Teams & Riders Bahrain

[Rackham]

Padun not going to the tour leaves some room for speculation

Nooooo!

Dammit you're right, no Padun.

This spoils some of the clinic fun tbh, i.e. I was looking forward to more comparisons with the legendary climbing times of the 1990's. But in terms of sport, considering his performance in the Dauphiné it makes absolutely no sense to leave Padun at home... unless Bahrain have decided to fly under the radar again.

You just don't have a guy blow rivals to pieces on the two main mountain stages in the Dauphiné & leave him at home for the Tour de France. Not normal. Pas normal.

Especially when Padun already said he wanted to do the Tour.

 

[will-10]

Hahaha
My spidey senses are tingling

 

[IndianCyclist]

False Alert - The Aliens were diverted to the next system

 

[Mayomaniac]

Nooooo!

Dammit you're right, no Padun.

This spoils some of the clinic fun tbh, i.e. I was looking forward to more comparisons with the legendary climbing times of the 1990's. But in terms of sport, considering his performance in the Dauphiné it makes absolutely no sense to leave Padun at home... unless Bahrain have decided to fly under the radar again.

You just don't have a guy blow rivals to pieces on the two main mountain stages in the Dauphiné & leave him at home for the Tour de France. Not normal. Pas normal.

Especially when Padun already said he wanted to do the Tour.

Nooo, I wanted him to go full 2008 Sella.
Them not bringing Padun is a bit suspect.

 

[BlueRoads]

Unless the plan is to go all in for the Vuelta with Padun and Mäder it looks indeed even more fishy this way.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Unless the plan is to go all in for the Vuelta with Padun and Mäder it looks indeed even more fishy this way.

Yep. Padun, Mader AND Landa vs. Yates, Carapaz and Sivakov!

On paper this is a mouth watering battle!

 

[ppanther92]

Lol. This is how you make it look even more dubious. And for Fred Wright...

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Beautiful team of riders to help Pello Bilbao for his GC challenge, the most complete rider in the peloton.

Padun would be a 2008 ricco, what a shame to leave him at home.

 

[Forever The Best]

This reminds me of Gerolsteiner and De Bonis.

 

[will-10]

I was thinking Horner getting benched for the Vuelta after tripping the cortisone wire

 

[Mayomaniac]

Best reaction I have seen so far:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1405941439717052417

 

[Ripper]

Best reaction I have seen so far:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1405941439717052417

LOL. Wow, super subtle!

 

[Mayomaniac]

Masnada sounded shocked after the Italian RR: "Colbrelli was just too strong, he almost dropped me on the climbs."

 

[saganftw]

these bahrain folks are up to something, its such a bummer that Padun overshot his load in Dauphine, imagine if he did it in Tour i hope Jack Haig breaks at least one climbing record tho

 

[SafeBet]

Masnada sounded shocked after the Italian RR: "Colbrelli was just too strong, he almost dropped me on the climbs."

At one point it looked like Sonny was about to drop him for good. Masnada rode like a donkey but I don't think there's a scenario where he could beat Sonny yesterday (unless a crash happened). He was too strong.

And yes, he was always a good climber for such a quick guy, but what he's done post-Covid is something else.

 

[will-10]

I think Colbrelli is a genuine contender for yellow on day 1 in this form

 

[Mayomaniac]

I think Colbrelli is a genuine contender for yellow on day 1 in this form

He was already talking about it during the Dauphine, apparently he has slimmed down to 70kg.
Yes, his climbing has clearly reached another level post-Covid, remember when he paced on the freaking Col de la Madeleine last year?

 

[fbjim]

I'm curious if they got a Letter from someone high up to knock their stuff off, or, more charitably, someone at the team didn't like what they saw and thought Padun was a "liability". No way that happens under normal circumstances.

Then again, who knows, maybe he just got caught with the DS's wife or something...

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Colbrelli is as much of a liability these days as Padun

 

[ppanther92]

Is Padun on some (internal) silent ban? Didn't ride the Ukrainian road race either.

 

[Nick2413]

I'm curious if they got a Letter from someone high up to knock their stuff off, or, more charitably, someone at the team didn't like what they saw and thought Padun was a "liability". No way that happens under normal circumstances.

Then again, who knows, maybe he just got caught with the DS's wife or something...

This is the logical assumption but also some people are saying it could be some sleazy contract issue? I’m not sure how but apparently Bahrain wouldn’t need to pay out as much or maybe it keeps his value lower for when his contract ends?

 

[Rackham]

Or the explanation is even "worse", i.e. Bahrain got super excited at how well Padun responded to their new methods this year (aka the same methods applied to Mader, Tratnik, Caruso etc.) & instead of throwing him in at the deep end against insurmountable Slovenian odds (because for example his time trialling might be totally subpar), they're keeping him back, prepping him some more behind the scenes & they're going to unleash an even stronger Padun in either the vuelta or next year's GT's.

Wait & see. Because they might actually think a Tour win with Padun is possible next year (considering his climbing watts), i.e. something worth forgoing stage wins this year just to get a better rider next year.

 

[Mr. 64%]

Who needs Padun when you've got Mohoric riding like he's riding today...

 

[Red Rick]

Who needs Padun when you've got Mohoric riding like he's riding today...

Insane performance. Putting time into Van Aert and Van der Poel on the climbs after all the work he did.

 

[SafeBet]

Wout Poels must be the worst responder ever to anything Bahrain is doing at the moment.