Lappartient's is a virtue? Pro Cycling 2018

[Kevin S]

Yep, not his day today. Lots of strong riders at the front, wonder when the decisive move will go?

[longeared]

Ah, the Quick Step old favourite of chucking someone up the road and forcing others to chase...

[longeared]

Stop doing half turns Moscon, you little shitbag.

[Kevin S]

Ah, the Quick Step old favourite of chucking someone up the road and forcing others to chase...

Worked a treat! A 1-2 for the Steppers.

[longeared]

Terpstra takes the win and Gilbert makes it a Steppers 1-2 after the group behind marked each other out of contention. They're not having a bad spring all told.

[longeared]

And now we wait for the full results to find out how Mikel Landa coped with a Belgian classic.

[Kevin S]

Gilbert didn't seem to know whether he was happy or not.

[ursus arctos]

Schachmann wins a truncated Stage 6 in Catalunya from the break.

Quick Step's 19th win of the season (10 different riders).

[ursus arctos]

Bernal has crashed hard on the penultimate circuit of Montjuic

[ursus arctos]

Wowza

https://twitter.com/LottoJumbo_road/status/977972642752974848

[Kevin S]

Things you learn from auto-translated social media: Contador means accountant.

Enjoyed Gent-Wevelgem. Marcus Burghardt and Sagan worked brilliantly together to set up the win for the world champion. Burghardt ensured there was no getting away for the likes of Van Avermaet this time. You can see him celebrating a job well done here.


The elite grouping also just looked fabulous, with a large collection of champion jerseys on display (world, German, French, Belgian, Olympic (gold cuffs) and Czech all in a small group) and they were being chased by the European champion Kristoff.




Who didn't look quite so fabulous in the white shorts.

Van Avermaet and Kristoff are both underperforming so far, but there's still a lot of racing left this Spring. Starting with a biggie today, Dwars door Vlaanderen, on the World Tour, as we build up to the Ronde on Sunday. Both Kristoff and GVA are racing this one today, though it tends to be won by an ambush so I wouldn't be backing Kristoff.

[Kevin S]

I've gone for a 25p e/w punt today, in fact.

Jens Debusschere 22/1
Stake: £0.50
Potential returns: £7.38

Two top five finishes this week, won the race in 2016. Can't argue with 22/1 for that.

[Me Old Flower]

Disappointed that the DDV Women's race isn't being broadcast today. There's been some excellent races so far this season.

[Kevin S]

Sadly not. The twitter feed is posting updates on both races at least. Very wet weather out there - I think the women's race will finish in about an hour and a half.

[Kevin S]

Neither race has a break at the moment - no-one wants to brave this alone...
https://twitter.com/Snipercycling/st...63540475334658

https://twitter.com/Snipercycling/status/978963540475334658

[Kevin S]

No photos or videos yet but it sounds like Ellen van Dijk has taken a solo win (via Sunweb twitter). Rowe leads the men's race (good to see him back again) and Naesen has abandoned.

[ursus arctos]

This is not a day that reasonable people would be out riding bikes.

[Kevin S]

Turns out that Rob Hatch is doing commentary... for the race organisers and Flemish host broadcasters. Eurosport has Kirby.

It's starting to fracture now. Key phase coming up, you feel.

[Kevin S]

Benoot and Van Avermaet both attacking off the front. Benoot may be Lotto-Soudal's best bet, making a mockery of my Debusschere punt.

[ursus arctos]

Two climbs and 800 m of cobbles left as it starts to pour down

[longeared]

Valverde's in the front group? How did that happen? (Edit; second group)

Fortunately I'm avoiding Kirby as can't find a Eurosport stream, watching it on Sporza instead.

[Kevin S]

The front five are looking like they could make this stick now, and the chase is not well coordinated.

Teunissen, Vanmarcke, Lampaert, Pedersen and Boasson Hagen.

Eddie is the fastest finisher of that lot by some distance, isn't he? I can't see the other four wanting to bring him to the finish.

[ursus arctos]

He’s in the chasing group about 30 seconds back

[longeared]

Effectively only five chasing as Stuyven / Stybar / the other Stepper aren't participating in the chase given their team mates up the road and every time I've seen Moscon go on the front he swings off as soon as he can.

[Kevin S]

Who, Boasson Hagen? He's in G1, white top, green helmet.

Of the chase group, only Moscon, Benoot and GVA are doing turns. With Moscon not doing much. The two Quick Step riders there are helping to keep the pace down to aid Lampaert in G1.