Aleksandr Vlasov discussion thread

[Lequack]

Well there was no thread so I made one.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/aleksandr-vlasov

He certainly made an impression this year. I caught his performance last year at Tour of Slovenia when he was still riding for Gazprom.
This year he got picked up by Astana and the rest is history!

 

[Krokro]

That kid is really impressive. I'm curious enough to jump in the bandwagon!

 

[Laplaz]

Curious to see how good he is at ITT's.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Curious to see how good he is at ITT's.

He used to be decent, not great but decent, in the u23 ranks. He's from the same town as Berzin. With the Russians it's always a lottery, one out of ten of those who were great in the u23 ranks becomes a great pro, they remind me a lot of the Americans in that regard.

 

[Lequack]

I have to say though that is one lazy National Champs jersey design. They literally just taped a flag over the normal Astana jersey.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I have to say though that is one lazy National Champs jersey design. They literally just taped a flag over the normal Astana jersey.

Yup. Luckily he isn't wearing that anymore.

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty poor ITT today, considering where his climbing was earlier.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I don't know how accurate these times are or exactly from where on the climb, they were calcualted from, but he seems to have done quite well on the last part. He just isn't a brilliant TT'er (not yet anyway). He is from the same town as Berzin and Ekimov though, so he might improve Pogacar style next year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1323699474355597313

View: https://twitter.com/tychotte17/status/1323699474355597313/photo/1

 

[Billie]

His race results this season are incredible:

3rd Provence
2nd Occitanie
1st Mont Ventoux
4th Piemonte
3rd Lombardia (his first monument)
1st Emilia
5th Tirreno

And now on path to finish top 10 in his first GT (basically his first GT) including a 4th place on Somiedo and 2nd on l'Angliru.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

His race results this season are incredible:

3rd Provence
2nd Occitanie
1st Mont Ventoux
4th Piemonte
3rd Lombardia (his first monument)
1st Emilia
5th Tirreno

And now on path to finish top 10 in his first GT (basically his first GT) including a 4th place on Somiedo and 2nd on l'Angliru.

It's a great season for him by any means. But i somehow expected a bit more. Maybe got caught up in the hype after his early season results.

 

[SafeBet]

I think he was kind of unlucky with his GT performances.
He got sick at the Giro and probably didn't have the time to fully recover before starting the Vuelta, but since he got back to 100% he has always climbed with the very best (Moncalvillo, Farrapona, Angliru). I have a feeling he would have fought for the Giro podium hadn't he fallen sick.

 

[hayneplane]

It's a great season for him by any means. But i did somehow expected a bit more. Maybe got caught up in the hype after his early season results.

The brutal start to the Vuelta hurt him probably more than any other rider, maybe even just one flat day to reacclimatise to racing and he might have lost 1 minute rather than 4 and a half and thus still been in the top 5 conversation.

 

[Pinot's goat]

The brutal start to the Vuelta hurt him probably more than any other rider, maybe even just one flat day to reacclimatise to racing and he might have lost 1 minute rather than 4 and a half and thus still been in the top 5 conversation.

Yeah, in the lanterne rouge interview he said that he spent time off the bike after giro illness so he was always going to struggle the first few days. If we had the start in Utrecht as planned I think he would be in the top 5 even if he came in undercooked.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

So George Bennet got the rumour mill going that this lad could be on his way to INEOS. Big clear out at Astana maybe.

 

[roundabout]

So George Bennet got the rumour mill going that this lad could be on his way to INEOS. Big clear out at Astana maybe.

unless Astana is closing, a move for 2021 doesn't make sense

I refuse to believe that he is on a big contract, so should be a good value for money next yea

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So George Bennet got the rumour mill going that this lad could be on his way to INEOS. Big clear out at Astana maybe.

That isn't a new rumour though. But I think it was said to be from 2022.


Astana could possibly be persuaded to let him go now for a large check.
But then they would only have Fuglsang left and his GC days are over according to himself.

 

[Billie]

So George Bennet got the rumour mill going that this lad could be on his way to INEOS. Big clear out at Astana maybe.

It was already announced 2 months ago by Ciro (who gets everything from Sky) that they will sign him for 2022.

Next year he'll still be at Astana

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

But then they would only have Fuglsang left and hos GC days are over according to himself.

When exactly were Fuglsang's GC days?

 

[Anderis]

So George Bennet got the rumour mill going that this lad could be on his way to INEOS.

Great news! Ineos could really use a few more good climbers.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Great news! Ineos could really use a few more good climbers.

Interested how they're gonna manage these young guys. Few years ago, there was a clear hierarchy. But now? I can assume Bernal is still #1. And then? Carapaz #2? Thomas? Hart? Sivakov? Martinez? De Plus? Vlasov? I don't consider Sosa and Dunbar to be GC material, but who knows. I'd put Sivakov, Martinez and De Plus ahead of Hart in terms of shear quality, but he's won the Giro so clearly he's got the better cards. Ineos are lacking a clear killer (like they had in Froome), but they are bringing in a lot of dark horses instead. Are they going to go into each GT with 2 or 3 leaders and try to tag-team the opposition? I can't imagine them doing the Ineos train with this line-up, because they are lacking the killer to finish it off. They'd just be doing the work for Roglic, Pogacar or other climbers that can hang on an jump away close to the finish.

 

[BlueRoads]

This guy's thread isn't very lively. He's going well so far!

 

[BlueRoads]

I don't know how accurate these times are or exactly from where on the climb, they were calcualted from, but he seems to have done quite well on the last part. He just isn't a brilliant TT'er (not yet anyway). He is from the same town as Berzin and Ekimov though, so he might improve Pogacar style next year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yeah, it will be interesting to see him on the last ITT, but also on all the other stages where the GC guys will be duking it out.
He also rode a pretty good ITT in Paris-Nice, so it seems he has been working on it since the Vuelta.

 

[SafeBet]

Stage 6 should be better for him than today. Good start to the Giro. He's still my dark horse for the win.

 

[Offline]

Really hoping for this guy! He is so elegant. Really appreciate that in a rider.