Recent content by hayneplane

Different dynamics then as 1st place had already disappeared up the road.

Maybe not quite as specific as that but certainly a bit of a power play to wrestle near full control over his schedule eg riding whatever he wants in the cobbled classics.

Looking at how dominant MVDP was against Pedersen and others in E3 in Pogacars absence compared to a fairly slender winning margin for Vingegaard against Almeida in the Vuelta I don’t see much evidence to support your point. What you say is plausible and Pogacar winning the two monuments yet to...

I would put Van Der Poel on his own in Tier 2 and bump everyone else down a notch on the basis that he is the only rider still favoured to beat Pogacar on any monument, grand tour or road racing championship with MSR and PR being the specific examples.

Fully agree. Think Contador 2008 is the only time this century and even that was due to the team being excluded and not a deliberate rider decision.

Yeah even in the Armstrong-Ullrich era riders were taking their helmets off at the foot of the final summit climb to save weight. If i recall correctly this only came as a mandatory rule change for permanent helmets after the death of Andrei Kivilev in 2004.

Tactically it would still work because Matthews would be the guy in a feee role for the reduced group sprint and Pogacar would be the attacker set up by the team.

If they could get Wellens or a similar rider over the top in the break to pace the descent and lower slopes of the final climb for a solo Pogacar that would also be ideal but with the caveat that most likely in that scenario Visma also have 1-2 satellite riders as well.

Take a pause and read what has been written carefully. Pogacar is not a fresh w/kg specialist as his most supreme performances have been at the end of hard efforts that have destroyed everyone else. Roglic is a much better example of a fresh w/kg specialist and it is not a contradiction to...

After last season it is fair to say that at best Roglic and Van Aert are clinging on to their status by their fingernails and will be on eviction watch in the Spring classics and early stage races. If you were starting this afresh with no previous set then the way you listed it would be the...

That is essentially what the criteria is designed to be. There are clearly other great riders but none who simply don’t lose to those outside the top 6 except when very badly out of form/hustling back from injury.

That is how this has been conceived and understood for a long time.

I think Suisse would be much better next year with it dropping to 5 days as will conserve some energy. I don’t think he even needs to do a stage race ahead of the Tour though and this may help him decompress post LBL and have enough rest time to then add Vuelta to the back end of the season.

If they can do the Finestre then wouldn’t it be possible

I am assuming that his ceiling is the highest of any rider outside Tadej and Jonas but I don’t see him as being as reliable as several other riders in terms of getting a placement. If I was drafting someone with my primary aim being to win or nothing then I am taking Remco but if I am aiming...