114th Il Lombardia (1.UWT) // 15th of August 2020

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You have to remember, when he came up, all the big teams were "all for one". There was no "multiple captains" and no "wolf pack riding".

First Sastre, then the Schlecks, then Nibali, Fuglsang was almost always a domestique in service of a dominating captain - a very good domestique - but still just a domestique.
He had no team obligations in the 2011 Vuelta and was at his best since his crash two years earlier. He clearly stepped up in 2013 when he joined Astana and was the captain for the Tour. His level there and until he stepped up in '17 was mediocre.
 
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I don’t believe that for a second. The guy was at best an outsider in the Ardennes and mostly a 5-10th GC guy until last year.

I don’t like him and I don’t believe in his sudden turn of form since last year.
He was always capable of very good one-off performances. Nibali’s Tour de Force on the cobbles in 2014 was largely on Fuglsang’s wheel. The year before he was beaten in a 2-up sprint by Dan Martin for a Tour stage into Bagneres.

He’s had a late transition to focusing on classics, where he has no contest for leadership.
 
I mean, she was just turning left. If she didn't know a bike race was going on that's perfectly normal. That's the race organizer's responsibility, and completely inexcusable.
Probably she lives there, i don't think it's race organizer's responsibility, it was just an ignorant woman that understand to be where she wasn't shall to be and suddenly (and idiotly)turn left to avoid problem
 
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Those gaps...
 
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Except that she apparently did so without checking her rear view mirrors.

How posible is it to be in Como on Lombaria day and not know there is a bike ride?
Yeah, there are two levels to it - the biggest being what the hell was the race organization doing. The second being how could she not know a bike race was going on - my guess is that it was probably a situation where the person was sick of waiting and wanted to get home, so I don't necessarily think it's innocent ignorance. I just mean that I don't check my mirrors when I turn left because I don't expect a bike rider to be bombing down my left at 80km/h in normal life. I was just responding (not with a quote, oops) to the comment 'even outside of a bike race what was that driver doing'.

edit: either way I don't mean to defend the driver, I have had enough experience with drivers not to give them the benefit of the doubt. I more meant to say it's really really the organizer's responsibility to make sure people can't even get in the position to make inattentive driving choices.
 
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I don’t believe that for a second. The guy was at best an outsider in the Ardennes and mostly a 5-10th GC guy until last year.

I don’t like him and I don’t believe in his sudden turn of form since last year.
If you don't believe in marginal progression in cycling, then I struggle to see how you can appreciate the sport at all. Nobody must ever progress, I suppose?
 
He had no team obligations in the 2011 Vuelta and was at his best since his crash two years earlier. He clearly stepped up in 2013 when he joined Astana and was the captain for the Tour. His level there and until he stepped up in '17 was mediocre.
Does a mediocre rider win the silver medals in the hardest Olympics Road Race ever? I suppose if you only count the top 100 riders in the world you can argue that among this selection Fuglsang was mediocre in the years 2014-2015, but really, you'd be limiting the sample into meaninglessnes.

It is perfectly fine that you don't like Fuglsang. We have known that for years. But show a little class, at least. I don't believe I have ever written nonsense about Boonen just because I was not a fan of him in his heydays.
 
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So Vlasov is 24. For those who follow junior/u23 racing, was Vlasov always seen as a top prospect or is he one of those guys that flew under the radar and blossomed a bit later? Looks like he had really good results last year as well in his first season out of U23.
 
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