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Paris - Nice 10 March - 17 March 2019 77th edition

Page 9 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Sky overdoing it a bit there. Slow stage and just 5k from the finish was very unlikely to cause any havoc. Take the boni (like they did) and save up for the remainder of the race. Rowe, Kwiatkowski and Bernal were very impressive once again nevertheless.

Great sprint from Bennett. Groenewegen a bit more tired from last two days I guess.
 
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Koronin said:
Nirvana said:
And Colombians usually hit their best already at very young age and then stop progressing or even start to decline at a relatively young age making the hype train even more likely to derail.
Uran seems to be the one big exception to that.
Also Uran was already pretty strong at young age, I remember him winning a stage and finishing 10th at the Tour de Suisse at just 20 but after that he had a bad injury at Deutschland Rundfahrt, then the following year was already 2nd in Catalunya and 3rd in Lombardia showing great thing as both stage and one day racer, if there would have been the forum back then I'm pretty sure he would have overhyped as a future dominator of the scene.

He was unlucky that with the folding of Unibet (he signed a long deal with them) he was forced to became a domestique in Caisse d'Epargne and he didn't have freedom to ride for himself until 2011 when he went to Sky.
 
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Son of Amsterhammer said:
Bennett was really strong there. Seemed like something happened to DG though, he never really got going, then quit!

I think Groenewegen just spent too much energy too close to the finish and died.

Anyway so far in the sprint battle with most of the biggest names it’s Groenewegen 2, Bennett 1, the rest 0. In UAE it was 1 each to Viviani, Bennett, Gaviria and Ewan. It’s very, very tight between the big guns.

Pascal Ackermann will be feeling that he needs to perform soon, with Bennett taking wins in every stage race he’s been in this year. On the other hand, he will likely face very weak competition at the Giro this year and will likely only face one good opponent.
 
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Zinoviev Letter said:
It’s worth noting that the French sprinters don’t really seem to be competitive with the new big guns. Demare and Coquard aren’t coming close to the likes of Groenewegen, Bennett, Ewan.

Yeah, Demare was set up perfectly but didn't have it at the end.

I thought Sky's tactics were interesting...they almost broke up the peloton, maybe with one more teammate they might have done it. Can't fault them for trying, and given how few riders actually contested the sprint you could see that there were a lot of heavy legs. The downside I suppose is that Bernal and Kwiat expended energy that they might need for later on.
 
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Flamin said:
Sky overdoing it a bit there. Slow stage and just 5k from the finish was very unlikely to cause any havoc. Take the boni (like they did) and save up for the remainder of the race. Rowe, Kwiatkowski and Bernal were very impressive once again nevertheless.

Great sprint from Bennett. Groenewegen a bit more tired from last two days I guess.
Agree, I don't think there's any need for Sky and in particular Bernal to do what they did today. Insanely talented, yes, but today was a bit forced. Let the man get a bit of a rest.
 
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Valv.Piti said:
Flamin said:
Sky overdoing it a bit there. Slow stage and just 5k from the finish was very unlikely to cause any havoc. Take the boni (like they did) and save up for the remainder of the race. Rowe, Kwiatkowski and Bernal were very impressive once again nevertheless.

Great sprint from Bennett. Groenewegen a bit more tired from last two days I guess.
Agree, I don't think there's any need for Sky and in particular Bernal to do what they did today. Insanely talented, yes, but today was a bit forced. Let the man get a bit of a rest.

It's mean to take him out of his playground.
 
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yaco said:
LaFlorecita said:
Alexandre B. said:
So, who will win Paris-Nice? Kwiatkowski or Bernal?
I give Bernal the biggest shot, unless he has to work for Kwiatkowski

ITT will be the decider - Kwiatkowski could put a minute into Bernal.
1 minute seems a bit ambitious - I'm expecting around 20 to 30 seconds. Either way, I think Bernal would be able to make up even 1 minute on the final two stages. But if Kwiat is the designated leader and Bernal has to work for him, that'll be hard of course.
 
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LaFlorecita said:
yaco said:
LaFlorecita said:
Alexandre B. said:
So, who will win Paris-Nice? Kwiatkowski or Bernal?
I give Bernal the biggest shot, unless he has to work for Kwiatkowski

ITT will be the decider - Kwiatkowski could put a minute into Bernal.
1 minute seems a bit ambitious - I'm expecting around 20 to 30 seconds. Either way, I think Bernal would be able to make up even 1 minute on the final two stages. But if Kwiat is the designated leader and Bernal has to work for him, that'll be hard of course.
I doubt any of them are a designated leader. That would be silly given the situation they're in at the moment.
 
With the shape they have I wouldn't be surprised if Sky goes 1-2 in the TT.

They spent a lot of energy, yes, but it's not like the others were having a beer on the side of the road. Every other GC rider has gone all out to still be in contention. Those who weren't at the front had to close gaps. There will be some dead legs and probably bigger gaps than we were expecting.
 
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Hugo Koblet said:
LaFlorecita said:
yaco said:
LaFlorecita said:
Alexandre B. said:
So, who will win Paris-Nice? Kwiatkowski or Bernal?
I give Bernal the biggest shot, unless he has to work for Kwiatkowski

ITT will be the decider - Kwiatkowski could put a minute into Bernal.
1 minute seems a bit ambitious - I'm expecting around 20 to 30 seconds. Either way, I think Bernal would be able to make up even 1 minute on the final two stages. But if Kwiat is the designated leader and Bernal has to work for him, that'll be hard of course.
I doubt any of them are a designated leader. That would be silly given the situation they're in at the moment.

It seems that they have no designated leader and they are waiting for the outcome of time trial stage.

Kwiatkowski is fighting for every single boni second at intermediate sprints, and normally should be slightly better than Bernal in the time trial, but one may reasonably expect him losing some time on the Turini MTF. So most likely he is trying to build as much time advantage as possible before Turini.

If Kwiatkowski has around 40-50 seconds over Bernal after the time trial, they will most likely put all-in for Kwiatkowski for the rest of the race. But if there is only 10-20 seconds between them after stage five, I would guess that Bernal will be free to ride on his own.
 
To me, it looks like Sky will try to turn the race in one team show. Every day so far they're making the race, and if there's a chance they'll keep it between Bernal and Kwiatkowski without a designated leader, letting the road decide the winner.
Paris - Nice is one of the sport's most prominent showcases, and they're in search of a sponsor.
 
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Alexandre B. said:
So, who will win Paris-Nice? Kwiatkowski or Bernal?

I will go with Kwiatkowski for this one. Tomorrow's time trial will be his chance to put time into all the other GC contenders, except maybe Jungels, who's already lost time and isn't the same climbing threat as Quintana or Bernal. If Bernal can keep his TT losses to 30 seconds or so on Kwia, it may be a different story.
 

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