The 2019 UAE Tour (24/02 - 02/03)

[drebelo]

Ewan headbutting Kristoff. That guy doesn't learn

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Viviani probably wasted himself in that chase 100 km earlier..

I doubt he did any more work than Gaviria, Gaviria also took turn in the front group since it was a smaller group.

 

[PeterB]

UAE again using the lead-out blocking tactics, like in San Juan. That is just asking for trouble and big crash one day.

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Ewan headbutting Kristoff. That guy doesn't learn

What an idiot. He almost took down Kristoff for no reason.

Maybe Ewan is the new Cav?

 

[Sestriere]

Re: Re:

Viviani probably wasted himself in that chase 100 km earlier..

I doubt he did any more work than Gaviria, Gaviria also took turn in the front group since it was a smaller group.

Yeah, but Gaviria was "just rolling through" while Viviani really took some long and hard turns to make it across. It's hard to know who was making a stronger effort though.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

every now and then Viviani chooses not to follow Sabatini+Morkoff?! they cleary went right and he stayed with the group..

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Gaviria the fastest sprinter at the moment.
A nice domestic victory with Kristoff's work, as well.
Congrats to Viviani too.

The fastest who is here maybe.

Think Groenewegen is faster

 

[Robert5091]

Chapeau Gaviria & UAE - looking good with Pogacar's win yesterday too.

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Chapeau Gaviria & UAE - looking good with Pogacar's win yesterday too.

Yeah they actually have a team now. Now they have to decide how they're going to use Aru.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Gaviria the fastest sprinter at the moment.
A nice domestic victory with Kristoff's work, as well.
Congrats to Viviani too.

The fastest who is here maybe.

Think Groenewegen is faster

Well, if he doesn't get caged in by Kristoff, and manages to shake off Viviani, he could get away of Gaviria, I agree.

 

[ecw445]

The duo of Gaviria & Kristoff will be unbeatable this season, everyone will be fighting for their wheel instead of Quick-Step's

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Kristoff is a monster of a leadout man. Not surprising really, though. His positioning is unmatched and his ability to keep a high pace for a few hundred meters better than almost anyone's.

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Kristoff is a monster of a leadout man. Not surprising really, though. His positioning is unmatched and his ability to keep a high pace for a few hundred meters better than almost anyone's.

I'm not sure Kristoff is ready to be just a lead-out man yet.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

Kristoff is a monster of a leadout man. Not surprising really, though. His positioning is unmatched and his ability to keep a high pace for a few hundred meters better than almost anyone's.

I'm not sure Kristoff is ready to be just a lead-out man yet.

No, probably not in all races but he has already stated that he'd be happy to be a leadout man for Gaviria.

 

[Anderis]

Re:

Kristoff is a monster of a leadout man. Not surprising really, though. His positioning is unmatched and his ability to keep a high pace for a few hundred meters better than almost anyone's.

I was thinking about the same. With his ability to keep going with his nose in the wind for a prolonged period of time, he can truly become the greatest lead-out man I have ever seen if he keeps doing that. Maybe the move to UAE was not that bad for Gaviria, after all.

 

[The Barb]

I will be really interested in UAE's tactics at Milan San Remo.

I suspect, and hope, they will give Kristoff the opportunity to ride for himself. That is his race (particularly if the weather is bad) and as he pointed out recently Gaviria has never beaten him there.

There will be plenty of times he will have to ride for Gaviria but Milan San Remo should be for himself.

 

[Salvarani]

I will be really interested in UAE's tactics at Milan San Remo.

I suspect, and hope, they will give Kristoff the opportunity to ride for himself. That is his race (particularly if the weather is bad) and as he pointed out recently Gaviria has never beaten him there.

There will be plenty of times he will have to ride for Gaviria but Milan San Remo should be for himself.

Does not hurt to have two good riders that could potentially win. We havent really seen what Gaviria can actually do in the classics yet, but MSR would probably be his best chance. Can he go the distance though? Thats the question, so Kristoff should definitely get to ride for himself.

 

[The Barb]

I will be really interested in UAE's tactics at Milan San Remo.

I suspect, and hope, they will give Kristoff the opportunity to ride for himself. That is his race (particularly if the weather is bad) and as he pointed out recently Gaviria has never beaten him there.

There will be plenty of times he will have to ride for Gaviria but Milan San Remo should be for himself.

Does not hurt to have two good riders that could potentially win. We havent really seen what Gaviria can actually do in the classics yet, but MSR would probably be his best chance. Can he go the distance though? Thats the question, so Kristoff should definitely get to ride for himself.

I think we've seen enough of Gaviria at MSR to know that he is well capable of winning it - in fact I'd be very surprised if he doesn't win it at least once in his career. The distance is no problem. I am convinced he was going to win in 2016 before his late crash and in 2017 only Kristoff beat him in the sprint for 4th.

 

[Velolover2]

The Kittel era is over? I think today's top 3 made it clear who are the fastest riders. And in which order.

 

[Lequack]

Re:

The Kittel era is over? I think today's top 3 made it clear who are the fastest riders. And in which order.

I don't know what it is with Katusha and great riders suddenly losing their form. Like Tony Martin, once he came to Katusha he was almost anonymous, meanwhile at Quickstep he was flying. Same with Kittel. With their roster you'd think they would win more frequently but they don't seem to.

 

[jaylew]

I will be really interested in UAE's tactics at Milan San Remo.

I suspect, and hope, they will give Kristoff the opportunity to ride for himself. That is his race (particularly if the weather is bad) and as he pointed out recently Gaviria has never beaten him there.

There will be plenty of times he will have to ride for Gaviria but Milan San Remo should be for himself.

Does not hurt to have two good riders that could potentially win. We havent really seen what Gaviria can actually do in the classics yet, but MSR would probably be his best chance. Can he go the distance though? Thats the question, so Kristoff should definitely get to ride for himself.

I truly think he would have won it in his first appearance if not for that crash at the very end. I don't think the distance is an issue at all.

 

[WKA311]

Re: Re:

The Kittel era is over? I think today's top 3 made it clear who are the fastest riders. And in which order.

I don't know what it is with Katusha and great riders suddenly losing their form. Like Tony Martin, once he came to Katusha he was almost anonymous, meanwhile at Quickstep he was flying. Same with Kittel. With their roster you'd think they would win more frequently but they don't seem to.

It is going downhill since José Azevedo took over as manager. Though they introduced plenty new personnel at the start of this season to get the team going again. Dirk Demol as a leading DS, Erik Zabel as a Head of Performance and also in the coaching staff there were changes. Ewans old coach is now coaching Kittel and is the new Head Coach. So maybe it's taking a while.

 

[The Barb]

I will be really interested in UAE's tactics at Milan San Remo.

I suspect, and hope, they will give Kristoff the opportunity to ride for himself. That is his race (particularly if the weather is bad) and as he pointed out recently Gaviria has never beaten him there.

There will be plenty of times he will have to ride for Gaviria but Milan San Remo should be for himself.

Does not hurt to have two good riders that could potentially win. We havent really seen what Gaviria can actually do in the classics yet, but MSR would probably be his best chance. Can he go the distance though? Thats the question, so Kristoff should definitely get to ride for himself.

I truly think he would have won it in his first appearance if not for that crash at the very end. I don't think the distance is an issue at all.

Totally. He was cruising at the time and just got careless for a moment (I'd backed him at 18-1 and it still hurts).

 

[Robert5091]

Stage 3 and we'll see how the climbing legs are.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Really hyped for this stage. Many big climbers present