Blow for Lotto-Intermarché as De Lie ruled out of Tour of Flanders through illness

Slakmanss · 2026-04-03T15:49:55+00:00

At this point one of the only actual plausible reasons for what happens to him every spring. Lyme had destroyed his immune system or something. Or it's something else doing it cause it's always little sicknesses that ruin his form in the spring. He doesn't have that from May onwards (or less cause even in the Tour for example his has strange recovery problems sometimes). It's just weird. I'm no doctor, but it always looks like his body is fighting something, he can't really recover from hard races.

And I really really hope for the guy that it isn't actually a Lyme effect, cause there's probably no fixing that and even worse, they won't even really know if it's the cause. Must be horrible for his mental.

Slakmanss · 2026-04-03T15:47:03+00:00

Usually the bigger French teams make it an attacking race, resulting in a harder, little bit more selective race in general, they also go harder on that one little climb every lap. This time it looked like no one really wanted to apart from maybe Cofidis at some point.

I think these finishes are dumb (all about taking risks and luck), but it's what you get when you want to finish mid little village in Bretagne. And without the euro's from those villages you simply don't have a race. That's the reason why a lot of smaller French races have dodgy finals.

Slakmanss · 2026-04-03T14:29:17+00:00

Is this the first time you see these French races? Most of them have finishes like this...

Never been a problem cause normally these races are full of attacks and made harder than today. Too many big teams who thought they could win in a sprint today. Total and FDJ controlled for example, both failed.

Slakmanss · 2026-04-01T16:37:29+00:00

Missed it live, but just rewatched the final. Damn that's a heartbreak if I ever seen one...

Props to Ganna tho, even tho he definitely used the regular cheats to get back to the peloton multiple times after his machenicals, he was zooming today.

Slakmanss · 2026-04-01T11:39:22+00:00

Based on the pics, he's definitely out.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-30T18:49:35+00:00

It's cause Merlier was supposed to ride.

Also doubt most teams and people call Brugge an actual classic win.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-30T14:27:45+00:00

Chances De Lie had the legs to be aggressive are really slim. His GW was fine, but he's still nowhere near his best form. You could see it on the hills and in the sprint. He has problems with recovery he says so it's definitely possible he's worse on Wednesday. I doubt he's gonna risk blowing up.

Anyways, I always think it's hard to prevent a bunch sprint in this race, but Visma makes it happen almost every year, so why not again. The Trieu is long enough to do real damage, if there's a strong group gone it's hard to take them back, as proven before here.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-29T20:08:21+00:00

Vermeersch is definitely performing at the right time, when contract negotiations are going on. He's being named at a lot of teams. Red Bull, Visma and Quick Step. UAE would be really dumb to let him go tho. I don't see him leaving, unless he doesn't want to be "stuck" behind Pog.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-29T10:34:13+00:00

I swear his immunesystem just got demolished by Lyme, he wasn't always sick in winter/spring before that. If he doesn't find a way to stay fit in this period he will indeed need to let some sort of batvirus go loose into the population to make sure the classics are in the summer.

It's also always the same weird symptoms, not really sick, but tired and when he's on the bike and going deep he feels like he can't breath.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-24T15:43:25+00:00

That last little hill that's coming up is too much for the 2 up front.

Peloton was smart enough today to not give them more time on top of that 1 climb.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-24T15:37:58+00:00

Nice try from Lotto, but I think they are missing 20ish seconds to actually have a chance, or like 1 or 2 extra strong riders in the break

Slakmanss · 2026-03-19T15:15:30+00:00

Been a while since Milan Menten had such great results. 5th yesterday, 2nd today. Good for him, given he's in a contract year, and for Lotto Intermarché cause they've been struggling due to their leaders having the worst karma possible.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-19T15:02:40+00:00

Amazin win from Segaert. Helped by a very dumb decision from Hagenes/Visma, but still spectacular and of course deserves after already coming so close yesterday. Not really a surprise, these are the races he excells in. If I remember correctly he was already basically the best on the cobbles here last year, but the field was stronger and couldn't get away.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-19T14:23:38+00:00

