86th Tour de Suisse (2.UWT) // June 11th - 18th 2023

[RedheadDane]

Pssst... @Red Rick!

 

[Wyndbrook]

That’s silly. So UCI is measuring sock height but not the actual person…

I don't know if they are measuring riders, but if they do it is likely to be at the tour.
If he is be under it would be a difficult situation with last minute bike adjustments needed.
It has happened like this with bike measurements in the past where bikes are failed at the tour or worlds after being used previously .

 

[Big Doopie]

Tiz showing no feed (yet?).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

WVA is not a GC contender. He is not getting over the high mountains.

Saying WVA is a GC contender is like saying Tony Martin was a GC contender

WvA is not a GC contender because he is not going to bury himself just before the TDF starts, when he has said he will even take the TDF easier in order to be fresh for the WCC.
He could be a GC contender, and it is nothing like saying Tony Martin was a GC contender. For your own credibility, i suggest you leave the WVA ridiculing to Ilmaestro who already has no credibility.

 

[Bonimenier]

Tiz showing no feed (yet?).

First rider only starts in half an hour.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

UCI should really check the height of riders when it comes to TTing. Even with the new bike regulations for TTs, van Aert and JV are keeping up the lie that he is 1m90 to gain an advantage.

I know his 187 length was from when he was still young as a pro. And we do know Van Aert was very late to mature physically. Pictures of him and Van der Poel when they were 16, make it look like Van Aert was 12. So it's not impossible for him actually being 190 and still growing between 19-21. If you look at him, it also doesn't look impossible, but from pictures it's impossible to determine if he is 188 or 190.

The main issue is that UCI changed the rules and again completely bungled it. Why should a rider of 190 get this huge advantage over a rider who is 189? It's simply insane.

 

[Big Doopie]

First rider only starts in half an hour.

Tx. Tiz now has link.

 

[houtdffan]

WvA is not a GC contender because he is not going to bury himself just before the TDF starts, when he has said he will even take the TDF easier in order to be fresh for the WCC.
He could be a GC contender, and it is nothing like saying Tony Martin was a GC contender. For your own credibility, i suggest you leave the WVA ridiculing to Ilmaestro who already has no credibility.

WVA is simply too heavy to get up the climbs. That's why he is not a GC contender.

He has incredible power and can handle the short and mid length climbs. It is the ultra steep climbs and the very long climbs that he struggles in

Now, he can and will win mountain stages in breakaways. I'm talking about when he rides with the GC group all day

 

[tobydawq]

Was about to post the same thing when I read this. He's always measured at 1m86-88. Suddenly he's 1m90 when the rules changed. Maybe they're including his hair.
He can put his elbow setup 20cm higher.

He does have tall hair.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

WVA is simply too heavy to get up the climbs. That's why he is not a GC contender.

He has incredible power and can handle the short and mid length climbs. It is the ultra steep climbs and the very long climbs that he struggles in

Now, he can and will win mountain stages in breakaways. I'm talking about when he rides with the GC group all day

You mean like in the 2021 Tirreno? Where he beat every GC rider except the best rider in the world atm? He has no interest to become a GC rider for the moment, so he isn't one. If he wanted to become one, he would definitely be able to. Maybe not to win a TDF, but he would definitely be able to win certain 1 week WT GC's or get into the top 10 of a GT or better. That potential is definitely there. Maybe you can say that is not a GC rider, but in that case we can dismiss riders like Bardet, O'Conner, Almeida... as GC riders as well.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Entertaining start list and especially a great ITT field, should be a good race!

 

[yaco]

This looks a good course for VWA - he's my favorite today.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

That Grégoire time is holding up really well. Kid has got an engine.

 

[search]

looks like the wind has changed a bit. Everyone is flying on the first part now but losing time in the end

 

[DNP-Old]

Someone turned on the wind, it would seem. These times coming through make little sense.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Best time at T1 by err...

Rigoberto Uran, yes of course, he won a really random one a few years back but it was a mountainous profile, not a flat 13ker

Some kind of condition change surely

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

This looks a good course for VWA - he's my favorite today.

Probably too short for Evenepoel and too hard for Bissegger.

 

[SafeBet]

Conditions must be changing a lot, looking at the last few times.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Probably too short for Evenepoel and too hard for Bissegger.

If a couple of sub-500m false flat ramps are too much for Bissegger, he should switch to the track...

 

[Didinho]

Sobrero with a monster 2nd part.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Weather data confirms that the wind direction has turned like 140 degrees in 10 minutes, only 10kph winds though so surprised it's having this much of an effect.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

If a couple of sub-500m false flat ramps are too much for Bissegger, he should switch to the track...

Surely you understand the concept of a TT, where it can come down to one second or less, when competing the best riders of the world? I'm sure he can get up some 500m ramps, just like i think Evenepoel can actually survive 12km. Just that when facing a rider who is equally fast on the flat, but faster uphill and shallow gradients, that those might be too much for him to win.

Weather data confirms that the wind direction has turned like 140 degrees in 20 minutes, only 10kph winds though so surprised it's having this much of an effect.

The effect seems to be at T1, and far less at the finish. Since they are doing a big circle.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Ben Tulett very interesting to watch here I think

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Surely you understand the concept of a TT, where it can come down to one second or less, when competing the best riders of the world? I'm sure he can get up some 500m ramps, just like i think Evenepoel can actually survive 12km. Just that when facing a rider who is equally fast on the flat, but faster uphill and shallow gradients, that those might be too much for him to win.

Yes, obviously, but this is the ideal TT length for him and it's almost completely flat. In fact, I think the only WT TT all year that suits him better is the Tirreno one, so if these ramps are enough to flip the margin between him and Van Aert, then a) he's expected to be like 2 seconds faster in a completely ideal TT and therefore b) he isn't going to win much, if anything. Which isn't much reward for spending half your season in a wind tunnel, also not for the team.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Yes, obviously, but this is the ideal TT length for him and it's almost completely flat. In fact, I think the only WT TT all year that suits him better is the Tirreno one, so if these ramps are enough to flip the margin between him and Van Aert, then a) he's expected to be like 2 seconds faster in a completely ideal TT and therefore b) he isn't going to win much, if anything. Which isn't much reward for spending half your season in a wind tunnel, also not for the team.

That's harsh, because that's basically the case for 99% of the peloton that isn't called Ganna, Van Aert, Evenepoel... Does Küng win more TT's than Bissegger? I'm not so sure he has been more successful in the last 2 years tbh.

EDIT: just looked that up. Bissegger won 3 WT ITTs at UAE, Benelux Tour and at Paris Nice, and also became ECC ITT since the start of 2021. Küng won the ECC ITT once as well, won only 1 WT ITT at Tour de Suisse, and also the TT in Algarve, Valencia and Poitou Charentes and he won Chrono des Nations twice, but nobody is interested in that at the end of the season. So 4 for Bissegger and 7 for Küng, but 3 WT wins for Bissegger and only 1 for Küng.