-
The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
This may be true to an extent but it's worth mentioning that Cort arrived at the line solo and I suppose he could pull off a sprint that was a few second faster than what any GC rider would've been capable of in the last couple hundred meters, while the other teams dragged their GC riders along.
Last edited:
Sure, but they still had to make sure Powless wasn't going to finish too far behind Cort.
It is like Warholm the other day... he ran the first 200m in about 20 seconds and the last 200m in about 24 seconds. Pretty remarkable and quite a big difference.
Mind you, he still broke the record... but they said he could have probably ran one second or so faster if he had paced himself better. 1 second is a lot over 400m.
Maybe you cant equivalent it to cycling and it was a bit of the opposite here in the order of things, but if they had went a little bit faster in the first part and been able to keep it up in the second half then maybe the end result would have been a couple of seconds faster. Which would have been enough to win the stage. Cort taking the overall lead, for now, was of course nice though.
But they allowed Cort to drop Powless, which has probably made part of the difference. I imagine that if Matthews was allowed to drop Yates or Kung to drop Gaudu, their times would've also been better.
But I don't disagree with your initial point. I was quite disappointed to see EF only going 5th fastest at the intermediate. If they had almost won the UAE Tour TTT with such a weak roster, then I had hoped they would have fought for the win here with a very strong TTT squad.
That was a good call. Powless, great rider in great form, is never going to beat Pogacar and Vingegaard for GC., but TTT win was possible. EF is riding for the wins now, which makes the team more exciting. They seem to be in a good flow, while still having to unleash Carapaz.
Dauphine 2014: Talansky is a great rider in great form but he is never going to beat Contador or Froome for GC.
You're right that it's very unlikely, though.
Looking at how early Powless was dropped today got me thinking that those great early season results may have been a false dawn. If not for Cepeda's 7th in Trofeo Laigueglia, we could be looking at a series of 7 consecutive races without putting anybody in the top10 overall (and 0 stage wins as well). Sometimes it feels like this team has nothing. No sprinters (no more than 1 bunch sprint win per year on average since Farrar), no climbers (nobody besides Powless in top60 today). Hilly classics are on paper their strongest suit but not when Honore and Piccolo are performing like this. And their biggest star in Carapaz has a habit of not delivering too much outside of GTs.
Dunno if it's a temporary crisis but if they keep riding like in the last 2 weeks, they'll soon find themselves in a relegation fight again.
Dunno if it's a temporary crisis but if they keep riding like in the last 2 weeks, they'll soon find themselves in a relegation fight again.
Panicking much?
"Temporary crisis"... wth? They seem to be doing pretty well gathering UCI points. Now I'm not a fan (as in keeping track of EF in each and every course they participate in) but I like em and to me it seems they're doing just fine. They really have great squad now and I expect them to avoid another relegation fight easily.
"Temporary crisis"... wth? They seem to be doing pretty well gathering UCI points. Now I'm not a fan (as in keeping track of EF in each and every course they participate in) but I like em and to me it seems they're doing just fine. They really have great squad now and I expect them to avoid another relegation fight easily.
Not for long if he keeps climbing like yesterday, though.
Did you even read my previous post? They did extremely well until around mid February but as I said, Cepeda's 7th in Trofeo Laigueglia is their only top10 result in the last 6 races and it's likely to remain one in the next few as Powless will drop out of top10 GC in PN if he keeps climbing like yesterday (I don't like the odds for a top10 in T-A and MSR either if you ask me). They'll get overhauled by other teams quickly if they keep it this way.
Since the 20th of February, they scored 308 UCI points. DSM scored 493, Lotto scored over 800, Cofidis over 700, Groupama over 1000.
Of course it's a little alarmist as the situation is not bad, yet, but the trend of the last 2 weeks is very bad and that's what I'm saying.
You really have to root for a team to be that pessimistic considering their season so far.
I've just spotted a trend backed up both by my gut feeling and by hard statistics. But you're right that anyone who doesn't root for the team is far less likely to realise the extent of their impotence in the last several races.
Carthy may prove me wrong as he rode very well today. Stage 6 will be a big test for him, though.
I also think you're being pessimistic. EF have a good season so far, especially when you keep in mind that their best rider didn't start his season yet.
I don't know how them having an excellent start of the season negates the fact they've been underwhelming in recent races. I feel pretty misunderstood here. Why do you put so much emphasis on judging whether I'm optimistic or pessimistic. None of my points have been challenged so far.
What I mean is, they are not exactly big budget team, are they? Therefore they should not be expected to be excellent in every single race. You are right that they've been a bit underwhelming in the last few races, but every team of their caliber should have ups and downs and perhaps that's their "down"? Mind you, they nearly won the TTT's in the last 2 (WT) stage races and Hugh Carthy looks decent in TA so far. And given that Carapaz didn't (fully) start his season yey, your main point about their low point scoring (while not wrong) sounds a bit pessimistic to me.
EF is experiencing the best start to a season in recent memory. No?
EF's women's team in strife with the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank?
www.cyclingweekly.com
Silicon Valley Bank collapse raises questions around future of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB
The American team only stepped up to WorldTour level in 2022
www.cyclingweekly.com
EF's women's team in strife with the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank?
Silicon Valley Bank collapse raises questions around future of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB
The American team only stepped up to WorldTour level in 2022
I obviously don't know how much their sponsorship was worth or whether they had paid up front for this season, but I assume the team is safe for now. I know SVB had upped their contribution in recent years in Linda Jackson's quest to join the WWT, but that was before EF and the other sponsors from the men's team came on board.
Powless is in good shape, climbing really well, but not good enough to get away on the Poggio or powerful enough to win a sprint with the big guys. But if he could hang in following the attacks at the top of his he Poggio, he might be a candidate to sneak away a la Stuyven. Not likely though.
I think they'll clean the podium with Bettiol and the Danes.
TRENDING THREADS
-
World Championships 2024: Men's Road Race (September 29)- Started by Devil's Elbow
- Replies: 2K
-
Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread- Started by DNP-Old
- Replies: 29K
-
Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers, Extensions, and Rumours Thread- Started by RedheadDane
- Replies: 11K
-
Il Lombardia 2024, one day monument, October 12, farewell to Domenico Pozzovivo- Started by Lequack
- Replies: 880
-
Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread- Started by Lequack
- Replies: 22K
-
-
Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives- Started by johnymax
- Replies: 19K
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread
- Latest: Eddy Evenepoel
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram