Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives

[CyclistAbi]

Well, Dumoulin has been mentioned a number of times in this thread and he once won a Giro with no team whatsoever.

I didn't watch that Giro, will take your word for it. Likely Dumoulin was healthy through the whole race, though?

I love the guy but the needs to add some new stuff to his repertoire of interview answers.

I wasn't aware of the (unofficial) 3 question rule until recently. Honestly, it kind of makes sense. After a few GT wins i am sure that this approach will change. For now racing is much more important, compared to making the journalist happy.

And likely journalist would focus on Giro 2019 way too much. Roglič will rather answer such question on the road, by racing.

 

[Bolder]

Roglic has barely lost time on mountain stages all race and Carapaz is a horrendous ITTer

You can easily argue the opposite and argue Carapaz was lucky Roglic messed up his Giro preperation

Roglic has been incredibly strong in the mountains, but add in two more quality climbers in Carapaz and Thomas -- who both would have had arguably equal if not stronger domestiques -- and those stages would have been raced harder, I think.

(I continue to believe Thomas could have podiumed in this Vuelta and still cannot understand the logic of going for WC ITT when next year he'll be competing with Froome, Bernal and Carapaz for a leadership role at a GT...and not getting any younger)

Carapaz is indeed a lousy TT'er and will have to do better if he wants to win a TdF, and had he raced in this Giro he would have been on his back foot to Roglic, like Lopez/Quintana have been.

Obviously I'm arguing in hypotheticals here. Roglic is on the cusp of a solid GT victory that would have been dominant had it not been for a moment of inattention, while Carapaz is doing...what? nursing a nonexistent injury and setting up an offshore bank account for his Ineos riches...

 

[CyclistAbi]

Roglic has been incredibly strong in the mountains, but add in two more quality climbers in Carapaz and Thomas -- who both would have had arguably equal if not stronger domestiques -- and those stages would have been raced harder, I think.

IMHO and from Roglič point of view the main problem isn't Carapaz, Thomas, Froome, Bernal ... They are indeed all great riders and are hard to beat. The main problem is all of them ride for the same team, hence we are talking about Roglič against team INEOS. Here the realistic chances are indeed substantially reduced. But TJV is improving and getting stronger and stronger in this regard.

 

[topt]

True, although you could also say that Carapaz won the Giro and HAS beaten Roglic.

Still, i grant that Roglic's record in all stage races, as noted above, is pretty incredible. And at least in this year he hasn't shown any weaknesses.

But to the original thesis, which is that Roglic is the best stage racer right now: My point is only that the other guys on that list won their GTs against stronger competition. This Giro we've got a 39 year old and a 20 year old fighting for the podium, Quintana who has dropped off considerably, and Lopez, who's ITT is a liability. No Dumoulin or Ineos guys like Thomas or Froome who can climb and lay down a quality TT, nor an otherworldly climber like Bernal or Carapaz.

IMO Roglic would have had a considerably harder time against Carapaz and Thomas if either had come to the Giro on form.

true but Roglic has beaten Carapaz before.
I do not now if Roglic is the best 3 week rider (could be just not enough data) but he is for sure the best allrounder what makes him the best rider in the world in by book

 

[topt]

Well, Dumoulin has been mentioned a number of times in this thread and he once won a Giro with no team whatsoever.

and against quintana as the strongest opposition

 

[topt]

If we're talking GT's then Froome is definitely number 1, no doubt about it. Roglic is certainly on a rise though, and you could make a case for him being the third best GT rider atm (I think it's hard to put him above Thomas).
2-6 should be Thomas, Roglic, Dumoulin, Bernal and Carapaz in some order. And then if I were to put together a top 10, I'd have 4 of S. Yates, Nibali, Quintana, Kruijswijk, Valverde and Landa in there. I think you could make a case for either of those fitting in.

I just dont agree with this, Froome has done *** since giro 18

 

[Rollthedice]

and against quintana as the strongest opposition

What about Quintana? Dumoulin won against the Giro and Vuelta title holders.

 

[topt]

I love the guy but the needs to add some new stuff to his repertoire of interview answers.

I think its more of a language thing

 

[topt]

What about Quintana? Dumoulin won against the Giro and Vuelta title holders.

well he is quintana; he did but the opposition was comparable to this years vuelta

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I just dont agree with this, Froome has done *** since giro 18

Well, I agree that 2019 results should count for more than 2018 results, but I don't agree that you should simply neglect all results from previous years.

 

[Oldermanish]

Roglic has been incredibly strong in the mountains, but add in two more quality climbers in Carapaz and Thomas -- who both would have had arguably equal if not stronger domestiques -- and those stages would have been raced harder, I think.

(I continue to believe Thomas could have podiumed in this Vuelta and still cannot understand the logic of going for WC ITT when next year he'll be competing with Froome, Bernal and Carapaz for a leadership role at a GT...and not getting any younger)

Carapaz is indeed a lousy TT'er and will have to do better if he wants to win a TdF, and had he raced in this Giro he would have been on his back foot to Roglic, like Lopez/Quintana have been.

