Re:
I think he struggles to handle pressure well. Which could be why the majority of his big victories have come riding for his country with relatively low expectations on him to win, compared with in the classics, where he is kind of expected to win every race he enters.
Wasn't MSR 17 also his first big race with Bora? Perhaps the change of team influenced his change in attitude. Bora is basically a team and entire project built for him and with the expectation that he will deliver consistently. A bit more pressure than at Tinkoff where there were other big stars and an owner whose antics could deflect some of the scrutiny away from the riders.wayahead said:One more remark - when did he began to complain? I think it started massively after his MSR '17 defeat. He was strong as bull but lost anyway. Immediatelly after the race he adressed harsh words in his native language to his buddies in sprint, then incident with Terpstra followed, war of words with Steppers, tactical mistake on Kapelmuur, he became distracted. After MSR '17 he stopped to race so agressively then before (maybe with exception of P-R), he tries to be more "smart" even when strong, complains about lack of cooperation. So who to blame? Kwiatkowski!
I think he struggles to handle pressure well. Which could be why the majority of his big victories have come riding for his country with relatively low expectations on him to win, compared with in the classics, where he is kind of expected to win every race he enters.