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

[bNator]

I think it quickly turned into a giant bluff in which the RBH car basically decided they were fine with O'Connor getting five minutes on Rog.

The reason I believe this is because they didn't once either A/Call Lipowitz back to work or B/put Vlasov & Martinez to work in the final km's, even to reduce the gap by 30 seconds.

Judging by Almeida's reaction (aka angry because UAE now has to do something), Bora got what they wanted.



Lipowitz is a sideshow, not the main event.

Ok and then all their post-race bad mood and appologies, statements they messed up, it's all a part of a bluff as well? I don't think that's very likely. These guys are not professional actors or poker players after all... If nothing else, Rogla can't act if his life depended on it. Look at his commercials

 

[Rackham]

Ok and then all their post-race bad mood and appologies, statements they messed up, it's all a part of a bluff as well? I don't think that's very likely. These guys are not professional actors or poker players after all... If nothing else, Rogla can't act if his life depended on it. Look at his commercials

On the flipside of the coin you must remember this is the same guy who is famous in the peloton for his "argh my legs, not good eh" pre-race statements... before stomping to victory.

But one thing is for sure this is all just guesswork right now. But teams do lie all the time. I mean just in the TdF we had Visma coming out with some epic stuff like "we expected to be further behind" after the first week. It was all mind games.

 

[CyclistAbi]

It's life, you can't have everything. That is goals like giving the leaders jersey away to a non threat rider and moving Florian up in GC, both goals achieved on stage 6. I doubt anybody is apologising for that part. Lets not forget Rogla tends to be a good mentor, no way would for example Jonas do that for Cian or Pogi for Juan, at minimum they would chase them down themself.

O'Connor being the one that is now 5 minutes ahead in GC. Now this can spark some debates indeed and here, for this part alone, here some might even be apologizing for it.

Personally i feel that it's a good thing, for other stronger teams now in such dilemma. For sure Rogla seems to have strong legs and the team was rather active in this first part of the race, still, when the hills come, he will likely be on his own early on. Pressure now being on all teams, that could prove to be beneficial for Rogla.

 

[Divergence]

So Martines and Lipo are not even top 50 riders in the race and Vlasov was not ready to go full gas when he needed to do it (he went full gas in the end to gift a stage to WvA which I do not understand either).
The (new) team does not look very good/smart.

 

[Scarponi]

So Martines and Lipo are not even top 50 riders in the race and Vlasov was not ready to go full gas when he needed to do it (he went full gas in the end to gift a stage to WvA which I do not understand either).
The (new) team does not look very good/smart.

Most teams don’t ever ride for GC as a serious threat. The sport is full of DS who sit in the car for 5 hours every stage hoping for a break away win. It’s hopeless

 

[Valv.Piti]

6 seconds closer

Good thing they really used Vlasov and Dani today instead of yesterday, well spent

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Yeah baffling stuff so far. So Vlasov didn't ride yesterday to reduce the 5-minute gap to a guy who got 4th in this year's Giro and the 2021 Tour. But he rode all out at today to ensure Wout a win? What was the goal of that? I don't see any benefit to Bora at all. What am I missing?

 

[FroomeWagon]

I kind of feel bad for Lipowitz as it was probably his job to mark OConnor and not let him go up the road.

He is probably now worried that Roglic is about to "Ayuso" him, (hence all the brown nosing and nonsense about “Its a huge honour to race alongside and learn from a winner of the Tour de France.”

 

[zlev11]

this team is just not good. wtf was Vlasov doing today? out of position to set tempo on the climb and then he's chasing down Sivakov on the flat for no reason.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

You can't kill everyone on a 4-5% climb. If you try you blow yourself up. There are no exceptions. Especially if the group is big when you start.

I'm surprised you don't seem to have an issue with today. What is your explanation for Vlasov riding all out to chase down Sivakov at the end?

 

[Rackham]

He's going to drop you like a rock, Ben.

"Roglic will have to pick up a lot of bonus seconds to keep up with me."

Ben O'Connor overleeft eerste dag in rode trui: "Roglic zal nog veel boni's moeten pakken om mij bij te benen"

Ben O’Connor heeft er een prima eerste dag opzitten in de rode leiderstrui. De Australische klimmer overleefde enkele prikjes van dichtste achtervolger Primoz Roglic, die wel enkele bonificatieseconden wist mee te pikken. “Hij zal nog veel boni’s moeten pakken om mij bij te benen”, zei O’Connor...

www.wielerflits.nl

 

[Rackham]

I'm surprised you don't seem to have an issue with today. What is your explanation for Vlasov riding all out to chase down Sivakov at the end?

At least it made Van Aert happy. It was also impressive to see Kuss bury himself for his teammate like that.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

He's going to drop you like a rock, Ben.

"Roglic will have to pick up a lot of bonus seconds to keep up with me."

Ben O'Connor overleeft eerste dag in rode trui: "Roglic zal nog veel boni's moeten pakken om mij bij te benen"

Ben O’Connor heeft er een prima eerste dag opzitten in de rode leiderstrui. De Australische klimmer overleefde enkele prikjes van dichtste achtervolger Primoz Roglic, die wel enkele bonificatieseconden wist mee te pikken. “Hij zal nog veel boni’s moeten pakken om mij bij te benen”, zei O’Connor...

www.wielerflits.nl

I do get the feeling that the two options for our lad Ben are:

1) He rides smart, has the legs, and holds on.
2) He has an epic emotional breakdown and loses buckets.

