General Race Thread 2026 spoilers

EagererBeaver · 12-04-2026 03:58PM

Today and MSR absolutely epic and Flanders wasn't too shabby either. Brilliant stuff

Paddigol · 12-04-2026 03:58PM

Delighted for Wout. Delighted for the Belgians. Hopefully that frees something up in him for the rest of the season. It’s been a long time since he’s raced with a smile… probably since Pog pipped Rog for the TdF.

breezy1985 · 12-04-2026 04:15PM

Fuk Lara went down on a cobbled turn

retalivity · 12-04-2026 04:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124388132#Comment_124388132

looks like thats it for her, was slow getting back going

Dodge · 12-04-2026 05:12PM

Dillon Corkery 69th of 139 finishers today. Ryan Mulled 122nd

ednwireland · 12-04-2026 05:17PM

Cracking finish in the women's race as well.

Dodge · 12-04-2026 05:31PM

Lara Gillespie 8th. Quite the result giving how hard her crash was

Mia griffin in the 50s too

aero2k · 12-04-2026 06:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124387946#Comment_124387946

Cold as the two lumps of pavé he has on the shelf 😀.

Morris Garren · 12-04-2026 07:05PM

I was shouting the house down as Wout opened up his sprint- even the dog went mental. I've probably never been more pleased to see a non-Irish winner in years. I heard the French TV finale commentary afterwards it's fairly comical as I think the 2 lads literally fell off their stools and were throwing microphones at the ceiling

cosalofa · 12-04-2026 07:27PM

Have to say, my eyes were a bit moist. Must have been the hay fever...

Thud · 12-04-2026 08:35PM

Loved the Wout win, can't have Pogi whitewashhing everyone.

I know the commentary was saying he was being composed but if MVDP had rushed himself a bit for the bike change and got going a bit quicker he'd probably have gained 10-15seconds...could have all turned out different

EagererBeaver · 12-04-2026 09:58PM

The lead group weren't flat out the whole way after MVDP went down. They'd have really pushed on if he was going to truly be a threat.

Raoul Duke · 13-04-2026 12:23AM

Great race today. No other race can give you 150km of complaining about every ad break (miss you GCN). But the thing that I found most amazing today was despite having Sean Kelly there and the conversation again and again being about Pogacar going for all 5 monuments, nobody mentioned how close he came to achieving it. Maybe he doesn't like it being brought up, but I'd be surprised if that was the case.

And just for those who don't know - he won 4 of the monuments and it was only Flanders that he failed to win. He came 2nd 3 times in that. It is easy to see Pogacar having a similar story of close, but no cigar.

Brian? · 13-04-2026 01:55AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124388070#Comment_124388070

I couldn’t have been happier for Wout. I got quite emotional when he won. He’s been a big favourite of mine for a long time.

Mefistofelino · 13-04-2026 09:08AM

Some good post P-R rider stories (and photos) here, including from Dillon Corkery and Lara Gillespie

https://road.cc/feature/letters-forwarded-from-hell-paris-roubaix-in-the-words-of-the-pros

Mefistofelino · 13-04-2026 09:10AM

Such a close finish for Seth Dunwoody on the Espoirs race

Paddigol · 13-04-2026 10:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124390326#Comment_124390326

Same. This win is a huge one for him. I was really starting to worry that he would end up retiring without half the wins that his talent and performances deserve.

Himself and MVdP are two very different riders (in a pure classics/ CX) comparison but also very similar (in general cycling terms). At the key stage of their careers they took two different paths - MVdP seemed to decide racing for a smaller team with a bigger say in his race calendar and more freedom to chose what disciplines to race was the best option for him.

Wout seemed to see a home for his talents on the roads in the big races and decided to sign for one of the major teams where he'd be required to take on a Domestique (albeit SuperDom) role in return for the chance to race for stages and backing in the classics.

They're both generational talents, but Wout did seem to suffer more than his fair share of bad fortune over the years while MVdP appeared to enjoy his racing a lot more - less of a weight on his shoulders so to speak.

It's too early to start talking about Indian Summers, but I hope this kickstarts a new phase in Wout's career - I love seeing himself an MVdP going head to head when they're both on form. Throw Remco and Pog into the mix and things get exciting.

fat bloke · 13-04-2026 11:29AM

Excellent entertainment yesterday. Absolutely delighted that Pog was beaten anyway. To show that he can be beaten. But y'know, fair play to him at the same time for racing it at all. He could easily just stay in a Tour de France bubble and hoover that up every year.

