Deutschland Tour 2019 (2.HC)

[F_Cance]

Startlist

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Will watch the race in Göttingen tomorrow. Could be interesting. If they haven't fixed the downhill from the final climb, this will be a nice pothole festival.

To be honest, the race design is quite a waste of opportunities.

 

[Sestriere]

The race design is indeed kind of lame. All stages are kind of repetitive with slightly hilly finale. The field is spectacular though with many riders doing their first race since the Tour.
I'd expect a durable sprinter to win the race, or Evenepoel by a few minutes.

 

[Laplaz]

Great startlist, crap race design.

 

[Flamin]

Meh, last year's design was much better. Let's hope some of those hills are harder in reality than they look on the profile.

 

[Red Rick]

What an absolute waste of race days for top riders

 

[KZD]

This race has the potential to become an alternative to the Vuelta for riders that come from the Tour if they include 3 or 4 more stages including 2 or 3 mountain stages and 1 time-trial but this is really a waste for GC riders.

 

[roundabout]

This is a really confusing race. As far as I can see the prize money is normal HC race prize money, the route is rather underwhelming (to put it mildly), yet the field is probably the highest quality in the HC race in terms of names at least. Is the appearance money that good?

 

[F_Cance]

This race has the potential to become an alternative to the Vuelta for riders that come from the Tour if they include 3 or 4 more stages including 2 or 3 mountain stages and 1 time-trial but this is really a waste for GC riders.

They want to make it a 7 day race in the coming years. ASO signed the contract until 2028. So we don't know when it will happen, but i hope it is sooner rather than later.

It isn't that easy in Germany to get the route approved and stuff. So the route we see this year is basically the one that was easiest to accomplish.

 

[Sestriere]

Ackermann wins stage 1 dominantly. Interesting stuff from Alaphilippe... Was that an attack or trying to lead out a sprinter? And who would be that sprinter?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

New contender for worst misuse of available terrain award, up there with ÖsterreichRundfahrt, the Bayern Rundfahrt, the Vuelta a Castilla y León since 2011, but at the moment lagging behind the Tour of Norway, which had been improving but this year produced the worst misuse of terrain in living memory, as they abandoned the Tour des Fjords because it was squeezed out of the calendar by the hot stinking garbage of the Hammer Series (that is its own special category of "should be thrown in a trashcan and then that trashcan set on fire") and instead decided to merge both races by way of six flat stages between the terrain of both.

 

[tobydawq]

New contender for worst misuse of available terrain award, up there with ÖsterreichRundfahrt, the Bayern Rundfahrt, the Vuelta a Castilla y León since 2011, but at the moment lagging behind the Tour of Norway, which had been improving but this year produced the worst misuse of terrain in living memory, as they abandoned the Tour des Fjords because it was squeezed out of the calendar by the hot stinking garbage of the Hammer Series (that is its own special category of "should be thrown in a trashcan and then that trashcan set on fire") and instead decided to merge both races by way of six flat stages between the terrain of both.

The Hammer Series race was much more entertaining than the Tour of Norway.

Do you hate track racing as well or are you just not good with change?

 

[jaylew]

Jesus, Ackermann won that by a mile

 

[Faserr]

The big names are starting at this race because of the easy stages to get started again after the Tour de France. Last years edition was really entertaining. This years seems to be a bit too easy.
Todays stage wasn't that bad, because some strong guys attacked at he last 15km. There could be some nice action, if they continue to do this at the next stages.
The race has some future and I think the course will improve over the next years. Neverthelass last year included some good racing.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The Hammer Series race was much more entertaining than the Tour of Norway.

Do you hate track racing as well or are you just not good with change?

Track racing isn't a threat to road racing, they are two different disciplines. Hammer Stavanger has killed the Tour des Fjords and, by catalysing their merger, turned the Tour of Norway into an absolutely execrable race.

 

[RedheadDane]

Ackermann wins stage 1 dominantly. Interesting stuff from Alaphilippe... Was that an attack or trying to lead out a sprinter? And who would be that sprinter?

According to the top-10, Asgreen… apparently. No. I didn't know he's a sprinter either…

The Hammer Series race was much more entertaining than the Tour of Norway.

Was Tour of Norway even broadcast? Beyond TV2 Norge and shitty Facebook Live?

 

[tobydawq]

According to the top-10, Asgreen… apparently. No. I didn't know he's a sprinter either…



Was Tour of Norway even broadcast? Beyond TV2 Norge and shitty Facebook Live?

Well, I do have TV2 Norge so I could watch it.

And Asgreen beat Jasper Philipsen in a sprint in California and is definitely not slow.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well, I do have TV2 Norge so I could watch it.

And Asgreen beat Jasper Philipsen in a sprint in California and is definitely not slow.

That's the point! Not everyone has TV2 Norge, so... why not make sure it's broadcast internationally? On actually television not that shitty excuse for broadcasting that's FB-live.

As for Asgreen. I know about the California sprint, I'm still just not entirely sure what that guy is!

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I don't understand. Why did they decide to skip Harz totally (bar Sternplatz), then drive all the way down to south of Göttingen and start the next 3 stages, where none of the climbs are as difficult as what you can find in Harz? I agree with the critique this race design is getting. Downright idiotic design, on paper, but I guess they need the easy stages to attract riders for the race.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Jesus, Ackermann won that by a mile

If Ewan isn’t present at the finale and in reasonable shape, Ackermann will win every sprint by a mile. They are the only top tier sprinters present. And Bora give Ackermann the full DCQ style train, so he isn’t likely to get himself out of position.

What happened to Ewan anyway? Mechanical, sick, injury or just bad?

 

[hfgon1]

If Ewan isn’t present at the finale and in reasonable shape, Ackermann will win every sprint by a mile. They are the only top tier sprinters present. And Bora give Ackermann the full DCQ style train, so he isn’t likely to get himself out of position.

What happened to Ewan anyway? Mechanical, sick, injury or just bad?

He looked bad and lost contact on an uphill part. Maybe he is a bit sick but in the end he wasn't good enough to follow the first group

 

[starlord]

It has been said already that the route approval and road closures are not that easy in Germany. This is not a race design thread but reality. National championships had to be raced on a motorsport circuit. Let's be honest, very few people care for cycling (especially in Germany) so the route is what it is

 

[Earns1985]

I really would not say that the route is that bad.
If you look at the profile of todays stage it looks more like Liege-Bastogne-Liege then a flat stage. Later they will pass a passage near of my home city with an altitude difference of 100 metres which you didn´t even notice in the stage profile.

In the first kilometers of todays stage Alaphilippe and Lutchenko had already gone on the attack, so I am expecting an exciting stage today.

 

[Sestriere]

Breakaway with Alaphilippe, Nibali, Rowe, Geschke, Ackermann, Buchmann, Selig and Stuyven has 35 seconds on the bunch.

 

[tobydawq]

I really would not say that the route is that bad.
If you look at the profile of todays stage it looks more like Liege-Bastogne-Liege then a flat stage. Later they will pass a passage near of my home city with an altitude difference of 100 metres which you didn´t even notice in the stage profile.

In the first kilometers of todays stage Alaphilippe and Lutchenko had already gone on the attack, so I am expecting an exciting stage today.

But, but... Libertine has spoken and we all now she has the final word when it comes to route design.