• 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 @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Soudal - Quick Step Thread

Page 31 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
QS signed slovak junior Martin Svrcek. Article is on main page. Huge news for slovak cycling. Guy seems talented and I dont know which type of racer he will be in future. He won couple of races in italian junior competition.

This should be in Lefevre depriciation thread.

Fausto Masnada was 18 and got 6th Overall in giro valle d'aosta. That's pure talent. He have the potential to win giro and Lefevre does nothing for him.

Meanwhile he's dead set on signing more kids from juniors that can't steer their bikes around conrers.

With the team built around Ala, Asgreen, Remco, Lampaert and jakobson the DQS classics dominance will continue. But they have a real opportunity to finally get a strong gc contingent as well.

They should offer a big contract to Masnada and show full support for him. Build support for him. Big extension for Cattaneo as a left hand man. Extension for Knox, and Cavagna can be a great bottle carrier for Fausto.

There are some great riders on the market to bring in and build team around Fausto. Why not Dario Cataldo, David de la cruz or Mike Nieve? Poels? Cappachi? Villella? Valerio Conti is a rider who would give his all for Fausto as he has done for Diego Ulissi. Boaro, Valls.

But no, let's keep looking for Remco 2.0 in juniors 50k criteriums.

Anyway, it's good news for Slovakians Cycling and congratulations to the kid.
 
This should be in Lefevre depriciation thread.

Fausto Masnada was 18 and got 6th Overall in giro valle d'aosta. That's pure talent. He have the potential to win giro and Lefevre does nothing for him.

Meanwhile he's dead set on signing more kids from juniors that can't steer their bikes around conrers.

With the team built around Ala, Asgreen, Remco, Lampaert and jakobson the DQS classics dominance will continue. But they have a real opportunity to finally get a strong gc contingent as well.

They should offer a big contract to Masnada and show full support for him. Build support for him. Big extension for Cattaneo as a left hand man. Extension for Knox, and Cavagna can be a great bottle carrier for Fausto.

There are some great riders on the market to bring in and build team around Fausto. Why not Dario Cataldo, David de la cruz or Mike Nieve? Poels? Cappachi? Villella? Valerio Conti is a rider who would give his all for Fausto as he has done for Diego Ulissi. Boaro, Valls.

But no, let's keep looking for Remco 2.0 in juniors 50k criteriums.

Anyway, it's good news for Slovakians Cycling and congratulations to the kid.
Or Masnada move to Astana:p
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Sandisfan
Who's gonna ride what and who's going to be the leader in these last three races?

PCS says Remco, Almeida, Cattaneo and Ballerini for giro dell'Emilia.

Is Ballerini ok to race after his crash with his back on those bottles?
According to his IG account Ballerini will race Roubaix next, so his back should be ok. It's his favourite race and the one race he badly wants to ride. Quickstep have a scary team for Roubaix, Ballerini, Asgreen, Senechal, Lampaert & Stybar.
Van Aert and Politt (he looked good yesterday) will probably be their main opponents.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan and noob
If they are going for Almeida here then maybe someone else in Lombardia? I assume this means Remco free role. In Luxemburg they had Cattanao as a leader while going for Almeida, so sometimes I wonder if they say one leader and go for another, for tactics.

I would also go with Almeida for Emilia; because he might be in better shape than Remco, after the effort he put at the Worlds and Europeans (I know that Almeida was also there, and in Luxembourg, but he kept it low key when compared to Remco); and because if Remco can still keep his peak than he will be better doing it at Lombardia, which is a higher priority target than Emilia.

As in, I doubt that Remco will manage to be at top level on both, so better for him and the team to keep it low key at Emilia and go all in Lombardia.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan and noob
Tim Declerq just got a masters degree. That’s pretty unusual in the men’s peloton (though quite normal in the women’s peloton).

Does this make him the currently active male pro with the best academic credentials?

G Martin :poutingcat:
I think there are a few others as well, Bardet has some degree as well for instance... hard for me to judge what these degrees are worth since I don't know all the universities and schools, would think Martin's is probably higher than Bardet's though...
But yeah, it's still unusual in the men's peloton whereas half of the women are fully studied and even experienced doctors... ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
G Martin :poutingcat:
I think there are a few others as well, Bardet has some degree as well for instance... hard for me to judge what these degrees are worth since I don't know all the universities and schools, would think Martin's is probably higher than Bardet's though...
But yeah, it's still unusual in the men's peloton whereas half of the women are fully studied and even experienced doctors... ;)
That’s the nature of the different sports, though, isn’t it? Men have to devote themselves 100% to cycling from the age of about 16 to have a hope of making it onto a World Tour squad; they don’t have time to get a degree or a real job. By contrast, there isn’t enough money in the women’s sport to give up your real job, so the ones who can make it to the highest level are people with time to train, ie grad students.