I could of course be wrong, but I don't see him narrowly taking second and taking it stoically.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Big 6 seconds today!!!!!

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

At least it made Van Aert happy. It was also impressive to see Kuss bury himself for his teammate like that.

I like Kuss and Wout so I was pleased with the result, just don't understand how Vlasov fits in unless he was ordered to ride for Wout because of Red Bull. Has something like that ever happened?

 

[Ricco']

I'm surprised you don't seem to have an issue with today. What is your explanation for Vlasov riding all out to chase down Sivakov at the end?

In mother Russia, a dissident simply doesn't break away.

 

[Sciatic]

Yeah baffling stuff so far. So Vlasov didn't ride yesterday to reduce the 5-minute gap to a guy who got 4th in this year's Giro and the 2021 Tour. But he rode all out at today to ensure Wout a win? What was the goal of that? I don't see any benefit to Bora at all. What am I missing?

I think it’s pretty easy to see—having been grilled (and knowing themselves) that they didn’t do enough yesterday the DS feels they have to do everything possble today. But the only thing they had in their playbook was “win bonus seconds on X climb,” which fit with their strategy at the beginning of the Vuelta but no longer fits the current situation. So second day in a row they displayed no capacity to be flexible with their tactics.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

O Connor: 'Roglic will need a lot of bonuses to beat me'

https://twitter.com/x/status/1827015542470816130

View: https://x.com/WielerFlits/status/1827015542470816130?t=D7EZihifMW55_ly2ciW9Dw&s=19

 

[Sciatic]

O Connor: 'Roglic will need a lot of bonuses to beat me'

https://twitter.com/x/status/1827015542470816130

View: https://x.com/WielerFlits/status/1827015542470816130?t=D7EZihifMW55_ly2ciW9Dw&s=19

Bonus seconds alone won’t get it done. It’s going to take O’Connor cracking. Or an Andy-style long range attack with satellite teammates out front, though not sure BORA has the brain trust to carry that out.
Good for O’Connor showing confidence.

 

[Rackham]

Bonus seconds alone won’t get it done. It’s going to take O’Connor cracking. Or an Andy-style long range attack with satellite teammates out front, though not sure BORA has the brain trust to carry that out.
Good for O’Connor showing confidence.

Am I the only person who doesn't even think O'Connor has to 'crack' for Rog to win this thing? All it takes is getting dropped à la pédale on multiple tough stages. 30 seconds here, 20 seconds elsewhere, 45 seconds another day, 1 minute etc.

This isn't a scenario in which Rog, Almeida & co will only take back time via bonus seconds. They'll do it the 'normal way', aka dropping the dude.

 

[zlev11]

the terrain left in this race is so hard it's going to make 5 minutes look like nothing

 

[Sciatic]

Am I the only person who doesn't even think O'Connor has to 'crack' for Rog to win this thing? All it takes is getting dropped à la pédale on multiple tough stages. 30 seconds here, 20 seconds elsewhere, 45 seconds another day, 1 minute etc.

This isn't a scenario in which Rog, Almeida & co will only take back time via bonus seconds. They'll do it the 'normal way', aka dropping the dude.

I hope so. And that’s possible, but many of the climbs are not that long so require attacking from farther out, which requires teams to execute tactics they hadn’t planned on.

 

[Gargamel35]

He's going to drop you like a rock, Ben.

"Roglic will have to pick up a lot of bonus seconds to keep up with me."

Ben O'Connor overleeft eerste dag in rode trui: "Roglic zal nog veel boni's moeten pakken om mij bij te benen"

Ben O’Connor heeft er een prima eerste dag opzitten in de rode leiderstrui. De Australische klimmer overleefde enkele prikjes van dichtste achtervolger Primoz Roglic, die wel enkele bonificatieseconden wist mee te pikken. “Hij zal nog veel boni’s moeten pakken om mij bij te benen”, zei O’Connor...

www.wielerflits.nl

That sounds like bragging. I'm not sure you talk down like that to a guy with 85 pro wins, 4GT wins, etc. Not when there is more than 2 weeks to go and he dropped you on any climb he went 100%.

 

[zlev11]

That sounds like bragging. I'm not sure you talk down like that to a guy with 85 pro wins, 4GT wins, etc. Not when there is more than 2 weeks to go and he dropped you on any climb he went 100%.

agreed, unless this guy is on some real good clinic stuff he should have no reason to believe he won't be dropped by Roglic (and many others in this race) at every opportunity.

reminder that yesterday was on climbs literally half the gradient of the climbs on the stages coming up

 

[YavorD]

Am I the only person who doesn't even think O'Connor has to 'crack' for Rog to win this thing? All it takes is getting dropped à la pédale on multiple tough stages. 30 seconds here, 20 seconds elsewhere, 45 seconds another day, 1 minute etc.

This isn't a scenario in which Rog, Almeida & co will only take back time via bonus seconds. They'll do it the 'normal way', aka dropping the dude.

It's gonna take 6-7 stages by 40 seconds average to get him back (say 30 if we assume Roglic wins them). It is certainly possible but I really wouldn't bet on such a scenario. One weaker day/great day for O'Connor and we are back to square one.

Go hard on Sunday and win as much as possible rather than calculating how much you can get on each stage.