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

[Krzysztof_O]

I was waiting for a sneaky attack by Primoz in the tunnel but seemingly he was saving himself for a 100 km solo ride tomorrow.

 

[JosefK]

I have a knucklehead question: Should Jumbo try to send Vingegaard up the road on the last hill tomorrow (before Roglic's attack)? If Roglic were in yellow, that's an easy "no," but Jumbo has to attack, so . . .?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Fighting knuckleheads!

More like two Basque-t cases.

 

[Escarabajo]

I have a knucklehead question: Should Jumbo try to send Vengegaard up the road on the last hill tomorrow? If Roglic were in yellow, that's an easy "no," but Jumbo has to attack, so . . .?

I am not sure if you have watched the last times they did these kind of stages in the Itzulia, but I can tell you that I'll be surprised if they all come together to the last climb!

 

[Bonimenier]

I have a knucklehead question: Should Jumbo try to send Vingegaard up the road on the last hill tomorrow (before Roglic's attack)? If Roglic were in yellow, that's an easy "no," but Jumbo has to attack, so . . .?

I wouldn't be surprised if somehow Vingegaard attacks, McNulty follows and the 2 Slovenians watch eachother.

 

[Bolder]

Same as me. Not 30 years ago, but I started Athletics at my school in 2007 (with 12 years) and it was a pretty common thing to do. Unless cycling used to do archaic training methods.

However, the benefits of a cool down are not proven. There was a New Zealand study from 2018 that found no evidence that they improved recovery or prevent injuries.

 

[sir fly]

I am not sure if you have watched the last times they did these kind of stages in the Itzulia, but I can tell you that I'll be surprised if they all come together to the last climb!

But it sure is to be expected that McNulty, Slovenians and Vingegaard come together.

 

[yaco]

Posted yesterday that teams should have got the sprinter types in the break - The peleton lost it in the last 1.5km of the final climb - Got the break down to 50 seconds, but yet at the end of the climb it was back out to minute - And the peleton ambled down the descent.

 

[topcat]

But it sure is to be expected that McNulty, Slovenians and Vingegaard come together.

It's perfectly set up for the cramp to attack and look like he's going to win the gc until Pog says enough is enough and slays him.

 

[jmdirt]

I love it when a break makes it to the end!

 

[RedheadDane]

It's perfectly set up for the cramp to attack and look like he's going to win the gc until Pog says enough is enough and slays him.

Any newcomers to this forum are gonna be so confused.

 

[topcat]

I love it when a break makes it to the end!

I love it when a plan comes together like Jumbo's yesterday.

 

[BlueRoads]

Any newcomers to this forum are gonna be so confused.

I don't know if I count as a newcomer, but I'm confused. Which one?

 

[RedheadDane]

I don't know if I count as a newcomer, but I'm confused. Which one?

It's Bilbao who somehow got branded "the cramp".

 

[gunara]

Fighting knuckleheads!

And the Danish "thing" of getting a stage win in every WT stage race, each with a different rider, continues.

Yeah, how time changes, there was a time you were happy enough seeing Mørkøv in consecutive 1st week breakaway of the Tour, then suddenly Fuglsang got old and became favorite for every race he's in and now every youngster fulfil the promise

 

[ciranda]

I have a knucklehead question: Should Jumbo try to send Vingegaard up the road on the last hill tomorrow (before Roglic's attack)? If Roglic were in yellow, that's an easy "no," but Jumbo has to attack, so . . .?

YOU NEVER LEAVE YOUR TEAM LEADER EVER FIRST RULE VINGEGAARD IS YOUNG YOU CANT FIRE HIM HE JUST DIDNT KNOW

I am not sure if you have watched the last times they did these kind of stages in the Itzulia, but I can tell you that I'll be surprised if they all come together to the last climb!

But those four probably will and I think it would make sense if Vingegaard attacked first. The alternative is he leads to wear out McNulty before Roglic's move.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, how time changes, there was a time you were happy enough seeing Mørkøv in consecutive 1st week breakaway of the Tour, then suddenly Fuglsang got old and became favorite for every race he's in and now every youngster fulfil the promise

And people are joking about how "it's been a while" when more than a few days pass without a Danish victory.

 

[cen]

I like Chris Horner's channel and watch every recap before going to bed but he did get a bit clickbait-y lately.

I also check the Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast, something about those two is fun to watch, good vibes.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I like Chris Horner's channel and watch every recap before going to bed but he did get a bit clickbait-y lately.

I also check the Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast, something about those two is fun to watch, good vibes.

Sure, the "fire everybody!" stuff is clickbaity and overreacting, but calling out the tactical idiocy on display from multiple parties (not just Jumbo, but being the same team that in an earlier iteration became synonymous with tactical mistakes, and who are responsible for one of the most dramatic defeats in recent years thanks primarily to their overly laissez-faire attitude to gaining and losing time, means they get the brunt of it. Horner also went off on Chaves and Carapaz for their mistakes too) is totally fair game. It's not like it's sportzchick calling Basso a wheelsucker for not helping Evans and Scarponi chase his teammate in the Giro.