Wasn’t it Cedric Vasseur whose parents made him finish his engineering degree before allowing him go into cycling full time?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
That’s the nature of the different sports, though, isn’t it? Men have to devote themselves 100% to cycling from the age of about 16 to have a hope of making it onto a World Tour squad; they don’t have time to get a degree or a real job. By contrast, there isn’t enough money in the women’s sport to give up your real job, so the ones who can make it to the highest level are people with time to train, ie grad students.



Wasn’t it Cedric Vasseur whose parents made him finish his engineering degree before allowing him go into cycling full time?

Guillaume Martin has a masters in philosophy
 
  • Like
Reactions: noob and Sandisfan
Now I really want to know if they had any plans of how to use Masnada and the others before the race. I still don't think they could have done a better result so in the end it all worked out just fine. I just wonder what they was thinking before.
 
Now I really want to know if they had any plans of how to use Masnada and the others before the race. I still don't think they could have done a better result so in the end it all worked out just fine. I just wonder what they was thinking before.

Masnada was clearly a helper, it wasn't planned that he was so strong. Alaphilippe was the leader, that's why they rode passively before, because a hard race with a constantly high tempo (which would have happened if for instance Evenepoel would have attacked and a team like Jumbo would have chased them) isn't good for him, he's good at sudden changes of rhythm, explosive efforts and recovering soon. Maybe they had hoped Evenepoel and Almeida would be there longer in the final, I don't know.
When Masnada went after Pogacar it was to make the others in the group work, but they just didn't. It was stupid from the others in the group - but in a screwed way it "made sense" for them, because they didn't want to just tow Alaphilippe, who has a good sprint and didn't need to work with Masnada ahead, to the line. DQS on the other hand should have known that that would probably happen, and should probably have used Masnada to simply keep the pace high for the group and get closer to Pogacar - but I suppose they/ or Ala didn't trust Ala's sprint that much anymore, and hoped the other leaders would do a bit of work, they'd reach Pogacar with a fresh Ala and he would have a better chance in the sprint...

In theory you could also say it makes sense to have a guy in front who can just sit behind and a guy in the second group who can just sit behind, because they both can point to their companion in the other group, but it doesn't make much sense when you are riding with a guy as strong as Pogacar and your name is Masnada and you have already done quite some work before in the race.
 
  • Like
Reactions: noob
Masnada was clearly a helper, it wasn't planned that he was so strong. Alaphilippe was the leader, that's why they rode passively before, because a hard race with a constantly high tempo (which would have happened if for instance Evenepoel would have attacked and a team like Jumbo would have chased them) isn't good for him, he's good at sudden changes of rhythm, explosive efforts and recovering soon. Maybe they had hoped Evenepoel and Almeida would be there longer in the final, I don't know.
When Masnada went after Pogacar it was to make the others in the group work, but they just didn't. It was stupid from the others in the group - but in a screwed way it "made sense" for them, because they didn't want to just tow Alaphilippe, who has a good sprint and didn't need to work with Masnada ahead, to the line. DQS on the other hand should have known that that would probably happen, and should probably have used Masnada to simply keep the pace high for the group and get closer to Pogacar - but I suppose they/ or Ala didn't trust Ala's sprint that much anymore, and hoped the other leaders would do a bit of work, they'd reach Pogacar with a fresh Ala and he would have a better chance in the sprint...

In theory you could also say it makes sense to have a guy in front who can just sit behind and a guy in the second group who can just sit behind, because they both can point to their companion in the other group, but it doesn't make much sense when you are riding with a guy as strong as Pogacar and your name is Masnada and you have already done quite some work before in the race.
What I don't understand is how they couldn't know Masnada was strong this week. Wasn't that quite obvious? And I am no particular Masnada fan, apart from the fact that he seems to be a sweet person. But... Alaphillipe has been ill. I wonder if they had decided all before Emilia even, and saved Alaphillipe to Lombardia while letting Remco and Almeida have their results already in the races before (leading up to, I mean) the monument?
 
Last edited:
What I don't understand is how they couldn't know Masnada was strong this week. Wasn't that quite obvious? And I am no particular Masnada fan, apart from the fact that he seems to be a sweet person. But... Alaphillipe has been ill. I wonder if they had decided all before Emilia even, and saved Alaphillipe to Lombardia while letting Remco and Almeida have their results already in the races before the monument?
Deceinincqk have been stupid with Fausto since they signed him. He is one of the most talented riders in the world.

Ok in 2020 he had to work for Jooao in Giro because he was in Maglia Rosa. But he still got top 10 despite that. It was obvious this year that he should lead the Giro team after his 3rd Overall in Romandie but instead they went with his royal highness Belgian Tony Martin and Almeida. And yet he was used early in the climbs.

