We need more stages in the hilly landscape in Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna. And both longer and tougher than today. Both stages for the GC and mostly for breakaway wins.
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Tadej Pogacar (UAD): "I would have allowed Plapp to take the Pink jersey, that would have been good too, but Ineos Grenadiers rode on the gravel sections and in the last kilometers, so we are not didn't get there."
So the guy that chimed in that I am a bad dude for family or furry friend sacrifices for a pro podium result will certainly be incensed that I will join the cartel before lunch for a pro result!! Like Alaphilippe taking a hand up today from Patrick Lefevere .. I will be getting my water bottles and gels from El Chapo!! Can you imagine the disgust when Del Toro is told he is riding support for El Blanco Gordo..the bike racing version of Jack Black in Nacho Libre!!That and your family being members of the Tijuana Cartell...they would get you first!
3rd place is the 2nd loser. all of his efforts were for nothing; he didn't even try to win.
"Might" is the key word. If Plapp stopped riding, the pace might have dropped as his companions played cat and mouse, knowing Plapp could jump them at any moment.
Feel like possible troll blood has been spilled into the water.
Let me identify some basics about all forms of bike racing, these are facts, not my humble opinions.
Majority of people who compete in federation sanctioned events don't win or achieve a podium result ( top 3) that goes for amateur and professional racers. There are a variety of available cycling database websites were information can be examined. Procyclingstats.com is an easy to use ,free source of information. Take current few hundred pros,type in their name and you will get a by year list of results, date always, but not all sites include entrants or finishers . Majority of riders will start and end a career without a podium or victory.
Luke Plapp..or Julian Alaphilippe, can stop racing tomorrow and cycling and people who know it's details and Inter workings would never, could never consider either rider as you describe losers. You are certainly welcome to use that language and maintain your own criteria, but in bike racing, podium at a pro race,any race disqualify you from being a loser. Grand tour results are reserved for the best in the sport on that occasion, again loser can't be accurately used for anyone top 3, top 10 or 20 at a Grand tour.My normal sarcasm and sophomore humour is not included, if Plapp or Alaphilippe are losers you don't know the sport, which I repeat is your right and privilege. Loser is a term for sure,but used as a pejorative for second or third place, kind of silly.
Julian Alaphilippe
Julian Alaphilippe (born 1992-06-11 in Saint-Amand-Montrond) is a professional road racing cyclist from France, currently riding for Soudal Quick-Step. His best results are 2 wins in World Championships and 3 wins in La Flèche Wallonne.
www.procyclingstats.com
He did the same thing on the 2nd stage of Romandie with Nys and Vendrame. Ended up third there too.
Feel like possible troll blood has been spilled into the water.
Let me identify some basics about all forms of bike racing, these are facts, not my humble opinions.
Majority of people who compete in federation sanctioned events don't win or achieve a podium result ( top 3) that goes for amateur and professional racers. There are a variety of available cycling database websites were information can be examined. Procyclingstats.com is an easy to use ,free source of information. Take current few hundred pros,type in their name and you will get a by year list of results, date always, but not all sites include entrants or finishers . Majority of riders will start and end a career without a podium or victory.
Luke Plapp..or Julian Alaphilippe, can stop racing tomorrow and cycling and people who know it's details and Inter workings would never, could never consider either rider as you describe losers. You are certainly welcome to use that language and maintain your own criteria, but in bike racing, podium at a pro race,any race disqualify you from being a loser. Grand tour results are reserved for the best in the sport on that occasion, again loser can't be accurately used for anyone top 3, top 10 or 20 at a Grand tour.My normal sarcasm and sophomore humour is not included, if Plapp or Alaphilippe are losers you don't know the sport, which I repeat is your right and privilege. Loser is a term for sure,but used as a pejorative for second or third place, kind of silly.