 

[Rackham]

Sure, the "fire everybody!" stuff is clickbaity and overreacting, but calling out the tactical idiocy on display from multiple parties (not just Jumbo, but being the same team that in an earlier iteration became synonymous with tactical mistakes, and who are responsible for one of the most dramatic defeats in recent years thanks primarily to their overly laissez-faire attitude to gaining and losing time, means they get the brunt of it. Horner also went off on Chaves and Carapaz for their mistakes too) is totally fair game. It's not like it's sportzchick calling Basso a wheelsucker for not helping Evans and Scarponi chase his teammate in the Giro.

Yeah but when Primoz Roglic wins Itzulia tomorrow, in large part because Movistar & Ineos will be attacking UAE - not Jumbo - all the "TJV are knuckleheads! malarkey will look a bit silly. Look, I'm not a fortune teller, I cannot see the future, but if Jumbo don't have the team to control the race, that's just something they need to deal with (& they did, in their own sort of way). Tomorrow is going to be brutal.

But in spite of my reservations regarding Chis Horner's ultimate authority on the issue of who should be fired or not (or his tactical acumen), I also do enjoy his podcast (I watch it every morning whilst drinking my wake-up coffee & leave an appropriate like, even when I disagree entirely).

 

[cellardoor]

Sure, the "fire everybody!" stuff is clickbaity and overreacting, but calling out the tactical idiocy on display from multiple parties (not just Jumbo, but being the same team that in an earlier iteration became synonymous with tactical mistakes, and who are responsible for one of the most dramatic defeats in recent years thanks primarily to their overly laissez-faire attitude to gaining and losing time, means they get the brunt of it. Horner also went off on Chaves and Carapaz for their mistakes too) is totally fair game.

This run-on sentence might have just broken the 100 metre record.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah but when Primoz Roglic wins Itzulia tomorrow, in large part because Movistar & Ineos will be attacking UAE - not Jumbo - all the "TJV are knuckleheads! malarkey will look a bit silly. Look, I'm not a fortune teller, I cannot see the future, but if Jumbo don't have the team to control the race, that's just something they need to deal with (& they did, in their own sort of way). Tomorrow is going to be brutal.

But in spite of my reservations regarding Chis Horner's ultimate authority on the issue of who should be fired or not (or his tactical acumen), I also do enjoy his podcast (I watch it every morning whilst drinking my wake-up coffee & leave an appropriate like, even when I disagree entirely).

Not really, unless they pull some vintage Heras tricks out of the bag. If Primož wins by just being the strongest guy and dropping McNulty for 20+ seconds, or McNulty has a pajará and is gone long before the final climb, then Rogla's put down the power and he has won despite the strategy, not because of it. As tobydawq pointed out, if they win tomorrow it doesn't prove anything about whether or not they would have won anyway. It's just put themselves in a position of weakness that they didn't need to put themselves into - even if they wanted to ship the jersey and were happy for McNulty to have it, they could have managed the gap such that Roglič only needed time bonuses (remember, Arrate's finish is downhill so even if you open up a gap, you have to hold it for a while on the flat and descent too, so it's not just about punchiness) rather than putting pressure on themselves.

This run-on sentence might have just broken the 100 metre record.

You have clearly not watched enough races with Sean Kelly commentary

 

[cen]

Sure, the "fire everybody!" stuff is clickbaity and overreacting, but calling out the tactical idiocy on display from multiple parties (not just Jumbo, but being the same team that in an earlier iteration became synonymous with tactical mistakes, and who are responsible for one of the most dramatic defeats in recent years thanks primarily to their overly laissez-faire attitude to gaining and losing time, means they get the brunt of it. Horner also went off on Chaves and Carapaz for their mistakes too) is totally fair game. It's not like it's sportzchick calling Basso a wheelsucker for not helping Evans and Scarponi chase his teammate in the Giro.

Yeah, I agree that calling out bad tactics is fair game but calling for people to be fired was a bit too much. It is not like GCN commentators did something awful, they just have a different point of view on the situation. I am sure he didn't really mean it anyway, but it is hard to tell from the video.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Mikkel Frølich Honoré and Josef Černý for winning stage 5.

Crazy ride by Astana guys. For a while i thought i am watching MotoGP.

Now waiting for tomorrow.

JV
All in all i am glad that Roglič pulled his team out of the defending the leaders jersey team position. It would be stupid and irresponsible to put youngsters in such position. I do hope that at least Vingegaard holds on, for as long as possible. The rest is on Rogličes shoulders.

UAE
Pogačar will for sure have to do some work for McNulty tomorrow, there is no way around that. At least until McNulty says otherwise. I just don't see on how Pogačar could get excluded from the rotation. UAE team is strong, but not that strong. Pogačar will for sure try if McNulty won't be up to task tomorrow.

Ineos
Are they in this competition? Haven't noticed them. That for sure says one thing and that is we will see a lot of Ineos tomorrow.

The rest:
Anything is still possible, GC differences being small. For sure nobody will preserve any matches.

 

[CyclistAbi]