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Teams & Riders Jakob Fuglsang discussion thread

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I think Fuglsang is a hot favorite for Lombardia.

He looked very strong at worlds, incl. making it back to the favorites group on his own, after a technical got him put a minute behind on the 3rd last lap, and he still had the strength to cover counter attacks with Valgren in the finale.

The route change put him out of contention for worlds, but Il Lombardia is a different matter :)
 
I just checked out of interest, and the last rider to win Liege and Lombardia in the same year was Argentin in 1987.

The only other rider to do it was Merckx, because of course it was. He did it twice, in 1971 and 72. And won MSR both years. And the Tour de France both years. And the Worlds in 71. And the Giro in ‘72. Because of course he did.

So yeah, Birdsong to finish the season strong.
Eddy was never the same since that crash in 69 or whatever that was.

Then procees with two seasons like this. God damn
 
I don't think GdL particularly suits Jakob, but with this year legs maybe it's a different matter...
In theory, the climbs of GdL should suit him even better than those in Liege. Particularly Sormano and Civiglio.

Shorter 2-5 km climbs with double gradients is his specialty. The way he rides them is just different from the Yates brothers.

I consider Fuglsang and Nibali to be quite similar as a rider type.

Neither are among not the best on single climb MTFs. Neither are super explosive or fast on the line.

But they both thrives in harder conditions: Multi-mountain stages, long hilly classics, monster climbs like Angliru, early action, wet or colder weather, even cobbles.
 
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Looked good today. Stronger than his 8th place shows. But not quite April shape it also seems. I can see him getting a podium in Il Lombardia with this shape

Yeah, he just needs climbs that are a little longer or a race which is a little longer, for his diesel engine to really have effect.

Roglic looked good, Valverde looked good, Woods looked good and Mollema looked good - that's my top 5 for Il Lombardia.....

I've got a feeling Woods is due a win.
 
I agree with Broccolidwarf.

He did what he was supposed to do in Emilia by making the penultimate lap very hard but the race was just too explosive. Lombardia is another animal with it's additional 40 km.

I think he'll have to put the other under pressure on Sormano in order to make the race hard enough. I hope he can find an ally in someone like Nibali or Bernal.
 
It's going to be very interesting seeing him in Lombardia.

Before yesterday, I was ready to give him the label as the biggest favourite, but after seeing both him and Roglic in action I have had to revise that opinion.

Valverde will most probably find some way to not be in contention for the win because he will ride too conservatively, and in any case, I think Civiglio might be a bit too much for him. Then again, if he can convince his Vuelta legs to show up for a last hurray, maybe not.

We also have a big question mark in Alaphilippe who did not participate yesterday and has been riding at a sub-par level so far in the autumn.
 
Fuglsang is the outright leader for Astana?

I don't really know what to think of him for Il Lombardia, apart from that he shoudln't attack on Muro di Sormano.

I don't think attacking the Muro is great in general cause if you can ride away and stay away there you sure as hell can wait for the Civiglio anyway.
 
Fuglsang is the outright leader for Astana?

I don't really know what to think of him for Il Lombardia, apart from that he shoudln't attack on Muro di Sormano.

I don't think attacking the Muro is great in general cause if you can ride away and stay away there you sure as hell can wait for the Civiglio anyway.

It went pretty fine last year for the attackers there. But the finish is harder this year with San Fermo included after Civiglio so we'll probably not see attacks there (and I do get your point) from the favourites.
 
It's going to be very interesting seeing him in Lombardia.

Before yesterday, I was ready to give him the label as the biggest favourite, but after seeing both him and Roglic in action I have had to revise that opinion.

Valverde will most probably find some way to not be in contention for the win because he will ride too conservatively, and in any case, I think Civiglio might be a bit too much for him. Then again, if he can convince his Vuelta legs to show up for a last hurray, maybe not.

We also have a big question mark in Alaphilippe who did not participate yesterday and has been riding at a sub-par level so far in the autumn.
If he's on form, and I think he is/will be, Civiglio is certainly not too much for him, in fact I would say it's his kind of climb. The problem with Civiglio was lack of form in last couple of years.

On Fuglsang, I think he'll be fine on Saturday, I see him as one of the top guys who will decide the race along with Roglic, Bala, Woods, Bernal, Chaves, Nibali, Mollema...
 
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Quite a season Fuglsang has had in 1 day races:

Strade Bianche: 2
Amstel Gold Race: 3
Fleche Wallonne: 2
Liege Bastogne Liege: 1
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World Championships: 12
Dell'Emilia: 8
Tre Valli Varesine: 19
Milano Torino: 8
Il Lombardia: 4

The fall races has clearly been a level below the spring races, and one can only wonder if the fall results would have matched the spring results, if he had not ridden GC at the Tour de France.

We might find out next year, where he has already publicly said, that the Olympics take priority over the Tour for him, and that he will thus not ride GC there.

That leaves him with a couple of big choices to make:

Does he ride ride the Ardennes classics to win - or ride GC at the Giro?
Does he ride GC at the Vuelta - or ride the "climbers world championships" to win.

In both cases, I think he can't do both, if he wants to be a top contender.

So we might end up with a season, where Fuglsang doesn't ride GC in any Grand Tour at all.
 
I thought he was still undecided about that.

I saw one interview saying he was - and another saying he wasn't, so you might be right.

I do think though, that his silver at the last Olympics is gnawing at him, and that the route in Japan is almost tailor-made for him, so I think the priority will be the Olympics, unless Astana pressure him to make a different choice, but that is unlikely, his UCI ranking taken into consideration.
 
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