The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
How vulnerable could Vingegaard be on the cobbled stage? We know Rog and especially Pog are more than capable of riding hard and fast on them, but less about Jonas. He finished GP Denain in 76th position 11.18 down on winner, but I don't remember the circumstances of the race that well, although I guess most attention went to Roglic anyway as he was rather prominent on cobbled sectors there.
I noticed the Jumbo top riders once again improved their upper bodies in recent training camp.
Here, they benefit from Kruiswijk‘s experience over the years. Steven probably told Primoz few years ago, „Winning GTs is all about gaining broad, strong shoulders!“…
Steven, in Dauphine, to me, still had the best shoulders in the whole peloton. Primoz‘ shoulders deteriorated a little bit, but Primoz clearly improved his abs and back.
Jonas is a little bit worse than these two, and still lacks some shoulders. But he‘s been clearly working on it: Jonas‘ tan was visibly not as dark as Primoz‘ and Steven‘s tan. So I suppose, in training camp, Jonas reduced his training on the bike (on the road) to one hour a day, and increased his shoulder, arm and abs/back training to three to four hours a day.
Few weeks to go to the Tour. If Jonas manages to further improve his upper body, he could close the time gaps to Primoz. Then we could see pictures like yesterday‘s in the Tour de France, on every MTF: Primoz and Jonas crossing the finish line side by side, in 1st and 2nd rank. Only problem then: if Jonas gets as broad as Primoz already is (due to shoulder muscle gain), they might get trouble to cross the finish line side by side; the road then might be just not broad enough!
Loool, Jonas resembles a starving prisoner way more than a strongman. They need to feed him more.
Yeah, but I strongly suppose, he trained intramuscular coordination within the last weeks, and now will switch to hypertrophy training after Dauphine. I bet the gains will be clearly visible on the afternoon of the prologue of the Tour…
Screw the w/kg bull**it. He has to look intimidating, not starved. He needs more mass to push Pogacar off the road.
Screw the w/kg bull**it. He has to look intimidating, not starved. He needs more mass to push Pogacar off the road.
Dennis has had intestinal issues and he had to stop the previous training camp because of itMaybe this is the explanation for Dennis being horrible this week.
While this is a great approach that could work I’m afraid it’s far to complex for TJV… based on the previous experinence it’s exactly this kind of analytical approach to strategy/tactics where that team is ridiculously weakThere is one thing I am worried about though. So, let us assume Wout really goes for green - full commitment. That means JV will focus on him on all the stages where he is considered the favourite. But the problem is that especially those punchy stages with "walls" in the last kms (like Longwy, Laussane, Mende to an extent) are exactly the place where a top form Roglič can gain some time (in bonuses if nothing else) against Pogačar. But if they are going to ride those stages for Wout (like in stage 3 of the Dauphine) then they are throwing away a chance to gain time. Unless they plan on having Wout and Roglič sprint against eachother... which does not sound like a very good tactic.
If they want to win the Tour they likely won't win it by blowing up Pog up Alpe d'Huez and Grannon... they might be able to stay with him - but definitely not put minutes into him. So they have to use the team strenght to hurt Pog. They will have the best team (next to Quickstep) for crosswinds, they have a much better cobble team than UAE, Roglič at peak form is arguably better or 15% 1km ramps than Pogačar. Vingegaard might drop him on long steady climbs while the weather is hot. So they have to take their chances - cause Pog is not O'Connor and won't just drop off the wheel when Vinge and Rog pick up the speed.
Because assuming the three of them would be on a simillar level in the mountains... going into the last 40km TT within a minute of Pogačar - well, it is probably the stuff of nightmares for TJV.
I'm wondering what a 'worst case scenario' would entail? That worst case being no one in Switzerland can make the TdF selection.
Everyone from the Dauphiné + one? But who?
He was kept out of the selection until GP Denain cause he refused to get vaccinated for COVID. Then in GP Denain he broke his pelvis and he broke his ankle in 3 places.Hey guys, anybody knows how Hofstede is doing at the moment? Did only Denain in March, and DNF… Hope he‘s fine?…
He was kept out of the selection until GP Denain cause he refused to get vaccinated for COVID. Then in GP Denain he broke his pelvis and he broke his ankle in 3 places.
He's supposed to start in Sibiu cycling Tour starting July 2nd.
This is all heartbreaking..not that a quality rider didn't win the Suisse, but if TDF goes a week,then 2 weeks and some crazy Covid results shake up the GC, just horrible..keeping your team in a bubble isn't possible given travel,hotels,press obligations and racing in a large group,spitting,sweating and breathing on each other,because that is the way it is..GCN or someone saying Adam Yates out with Covid and may not ride the Tour ...so dicey times for riders and schedules