2018 Paris-Nice, 4/3-11/3

[Netserk]

I was a great fan of Rasmussen, he was awesome (Valgren is fine as well, though he has a bit of the same syndrome as Fuglsang.) Fuglsang I'd dislike no matter what passport he would hold, though the exposure of his interviews on Danish television has revealed to a greater extend reasons enough to dislike him.

Obviously CAS was likeable as well

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I was a great fan of Rasmussen, he was awesome (Valgren is fine as well, though he has a bit of the same syndrome as Fuglsang.) Fuglsang I'd dislike no matter what passport he would hold, though the exposure of his interviews on Danish television has revealed to a greater extend reasons enough to dislike him.

Obviously CAS was likeable as well

But that really clouds your judgement as to how they played that situation tactically, I don't think anyone has a problem with you disliking Fuglsang. I don't particularly like him as well, nor do I dislike him, I think its personality is very neutral.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

I was a great fan of Rasmussen, he was awesome (Valgren is fine as well, though he has a bit of the same syndrome as Fuglsang.) Fuglsang I'd dislike no matter what passport he would hold, though the exposure of his interviews on Danish television has revealed to a greater extend reasons enough to dislike him.

Obviously CAS was likeable as well

But that really clouds your judgement as to how they played that situation tactically, I don't think anyone has a problem with you disliking Fuglsang. I don't particularly like him as well, nor do I dislike him, I think its personality is very neutral.

Seems a bit like disliking that you won't even refer to him as a person.

 

[Netserk]

Clouds? It reveals the very reason why I dislike him. I don't think how he races does him much good in that regard either. But as I said, I'd still dislike him if he was Belgian. We've all seen enough of his attitude over the years, on Danish TV we have just seen even more of it.

 

[RedheadDane]

You dislike him because he thought it was a bit stupid to be called back to help a guy who was gone anyway, and who had a perfectly capable helper with him already?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Clouds? It reveals the very reason why I dislike him. I don't think how he races does him much good in that regard either.

Yes, he obviously shouldn't have been called back in the first place. What happened afterwards is pretty irrelevant.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Lovely...

https://www.yr.no/place/France/Provence-Alpes-C%C3%B4te_d%E2%80%99Azur/Nice/hour_by_hour.html

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

I was a great fan of Rasmussen, he was awesome (Valgren is fine as well, though he has a bit of the same syndrome as Fuglsang.) Fuglsang I'd dislike no matter what passport he would hold, though the exposure of his interviews on Danish television has revealed to a greater extend reasons enough to dislike him.

Obviously CAS was likeable as well

But that really clouds your judgement as to how they played that situation tactically, I don't think anyone has a problem with you disliking Fuglsang. I don't particularly like him as well, nor do I dislike him, I think its personality is very neutral.

Seems a bit like disliking that you won't even refer to him as a person.

Haha, I thought the same :lol:

 

[Red Rick]

Impressive ride from Yates. Clearly the strongest today. I wonder if this is a sign of improvement that he needs to break through at the GT level and fight for the win.

 

[yaco]

S.Yates struggled in Valenciana and Abu Dhabi, yet in the past he's displayed the ability to quickly find form - Hard to predict how he'll go at the Giro as he'll be riding alongside Chaves - Can say he'll have a strong team at the Giro.

 

[Red Rick]

Given how Alaphillipe blew up again today, I expect there will be no long MTF next year.

In any case, PN has been the far better race than TA in the last few years, but the weather makes TA just that much more attractive to the biggest names.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Given how Alaphillipe blew up again today, I expect there will be no long MTF next year.

In any case, PN has been the far better race than TA in the last few years, but the weather makes TA just that much more attractive to the biggest names.

Tirreno needs to do something about its route I feel, make it harder, something like 2013 and 2014. Its just too easy to sit in the peloton until the last 2, 5, 10 km or whatever, aint really no racing going on until the finale. Paris-Nice is just a harder race in that aspect, a lot of that probably also is due to the weather

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

Given how Alaphillipe blew up again today, I expect there will be no long MTF next year.

In any case, PN has been the far better race than TA in the last few years, but the weather makes TA just that much more attractive to the biggest names.

Tirreno needs to do something about its route I feel, make it harder, something like 2013 and 2014. Its just too easy to sit in the peloton until the last 2, 5, 10 km or whatever, aint really no racing going on until the finale. Paris-Nice is just a harder race in that aspect, a lot of that probably also is due to the weather

Or just fill it with hilly stages and ditch the mountain stage... A T-A for classic specialists sounds a lot more interesting to me.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Given how Alaphillipe blew up again today, I expect there will be no long MTF next year.

In any case, PN has been the far better race than TA in the last few years, but the weather makes TA just that much more attractive to the biggest names.

Tirreno needs to do something about its route I feel, make it harder, something like 2013 and 2014. Its just too easy to sit in the peloton until the last 2, 5, 10 km or whatever, aint really no racing going on until the finale. Paris-Nice is just a harder race in that aspect, a lot of that probably also is due to the weather

Or just fill it with hilly stages and ditch the mountain stage... A T-A for classic specialists sounds a lot more interesting to me.

The last few years has been dreadful. Having a murito and a MTF is just too predictable, especially if the MTFs quite weak.

I don't mind having a mountain stage, finishes like Monte Terminillo are a bit too big for TA in my opinion.

