Itzulia Basque Country 2022 April 4-9

[hayneplane]

Pretty brutal seeing all those riders finish the race but OTL.

Does anyone know what happened to Gaudu to be over 7 minutes down today after looking really good the rest of the race and Adam Yates who was strong early in the race before missing the move yesterday and not even being a useful domestique today.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

The Zubeldia award must go to Urán, who made it to the top 10 in GC without being noticed by anyone.

That is exactly what I thought when I read the GC results. I did not see Uran even once, all week.

 

[jaylew]

That's the gist of what you're arguing if you dissect it. My statement was that it would be ironic, in case any of the riders that were to end up in front of him in GC, would only have been able to because of the boni seconds they were able to take in the stages where he did the leadout for his teammate. I think that's a perfectly fine example of irony. Like sharpening the knife you end up getting stabbed with yourself or loading the gun you eventually get shot with.
Both Bilbao as Martinez got 10 seconds, Vlasov 4, in the stages where Evenepoel did the leadout, so i was talking about a scenario where Vlasov beats him by less than 4 seconds in GC, or Bilbao and Martinez by less than 10. You then claimed that those riders taking those bonis, was 'sure' not because he did the leadout. While it is possible they would otherwise also have been able to snatch some (perhaps the same amount of) boni seconds, i think that is quite likely that the sprint would have unfolded differently and they might very well not have snatched the same amount of boni seconds, if any. Maybe Evenepoel could have attacked in the final 800 meters himself and snatched some bonis, a possibility he now forfeited. Maybe a chaotic sprint would have favored a different rider, maybe the chase would stall without anybody closing the final gap and Lafay takes it anyway, or maybe another rider attacks. Insisting that the leadout had nothing to do with them getting boni seconds, is the same as stating the leadout (or lack of) would not have changed the outcome. Then why should teams even bother doing a leadout, if your assumption were to be correct?

So, to answer your deleted question, yes, logic is my friend.

Uh, no.

 

[Oldermanish]

That is exactly what I thought when I read the GC results. I did not see Uran even once, all week.

Alot of hopeful Belgian fans would say some specific strategy or better domestique support or bonus points would've preserved a victory. Lots if iffing and but-ing.....
That many of the GT contenders are using races as prep events didn't seem to factor into their comparisons. July-August will be different as it always is.

 

[dusty red roads]

When I started watching yesterday, saw the Sky Train, thought 'ugh', then suddenly Roglic smashes them to smithereens, thought 'oh yeh, that's what I'm talking about!'

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That is exactly what I thought when I read the GC results. I did not see Uran even once, all week.

Rigoberto Urán is more Zubeldia than Zubeldia these days. There was a point where he was literally on the GC podium of the Tour de France, but if you removed him from the race, not even Jonathan Vaughters would have noticed he was gone.

 

[Salvarani]

Very happy Izagirre won a stage and is 2nd overall.

Just wodnering if he maybe could have won...

Dont think he would have been able to drop Martinez yesterday.

Martinez basically TTed the last climb at a high enough pace that neutralized any attempts to attack in the second half of the climb. He probably could have dug deeper but didnt have to when Remco was dropped to win the race.

The only accelerations happened in the first half and it were those accelerations that made Remco drop.

In the second half of the last climb Vlasov, Soler and Vingegaard looked like they were on the limit in the wheel of Martinez keeping a steady pace. More so thinking about the stage at this point. Maybe thats why Remco also didnt lose much more than 20-30s in the end and the gap stabilized. Even gained a couple of seconds in the last km on the flat part.

Only Martinez and Izagirre could have probably gone faster, but Izagirre had to take time back on the group after this crash. I think it would have been the same outcome without the crash. He would have gotten stage win.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

When I started watching yesterday, saw the Sky Train, thought 'ugh', then suddenly Roglic smashes them to smithereens, thought 'oh yeh, that's what I'm talking about!'

How did that end up for him? But yeah, it was chaos from that point onwards.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You know it's a good race when Jumbo are tasked with blowing up the race, but Sepp Kuss finishes OTL.

 

[Red Rick]

You know it's a good race when Jumbo are tasked with blowing up the race, but Sepp Kuss finishes OTL.

