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

[sir fly]

The profile(s) in the OP mislead.
I expected a lot smaller group at the finish... even a soloist or duo.
Anyway, congrats to Colbrelli.

 

[Taxus4a]

Bevin is climbing better than many better climbers than Sagan. He was 20th on GC in the Basque Country, just behind Carapaz

Thanks, yes, I didnt know a lot about him.

 

[BlueRoads]

Neilson Powless 7 min down

 

[jarvo]

Amador 15 minutes down? what did he do stop for an espresso roadside?

 

[Faserr]

Amador 15 minutes down? what did he do stop for an espresso roadside?

He rode all day at the front of the bunch.

 

[jarvo]

He rode all day at the front of the bunch.

Thanks, I only caught the last 22km

 

[sir fly]

He rode all day at the front of the bunch.

Don't you see he's 15 minutes behind?

 

[johnymax]

I'm happy for Colbrelli. He is always up there but rarely ends up winning in WT races. He is one of the best climbers among sprinters. Maybe it's not even fair to call him a sprinter, because he is good in the classics, can do a decent TT and his climbing is underrated. Remember when he put the hammer down for Landa in the last year's Tour in the Col de la Loze stage. A poor man's Wout van Aert.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Tiberi in the 2nd group, 43 seconds down.
Getting dropped when Colbrelli and Bevin are able to hang on isn't a good sign if you try to go for the gc (unless he crashed/had a mechanical).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Tiberi in the 2nd group, 43 seconds down.
Getting dropped when Colbrelli and Bevin are able to hang on isn't a good sign if you try to go for the gc (unless he crashed/had a mechanical).

Bit harsch though. Kid's still 19, testing his GC skills and ending up in the top 25 would still be a good result imho. He's less than a minute down in youth GC.
Especilly since the final was raced hard, it would suit guys like Colbrelli and Bevin better. I can only assume he will finish ahead of those guys in the real mountains.

 

[Leinster]

Yeah, that sucks. But he just gave up in the bottom, there was no try. Maybe he was saving himself for tomorrow and thought today would have been too hard.

On a day where Colbrelli and Ulissi contested the sprint, I would have expected Sagan to be up there.

 

[yaco]

We have to accept the fact that Romandie offered an unbalanced route - When you have a prologue and an ITT with only one nailed on GC day then it probably leads to a boring race.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Nicely played by Sonny.

Unless other teams decide and do more work together it looks like Ineos has this one in the bag.

 

[BlueRoads]

What leads to a boring race is probably that Ineos have a Tour winner, a recent Tour 3rd and an ex- time trial world champion plus several other strong riders at the start, while none of the other teams have brought anything close to this... Okay, Jumbo and UAE have teams there which aren't too bad, but it's not comparable.
Ineos had used most of their team up when they approached the last climb, but then they still had Dennis...

 

[Oliver]

Hirschi for the win tomorrow?

 

[Velolover2]

Dennis looking good. The 1-2-3 Ineos podium is still possible.

 

[johnymax]

What leads to a boring race is probably that Ineos have a Tour winner, a recent Tour 3rd and an ex- time trial world champion plus several other strong riders at the start, while none of the other teams have brought anything close to this... Okay, Jumbo and UAE have teams there which aren't too bad, but it's not comparable.
Ineos had used most of their team up when they approached the last climb, but then they still had Dennis...

True, but when Dennis was pacing, there were still, what, 40-45 riders in the peloton. I doubt everyone of them was on the limit. Woods was the only one who tried with a bit of conviction. Kuss was more looking behind and searching for Roglič than anything else.

Some believed the racing would be better without Pogi and Rogla dominating, but so far it's actually the other way around. They put on a show in Itzulia, while in Catalunya and in Romandie so far, the racing has been dull. In my opinion only stage 3 in Catalunya was good. The main reason is probably Ineos being too strong, sure.

Tomorrow I don't expect fireworks, but there should be a decent battle for the stage win. Hirschi is a very good bet for the stage, I agree.

For GC everybody is probably saving themselves for saturday. Thyon 2000 is a monster of a climb. Ineos will try to control the race, but I still expect big gaps. The finish is just too difficult.

