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Funnier if Pinot wins .
Jokes put aside, considering the routes, it's the right choice. The Giro's is an attempt to get Dumoulin vs. Froome, if that's the case, all will fight for third, 2nd at best.
The Tour was tailor-made for the two musketeers (the third one will come out of the shadows like Warren and Julian did the past couple of years). If not tailor-made, at least as close as ASO could make it.
But when I see FDJ's new recruits all ITT guys, plus Preidler, Seb and Tibo, it's a team preparing for the TTT. Add Rudy and the mountains are covered. FDJ means business. In comparison, AG2R's lineup looks weak in this exercise and Bardet may lose feathers...45 seconds more or less that will be hard to regain when the Sky train steamrolls the climbs. And the small ITT could add another 45 seconds, maybe a minute. You can't give Sky that much. And Movistar may finally get a clue.
It's a better route for Romain, I hope he'll podium. Win the bike race? Probably not. But he'll give it all he's got and that's plenty. One Frenchman will podium, maybe two. I hope it's two . We have two great entertaining riders near the top of the GT food chain, entering their prime. It's time to deliver. And if they can work together at some crucial times, all the better.
Alexandre B. said:
Funnier if Pinot wins
.Jokes put aside, considering the routes, it's the right choice. The Giro's is an attempt to get Dumoulin vs. Froome, if that's the case, all will fight for third, 2nd at best.
The Tour was tailor-made for the two musketeers (the third one will come out of the shadows like Warren and Julian did the past couple of years). If not tailor-made, at least as close as ASO could make it.
But when I see FDJ's new recruits all ITT guys, plus Preidler, Seb and Tibo, it's a team preparing for the TTT. Add Rudy and the mountains are covered. FDJ means business. In comparison, AG2R's lineup looks weak in this exercise and Bardet may lose feathers...45 seconds more or less that will be hard to regain when the Sky train steamrolls the climbs. And the small ITT could add another 45 seconds, maybe a minute. You can't give Sky that much. And Movistar may finally get a clue.
It's a better route for Romain, I hope he'll podium. Win the bike race? Probably not. But he'll give it all he's got and that's plenty. One Frenchman will podium, maybe two. I hope it's two
. We have two great entertaining riders near the top of the GT food chain, entering their prime. It's time to deliver. And if they can work together at some crucial times, all the better.
Re: Re:
Maybe their working well together at the Worlds will have some sort of carry over effect? You're right that Pinot has the better team for a TTT and he's the better Time Trialist of the two. Movistar's best GC time trialists are Valverde and Soler. Neither of them are going for GC at the Tour.
Tonton said:Alexandre B. said:
Funnier if Pinot wins
Jokes put aside, considering the routes, it's the right choice. The Giro's is an attempt to get Dumoulin vs. Froome, if that's the case, all will fight for third, 2nd at best.
The Tour was tailor-made for the two musketeers (the third one will come out of the shadows like Warren and Julian did the past couple of years). If not tailor-made, at least as close as ASO could make it.
But when I see FDJ's new recruits all ITT guys, plus Preidler, Seb and Tibo, it's a team preparing for the TTT. Add Rudy and the mountains are covered. FDJ means business. In comparison, AG2R's lineup looks weak in this exercise and Bardet may lose feathers...45 seconds more or less that will be hard to regain when the Sky train steamrolls the climbs. And the small ITT could add another 45 seconds, maybe a minute. You can't give Sky that much. And Movistar may finally get a clue.
It's a better route for Romain, I hope he'll podium. Win the bike race? Probably not. But he'll give it all he's got and that's plenty. One Frenchman will podium, maybe two. I hope it's two
Maybe their working well together at the Worlds will have some sort of carry over effect? You're right that Pinot has the better team for a TTT and he's the better Time Trialist of the two. Movistar's best GC time trialists are Valverde and Soler. Neither of them are going for GC at the Tour.
