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Teams & Riders Stefan Bissegger is the new Fabian Cancellara thread

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Anderis

May 10, 2013
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Maybe a bit early for a thread but hey, if Matteo Jorgenson can have one...

I couldn't resist the temptation to open the thread because a comparison to one of the best riders of the previous decade is obvious. A Swiss rider with a big engine who has shown inclinations towards classics and ITT.

A very good finish too as evidenced by today's stage.

There was another rider who had a successful debut with EF in BinckBank Tour similar circumstances 2 years ago but hasn't shown much since then unfortunately. I'm talking about Julius Van den Berg. Let's hope Bissegger has a better career trajectory from this point on. EF could use another rising star after losing Woods and Martinez and with Vanmarcke's future being uncertain.
 
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Anderis

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
But Bissegger is a class act, that's for sure. For the moment i see more of a EBH rider in him, than a Cancellara.
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Yeah, I've thought about EBH as well as he seems to sprint more and didn't shine that much in U-23 cobbled races but Cancellara got bonus points for the same nationality. ;) I'm also not sure if I wish him to become the next EBH even though EBH had a better career than most of the riders in the peloton all things considered.
 
tobydawq

tobydawq

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
While self-proclaimed top 10 ITT'er Bjerg sees guys his age and younger pass him by, left and right. Leknessund won the EU ITT ahead of Bisseger, Leknessund also beat Bjerg at the WCC.

As for Bisseger being the new Cancellara, i feel he has more potential on a hilly course than Fabian had.
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I heard a 2 hour podcast with Bjerg a few days ago. He doesn't really know what happened at Worlds but is adamant that his issues will be fixed (they had to do with position, not power output). And they were not solved at the Giro where he still managed a third place on the first day. I would expect him to have been a bit fatigued today from yesterday where he died in the finale and after that did everything he could to keep Cattaneo in check.

I would hesitate to write him off.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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tobydawq said:
I heard a 2 hour podcast with Bjerg a few days ago. He doesn't really know what happened at Worlds but is adamant that his issues will be fixed (they had to do with position, not power output). And they were not solved at the Giro where he still managed a third place on the first day. I would expect him to have been a bit fatigued today from yesterday where he died in the finale and after that did everything he could to keep Cattaneo in check.

I would hesitate to write him off.
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Not writing him off, just saying that he isn't the worldbeater he thought he was (and i said so at the time as well, this is not 20/20 hindsight). Even while he was dominant in the WCC's U23, he wasn't nearly as dominant in other ITT's at the time. It wasn't just the Worlds last year, he also got overpowered at the Euro 2019 U23's where he got a beating from Price Pejtersen (where he was already 69 seconds slower than Evenepoel). He lost nearly a minute to Evenepoel in Algarve over 20km, and finished behind guys like MAL and Politt, and only a few seconds ahead of Bol, Sütterlin etc. Great riders, but not exactly the current top 10 in ITT.

I think he was physically fullgrown faster than his peers in the U23, and he focused on TTing much more than most of his rivals there. I can see him rival the ITT palmares of Küng at the same age. Which is nothing to sneeze at, but a far cry from a few others.
 
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tobydawq

tobydawq

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Not writing him off, just saying that he isn't the worldbeater he thought he was (and i said so at the time as well, this is not 20/20 hindsight). Even while he was dominant in the WCC's U23, he wasn't nearly as dominant in other ITT's at the time. It wasn't just the Worlds last year, he also got overpowered at the Euro 2019 U23's where he got a beating from Price Pejtersen (where he was already 69 seconds slower than Evenepoel). He lost nearly a minute to Evenepoel in Algarve over 20km, and finished behind guys like MAL and Politt, and only a few seconds ahead of Bol, Sütterlin etc. Great riders, but not exactly the current top 10 in ITT.

I think he was physically fullgrown faster than his peers in the U23, and he focused on TTing much more than most of his rivals there. I can see him rival the ITT palmares of Küng at the same age. Which is nothing to sneeze at, but a far cry from a few others.
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I agree, his results don't impress, hard to argue with that.

One thing I had forgotten was that he was on track for a top placing in Kuurne last year. In the break of the day, he suddenly got a mechanical that completely dispelled his chances and got him to drop out of the group and be caught.

But the break nearly made it, and when Asgreen got up them, Boris Vallée hung on until five kilometres remained or something like that. Bjerg was absolutely convinced he would have been able to hang on to Asgreen (but probably not beat him).

Sorry, Stefan Bissegger, this has nothing to do with you. But you did beat Bjerg today, so you might win a cobbled classic. Hypothetically.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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tobydawq said:
I agree, his results don't impress, hard to argue with that.

One thing I had forgotten was that he was on track for a top placing in Kuurne last year. In the break of the day, he suddenly got a mechanical that completely dispelled his chances and got him to drop out of the group and be caught.

But the break nearly made it, and when Asgreen got up them, Boris Vallée hung on until five kilometres remained or something like that. Bjerg was absolutely convinced he would have been able to hang on to Asgreen (but probably not beat him).

Sorry, Stefan Bissegger, this has nothing to do with you. But you did beat Bjerg today, so you might win a cobbled classic. Hypothetically.
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Bjerg has impressed me more as a superdomestique since turning pro, than as an ITT'er. Maybe he just has to shift his focus.
 
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Bushman

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Bjerg has impressed me more as a superdomestique since turning pro, than as an ITT'er. Maybe he just has to shift his focus.
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I believe you are right when arguing that Bjerg had more focus on his itt as an u23 than his competitors and his results should be regarded as such. However, I also believe that since turning pro he has devoted more time to develop as an all-round rider rather than focussing heavily on the itt. As you say, he has been quite impressive as a domestique in a few instances already and showed a bit of climbing ability during the Giro as well. He is gonna be a valuable classics rider in the future as well.
Well, back to Bissegger. I’ve had huge expectations for him since turning pro and he has been brilliant in flashes. I hope this is the year he makes his mark in bigger races though, there were some good signs in Binckbank Tour last year.
 
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