Anyone who saw Fausto in the androni days knows how strong a climber he is. He gave Froome and Nibali nightmares when trying to sleep. He should have been leader in this race, too long and twisty for Remco, JA didn't ride his bike since Leuven, Almeida doesn't win many races and struggle on 250kms.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: noob
What I don't understand is how they couldn't know Masnada was strong this week. Wasn't that quite obvious? And I am no particular Masnada fan, apart from the fact that he seems to be a sweet person. But... Alaphillipe has been ill. I wonder if they had decided all before Emilia even, and saved Alaphillipe to Lombardia while letting Remco and Almeida have their results already in the races before the monument?

Being strong is one thing, being stronger than Roglic or especially Almeida? I don't think anyone expected that. I don't think he's ever been on this level (I am not yet convinced he always had that level and was just held back. ;)) Obviously, with all the measuring instruments you have today you still never know how someone will go in an actual race until that race has happened.

I didn't watch Emilia. But the last race, when Alaphilippe gave Almeida his bottle and then took it back to carry it, it was quite clear rather early that Almeida was the race leader then, not Ala. Yeah, especially when he was sick it made sense to take it easier until today.
 
  • Like
Reactions: noob
Deceinincqk have been stupid with Fausto since they signed him. He is one of the most talented riders in the world.

Ok in 2020 he had to work for Jooao in Giro because he was in Maglia Rosa. But he still got top 10 despite that. It was obvious this year that he should lead the Giro team after his 3rd Overall in Romandie but instead they went with his royal highness Belgian Tony Martin and Almeida. And yet he was used early in the climbs.

Anyone who saw Fausto in the androni days knows how strong a climber he is. He gave Froome and Nibali nightmares when trying to sleep. He should have been leader in this race, too long and twisty for Remco, JA didn't ride his bike since Leuven, Almeida doesn't win many races and struggle on 250kms.

Are you serious?
 
Masnada was clearly a helper, it wasn't planned that he was so strong. Alaphilippe was the leader, that's why they rode passively before, because a hard race with a constantly high tempo (which would have happened if for instance Evenepoel would have attacked and a team like Jumbo would have chased them) isn't good for him, he's good at sudden changes of rhythm, explosive efforts and recovering soon. Maybe they had hoped Evenepoel and Almeida would be there longer in the final, I don't know.
When Masnada went after Pogacar it was to make the others in the group work, but they just didn't. It was stupid from the others in the group - but in a screwed way it "made sense" for them, because they didn't want to just tow Alaphilippe, who has a good sprint and didn't need to work with Masnada ahead, to the line. DQS on the other hand should have known that that would probably happen, and should probably have used Masnada to simply keep the pace high for the group and get closer to Pogacar - but I suppose they/ or Ala didn't trust Ala's sprint that much anymore, and hoped the other leaders would do a bit of work, they'd reach Pogacar with a fresh Ala and he would have a better chance in the sprint...

In theory you could also say it makes sense to have a guy in front who can just sit behind and a guy in the second group who can just sit behind, because they both can point to their companion in the other group, but it doesn't make much sense when you are riding with a guy as strong as Pogacar and your name is Masnada and you have already done quite some work before in the race.
With Masnada in front, there was always a chance for Alaf to bridge across to him, and then to Pog, or once Masnada had caught Pog, to bridge across to the lead group and have 2 QS riders in front.

It was just very unfortunate for QS that the chase group all sat up and let Masnada/Pog ride out to such a big lead.
 
Being strong is one thing, being stronger than Roglic or especially Almeida? I don't think anyone expected that. I don't think he's ever been on this level (I am not yet convinced he always had that level and was just held back. ;)) Obviously, with all the measuring instruments you have today you still never know how someone will go in an actual race until that race has happened.

I didn't watch Emilia. But the last race, when Alaphilippe gave Almeida his bottle and then took it back to carry it, it was quite clear rather early that Almeida was the race leader then, not Ala. Yeah, especially when he was sick it made sense to take it easier until today.
That's what I wonder; They used Almeida as a domestique on the steepest part of the race I believe, so they cannot have thought he would have lasted that long? Or did that just happen by itself I wonder? What did they use Remco for at all? Fooling everyone that he would attack? :D
 
Wihch part is not serious? Did you watch today the race? Or any race in Italy in 2019 (from April - June ;))

One of the most talented riders in the world? I mean, depends how many riders you count among the most talented... if it's about 10, which would be my definition... I won't count a guy among them who's 27 and who has had a few great races in his career.
And today he was super, but since he's from Bergamo I would think this was one of his main targets and I am not expecting him to show the same level all year from now on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: noob

TRENDING THREADS