Bardet still has a long way to go before winning the Tour, no doubt about it. But will he even be podiuming again? Last year he finished 6th and this year finished 5th in a rather weak Paris-Nice field. This Dauphine he has shown that he's still lacking. I wonder whether he just peaked early in his career, and that his TdF podiums wasn't as much because of his own strength, but rather his smarts/skills and/or low level of competitors? I don't know, but as of right now and this year he looks more like one to finish 7th-10th than the upper reaches this year.
He's a bit puzzling but I'm a fan. On his day he can climb with the best and despite looking pretty frail Bardet is strong in one-day races. So by rights he should have picked up a couple more GT podiums. But his lack of TT form is a persistent roadblock and not having a team that can really pull him at least halfway up a climb hasn't helped. He might -- might -- have a podium in him still, but I fear that his real level has always been top 10 GC.
I'm not sure if it's a question of peaking too early, but perhaps not developing beyond that peak, at least in GTs. We haven't seen many pure climbers win in recent years unless you count Yates in the Vuelta last year, and even he's made an effort to have his TT not be a liability -- with mixed results, true, but at least he's trying.
I'm not sure if it's a question of peaking too early, but perhaps not developing beyond that peak, at least in GTs. We haven't seen many pure climbers win in recent years unless you count Yates in the Vuelta last year, and even he's made an effort to have his TT not be a liability -- with mixed results, true, but at least he's trying.
I once heard a comment by a bicycle manufacturer that Bardet was riding on a bad TT bike because of contractual reasons. Is that true and has that problem ever been solved?
Herrada just bossed Bardet around up the Ventoux. Bardet seems destined for a repeat of last year's TdF.
He should do a good ride at the TDF - Hope he can change his program and ride the Giro in 2020.
Re:
I don’t know when you heard it, but Ag2r switched to Eddy Merckx bikes for this season. Campagnolo drive trains, Rotor Cranks, Mavic wheels. Not sure what the TT setup is like, but their road bikes look good.Pantani_lives said:
Seems to be the forgotten GC rider in the Tour which he probably won't mind. No Froome and maybe Dumoulin below his best or a no show, Quintana and Bardet should be making the most of it ......if they can......
Re:
Going by his performance up Ventoux, AG2R would be better off signing Herrada. :sad:
movingtarget said:
Going by his performance up Ventoux, AG2R would be better off signing Herrada. :sad:
Re: Re:
Merckx has no TT bikes, so they are using rebranded Ridley bikes instead (which is the same company anyway). They are totally fineLeinster said:
Re: Re:
I still wonder why a deal between AG2R and Look never materialized over all this years.
Until very recently Merckx didn't provide bikes at all to AG2R according to Eurosport! Hence, why they rode rebranded Ridley bikes instead. I guess that's what Pantani_lives referred to.search said:
I still wonder why a deal between AG2R and Look never materialized over all this years.
I haven't read about it in a while, but the new Eddy Merckx 525 was introduced in March, and it was supposed to replace the RIdley road bikes on from than. So not sure how up to date those news from Eurosport were
I think Bardet already peaked with this team. They can't pull him faster nor further. I also think his best chance of winning a GT would be the Vuelta but since he'll always ride the Tour... He's so thin that I doubt his body can endure 2 GC chases in GT within the same year.
I'm sure he'd do great at Deceuninck Quick Step (but who wouldn't ?).
I'm sure he'd do great at Deceuninck Quick Step (but who wouldn't ?).
Re:
His size is a bit of a puzzle. he looks anorexic (stats have him at 1.84 m and as light as 63.5 kilos -- whoa!), but then again he does well in the hardest one-day races and has hung tough in some grueling mountain stages. I'm not saying he should gain weight but a program of weight training and a little more food might not be a terrible thing, either.
I absolutely agree that he has peaked with AG2R, but I simply can't imagine a French GT hopeful going to a non-French team. And, that the Vuelta offers him a path to victory.
