Lesser known races 2024 edition

[Salvarani]

Delettre in the Coupe de France this month: 25th, 5th, 17th, 15th, 3rd, 3rd
Cofidis in the Coupe de France this month: 8th, 6th, 2nd, 20th, 6th, 43rd

Cofidis dropped Delettre at the end of the season, he would've been their topscorer if he was still at the team this season.

Zingle has not had the best time after Provence. Coquard not done many races yet in Coupe de France.

And guys like Oldani or Fretin has yet to make much of an impact, after the start of the season.

Given the decision to extend Delettre or signing the others... I would have probably chosen the latter as well.

Delettre probably didnt race as a leader last season or did much in 2022 either, but still impressive results from him this year. Just some things you never know in cycling.

 

[Samamba]

Zingle has not had the best time after Provence. Coquard not done many races yet in Coupe de France.

And guys like Oldani or Fretin has yet to make much of an impact, after the start of the season.

Given the decision to extend Delettre or signing the others... I would have probably chosen the latter as well.

Delettre probably didnt race as a leader last season or did much in 2022 either, but still impressive results from him this year. Just some things you never know in cycling.

Delettre was already a pretty decent rider at Cofidis. It was beyond stupid for them to not extend him. They went with guys like Robeet or Debeaumarché instead. I mean, come on.

Anyways everyone at Cofidis seems to underperform, so maybe good for him that he's out of there. They also race way too much. They just spam races for UCI points, but without a devo team. It's insane how much they ride. Ofcourse riders are gonna get burned out.

 

[Salvarani]

Delettre was already a pretty decent rider at Cofidis. It was beyond stupid for them to not extend him. They went with guys like Robeet or Debeaumarché instead. I mean, come on.

Anyways everyone at Cofidis seems to underperform, so maybe good for him that he's out of there. They also race way too much. They just spam races for UCI points, but without a devo team. It's insane how much they ride. Ofcourse riders are gonna get burned out.

Dont agree. Delettre was signed from Delko to make results in these races. He didnt do much in 2022-2023. They chose to sign new guys like Oldani, Fretin among others. I can very much understand the reasoning for that.

Robeet and Debeaumarché serves a completely different purpose. They are work horses.

Delettre making good results now is great for him. Maybe can get a new chance somewhere or be a leader for a CT/PRT team. Could be where he should be to make the best results.

 

[Samamba]

Dont agree. Delettre was signed from Delko to make results in these races. He didnt do much in 2022-2023. They chose to sign new guys like Oldani, Fretin among others. I can very much understand the reasoning for that.

Robeet and Debeaumarché serves a completely different purpose. They are work horses.

Delettre making good results now is great for him. Maybe can get a new chance somewhere or be a leader for a CT/PRT team. Could be where he should be to make the best results.

No idea why you would compare Oldani to Delettre, they're not even close to the same salary level.

I'm sure Cofidis fans are extremely happy they let him go.

 

[Salvarani]

No idea why you would compare Oldani to Delettre, they're not even close to the same salary level.

I'm sure Cofidis fans are extremely happy they let him go.

I just mentioned Oldani and Fretin as examples of riders they signed up to fill their roster, both potentially as options and riders they hoped would score in these sort of races. Upgrades. You do know there is a limit on the roster, right?

Thats very easy to say in hindsight. It would hold more merit, if it was pointed out that it could be a mistake when he didnt get extended.

He had done close to nothing in 2022-2023.

 

[Samamba]

I just mentioned Oldani and Fretin as examples of riders they signed up to fill their roster, both potentially as options and riders they hoped would score in these sort of races. Upgrades. You do know there is a limit on the roster, right?

Thats very easy to say in hindsight. It would hold more merit, if it was pointed out that it could be a mistake when he didnt get extended.

He had done close to nothing in 2022-2023.

Look at the Grupetto forum or on Twitter at the end of last year, lots of Cofidis fans who didn't really agree with letting go of him given what came in. And "in hindsight"? isn't that the whole point? Isn't that the job of the team leader to make the right decisions? It simply wasn't a good decision, given his results now. It's not that hard to understand.

Close to nothing is absolutely an over exaggeration as he did a lot of work for the team, and Delettre calls that the real reason why he didn't have more results.

