Critérium du Dauphiné 08/12 > 08/16/20

[BlueRoads]

It's going to be Pinot, Martínez and van Aert on the Tour-podium and I will win the cq-game against all the guys who have Evenepoel in their team.

 

[Mayomaniac]

It feels like prime Valverde or Purito (who would have dominated on such a route) with their own version of the Skytrain, pretty bad.

 

[Rollthedice]

I know Roglic is great and all and deserves it.

But still I get sad when I see GT podium finisher Kruijswijk and GT winner Dumoulin pacing at the front for the entire climb. That kills all excitement.
Ofcourse nobody is gonna attack when those guys pace. It's the same as with Ineos each year. Nothing changed, just the team

Brailsford took a good long look at USPS then added a few watts to his team and killed Le Tour. Now whoever's in charge at Jumbo took a good long look at Sky, added more watts to his team and will kill Le Tour.

 

[BlueRoads]

Do they need Gesink? I don't want to be disrespectful, but really... what for? I think a five-member team for TJV is enough this year.

 

[Red Rick]

Lmao I got distracted and missed it.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

 

[Red Rick]

Do they need Gesink? I don't want to be disrespectful, but really... what for? I think a five-member team for TJV is enough this year.

Gesink has finally found his role away from leading for 6th places in GTs and all stress and crashes that come with it. You let him be.

 

[Red Rick]

just the nr 2 and 3 of tour 2018/2019

pretty insane

Riding for the #4 of 2018.

NOTHING HAS SENSE.

 

[JosephK]

The racing/training dynamics are obviously a lot different this year vs. other years, because of the pandemic. There's been so little racing available, I'm not sure how likely it is for a team to be peaking too early for the TDF. Riders need to be in form, or coming into form, now. They will not have had much racing at all in their legs, so I think that the possibility of peaking too early may be less likely than in other years.

 

[movingtarget]

Jumbo looking like the new Sky. Mighty ride by Formolo.........De Gendt like ! Looks like Roglic has this won. Can't see who can drop him in the mountains or out sprint him on a climb.

 

[Eclipse]

You just can't gauge form for teams where a GT is the prize based on racing in smaller events right now.

Everything is so condensed that you're training while you race and you're not doing camps or other big blocks.

I'd love Ineos to fail massively this year at the tour it would be very refreshing, but I'm not going to write them off unless they're also falling apart in the third week of the tour lol.

So far it looks like they're missing something but I'm just not going to bet against them finding it.

Rider I'm most curious about is Landa who looks like he's perhaps easing into some form and he can really go for it on his day.

 

[Rollthedice]

Big gaps after three flat stages.

 

[tobydawq]

I know Roglic is great and all and deserves it.

But still I get sad when I see GT podium finisher Kruijswijk and GT winner Dumoulin pacing at the front for the entire climb. That kills all excitement.
Ofcourse nobody is gonna attack when those guys pace. It's the same as with Ineos each year. Nothing changed, just the team

A lot of things changed. Back then, Sky paced basically until Froome was alone.

Now, 15 riders can follow the pace. That may not be desirable for the pacesetters throughout the Tour.

 

[Escarabajo]

I know it was boring, as some have said here. But when you have the biggest challengers with Ineos and Bernal not performing, you get this. Pinot, Martinez and Buchmann are not going to lit the race on fire. And not now when they are fine tuning their shapes.

People should not get disappointed just yet. This is an odd year and forms are very diverse across the Peloton. As we get closer to the Tour hopefully the form will be more in tune.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Obviously understand Froome, but G is a long ways off who was talking a big game about winning his second Tour and hasn’t crashed. I know he has historically at times pushed a magic button and made a leap in form, but surely the gap is too large now.

I agree that Roglic is clearly the strongest, but he hasn’t shown that he can ride away and wing big chunks of time. Kicking away in the final meters is helpful but I’m not not buying what Gigs is selling.

Man I miss the 2014 Dauphiné battles between Froome and Contador. Not sure this is worth waking up early for.

 

[inthepink]

Gesink has finally found his role away from leading for 6th places in GTs and all stress and crashes that come with it. You let him be.

What a rider brings to a team is not always seen...maybe he makes decisions on the road, all the work that is needed to position teammates onto a climb, morale and a sense of calm, ability to grind out on long hot stages over rolling terraine...I could go on but Gesink is there for a reason and they are lucky to have him

 

[Big Doopie]

the more MTFs you add the less exciting it becomes.

it's even exponential.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The racing/training dynamics are obviously a lot different this year vs. other years, because of the pandemic. There's been so little racing available, I'm not sure how likely it is for a team to be peaking too early for the TDF. Riders need to be in form, or coming into form, now. They will not have had much racing at all in their legs, so I think that the possibility of peaking too early may be less likely than in other years.

Yes, but some might need the racing right now to find their sharpness/kick after doing lots of volume at lower intersity durning the pandemic break.

 

[johnymax]

I know Roglic is great and all and deserves it.

But still I get sad when I see GT podium finisher Kruijswijk and GT winner Dumoulin pacing at the front for the entire climb. That kills all excitement.
Ofcourse nobody is gonna attack when those guys pace. It's the same as with Ineos each year. Nothing changed, just the team

I feel you, but I think it will get a lot more exciting in the Tour. There are climbs from the start and Jumbo will find themselves working from the beginning. They'll get tired in the second part of the Tour and there will be more opportunities to attack. Also I don't think Kruijswijk is as strong as he was in last couple of years and I expect Dumoulin to be inconsistent throughout the race.

 

[Eclipse]

I know it was boring, as some have said here. But when you have the biggest challengers with Ineos and Bernal not performing, you get this. Pinot, Martinez and Buchmann are not going to lit the race on fire. And not now when they are fine tuning their shapes.

People should not get disappointed just yet. This is an odd year and forms are very diverse across the Peloton. As we get closer to the Tour hopefully the form will be more in tune.

Agree wholeheartedly.

One team is clearly overwhelming but there's plenty of promise shaping up behind them and there's no reason to believe that in such a weird year that we're not going to see riders who can break the control come the Tour when everyone wants to bury themselves.

 

[Big Doopie]

they r all so scared of losing a couple of seconds at the top...

y not at very least put a descent to the finish, so a rider wanting to make a difference would have to actually attack at the top of the last mountain...they would know then that if they failed and were caught, they could still stay with the leaders (so less risk in attacking).

but most importantly, more up and down with no flat. more LBL and Lombardia type stages to isolate the leaders and break up the train(s).

 

[BlueRoads]

Kind of funny. A few weeks ago we would have given something to watch any kind of WT-race, and now that we are getting a race of the absolute elite we are complaining how boring it is.

 

[Big Doopie]

and fewer team-mates...

 

[Big Doopie]

Kind of funny. A few weeks ago we would have given something to watch any kind of WT-race, and now that we are getting a race of the absolute elite we are complaining how boring it is.

Tour of Pologne was in no way boring...

i wonder why...

 

[Lequack]

An interesting note is that Formolo is racing with his wedding ring on, on which Kirby commentated as being a size to big