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

Page 30 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Which rider will surprise the most?

  • Sepp Kuss

    Votes: 3 4.7%
  • Enric Mas

    Votes: 8 12.5%
  • Chris Froome

    Votes: 12 18.8%
  • Sergio Higuita

    Votes: 13 20.3%
  • Adam Yates

    Votes: 3 4.7%
  • Dylan Teuns

    Votes: 2 3.1%
  • Benoît Cosnefroy

    Votes: 3 4.7%
  • Guillaume Martin

    Votes: 10 15.6%
  • other, French

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • other, non-French

    Votes: 11 17.2%

  • Total voters
    64
  • Poll closed .
An interesting note is that Formolo is racing with his wedding ring on, on which Kirby commentated as being a size to big :D

EfY5LSfXkAARS73
 
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Uhm, wasn't that the race where Fuglsang gave Evenepoel a close fight...?

but as you can see, close does not make it exciting...

attacking riding is what makes it exciting.

seeing remco attack from 51 kms out is exciting.

formolo's attack and win was the only thing exciting about today's stage.

everyone must stop equating "closeness" with it being exciting. because the opposite is often true. it ends up leading to defensive riding.

and, personally, i love watching cycling exploits! for the pure joy of seeing athletic prowess.

having ten riders finish within a few seconds is in no way exciting.
 
but as you can see, close does not make it exciting...

attacking riding is what makes it exciting.

seeing remco attack from 51 kms out is exciting.

formolo's attack and win was the only thing exciting about today's stage.

everyone must stop equating "closeness" with it being exciting. because the opposite is often true. it ends up leading to defensive riding.

and, personally, i love watching cycling exploits! for the pure joy of seeing athletic prowess.

having ten riders finish within a few seconds is in no way exciting.

People are still a bit confused about what they really want. "Trains are boring, they kill excitement because nobody can attack or attacks are doomed". Along comes a guy that can attack and flips trains the bird. "Uh, this guy can make an attack last even when chased, boring!".

We can only hope it's because guys like that that more people will try to attack, that the big trains need to find different tactics and shake things up.
 
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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.

I think everything we know goes out the window this season. It's all 'up in the air'. JV have hit the ground running, and have obviously had some serious training during the enforced break. I wonder how many other teams are seeing 'good numbers' during training, but come the races are nowhere near. It's often said in many sports that training and competition are quite different, maybe that is what we're seeing at the moment?

And tactics are only good if the legs and lungs are in top form. Who is to say that JV won't get better between now and the third week in September? I would be foolish to write off Ineos, but they have to climb a mountain (literally & metaphorically) to get anywhere near competitive.
 
but as you can see, close does not make it exciting...

attacking riding is what makes it exciting.

seeing remco attack from 51 kms out is exciting.

formolo's attack and win was the only thing exciting about today's stage.

everyone must stop equating "closeness" with it being exciting. because the opposite is often true. it ends up leading to defensive riding.

and, personally, i love watching cycling exploits! for the pure joy of seeing athletic prowess.

having ten riders finish within a few seconds is in no way exciting.

People are still a bit confused about what they really want. "Trains are boring, they kill excitement because nobody can attack or attacks are doomed". Along comes a guy that can attack and flips trains the bird. "Uh, this guy can make an attack last even when chased, boring!".

We can only hope it's because guys like that that more people will try to attack, that the big trains need to find different tactics and shake things up.
Such a strawman.
 
Such a strawman.

not sure why u quoted me...

Fact: MTFs (particularly in succession) do not lend themselves to exciting racing.

Solutions:
  1. Have more mountain stages end after a descent, encouraging riders to attack on the climb (less risky because, if they fail, they are unlikely to lose time in the end). It will also encourage them to attack before the last km of the climb in the hopes of creating enough of a gap to stay away.
  2. Have more stages in the mold of LBL and Lombardia (with lots of ups and downs and very little flat) to eliminate trains.
  3. Have fewer riders per team.
The fact is that MTFs are pretty much the least exciting element of pro cycling other than a sprint finish...
 
not sure why u quoted me...

Fact: MTFs (particularly in succession) do not lend themselves to exciting racing.

Solutions:
  1. Have more mountain stages end after a descent, encouraging riders to attack on the climb (less risky because, if they fail, they are unlikely to lose time in the end). It will also encourage them to attack before the last km of the climb in the hopes of creating enough of a gap to stay away.
  2. Have more stages in the mold of LBL and Lombardia (with lots of ups and downs and very little flat) to eliminate trains.
  3. Have fewer riders per team.
The fact is that MTFs are pretty much the least exciting element of pro cycling other than a sprint finish...

I remember ppl complaining abt that in Procycling Manager many MTF end in bunch sprint. Time to get back into that game now that reality has adapted to it.

I believe the the top guys are just too close to eachother performancewise nowadays. And even the top domestiques aren't far behind.
 
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It's not a fact, it's simply your opinion.

apart from the fact that everyone is complaining.

and the fact that differences are measured in a handful of seconds.

and the fact that no one attacks until the final uphill sprint.

and the resounding fact that despite the amazing closeness in the present GC everyone is complaining about how boring it is and that there is no potential for surprises.

firmly proving the fact that "closeness" in GC does not necessarily encourage exciting riding.

other than those facts, you totally got me.

:rolleyes::eek:
 
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I really want Formolo to be terrible until whenever the nationals are. Not because of anything against him but I don't want to have to hurt my eyes looking at that ABOMINATION any more than is strictly necessary. This is actually worse than the Radioshack German and Swiss champions' jerseys and maybe even worse than Levi's abortion of a US Champions' jersey. The Italian jersey is so easy to get right, how is it possible to get it so wrong?
 
I really want Formolo to be terrible until whenever the nationals are. Not because of anything against him but I don't want to have to hurt my eyes looking at that ABOMINATION any more than is strictly necessary. This is actually worse than the Radioshack German and Swiss champions' jerseys and maybe even worse than Levi's abortion of a US Champions' jersey. The Italian jersey is so easy to get right, how is it possible to get it so wrong?

A very funny part about this is that the extremely knowledgeable and skilled-at-recognising-riders, Emil Axelgaard of Feltet.dk, mistook him for Rui Costa at the initial parts of Strade (after TV had begun transmitting). He's a guy who can tell the Yates' apart :)
 
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