You can’t be comparing those guys with Ayuso… I mean I know you remember McNulty being a domestique of the year in Hautacam stage in 2022, take Yates in 2023 and last year. Ok Soler has his moments but come on. Ayuso will not do a pedal stroke for a living soul. In fact, he’d rather be kicked out of the race and out of the team than doing so. It’s borderline sick….
Stuck around in the Giro didn't he? Until he could no longer go.
Which in turn is based on their actions. Take Roglic. The narrative is he crashes a lot due to either poor bike handling or poor positioning. Whenever he crashes, he’s judged much harsher than riders who are not surrounded by the narrative. However, the narrative did not just emerge out of thing air. He does crash a lot and often it is his poor positioning to the extent that even when it’s not, he takes the blame.
Right?! It's like, let's sign him up so everyone can feel like they play second or third fiddle.
It's the only good reason to be that far back. It's the kinder interpretation of his action too, because the alternative is that he's simply a moron. And then I get accused of unfairly crapping on riders again.
I'd like to know what they instruct any of their riders to do.
Here's the funny thing. Be around Almeida and try to pull for, like, 5-10 seconds. Then drop like a stone and claim your legs hurt and your not sure what is going on with your recovery. He still looks bad(ish) given he won a couple of days ago, etc., but it mitigates it a whole bunch. Instead, he just looks completely ambivalent. And with all the eyes on him now, that just won't do.
He's a pantomime villain in a sport lacking such characters. I would obviously never want him in my team, but luckily I'm a fan and not a professional, so I can sit back and enjoy the drama that unfolds.
The fact that they had no idea that something was going to happen at the base of a final climb, and thus were both poorly positioned, actually makes them both morons. Just Ayuso also looks like a shyte teammate.
Nah domestiques save themselves on such stages all the time.
This is a good point, actually. There seems to be an agreement/spirit within the team where nobody is too good or protected to work for others. They have four leaders in the team, and in the past two years we have seen Pedersen ride for Ciccone, Ciccone lead out Pedersen, Skjelmose help out here and there, and Milan put in sacrificial work in the classics for Mads.
A team like UAE has no real excuse for not being prepared. I mean, basically that is what VLAB and other teams would be looking for - UAE being inattentive, which they would then try to exploit.
I think if he goes to Lidl then we will get a clearer sense of how he is as a teammate
I don't think the selfish behaviour would fly there at all. And if he does go that direction, I think his world tour days are numbered (unless he can back it up with huge wins from the get go)Yeah, I think Ayuso is more likely to help someone in a race he can't win than in a race he wants to be leader in. That's the sense I get. If I were to really psychoanalyse him, I think there's an insecurity when he falls short of his own expectations that makes him tap out mentally, and without the kind of superego telling him that people won't like him for behaving in that way. So I don't think he'd refuse to help Ciccone or Pedersen in a one day race, but he would refuse to help Ciccone go for GC.I think if he goes to Lidl then we will get a clearer sense of how he is as a teammate
Yeah exactly, providing a bit of entertainment/comic relief to what otherwise promises to be a rather dreary edition.
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