Teams & Riders Fausto Masnada - 'King of the Mountains'

[Ilmaestro99]

What a performance today. One of the most exciting riders in the world and I was saying that since 2018. He is really so strong. Just can't sprint for his life.

And Mayomaniac is wrong Fausto is not another Diego Rosa.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

How long have you been waiting for the chance to open this thread?

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Lets not forget he won the piccolo lombardia in 2015...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Lets not forget he won the piccolo lombardia in 2015...

If I remember correctly Ciccone gifted him the win because Masnada still didn't have a pro contract, that was a Colpack 1-2.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

How long have you been waiting for the chance to open this thread?

Well since I joined, but the last few weeks I was seriously consider it.

The problem was I wanted to do a full opening post with a career summary, best results, talk about his character, his charisma as a racer and his potential for the next few years. Which would require quite a lot of effort. And I'm somehow an adult so I didnt get round to it because I was doing things. So only now after the race I felt like I had no choice but to start even if it was a simple start.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

If I remember correctly Ciccone gifted him the win because Masnada still didn't have a pro contract, that was a Colpack 1-2.

You are correct. And still Fausto didn't got a pro contract for 2016 . He is a late bloomer even though he was 6th Overall in Valle d'aosta age 18.

 

[Mayomaniac]

You are correct. And still Fausto didn't got a pro contract for 2016 . He is a late bloomer even though he was 6th Overall in Valle d'aosta age 18.

He had various injuries and Mono in the u23 ranks, that has to be said.
Still, Savio did a great job with both him and Cattaneo.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Any news about his contract situation? From what I know he wants to stay at Quickstep, but if a team like AG2R would throw some money at him to be their Giro leader I'd think about it...

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

What a performance today. One of the most exciting riders in the world and I was saying that since 2018. He is really so strong. Just can't sprint for his life.

And Mayomaniac is wrong Fausto is not another Diego Rosa.

Fair play dude, you earned this thread for him

 

[DaLong]

How is he one of the most exciting riders in the world? I am not rebutting, I am curious to as your rational. He seems kind of bland or meh to me, but what is your point of view? I am ready to be convinced otherwise...

 

[Wyndbrook]

Any news about his contract situation? From what I know he wants to stay at Quickstep, but if a team like AG2R would throw some money at him to be their Giro leader I'd think about it...

The big boss said he has 29 riders signed for next year, pus Cav.
My admittedly poor maths makes him in.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The big boss said he has 29 riders signed for next year, pus Cav.
My admittedly poor maths makes him in.

Makes sense, him, Cattaneo and Ballerini have been teammates since the Androni days, he likes Bramati and according to himself he has a good relationship with Remco.

 

[Escarabajo]

Should we include Masnada with the crop of prominent newbies like Pogacar, Remco and Bernal?
Is it time yet? do we have enough sample?

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Should we include Masnada with the crop of prominent newbies like Pogacar, Remco and Bernal?
Is it time yet? do we have enough sample?

He is almost 28 and was making his mark on pro races since 2017. Not quite a newbie although he will be definitely a late bloomer

 

[Mayomaniac]

They probably should have taken him to the Olympics instead of Ciccone after his 2nd place at the NC.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Fausto Masnada palmares:

2010 (junior) :
-8th Trofeo Paganessi

2012 (u23) :
-6th Overall Giro delle valle d'Aosta

2014 (u23) :
-7th Ruta d'Oro

2015 (u23) :
-9th Overall Giro Friuli Venezia
-1st Piccolo Giro di Lombardia

2016 (amateur) :
-1st Giro del Medio Brenta

2017 (Androni) :
-7th Giro dell'Appennino
-2nd Overall Tour du Jura
-3rd Overall Tour of Turkey (WT)

2018 (Androni):
-10th Trofeo Laigueglia
-6th Overall Settimana Coppi e Bartali
-3rd Giro dell'Appennino
-26th Overall in his first Giro d'Italia (WT)
-KOM Tour of Slovenia
-9th Overall Tour of Hungary
-1st Overall Tour of Hainan + 1st stage 8

