Recent content by Berflamand

Merlier fears he's gonna be OTL today. He had a bad day and couldn't follow his pacing plan. 22:28 for the winner is the cut-off time for him.

Who, aside from Pog, is a generalist then? Also, why is his GT-win looking like an anomaly while he has since then finished on the podium of the Tour behind two guys who are widely regarded as (being amongst) the best GT-riders in the history of the sport and he has ridden a Giro where it...

Yeah the helmet is probably because of the heat. I'm not watching yet but from the pre-race pictures it looks like he also ditched the golden bike? I guess that's because of a weight difference?

I had Schmid, Van Aert, Wright and Simmons all in the breakaway (first two groups of 10 riders) yesterday. In the end they got 2nd, 5th, 7th and 9th. I suppose it could have been worse but it sure as hell could have been a lot better!

Even with all the setbacks, from 2022 onwards he has managed to win some pretty big races every year: - 2022: LBL, Vuelta, Worlds - 2023: LBL, Worlds ITT - 2024: Olympics Road Race and ITT, Worlds ITT So I guess we're still due a big win or two this year to keep the streak going. Worlds and...

Somewhat reassuring that apart from Merlier and Van Lerberghe, Remco still has his whole team around him in this reduced peloton.

But if that's the goal he has to avoid dropping MVDP ànd avoid winning the stage today because that would automatically put him in the yellow jersey. (although I'm not sure what would happen if MVDP comes second because they'd be tied on time and both have a stage win)

He crashed.

Bittersweet day for Belgium today: Philipsen crashes out Meeus crashing hard Evenepoel and De Lie crashing Merlier winning I know there are a lot of Belgians competing this year but they seem to have a remarkably high involvement in today's main events. Only Van Aert had a quiet day amongst...

Goddamned, crashing two days before his best chance at a victory and time gain. Merlier's win is nice for the team but this Tour is definitely not going in the right direction for Remco. Let's hope the injuries are only superficial and he can turn the tide, perhaps starting already tomorrow.

It's an impressive stat for Alpecin but 25 other 'riders'? Not exactly. Philipsen alone accounts for 12 of those stage wins (10 Tour + 2 Vuelta) while for example Groves also has 8 stage wins (6 Vuelta + 2 Giro). That's 20 already between 2 riders.

Yes it is. But Vingegaard rode Pologne last year, Tour of Croatia in 2022 and Tour of Norway in 2021 for example, all after the Tour. Pogi seems to focus on one day races most years after the Tour but he's also riding the 1.Pro races like Emilia and Tre Valli. I don't think it's a big deal...

It's just a stage race to get in shape for the bigger goals in autumn. I don't know, is it that different from Vingegaard doing Gran Camino or Pogacar riding the Tour of Slovenia?

I guess doing CSS will depend on how he finishes the Tour. Usually after his succesful GT campaigns he's riding at a very high level (World Champion after his Vuelta win, double Olympic Champion after his TDF podium) so he might want to capitalise on that form this year as well. But if he feels...

There's a big interview with Jan Bakelants (as interviewer) in HLN: https://www.hln.be/tour-de-france/onze-analist-jan-bakelants-meet-de-tour-koorts-en-de-ambities-bij-remco-evenepoel-ik-zit-momenteel-aan-een-soort-plafond~a1e60119/ But it doesn't exactly ooze confidence. Interesting tidbits...