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Paris - Nice 2021, March 7 - March 14

Page 37 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
To me the real question is why did Roglic not have any team-mates left to help him? It seems to me some of Roglic's bad luck or the consequences can be attributed to not-so-great tactical stuff from Jumbo. The more I see, the more I'm not convinced by them. Also, Roglic did not have the strongest support here... because they try to give everyone of their amazing team their own chances these days. That's a good thing for the atmosphere in the team, but it can have consequences.
I've said it before: Jumbo's DS are not the most talented.
 
"Pulling for him" or just taking turns?

I'd say Bouhanni, Van Poppel and Campanaerts pulled for him, and FDJ did ride but they were trying to bring Demare back anyway. Declercq might have but that was on a descent so not sure if he was just going at his own pace, and Morkov did look to give him encouragement.

In comparison, Bora, Cofidis, Astana and Qhubeka all put guys on the front when Roglic was chasing back on to distance him, and plenty of guys just watched him ride by without helping or taking a turn.

From a Jumbo pov, I think it was a bit of a disaster. I know Bennett was chasing back on to the group but it took ages for Kruijswijk and two other Jumbos to drop back and they really didnt help much at all (Kruijswijk almost got him back but blew up too quickly).
 
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Honestly, is their team so amazing? Roglic and Van Aert, sure, but their depth is definitely more shallow than last year. They only have 27 riders and a lot of them are not somebody you would think could be a captain in their own right on another team like Ineos.

And yes, I know about Kuss, Harper, Bennett, Harper, Kruijswijk, Harper Vingegaard, Harper and Harper.

I think it's Chris Harper, Chris Diamond, Pearl Harper, and Chris Sharper.
 
Honestly, is their team so amazing? Roglic and Van Aert, sure, but their depth is definitely more shallow than last year. They only have 27 riders and a lot of them are not somebody you would think could be a captain in their own right on another team like Ineos.

And yes, I know about Kuss, Harper, Bennett, Harper, Kruijswijk, Harper, Vingegaard, Harper and Harper.

Tbf all healthy and on form for the Tour, they'll have Roglic, Kuss, Kruijswijk, Van Aert, Bennett/Oomen, Martin, Gesink and Teunnissen which is a damn strong team. They'll likely have the strongest or 2nd strongest team overall.

I do agree depth wise though they are lacking. The bottom 10 of their roster are not as strong as the bottom 10 of someone like Ineos or a bunch of others.
 
IMO the Schleck/Contador thing was different, that was a stage where an actual difference could be made. Nobody was going to drop Roglic or anyone in the top 10 on this course today. The whole friggin GC group once waited for Froome on the final climb of the queen stage of the TDF once for gods sake.

I guess my main point is simply that I think waiting is silly. Included in my point is that it is important to tell the whole story. Roglic was the strongest rider by a mile and lost because he fell a second time and Schachmann and his team picked up the pace (which may or may not be a coincidence). It’s kind of like if the team that wins the champions league this year because there much favoured opponent lost it’s top 4 players with COVID, or something. They still win, but there is more to the story.

I’d also argue that the peloton stopping for Froome needs to be part of the story as well and the win judged accordingly. I don’t know enough about the pro peloton to know why Froome got the benefit of the Peloton stopping and Roglic didn’t, but it simply being about Stage 7 seems a little simplistic.
 
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Does anyone remember Vlasov and Izagirre doing anything this race? Vlasov was in the distanece behind Roglic on a few stages... It's the quietest double podium finish I can think of. Not quite a la Zubeldia but close.
Izagirre tried to follow Roglic's attack on stage 4 but couldn't follow and Vlasov attacked in the last kilometer on the same stage in the group behind Roglič, but that's about it. But they both had pretty strong ITT performances.
 
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You are right. They tried but the attacks ended quickly. The climbs were too easy for a rider to get clear, but the stage was hard enough to drop by far the strongest rider in the race. Strange.:)

Strange indeed.

But it's not the first time Astana has been involved in a situation like this, though I'm not totally sure how much they were to blame today, so I'm at least a bit pleased with them not getting the win.
 
Bouhanni used himself up for Roglic? Really? Are you insane?
Watch it again, in the period just before Bouhanni gets dropped by Roglic. He is on the front of the duo pulling in circumstances where there is absolutely no reason for him to do so other than to help Roglic.

Similarly when Van Poppel and Campanaerts were pulling. They weren’t just naturally taking turns. Their races were over. It would have taken quite a bit of effort to not just hold on to a chasing Roglic but get into the wind ahead of him.

I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit a narrative that Roglic is some kind of social leper in the peloton.
 
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Watch it again, in the period just before Bouhanni gets dropped by Roglic. He is on the front of the duo pulling in circumstances where there is absolutely no reason for him to do so other than to help Roglic.

Yes, definitely. A very weird response you got there.

Although, it was very surprising to me too that Bouhanni would do that.
 
Watch it again, in the period just before Bouhanni gets dropped by Roglic. He is on the front of the duo pulling in circumstances where there is absolutely no reason for him to do so other than to help Roglic.

Similarly when Van Poppel and Campanaerts were pulling. They weren’t just naturally taking turns. Their races were over. It would have taken quite a bit of effort to not just hold on to a chasing Roglic but get into the wind ahead of him.

I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit a narrative that Roglic is some kind of social leper in the peloton.
Van Poppel is a former member of the team, I'm sure that played a part - I assume he left on good terms. (And while it's not a gesture that can be expected of anyone, it is not like it's some sort of sacrifice. Their day was over, it didn't really cost anything to take a strong pull - except for Qhubeka pulling in the bunch too).
 
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