2021 rider schedules

[jaylew]

Ineos update:

Giro: Bernal, Sivakov, Dani, Ganna
Tour: TGH, Geraint, Carapaz with Porte, De Plus, Kwia, Castro, Rowe, and Rohan likely
Vuelta: Yates, Pidcock

Bernal could also race Tour or Vuelta
Tour guys could race Vuelta

 

[OlavEH]

Giro: Bernal, Sivakov, Dani, Ganna
Tour: TGH, Geraint, Carapaz with Porte, De Plus, Kwia, Castro, Rowe, and Rohan likely
Vuelta: Yates, Pidcock

Sh***, I was really hoping for at least Carapaz for the Giro. Alternatively TGH. And WTF is their Tour captain?

The Tour could be totally dominated by Jumbo and Ineos. Both teams are sending almost all their best guys there. And sadly completely downgrades the Giro.

This have probably already been mentioned but what about guys like Mas, Landa, MAL, Hindley, Carthy, Uran and Simon Yates. Any news on what these will ride?

 

[RedheadDane]

And WTF is their Tour captain?

INEOS is the new Movistar.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Sh***, I was really hoping for at least Carapaz for the Giro. Alternatively TGH. And WTF is their Tour captain?

Geraint Thomas.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ineos update:

Giro: Bernal, Sivakov, Dani, Ganna
Tour: TGH, Geraint, Carapaz with Porte, De Plus, Kwia, Castro, Rowe, and Rohan likely
Vuelta: Yates, Pidcock

Bernal could also race Tour or Vuelta
Tour guys could race Vuelta

Dani Martinez has a history of underperformin at the Giro because of allergies (that was already a well known problem when he raced for Scinto), so I'd swap him an De Plus.
I guess Sosa will also ride the Giro because he's Bernal's training buddy.

 

[Earns1985]

Sh***, I was really hoping for at least Carapaz for the Giro. Alternatively TGH. And WTF is their Tour captain?

The Tour could be totally dominated by Jumbo and Ineos. Both teams are sending almost all their best guys there. And sadly completely downgrades the Giro.

This have probably already been mentioned but what about guys like Mas, Landa, MAL, Hindley, Carthy, Uran and Simon Yates. Any news on what these will ride?

Mas: Tour and Vuelta
Landa: Giro and Tour
MAL: Tour and Vuelta
Simon Yates: Giro and Tour

In my list only Sunweb and EF are missing to announce their targets.. also I read somewhere that Uran wants to target the vuelta.

 

[Earns1985]

So there we are for the Giro:

Bernal, Martinez, Sivakov, Buchmann, Pinot, Landa, S.Yates, G.Bennett, Nibali, Bilbao, Soler, Formolo, Vlasov, McNulty (unsure: Evenepoel and Quintana)

For the Tour:

Roglic, Kruiswijk, Kuss, Pogacar, Thomas, TGH, Carapaz, Porte, DePlus, Dennis, Landa, Mas, MAL, Kämna, Keldermann, Alaphilippe, Quintana, Bilbao, Majka, Mollema, Poels, Haig, Hirschi, Gaudu, Froome, S. Yates

Vuelta:

Mas, MAL, Kruiswijk, Almeida, Pogacar, A.Yates, Kuss, Uran, Majka, Valverde, Ciccone

 

[OlavEH]

Mas: Tour and Vuelta
Landa: Giro and Tour
MAL: Tour and Vuelta
Simon Yates: Giro and Tour

Just what I feared. Too many guys are aiming for the Tour regardless of this is probably going to be a two-horse race between Ineos and Jumbo with Pogacar as the main contender.

So far Bernal and Pinot are the big guns for the Giro. Buchmann, Yates and Landa outsiders. Hoping that we at least will see Almeida, Hindley and perhaps Carthy also will do the Giro.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Just what I feared. Too many guys are aiming for the Tour regardless of this is probably going to be a two-horse race between Ineos and Jumbo with Pogacar as the main contender.

So far Bernal and Pinot are the big guns for the Giro. Buchmann, Yates and Landa outsiders. Hoping that we at least will see Almeida, Hindley and perhaps Carthy also will do the Giro.

I think I read somewhere that Almeida would be targeting the Vuelta, which makes sense as it should suit him well. I also believe that Hindley will indeed go back to the Giro.

 

[Earns1985]

Just what I feared. Too many guys are aiming for the Tour regardless of this is probably going to be a two-horse race between Ineos and Jumbo with Pogacar as the main contender.

