Why all this gloom and doom?
I'm the first to be frustrated and disappointed, this season has been *** and I'm really nervous about Bora deciding that they shouldn't put all their eggs in his basket for next year's TDF, but Hindley was *** for no reason (Denk admitted as much in the Tour podcast) and Vlasov is never going to be strong enough to pose a real threat so it's not as if they sacrificed their chances for nothing... both secondary leaders were never going to be serious contenders against UAE domestiques and next year it'll be worse when VLAB brings all the guns.
Bora are in for a nasty surprise if they think they can just buy a new team (and even a new leader) for next year and it will work right away. It takes time and commitment and also blood and tears and they have the right guy for the job until he cannot continue any longer and/or a new leader emerges in the team and proves to be better. That's his motivation as well.
And c'mon... the guy is not a quitter, stop pretending that he's suddenly considering ending his career due to a setback. Yes, this was a really hard blow, one of the worst he's had, but I find it very hard to believe that he really thought he'd be fighting for victory so whatever he'd been able to achieve this year he can still come back next year to try to settle the score.
He's said over and over again that he wants to give his best shot, and while his best will probably be worse and worse every year he's still facing absolute aliens so he has to know that he'll never be able to reach that level so it's not about them but about him being motivated enough to give the Tour his full focus. It's not the end for him by any means, he still has a chance as long as he wants to give it a try.
Training indoors only?
Were gonna need the exact timelines of 21, 22 and 24 to compare here
I'd say this is similar to '22 timeline and injury wise so we shouldn't be very hopeful that he'll be in Lisbon in little less than a month, BUT
1. he didn't race injured (we don't really know about the extent of the Dauphiné injury though) so that's a huge, huge improvement already and will surely work on his favor if there's a chance he can make it to the Vuelta start
2. the team is obviously invested in his health so they are doing whatever they can to help him get back on track (but won't let him race if he's not 100% which will be frustrating for us but the best option in the long run)
3. instead of hiding at home and thinking about quitting like some believe, he's already training which leads me to believe that he wants to turn the page and get ready for the new goals
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