Gigs_98 said:
Their budget was also cut down, so they had to give up from some of their best riders.
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Their budget was also cut down, so they had to give up from some of their best riders.
It's mainly that Aru massively underperforms since 2014. Yeah he won that 2015 Vuelta. But we all now that was more strong Astana dragging it's weak leader to the victory. If Aru can't get his act together at this year's Tour or Vuelta his career is a pile of shards that certainly needs reconstruction.
Re:
Thats a very hard statement when he was 2nd in the Giro and 1st in the Vuelta, but I do get where you are coming from. On both occasions, Astana had by far the superior team and both GTs were pretty lacklustre in terms of contenders (Porte and Uran sno shows in the Giro, Steven lost 10 minutes, Landa was his own teammate - no depth to the field, really) and the Vuelta speaks for itself when an inform time trialist leads the race with 1 day to go.staubsauger said:
If Kruijswijk never loses those 10 minutes or Pozzzovivo never crashes, Landa certainly gets at least 2nd and Aru totally falls apart on one of those early mountain stages imho. That 2nd place is a big dizzle somehow.
I don't believe in ifs when we're talking GTs. Aru has underperformed once (Tour 2016) and he's the only non big 4 to have won a Grand Tour in the past 3 years. His palmares since 2014 is better than most GT riders will have accomplished at the end of their careers.
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Of course you don't, but 1st and 2nd overall didn't really reflect his overall level, he aint no world beater. He had super favourable circumstances.SafeBet said:
Singer01
BANNED
Re: Re:
Really, you think he will lose that much? Last year he lost 2 min 20 to the stage winner on the similar length TT, and only 1 min 35 to Jungels. This showed a big improvement on his previous TT's. With 2 decent length TT's in this edition there is no reason to think he won't have done even more work this year on his TT.
Valv.Piti said:
Really, you think he will lose that much? Last year he lost 2 min 20 to the stage winner on the similar length TT, and only 1 min 35 to Jungels. This showed a big improvement on his previous TT's. With 2 decent length TT's in this edition there is no reason to think he won't have done even more work this year on his TT.
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Last year's ITT was too hilly and technical to open large gaps between the big engines and the small climbers. The rain also helped to keep gaps smaller than expected.Singer01 said:
Landa also went off road in that ITT which cost him some time, his ITT was really impressive there. He will obviously lose some time to some other contenders, but I think he can limit his losses pretty well.
To me, Mikel should be the leader for Sky. Proven. Geraint is not battle tested on a grand tour, and I believe that he will (somewhat) fade week 3. I think that it was the deal when Landa joined Sky: that he would be the leader in Froome-less GTs. He'll end up a superdom I'm afraid. He deserves better.
Tonton said:
I'm sure this was the original deal, but he didn't really perform much last year. That has to have changed some things. Meanwhile GT has poured his heart out for the team and shown himself decently strong in grand tours. I think it was fair to give them equal status in light of the last year. That said, I do prefer Landa over GT and I do expect GT to crack at some point this Giro.
Well, to me it is really simple: Landa didn't perform last year, so he gets another shot this year, yet Sky has to respect and reward other riders wishes, particularly those who have GC aspirations and were able to perform.
If Landa yet again doesn't perform, he'll have to accept being a domestique, since he had not taken the chance when it was given to him. If he doesn't accept, he's free to leave the team.
Thing is: money is important. For some riders, it is even more relevant than their career. Is Landa that kind of rider, or a more ambitious one?
If Landa yet again doesn't perform, he'll have to accept being a domestique, since he had not taken the chance when it was given to him. If he doesn't accept, he's free to leave the team.
Thing is: money is important. For some riders, it is even more relevant than their career. Is Landa that kind of rider, or a more ambitious one?
rick james
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if this years Giro didn't have the amount of ITT in it as it has then I reckon Landa would have been sky's number one rider
Why are we even talking abouy Landa being a domestique for Thomas at this point? Nothing suggests that that's the pecking order at this point, and unless Thomas takes the lead with a sizeable gap in the TT, I don't think it will happen at all. Even if Thomas is ahead after the TT, if Sky aren't in a position where they need to defend the jersey, I don't think Landa will have to tap out a rhythm for Thomas or give him his wheel or something.
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I agree, seems fairly simple to me also. If Landa wants to go back to sole leadership like last year than he needs to start putting down some performances, he hasn't won anything in over a year. Yet obviously he is talented enough that he still gets support for a GT. But it can't come at the expense at every other rider, especially if they are getting results.
lenric said:
I agree, seems fairly simple to me also. If Landa wants to go back to sole leadership like last year than he needs to start putting down some performances, he hasn't won anything in over a year. Yet obviously he is talented enough that he still gets support for a GT. But it can't come at the expense at every other rider, especially if they are getting results.
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This should be true. IMO the only thing that should change this is if GT were to be in the leaders jersey deep in week three....not likely.
Vasilis said:
This should be true. IMO the only thing that should change this is if GT were to be in the leaders jersey deep in week three....not likely.
His style does remind me a bit of Rasmussen, maybe without the obsession, he used to do this out of the blue to see how his legs responded. Don't think it was the kind of attack that will take it out of him tomorrow
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Exactly, Rasmussen have done this on a few occasions and honestly, its usually a very good sign.TomLPC said:
rick james
BANNED
Seen rod ellingworth on Eurosport saying it was a hard day and Mikel is feeling good , Mikel was just really testing the legs
Riders used to describe this with the phrase "opening up the legs" prior entering the high mountains. We've seen Contador do that at times in the past.
He's the man to watch tomorrow. He seems a lot stronger than Quintana at this point (although it's really hard to know for sure), so it would make sense for him to attack him tomorrow and not wait until Quintana gets his rhythm later on. He also knows he's going to lose time to Thomas in the ITT, I'm sure that's part of his mental calculus.
I never see why anybody would ever make a statement about Quintana's form before he's actually tried hard on a mountain stage.
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