Itzulia Basque Country 2022 April 4-9

[Eclipse]

I think this will be very fun but hard to see past Rogla with that Jumbo strength

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Maybe the best 1 week stage race of the year.

No Vincenzo, No Fausto, No landa (who skips it only for the 2nd time in his career).

Aupa Pello!!!

 

[SafeBet]

No Vincenzo

Brother Antonio is here though.

 

[SafeBet]

Meanwhile Tulett with the first interesting time of the day: 10'09", beating competent TTers like Oliveira, Fraile and De Bod.

 

[Red Rick]

TT is a lot slower than i thought. Should be very good for Roglic

 

[Red Rick]

Brother Antonio is here though.

The Bala vs Bibali fan wars have led to spme commebts but nobody insulted Squalo as much as that commentator hust grouping them as them together as "The Nibali brothers"

 

[SafeBet]

Didn't know this

https://twitter.com/x/status/1510974009869058056

View: https://twitter.com/CafeRoubaix/status/1510974009869058056?s=20&t=5JaiVkIdKNzXUaziKLi6kA

 

[Lequack]

Adam Yates again with the Darth Vader helmet
But he has the fastest time at the finish.

 

[Samamba]

Thomas 2nd at intermediate

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Jumbo should be the strongest by some distance. Ineos look strong on paper but Yates has often shown to be subpar in these sub 15-10min climbs that Itzulia is all about. Don't have high hopes for Thomas or Tao, if anything I'm hopeful for Martinez. Has to be said tho, at least they're one of the teams happy to try things in one week stage races instead of settling for a top 10 GC like all the relegtion threatened WT teams will and Itzulias stage profiles are the perfect race to risk things.
Bora should be reasonable placed with Vlasov, who is good on these shorter steep gradients and Higuita who has been in great form as well as having the likes of Kämna or Großschartner as satellite riders, not expecting much from Buchmann.
Movistar? Meh, Mas is terrible in one week stage races. Not expecting anything from UAE or Astana either. Curious what Mäder and Padun will do.
Althoug he will probably crack big time again on stage 6, I put most of my hopes in making things interesting in stage 3-5 on Remco, in theory they should suit him.

As for the stages, they look good. I just wished there were less than 25km after Ozeka on stage 3, although I'm probably underestimating the rolling terrain and small road aspects. I also preferred a proper mountain top finish before stage 6 like they had last year with stage 3.
Otherwise all good.

 

[Lequack]

That climb is pretty tough

https://twitter.com/x/status/1510977560221466632

View: https://twitter.com/EqKernPharma/status/1510977560221466632?s=20&t=GUS0-HwmVu73F2S35-VwXQ

 

[TourOfSardinia]

G-zus!

 

[Samamba]

Thats pretty close

 

[Lequack]

Geraint Thomas beats Yates by 0.16 seconds. He is now the favorite to win the Tour de France.

 

[Samamba]

This parcours definitely also suits Alaphilippe

 

[Extinction]

Looks like the final run of Strade Bianche in Siena!

 

[jonan92]

As for the stages, they look good. I just wished there were less than 25km after Ozeka on stage 3, although I'm probably underestimating the rolling terrain and small road aspects.

You might, we will see but all local reports are telling that the second part of the stage is a real trap with very narrow roads, twists and almost no flat areas

 

[Lequack]

They always seem to find people with the strongest foreign accents to interview riders.

 

[SHAD0W93]

They always seem to find people with the strongest foreign accents to interview riders.

All to make that poster upset that wanted the announcers to pronounce the names so that he can understand them.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Think the startlist could have looked stronger here, particularly sad that Valverde, Landa and the young Ayuso isnt here.

 

[Lequack]

Think the startlist could have looked stronger here, particularly sad that Valverde, Landa and the young Ayuso isnt here.

How come they're not here?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well, I think I read Ayuso is sick, and Valverde is using the Ardennes as 'prep' before the Giro and Landa seems to have preferred Tour of the Alps before that race. They are prolly doing some high intensity training at the moment instead

 

[SafeBet]

It's very tight at the top for now.

 

[RedheadDane]

De Marchi...

 

[Velolover2]

Over Romandie?

Absolutely.

Don't know about the 2022 edition but in general something like Thyon 2000 or Col de la Croix should be his worst nightmare. Col de Champex is too much as well.