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Teams & Riders Team Visma - Lease a Bike

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No.

Too bad for Kelderman, he was really in good form at Tirreno. But Primoz and Sepp are my favorite duo, so I'm very happy that they'll ride Giro together.

I really like the Giro team.

Kelderman looked good in Tirreno but he was also a backup GC rider as well, so his job would have been to stay with Roglič for as long as possible & not cook himself too early chasing down moves. A bit like last year where Bora had Kelderman, Buchmann & Hindley going for GC.

This has advantages (a second rider for the opponents to cover) but also disadvantages as well (teams can often hesitate to sacrifice the second leader & make him work even when the situation on the road calls for it) so I'm just happy this Giro line-up is all about Rog 100%, without any backup plan or 'Plan B' as Jumbo like to call it. It's all or nothing.

No real egos there either, i.e. all good guys.
 
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The team is good enough with the way GC racing has gone in the last three years - Leaders are more pro-active, so as long as you have two good mountain doms that's enough.
But Kruijswijk hardly qualifies as a good mountain domestique anymore. Kuss does, most of the time. But he'll have a Giro in his legs, so he might be even less dependable. Van Aert will probably save himself a bit, with the worlds coming straight after the Tour. So I'm afraid the team doesn't look too hot for the mountains.
 
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Not a great team for Vingegaard. It looks more a classics team than a Tour team. And Kruijsvick is not even close to be the same climber he was 3/4 years ago.
Kruijswijk was very good in the lead up to the Tour last year, as well as in the Tour itself, until he crashed out. Also, you're making the same mistake UAE are making: a Tour team has to be a good allround team, not just a lot of climbers.

Beautiful. With Kuss in we now have a proper GT ahead. Roglič to have a wingman on the terrain where this Giro edition will most likely be decided.

Epic.
Without Kelderman, the Giro team is actually pretty similar to the team they had in Catalunya. And that wasn't a very strong team, at least not nearly as strong as Quickstep. Having Sepp Kuss there seems nice, but the guy has traditionally only hit peak form come July.
 
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Kruijswijk was very good in the lead up to the Tour last year, as well as in the Tour itself, until he crashed out. Also, you're making the same mistake UAE are making: a Tour team has to be a good allround team, not just a lot of climbers.


Without Kelderman, the Giro team is actually pretty similar to the team they had in Catalunya. And that wasn't a very strong team, at least not nearly as strong as Quickstep. Having Sepp Kuss there seems nice, but the guy has traditionally only hit peak form come July.
You are right however I really think their climbers are weak compared to UAE. Kuss will be a little bit tires after the Giro and SK is not the same anymore. He is past his prime and not able to destroy a peloton If Vingegaard ask him to do that. They look underwhelming in the mountains. He will not win the Tour just following Pogacar's wheel.
 
You are right however I really think their climbers are weak compared to UAE. Kuss will be a little bit tires after the Giro and SK is not the same anymore. He is past his prime and not able to destroy a peloton If Vingegaard ask him to do that. They look underwhelming in the mountains. He will not win the Tour just following Pogacar's wheel.
Kelderman will probably be there. A rider of the level Adam Yates has in GTs. I think last year UAE were already said to be stronger in the mountains. I didn't see it, did you? They had covid and crashes, but so did Jumbo.
 
Without Kelderman, the Giro team is actually pretty similar to the team they had in Catalunya. And that wasn't a very strong team, at least not nearly as strong as Quickstep. Having Sepp Kuss there seems nice, but the guy has traditionally only hit peak form come July.

Kuss was more or less always there or at least until Evenepoel went. The rest of the team usually finished earlier. The reason Kelderman was replaced with Kuss is due to the crash Kelderman had at TA. Not being ready yet for training. Tratnik should be an additional factor too. Hence if JV will need to make a difference on some stage. In my opinion they should be able to take initiative and to crack QS and isolate Evenepoel. Or whoever will be imminent threat. In my opinion both the team and Roglič should be stronger then what we seen at Catalunya. And Kuss should be Kuss as i have no real reason to believe otherwise.

Is it steep enough? Go for it Sepp!
 
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Question is really how good is Kuss gonna be in Giro and Tour if he doubles up.

But Kelderman going Tour and Kuss doubling would probably fix most of their anticipated underwhelm in the mountains.

I do wonder if it's not time to phase out Kruijswijk from the Tour team, and pure climbers are actually the thing Jumbo are lightest on, but they have some riders in the pipeline for that

I give it 0 chance Valter goes to the Tour.
 
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I don't understand for TDF what is so weak about:
-Vineggard
-Kuss
-Kelderman
-Kruijsvikj
-Laporte
-Van Baarle
-Van Hojdonck
-Valter

Lol Van Aert will surely make the cut but you raise an interesting point. If Kruijswijk doesn't improve his shape or if Kuss goes to the Vuelta with Roglic, I think having Valter in the Tour squad would make sense as he is a better climber than Benoot.
 
Question is really how good is Kuss gonna be in Giro and Tour if he doubles up.

But Kelderman going Tour and Kuss doubling would probably fix most of their anticipated underwhelm in the mountains.

I do wonder if it's not time to phase out Kruijswijk from the Tour team, and pure climbers are actually the thing Jumbo are lightest on, but they have some riders in the pipeline for that

I give it 0 chance Valter goes to the Tour.
I don't know what's going on with Kruijswijk this spring, but last year he was more than good enough for the Tour squad. Valter if he keeps on riding like this, who knows. Vingegaard also wasn't planned to race the Tour... until he did, and came 2nd.
 
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I don't know what's going on with Kruijswijk this spring, but last year he was more than good enough for the Tour squad. Valter if he keeps on riding like this, who knows. Vingegaard also wasn't planned to race the Tour... until he did, and came 2nd.
Vingegaard was planned to race the Tour alright. He did all the training camps with the Tour team, and before the Tour it was Roglic who was saying Vingegaard could win it.
 
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