Recent content by Jan the Man

it is a little easier - but agree it will have no impact on MVDP. Practically whilst the finish is as it is and Pog is as he is they could remove virtually all gravel sectors and Pog would still be the heavy favourite.

Bwlch y Groes is harder than the Tumble, though i accept out of the way and not realistic.

Stage 3 is interesting if ridden hard. Given length of stage and general difficulty of terrain in last 150km (very little flat) then Caerphilly difficult enough to cause gaps especially if the main protagonist goes. Finish may be somewhere else in Cardiff than ToB finish judging by fact looks...

Agree to disagree on Indurain - he was not on his previous level obviously, but too much made of Vuelta abandonment. if falling off the cliff is winning the Dauphine, Olympic TT then sure. He was mulling a big contact offer from Saiz so sure was not perhaps as ‘out of the blue’ but still

A surprise and shock especially the timing. However surely not the most shocking. Indurain went out and retired younger. I’d say more recently Kittel too was in some ways more of a shock.

So Sometimes being in a new environment out of 'comfort zone's pushes you to achieve more. Remco is already outstanding and in any other era would be a top favourite for the Tour and obviously the hilly classics (where he already is behind Pog). In some regard he is unlucky to be racing in the...

New KOM on Coll de Rates under 12 minutes...

I would not count it as a ‘weak’ schedule per se - he’s riding all 5 monuments - competing for the win in each. 2 world Tour Stages races and the WC as well as a couple of other WT one day races and of course the Tour. It is definitely low on the pure number of races days but high on...

To a point i agree - re having a team which does not just do whatever a rider wants. However it clearly important to keep the rider motivation high and take the rider with you in the decision making. I can well imagine UAE not being particularly keen on Pog doing Roubaix but that would lead to...

Whereas i would definitely like to have seen Remco at MSR i don’t think that’s a plausible explanation. Indeed most people would have thought Pog be doing Dauphine. It’s clear Remco has chosen the stage racing route this year with the exception of LBL which generally suits the stage racers and...

Makes sense if his stated aim is to win all 7 of the big 1 week races. Suisse is interchangable with Dauphine albeit down to 5 stages but Pais Vasco will be his most challenging given his current primary goals seem the Monuments

McNulty rode really well for Pog with Bjerg in 2022 despite the teams other issues. In my view with the TT it would be a no brainer to include him and Vine but at least one of the other. I think i’d take the same team as this year but swap Vine and McNutly for Adam and Soler

Agreed - i think Lipo can do very well at the Giro but contemplating doing well back-to-back is in my view very unlikely. On the basis Remco wants a go at the monuments this makes sense. I think MSR can really suit him, but obvs MVP is overwhelming favourite. More sceptical of Remco’s...

I voted 6- would have preferred a second ITT or to make the first one 50km and would have preferred a proper mountain stage with a descent finish. A couple of the mountain stages are a bit meh but stage 14 and 19 are proper Tappone. A couple of the medium mountain stages are nice

I have no intention of denigrating XC - but I struggle with the premise you present as to the number of XCs competitive in a world RR. Clearly XC racers targettheir XC races but the transition is not as easy as you present and there is far more more money from a salary perspective in road...