@NL_LeMondFans said:
His size is a bit of a puzzle. he looks anorexic (stats have him at 1.84 m and as light as 63.5 kilos -- whoa!), but then again he does well in the hardest one-day races and has hung tough in some grueling mountain stages. I'm not saying he should gain weight but a program of weight training and a little more food might not be a terrible thing, either.
I absolutely agree that he has peaked with AG2R, but I simply can't imagine a French GT hopeful going to a non-French team. And, that the Vuelta offers him a path to victory.
Re: Re:
Ah! Well if it’s good enough for Campanaerts to set Hour records, then Bardet has no excuses.search said:
Re: Re:
Barguil would be better off right now had he stayed with Sunweb. (So would Sunweb). Alaphilippe is doing great things with Quickstep. Pinot seems to enjoy/succeed riding in Italy more than in French races. And of course the last genuine French gc threat was Jalabert who spent most of his career at ONCE and then CSC. Getting out of the goldfish bowl is probably not a bad thing for a French rider with real ambitions.
I think Bardet could probably give the Vuelta gc a good go (“if Yates can do it..?”) but he would probably have to skip the Tour to do it. And the question is, would his sponsors allow it (the goldfish bowl again)?
Bolder said:
Barguil would be better off right now had he stayed with Sunweb. (So would Sunweb). Alaphilippe is doing great things with Quickstep. Pinot seems to enjoy/succeed riding in Italy more than in French races. And of course the last genuine French gc threat was Jalabert who spent most of his career at ONCE and then CSC. Getting out of the goldfish bowl is probably not a bad thing for a French rider with real ambitions.
I think Bardet could probably give the Vuelta gc a good go (“if Yates can do it..?”) but he would probably have to skip the Tour to do it. And the question is, would his sponsors allow it (the goldfish bowl again)?
Why not trying the Giro one year?
I think longer and harder stages should suit him better than the unipuertos of the Vuelta or the junior length mountain stages of the Tour and probably also the less controlled racing is better for him considering some of his performances in one day races.
Anyway if he's regressing compared to some years ago changing GT won't change the outcome.
I think longer and harder stages should suit him better than the unipuertos of the Vuelta or the junior length mountain stages of the Tour and probably also the less controlled racing is better for him considering some of his performances in one day races.
Anyway if he's regressing compared to some years ago changing GT won't change the outcome.
Re: Re:
yeah, I think so too. Maybe they were talking about the time with Factor, who's time trial bike for Ag2R was the first they ever produced (so probably far from perfect).Leinster said:
Yes, his body...kinda like Froome tho' . so he can win a Tour!
The stuff about French riders joining foreign teams is old and some of it Clinic material.
Some riders seem to find a way to remain climbers and improve their ITT, some ITT specialists find some climbing legs. That's not Bardet.
Romain Bardet is a fantastic bike rider, Tour, monuments, Strade, WRRC: let him fight and don't judge him. Is he past his prime, as some say? Dunno. He already is in a small brotherhood of riders who have achieved a lot, riders who will be remembered.
That's why he needs to attack Le Tour. He has nothing to prove. He's one that should be inspired by Carapaz.
. so he can win a Tour!The stuff about French riders joining foreign teams is old and some of it Clinic material.
Some riders seem to find a way to remain climbers and improve their ITT, some ITT specialists find some climbing legs. That's not Bardet.
Romain Bardet is a fantastic bike rider, Tour, monuments, Strade, WRRC: let him fight and don't judge him. Is he past his prime, as some say? Dunno. He already is in a small brotherhood of riders who have achieved a lot, riders who will be remembered.
That's why he needs to attack Le Tour. He has nothing to prove. He's one that should be inspired by Carapaz.
I was careful to reference current riders who perform better for foreign teams/in foreign races, and the only ancien coureur I named (Jalabert) has a contemporary (Virenque) who also demonstrates the point in his own unique “only Virenque” way. While being no more or less clinicky.Tonton said:
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