Euskal Herriko Itzulia 2018 - April 2-7

[kareeem]

Roglic looks great on this kind of terrain. Hope Lotto Jumbo will take him to Ardennes

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

As long as Alaphilippe can't gap Roglic those boni seconds are not going to save him for the TT

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

Bling double attack

People will still say he never sees the wind which he's disproved several times.

That was Orica Matthews. Sunweb Matthews has been totally different

 

[johnymax]

Ala really is the new Bala
Exciting finish again. Roglič the new Sagan ...keeps making mistakes late, leading out the faster sprinter, and collecting those second places.

Landa very good today. I think he'll keep getting better as the race goes on. The problem for him is he'll probably be down around 2min on Roglič after the ITT.

Gorka also great ride. He is in form of his life this season. I always considered Ion the better brother but this year it's been Gorka hands down.

 

[Breh]

As long as Alaphilippe can't gap Roglic those boni seconds are not going to save him for the TT

Does he want to go for the GC? I thought he had no interest in it.

 

[Forever The Best]

Great action in the first 2 stages with some selective gaps. Roglic the big favourite. Nice to see Landa looking good today.

 

[Blanco]

As long as Alaphilippe can't gap Roglic those boni seconds are not going to save him for the TT

Does he want to go for the GC? I thought he had no interest in it.

Yeah, sure he won't Like he had ever won a bigger race. Of course he's going for the GC, he'll go all out in ITT and if he's still in contention after that, I don't have a slightest doubt, he'll try to win it.

Nice win today, btw.

 

[rghysens]

Alaphillipe = the French Valverde

Alaphilippe = poor mens Valverde (for the moment)

 

[Gigs_98]

The riders who finished 1st and 2nd finished 1st and 2nd again. What an absolute shocker.

About the people saying Alaphilippe will lose a ton of time in the ITT, don't forget Alaphilippe is a pretty good TT'ist too. Not quite Roglic level but he won last years Paris Nice TT by 20 seconds. For a 14 km TT that is quite impressive.
For now Roglic has to be the favorite for the gc, but Alaphilippe could very well finish on the podium.

 

[Samamba]

The riders who finished 1st and 2nd finished 1st and 2nd again. What an absolute shocker.

About the people saying Alaphilippe will lose a ton of time in the ITT, don't forget Alaphilippe is a pretty good TT'ist too. Not quite Roglic level but he won last years Paris Nice TT by 20 seconds. For a 14 km TT that is quite impressive.
For now Roglic has to be the favorite for the gc, but Alaphilippe could very well finish on the podium.

That wasn't a flat TT.
Alaphilippe isn't a bad TTer (so yeah obv a top-3 is possible) but he doesn't come close to Roglic.

 

[Breh]

As long as Alaphilippe can't gap Roglic those boni seconds are not going to save him for the TT

Does he want to go for the GC? I thought he had no interest in it.

Yeah, sure he won't Like he had ever won a bigger race. Of course he's going for the GC, he'll go all out in ITT and if he's still in contention after that, I don't have a slightest doubt, he'll try to win it.

Nice win today, btw.

He was sick and wanted to battle for a stage win, no mention of any GC ambitions. He wasn't pulling like Roglic was.
It's very unlikely he'll survive the ITT and the longer climbs.

His major goals are next week.

 

[Netserk]

The Abu Dhabi one was. He'll probably lose ~30''.

 

[johnymax]

Re:

The Abu Dhabi one was. He'll probably lose ~30''.

I expect about the same. The thing is LottoNL Jumbo (if as expected Roglič leads after the ITT) will have to defend the jersey and they don't have that strong of a team. There's terrain for Movistar, QS or Bahrain (they all have multiple cards to play with) to do some damage and Rogla could be left alone earlier than he would like to. On the other hand the gaps will probably be pretty big after the ITT and it's difficult to gain minutes if Roglič remains strong. So it could very well remain a two man battle till the end between Bala junior and Rogla.

 

[perico]

Young Enric is showing a lot of promise.

 

[The Barb]

So, Stage 3, for the breakaway, right? Who might be trying?

 

[yaco]

This race is for Roglic to lose, though stage 5 and particularly stage 6 are challenging - Stage 3 looks one for the breakaway.

 

[Koronin]

Yes Alaphilippe does remind me, and obvioiusly many others of a young Valverde. However, he's not Bala. He doesn't have the climbing abilities yet that Bala had at that age. Remember Valverde had a Vuelta podium and a World's RR podium at the age of 23. He is a fun rider to watch, and we'll always see a bit of a younger Valverde in Alaphilippe.

 

[SafeBet]

Landa can still win this bike race.

 

[manolo57]

Landa is going to lose 1 min over Roglic in the TT...

 

[staubsauger]

Landa and Roglic both have a history of weird TT performances, so it suddenly could be the other way around as well!

 

[Red Rick]

So, Stage 3, for the breakaway, right? Who might be trying?

I was thinking it would be a bunch sprint

 

[Robert5091]

90 km breakaway? (from last climb? unless 3 guys from 1 team give it a go, but ...) Nah ... Albasini, Ulissi even Alaphillipe again. Could be a weird sprint without any sprint trains

 

[Parker]

So, Stage 3, for the breakaway, right? Who might be trying?

I was thinking it would be a bunch sprint

But what team is going to chase the break? Matthews is the only rider in this race I'd consider a bunch sprinter.

 

[Robert5091]

La Barrrerilla cat 2 is either 6.4 km long or 7.6 km, depending if you go from stage profile or climb profile -

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So, Stage 3, for the breakaway, right? Who might be trying?

I was thinking it would be a bunch sprint

But what team is going to chase the break? Matthews is the only rider in this race I'd consider a bunch sprinter.

BMC might fancy it for the reanimated corpse of Simon Gerrans? Nelson Soto for Caja Rural is a bunch sprinter so if they miss the break they may try to bring it back for the TV time even if they only expect a placement from Nelson. Euskadi-Murias might as well, Edu Prades has a decent finish but Enrique Sanz is more likely. I'd expect them to get in the break though, which might scupper any hopes the likes of Sunweb would have for cooperation.