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2020 World Championships - now confirmed for Imola, Italy.

Page 16 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Danish team announced.

After Kragh, Vingegaard, Asgreen and Mads Pedersen said they would not ride the road race, because of other targets in this Corona season, the squad is:

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)
Michael Valgren (NTT)
Magnus Cort (EF)
Cristopher Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton)
Mikkel Honoré (DQ)
Casper Pedersen (Sunweb)
Niklas Eg (Trek)
Jonas Gregaard (Astana)

TT riders:
Asgreen (DQ)
Bjerg (UAE)

Stated targets are top 5 in the RR and top 8 in the TT.
 
Danish team announced.

After Kragh, Vingegaard, Asgreen and Mads Pedersen said they would not ride the road race, because of other targets in this Corona season, the squad is:

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)
Michael Valgren (NTT)
Magnus Cort (EF)
Cristopher Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton)
Mikkel Honoré (DQ)
Casper Pedersen (Sunweb)
Niklas Eg (Trek)
Jonas Gregaard (Astana)

TT riders:
Asgreen (DQ)
Bjerg (UAE)

Stated targets are top 5 in the RR and top 8 in the TT.

Why would you target a top 5 in a WC? :confused:
Fuglsang should not be happy with anything less than a win.
 
The defending champion not taking part shows a lack of respect for the race.

Under normal circumstances I'd agree.

But with this season's extremely compacted schedule, I understand a lot of riders have to make hard choices.

It doesn't make sense for a Roubaix candidate (Pedersen) or a Flanders candidate (Kragh) to compromise those races, to ride as a dom for Fuglsang at Worlds.
 
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Kragh definitely has a chance on this course. And Pedersen could at least ride as a helper the first 100-150 km. That doesn't ruin your chances in later races. Almost all their competitors will race anyway.

How do you know it doesn't ruin their chances?

And I disagree Kragh has a shot on the route, I think he is too heavy for it....... there is a reason MvdP dropped out of Worlds today, saying the route doesn't suit him ;)

If Kragh believed he has a shot on the route, you can bet your bottom dollar he would have raced.
 
Yes he can. But the Tour is the problem, he needs time to recover.
I don't think we have enough evidence to conclude he can be at his absolute best at the end of a 250 km tough race.
These are his results in Monuments/WC:

2017 MSR: 67th
2017 WC RR: 121st
2017 Lombardia: 40th

He was a different Roglic back then, still not fully aware of his capabilities. He also peaked in spring and was spent by the end of the year.

2018 WC RR: 34th
2018 Lombardia: 17th

Roglic looked in good shape in late summer/fall that year and the WC route was perfect for him, but he finished 4 minutes down at the WC (I don't recall if he crashed or had any mechanical at crucial points thugh).
In Lombardia he was the first to attack on Sormano, but then faded badly on Civiglio, finishing 17th 3 minutes behind the winner. All the early attackers finished ahead of him (Pinot 1st, Nibali 2nd and Bernal 12th).

2019 WC RR: DNF
2019 Lombardia: 7th

The World Championship route was not suited to him but other climbers (Pogacar, Betancur, Fuglsang) finished the race close to the top10. He started Lombardia as the absolute favorite, having destroyed the other contenders in Emilia and having won TVV a few days earlier. He looked good until Civiglio but then never tried an attack, couldn't close the gap to Mollema and was distanced by Valverde, Bernal and Fuglsang in the finale.

Obviously there might be a number of reasons why he slightly undeperformaed in a couple of these races (not at his peak, luck, crashes, etc). But I'm not completely sold on his ability to win a 250+ km race based on his career thus far.
 
He crashed in Innsbruck. I think his main issue is knowing how to conserve energy in a nervous peloton and keeping a good position. His racing instinct is also not the best. But on a good day, and with some luck, I can see him ride away from everyone on the last lap if they hesitate.
 
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He crashed in Innsbruck. I think his main issue is knowing how to conserve energy in a nervous peloton and keeping a good position. His racing instinct is also not the best. But on a good day, and with some luck, I can see him ride away from everyone on the last lap if they hesitate.
It's also just the way it's raced. I don't think his in race recovery is amazing but if everyone holds hands to the final climb he should be able to fly. Innsbruck would've been amazing for him at peak w/o crash.
 
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Would you count the Giro?
I mean he was pretty horrible in the long stages in the Alps but then he was pretty horrible anywhere in the last week.

Lombardia 2018 is one I forgot although iirc he wasn't actually that strong on the Muro die Sormano either, got dropped by Pinot and Nibali and only caught them on the descent. Sure, he then looked even worse on Civiglio but really I think that performance can as well just be down to bad shape (or even that WC crash still affecting him)

Anyway, that Lombardia performance last year is indeed a questionmark, but I'm not yet certain. I definitely wouldn't go as far as saying he isn't among the top contenders because of one, maybe two, questionable performances
 
I mean he was pretty horrible in the long stages in the Alps but then he was pretty horrible anywhere in the last week.

Lombardia 2018 is one I forgot although iirc he wasn't actually that strong on the Muro die Sormano either, got dropped by Pinot and Nibali and only caught them on the descent. Sure, he then looked even worse on Civiglio but really I think that performance can as well just be down to bad shape (or even that WC crash still affecting him)

Anyway, that Lombardia performance last year is indeed a questionmark, but I'm not yet certain. I definitely wouldn't go as far as saying he isn't among the top contenders because of one, maybe two, questionable performances
Everyone got dropped by Pinot and Nibali on the Muro in 2018. He was actually way less dropped then Bernal, yet Bernal did way better on the Civiglio. Combine that with the clear trend that Roglic performs better on climbs in stages that are soft pedaled and his main strength in mountain stages being the final km, and I'm not considering him a favorite on this course. If there had been 2 laps on this, sure he's in there. But not on 14 laps. Too much attrition in my opinion.
 
Everyone got dropped by Pinot and Nibali on the Muro in 2018. He was actually way less dropped then Bernal, yet Bernal did way better on the Civiglio. Combine that with the clear trend that Roglic performs better on climbs in stages that are soft pedaled and his main strength in mountain stages being the final km, and I'm not considering him a favorite on this course. If there had been 2 laps on this, sure he's in there. But not on 14 laps. Too much attrition in my opinion.
If the ride it like 2018 he'd be my favourite but you'd expect that not to happen on a course without one monster climb at the end
 
Everyone got dropped by Pinot and Nibali on the Muro in 2018. He was actually way less dropped then Bernal, yet Bernal did way better on the Civiglio. Combine that with the clear trend that Roglic performs better on climbs in stages that are soft pedaled and his main strength in mountain stages being the final km, and I'm not considering him a favorite on this course. If there had been 2 laps on this, sure he's in there. But not on 14 laps. Too much attrition in my opinion.
So what you're saying is, Bernal will drop Roglic on the Col de la Loze by more than he lost on the Grand Colombier?
 

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