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32ème édition du Tour de l'Ain (2.1) // August 7th - 9th 2020

Page 18 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Stayed away from results and just watched this.

I did not expect Porte to be the most aggressive rider today. With his recent performances, he may just be picking his days to go really deep.

Froome and especially Dumo are getting better.

I did not understand the JV tactics at all. It worked out but given their strength they would had to really screw up for it not to.
 
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Congratulations to Roglič and his team to take the GC win. Closer we will get to the Tour, smaller the difference will likely be, comparing TJV and Ineos. Said that and IMHO a small red light is now blinking, somewhere in the Ineos camp.

P.S. As for Roglič fading in week 3. Could happen, but i wouldn't count on that. Rogič said he ate too much sugar, and that lead to stomach issues. No special reason not to believe such explanation. There is a limit, on how much carbs you can eat and water you can drink (per hour), before you can start expecting stomach issues. AFAIK they fixed this, by likely limiting the intake.
 
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As for Dumoulin and his form and the state of being. He is in a good form and likely this is the place Dumoulin wants to be at ATM. Kruijswijk got a chance at the Tour last year. Roglič going after it, AFAIK the project TDF 2020 started around 2017, or earlier. Hence in 2020 and as far as the Tour goes, Roglič, as long as he will be able to cope, is the plan A.
 
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As for Dumoulin and his form and the state of being. He is in a good form and likely this is the place Dumoulin wants to be at ATM. Kruijswijk got a chance at the Tour last year. Roglič going after it, AFAIK the project TDF 2020 started around 2017, or earlier. Hence in 2020 and as far as the Tour goes, Roglič, as long as he will be able to cope, is the plan A.
Roglic is plan A going in but this is also very early Dumoulin form. He could be very ready in 3+ weeks time in the midst of it and that will be fun to see.
 
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The lack of initiative from Jumbo was disappointing and would have been nice to see them test Bernal. Likely they were testing Tour plans instead. Big concern is if they use this example as justification to ride same way in few weeks. Have to take advantage of opportunities to gap Bernal and build a cushion because one bad Roglic day wipes out everything even with the TT at the back.
 
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We would likely see a different Tour de l'Ain, if Dumoulin (and Kruijswijk) wouldn't feel comfortable pursuing plan A, regarding the TDF 2020.
Seems as though Kruiswijk will be racing for an anonymous TDF top 7, or so. The other JV riders at least seemed fully committed to Rogla. Boring as it may be. Dumo will obviously be racing for himself, but once it becomes apparent that he isn't podium material I have no doubt that he can make the switch.
 
P.S. On stage 3 Roglič more or less wanted to go 1 on 1 with Bernal, and that did happen at the end of the stage.

That was my take, too. It seemed more important to them than getting the most out of this race in terms of results. But I'm not sure how much they really gain from that, because even though Roglic had Bernal in the bag, easily, that does not mean he will during the Tour (I think Roglic will win, but I would be careful as TJV. Who knows what games Ineos are playing.) Well, Bernal was p*** at least, the look on his face afterwards. :(
 
TJV likely wanted to make a statement, hence they came to the race with the Tour form. Ineos likely is still gradually building up the form. I don't feel Ineos bluffed all thah much, they are just not there yet, regarding form.

Tactically, what TJV did on the race, it made sense to me. Put pressure on Ineos on stage 2, and see how it goes. Let Ineos put pressure on others on stage 3, and see how that goes. As in both stages Bernal got isolated, Roglič likely decided to test Bernal 1 on 1 at the end of stage 3. That is why there likely was no additional attack by TJV at the end of stage 3. It was not needed.

P.S. It might become boring, if TJV would win next couple of TDFs. For now it for sure isn't boring.
 
I doubt Jumbo are going to win the next ones. But they might very well get this one. I am sure Bernal could not do more yesterday, but I don't know about Thomas. Also they did not have Sivakov with them. So I think even if Greneos(?) is not going to be as strong in comparison with other teams as in other years they will probably not be just dropped like they were yesterday.
 
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