Itzulia Basque Country 2021, Spain, April 5 - April 10

[BlueRoads]

Not Niermann, Maassen made the decision

Jumbo – Visma hat sich verpokert, gibt aber nichts verloren | radsport-news.com

www.radsport-news.com

"If we take stock now, we are on the wrong side," he summarized the frustrating outcome of the race for Jumbo - Visma. “We hoped to win the stage with Jonas in the end. He rode very well today, ”said the two-time Vuelta winner. Vingegaard had good legs indeed. In the last, steep climb of the day, the Dane single-handedly thwarted an attack with McNulty, among others, in order to break away with five other riders including the American on the descent. But it didn't work out to win the stage.

“We played a little bit of poker in the closing stages. Jonas didn't have to work in the group, so we hoped to win with him ”, said Frans Maassen, the sporting director of Jumbo - Visma, who made the decision not to use his climber Antwan Tolhoek in the group of favorites to chase the outliers. Despite the double disappointment, he was confident. “Losing your jersey here is not a major drama. We will do everything we can to get it back for the last two days, ”said Maassen. "Here in the Basque Country every day is a day for the classification. The next two days won't be any different. We still have chances," agreed Roglic.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Is this the first time McNulty wears a leader's jersey?

 

[Faserr]

De Gendt is here for this stage.

 

[search]

in the pre-stage interviews, most guys seemed to be confident to get a sprint today, riders from Isreal, EF, Caja Rural, Total, Greenedge, Euskaltel all said it's their prefered scenario, and sounded willing to control. Basically only Ben Swift 100% believed in the chances of the breakaway. Warbasse said it's 50:50

 

[search]

there are some strong guys up the road already, though. Cerny, Honoré, Amador, Schelling and Bernard. Leknessund trying to bridge

 

[Faserr]

Not a really big break. I think some teams will chase. UAE will do nothing.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Is this the first time McNulty wears a leader's jersey?

He already did so on the final stage of the 2019 Tour of Sicily, and likely also somewhere else in a U23 and/or .2 race.

 

[WKA311]

Schelling is turning into such a good allround weapon for Bora. Great transfer for them.

 

[Krokro]

Interesting topic, but can you guys tell me if there's any itzulia topic already or should I create one?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

So far Johnymax has come up with the explanation that's most plausible to me: They had a plan which would have put them in a comfortable position if it had been executed perfectly, with Vingegaard winning the stage and bonus seconds and Roglic not being far behind.

I wonder how they estimate the riders. Maybe they rate Vingegaard higher than me (although I have him on my cq-team, so happy to be wrong...), Roglic worse than me, Pogacar higher and McNulty worse.
I still think I'm smarter than Niermann.

There are two things about which I agree with CyclistAbi, though: It was a deliberate decision by Jumbo and Saturday we will know more.

I think i rate every professional cyclist higher than you, unless you're Van Vleuten, but i know for a fact that you're not, since you've been on the forum while Annemiek was riding. So i can't imagine you being better than Roglic or even Vingegaard.

 

[BlueRoads]

I think i rate every professional cyclist higher than you, unless you're Van Vleuten, but i know for a fact that you're not, since you've been on the forum while Annemiek was riding. So i can't imagine you being better than Roglic or even Vingegaard.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Cosnefroy and Zimmerman DNS

 

[CyclistAbi]

One thing to consider is cycling personas, such as Chris Horner, they for sure know cycling in-depth and i can agree with much of what they are saying. Still, currently they are not racing but are making popular videos and want to reach wider audience. With some heavy and in depth analysis much less people would watch their videos. For them it works better to simplify things and to say fire everybody, when a GC rider loses the jersey.

It is for example usually not all that simple in cycling and it is usually hard to explain to casual cycling fans, on why GC rider doesn't want to wear jersey at all. That is, until the moment it crosses the finish line. Or why doesn't he attack, how could he be winning, riding like that ...