Julian Alaphilippe
Julian Alaphilippe (born 1992-06-11 in Saint-Amand-Montrond) is a professional road racing cyclist from France, currently riding for Soudal Quick-Step. His best results are 2 wins in World Championships and 3 wins in La Flèche Wallonne.
i wasn't saying that they were "Losers" personally, just that they lost on the stage today. the rest of this ***...you should've saved your time, i'm not reading any of it.
let me teach you some Cycling Tactics 101. Alaphlippe's tactics were fine because he has a great sprint so taking pulls and relying on his sprint was 100% the right idea. Plapp had zero chance in hell of ever outsprinting Alaphilippe today, not to even bring Sanchez into the equation. in fact, having another rider there actually helps him because if Plapp goes, they might hesitate because they do not want to let the other one draft off of them. so even if he had not already been dropped earlier, his best chance to win was to stop pulling. instead he drilled it on the front for the last 1.5k. if he had enough energy to do that then he had enough energy to stop pulling and attack inside the last kilometer. nobody is saying he would've won, in fact probably not, but a 10% chance at winning is a lot better than zero.
Got it, we are all just lazy wankers who should shut the *** up. We don't have the status needed to discuss what unfolded. I'm glad you do.
i actually think that was fine. in that situation he actually was GC relevant and gaining real time on the other GC riders with stages left that suited him. and on top of that he was catching tired breakaway riders near the top of a climb, so there was actually a chance he could outsprint them as well.
none of this means anything. it doesn't take real racing experience to know that riding on the front in a group of 3 while having the worst sprint of the 3 is a bad tactic. i don't get what having experience in bike racing has to do with realizing that he gave himself no chance of winning the stage? i commended the Polti rider Pietrobon for his great tactics yesterday, where he did the exact opposite of what Plapp did and would've won the stage had the riders behind hesitated slightly more than they did. he risked losing a 3rd or a 4th place and gave himself a chance to win the race.
next time i'll just post "wow, Luke Plapp, what a hoss. using all of that energy for a 3rd place. atta boy."
Two days in a row there’s discussions and disparaging comments about lower tier riders as the bigger dogs get all the excuses
ok, fine. if his goal is to become the next Francis De Greef then he did an amazing ride.
is it a poem they read at the end of Processo alla Tappa now, or what's that part about?
I still miss the blackboard with the favorites' names (ilmaestro style), though, and also the dog predicting the winner. That was some quality coverage!
I still miss the blackboard with the favorites' names (ilmaestro style), though, and also the dog predicting the winner. That was some quality coverage!
If you’re talking with friends about Formula 1 races, do you discount anyone’s perspective who didn’t race F1?
Is that what I said? Implied?
I would listen to the driver more than someone who's never done it. And driving a car is not equivalent to riding a bike. The ask is to try and think a little less mechanically about what constitutes good tactics. To understand riders don't all have the same capabilities or motivations. And being tired is a thing...about 10x more than in F1.
Same thing with people referring to Ala getting outsprinted, that "a few years ago" he would never have lost that sprint. Maybe. I saw him lose sprints at his peak. People get tired. Sometimes you have good legs and sometimes you don't. He easily could have lost that sprint at his peak.
Slagging a rider because he didn't do this or that, unequivocally, is dumb. Riders have good days and bad days. They aren't the same every day, or in every tactical situation.
Okay, that’s a bit too reductionistic.
I love that I get the perspective of folks who raced on this forum. And if we were all magically made into consultants advising the DS and riders on team bus about strategies for the next day’s stage, I would absolutely discount my opinion because I never raced. But we’re commenting on something we’re all watching as entertainment (okay, maybe some of you are betting on it) just like we might comment on a theater performance or a band concert. Someone who has watched a lot of theater , ufor example, may pick up all kinds of nuances and perhaps be better informed about the specific than someone who says “I used to act.”
I have an example from my work. Federal court judges have often allowed my opinions (testimony) on lawsuits re: environment contamination. However, I’m a historian — not a chemist, not a hydrologist, not a biologist all of whom also testify: Even though I’ve never stepped foot on any contaminated sites or ever been inside a lab, my opinion is valid simply because I’ve found, read, and contextualized every single bit of historical documentation re; the polluters or industrial methods, etc.
Of course, attorneys for the defendants (industrial companies) spend hours critiquing my opinion to try to get it thrown out of court. But they’re generally not successful as long as I know my stuff.
I think there’s definitely instincts that riders have in the moment that might be impossible for fans to see, but also the inverse of fans seeing the obvious writing on the wall better than riders at times. I think he was just on the limit with a fast approaching peloton and hadn’t raced a lot of sprint finishes in his career so kept pedaling.
I can't speak for RF, but yes, I do. EDIT: discount as in not as valuable as a driver, not discount as in worthless.
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