What if Kuss is not just a minion of Roglic to enable his predictable stomping. What if Kuss is actually the evil mastermind who has chained Roglic who desperately wants to just race hard all day every day

 

[CyclistAbi]

How did that end up for him?

The same as for the Ineos train.

 

[CyclistAbi]

As for the SK. I agree that he was not his usual self on this race. We the fans are hence worried. Hopefully he will Kuss the races again (for Rogla) sooner rather than later. The race just isn't the same without a bit of that. A lot of people rely on that and buy a ticket just for that. Imagine their disappointment when positioned on a steep climb and Sepp nowhere to be seen.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

As for the SK. I agree that he was not his usual self on this race. We the fans are hence worried. Hopefully he will Kuss the races again (for Rogla) sooner rather than later. The race just isn't the same without a bit of that. A lot of people rely on that and buy a ticket just for that. Imagine their disappointment when positioned on a steep climb and Sepp nowhere to be seen.

IKR, imagine the disappointment of turning up to see a group ride à la Grand-Colombier 2020, and being forced to witness something like we saw yesterday. I'd be devastated!

 

[CyclistAbi]

IKR, imagine the disappointment of turning up to see a group ride à la Grand-Colombier 2020, and being forced to witness something like we saw yesterday. I'd be devastated!

When SK is involved we more or less always get to see some mano-a-mano action after. It's just that the selection is usually even finer. As for the lead out for stomp. A lot of people mentioned Krabelin. Heck, a lot of people mentioned they are even OK with the Ineos train. Just as long as there is some stomp involved. Hence i don't see it as a clean cut. In general i could agree that something doesn't always need to happen. But some trade mark moves in sport usually do get accepted and are desired.

SK you were missed.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Kuss the race on Sepp parts.

 

[tobydawq]

It's a pity that PR won't race PR but at least JV will line up with JV and PR in the TdF with SK and SK as helpers.

Please don't shorten Sepp Kuss' name, it's really not that long...

 

[CyclistAbi]

At least LS will be backing CE all the way.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

It's a pity that PR won't race PR but at least JV will line up with JV and PR in the TdF with SK and SK as helpers.

Please don't shorten Sepp Kuss' name, it's really not that long...

Ok, T-daddy.

 

[tobydawq]

At least LS will be backing CE all the way.

I just hope they will sign Sepp Kuss or Peter Sagan at one point.

 

[CyclistAbi]

At least LS will be backing CE all the way.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/presidential-cycling-tour-of-turkey-2022/stage-1/results/

 

[Bonimenier]

Woods apparently did the Arrate climb the fastest of everyone by far. He'll probably be good again at FW and LBL.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

At least LS will be backing CE all the way.

I assume you just didn't finish typing and missed the -CILIE off the end.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

When Ion Izagirre won the final stage on Saturday, and became second overall, I was quite surprised. He crashed in the finale, as we all saw.

The fact that he came back to the lead group, after his crash, shows that the lead group did not ride full tempo. Otherwise, Ion would never have been able to reach them again.

Vlasov, Vingegaard and all these world class riders were scared of Daniel Felipe Martinez. That shows how good Martinez already is.

I could imagine that Daniel Felipe Martinez soon becomes a contender for victory in a three-week GT. Maybe even for the TdF - which he will ride this year.

 

[Jumbot]

Alot of hopeful Belgian fans would say some specific strategy or better domestique support or bonus points would've preserved a victory. Lots if iffing and but-ing.....
That many of the GT contenders are using races as prep events didn't seem to factor into their comparisons. July-August will be different as it always is.

I mean Revco was very good, and if their best GC rider competed here on this kind of parkours and with this field, he would have won 3 stages and GC easily, but unfortunately he's recovering from covid and wouldn't race here anyway... So lots of reasons to be content as a Belgian fan imo

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I mean Revco was very good, and if their best GC rider competed here on this kind of parkours and with this field, he would have won 3 stages and GC easily, but unfortunately he's recovering from covid and wouldn't race here anyway... So lots of reasons to be content as a Belgian fan imo

Interesting take. But i don't think Van Aert would have been able to compete for the win on this course. I think, just as Evenepoel, he'd have better chances on less steep climbs.