It is remarkable however, how patently unsuited the equipment is for the course! Like, it's not a new surface to have to deal with, teams have all the money and all the experience and all the time, and yet yesterday was the best they could do. It's bananas in a way. I can't think of any other sport where equipment failure to that extent would be at all acceptable. 'Course it is also a huge contributor to the excitement and unpredictability, so …… maybe it's in our (viewer's) interest for them NOT to fix it! :)

Mefistofelino · 13-04-2026 12:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124390970#Comment_124390970

I though the profusion of punctures was very strange. They weren't specific to a brand - Pirelli, Conti and Vittoria all suffered. And in general they didn't appear to be the sort of catastrophic, tyre-dislodging punctures we've seen in the past year. Maybe the more extreme tyre widths (in as much as 35 mm is "extreme") were encouraging riders to drop pressures to 3 bar and below and tyres were burping slightly on impact with the cobbles. I was expecting Pog to puncture because there is around 1mm of clearance between his 35s (which I think were measuring out to 38mm) and the fork crown.

Large bottle small glass · 13-04-2026 12:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124390970#Comment_124390970

PR covers close to 260km with about 55km of it cobbled.

The 55km isn't all equal with the 1 and 2 star sectors being no big deal.

What would you change in the design of the wheel/tyre ( the most common failure location) that allows for 200km of smooth tarmac, 30km of rough surfaces and 25km or so from a different planet*?

If you make your rim/tyre interface robust enough to not puncture then you lose efficiency on the 200km of smooth tarmac.

What other sport sends machines designed for road speed be it car/motorbike racing into sectors, making up 20% of course where an off road machine is optimum?

The bigger issue for MVP yesterday was the time it took to get him a new bike/wheel change. Getting neutral service/team cars to rider in middle of Arenberg was the issue.

I was discussing Pogacar with a former elite rider on Saturday. His take on one of his advantages over other riders was irrespective of output how efficient and comfortable he remains in terms of pedalling, position etc. Looking at him yesterday I'm not sure that 55km of vibrations doesn't knock the sh1te out of him and brings him back into the pack if only for one race a year.

*I only ride on local roads or off road for close to a decade. I used to do a nice bit of MTB riding. I'm not much of a rider but I'm comfortable riding on really broken rough roads and enjoy it. But there is no enjoying the Arenberg and the other 5 star pave. It is impossible to describe how brutal it is. I rode it in 2018 and I still remember my utter bewilderment and shock while riding it, and I thought I had prepared for it with off road sections around Clonmel! There was a lot of chat in the Audax community about Ronnie Moore's routes and in particular his concrete block road in Offlay on the Heron and Aqueducts route. I rode both the same year and Ronnies thing was no big deal in comparison.

retalivity · 13-04-2026 12:31PM

TNT had a graphic up yesterday of the weight of the top 10, cant seem to find it now. Basically Pog is 66kg, the other 9 are all at least 72kg+ (WVA is 78, Stuyven 80). He has no right to even be in the conversation really when giving away 8/10/12kg to other riders on a course like P-R where extra weight is an advantage over cobbles.

Im waiting to see him give CX a go, just purely for the craic with MVDP.

Mefistofelino · 13-04-2026 02:28PM

WVA supposedly lost 2 kg for this season and Pogi put on 2kg. But I'm not sure that 66kg vs 72kg is really where its at either. Hinault was lighter than Pog and won P-R (but then again he was permanently fueled by undiluted rage).

As was pointed out here yesterday, Pog just looked uncomfortable / nervous on the cobbles - compare the demeanor of Pog after his Carrefour tank-slapper with that of MVDP after he'd run wide on the LH corner and ended riding up the ditch. Pog backed off, whereas for MVDP it was just another day in the office. Pog just seems a little nervous at the limit of handling - whether that be cobbles or descending.

breezy1985 · 13-04-2026 02:33PM

His lack of handling was a danger to others at times and it took guts for WvA to stick right up his arrse the way he did. Almost took them both out at least twice.

Large bottle small glass · 13-04-2026 03:07PM

I think that's real

Paddigol · 13-04-2026 04:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124391669#Comment_124391669

Epic. What a sport.

Mefistofelino · 13-04-2026 05:03PM

There was a promo on tv several years ago that featured moodily-lit, slow-motion, zoomed-in footage of bikes rattling over the cobbles. The amount of battering the wheels were taking was striking.

Found it:

https://youtu.be/W1QXKjc1nLY?si=4YwdLdjGCE90H3GM

Large bottle small glass · 13-04-2026 05:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124391964#Comment_124391964

B&W, slow motion, close up of the pave, rim brakes and high spoke count traditional wheels.

Did you find that on pornhub or where? 😁

Mefistofelino · 13-04-2026 06:01PM

My private stash.

MojoMaker · 13-04-2026 08:54PM

That's incredible footage.

Dodge · 14-04-2026 12:32PM

A couple of Irish lads with development teams are riding with their World Tour teams this week. Patrick Casey with NSN in Camino (his first time with the big boys I think?) and Seth Dunwoody with Bahrain in ronde Limburg (along with Sam Bennett too)

General Race Thread 2026 **spoilers**

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General Race Thread 2026 spoilers