So far Bernal and Pinot are the big guns for the Giro. Buchmann, Yates and Landa outsiders. Hoping that we at least will see Almeida, Hindley and perhaps Carthy also will do the Giro.

In my eyes the Giro field seems pretty nice, a lot better then last year. Evenepoel´s recovery will be key for the race dynamic here.
If he will not recover, normally Ineos with Bernal will be the favourite here. Pinot, Buchmann, S. Yates and Landa I see at the same level. Negative could be that the best rider (Bernal) could also have the best team, which could lead to a boring race. With an in-form Evenepoel this would chance, because Bernal would have to ride pretty offensive in the mountains to gain time on Evenepoel.

The tour will become Jumbo vs. Ineos vs. Pogacar, which don´t have to be bad. Really looking forward to it.

 

[Bolder]

I might go out on a limb and say Carapaz is a top 3 favorite for the Tour. Maybe that's not really a stretch, though. I was very impressed with his Vuelta last year. I think behind the scenes he's the de facto captain, despite what GT might say/think. TGH probably in a "just in case" role...

 

[OlavEH]

In my eyes the Giro field seems pretty nice, a lot better then this year. Evenepoel´s recovery will be key for the race dynamic here.
If he will not recover, normally Ineos with Bernal will be the favourite here. Pinot, Buchmann, S. Yates and Landa I see at the same level. Negative could be that the best rider (Bernal) could also have the best team, which could lead to a boring race. With an in-form Evenepoel this would chance, because Bernal would have to ride pretty offensive in the mountains to gain time on Evenepoel.

The tour will become Jumbo vs. Ineos vs. Pogacar, which don´t have to be bad. Really looking forward to it.

I don't agree. There are two top GC contenders, perhaps three contenders on "level 2". The dark horse here is Remco. If he starts and is in good form, it could be much better. I would really like to have seen Carapaz and at least one of MAL/MAS.

All the other guys rumoured is really not the top notch of GC contenders. Probably from no 20 and below if you were ranking all the GC riders.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I don't agree. There are two top GC contenders, perhaps three contenders on "level 2". The dark horse here is Remco. If he starts and is in good form, it could be much better. I would really like to have seen Carapaz and at least one of MAL/MAS.

All the other guys rumoured is really not the top notch of GC contenders. Probably from no 20 and below if you were ranking all the GC riders.

Who are the two top contenders in your opinion? Bernal for sure, but the other? In my eyes, Bernal is the overwhelming favorite with no one really close. Not taking Remco into consideration here.

 

[SafeBet]

I don't agree. There are two top GC contenders, perhaps three contenders on "level 2". The dark horse here is Remco. If he starts and is in good form, it could be much better. I would really like to have seen Carapaz and at least one of MAL/MAS.

All the other guys rumoured is really not the top notch of GC contenders. Probably from no 20 and below if you were ranking all the GC riders.

I don't get how MAL and Mas are better than Buchmann, Yates and Landa. It's the same tier of GT riders really. One could argue that Yates at least has proven he can step up a level (whether he'l be able to do it again is debatable). MAL and Mas have never done that.

 

[BlueRoads]

Bernal, Pinot, Buchmann alone make pretty decent contenders. Add Yates, Landa, Nibali, maybe Evenepoel and Quintana, Sivakov and Vlasov - this is a great field, I can't see how you are complaining? Of course the Tour line-up is even better, with Pogacar and Roglic. But in how many years was the Giro field better than the Tour one? And why should it be?

 

[OlavEH]

Who are the two top contenders in your opinion? Bernal for sure, but the other? In my eyes, Bernal is the overwhelming favorite with no one really close. Not taking Remco into consideration here.

Bernal and Pinot.

Remco would potentially be number 3. But he hasn't even started at GT yet, so despite his immense talent, he is still unproven for a three week tour.

I don't get how MAL and Mas are better than Buchmann, Yates and Landa. It's the same tier of GT riders really. One could argue that Yates at least has proven he can step up a level (whether he'l be able to do it again is debatable). MAL and Mas have never done that.

Yep, I agree on that. MAL and Mas are on same tier as those three. Along with a few other guys like Kruijwijk and perhaps more unproven riders like Almeida, Tao, Carthy and Hindley. Really difficult to judge these guys based on the extremely strange 2020-season.

 

[SafeBet]

Bernal, Pinot, Buchmann alone make pretty decent contenders. Add Yates, Landa, Nibali, maybe Evenepoel and Quintana, Sivakov and Vlasov - this is a great field

Possibly Bardet as well.