 

[MartinGT]

Sagan ftw tomorrow

 

[Red Rick]

True, but when Dennis was pacing, there were still, what, 40-45 riders in the peloton. I doubt everyone of them was on the limit. Woods was the only one who tried with a bit of conviction. Kuss was more looking behind and searching for Roglič than anything else.

Some believed the racing would be better without Pogi and Rogla dominating, but so far it's actually the other way around. They put on a show in Itzulia, while in Catalunya and in Romandie so far, the racing has been dull. In my opinion only stage 3 in Catalunya was good. The main reason is probably Ineos being too strong, sure.

Tomorrow I don't expect fireworks, but there should be a decent battle for the stage win. Hirschi is a very good bet for the stage, I agree.

For GC everybody is probably saving themselves for saturday. Thyon 2000 is a monster of a climb. Ineos will try to control the race, but I still expect big gaps. The finish is just too difficult.

The Romandie route is just not for spectacle. 3 stages that aren't hard enough before a monster MTF sandwiched inbetween ITTs. You could chug Bernal, Pogacar, Roglic, and prime Contador in there and nothing would happen on the first 3 road stages.

 

[Roku]

The Romandie route is just not for spectacle. 3 stages that aren't hard enough before a monster MTF sandwiched inbetween ITTs. You could chug Bernal, Pogacar, Roglic, and prime Contador in there and nothing would happen on the first 3 road stages.

Spectacle is not only about a Pogacar vs Roglic for 60 KMs.

First stage had two decent consecutive hills to serve as a launchpad for attackers or for durable fast men to use their teams and drop Sagan.

Yesterday's stage offered opportunities but only Woods tried. KOM was 17 KMS to finish, not 60.

Today the profile seems tailored for a late attack for punchy riders, even Woods could try to drop INEOS on those very steep hills.

The only thing the race lacks is a final hard mid-mountain stage (like Itzulia or usual Paris-Nice Col d'Eze stage) to give teams a final opportunity to (try to) destroy the leader's team, but that doesn't mean it is not a good race design or does not offer opportunities. On the contrary, every stage has something interesting to watch.

 

[Red Rick]

Spectacle is not only about a Pogacar vs Roglic for 60 KMs.

First stage had two decent consecutive hills to serve as a launchpad for attackers or for durable fast men to use their teams and drop Sagan.

Yesterday's stage offered opportunities but only Woods tried. KOM was 17 KMS to finish, not 60.

Today the profile seems tailored for a late attack for punchy riders, even Woods could try to drop INEOS on those very steep hills.

The only thing the race lacks is a final hard mid-mountain stage (like Itzulia or usual Paris-Nice Col d'Eze stage) to give teams a final opportunity to (try to) destroy the leader's team, but that doesn't mean it is not a good race design or does not offer opportunities. On the contrary, every stage has something interesting to watch.

Good luck attacking with 15km of flat to go vs choo choo train and a monster MTF in 2 days. Maybe some stage hunters shoulda tried something but they believed in their sprints. GC battle was never gonna be great on this route in the first 4 stages, and that has everything to do with the route.

 

[BlueRoads]

Hirschi: “Der Wind machte es schwer, anzugreifen“ | radsport-news.com

www.radsport-news.com

Actually, many experts on the way to Saint-Imier had expected an attack by the Swiss towards the day's victory and the yellow jersey. But on the last ascent of the day to the Col de La Vue-des-Alpes, the external circumstances thwarted his plans - and the fact that Dennis in the yellow jersey set a high basic pace himself to discourage attackers.

"It was pretty windy and that made it difficult to attack," said Hirschi, which the day winners Colbrelli and Bevin had already explained: The headwind in the ascent took away the punchers' appetite for attack and helped the fast men to be able to stay ahead.

 

[Skalman]

Here is for hoping for some action today, something to make this race lively.

 

[RedheadDane]

If Küng wants to keep up his record of winning stages in this race, he'll have to do it tomorrow.

He's on the attack.

 

[search]

finally also some cold and wet weather for him. No Bahrain, Bora or UAE in the breakaway, though, and Küng and Goossens are also fairly close in GC (+1:19). Won't be easy for them for sure.

According to the official ticker Bevin was a DNS today, by the way. Or did they confuse some numbers again, like on day one?