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

[WKA311]

Buchmann is getting skinnier every season, god damn.

I'm impressed by De Plus, Knox and Gaudu. Very good to see them on this stage.

 

[armchairclimber]

The master at work. Bala was always going to win that from the moment he left Dumoulin's group. Good to see Gaudu in this sort of form.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

 

[Climbing]

Re:

I know it is very difficult and the leaders were all on the limit, but you have to wonder what was Buchmann thinking in the last kilometre.

Nothing obviously.

 

[Scarponi]

Those Valverde bridges looked like old mate Armstrongs bridge to Pantani on Ventoux

 

[Climbing]

Re:

.................great win

interesting scenery...................and not 1 idiot fan running in the road................

Yeah, not one fan, period

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re:

I know it is very difficult and the leaders were all on the limit, but you have to wonder what was Buchmann thinking in the last kilometre.

"How much further"

 

[WKA311]

Re:

I know it is very difficult and the leaders were all on the limit, but you have to wonder what was Buchmann thinking in the last kilometre.

He can't sprint. So it was better for him to hold the tempo up and try get as much time on those behind as possible instead of waiting to sprint for he can't win while none of the others is doing work because they want the best possible position for the sprint.

 

[Poursuivant]

How strong does Roglic look? Gaudu too, but it’s going to be supreme to see Roglic v Yates et al in the Giro.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Roglic looked like he could've challenged Valverde if he knew about that corner. But that's the difference. Valverde rode this climb before and Roglic didn't.

 

[Jagartrott]

You'd think Valverde is easy to spot in that rainbow jersey, and still people don't seem to notice him while they're dragging him up the mountain only to be discarded by him later. I mean, he did well, but I can't understand why people don't let *him* do the work.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Dan Martin teammate of the year.

 

[Velolover2]

Movistar better make it hard for the sprinters tomorrow. Bala needs more bonus seconds on Roglic.

And we don't know how good he is on the upcoming long mountain. It has no steep parts but it's still a 20 km climb.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

You'd think Valverde is easy to spot in that rainbow jersey, and still people don't seem to notice him while they're dragging him up the mountain only to be discarded by him later. I mean, he did well, but I can't understand why people don't let *him* do the work.

How often do you see Valverde *work*? As in, ride a high constant tempo. Sometimes it's better to ride your own pace.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Evenepoel 15th at 56 seconds... ahead of Sivakov, Lambrecht, Moscon, Sachmann... And only a few seconds behind Dumoulin & co

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Evenepoel 15th at 56 seconds... ahead of Sivakov, Lambrecht, Moscon, Sachmann... And only a few seconds behind Dumoulin & co

Yeah, he and Ulissi dropped earlier but held the pace a lot better.

for reference:

11° Kelderman 35''
12° De la Parte 35''
13° Dumoulin 44''
14° Ulissi 53''
15° Evenepoel 56''
16° Kwiatkowski 56''
17° Izagirre 56''
20° Rui Costa 1'04''
22° Moscon 1'04''
23° Van Garderen 1'17''
25° Nibali 1'17''
29° Kreuziger 1'40''

 

[KZD]

Roglic was very strong but he will have to be smarter in the next mountain top finish

 

[ghlambert]

Cavendish arrived more than 2 minutes in front of the grupetto. Is he getting in shape for MSR?

 

[SafeBet]

Impressive performance by Gaudu this early in the season. Seems like this is the year he steps up his game at last.
Evenepoel did better than I expected and paced himeself very well.

Roglic, Porte and Nibali pretty much where I thought they would be. Dumoulin a bit worse. Zakarin a bit better, which is a good sign for his season.

 

[Breh]

Zakarin showing signs of life!

 

[sir fly]

Valverde's physiology looks different than of these he outsprinted today. Distribution of his thresholds allows him to ride the way he's riding and win the races he's winning... very diverse kinds of races. Maturing affects the abilities, and he has a favourable mix for it.
The probable distribution could also be an explanation of his struggles at altitude.
Today's stage can be observed as a unique threshold test.

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Impressive performance by Gaudu this early in the season. Seems like this is the year he steps up his game at last.
Evenepoel did better than I expected and paced himeself very well.

Roglic, Porte and Nibali pretty much where I thought they would be. Dumoulin a bit worse. Zakarin a bit better, which is a good sign for his season.

Yes, I thought maybe Dumoulin would be a bit stronger today, since he had indicated recently that he hoped to compete for the CG in this race -- but I also remind myself that Tom did not look very good last year in the early season but then really showed up in form for the Giro and the TDF.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Impressive performance by Gaudu this early in the season. Seems like this is the year he steps up his game at last.
Evenepoel did better than I expected and paced himeself very well.

Roglic, Porte and Nibali pretty much where I thought they would be. Dumoulin a bit worse. Zakarin a bit better, which is a good sign for his season.

Of all the youngsters, Evenepoel (2000) did quite a bit better than i expected (i was thinking a top 25 within 2 minutes would be a good result), and Lambrecht (1997) did a lot worse than i expected (especially after being able to pace himself very well in TDS last year). I pretty much expected Gaudu (1996) in the top 10, maybe not on the podium, but i'm not really surprised that he did this well. Sivakov (1997), i don't really know what to expect from him. He's not a real climber, he's not as light as Evenepoel (i think), also more of a tempo guy... i have no idea if in time we should be expecting him on these types of finishes, and if he'll be battling for GC, or if he'll turn out to be more of an ITT specialist/domestic.

Also an encouraging performance by De Plus (1995), he's still only a year older than Gaudu, and had a lot of bad luck last year (lost nearly a year with injuries). I hope he can make up for lost time this season. Did a lot of work for Roglic, and still managed to finish at a respectable 1m17s. I still have high hopes for him.

PS: Knox (1995) better than i expected too.

 

[SafeBet]

Yeah Lambrecht was disappointing. He doesn't have many race days so far and has stated his main targets are Itzulia and the Ardennes, so he will possibly peak later, who knows?

Sivakov is a bit of a mistery to me as well. I'm not sure Sky is the right environment for him.

 

[Velolover2]

Valverde vs. Ewan tomorrow?

Is it even possible to drop the sprinters before the Hatta Dam in such a stage?