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75th Tour de Romandie (2.UWT) // 27th of April - 2nd of May 2021

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30,3 km/h in average for Richie Porte on a climb. Insane, we could see from the helicopter that he was flying, but 30,3 is just crazy. Holding for 1min 37seconds it is really much. Bravo Ineos, that was really entertaining to watch. Hopefully Ganna gets better. But he needs a bit more steady terrain it seems. Last week he did on track 55 km/h in average for 30 minutes, so the shape is. He just needs some suitable terrain.
And Felix Gall (pretty much a local guy) did the climb in 1min 46sec, 2 seconds faster than Kuss, nice!
 
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And Felix Gall (pretty much a local guy) did the climb in 1min 46sec, 2 seconds faster than Kuss, nice!
Kuss went surprisingly fast on the flat. Jumbo Visma climbers have shown some good level in TTs this year. It will be interesting to see, if it translates on the climbs for Kuss later in the race. Or will it be like with Kruijswijk in the previous races, where he was subpar on the climbs after a promising TT.

About Felix Gall, nice indeed. I don't know much about the guy to be completely honest.
 
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Jeez, amazing performance by Ineos Grenadiers top3 guys. Add to it Yates, Carapaz and Tao and they will be ridiculously strong in the mountains come July. Thomas is progressing gradually towards the Tour, he'll have a good shot at GC top3 (but so will some of his team friends).
 
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Bernal, who this time last year everyone on this board would have taken above Pog and Rog as the best GC rider of the next 5 years.
I can understand if you think a peak Bernal might be a better GT GC rider than Roglič (I disagree). He's won the Tour after all and Roglič might never win one. But to say he is a far superior GC rider (that includes short stage races, too) is a big reach, almost nonsense. As far as I know Bernal hasn't been injuried for 3 years and they've had a lot of battles between them. I seriously can't remember if Bernal has ever won a head to head battle against Roglič. He beat him in that 2018 Romandie MTT, but even then, the war (GC) has been won by Rogla.

It'll be interesting to see Bernal in the Giro. Hopefully the injury is behind him and he'll be in the mix with the top dogs. But right now you can't call him far superior than any real GC contender.
 
Not enough talk about Porte. In such a short TT that was an amazing ride for a small rider, does anyone have the times for the climb at the end? Also amazing knowing he is riding as a super domestique now, I think he's P'd off he fell before PN as I think he was targeting that race before he resumed his domestique duties. Thomas looks to be in great shape too.
 
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Not enough talk about Porte. In such a short TT that was an amazing ride for a small rider, does anyone have the times for the climb at the end? Also amazing knowing he is riding as a super domestique now, I think he's P'd off he fell before PN as I think he was targeting that race before he resumed his domestique duties. Thomas looks to be in great shape too.
There's been talk about Porte. He is pretty much the No.1 favourite in everyone's eyes for this race. Well it depends on tactical games with Thomas.
 
There's just nothing to suggest Thomas in the same vicinity as Roglic and especially Pogacar uphill.
There is nothing to suggest you are right either. I think you might be underestimating Thomas. I think he looks like he is close to 2018 level. But we will see. Ineos look like they are getting the maximum out of their riders with the exception of Ganna who was poor today.
 
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Why were the top15 thousands of times quicker than the rest? :openmouth:
romandie.png
 
Geraint alone will be obliterated by the Slovenians, literally. He needs Porte, Yates and Carapaz to be good all at the same time.
I remember some guy called Froome who always had a good team around him, seemed to work for him. I see Pogacar as a raging favourite at the moment as he doesn't have any weaknesses. Have to see if Roglic's lighter schedule going into the Tour pays dividends. Thomas has his work cut out but a podium wouldn't surprise, winning is another matter unless he can find the form from 2018 which still may not be good enough to beat the Slovenians. Good to see Roglic trying something different with his prep as many grand tour riders often stick to the same agenda every season even when the results are not improving. Hopefully someone can raise a challenge to Roglic and Pogacar. Ineos is doing well in stage raxces this season, the addition of Yates and Porte is working out and Dennis has proved to be a very good domestique as well so they they will be disappointed if they don't convert in a least one grand tour this season.
 
No, Geraint Thomas doesn't stand a chance against either Pogacar or Roglic. In the first two puncheur stages of the Tour, he'll lose time against both. In the time trial on stage 5, he'll lose some more time, then at Tignes in the Alpes he'll get unceremoniously dropped by the Jumbo & UAE trains. Then in the Pyrenees he'll attack, but neither top two guys will care & they'll eat him up without a fuss.

Case closed :cool:

No, ofc the last years went very differently for Roglic and Thomas. But for my liking people tend to forget how strong Thomas and INEOS were until 2018/19. Don't think they let another TdF happen like in 2020. I wouldn't rule a INEOS winner out. And if we have one, than its probably Thomas.
 
ah, thanks, I only remembered the headline from last year that they wanted to attract riders doing the Worlds, and assumed it would be the full circuit they do again. Didn't check in detail yet

here's the reason why they changed the circuit compared to last year, by the way:

(gt) "Initially, the Aigle-Martigny stage should have been, in 2020, the "test event" before the Worlds. The peloton should then have discovered the Petite Forclaz. Although the stage has been kept on the Tour de Romandie program, the route has been considerably modified. Crossing the Petite Forclaz on several occasions would have required the descent of the Col de la Forclaz to be closed for several hours. "This is an international axis," recalls Valentin Baillifard. “It was complicated to block that road and the freeway exit."
 
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