 

[Bolder]

IMO Bernal is just as big a question mark as Remco. If truly healthy then yes he's the only favorite, but we probably won't know that until he really stresses his back. I still have doubts that Remco is ready to win a GT but will be prepared to eat my words...

 

[OlavEH]

Bernal, Pinot, Buchmann alone make pretty decent contenders. Add Yates, Landa, Nibali, maybe Evenepoel and Quintana, Sivakov and Vlasov - this is a great field, I can't see how you are complaining? Of course the Tour line-up is even better, with Pogacar and Roglic. But in how many years was the Giro field better than the Tour one? And why should it be?

Bernal, Pinot and Buchmann are good. And Landa. But otherwise there is a lot of question marks. Are Nibali really a contender or will he continue to decline? Same applies for Quintana. Yates is also unstable. Sivakov and Vlasov are talented riders, but so far not top contenders.

But Remco is the most important factor here. If he enters in good form, this could be a totally different race.

 

[Earns1985]

Bernal, Pinot and Buchmann are good. And Landa. But otherwise there is a lot of question marks. Are Nibali really a contender or will he continue to decline? Same applies for Quintana. Yates is also unstable. Sivakov and Vlasov are talented riders, but so far not top contenders.

But Remco is the most important factor here. If he enters in good form, this could be a totally different race.

Even without Remco it´s a field with higher quality then in the last years.
One could perhaps argue that Jumbo could send a stronger team then just Bennett, but they are all about winning the tour.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

How is Simon Yates more unstable than Pinot? Unless stability means consistently better at getting DNFs.

 

[hayneplane]

A fit Bernal would be a very strong favourite for the Giro with Simon Yates his biggest threat.

If we can add in a race fit Remco then it really improves the racing as the strong mountain teams need to make aggressive moves to drop him and gain a buffer to offset the ITT losses.

Don’t see Pinot as any kind of contender as far too brittle. Quintana showed some good signs of a resurgence last season and if the knee is good he can go for podium for sure and I like the chances of Vlasov continuing to improve.

 

[OlavEH]

Even without Remco it´s a field with higher quality then in the last years.
One could perhaps argue that Jumbo could send a stronger team then just Bennett, but they are all about winning the tour.

Last year was pretty special. It's not that relevant to compare with.

And the 2019 version had Carapaz, Roglic, a probably better version of Nibali in addition to Landa, Mollema, Majka, MAL and S.Yates. I would say that is better than what could be this year unless Remco enters in good form.

I must admit I have a hard time seeing why guys like MAL and Mas hopes to achieve in the Tour againt Ineos, Jumbo and Pogacar. Same applies to Hindley and Carthy if these two prioritize the Tour over the Giro.

I find it strange that more guys don't do the Giro-Vuelta double rather than Tour-Vuelta. Is it easier to combine the two latter than the Giro-Vuelta?

 

[Earns1985]

Last year was pretty special. It's not that relevant to compare with.

And the 2019 version had Carapaz, Roglic, a probably better version of Nibali in addition to Landa, Mollema, Majka, MAL and S.Yates. I would say that is better than what could be this year unless Remco enters in good form.

I must admit I have a hard time seeing why guys like MAL and Mas hopes to achieve in the Tour againt Ineos, Jumbo and Pogacar. Same applies to Hindley and Carthy if these two prioritize the Tour over the Giro.

I find it strange that more guys don't do the Giro-Vuelta double rather than Tour-Vuelta. Is it easier to combine the two latter than the Giro-Vuelta?

Carapaz had been a more or less complete no-name before the Giro 2019. Roglic best GC result before the giro 2019 had been a 4th place at the tour 2018, so his participation is comparable with Buchmann´s participation at this years giro, (Buchmann finished 4th at the tour 2019). The majority of the other guys that you mentioned are participating also this year. (you can change MAL with Pinot perhaps)
What makes the field 2021 on paper definetly stronger then the one from 2019 is, that the tour winner from 2019 will start. And in my argumentation I still didn´t include guys like Evenepoel, Quintana and other guys (Hindley, Carthy, Bardet) who could perhaps also start.
So I don´t agree with you when you are saying, that the giro field isn´t strong this year.

 

[SafeBet]

Carapaz had been a more or less complete no-name before the Giro 2019.

Have to disagree with that.
He won a stage and finished 4th in the Giro 2018. Most of us underestimated that performance because of the way he rode, but the signs of a great GT rider were there, especially in the Finestre stage.
Giro 2019 also had Dumoulin at the start.

As things stand, I would rank the 2019 and the 2021 startlist on a similar level.