Obviously I'm arguing in hypotheticals here. Roglic is on the cusp of a solid GT victory that would have been dominant had it not been for a moment of inattention, while Carapaz is doing...what? nursing a nonexistent injury and setting up an offshore bank account for his Ineos riches...

The number of good riders that will be in the next Tour will make it interesting enough that almost any current result is past history. Ineos has a lot of cards to play as does Jumbo, but Quintana will need to freelance and his French teammate is definitely a MeFirst kind of guy. Roglic and Dumoulin both seem like smart racers that understand it's best if both stay in the game if they have the form. Sepp Kuss and Neilson Powless ( I can't believe we were racing Crits with him just a few years ago) are going to get stronger as well. Those strength and; Roglic has proven to be a killer descender and decent sprinter that could prosper in a tight GC battle. I think he's better at those elements than DuMoulin or Kruijswijk which could clarify a team strategy.
He'd have to be on the form of his life to follow several guys capable of Superman's level of accelerations. That's the wild card I'm hoping for to have an entertaining Tour.

 

[JosephK]

Roglic has now had three crashes in this Vuelta. It's hard to win GC after hitting the pavement that many times, but it looks like Roglic may manage it.

 

[Carols]

Today I had a doctors appointment so just finished watching the stage. Wow Pirmoz Dodged another bullet today and appears unhurt. Still he had to work Very Hard for 15km trying to catch the attacking Movistar team. Hopefully there is enough left in his legs to bring it home tomorrow! Tony Martin is a big loss and the rest of the team all went down also. Fingers crossed they are able bodied because tomorrow is going to be a killer stage most likely with attacks right from the start. Movi and Astana will be aggressive for sure! Bring the Rojo home Primoz!

 

[Red Rick]

He's just trying to teach Dumoulin to do a soft landing

 

[Sciatic]

Today I had a doctors appointment so just finished watching the stage. Wow Pirmoz Dodged another bullet today and appears unhurt. Still he had to work Very Hard for 15km trying to catch the attacking Movistar team. Hopefully there is enough left in his legs to bring it home tomorrow! Tony Martin is a big loss and the rest of the team all went down also. Fingers crossed they are able bodied because tomorrow is going to be a killer stage most likely with attacks right from the start. Movi and Astana will be aggressive for sure! Bring the Rojo home Primoz!

Ski jumpers get good at falling??

 

[CyclistAbi]

Stage 19 and all could be over for Roglič, nervous couple of minutes for sure. Luckily it looks like the crash didn't end up badly for him. Too bad for Tony Martin not being able to finish the race. He would deserve to be there, on the finish line, with Roglič and the rest of the team. Movistar tactics are debatable, but in the end Valverde did do the right thing. Cavagna deserved to win.

Big day ahead tomorrow. At some point Roglič likely will get isolated, hopefully not too soon. Astana will try to get on GC podium, but somehow i feel that Movistar won't give that away lightly. Pogačar will likely get isolated rather quickly. Bad weather could play a role for him. Otherwise overcoming López and Astana should be hard task to do. And i guess we will get to see some tactical games tomorrow, unexpected alliances ... Anything is still possible.

 

[hayneplane]

One thing that could be helpful to Roglic is that after the shenanigans of today Astana are unlikely to be willing to work together with Movistar so the threats to him will be far less coordinated and potentially the rivals will be more concerned with infighting to grab the other spots on the podium given that it would need a big collapse to overall the leader.

 

[Lequack]

Chasing back yesterday

 

[Carols]

Primoz is a class act. Remained neutral about the polemics and when asked if he'd return to the Vuelta said :"I believe that tomorrow I will be one day closer," he said. "We'll see about coming back, but in the end, the nice memories are the ones you remember."

After 15KM of all out racing, with no team mates, trying to regain the front group I hope he had a Good Rest over night!

 

[Carols]

CONGRATULATIONS Primoz Roglic!!! He faced much adversity; crashes, cross winds, loss of team mates, being isolated during pivotal race points, etc. Throughout it all he remained cool, calm and collected. Definitely the Strongest man in the race!!! Wonderful year for him; multiple week long stage wins, 3rd at the Giro despite No Team and a bad fade in the final week to a shining triumph in the Vuelta.

I can hardly wait to see what he takes on next .

 

[Red Rick]

Gesink implied Roglic will drink more than a few beers tomorrow

He's frigging earned it.

 

[Tonton]

Bravo Primoz! Well deserved GT win, clearly the best rider, as good as anyone in the climbs in addition to his ITT skills. It didn't come easy, but he also was the strongest mentally. Champagne!

 

[Breezy1985]

Chapeao as Sean Kelly would say. Enjoy the weekend Primoz and all his fans too

 

[Lequack]

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

He was in a different league to everyone else in this race. I can't wait for the Ineos vs Jumbo rumble at the Tour next year.