Itzulia Basque Country 2023 (April 3-8)

[Cassirer]

The difference between the mutant tier and the next always baffles me anew.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Collapsed quite hard in the final km. He was lucky the final wasn't uphill

Been watching all Jumbo's dominant wins this season like

 

[Carols]

We were told last September that Enric Mas is a formidable opponent

Jumbo used their assets perfectly on this final stage, they rode it like they had to attack the lead, when they were the leaders themselves. Even Kruijswijk rose from the dead.

Mas has never quite lived up to expectations. But he like really Hot weather.

And yes Jumbo has changed a lot as a team! Did they get new management? Today was a Masterclass in tactics and Vingo had the legs to do the job!

 

[Escarabajo]

Martinez arrived with Bernal today, so we can say that they equally in form right now!!!

 

[Mayomaniac]

What happened to Dani Martinez after his last spring campaign?

 

[theyoungest]

Mas has never quite lived up to expectations. But he like really Hot weather.

And yes Jumbo has changed a lot as a team! Did they get new management? Today was a Masterclass in tactics and Vingo had the legs to do the job!

They know how to ride this final stage in Pais Vasco. Two years ago they completely upended the race, beating both Pogacar and McNulty and finishing 1-2 with Roglic and Vingegaard. It doesn't matter how many races they win with great tactics, people only remember the bad ones. That goes for every team, sometimes rightly and sometimes less so.

 

[Carols]

They know how to ride this final stage in Pais Vasco. Two years ago they completely upended the race, beating both Pogacar and McNulty and finishing 1-2 with Roglic and Vingegaard. It doesn't matter how many races they win with great tactics, people only remember the bad ones. That goes for every team, sometimes rightly and sometimes less so.

Yeah I can't even begin to tell you how tiresome it's been to hear Rabofail for years now.....In 2019 they deserved though. Wasn't that when the car was stopped for a piss when Rogic needed a bike change?

 

[yaco]

Honestly sad for Chaves. He's been riding great this Itzulia and getting nothing to show for it.

EF stuffed up their strategy - Chaves had the form to top ten or even top five if he was not wasted early in the race by the team.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah I can't even begin to tell you how tiresome it's been to hear Rabofail for years now.....In 2019 they deserved though. Wasn't that when the car was stopped for a piss when Rogic needed a bike change?

It's just stupid, I think there's just one DS left from the Rabobank era, Frans Maassen. Who was in the car for this race

EF stuffed up their strategy - Chaves had the form to top ten or even top five if he was not wasted early in the race by the team.

They put too much faith in Carapaz and Uran, neither of whom had any form to speak of.

 

[Lequack]

Vingegaard now the favorite to win the Tour. I mean who is going to stop him?

 

[Carols]

Vingegaard now the favorite to win the Tour. I mean who is going to stop him?

Pogi or a crash or team failure.

 

[DNP-Old]

Vingegaard now the favorite to win the Tour. I mean who is going to stop him?

Kelderman.

 

[Escarabajo]

EF had to go for Carapaz and then Uran, so you cannot blame them for it.

Having said that, Chaves has great form since the beginning of the year. He won that hard Colombian title. When he is fit, He excels when the race is very hard. Lombardia, Giro queen stage, today. He should be in Ok form for the Giro. Plus he doesn't have to go in stupid attacks in the Giro. Just by attrition he can climb a lot of places in a 3 week race.

 

[Escarabajo]

Vingegaard now the favorite to win the Tour. I mean who is going to stop him?

Remco, after He wins the Giro!

 

[glassmoon]

What happened to Landa? How can he be so strong the previous stages and now blow out like this?

this is his trademark

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Impressive solo ride by Vinge, probably his strongest non-Tour performance. 8 victories this season is more than the whole last year. Vinge being so strong and having performances like that far before the Tour deserves to be praised.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Will have to wait until the Giro at least to get our first breakaway WT win of the season, unless Evenepoel and Roglic fancy winning every stage.

