Sure, it ended in a sprint—but a sprinters’ classic? Hardly. Attacks, crashes, teamwork and especially the ever-present battle for position all played a huge role long before riders reached the final K.
the How The Race Was Won® cycling blog
Sure, it ended in a sprint—but a sprinters’ classic? Hardly. Attacks, crashes, teamwork and especially the ever-present battle for position all played a huge role long before riders reached the final K.
Nice work Cosmo. I was screaming at Sagan to jump when he got that little gap. Wonder who would have reeled him in?
Maybe Thomas? I definitely feel like there’s a moment there where most of the group is still descending, and a solo ride can get away. Still, Sagan had a decent kick, but was even worse position than Degenkolb coming into the finale.
oy, yoy, yoy… poor peter the pied piper,
the rats were surely ready to follow as he marched to the line.
if i had $1K euros for everytime pete executed a tactical blunder in
a finishing sprint, i could hire him for at least a couple of days…
how many times did he find his nose in the wind during the final 5k?
and how does such a gifted & talented youngster end up getting bum-rushed
in the last couple Ks, only to find himself behind 10 of the greatest wheels
with 500m to go in msr2015!?
oy, yoy, yoy…
Where’s the lip-synching link? Loved the color overlay for the teams, really made the tactics clear.
Europcar “Moustache” lip-dub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXhGRp0o6mY
Color me impressed by Paolini doing all the work up the Poggio for Kristoff and then leading him out in the finish. Having that in the legs after nearly 300k is mind-boggling.
As was mentioned in the Recon Ride podcast for MSR (https://cyclocosm.com/2015/03/the-recon-ride-podcast-milan-sanremo-2015/), no one knows this race like Paolini. Despite the skills to compete for the win, he’s been setting riders up for victory for over a decade: https://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/worldcup03/msr03/?id=results
Great vid! It’s neat to look back and see Dekenkolb in the sweetspot all day long. When he got Niccolo’s wheel instead of Matthews in the last 100M, I knew it was over for Bling. He had to go too far to the left to make up the ground JD had gotten. I think this is a different story if Sagan fights for better position just before the sprint. I feel like Sagan had the stuff to make it happen, just not from 4 wheels behind a Niccolo led-out JD.
BTW, what is your fav classic? LBL? Flanders? I don’t see you as a Roubaix guy.
PS. I love the helmet throw GIF in the sidebar… can we keep that?
Cosmo, what do you make of the mechanical doping inquiry at the end? Dunno why I have such a hard time accepting its existence…
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-check-36-milan-san-remo-bikes-for-motors
Nice job, as ever on the HTRWW.
It came up in CIRC, so it’s on everyone’s radar again—this is in addition, of course, to making a really good headline.
I think it’s an important thing to keep an eye on, and I’m glad the UCI is being proactive. When the difference between making the winning move and not is just 10-20 watts for a handful of seconds, even a tiny motor has serious potential to be a problem.
But as far as I can tell, the tech just isn’t there for this to be in the peloton yet—I mean, they can’t even get Di2 batteries to function reliably. Chats with my engineer friends suggest designing and building a one-off solution would be prohibitively expensive for the potential return, so until there’s a viable off-the-shelf threat, I don’t see it as actual a problem.
The data graphics at 1:01 are amazing! This new data idea is awesome! The broadcasters really are taking it to another level showing the formations of teams during critical moments of the race. Of course this was not the broadcaster. As always, well done Cosmo. #YourSiteIsTheBestThingWeWatchAllWeekWhereIsTheDonateButton?
+1.
If Live Update Guy can do well by the tip jar, certainly HTRWW/TWIB can!
Are you going to cover E3 this year? Last year it was a pretty good race.
I hope to! The next Recon Ride should be on E3 and Gent-Wevelgem, and I’m cajoling the US broadcaster for E3 as hard as I dare on a potential collaboration.
Cosmo,
Another great HTRWW – thanks! I thought that the color highlights of teams massing at the front was a great visual touch/aid. Makes me wonder how many of the cycling media sites/orgs are watching your videos (we already know that velonews is).
Thanks Cosmo for the great recap!
Had to watch that a couple of times to get all of the goodness. Nice work, Cosmo.
Great work as per usual — nothing better, more vibrant and incisive out there in re. to cycling coverage. And the soundtrack: Moustache! Vachement cool.
Perfect race review man! Mr. d. like, Yes, the famous Cav, is a good strategist and high speed sprinter very aero.
On the other end of the spectrum, Sagan is totally clueless. He needs a brain inserted into his head.
Loved the highlighting of who was where. Perhaps some kit designers are watching to see just how tough it is to tell teams apart in helicopter shots?
One other..well, 3 other things…
Salvatore POO-cho (Puccio)
Matteo BOH-no (Bono)
POE-joe (Poggio)
KOHZ-moh Cah-tah-LAH-noh (Cosmo Catalano)…oh wait, that’s YOUR name …so butcher that one any way you want, but that’s what they’d call you in Italy 🙂
Great job on the recap. I feel like I see Degenkolb well positioned in a lot of sprint finishes. I’ve liked him ever since I heard him yelling like a madman to his lead out guy in the Shimano on bike camera vids last year.
Loved the Moustache song at the end.
But seeing as Eurovision is coming up, how about this Moustache song from last years competition.
Cheers France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWJFfnHNOWI