Paris-Nice 2024, March 3-10

[AmRacer]

So Remco couldn't drop Rogla. Remco is probably at his TT weight then.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I hate riders who try to maximize their own physical characteristics and take on the race in the way that does that best rather than just getting involved in a *** measuring contest with the competition. It's just not fair!

 

[bajbar]

It was a reply in general. I didn't even watch the race yet. I can only imagine it was about Roglic not riding... Again. There must not be many "right moments" going by his racing behavior.

"Right moment" is when both Remco and Roglič are in a group together and they have dropped either Vingegaard or Pogačar. In this case Roglič works. None of them are in this race, so unless another rider proves to be stronger than both of them, well... no working together with your biggest rival I guess...

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I think it's fair to say that Roglic follows wheels many times, unless Kuss is leading the Vuelta.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I hate riders who try to maximize their own physical characteristics and take on the race in the way that does that best rather than just getting involved in a *** measuring contest with the competition. It's just not fair!

Especially when someone in the the World Tour has an 81 km ***.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

UAE's 5 leaders all finished in the group. Job done for today.

I saw this earlier and thought you were taking the piss a bit, but they literally have Almida, Vine, Mcnutly, Soler and grosscharter. My god. Wasn't Sikavov supposed to do this race as well.? I love watching this team when Pogacar isn't racing

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulation to Olav Kooij for winning the sprint.

Rather intense finale, due to hard terrain and with a bit of elbowing involved, when fighting for positions. From GC point of view Remco and his team seemed a bit more active, yesterday i thought he might try something on the last hill. He did, but Rogla had it under control. Successful first day at work for Rogla.

Tomorrow likely hard task ahead for the teams to protect their leaders in what looks to be a pure sprint finale.

 

[Offline]

I saw this earlier and thought you were taking the piss a bit, but they literally have Almida, Vine, Mcnutly, Soler and grosscharter. My god. Wasn't Sikavov supposed to do this race as well.? I love watching this team when Pogacar isn't racing

Sivakov still out from his crash in Valencia.

And yes crazy with all this GC riders. And you didn't even name the on that did best today: Finn Fisher-Black.

If they have 3-4 of these names with in 25-55 sec from the leader before the last stage. They can be really dangerous on the last stage!

 

[Tim Cahill]

I saw this earlier and thought you were taking the piss a bit, but they literally have Almida, Vine, Mcnutly, Soler and grosscharter. My god. Wasn't Sikavov supposed to do this race as well.? I love watching this team when Pogacar isn't racing

Unfortunately their all-crucial 6th GC rider was injured in Valenciana, Joao is here in good form though, looking to make the step up and 'ride his own race' in le tour!

'Not my problem!' says João Almeida of UAE's Tour de France hierarchy

Portuguese climber looks ahead to Tour de France debut and discusses his stubborn style of riding that has made for a social media meme parade

www.globalcyclingnetwork.com

To be honest I hadn't seen Grosschartner there too, I had included Fisher-Black, hopefully we will be treated to some really pointless attacks from him like in that Vingegaard Vuelta stage.

 

[Froome]

Time for somebody to make a thread dedicated to the cycling genius of klaas lodewyclk and his many inspirational moments.



Never did I think I would see the phrase 'advanced cycling strategy' used when discussing primos Roglic. Fair play red rick

I compare Roglic fans to those amateur fishermen, who spend hours and hours at a time, waiting for the hook to move and catch a fish.

Nobody sees entertainment in doing that, it's so boring, but those amateur fishermen find entertainment in doing that, sometimes most of the day.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I compare Roglic fans to those amateur fishermen, who spend hours and hours at a time, waiting for the hook to move and catch a fish.

Nobody sees entertainment in doing that, it's so boring, but those amateur fishermen find entertainment in doing that, sometimes most of the day.

Having the fish caught for you and only cutting them up and packaging them yourself is way easier, but if Roglič fans realised that, they would be winning the Tour instead of listening to Slovenian folk music in their fisher boats.

 

[search]

To be honest I hadn't seen Grosschartner there too, I had included Fisher-Black, hopefully we will be treated to some really pointless attacks from him like in that Vingegaard Vuelta stage.

During Oman, FFB himself said that he'd do Paris-Nice as a domestique.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Nah, this is gearing up to be a great race, considering the competition involved and stages to come.

P.S. The ones that can handle a bit more excitement can always watch TA instead.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Even the battle in between sprinters is strong on this race. And that is what we would get from stage one and two regardless. If we must focus on GC, then Remco got a chance today, last hill most suitable for him, Rogla was nowhere near his wheel. Not capitalizing on that or expecting Rogla to attack on such terrain.

C'mon. There will be a place and time for that.

 

[proffate]

It's not just about wheel sucking, which is tactically sound given his abilities, it's also that Roglic looks bad doing it, head cocked and elbows in the posture of chicken wings.

