They came, they rode, Terpstra conquered – it was the 2018 Ronde van Vlaanderen. It was divided opinions about the new champion; the world champion weighed in; a future champion was born; the pay gap was enormous – and Captain Kirk forgives no man. That and much much more in the Ronde edition of TWEETS OF THE WEEEEEEEEEK!
It don’t come easy
There are a lot of Ronde fans who have to get up at crazy o’clock to catch the race – or find that sometimes family commitments get in the way of the television set
Hard as nails
His Nibs made his presence known in the race – and tipped the balance
While Peter Sagan found himself between a rock and a hard place – again
It was Niki Terpstra who was the Quick-Stepper who took the day. We all figured it’d be one of them – and Terpstra made the smart move to catch the wheel that launched his ride to victory.
Mads about the boy(s)
While Terpstra goes into the history books, it seems we saw an outstanding debut performance from a Flanders future champion, Mads Pedersen. You can be sure, Midge celebrated well into the night. Good thing we stocked up on those Lidl Nebuchadnezzars of champagne.
It wasn’t just Mads who fans went mad for – there was also Wout van Aert, who had a great ride for his Ronde debut as well, finishing 9th in a top 10 of amazing Classics riders. I just hope that all the hype doesn’t put too much pressure on Wout – let him ride these races with no expectations for a year.
Not so mad about the boy
Sometimes, all of the Twitterstream celebrates a win. Tiesj Benoot in Strade was one of those this year. Terpstra’s Ronde win wasn’t one of those – it divided really divided opinion.
That said, there were a lot of people who do like Niki – and some have had their mind changed a bit
Ker-ching! Or not …
Even if you wanted to argue that the women’s race is shorter than the men’s (although that doesn’t work because they don’t equate mileage with money in deciding the prize money for men’s races throughout the season), Anna van der Breggan took home less than 10% of the prize money given to Terpstra …
Give them an inch … and they’ll take a Monument
Seems Roubaix is already won. But we’ve said that before, haven’t we?
In other Quick-step news
Forgiveness – or not
It was Dan Wuori’s annual intercession between the blockees and the blockers. Whereas most blockers understand what he’s trying to do – and no matter if they unblock or not – it seems he got William Shatner riled …
While Rory Sutherland said no, but perhaps with a bit more Easter spirit
The Gruppetto
Gauntlet thrown
It’s not Flanders without Fabs
Get your frites on, boys
‘Dear Diary …’
For the love of Oss
With prose like Sean Penn
When the gloves are on … it may mean the gloves are off. But maybe not!
As if we don’t have enough trouble with vehicles on the road during a race …
If nothing else, he says what’s on his mind
Into the fog …
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