Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2024 (March 18-24)

[Bolder]

Outside of Pogacar, some unexpected names in the top 10. Really happy to see landa and Bernal looking good.

 

[Lequack]

Outside of Pogacar, some unexpected names in the top 10. Really happy to see landa and Bernal looking good.

Like Chris Harper, formerly Vingegaard.

 

[Froome]

Not gonna lie, when Pog took off on San Isidre I expected a bigger gap to Landa at the end.

He did a good perfomance, but nothing extraordinary. He did better than this in the last years, during spring.

Pog fans acting like they never saw pogi doing this in the past. And, he did a good perfomance, no Vingegaard fan said he did a bad perfomance.

 

[hayneplane]

Bernal is nice because he helped a lot in the last climb. I guess they both were in a win-win situation.

It was ideal for both that Landa was far enough ahead of Bernal pre-stage that he didn’t have to fear Bernal dropping him at the end and leapfrogging him on GC so they had just as much incentive as each other to push on and cooperate strongly.

 

[Froome]

Same, Vingegaard not worried about a thing seeing this performance. 3 peat is on the horizon.

What's the difference between the perfomance of today and carpegna 2021 on TA? It's the "same" Pogacar.

 

[Oldermanish]

No. Kuss got a bit of a David Arroyo wake up call as to what it's like to be treated seriously as a GC rider that he'll need to learn from, but Blobloblo came in with Thomas another 2 minutes back beyond that.

I think Kuss had a pretty good idea what it'd be like starting the season more slowly than last year. It's not an unexpected consequence of doing 3 complete GTs, either. IMO the other teams won't treat him any differently than in previous years other than not giving him massive slack in a front group.

 

[Oldermanish]

He did a good perfomance, but nothing extraordinary. He did better than this in the last years, during spring.

Pog fans acting like they never saw pogi doing this in the past. And, he did a good perfomance, no Vingegaard fan said he did a bad perfomance.

Except your "nothing extraordinary" and "Pog fans acting like they never saw pogi doing this in the past"
Do you really think most fans don't put this in an early season context? A few dullards diss Jonas in his first and successful early season race and it's worth comment?

 

[hayneplane]

@Logic-is-your-friend any word on Van Wilder. We have seen him suffer more than most in the cold which explains his firm in the early stages of the race but he has looked way off the pace and DNF today. Presumably sickness to be so bad but the cold factor makes it questionable as to him ever sustaining a strong Giro GC in his career.

 

[AmRacer]

He did a good perfomance, but nothing extraordinary. He did better than this in the last years, during spring.

Pog fans acting like they never saw pogi doing this in the past. And, he did a good perfomance, no Vingegaard fan said he did a bad perfomance.

When a rider does something the rider has done before, we should not cheer.

 

[hayneplane]

What's the difference between the perfomance of today and carpegna 2021 on TA? It's the "same" Pogacar.

Weather. Carpegna was really cold and Pogacar sustains those conditions better than most. Today the conditions were near perfect for prime performance.

 

[Elos Anjos]

Happy for Bernal and Landa.
Cian BloBloBlo is a big mouth.
The babyface Pogi opened a small glimpse of his inner fire when he raged at that moto.

 

[Cookster15]

Like Chris Harper, formerly Vingegaard.

Chris Harper used to be mentioned here as a joke. Now he is real. Good for him.

 

[Miha81]

Exiting stage although I had to watch most of it on a mobile phone on in a car. Bernal really surprised me. Landa again shows very good shape. Honestly I expected bigger gap to the 2nd and 3rd place once Pogi dropped everbody. It would be interesting to see if he was running out of gas at the end or it was only a measured ride.

 

[postmanhat]

Nothing against Pogacar per se, but will be annoyed if he cannibalises Montjuic tomorrow. Often one of the funnest stages to watch on the WT calendar.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The problem for me is that we are going to see a repeat of this at the Giro from Pog ...miles ahead of everyone

And then we go to the Tour and in the second part of the race it will be the same from Vingegaard

No real GT race this year until the Vuelta

The Vuelta will also be a walk in the park for Vingegaard. There will not be Pogacar

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

So, based on today's winning performance, from which he attacked 29km out and left Visma about 3 minutes behind, the big takeaway from the cyclingnews forum intelligentsia is that Pog is doomed at the Tour and he should instead focus on the Dirty Kanzaa. Amirite?