Bernal riding aggressive is nice, but then he has basically nothing to lose. He can only exceed expectations.

 

[CyclistAbi]

It's not just about wheel sucking, which is tactically sound given his abilities, it's also that Roglic looks bad doing it, head cocked and elbows in the posture of chicken wings.

Yeah, what is up with that. It's like he is trying to impersonate Jonas on an attack, while benefiting from Remcos aero body.

 

[Savant12]

Great to see Bernal mixing it up again. Hope, his form continues to improve.

 

[jmdirt]

So…uh…we shouldn’t talk about the two biggest riders in the race…in the race thread?

We should talk about them in THIS race though (ie: not the TdF two years ago, not the TdF '24, not the imaginary...).

 

[zlev11]

everyone on this forum thinks every rider just has limitless energy to do whatever they want and then are surprised when the guy who attacks constantly loses 27 minutes on the first big mountain stage.

 

[Sciatic]

So…uh…we shouldn’t talk about the two biggest riders in the race…in the race thread?

Funny you jumped to that extreme. You can reread what I said : “if you care to” you can move some of the refundant back and forth (He did XYZ . . Did not .. did too…nuh-uh..,yuh-huh) to the other thread.

That way if like this AM I didn’t get up early enough to watch the stage I can read what happened out on the road (including what Remco and Roglic did as well as other riders)) without wading through the other stuff.

And if you don’t care to then it’s not really addressed to you.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

“If we have a plan, Roglic is usually stuck to my wheel. I didn't like him, that was why I kept going so hard.” - Remco

Remco about the sprint for bonus seconds

Is this a matter of a spellingcorrector messing up what you wrote? Evenepoel said that usually Roglic is in his wheel but this time he didn't see him (in his wheel) which is why he kept going. He didn't say anything about not liking Roglic, though i'm sure he might think it.

"Right moment" is when both Remco and Roglič are in a group together and they have dropped either Vingegaard or Pogačar. In this case Roglič works. None of them are in this race, so unless another rider proves to be stronger than both of them, well... no working together with your biggest rival I guess...

So, no chance at all for Roglic to lose time to anyone else but Evenepoel.

The easiest way for Roglic to remind me why I don't like him is for him to get on a bike.
The easiest way for Evenepoel to remind me why I don't like him is for him to open his mouth.
The easiest way for this forum to remind me which users I don't like is the pair of them racing against each other.
Today has been the perfect encapsulation of all three.

Was away most of the day, so i only read some interviews. What did Evenepoel say that was so offputting.

 

[Oldermanish]

It was a reply in general. I didn't even watch the race yet. I can only imagine it was about Roglic not riding... Again. There must not be many "right moments" going by his racing behavior.

I watched it and he never seemed too far back. When the "break" formed, he waited until a rise in the road and spun across to the move. They shut down when he got there. It contained some serious guys so he wasn't going to let it get out of hand and he didn't tow a group with him. He'd have worked if it had a chance and the fact that the riders backed off said as much about who would/could work with him as anything. It's stage 1 and everyone was stretching their legs.

 

[Berniece]

"Right moment" is when both Remco and Roglič are in a group together and they have dropped either Vingegaard or Pogačar. In this case Roglič works. None of them are in this race, so unless another rider proves to be stronger than both of them, well... no working together with your biggest rival I guess...

Would be extremely arrogant and dumb of Roglic to only see Evenepoel as competition.

 

[red_flanders]

Was away most of the day, so i only read some interviews. What did Evenepoel say that was so offputting.

Apparently nothing. This was a response to a mis-quote.

 

[bNator]

I don't think there's much to criticise regarding Roglič's tactics in 1-week stage races. He is, after all, one of the most successful 1-week stage races in history. I think Roglič knows exactly when the right moment is to attack. Of course, fans of the opposing riders don't like that and would rather have him attacking all over the place making as many stupid moves as possible to minimise his own chances.

That's ok to wish that, I too am happy to see Remco attacking idiotically on a molehill before the 10 km final flat... It's also ok to claim you don't like his style and you prefer stage hunting than going for GC...

But it's a bit dishonest trying to debate it's somehow Roglič's tactical mistake now not to go with Remco yesterday. In what world is it a tactical mistake not to burn yourself completely on the flat section of a first stage of a race where you are the main favourite and which presents many opportunities for you later on? Sure, Remco and Rogla could probably ride like madmen yesterday, but they would have been chased to gain what, 10-20 seconds...

And it's precisely because Roglič doesn't see Remco as his only threat that he doesn't want to expose himself to the attacks of the likes of Almeida later in the race. At this stage, he will do the minimum to keep Remco in check while keeping himself as fresh as possible to be able to defend against others on the day, where Remco possibly loses minutes (you never know with this guy)...