 

[Salvarani]

Look at the Grupetto forum at the end of last year, lots of Cofidis fans who didn't really agree with letting go of him given what came in. And "in hindsight"? isn't that the whole point? Isn't that the job of the team leader to make the right decisions? It simply wasn't a good decision, given his results now. It's not that hard to understand.

Close to nothing is absolutely an over exaggeration, he also did a lot of work for the team, and Delettre calls that the real reason why he didn't have more results.

The best decision definitely seem to let go of him, after not doing much, and sign new riders with more results with a better profile.

Being leader for a CT-team in these races with weak-fields definitely seem more like his level, so maybe it what was good for him? Rather than staying at Cofidis. He will have more and better offers now, so maybe it worked out perfectly for him.

His best results were 8th Polynormande and 6th in Tour de Vendeé, both came in 2023.

His best result in 2022 was 11th in Boucles de l'Aulne - Châteaulin.

If he did a lot of work, probably other riders who are better equipped for that...

Dont understand the negativity or aggression here. Just seem like you want to go at Cofidis for making a "poor" decision that they or anyone else had no way of knowing about. You seem like someone who hasnt had to make many decisions in your life, if this is your reaction. These things happen.

Riders have moved to new team and performed better. Some teams/environments works better for certain people. It is not hard to understand at all.

 

[Samamba]

The best decision definitely seem to let go of him, after not doing much, and sign new riders with more results with a better profile.

Being leader for a CT-team in these races with weak-fields definitely seem more like his level, so maybe it what was good for him? Rather than staying at Cofidis. He will have more and better offers now, so maybe it worked out perfectly for him.

His best results were 8th Polynormande and 6th in Tour de Vendeé, both came in 2023.

His best result in 2022 was 11th in Boucles de l'Aulne - Châteaulin.

If he did a lot of work, probably other riders who are better equipped for that...

Dont understand the negativity or aggression here. Just seem like you want to go at Cofidis for making a "poor" decision that they or anyone else had no way of knowing about. You seem like someone who hasnt had to make many decisions in your life, if this is your reaction. These things happen.

Riders have moved to new team and performed better. Some teams/environments works better for certain people. It is not hard to understand at all.

Yes it's a poor decision when a rider you dropped has to go to a conti team and outperforms your own team. it's not a good look in my book, and that counts for a lot of people. Just look at the French press or Frech fora. It's not that hard to understand what my point is. I do not care what it seemed to you, the point is that it seems now that it was a horrible decision. Everyone makes mistakes, that's fine, but you can still call it a mistake. "in hindsight" is just a bad argument, as you can use it literally every time as an excuse for bad decisions. It's the same with Lefevere giving out fat contracts to riders like Lampaert who then don't perform. it's also "in hindsight" but it's still a bad decision. Can't just use that excuse every time you let someone go who does good afterwards or when you do a transfer that doesn't perform. That's not how it works.

Ask Delettre himself what he thinks of the way Cofidis handled him.

Anyways I'm done with this dicussion. We don't agree, that's fine. If I wanted to have a go at Cofidis I could use waaaaaay more as the rumours about what goes on behind the scenes there right now are not positive.

 

[Salvarani]

Yes it's a poor decision when a rider you dropped has to go to a conti team and outperforms your own team. it's not a good look in my book, and that counts for a lot of people. Just look at the French press or Frech fora. It's not that hard to understand what my point is. I do not care what it seemed to you, the point is that it seems now that it was a horrible decision. Everyone makes mistakes, that's fine, but you can still call it a mistake. "in hindsight" is just a bad argument, as you can use it literally every time as an excuse for bad decisions. It's the same with Lefevere giving out fat contracts to riders like Lampaert who then don't perform. it's also "in hindsight" but it's still a bad decision.

Ask Delettre himself what he thinks of the way Cofidis handled him.

Anyways I'm done with this dicussion. We don't agree, that's fine. If I wanted to have a go at Cofidis I could use waaaaaay more as the rumours about what goes on behind the scenes there right now are not positive.

It is only a "poor" decision in hindsight, knowing the outcome... not because the reasoning that they may have had for not extending him.