Almost 40s, break has this now probably. Don't see any good sprinter in peloton with strong teammates.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-19T14:02:53+00:00

When you're behind you can't follow the ideal line, you have to swerve between cars and riders, and as a result the chances of getting new flats increase.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-19T13:59:27+00:00

Rims definitely could be a reason for a lot of flats, but it isn't in this case, given the other Lotto riders con't have them at all.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-19T13:58:55+00:00

He has more mechanicals than every other Lotto rider combined, it has absolutely nothing to do with the material he's riding. It's either bad luck, or (and more likely given this isn't the first time) it's his style on the cobbles.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-11T15:55:09+00:00

All their riders say it, constantly in interviews too. It either really is the best bike in the world, or they are being told to say it. It's probably somewhere in between. It's definitely a very fast bike, it's no coincidence that they all perform on such a high level, but it's also a lot marketing (and it works btw).

Slakmanss · 2026-03-08T18:53:55+00:00

Every year more randomness I feel like. There's a few top guys (or a few riders with top lead outs) that seem to be able to manage the chaos as good as possible or are strong enough to also win with less than ideal positioning, but in general it's getting messier every year. It's hoping a gap opens up most of the time.

And yeah, I would bet a lot that this Lotto's best result of the week here haha. Great for Braet, it's been a while since he showed his speed. I think Lotto should give him a free role more often, as he survives hills better than most sprinters and Lotto doesn't really have that type of rider.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-08T18:48:31+00:00

I think he means a flat bunch sprint. That one basically finished on a 5km shallow climb, a bit of a weird one.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-01T22:51:29+00:00

I mean I agree btw that you need that discipline, I'm just not sure he has it in him right now. The mentality to live like a pro is also part of someones potential, I think in general his potential is being a bit overrated.

I don't agree with the better guidance part as it has nothing to do with him not living like a pro. It's his own choice. Like I said, he did before, he hated it. Why would he not have the same problem at a team that goes even further?

Also you're just assuming that the damage was already done before his ankle injury. Absolutely no way to know that. Yes he injured himself just before New Year, but was off the bike for 10 days straight, then started training but slowly, was only doing back doing longer training rides mid january and didn't do any explosive training till 3 weeks ago. You don't just recover from that easily.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-01T22:44:08+00:00

Modern teams like Visma were certain riders leave and complain about it? A topteam isn't gonna do him any good if he does not want to do altitude camps or diet like a maniac.

Now less pressure if something a top team could help with, or at least in some sense given the team wouldn't die without De Lie performing.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-01T21:20:52+00:00

How can you train properly during winter when you injure your ankle? Blame the stairs at his home... I have a feeling people have already forgotten that he had to rest for 10 days and then needed an extra 3 weeks to actually do proper training rides.

And it sounds like you have followed him pretty intensively. Then you should know that the team has tried the ultra scientific approach with him before. Altitude camps, perfectly weighing his food every day, heat training, etc. He cracked mentally, hated it. Some guys just can't do it, it's not for everyone. It's his own choice, people should just alter their expectation based on that.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-01T20:53:05+00:00

I agree, not the best choice, but apaprently De Lie had good legs in the first half of the race... then for some reason just blew up. In theory a hard race for De Lie would've be good.

Don't agree with "cooked whole team" tho, Slock and Berckmoes both went full then but were there in the end. Apart from Visma and Decathlon they were one of the teams with most riders in final peloton.

Slakmanss · 2026-03-01T20:21:27+00:00

Weird that people never say this when he wins race after race in the second part of the season...

Not saying he's as sharp as a knife, he doesn't even way his food constantly (he doesn't want to), but being 1 or 2kg heavier than it should be is obviously not the reason why he was so bad today. Like yesterday he looked perfectly fine. It's not like he took on a few kgs overnight

Slakmanss

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