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

[Netserk]

Today was his best performance this year so far. Good work for pouls and Lopez who took 1st and 2nd again. Pure grinta from fausto

Have you seen the provisional startlist for the Giro?

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Have you seen the provisional startlist for the Giro?

I refuse to believe it mate, there's still plenty of time for him to crash/get ill/disappear from the face of the earth.

 

[Netserk]

I refuse to believe it mate, there's still plenty of time for him to crash/get ill/disappear from the face of the earth.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1919303917919236415

View: https://x.com/XDSAstanaTeam/status/1919303917919236415

 

[SafeBet]

I would think there is a hope that Masnada will not stall as abruptly as Rosa did.

Just went back to read the first couple of pages and this was peak Toby predicting the future.

 

[Netserk]

Comparing the two, Rosa actually had slightly better results after his Lombardia podium than Masnada has had.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Comparing the two, Rosa actually had slightly better results after his Lombardia podium than Masnada has had.

But Diego Rosa got 3.5M spread over 3 years out of it...

 

[Ilmaestro99]

2021: abondonment of the giro from tendinitis, maybe a stress response from having to manage the emotions of remco

2022: scheduled for giro, missed it due to mononuclosis

2023: scheduled for giro, missed it due to saddle sore

2024: scheduled for giro, missed due to bronchitis

2025: Fausto is finally selected for a giro d'Italia!!!!!!

The nice thing is that this year I did not expect it. Really positive surprised this last few days.

I hope Fausto can have a great giro and show himself, his ability, his passion


With ulissi, scaroni, pouls, conci, fortunato, and Fausto, Astana can play the numbers in breakaways

 

[YavorD]

2021: abondonment of the giro from tendinitis, maybe a stress response from having to manage the emotions of remco

I think having to deal with Remco's emotions leaves a long term damage over everyone.
However, I hope Mesneda gets back to his best.

 

[Bolder]

2021: abondonment of the giro from tendinitis, maybe a stress response from having to manage the emotions of remco

2022: scheduled for giro, missed it due to mononuclosis

2023: scheduled for giro, missed it due to saddle sore

2024: scheduled for giro, missed due to bronchitis

2025: Fausto is finally selected for a giro d'Italia!!!!!!

The nice thing is that this year I did not expect it. Really positive surprised this last few days.

I hope Fausto can have a great giro and show himself, his ability, his passion


With ulissi, scaroni, pouls, conci, fortunato, and Fausto, Astana can play the numbers in breakaways

I still remember 2020. What a Giro for Almeida and Masnada.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Fausto wears bib 226 this giro, if you're trying to spot him

 

[Netserk]

Fausto wears bib 226 this giro, if you're trying to spot him

He should get in the two breaks in Albania.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Stage 1, Fausto finish in 103rd place and lost 7:23. Worked for the team early.

I am just grateful that he finish the stage.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Stage 2. Fausto finish the time trial in place 106. He lost 1:29 to the stage winner.. he beat European champion castrovejo

He moved one place up on the GC to 102nd overall. 8:52 behind roglic.

He can try for breakaways in the coming days

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

He moved one place up on the GC to 102nd overall. 8:52 behind roglic.

This reminds me of Taxus race updates in the Froome thread.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Masnada’s time to shine on stage 3. Astana should be working to set him up properly.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Our champion Faust slowly improving in this giro. Today he finished only 30s behind the favourite group after setting up his teammates to go in the breakaway. All smiles after the finish with Diego in the maglia Rosa. Happy days and hopefully better is coming

 

[Ilmaestro99]

If Fausto can finish tomorrow stage 12 then it will be his best giro performance since 2020. I will be nervous the whole stage. I hope he finishes

 

[Ilmaestro99]

If Fausto can finish tomorrow stage 12 then it will be his best giro performance since 2020. I will be nervous the whole stage. I hope he finishes

Dreams do come true.

Next task is to better his 2020 giro result which would mean finishing in the top 8 overall.

Will be difficult as Fausto is currently in 62nd overall and needs to gain almost 50 minutes back

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Today was my happiest day as a Masnada fan for a long time.

His strong and dedicated work in the breakaway and on the Santa Barbara climb allowed his teammates to take a 1-2. No egos, no hiding, just good strong honest work.

Fausto showed his best climbing level in a long time as well.

Next task is to better his 2020 giro result which would mean finishing in the top 8 overall.

Will be difficult as Fausto is currently in 62nd overall and needs to gain almost 50 minutes back

Since I made this post Fausto has gained 32 positions - he is now in the top 30 of GC.

After many years of doubt that he could even get a contract when quickstep let him go, he now showed his worth as a valuable investment for Astana

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Since I made this post Fausto has gained 32 positions - he is now in the top 30 of GC.

Unfortunately I cannot read results properly and I overstated the extent of Fausto's climb up the standings slightly

 

[Ilmaestro99]

After a somewhat prestigious top-41 finish at the giro, Fausto returning to racing at the tour de Suisse. It starts tomorrow.

Hoping for a good super compensation after a hard giro.

The full Astana team for the race is below

https://twitter.com/x/status/1933855724129456251

View: https://x.com/XDSAstanaTeam/status/1933855724129456251?t=AC33YG6zyROyZ_v0xfJOng&s=19

 

[CyclistAbi]

Around the same age now, when Rogla started winning GTs.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Another really poor performance by Fausto today. He is in the bottom 10 at tour le Suisse, almost an hour down on the leaders. He's just riding around at the grouperto. I don't understand. He needs to fight for a contract!

 

[tobydawq]

Another really poor performance by Fausto today. He is in the bottom 10 at tour le Suisse, almost an hour down on the leaders. He's just riding around at the grouperto. I don't understand. He needs to fight for a contract!

Beaten by Froome.

The Astana magic generally isn't too strong in this race. Masnada, Charmig, Ballerini, Bettiol and Fortunato all in the bottom ten on the stage?!?

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Beaten by Froome.

The Astana magic generally isn't too strong in this race. Masnada, Charmig, Ballerini, Bettiol and Fortunato all in the bottom ten on the stage?!?

Seems like they went all- in with certain riders preparing for a certain period of the season and now that it's over, they are paying the price. Fortunato has done really a lot of race days already and should probably be on holiday.

Do you know as a Dane why charmig performances are so poor? He impressed me a lot on Elmali in tour of turkeye 2021, and then the following year when he moved to the pro unox team he was also very strong. Talented rider