 

[Andre]

Vingegaard now the favorite to win the Tour. I mean who is going to stop him?

Remco...if he was there

 

[titan31]

Must really suck to be a GC guy with Pog and Vingegaard around. Even outside of those, you've got Roglic and Remco, but I feel like those are beatable. You see the first two on the startlist and you know you're racing for 2nd.

 

[Taxus4a]

It is not the first time Landa is no so strong in the Eibar stage if It is short and with several hard climbs from the begining. He is a rider for longer stages, and that is going to be a problem in the currebnnt cycling for him.

Anyway he had no strong team and that is always a problem, and Vingegard used well his team at the right moment, so Landa didnt caught him as he did the rest days. I have the doubt if Vingegard wouldnt had the help of Atila and K, but It would have been close for sure.

 

[Sciatic]

Must really suck to be a GC guy with Pog and Vingegaard around. Even outside of those, you've got Roglic and Remco, but I feel like those are beatable. You see the first two on the startlist and you know you're racing for 2nd.

Unless of course both are on the start list . . .

 

[titan31]

Unless of course both are on the start list . . .

I feel like they should just look at a different race if you see both of them on it. Tour is the Tour so a top 10 there anyway is great but I'd nope out of any prep races that they were both in.

 

[gunara]

I feel like they should just look at a different race if you see both of them on it. Tour is the Tour so a top 10 there anyway is great but I'd nope out of any prep races that they were both in.

So who will they race against?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

So who will they race against?

They aren't really racing against anybody else in the first place right now. It's the big issue of this era and it's at its worst (so far) this year because almost every WT stage race has only had one of the big 4 in form, leading to one-sided non-event after one-sided non-event, now culminating in the first boring edition of Itzulia in a very long time. Evenepoel and Roglic are just as bad as Pogacar and Vingegaard in this regard, they were every bit as far ahead of the rest of the field in Catalunya as Vingegaard was here, it only gets forgotten because they had each other to fight. Also means that a major crash (or something with similar effect) by Evenepoel or Roglic in the Giro or by Pogacar or Vingegaard in the Tour all but guarantees a one-sided Giro or Tour.

We really need either the gap to the other riders to narrow, or some new riders to jump the gap, because an era inevitably goes stale if it lasts long enough without evolving much and IMO we're seeing the first signs of that starting to appear.

 

[HelloDolly]

They aren't really racing against anybody else in the first place right now. It's the big issue of this era and it's at its worst (so far) this year because almost every WT stage race has only had one of the big 4 in form, leading to one-sided non-event after one-sided non-event, now culminating in the first boring edition of Itzulia in a very long time. Evenepoel and Roglic are just as bad as Pogacar and Vingegaard in this regard, they were every bit as far ahead of the rest of the field in Catalunya as Vingegaard was here, it only gets forgotten because they had each other to fight. Also means that a major crash (or something with similar effect) by Evenepoel or Roglic in the Giro or by Pogacar or Vingegaard in the Tour all but guarantees a one-sided Giro or Tour.

We really need either the gap to the other riders to narrow, or some new riders to jump the gap, because an era inevitably goes stale if it lasts long enough without evolving much and IMO we're seeing the first signs of that starting to appear.

I totally agree

So much is said that we are seeing the best racing ever...we are seeing the strongest racing ever by a few ....a different thing entirely

Take riders like Chaves or Landa ..still probably pushing the numbers they did when they podiumed GTs but Pog and Vinge make them look like poor riders ..they are not... they just not at the very top level

And yes there is the issue if Pog crashes out of the Tour ot Rog out of the Giro its a one horse race

Yes and I know that there was Froome v Contador but there seemed others who could be up there with them , even beating them on occasion like Quintana , Landa, Bardet , Evans, Aru, Dumoulin, Valverde, Purito, and of course Nibali etc

Now Vinge and Pog are beyonf reach ... got to be so disheartening for the rest