2019 Strade Bianche, March 9th, 184 km 1.WT

[tobydawq]

Valverde will not start; the team are citing his sickness at the end of UAE Tour.

Last year, he also fell sick after the Abu Dhabi Tour, managed to get healthy again, didn't land before midnight on Friday in Italy due to a screw-up with his slights, and seemed the (second) strongest in the race anyway.

Damnit!

 

[Jagartrott]

I'd say top-5 of Omloop are favourites here as well, if they all participate (don't know about Teuns?).

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

does anyone have a credible(!?) wether forecast for this one??

For sure there will be a lot of dust this year, Siena doesn't see rain since the 3rd of february.

 

[SafeBet]

This is the website you should use for weather forecasts in Siena: http://www.lamma.rete.toscana.it/meteo/meteo-siena

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Valverde will not start; the team are citing his sickness at the end of UAE Tour.

Last year, he also fell sick after the Abu Dhabi Tour, managed to get healthy again, didn't land before midnight on Friday in Italy due to a screw-up with his slights, and seemed the (second) strongest in the race anyway.

Damnit!

A really shame. He was strong last year

 

[Tim Booth]

Re:

I'd say top-5 of Omloop are favourites here as well, if they all participate (don't know about Teuns?).

no Teuns - start list
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjkyMzY=

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Valgren is on the list? Normally, this would be the perfect race for him. But he seems to be out of shape and/or sick.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Valgren is on the list? Normally, this would be the perfect race for him. But he seems to be out of shape and/or sick.

He was sick last weekend. He rode very well in Algarve.

But he is also due to ride Paris-Nice and I think it's maybe too much to do Strade the day before.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Valverde will not start; the team are citing his sickness at the end of UAE Tour.

Last year, he also fell sick after the Abu Dhabi Tour, managed to get healthy again, didn't land before midnight on Friday in Italy due to a screw-up with his slights, and seemed the (second) strongest in the race anyway.

Damnit!

That is exactly why I don't believe it's just illness. This is why I think there's more to the story of why he's pulled it off the schedule.

 

[Wvv]

Really hope Van Avermaet can finally take this, he'd deserve it after all these good performances on the strade. However, the shorter length from the last editions works to his disadvantage. And Stybar is a clear favourite.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Really hope Van Avermaet can finally take this, he'd deserve it after all these good performances on the strade. However, the shorter length from the last editions works to his disadvantage. And Stybar is a clear favourite.

There are no clear favorites for this race. Many could do well: Stybar, Van Avermaet, Benoot, Wellens, Alaphilippe, Lutsenko, Moscon..., to name a few.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Really hope Van Avermaet can finally take this, he'd deserve it after all these good performances on the strade. However, the shorter length from the last editions works to his disadvantage. And Stybar is a clear favourite.

There are no clear favorites for this race. Many could do well: Stybar, Van Avermaet, Benoot, Wellens, Alaphilippe, Lutsenko, Moscon..., to name a few.

Isn't Benoot out with an injury?

 

[Robert5091]

Re: Re:

Really hope Van Avermaet can finally take this, he'd deserve it after all these good performances on the strade. However, the shorter length from the last editions works to his disadvantage. And Stybar is a clear favourite.

There are no clear favorites for this race. Many could do well: Stybar, Van Avermaet, Benoot, Wellens, Alaphilippe, Lutsenko, Moscon..., to name a few.

Isn't Benoot out with an injury?

Apparently not - he's fit - see http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/benoot-will-return-for-strade-bianche-title-defence/

 

[Akuryo]

Re: Re:

Really hope Van Avermaet can finally take this, he'd deserve it after all these good performances on the strade. However, the shorter length from the last editions works to his disadvantage. And Stybar is a clear favourite.

There are no clear favorites for this race. Many could do well: Stybar, Van Avermaet, Benoot, Wellens, Alaphilippe, Lutsenko, Moscon..., to name a few.

Isn't Benoot out with an injury?

Apparently not - he's fit - see http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/benoot-will-return-for-strade-bianche-title-defence/

Fit to race, but is he fit enough to win?

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Really hope Van Avermaet can finally take this, he'd deserve it after all these good performances on the strade. However, the shorter length from the last editions works to his disadvantage. And Stybar is a clear favourite.

There are no clear favorites for this race. Many could do well: Stybar, Van Avermaet, Benoot, Wellens, Alaphilippe, Lutsenko, Moscon..., to name a few.

Isn't Benoot out with an injury?

Apparently not - he's fit - see http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/benoot-will-return-for-strade-bianche-title-defence/

Fit to race, but is he fit enough to win?

Good question.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Hoping GVA can do it. I'm sure it'll be a great race, again. Not sure how much of it I can watch live though, which sucks.

 

[Frankschleck]

I think Quickstep and Astana are the big faves.. Strade Bianche usually a very tactical affair. Both teams are on fire form and strongest teams and have favorites in end as well
So either i think we will see Lutsenko battle it out with Stybar or Alla at the end

Or we will see they have more riders in the frontgroup and we will se Fulgsang, Ballerini and Fraile vs Stybar and Lampeart attacking in shifts, while Lutsenko and Allaphillpe going to wait long into the race.

 

[Hellyea]

Re:

Hoping GVA can do it. I'm sure it'll be a great race, again. Not sure how much of it I can watch live though, which sucks.

GVA is incapable of win without Sagan racing with him.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

Hoping GVA can do it. I'm sure it'll be a great race, again. Not sure how much of it I can watch live though, which sucks.

GVA is incapable of win without Sagan racing with him.

A comment entirely unsupported by fact.
What proportion of Van Avermaet's wins do you believe Sagan was competing in?

 

[search]

Re:

I think Quickstep and Astana are the big faves.. Strade Bianche usually a very tactical affair. Both teams are on fire form and strongest teams and have favorites in end as well

I can't recall every edition at the moment, but I would have thought it's on of the least tactical (WT) races there is. Usually it's pretty much full out from an early point out, only the strongest survive.

 

[krakenKE]

Such a beautiful race. Pity that Sagan opted to skip it but it makes sense if he wants to ride LBL. I'd go with Alaphilippe ftw.

 

[MartinGT]

I would love to see GVA take this, but its such a beautiful race it wouldn't bother me who wins.

 

[RedheadDane]

DAMMIT! Søren Kragh is still not fully recovered… Replaced by Jai Hindley.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

I think Quickstep and Astana are the big faves.. Strade Bianche usually a very tactical affair. Both teams are on fire form and strongest teams and have favorites in end as well
So either i think we will see Lutsenko battle it out with Stybar or Alla at the end

Or we will see they have more riders in the frontgroup and we will se Fulgsang, Ballerini and Fraile vs Stybar and Lampeart attacking in shifts, while Lutsenko and Allaphillpe going to wait long into the race.

As far as I remember Strade Bianche usually is not a very tactical race, strongest are always on the front and one of them wins. Last time I remember it was due to tactics is when Moreno Moser won in 2013.

 

[Climbing]

Well those are the UCI rules no?! Can't go over 200 km with the current category... at least I think so.