No matter how you put it or want to frame it.

Cool, Delettre could just be a disgruntled employee. It didnt work out. Always two sides to a story and both have moved on.

I dont really care about gossip, but you are basically revealing you do have a problem or has some sort of bias towards them... as I figured. Makes the discussion pretty pointless.

 

[Samamba]

I dont really care about gossip, but you are basically revealing you do have a problem or has some sort of bias towards them... as I figured. Makes the discussion pretty pointless.

Ah there you go again, the "omg you're biased" argument, every time the same thing with you. I do not care about Cofidis, I see what I see and hear what I hear. If I'm biased negatively towards any teams it's definitely not the smaller ones lmao.

 

[Salvarani]

Ah there you go again, the "omg you're biased" argument, every time the same thing with you. I do not care about Cofidis, I see what I see and hear what I hear. If I'm biased negatively towards any teams it's definitely not the smaller ones lmao.

You just dont seem very level-headed about this thing here, thats all. Especially not in this case. Proven by the way you carry yourself.

 

[DNP-Old]

Ah there you go again, the "omg you're biased" argument, every time the same thing with you. I do not care about Cofidis, I see what I see and hear what I hear. If I'm biased negatively towards any teams it's definitely not the smaller ones lmao.

Ignore list is a beautiful thing, trust me.

 

[DNP-Old]

Widar won the Ronde van Limburg the other week, here's hoping he can repeat that performance to some extend today. This, above all else, should be his terrain. Also quite interested in Jacob Bush and Simone Gualdi today, but one is on DSM and the other on a stacked Intermache team. Reckon Busatto is the man to beat.

Weather ain't too bad compared to the last few days.

 

[search]

Volta NXT may sound like a Portuguese junior race, but it's in fact the new name of the main sponsor, as I just noticed.

So it also never was the Volta [of] Limburg, but always the "Sponsor name" Classic

 

[DNP-Old]

Volta NXT may sound like a Portuguese junior race, but it's in fact the new name of the main sponsor, as I just noticed.

So it also never was the Volta [of] Limburg, but always the "Sponsor name" Classic

Hel van het Mergelland, mate!

 

[Samamba]

.

Widar won the Ronde van Limburg the other week, here's hoping he can repeat that performance to some extend today. This, above all else, should be his terrain. Also quite interested in Jacob Bush and Simone Gualdi today, but one is on DSM and the other on a stacked Intermache team. Reckon Busatto is the man to beat.

Weather ain't too bad compared to the last few days.

Widar said he's there to help the leaders. But with decent weather it's gonna be a bit tactical so he'll get his chances to attack I think.

Gualdi has been really good this year already, maybe even better than Widar so far in pro races (even tho it's hard go judgd Widar with all the work he's done for teammates in Coppi e Bartali for example). And indeed Intermarché seems like the team to beat with Herregodts, Busatto, Artz, etc.

 

[search]

Hel van het Mergelland, mate!

yeah, it's of course the much better name, but all those years after I always thought "Volta" was an (although uncommon) Dutch equivalant of "Tour".

 

[DNP-Old]

Widar and Bush dropped already. Can I still delete my previous post?

 

[DNP-Old]

Busatto, Gualdi and Van den Broek are already in the lead group.

 

[RedheadDane]

So... Mathijs Paasschens is on the attack in Volta NXT Classic (along with 8 other guys). That seems... oddly fitting...

However, neither Jesus Herrada, nor Jesus Ezquerra are on the attack in GP Miguel Indurain.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Gap has gone north of two minutes in Limburg, this could be curtains for the peloton.

 

[Samamba]

Yeah think this is done. The only strong teams are in the break. Alpecin and Lotto maybe not with the guy they wanted but I don't think they are gonna try to close this.

 

[Squire]

Huub Artz solo win incoming, while everyone else in the group are looking at Busatto.

 

[Samamba]

Vanhoucke, Eenkhoorn, Bonneu and Blackmore (he's so good) making the jump.

Also another Alpecin and Intermarché rider coming. Everything close together.

 

[Ricco']

Just tuned in to Limburg, but this constant back and forth between the men's and women's race is annoying. Either have separate feeds for each race or just broadcast the men's after the women finish.