Was Tadej Pogačar's Strade Bianche win boring? GCN Racing News Show
Taking the hot seat to run his finger over cycling's latest big debate, Dan Lloyd looks at the Slovenian's domineering win and casts an eye over Lotte Kopecky's brilliance
George Poole
Junior Writer
Last weekend brought fans a real spectacle in the form of the women's and men's Strade Bianche races, with Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) each earning roundly applauded victories.
The two wins came in much differing fashion, however, with the former pipping Lidl-Trek's Elisa Longo Borghini on the slopes of the final climb, and the latter dropping, well, simply everybody with hours left of racing to go.
Attacking on his lonesome with a little over 80km to ride, Pogačar would not be seen again by the likes of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who would later describe the feeling within the chasing pack akin to that of being in the grupetto - such was Pogačar's decimation on the roads of Tuscany.
Read more: Incredible Tadej Pogačar wins Strade Bianche after jaw-dropping 81km solo break
It was an impressive victory, let there be no doubt, but was it an entertaining one?
This is the question pondered by Daniel Lloyd in the latest GCN Racing News Show, who responds to the many voices - stat man Cillian Kelly included - that called the men's Strade Bianche boring.
Drawing reference to the altered Liège-Bastogne-Liège course in recent years, Dan argues that such long-range attacks have long been wished for by professional cycling, which makes it hard to complain when riders such as Pogačar pull them off in such commendable fashion.
Of course, there were no such debates around Kopecky's victory in Italy, which comes quickly on the heels of her UAE Tour success. Dan looks back on her race-winning attack and how the race was decided.
Read more: Strade Bianche: Lotte Kopecky storms to victory ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini
Strade Bianche was not the only race over the last week to earn some headlines, with the opening stage of Paris-Nice also seeing one of the peloton's superstars produce an unexpected attack. Over in France, it was Soudal Quick-Step's Remco Evenepoel who stole a march on his competitors for a brief moment.
It was not to last for the Belgian, but certainly left Dan and the rest of us with a lot to look forward to over the coming week of action.
Finally, to round out this week's GCN Racing News Show, Dan looks back on the racing results from GP Monseré and Le Samyn des Dames. You can catch all that and more in the video above!
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