Recent content by dobrien

This is a good post, and is why ranking the riders in Tiers like this is a harder excersize than at first glance. That said, I don't fully agree VDP is not better in his own field than Vingegaard though; Vingegaard is currently not winning any GT with Pog in it, where Mathieu can definitely...

I do agree MVDP is alone in Tier 2, but I would definitely no longer say MVDP is 'favoured' to beat Pog at either of those races. But for an overcooked corner Pog would have given the much more experienced Mathieu everything he could have handled and maybe then some in his FIRST ever PR; barring...

I for on am a little disappointed we won't get to see if Linn Svahn would have kept her pledge to boycott the Games had the Russians been allowed in. ;-) Agree on the bolded.

Just my .02 but if I was a Pro and someone offered me a choice between 10 Vueltas and 2 Tours, I'd go with the 2 Tours no question. Like it or not the Tour is the Tour, and it means you beat the best of the best all in their best shape, not winning what most of the time is the consolation GT...

Yeah, don't know why I forgot to mention that one, love Powless and how he races, and have always had a sweet spot for riders who take a win against superior numbers (which is why Ian Stannard's 2015 Omloop win remains one of my all time favorites!). NO WAY IN HELL I thought Powless was going to...

You don't remember? It was so epic you must have blacked out! :p

Amstel was fantastic, MSR too, but for me, nothing tops Wout's victory in the last stage of the Tour. Just an absolutely, utterly epic setting, insane crowds, the rain, dropping the Yellow Jersey on the last cobbled climb, and a win by one of my favorite riders, who has had his share of bad luck...

Oh no!! That really sucks, she had placed herself very solidly in the top 10 in the World Cup; damn. One of my favorites to follow.

I think part of how he is riding is (my opinion) he is still kind of in that liminal space between emerging rider and someone who can be a real threat in big races, and it's kind of the way he has to ride if he isn't yet at the point where he's getting support yet (at least he's getting into...

Oh come on!! I normally enjoy pretty intellectual entertainment but there is something about Unchained and the unfiltered stream of consciousness that is pretty good. NEVER dull, that is for sure. :p

This is the same descent which the legendary Sean Kelly used to close the gap to Moreno Argentin to win one of the best ever MSR's, and which Matej Mohoric used to dump the field to win his MSR (watch that descent again if you've forgotten). It might be pedaling MOST of the way, but there are...

This. His current main competitors can arguably descend the Poggio much better than he can; he'd have to have a pretty massive gap to pull this off. Wishful thinking otherwise imho.

Fully agree with this; even accounting for slight recency bias to me he seemed much more fearsome this year. I guess I'm biased towards the classics a bit more, but I'd vote this year in a heartbeat.

Honestly, your posts are as entertaining as the racing, and even more so in some cases. Chapeau!!

Fully agree with this; he has earned some protection with his riding this year. I think Lidl are a smart team and they are not going to be blind to his potential if he gets some help, especially after today. The guy has absolute balls, he's only 24, a fearlessly attacking rider, recovers really...