2019 (Androni):
-3rd Overall Giro di Sicilia + KOM
-5th Overall Tour of the Alpes + 1st stage 3 + 1st stage 5
-2nd Giro dell'Appennino
-1st Stage 6 Giro d'Italia (WT) + 20th overall + 2nd in KOM
-7th Overall Tour of Slovenia
-8th Tokyo 2020 test event
-8th Coppa Agostini

2020 (CCC/Quickstep):
-9th Overall Tour alpes maritime et du Var
-6th Overall Tirreno Adriatico (WT)
-9th Overall Giro d'Italia (WT)

2021 (Quickstep):
-10th overall UAE tour (WT)
-3rd Overall Tour de Romandie (WT)
-DNF Giro d'Italia
-2nd Italian Road Race Championships
-3rd Coppa bernocchi
-8th Milano Torino
-2nd Il Lombardia (WT)

The best is yet to come.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

They probably should have taken him to the Olympics instead of Ciccone after his 2nd place at the NC.

Yes, he did Italians championship on only 2 weeks training as well. But sadly his crash in Settimana Italia would ruin his Olympic participation anyway. That's why he missed vuelta

 

[tobydawq]

He has done well the past couple of seasons. It's a bit sad that he is reduced to a forum meme, though.

 

[BlueRoads]

He has done well the past couple of seasons. It's a bad sad that he is reduced to a forum meme, though.

You say that like it's something bad and not something everyone strives for.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

He has done well the past couple of seasons. It's a bad sad that he is reduced to a forum meme, though.

He is not a meme, he showed his strength and full capabilities that I saw since 2018, now everybody knows he can win a giro, his TT is strong, he can descend, he is aggressive and attacking and of course a phenomenal climber

He only was a meme because people didn't see the ability that he showed in glimpses before that I saw.

And I don't claim to be super wise about cycling or a brilliant talent scout, I am usually very wrong about these things. I thought giro fight would be between Landa, Sivako, Yates and Masnada, and that Bilbao would be on the TDF podium.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Anyways Fausto is today in Belgium with Quickstep team

 

[railxmig]

I thought he was a meme because at least to me he seems to be dumb as bricks and also seems to suffer from a bit of "italianism". He could be next Nibali as he seems to have similar strenghts. I believe some tactics lessons and cold head may help him in potentialy stepping up but then QS is not really renown for tactics nor having a cold head. Sorry for being too harsh on this man, just trying to be honest in the most polite way. Hope he'll give Italy a lot of joy in potential GT/climby monument battles as there's not much happening right now besides maybe Zana and who knows... Tiberi?.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I thought he was a meme because at least to me he seems to be dumb as bricks and also seems to suffer from a bit of "italianism". He could be next Nibali as he seems to have similar strenghts. I believe some tactics lessons and cold head may help him in potentialy stepping up but then QS is not really renown for tactics nor cold head. Sorry for being too harsh on this man, just trying to be honest in the most polite way. Hope he'll give Italy a lot of joy in potential GT/climby monument battles as there's not much happening right now besides maybe Zana and who knows... Tiberi?.

Well I admit even as a Fausto superfan he is not the most intelligent in the peloton. And I usually don't support riders I don't consider that intelligent. But he has every other attribute of a great rider. And he is very passionate about the sport. He is not as savvy as Vincenzo, that's for sure.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I thought he was a meme because at least to me he seems to be dumb as bricks and also seems to suffer from a bit of "italianism". He could be next Nibali as he seems to have similar strenghts. I believe some tactics lessons and cold head may help him in potentialy stepping up but then QS is not really renown for tactics nor having a cold head. Sorry for being too harsh on this man, just trying to be honest in the most polite way. Hope he'll give Italy a lot of joy in potential GT/climby monument battles as there's not much happening right now besides maybe Zana and who knows... Tiberi?.

Which teams do you consider tactically astute?

And i rate Tiberi, Aleotti etc over Zana.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Which teams do you consider tacticaly astute?

And i rate Tiberi, Aleotti etc over Zana.

Yeah I thought DQS was a little more tactically astute than most. Although they seems sometimes to make a mistake.

But when you race in a peloton with Ineos, Jumbo, Movistar, Trek and Bora its easy to look tactically astute.