I wonder if the teams will push to get all their main GC guys to the Tour regardless of previous plans, because the sponsors will want the most publicity possible, and because if there are CV-19 cases that come up during/after the Tour, the other grand tours will be even less likely to go forward?
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I think so. There is a risk of some of the races not happening. So we might see a shortened Tour and that's it. So whoever did not go to the Tour might lose the opportunity of any kind of exposure.
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There is unlikely to be positives at any race if the UCI mandates teams to test before racing and if the bio-security protocols are top notch none should occur in the race.
I reckon Ciccone could be a great super dom for Nibali especially if Nibali is chasing a deficit like when he hunted down Stevie K and Chaves. I don’t think he could be the man to grind out a relentless pace but changes of pace or getting up the road to aid a later attack would be a good use of him.
Has Sagan said what he will be aiming to ride. Presumably Tour and classics now given the clash between Paris-Roubaix and final day of the Giro.
Valverde's GT target is la Vuelta not the Tour. He's planning on using the Tour to get ready for the Worlds (unless moved) Ardennes, and Vuelta with la Vuelta being his main target if the Worlds are moved.
Mas and Soler are targeting the Tour for Movistar.
Mas and Soler are targeting the Tour for Movistar.
rick james
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Well, la Vuelta is always one of Valverde's targets during the season. It's not exactly his fault he's one of the few (maybe only) rider who actually targets la Vuelta. Remember Valverde called la Vuelta sacred on his calendar before this season started.
I’m glad to hear he thinks that way—shows respect for the sport as a whole.
Yep, he doesn't like Le Tour much, he acknowledge it's significance though, but he doesn't target it specifically like other riders do, I think already since 2014
Possible that this will happen.
But at least Nibali, Evenepoel and Carapaz (https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/richard-carapaz-confirms-giro-ditalia-as-major-2020-goal/ ) who I see as the top favourites for the race have confirmed the giro as their main target in the last days.
Those 3 and Fuglsang is an at least decent line-up, given the circumstances. I guess lots of teams will now change plans a bit and send their Ardennes guys to the Tour, instead of the Giro (UAE with Formolo, Bora with Schachmann and Konrad). I've heard some rumours about UAE sending Aru to the Tour and Formolo + Ulissi & Rui Costa to the Tour to support Pogi and maybe fight for stages.
Most of the top sprinters who aren't good on the cobbles should at least ride the first half of the Giro, it's not like they'll get a lot of other chances durning this season.
Well Formolo, Schachmann and Fuglsang (Top3 of last years Liege-Bastogne-Liege) are all in the same position now. The three initially targeted the giro as their main target in the beginning of the season. But now the giro overlap with Liege Bastogne Liege.
But from what I've heard only Fuglsang has been confirmed to still ride the Giro.
Bonimenier
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An odd choice imo. He is a decent GC'er but not absolute top, but he is one of the best Ardennes guys.
Hm, but he already won the most prestigious Ardennes race last year, and he's not getting younger, this year's Giro may be a good opportunity for him to podium a GT.
After he got his Tour podium in 2015 he said he got what he wanted from the Tour and that he was done chasing it. 2014 was the last time he actually tried to go after it.
George Bennett is still down to do the Giro as well. He's going to surprise a lot of people I think.
So... who's still on schedule for Giro?
Carapaz, Nibali, Evenepoel, Bennett, Fuglsang... What about Yates? He was planning on riding the Giro initially but i think i read he'd been contemplating riding the TDF since corona.
Knox is also riding Giro... not sure if he's supposed to support Evenepoel, or if they will just unleash the both of them and hope for one of them to get a decent result (a few months ago, Knox seemed to expect to ride for his own GC, but that was befor the Grand Evenepoel Show in San Juan and Algarve, and if Evenepoel gets pink with one or two ITT's, i think he'll be on guard duty). Also wondering who they'd send in further support for GC. Serry & Cattaneo? If they still want Jacobsen at the Giro, they'd at least send in two guys in support of him, if not three. I assume guys like Jungels, Devenyns... to ride Liège. For Bagioli and Vansevenant i assume it's still too early, Almeida on the fence? Maybe they'll send a few of them to La Vuelta? It's an interesting team to keep an eye on at the moment.
Carapaz, Nibali, Evenepoel, Bennett, Fuglsang... What about Yates? He was planning on riding the Giro initially but i think i read he'd been contemplating riding the TDF since corona.
Knox is also riding Giro... not sure if he's supposed to support Evenepoel, or if they will just unleash the both of them and hope for one of them to get a decent result (a few months ago, Knox seemed to expect to ride for his own GC, but that was befor the Grand Evenepoel Show in San Juan and Algarve, and if Evenepoel gets pink with one or two ITT's, i think he'll be on guard duty). Also wondering who they'd send in further support for GC. Serry & Cattaneo? If they still want Jacobsen at the Giro, they'd at least send in two guys in support of him, if not three. I assume guys like Jungels, Devenyns... to ride Liège. For Bagioli and Vansevenant i assume it's still too early, Almeida on the fence? Maybe they'll send a few of them to La Vuelta? It's an interesting team to keep an eye on at the moment.
It'll be interesting to see who ends up going to la Vuelta. It seems a lot of riders are saying Tour, Worlds and that's it, or Tour Ardennes or Tour/Giro. Not many are saying anything about la Vuelta. The ones confirmed for la Vuelta appear to be the 3 Movistar riders. Valverde as leader and Mas and Soler in support. It does seem la Vuelta going into Nov is having a lot of riders not thrilled about racing it.
Movistar is likely going to send a young team to the Giro, likely to learn and go stage hunting if possible.
Movistar is likely going to send a young team to the Giro, likely to learn and go stage hunting if possible.
IMHO the Vuelta will end up with a good start list, better than the Giro. Many riders will want to take advantage of however many race days they can get. The only major races that overlap are the Giro (weak GC field), Paris-Roubaix (no conflct) and Il Lombardia (few riders actually target it).
Italy is trying to move Lombardia to August.
However, there are many riders talking about ending their season before the Vuelta. There are some riders and DS's saying riders will have to choose between the Ardennes and Vuelta because it's too much to ask of anyone to do Tour, Ardennes, Vuelta. Plus you have the question of level of form as many riders appear to have tried to keep a racing level of form during this shutdown time period.
Martinelli has also confirmed once again that he'll ride the Giro, MAL, Lutsenko and the Izagirre brothers will ride the Tour.
Source:
https://www.tuttobiciweb.it/article...-blablabike-astana-sopravvivera-fuglsang-giro
I'd have him at the Tour as the 2nd gc rider, with Miguel Angel Lopez having a tendency to loose time on flat stages and the Tour being the Tour. Send riders like Vlasov, Kudus, Felline and Oscar Rodriguez to the Giro and let them go for stages, if someone ends up in a decent position on the gc it's great news, otherwise it's not the end of the world.
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