Surprising UAE prioritice Kristoff for the Tour instead of a pure helper or perhaps Trentin when they have the defending winner. Sure he won a stage last year but that seemed very random and he was not really close for the rest of the stages and he offers very little as a helper compared to what Trentin could do if they wanted to have a fast guy also strong in the wind for instance.
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Community Question: What first drew you to pro cycling?
Yeah.. the question is how they will use Kristoff in the race. He is a good classic rider, so it´s also a possibility to use him on the flat and the windy stages as a pure helper..
Question is, if Kristoff is ok with it..
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He was there last year. Finished 13th. Not bad at all, but he was never in the thick of the action with the top riders.
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Probably the last. I mean, sure, it's crazy for a 22-year-old.
But it's also crazy for a 21-year-old to win the Tour. So it fits.
I dont know if I would use the word "crazy". He will have a break between Ardennes and Dauphine for example.
Tour + Vuelta is a combo a lot of GC riders can do and perform well in both. The question mark is own he responds to racing two GTs in a year, since it will be the first time he is doing that. He should be fine with his ability to recover really well, and if he is fine, it should be the best prep he can have before the Italian fall classics and WC.
It is probably about 60-70 race days.
He raced 62 days in 2019 so it is not like he is a complete stranger to it.
The plan can always be changed, if it gets too much.
Tour + Vuelta is a combo a lot of GC riders can do and perform well in both. The question mark is own he responds to racing two GTs in a year, since it will be the first time he is doing that. He should be fine with his ability to recover really well, and if he is fine, it should be the best prep he can have before the Italian fall classics and WC.
It is probably about 60-70 race days.
He raced 62 days in 2019 so it is not like he is a complete stranger to it.
The plan can always be changed, if it gets too much.
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Depending on what Ardennes and Italian fall classics mean it could be over 80 racing days.
Surely closer to 80 than 70.
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To me it's not so much about the amount of days itself, but about the quality of the races and the fact that he probably enters most races to win them and there are two GTs in there. Usually I'd say two GTs, okay, then prepare for the Tour with smaller stage races and the Ardennes if you like, but then I would not also do the NCs, the EC, Italian fall classics, if you also do the Worlds, in a year with the Olympics... I mean, maybe he is such a freak that he can do it, I don't want to say it's a bad idea. Maybe in the end he wins it all. Or maybe he enters for instance the Vuelta mostly as a helper on a few stages. I just find the schedule really astonishing.
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Ardennes could just be LBL, maybe Fleche, and the Italian fall races could just be Lombardia.
That could be it when it comes to those races.
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Training with his team in UAE and Dubai on the Jebel Hafeet climb. It will be included in the UAE Tour as well.
He had a small crash that's why his elbow is bandaged up.
He had a small crash that's why his elbow is bandaged up.
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Well, it's nothing we wouldn't expect from Valverde. And Pogacar is probably better than he ever was. Is he as consistent? I guess there's only one way to find out.
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If I had to guess, I say he'll do at least 2 out of 3 races in the Ardenness (AGR, FW, LBL). For the Italian classics it's way to early to speculate. They are late in the season. He might not be doing them at all if he's had enough. But if he rides, I expect him to ride at least Lombardia and another race for preparation.
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This comparison doesn't make sense. How can you compare Valverde's schedule to Pogi's? You think the better the rider is, the more busy schedule one has to have? It doesn't work that way. Age should absolutely be considered and it's a big factor here.
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I don't think age is as big a factor as many people seem to let on, as long as the rider in question is strong enough. Pogacar doesn't get his teeth kicked in on every single stage as most youngsters, thus he should be able to handle a much busier schedule.
And no, you don't have to have a bigger schedule the better you are but you would probably be able to handle a bigger schedule more easily.
A guy like Sagan has always seemed like a rider who could ride week in week out throughout the calendar year but he doesn't want that and only gets 60 race days in or something like that much to my chagrin.
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Well, he for sure has climbed La Planche des Belles Filles faster and everybody knows that climb is the benchmark for everything these days
No, but yeah, I actually think that Pogacar's top level is above Valverde's. But maybe not his consistency (yet).
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Lefevere: "Matxin spotted Tadej Pogacar with our money"
"Two years ago, during the World Cup Bergen, Matxin asked me if he could become a sports director. I decided that, as he had given us a lot, he could leave, despite his contract with us. But I forgot one thing: I should have told him that he couldn't enter the riders he had spotted with our money, " said Lefevere .
More (use Google translate):
www.cyclismactu.net
"Two years ago, during the World Cup Bergen, Matxin asked me if he could become a sports director. I decided that, as he had given us a lot, he could leave, despite his contract with us. But I forgot one thing: I should have told him that he couldn't enter the riders he had spotted with our money, " said Lefevere .
More (use Google translate):
Route - Lefevere : «Israel Start-Up n'a pas de vision à long terme»
www.cyclismactu.net
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Sour grapes, I'm sure he needed a ton of his money to somehow find the guy who won l'Avenir that year and finished 4th in the Tour of Slovenia, after already finishinng 5th in that races one year before when he was just 18 years old.Lefevere: "Matxin spotted Tadej Pogacar with our money"
"Two years ago, during the World Cup Bergen, Matxin asked me if he could become a sports director. I decided that, as he had given us a lot, he could leave, despite his contract with us. But I forgot one thing: I should have told him that he couldn't enter the riders he had spotted with our money, " said Lefevere .
More (use Google translate):
Route - Lefevere : «Israel Start-Up n'a pas de vision à long terme»
Patrick is a bit delusional when it comes to their scouting ability, Pogi wasn't exacty hard to find.
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You aren't impressed by him having scouted Remco, either???
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