NibalI ended up in a group with Pernsteiner, Almeida and Masnada a minute behind Konrad. Are we to think that all of those guys have the new special sauce too but it’s been kept from Nibali? Or could we instead surmise that Nibali, who has done nothing all year, is old and has become exactly the kind of rider who needs to hit his peak dead on to compete, ie exactly the kind of rider who might have particular trouble this year? Or to be more blunt about it, is it not more likely that Nibali simply sucks right now and is riding at the level of guys who would consider coming 8th to be a major success? And that in fact he‘s no more reliable about his numbers than Bernal was?
Take Geoghegan Hart as an example. I’m absolutely sure that Ineos have that guy tracked and measured and tested so much he might get confused and think he’s a space shuttle component. He‘s highly regarded there and British. But they’ve never picked him for the Tour and he was sent here as an important B Team domestique, not a leader. Why have they issued him of all people with the super sauce? Why not their Tour team? Why not Thomas, whose big proof that he had top form still involved getting spanked by Simon Yates on Sassotetto? For that matter why didn’t Sunweb send Jai Hindley to the Tour if they thought he was a worldbeater?
Was Pello Bilbao suddenly issued with the new secret weapon in between the Tour and the Giro? Or is he just riding against a laughably weak field? I know which my money is on.