2013 was a perfect route in my opinion, and even then the mountain stage didn't need the finishing climb like it had. But it had a super epic stage and since then they've ditched the stage design altogether and made that stage all bunch sprints or slightly uphill sprints.

And ditch the TTT.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Given how Alaphillipe blew up again today, I expect there will be no long MTF next year.

In any case, PN has been the far better race than TA in the last few years, but the weather makes TA just that much more attractive to the biggest names.

Tirreno needs to do something about its route I feel, make it harder, something like 2013 and 2014. Its just too easy to sit in the peloton until the last 2, 5, 10 km or whatever, aint really no racing going on until the finale. Paris-Nice is just a harder race in that aspect, a lot of that probably also is due to the weather

Or just fill it with hilly stages and ditch the mountain stage... A T-A for classic specialists sounds a lot more interesting to me.

Agreed. I hate that mountaintop finish.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Clouds? It reveals the very reason why I dislike him. I don't think how he races does him much good in that regard either.

Yes, he obviously shouldn't have been called back in the first place. What happened afterwards is pretty irrelevant.

I agree. But when he was called back, he should've stayed with Luis Leon the whole way. This way he only shows that he disrespects his team and fellow riders.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just came across this awesomely auto-translated post from Fortuneo:

Whimsical weather from the start, with five climbs to reach the ski resort la colmiane and its snow-lined roads, you had to love the difficulties today!

Don't think 'whimsical' is the term I would have used to describe today's weather.

 

[search]

Re:

S.Yates struggled in Valenciana and Abu Dhabi, yet in the past he's displayed the ability to quickly find form - Hard to predict how he'll go at the Giro as he'll be riding alongside Chaves - Can say he'll have a strong team at the Giro.

yeah, he even was dropped on the stage won by Hivert and only made it back due to Sky chasing for Poels. He seems to have found form very quickly indeed...

 

[Koronin]

Again proof that although many of us do see in some ways a young Valverde in Alaphilippe, he's not close to being as good of a climber of Valverde (forget about the consistency).
I'm still happy with what I'm seeing from Soler even though he lost some time today. His ride so far (see how tomorrow goes) is a good sign for the future.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

Clouds? It reveals the very reason why I dislike him. I don't think how he races does him much good in that regard either.

Yes, he obviously shouldn't have been called back in the first place. What happened afterwards is pretty irrelevant.

I agree. But when he was called back, he should've stayed with Luis Leon the whole way. This way he only shows that he disrespects his team and fellow riders.

Both him waiting, and him leaving Sanchez behind again, were DS decisions

Don't blame the rider, for decisions the DS make

Under the circumstances, I think Fuglsang did stellar, and most definitely could have won the stage, had he not been ordered to wait.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Cort and Valgren look very trimmed and ready for the classics season - did someone tell me the other day, that Cort can't climb?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Again proof that although many of us do see in some ways a young Valverde in Alaphilippe, he's not close to being as good of a climber of Valverde (forget about the consistency).
I'm still happy with what I'm seeing from Soler even though he lost some time today. His ride so far (see how tomorrow goes) is a good sign for the future.

Agreed entirely about Alaphilippe. Because so many of the other lighter puncheurs, like Valverde, Martin etc are also excellent climbers, people keep assuming that he is too. At this point in his career, he really isn’t. He’s not terrible, but if climbing was his main skill set he’d be an anonymous domestique. This wasn’t a multiple mountain stage. Nor was it exactly a field of world beating super climbers he was up against either. He was losing a minute to Carapaz, Grosschartner, Vuillermoz as well as two minutes to Gorka, Wellens etc. He’s just not very good in the mountains.

I’d be a bit less sanguine about Soler than you are though. Unlike Alaphillipe, mountain climbing really is his main skill set and he’s not exactly setting the world alight. He’s a year younger than the Frenchman, there’s time to improve. But if he’s the future of Spanish stage racing, he really needs to.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Again proof that although many of us do see in some ways a young Valverde in Alaphilippe, he's not close to being as good of a climber of Valverde (forget about the consistency).
I'm still happy with what I'm seeing from Soler even though he lost some time today. His ride so far (see how tomorrow goes) is a good sign for the future.

Agreed entirely about Alaphilippe. Because so many of the other lighter puncheurs, like Valverde, Martin etc are also excellent climbers, people keep assuming that he is too. At this point in his career, he really isn’t. He’s not terrible, but if climbing was his main skill set he’d be an anonymous domestique. This wasn’t a multiple mountain stage. Nor was it exactly a field of world beating super climbers he was up against either. He was losing a minute to Carapaz, Grosschartner, Vuillermoz as well as two minutes to Gorka, Wellens etc. He’s just not very good in the mountains.

I’d be a bit less sanguine about Soler than you are though. Unlike Alaphillipe, mountain climbing really is his main skill set and he’s not exactly setting the world alight. He’s a year younger than the Frenchman, there’s time to improve. But if he’s the future of Spanish stage racing, he really needs to.

Two things to remember about Soler, this group of Spanish youngsters is a bit behind due how the Spanish lower levels have been over the past decade (shorter lengths of races, etc), so they have had a steeper learning curve when they get to the pro levels. Also Movistar has been being careful with him giving him the time to learn and become comfortable. He still has some learning to do.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Is this thread over run by Danes ???

Yes. And I am loving it!

 

[Escarabajo]

I assume that because of the weather several riders had strange effect!
Hopefully otherwise this stage created bigger gaps that I expected.