Fabio Felline

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Was this his first cobbled race as a pro?

Yes, first one day race on cobbles.

No, he raced E3 at least in 2010.

Edit: and more than that

Ok, I see. Still, he was a 19 year old neo-pro and it doesn't look like he's raced the cobbles since.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Trek look really nicely set up for all the spring classics now. It's all been about Cancellara for so long, but now with Degenkolb joining, Stuyven and Theuns improving, and Felline looking ridiculously good, they have a really rounded team for the spring. All of them have the potential to stay near the front and all of them would be very dangerous in a sprint - great options.

As much as I always wanted Fabian to win, it's really refreshing to see "the young guys" getting their chance. Is Felline supposed to ride the classics this year?

 

[DFA123]

Apparently he's supposed to be doing Strade Bianche, Milan-Sanremo, the three big Belgian cobbled races, then a mini break before doing Ardennes week. He's going be a classics machine this season!

 

[Cannibal72]

Could be in with a shout on the new Amstel course, if he keeps his form up.

 

[Alexandre B.]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/felline-to-focus-on-cobbles-and-week-long-races/

“Until May I had a really good season but after that it was a disaster.”

“I got toxoplasmosis and the power and the numbers were totally different to my normal level. When we discovered this virus I needed the time to recover but when you have something like this it’s not about a week, you need months. Now I’ve had a really long break so I’m confident for the new season.”

“So for the next years my goals are to understand what kind of other races I’m good at, such as the Classics. In my head I love the cobbles but a lot of people discount me because I’m not 80kg but if I look at it another way, the first time I rode the cobbles was back in 2010 and I only came back to them in 2017. I had good feelings and in the Flanders Classics I got a lot of experience and realized how to use my power and when to make the efforts.”

“I had the yellow jersey (in Romandie) until the final chrono. I wanted to keep it but in the end I had to settle for fourth on the GC but this was still a big step in my career. I feel that in small tours I can do well.”

“We have Mollema and he’s showed that he’s a really good rider. People forget that he was right near the top at the Tour de France two years ago until the final few days and he won a stage this year. We have someone like Brambilla coming in and I think he wants to develop into a Grand Tour rider. He’s a real project for the team. We’ve all the elements to have a good year.”

“I don’t want to think too much about the big tours but I want to focus on the races where I can show my quality and where my body is ready to leave a mark. It’s a good quality to be complete but I don’t want to talk about the big tours. I want to put my focus in the races where I’ve shown I can do something already. In some of the cobbled races I can do something and on the small tours, I’ve shown that I’m competitive for the top five or the podium. When I was younger one of my dreams was to be successful in the big tours but sometimes you need to be honest. Maybe I can play for stages, or maybe a jersey.”

 

[SafeBet]

He's one of those riders who took a long time to fully develope and then had two major setbacks when he was close to breakout (crash in 2016, sickness this year). I think we have yet to see the best part of his career. He cand find his niche in classics.

 

[Emotional Cobble Guy]

Re:

He's one of those riders who took a long time to fully develope and then had two major setbacks when he was close to breakout (crash in 2016, sickness this year). I think we have yet to see the best part of his career. He cand find his niche in classics.

Very true imo.
I also had the impression that he was actually stronger than Degencolb in the Flemish classics.