 

[Elos Anjos]

So, based on today's winning performance, from which he attacked 29km out and left Visma about 3 minutes behind, the big takeaway from the cyclingnews forum intelligentsia is that Pog is doomed at the Tour and he should instead focus on the Dirty Kanzaa. Amirite?

The entire forum is actually closer to a mental "clinic" where meltdowns occur each time riders do their thing.

 

[hfer07]

So happy to see Egan back in good shape & competitive spirit same goes for Landissimo

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

@Logic-is-your-friend any word on Van Wilder. We have seen him suffer more than most in the cold which explains his firm in the early stages of the race but he has looked way off the pace and DNF today. Presumably sickness to be so bad but the cold factor makes it questionable as to him ever sustaining a strong Giro GC in his career.

I have been unnerved with his showings all season tbh, even though Mallorca and UAE was "good" it was less than i had expected (and less than last year) and i think it fits perfectly within my assumption that the staf at SQS has no clue what they are doing at this point. There has to be a moment when the penny drops. While for every individual case you can look for explanations, i think they need to address the elephant in the room, and it ain't Evenepoel. Alaphilippe, Asgreen, Lampaert, Van Wilder... let's be honest, even Evenepoel isn't where you would expect him.

Last i heard about Van Wilder which was info from right before Catalunya was that everything was going fine, goal is to be top for the summer. Even though before the season, he was supposed to come to Catalunya as a personal goal. Now only Romandie has remained, which ironically also has plenty of cold and rain usually, which aren't exactly his preferred racing conditions. In Paris Nice i also found him to be below expectations, but i thought he might have gotten sick because he raced the TTT with his shirt open (his zipper broke) in the rain. Other than that i have no info atm.

 

[Salvarani]

Nothing against Pogacar per se, but will be annoyed if he cannibalises Montjuic tomorrow. Often one of the funnest stages to watch on the WT calendar.

It is a real highlight and a stage he would like to win, I am assuming. He will most likely give it his best shot!

 

[Rob5091]

Nay, Pogacar's lost it. Atttacked from 30 km out, must be so disappointing. When the guy can win from 80 km and not even break a sweat, then this was just almost human. Big row on the bus tonight , I bet. (note! sarcasm)

Good to see Bernal and Mas improving. Little Lenny M nearly got past Vlasov on GC but he too should be pleased how things went. Visma must be wondering what to do before the Tour.

 

[AmRacer]

Nay, Pogacar's lost it. Atttacked from 30 km out, must be so disappointing. When the guy can win from 80 km and not even break a sweat, then this was just almost human. Big row on the bus tonight , I bet. (note! sarcasm)

Good to see Bernal and Mas improving. Little Lenny M nearly got past Vlasov on GC but he too should be pleased how things went. Visma must be wondering what to do before the Tour.

We will have the answer to your last sentence in Itzulia.

 

[Bolder]

Chris Harper used to be mentioned here as a joke. Now he is real. Good for him.

The fear of being a forum meme is a powerful motivator for some. Let’s see if WvA can finally shrug off the Pozzato tag…

 

[Cookster15]

Nay, Pogacar's lost it. Atttacked from 30 km out, must be so disappointing. When the guy can win from 80 km and not even break a sweat, then this was just almost human. Big row on the bus tonight , I bet. (note! sarcasm)

Exiting stage although I had to watch most of it on a mobile phone on in a car. Bernal really surprised me. Landa again shows very good shape. Honestly I expected bigger gap to the 2nd and 3rd place once Pogi dropped everbody. It would be interesting to see if he was running out of gas at the end or it was only a measured ride.

I think it was measured. Have you seen the pictures of Pogacar at the finish? looked fresh as a daisy, not like a rider who ran out of gas.

 

[Penninepeddler]

Fantastic to see Bernal looking like some semblance of pre-crash Bernal so far this year.

Only saw 1-2 days in the entirity of last season where he looked a shadow of himself...

so far this year? He looks like firmly in the "2nd group" amongst GC guys.