked great in all of their races so far (and last season) and Lopez' safest race days might be gone already so there is reason to question whether we can continue in a similar fashion. And of course, other teams still have the potential of a dominant GT left that can suddenly put them back into the picture again. I accept the role as favourite though
Congrats to knockout on the win. Blythe raced very smart from start to finish and the little bit extra in the legs, I guess. Chapeau!
As you might remember from the last three seasons: I might be willing to help if you need some more training budget next season
baseballlover312 wrote:
Great report. Congrats to Evonik! Never thought Blythe would be the one to finally win Roubaix for them, but he rode the perfect race.
Same for me. For a long time, Blythe was basically the one leader of mine that i never loved. Geschke, LLS, Boonen, Van Stayen, Van Avermaet, MAL were all riders with a stat set that i loved and Skujins is obviously the home hero this team needed. Blythe however was never part of any plan and even when he got on the market i didnt really want to have him. He mostly was just the emergency action late in the transfer season because i didnt want to have to replace GVA this season. I like my leaders to be either very versatile and / or have legit win chances in their terrain / niche / best type of race and i didnt think he would fit perfectly into either category. I didnt thought he would fit into either category and would have been elated if he were to get a podium in a monument. Which made the shock of him winning this race so much bigger and greater
What a win that was. Perfect timing from Blythe on the velodrome, I'm not sure I would even believe it if I was in knockout's shoes now That win surely must be rated at the very top, even counting all seasons they've been in the game?
It's hard to rank different victories over the years and recency bias is real so it feels like it and one would have to wait how it feels in a couple of months to make a proper assessment. I think the race that comes the closest is the Down Under Classic victory from a late attack by Dzamastagic back in my PCT season 2015 but i definitely want to rate it higher than my previous monument victories.
That win surely must be rated at the very top, even counting all seasons they've been in the game?