Said that, casual cycling fans have every right to judge by themself and to defend what they believe is the truth. There is so much more to cycling then thinking you know the whole truth.

 

[Lequack]

Eurosport commentators replying to Chris Horner that they're not getting fired.

 

[Red Rick]

I think i rate every professional cyclist higher than you, unless you're Van Vleuten, but i know for a fact that you're not, since you've been on the forum while Annemiek was riding. So i can't imagine you being better than Roglic or even Vingegaard.

I applied for the job of Jumbo DS but the IQ test failed me.

 

[Escarabajo]

GCN+ just made the comments about Chris Horner!!! LOL. "Nobody should get fired"!!!!!!

I really disagree with Chris on this all the way. And also disagree with most of the members here. I just don't see McNulty challenging Roglic and Pogacar tomorrow. If that is the case tomorrow then nobody would care. Tomorrow stage is crazy. I just don't see these other riders challenging Roglic or Pogacar. We just want to make drama and a story from it. But there is not.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I applied for the job of Jumbo DS but the IQ test failed me.

I can see that happening. I think at TJV, it is quite easy to be deemed too intelligent to become a DS.

 

[Lequack]

GCN+ just made the comments about Chris Horner!!! LOL. "Nobody should get fired"!!!!!!

I really disagree with Chris on this all the way. And also disagree with most of the members here. I just don't see McNulty challenging Roglic and Pogacar tomorrow. If that is the case tomorrow then nobody would care. Tomorrow stage is crazy. I just don't see these other riders challenging Roglic or Pogacar. We just want to make drama and a story from it. But there is not.

Maybe McNulty will also get the power of the yellow jersey. It's a real thing.

 

[search]

the rain may make things more challenging, but on paper tomorrow's stage is not that hard, is it?! Even if Roglic attacks on the steep climb with 50k to go, who is going to work together with him? Pogacar will just sit on his wheel, waiting for McNulty to return. And on the traditional Arrate climb in the end, personally I think it'll be difficult to put a lot of time into him

 

[Lequack]

Is this the first time McNulty wears a leader's jersey?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

A thing to keep an eye out for today is whether Jon Aberasturi will get it right and finish 157th for the fourth time. He miscalculated the number of riders ahead of him on stage 2 and had to settle for 158th. But since he is one of the fastest men on paper, he may be thinking about a possible stage win/podium instead.

 

[sir fly]

Well, the truth's probably somewhere in-between.
It's not like McNulty lost half an hour two days ago.

A thing to keep an eye out for today is whether Jon Aberasturi will get it right and finish 157th for the fourth time. He miscalculated the number of riders ahead of him on stage 2 and had to settle for 158th. But since he is one of the fastest men on paper, he may be thinking about a possible stage win/podium instead.

Is it you, Ginger?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Why is Higuita leading the peloton??

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Is this an ad for an anti-aging cream?

 

[BlueRoads]

One thing to consider is cycling personas, such as Chris Horner, they for sure know cycling in-depth and i can agree with much of what they are saying. Still, currently they are not racing but are making popular videos and want to reach wider audience. With some heavy and in depth analysis much less people would watch their videos. For them it works better to simplify things and to say fire everybody, when a GC rider loses the jersey.

It is for example usually not all that simple in cycling and it is usually hard to explain to casual cycling fans, on why GC rider doesn't want to wear jersey at all. That is, until the moment it crosses the finish line. Or why doesn't he attack, how could he be winning, riding like that ...

Said that, casual cycling fans have every right to judge by themself and to defend what they believe is the truth. There is so much more to cycling then thinking you know the whole truth.

I agree in general, it's easy to say so and so for a video or in a forum. But if I'm critical of such a tactical decision it's not because I want drama. And of course you never know about how riders feel and so on but it was a situation where I think 90% of the viewers immediately were like "what are they doing?" So of course one's looking for explanations.
Obviously Roglic doesn't take this as drama. So maybe they simply put Vingegaard's possible win above the GC and for Roglic it's mostly a preparation race.