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Il Lombardia 2024, one day monument, October 12, farewell to Domenico Pozzovivo

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It will be quite interesting to find out who will have to work for UAE. It will probably be Fisher-Black or Sivakov, but it will be interesting to find out what Hirschi‘s role is, maybe launching the Pogster. In total, it‘s just interesting that they don‘t have anybody who often grinds out kilometers at the front of the peloton, but that‘s the consequence of buying all the top riders: You have to give them big races.
 
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maybe launching the Pogster
You made me wonder whether I came up with that nickname. Turns out I only resurrected it:
So ...

We have a revitalized, healthy, extra terrestrial van der Poel absolutely smashing people since Milan San Remo. Pretty sure his acceleration numbers are alien and he certainly is destroying people. Then the Pogster absolutely spanks him on the terrain he really should be the most dominant on, Flanders.

All this to say, it's been an enjoyable classics season to watch for the pure spectacle. The racing has been quite interesting. But the performances are really quite laughable, and I really can't get excited by the Pogster, because it's just excessive and silly.
I don't think I'd read your post from last year, when I started calling him the Pogster @Ripper

Strange...
 
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I am not watching the race as otherwise engaged

Wonder who will be second ...love it to be Ben Healy but Im guessing he will attack too early as per

Skujins,Tiberi , Bardet and Masnada should be up there for the battle for podium

Ben Healy needs to, as Sean Kelly would say, "keep his powder dry", but that's hard to do when you don't know when Pog will attack and explode the race.
 
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The shock will be if Pogačar doesn't win frankly. The route is actually easier than usual, there is no Civiglio which is the climb where the decisive attack is often made when the race finishes in Como, Sormano even without the Muro should be hard enough for Pogačar to drop everyone after being leadout by UAE and secure an advantage big enough to give him the win.

It also helps that most of his big rivals are not here, Roglič has been one of the best at this race in recent years, Bagioli was second last year and Pidcock was good in Emilia and was one of the biggest podium contenders. Even Remco doesn't look good lately so I don't think he will do more than fighting for second place.

I think Mas could be the second strongest rider in this race but he will need to drop the likes of Remco, Healy and Jorgenson if he wants to finish on the podium. Lipowitz is also an interesting dark horse, I wouldn't be surprised if he finishes on the podium after his showing in Emilia.
 
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No sympathy for Pidcock. Ineos aint getting their worth with all the focus on everything else than road racing
I don't think this means deselecting him makes any sense, given he was a very likely podium and Ineos have had a pretty dire year. Besides, in an Olympic year, Pidcock has still provided more attention to the team with his MTB gold than any of their road results (which he also has the best of, given his Amstel win). Pidcock is clearly a nightmare to work with, but this is silly and petty and exemplifies the obvious management/cultural issues at Ineos atm.
 
No sympathy for Pidcock. Ineos aint getting their worth with all the focus on everything else than road racing
Lol it's not like the rest of their team is delivering day in day out.
He's the only one in the last few years to consistently put up bigger wins (Strade, Amstel, Tour stage, Brabantse). I'm not saying he's worth his salary but it's hard to blame him on also focusing on different stuff when the guys on the team that focus solely on road are putting up even worse results.
 
No sympathy for Pidcock. Ineos aint getting their worth with all the focus on everything else than road racing
They knew when they signed him he was a multi discipline rider - and paid him accordingly. Why shouldn't he get paid big money? World Tour road wins, World Cups off-road, World championships off-road, and 2 Olympic MTB titles.
People need to take their road tinted glasses off, and think off-road riders should be paid peanuts.