75. Tour de Pologne, 4-10 August (2.UWT)

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

So... the time it'll go live on Eurosport2 just magically changed from 17:41 to 18:15...
I've got it on the Player, but I'm having a hard time hearing, and not to mention understanding, the speaker you can hear in the background.

Wenzel to the rescue!

Really uninspiring first three days in Poland

 

[klintE]

Morkov, great work for Hodeg.

 

[Screecher]

This just confirms that pretty much anyone riding for QS can win a sprint. Hodeg was so slow there but had a great leadout.

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

Ackermann being idiot.

If you want to win follow the Quickstep train. QS good, Lotto Jumbo bad.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Uhh... nothing wrong with the LottoNL Jumbo train there. Except Van Poppel being really bad ...

 

[dick the quick]

End of flat stages. This is the tomorrow stage finish:

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Is tomorrow's stage exactly the same as last year, when Teuns won?

 

[dick the quick]

Re:

Is tomorrow's stage exactly the same as last year, when Teuns won?

It is a little bit shorter, as they have resigned from a short flat section in the middle of the race. But in terms of climbs - yes, this is exactly the same route.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Quick Step, the best team in the world!

 

[Durden93]

Re:

End of flat stages. This is the tomorrow stage finish:

This profile is laughably bad. It looks as though the road barely rises in the final km when in reality it’s close to an 11% grade.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

I doubt Kwiatkovski is having a serious crack at GC.

He said he is going for GC. You could also see him being very attentive today.

Today, Kwiato got a bonus second in an intermediate sprint. That settles that discussion.

 

[klintE]

Re: Re:

End of flat stages. This is the tomorrow stage finish:

This profile is laughably bad. It looks as though the road barely rises in the final km when in reality it’s close to an 11% grade.

Yes, indeed
Here is more realistic view
https://twitter.com/JamieHaughey/status/1026563809740251137
I also recommend the entire thread, about tomorrow stage

 

[Danskebjerge]

Re: Re:

This profile is laughably bad. It looks as though the road barely rises in the final km when in reality it’s close to an 11% grade.

Yeah, but it has qualified for the thread about the worst race profiles.

If the finish is in fact uphill as described, then that profile is horrible. :-D

 

[Danskebjerge]

Mørkøv seemed to be strong enough to win that stage on Monday by himself.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

This profile is laughably bad. It looks as though the road barely rises in the final km when in reality it’s close to an 11% grade.

Yeah, but it has qualified for the thread about the worst race profiles.

If the finish is in fact uphill as described, then that profile is horrible. :-D

It is that much uphill. We saw it last year where Sagan almost took a shocking victory but where Teuns ended up keeping him at bay.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

It's this finish, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B8yOl-j7GM

 

[wirral]

I notice this stage is starting and finishing a couple of hours earlier than the first 3 stages. Is that due to the transfer of around 2 hours at the end of stage?

 

[The Barb]

Re-watching the video from last year reinforces what a short but brutal grind this final climb is. The graphics on screen might have been wrong but that last 200m seemed to take an uncommonly long time (especially since the gradient was easing).

Szczyrk: 1100m at 11.3%, with pitches up to 24%;
Mur du Huy: 1300m at 9.3%, with pitches up to 26%.

I guess Tuens is the obvious, having won here last year and placed 3rd in Fleche Wallonne the year before but I think it's pretty wide open. If Yates is in his early Giro form (a big "if" since he should be a few weeks from peaking) then he would be the one to beat.

Patrick Konrad was 10th at Fleche Wallonne this year (and of course 7th in the Giro) so is a bit underrated (was at 150-1, not anymore).

Really looking forward to it. Being a work day I don't have time to watch for a couple of hours so nice to have a stage where ten minutes of really good action at the end it all you need to see.

 

[klintE]

Sky train everywhere

 

[MADRAZO]

Re-watching the video from last year reinforces what a short but brutal grind this final climb is. The graphics on screen might have been wrong but that last 200m seemed to take an uncommonly long time (especially since the gradient was easing).

Szczyrk: 1100m at 11.3%, with pitches up to 24%;
Mur du Huy: 1300m at 9.3%, with pitches up to 26%.

I guess Tuens is the obvious, having won here last year and placed 3rd in Fleche Wallonne the year before but I think it's pretty wide open. If Yates is in his early Giro form (a big "if" since he should be a few weeks from peaking) then he would be the one to beat.

Patrick Konrad was 10th at Fleche Wallonne this year (and of course 7th in the Giro) so is a bit underrated (was at 150-1, not anymore).

Really looking forward to it. Being a work day I don't have time to watch for a couple of hours so nice to have a stage where ten minutes of really good action at the end it all you need to see.

Konrad has been working for Ackermann the last days and was 74. here last year with a similar seasonplan. I very much doubt he will do anything at all today besides getting some bottles for Formolo and Buchmann despite him being well suited to the course. Hard to see anyone but Teuns, Yates or Kwiatkowski if he can hang on until the flatter finish, win today. My guess is also Theuns.

 

[ppanther92]

Re-watching the video from last year reinforces what a short but brutal grind this final climb is. The graphics on screen might have been wrong but that last 200m seemed to take an uncommonly long time (especially since the gradient was easing).

Szczyrk: 1100m at 11.3%, with pitches up to 24%;
Mur du Huy: 1300m at 9.3%, with pitches up to 26%.

I guess Tuens is the obvious, having won here last year and placed 3rd in Fleche Wallonne the year before but I think it's pretty wide open. If Yates is in his early Giro form (a big "if" since he should be a few weeks from peaking) then he would be the one to beat.

Patrick Konrad was 10th at Fleche Wallonne this year (and of course 7th in the Giro) so is a bit underrated (was at 150-1, not anymore).

Really looking forward to it. Being a work day I don't have time to watch for a couple of hours so nice to have a stage where ten minutes of really good action at the end it all you need to see.

Konrad has been working for Ackermann the last days and was 74. here last year with a similar seasonplan. I very much doubt he will do anything at all today besides getting some bottles for Formolo and Buchmann despite him being well suited to the course. Hard to see anyone but Teuns, Yates or Kwiatkowski if he can hang on until the flatter finish, win today. My guess is also Theuns.

This. Konrad would be one of the favourites in this field on a course like that and in the right form. But he will use this as build up for first the Deutschalndtour and second, even more important, the world cahampionships in Austria.

 

[klintE]

Kwiato easily

 

[wouterkaas]

Great win by Kwiatkowski!

On a side-note, I was also impressed by the Carrefour painting on the road in the final kilometre, making it look like it was 3D :lol:

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Great win Michał!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Carapaz with a nice attack in the bottom. Kwito too strong, where was Yates?
Yates lost 14 seconds, so he wont win.