It’s normal for the elite to avoid racing each other before a big race of the year. Especially in build up races. Pogi released his schedule in December before the others and saw very little of the big three prior to then (did remco even race LBL?)
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Think he was still in recovery from the Basque Crash.
I think it was on his announced schedule, so avoidance is not monolithic, if even normal
He had a broken colar bone and scapula from a crash two weeks prior to LBL. As a 2-time winner he will race LBL always if it fits his schedule and he isn't recovering. It's like Mvdp not riding Flanders. Of course he will, regardless of Pogacar.
Pretty sure he wasn't the only rider who had races on their announced schedules, but ended up not doing those races...
you what would make me warm to Lombardia? if they raced it before the Giro. but it clashes with Romandie. now it's just sad. never got any expectation, never really warmed to it. the season ends, winter and cold will come. just sad. it would a great race before the Giro. but there's really no weekend available, and May 1st is already taken by Eschborn-Frankfurt WT
Then it wouldn't be "The Race of the Falling Leaves".
I know. I see all of you hyped for Il Lombardia. I don't feel it. my fault.
I'm more than ready to miss that detail.
Il Lombardia: "the great opening for the Giro". on these screens in May 2030!
Lombardia shouldn't be the opening for anything.
RCS's web marketing manager won't care
. I would even drive to watch the race, I'm not that far
I always have the same feeling. Maybe it’s just fatigue of a whole season, combined with the height of a WC that everything after it doesn’t interest me as much
Lombardia for me is like the meme of the 2 men on the bus. the sad one looks at the wall (Lombardia) the other is looking at the sunny side, smiling, waiting for Sanremo.
Of course. So this is not a monolithic occurrence with schedules based on these situations.
And it cuts both ways. Pogi isn't going to ITT against remco at certain events. Even if he might almost be strong enough to prevail. It doesn't make sense to goals.
There's this thing about strawman arguments where things are suggested that are not at all the focus of the original topic. in this case, you said the topic of avoidance was made up and never happened and then pivoted to the idea injury. This isn't intended to hurt your feelings, but to bring this topic back to center.
Pogi did in fact release his schedule first and others scheduled around him before they were injured. And this isn't necessarily because Pogi seems to be stronger heading into the year, but maybe because historically riders don't like to line up against other strong competitors in build up races to the TdF. So avoidance did happen as described and suggested by others and it will happen again because it just doesn't make sense for these guys to challenge each other before the big prize.
Lombardia is "The big prize" - or at least one of the big prizes - so the riders skipping it (like Roglic) aren't doing it because they're trying to avoid Pogacar.
And just to be clear, my initial comment about the subject of avoidance was in reply to Jack_89's post thinking it was fans avoiding races with Pogacar.
(The post he replied to seemed very much like a joke.)
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Top dogs (like Rogla or MVP) are skipping it because they don't think they have a good shot at victory. The decision is associated with their assessment of their own form vs potential competition (it can't be unnoticed how dominant Pogacar is). I don't think Roglic would target a top3 or top5 anywhere, he's a winner.
Roglic hates the cold and rain. No shot in Emilia. He won the Vuelta and can take an early vacation. Why not, eh?
Roglic would show up if he could do a good race. That means he would show up if knowing he's in for the podium with Pogacar 2 minutes ahead.
Well, I think there are a few guys like Pog, Rog, Remco, MVP, Vingo, who always think they can win (when in good enough form). That's why I think Rogla, even when realizing he's not the top favourite, still thinks he has a shot at victory. I don't believe he enters any race not thinking about victory (maybe except some warm-up races).
If that were true, why did he race the WC this year?
For real, these guys are winners, but it's not like they just DNS when they can't win. Rogla actually battles really hard when he gets dropped in Lombardia to still get a result for example.
As for you first remark here is the answer:
I can't do any predictions, but the courses of both the individual time trial and road race suit me. On top of that, participating is good to keep the race rythm I need for #ILombardia. It's easier to remain in shape by racing.
As for the second, sure he's a fighter. Without this mentality he wouldn't get when he's now. But as you pointed out they are winners as well, who can assess they own form and potential impact on the race (ok, maybe top3 is still good enough in some races but you got my point it seems).
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