Great win. He is in rare form and needed to take advantage of it. See if it continues with the stage races pre Tour.
Of course it is a development that does not happen very often. But if you have been following Jakob's career closely you'd know that the 2016 olympics was probably the point where his career turned. He has been getting stronger and stronger gradually over the last 3 seasons enjoying what was his best season last year despite the lacklustre Tour. I think that mentally he is much stronger than in his late 20's. He developed a killer instinct when he 'won' silver in the Olympics and afterwards won the Dauphiné. He also changed trainer up to this season and in general, he does look leaner than usual.Kwibus said:Ive really enjoyed fuglsang this year, but I do have some mixed feelings. The guy has always been goid, but never ever nearly as dominant as now.Valv.Piti said:I think you could argue Fuglsang has been the strongest rider of this spring, even stronger than Julian Alaphilippe and I guess you can include Van der Poel and Yates if you like to. Alaphilippe has more big wins, but Fuglsang has just been incredibly consistent and purely from a physiological standpoint I think today's race showed just that - that he has been the best. The race just needed to be hard enough.
That is pretty incredible to think about. I mean, we are talking about Fuglsang, a rider who is notoriously known for always being one of the better riders, but never really winning big.
How is that possible? He turned 34 after over 10 years in the pro peloton and all of the sudden he is strongest guy in the bunch.
I understand that form is an strange beast, but ...
Ps I was rooting for him and Nibali today.
Nope, it doesn't make sense at all. He can't really focus more on one-day races than he has done this spring. So if he wants a crack at GC in the Tour, be my guest.Broccolidwarf said:I am reading the posts since La Doyenne, and for some reason a bunch of people seem to think, that Fuglsang should drop riding GC at the Tour......... because he just won a monument?
Eeeehhhh...... I'm rather confused here - you seem to be saying, that because he is in the shape of his life, he should not attempt GC at the tour?
Makes no sense to me people - sorry
Nobody seem to question Nibali or Yates or Bardet doing both?
I think the mentality change is key.Cance > TheRest said:Of course it is a development that does not happen very often. But if you have been following Jakob's career closely you'd know that the 2016 olympics was probably the point where his career turned. He has been getting stronger and stronger gradually over the last 3 seasons enjoying what was his best season last year despite the lacklustre Tour. I think that mentally he is much stronger than in his late 20's. He developed a killer instinct when he 'won' silver in the Olympics and afterwards won the Dauphiné. He also changed trainer up to this season and in general, he does look leaner than usual.Kwibus said:Ive really enjoyed fuglsang this year, but I do have some mixed feelings. The guy has always been goid, but never ever nearly as dominant as now.Valv.Piti said:I think you could argue Fuglsang has been the strongest rider of this spring, even stronger than Julian Alaphilippe and I guess you can include Van der Poel and Yates if you like to. Alaphilippe has more big wins, but Fuglsang has just been incredibly consistent and purely from a physiological standpoint I think today's race showed just that - that he has been the best. The race just needed to be hard enough.
That is pretty incredible to think about. I mean, we are talking about Fuglsang, a rider who is notoriously known for always being one of the better riders, but never really winning big.
How is that possible? He turned 34 after over 10 years in the pro peloton and all of the sudden he is strongest guy in the bunch.
I understand that form is an strange beast, but ...
Ps I was rooting for him and Nibali today.
Also, considering Jakob's skillset it is a development that makes sense. Being a climber with a good engine, his skillset does not deteriorate as early as would be the case for a puncheur/explosive climber (okay, Valverde is the exception here).
Exactlytobydawq said:Nope, it doesn't make sense at all. He can't really focus more on one-day races than he has done this spring. So if he wants a crack at GC in the Tour, be my guest.Broccolidwarf said:I am reading the posts since La Doyenne, and for some reason a bunch of people seem to think, that Fuglsang should drop riding GC at the Tour......... because he just won a monument?
Eeeehhhh...... I'm rather confused here - you seem to be saying, that because he is in the shape of his life, he should not attempt GC at the Tour?
Makes no sense to me people - sorry
Nobody seem to question Nibali or Yates or Bardet doing both?
Rollthedice said:He took some rap lessons, all of Astana have taken rap to a whole new dimension. Great win though.Kwibus said:Ive really enjoyed fuglsang this year, but I do have some mixed feelings. The guy has always been goid, but never ever nearly as dominant as now.Valv.Piti said:I think you could argue Fuglsang has been the strongest rider of this spring, even stronger than Julian Alaphilippe and I guess you can include Van der Poel and Yates if you like to. Alaphilippe has more big wins, but Fuglsang has just been incredibly consistent and purely from a physiological standpoint I think today's race showed just that - that he has been the best. The race just needed to be hard enough.
That is pretty incredible to think about. I mean, we are talking about Fuglsang, a rider who is notoriously known for always being one of the better riders, but never really winning big.
How is that possible? He turned 34 after over 10 years in the pro peloton and all of the sudden he is strongest guy in the bunch.
I understand that form is an strange beast, but ...
Ps I was rooting for him and Nibali today.
Yeah he was awful in the 2017 TDF right from the start (losing about a minute in the stage 1 time trial over 14km) and Astana understandably made Aru their leader. I don't know if he was sick or he just left his form on the Dauphine mountains.Pantani_lives said:Looking at Fuglsang's past in the Tour the conclusion is that he was often a helper of Andy Schleck or Nibali, who both won the Tour (officially) with Fuglsang in the team. When he rode for himself he finished 7th (2013) and 12th (2018). It's a pity that he DNF two years ago after winning the Dauphiné. I don't remember what happened last year, but he should be able to finish higher than 12th.
Nibali's performance on the cobbled stage in 2014 was the winning of the race. He basically rode the whole thing sitting on Fuglsang's wheel.Pantani_lives said:Looking at Fuglsang's past in the Tour the conclusion is that he was often a helper of Andy Schleck or Nibali, who both won the Tour (officially) with Fuglsang in the team. When he rode for himself he finished 7th (2013) and 12th (2018). It's a pity that he DNF two years ago after winning the Dauphiné. I don't remember what happened last year, but he should be able to finish higher than 12th.
He did a great TT last year in Suisse tho. But with only one mountain stage, its pretty hard for him to do anything against IneosRed Rick said:Dauphine has an assroute
Unless Fuglsang can be very, very close in the ITT, he's not gonna be very high in GC.
I think this analysis is faulty at best.Broccolidwarf said:I think we'll see a more reserved Fuglsang at Dauphine.
He might go deep on the TT and the one big mountain stage, to test himself, but I don't see him trying for the overall win, day in and day out.
I think he found out last year, as did Roglic at the Giro this year, that you can't be in prime condition in the preparation race, and still be in peak condition over a month later, in the big mountains of the following GT.
I would not be surprised at all, if Astana rode Dauphine for Izagirre.
- at least that is what I hope for![]()
Except there’s an established precedent at both Romandie and the Dauphine that riders can and often do win the warmup and the GT. If anything, the history shows that it’s more trouble to peak too close to the GT (far more Tour winners have won the Dauphine first, than Suisse, for example).Broccolidwarf said:I think we'll see a more reserved Fuglsang at Dauphine.
He might go deep on the TT and the one big mountain stage, to test himself, but I don't see him trying for the overall win, day in and day out.
Ithink he found out last year, as did Roglic at the Giro this year, that you can't be in prime condition in the preparation race, and still be in peak condition over a month later, in the big mountains of the following GT.
I would not be surprised at all, if Astana rode Dauphine for Izagirre.
- at least that is what I hope for![]()