Itzulia Basque Country 2022 April 4-9

[gunara]

Amazing, Ion, that's how you win races!

Brave defense by Remco, but honestly, unless he makes big improvent or back to whatever level he was, I'm not sure what big race he can be favorite for, grinding short climbs can't be the way with so many explosives around, and I don't remember any with enough false flat to motor up on. I still like him though.

 

[Phillip O'Garner]

DFM could be the sole lead for Ineos at the TDF. Poor effort from Yates.

 

[Rackham]

Vingregaard to win the tour with only 10 finishers !!

but seriously maybe he should be Jumbo leader ??

I think Roglic is on a slow program building form for the summer. I know it's a bit unusual for him, but after today I'm more convinced of that than I was yesterday.

He did his work for Jonas & then rode a tempo all the way until the end.

 

[HelloDolly]

DFM could be the sole lead for Ineos at the TDF. Poor effort from Yates.

hardly poor effort if he is not well

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Let's not pretend like Cofidis has been better the last 3 years (this year they are better tho). This is like their 2nd WT win in 3 years time. LTS has like 17. And that "can't support Ewan" narrative can stop too. They might not have the best leadout in the world, but it's still a good one and more importantly, Ewan himself fucks up his sprint a lot of the time. He also is one of the prime reasons LTS doesn't score enough points because he keeps going after those 2 big goals in a year and has had some bad luck then. LTS letting Ewan do what he wants is literally supporting him, and it costs the team.

Both teams are not WT Worthy, just like DSM or Astana right now but they have enough points already.

Cofidis are hardly great but they do have riders who can make the race more entertaining. Lotto rarely feature in selective races at a decent level, and when they do, half the time it's Campenaerts who makes me want to pull my hair out.

Agree that Ewan is part of the problem too but of all the sprinters who could be considered the best in the world, he has the weakest leadout. In fact, Lotto arguably have the worst train of the big four Belgian teams right now and don't make up for it anywhere else. Of course Intermarché are on the up right now but the idea that Lotto would fall behind both Wanty and a Roodhooft-backed road team to be Belgium's fourth-best side would have been laughable even five years ago.

 

[HelloDolly]

Remco is a one day racer for me

Win all the classics ??

He is too heavy to be a top climber

 

[Jungle Cycle]

well deserved..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1512822895218679812

View: https://twitter.com/mikeilundain/status/1512822895218679812

 

[Phillip O'Garner]

hardly poor effort if he is not well

I wasn't aware of any sickness. Apologies to Adam if that is the case.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I think Roglic is on a slow program building form for the summer. I know it's a bit unusual for him, but after today I'm more convinced of that than I was yesterday.

He did his work for Jonas & then rode a tempo all the way until the end.

It's kinda weird explanation though. He won Paris-Nice against good rivals and had a strong uphill performance on Turini so his form has been in decline in recent weeks. Was it planned, do you think?

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Lets not forget Roglic is now a cobble spesialist. Looks good for Roubaix now.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Mas somehow still finished ninth overall, by the way. Good job to at least salvage that much.

 

[postmanhat]

Amazing, Ion, that's how you win races!

Brave defense by Remco, but honestly, unless he makes big improvent or back to whatever level he was, I'm not sure what big race he can be favorite for, grinding short climbs can't be the way with so many explosives around, and I don't remember any with enough false flat to motor up on. I still like him though.

Well this was a big improvement on T-A?

And any race with a decent length TT would surely give him a chance. Double the distance of this race's to a whopping 15K and he probably would have won?

 

[Red Rick]

It's kinda weird explanation though. He won Paris-Nice against good rivals and had a strong uphill performance on Turini so his form has been in decline in recent weeks. Was it planned, do you think?

Pog did the same last year.

I wonder if he's trying to time his peak better for the Ardennes.

 

[Sciatic]

Are you gonna post this everyt time one of these guys wins?

Well, it’s not like it happens very often . . .

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Pog did the same last year.

I wonder if he's trying to time his peak better for the Ardennes.

There's little time until Ardennes - just 11 days until Fleche to build a peak from a mediocre form.
And when was Pog weak last spring? Or maybe you are refering to the autumn?

 

[Rackham]

There's little time until Ardennes - just 11 days until Fleche to build a peak from a mediocre form.
And when was Pog weak last spring? Maybe he wasn't at his peak in april but still strong.

I suppose we could look at Alaphilippe as an example, i.e. nowhere today (when Remco might have needed him), but I expect him to once more light-up the Mur de Huy as always.

Being nowhere & then suddenly in form seems doable for the others so I won't write off Rog until he looks toast on one of his real, big objectives.

 

[Red Rick]

There's little time until Ardennes - just 11 days until Fleche to build a peak from a mediocre form.
And when was Pog weak last spring? Or maybe you are refering to the autumn?

I don't think he was flying as hard in Itzulia as in Tirreno last year.

 

[Bonimenier]

I suppose we could look at Alaphilippe as an example, i.e. nowhere today (when Remco might have needed him), but I expect him to once more light-up the Mur de Huy as always.

Being nowhere & then suddenly in form seems doable for the others so I won't write off Rog until he looks toast on one of his real, big objectives.

That's not a good comparison. Alaphilippe is not a GC rider.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I don't think he was flying as hard in Itzulia as in Tirreno last year.

Maybe not (it seems hitting an early peak at Tirreno is his habit now) but he was still strong. I would say he wasn't at his peak at LBL either but still won it.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Nice to see Gall finish 10th on a hard stage that was raced properly.
He's from a village next to Lienz, so his next race, the Tour of the Alpes, is his homerace and with this kibd of form a stage win or top 10 on the gc is possible.

Less than a minute shy of top 10 in GC.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Of course Vingegaard deviated from his line ...

Case closed. Every sprinter knows that.

 

[tobydawq]

Case closed. Every sprinter knows that.

This was not a sprint. How can you ever pass a rider riding in front of you if you are not allowed to deviate from your line?

 

[GuntherL1]

Remco is a one day racer for me

Win all the classics ??

He is too heavy to be a top climber

I don't agree. He climbed very well this week and was only occasionally dropped on extremely steep stretches and they are not frequent in WT races. There's some more work to be done, but he's very close to the top riders. Just look at the names he left behind every day.

 

[CyclistAbi]

This was not a sprint. How can you ever pass a rider riding in front of you if you are not allowed to deviate from your line?

You are absolutely correct. I just had to make that remark. Once the opportunity presented itself. As otherwise i would lose sleep over it.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

What happened to the Ineos bots? First there was seven at the front and six disappeared. I suppose they still came away with overall victory but a helper would have been handy.