56th Amstel Gold Race: 10 April, 2022

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Where did Bagioli finished after his crash? Was my wildcard for the hilly classics

Safebet said he was sick last week.
EDIT: To be clear, i meant Safebet said Bagioli was sick, not Safebet himself.

 

[tobydawq]

Safebet said he was sick last week.
EDIT: To be clear, i meant Safebet said Bagioli was sick, not Safebet himself.

I think it would have been a good reply to the question if you had indeed meant that Safebet had said that he himself had been sick.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think it would have been a good reply to the question if you had indeed meant that Safebet had said that he himself had been sick.

Hence the edit. I felt i needed to be perfectly clear to avoid any confusion.

 

[tobydawq]

Hence the edit. I felt i needed to be perfectly clear to avoid any confusion.

I'm still profoundly confused. Now, I don't know whether Safebet is healthy or not.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I'm still profoundly confused. Now, I don't know whether Safebet is healthy or not.

I can not elaborate on his health status. I can only say that Safebet did not specifically say that he was healthy or deny that he was sick, so he might be dying as we speak. Hang in there, Safebet. We're rooting for you. Hope you pull through. We'll miss you when you're gone.

 

[tobydawq]

I can not elaborate on his health status. I can only say that Safebet did not specifically say that he was healthy or deny that he was sick, so he might be dying as we speak. Hang in there, Safebet. We're rooting for you. Hope you pull through. We'll miss you when you're gone.

#prayforsafebet

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

I also don‘t think Kwiat „sacrificed“ his career at Ineos. He often works as a domestique, but also can ride for own results.

I just talked to a good friend, and he told me he was disappointed after today‘s Amstel. He said that the winner Kwiatkowski is a weak rider, and that it is sad that Kwiat (and not a big star like MVDP) won the race.

I would say that Kwiat is one level below Mathieu, but Kwiat is a good rider.

I, however, sometimes make the mistake to underestimate Cosnefroy. Cosnefroy has developed into one of the best one-day riders. He is almost world-class.
When I was young, his current team rode as „Casino“ and was one of the best then „GS1“ (today „WT“) teams.
Due to the fact that Lavenu‘s squads have become weaker and weaker from Casino to Ag2R Citroen, I often underestimate them.
And I still often make the mistake to think that French professional road racers cannot win international races. They are, in fact, quite good, though I still think Alaphilippe is one level below Mathieu and Wout, and two levels below Pogi in stage races.

 

[tobydawq]

I just talked to a good friend, and he told me he was disappointed after today‘s Amstel. He said that the winner Kwiatkowski is a weak rider, and that it is sad that Kwiat (and not a big star like MVDP) won the race.

Lol, Kwiatkowski was probably the second-biggest rider in the peloton...

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Lol, Kwiatkowski was probably the second-biggest rider in the peloton...

Exactly.

Kwiat‘s „problem“ might also be that he does not look intimidating at all. Just the same problem that Billy Carapaz has. They are strong as bears, but do not look intimidating at all…

 

[Red Rick]

I'm not super sure Kwiatkowski's career is all that wasted. Kwiato basically seems like a jack-of-all-trades that isn't specialized enough for any of the 5 monuments.

He probably would've been able to do a lot of stagehunting at other teams though.

 

[Bonimenier]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513162261254311936

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513163817907372032

 

[Jumbot]

That moment at 19.4 km to go though... ffs GCN, some children are watching

Kwiat‘s „problem“ might also be that he does not look intimidating at all. Just the same problem that Billy Carapaz has. They are strong as bears, but do not look intimidating at all…

Billy?

 

[Pirazziattacks]

https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=9&y=2022

Jan Tratnik came within 9 seconds of the lead group, having done all the chase alone for the majority of the final. Amazing

Tratnik is such a strange rider. He often appears insanely strong in these sorts of races and then ends up nowhere. I'm not sure if it's bad positioning or he spends too much energy at the wrong times.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Maybe he was hoping for a transformation since he was 25-26 at the time of moving to Sky and had the 11th place in 2013. If he stayed at Quickstep I would think the results would stay the same. Maybe a little better or worse from the Wolfpack. He absolutely should have had more than 1 GT stage at this point.

 

[RedheadDane]

BTW, SK did quite well getting a top-10 in his debut, don't you think?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I just saw the race. I sincerely hope this negative racing of JV isn't the new standard. Vingegaard refusing to ride with a group that would put him in yellow (in retrospect quite funny considering neither him nor Roglic ended up in the top 5 of GC in Itzulia). Laporte refusing to ride with Wellens because Van Hooydonck is 30s ahead in a hopeless break.

 

[AlfaLum]

I just saw the race. I sincerely hope this negative racing of JV isn't the new standard. Vingegaard refusing to ride with a group that would put him in yellow (in retrospect quite funny considering neither him nor Roglic ended up in the top 5 of GC in Itzulia). Laporte refusing to ride with Wellens because Van Hooydonck is 30s ahead in a hopeless break.

To be fair Laporte crashed early in the race and seemed entirely spend in the kilometers after covering Wellens attack. So with him it seems like a matter of not having the legs.

With Vingegaard it’s different. That was one of the worst displays I’ve witnessed for a long time when you include the crash causing swerving across the road.

 

[Mayomaniac]

DNF

Battistella got 7 stitches in his face and suffered a broken tooth in the same crash. Still, could have been a lot worse.

 

[Netserk]

Maybe he was hoping for a transformation since he was 25-26 at the time of moving to Sky and had the 11th place in 2013. If he stayed at Quickstep I would think the results would stay the same. Maybe a little better or worse from the Wolfpack. He absolutely should have had more than 1 GT stage at this point.

He would also be below Ala in the hierarchy for the Ardennes. And I don't think he would lead the team or get the same role for Sanremo at QS.

 

[Salvarani]

I'm not super sure Kwiatkowski's career is all that wasted. Kwiato basically seems like a jack-of-all-trades that isn't specialized enough for any of the 5 monuments.

He probably would've been able to do a lot of stagehunting at other teams though.

I dont think it has been wasted either as I may have mentioned in another post. He has won a lot while being one of the best helpers in the GTs for Ineos.

Could he have won more? Maybe as you say more stages. KOM jersey perhaps in the Tour for example. A couple more one-week races and one-day races, but in those he has also had his fair share of opportunities and won a few of both.

He was never a GC-rider for the GTs, even though we will never know for sure I guess. He could have had a race like Thomas perhaps. That is pure speculation though. I dont think he could have ever matched the best riders on the longest climbs as a leader, but he was surely capable of a good result and being in the top 10.

Just as you say a jack-of-all-trades type of rider. A damn good one, that could win stage-races and the biggest one-day races. Being a jack-of-all-trades rider he was never the best climber, not the best sprinter and not the strongest that could drop everyone to ride away solo from far-out. Usually those riders could end up not winning many races while being as good as Kwiatkowski has been over most of his career, but he has still won a lot of races (29) considering everything. Some saying it could or should have been more but it could also have been less with other circumstances. Maybe he could have added about 10-15 more, but hopefully he still has time to add couple more at least. He is not finished yet.

Look at other riders like Vanmarcke, Benoot, Kelderman, Landa... and Im sure we could think of many more riders where the talent level and how good they were, didnt match the amount of wins on could have expected given their talent. It is hard to win bike races. Kwiatkowski has still won more than these guys and had a far more succesful career.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I also don‘t think Kwiat „sacrificed“ his career at Ineos. He often works as a domestique, but also can ride for own results.

I just talked to a good friend, and he told me he was disappointed after today‘s Amstel. He said that the winner Kwiatkowski is a weak rider, and that it is sad that Kwiat (and not a big star like MVDP) won the race.

I would say that Kwiat is one level below Mathieu, but Kwiat is a good rider.

I, however, sometimes make the mistake to underestimate Cosnefroy. Cosnefroy has developed into one of the best one-day riders. He is almost world-class.
When I was young, his current team rode as „Casino“ and was one of the best then „GS1“ (today „WT“) teams.
Due to the fact that Lavenu‘s squads have become weaker and weaker from Casino to Ag2R Citroen, I often underestimate them.
And I still often make the mistake to think that French professional road racers cannot win international races. They are, in fact, quite good, though I still think Alaphilippe is one level below Mathieu and Wout, and two levels below Pogi in stage races.

The French have had one hell of a season in the classics so far.
Podiums in MSR, E3, GW, RVV and Amstel, all without Ala.

 

[ppanther92]

https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=9&y=2022

Jan Tratnik came within 9 seconds of the lead group, having done all the chase alone for the majority of the final. Amazing

Tratnik somehow is super strong this spring but misses all the splits.

Date	Result			Race	Distance	Points PCS	Points UCI
10.04	12			Amstel Gold Race (1.UWT)	254.1	34	60
03.04	12			Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres ME (1.UWT)	272.5	42	60
30.03	9			Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME (1.UWT)	183.7	46	60
19.03	9			Milano-Sanremo (1.UWT)	293	60	100

 

[SafeBet]

Battistella got 7 stitches in his face and suffered a broken tooth in the same crash. Still, could have been a lot worse.

I don't think I remember a worst start of the season for Italian cycling.
All of the Classic guys (Moscon, Bettiol, Trentin, Colbrelli) have had some sort of health issue and Sonny might not ride a pro race again in his life. Pasqualon being the most reliable in he Classics tells you a lot...

The youngsters are even worse. Bagioli keeps crashing and has been sick already twice in 3 months. Covi got sick when he was at peak form. Battistella can't finish a race, Aleotti is totally out of shape and Baroncini broke his wrist in his first race of the season. Man, it's been disappointing.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Billy?

Yeah, Richard Carapaz is called „Billy“ by his fellow Ineos teammates, staff and so on.

Probably to distinguish from Richie Porte…

 

[Netserk]

Colbrelli would have been super dangerous though without his illness and heart attack. The only one who could have beaten Van der Poel in a sprint in Ronde this year?