The New Danish Generation

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re: Re:

For being a neo-pro, Niklas Eg has been quietly impressive in the Giro. Still in the race, and yesterday he finished 22nd out of the peloton on Prato Nevoso, close to the 10th-20th placed GC riders. He also had a good ride on the Zoncolan.

Unhappy with the treatment of EG - There is no way he should have been riding the Giro and even worse finishing the race - His team should be ashamed.

He's the same age as Mohoric...who already won two stages in a GT.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

For being a neo-pro, Niklas Eg has been quietly impressive in the Giro. Still in the race, and yesterday he finished 22nd out of the peloton on Prato Nevoso, close to the 10th-20th placed GC riders. He also had a good ride on the Zoncolan.

Unhappy with the treatment of EG - There is no way he should have been riding the Giro and even worse finishing the race - His team should be ashamed.

He's the same age as Mohoric...who already won two stages in a GT.

Mohoric turned pro when he was 19 and is in his 4th year in World Tour right now. Niklas Eg is riding his first professional season and didnt ride his bike in 13’ and 14’ because of injury.

Doesnt make sense to compare these two at all.

 

[RedheadDane]

^ Wasn't it some weird illness?

But the point still stands that there's no point in pulling a guy who's doing fine out of the race, and for a selected-at-the-last-minute neo-pro he has indeed been doing fine.

 

[RedheadDane]

Here's something I've been thinking a bit about the last few days; I really don't envy the poor sod who has to pick the Danish Cyclist of the Year.
Let's be honest; for a couple of years it was basically pick the rider who's done anything noteworthy this year, and call it a day. Søren Kragh Andersen got it back in 2015 for a stage win in the Tour des Fjords!
Which... is kinda weird when you consider that Jesper Hansen won Tour of Norway the same year...

 

[Bardamu]

Well it has gotta be Valgren. Won a very hard raced Amstel, which is the biggest Danish victory this season. Won Omloop as well, helped Cort win in the Tour and was very impressive in Innsbruck.

 

[tobydawq]

Just thinking that Danes have won Omloop, Amstel, Paris-Tours and stages in Romandie, the Tour de Suisse (2), the Tour de France and the BinckBank Tour in the same season is pretty crazy considering what situation we're coming from.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

Here's something I've been thinking a bit about the last few days; I really don't envy the poor sod who has to pick the Danish Cyclist of the Year.
Let's be honest; for a couple of years it was basically pick the rider who's done anything noteworthy this year, and call it a day. Søren Kragh Andersen got it back in 2015 for a stage win in the Tour des Fjords!
Which... is kinda weird when you consider that Jesper Hansen won Tour of Norway the same year...

It’s really not that weird when you take into consideration that Kragh won 2 stages at L’avenir, had two 3rd places in Post Danmark Rundt, won Hadeland GP and was 2nd in Ringerike GP, and was 2nd overall in Tour de Fjords, whereas Hansen’s best result apart from Tour of Norway was 6th overall in Langkawi.

I dont think anyone else but Valgren will win this year even though Kragh has been great and Cort won a stage in the Tour.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Valgren no doubt. By far the best season.

Valgren, Kragh, Cort, Fuglsang, Pedersen

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Valgren no doubt. By far the best season.

Valgren, Kragh, Cort, Fuglsang, Pedersen

Second in Flanders gets you a 5th place in the best Danish rider contest. Quite spectacular. He will be number 1 soon enough.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Valgren no doubt. By far the best season.

Valgren, Kragh, Cort, Fuglsang, Pedersen

Second in Flanders gets you a 5th place in the best Danish rider contest. Quite spectacular. He will be number 1 soon enough.

Possibly yeah, but he really hasn't been that good for the rest of the season. Did well in Dwaars if I remember correctly and then won Eurometropole, but hasn't done much else.

I think Fuglsang should rank higher than Cort actually thinking about it, possibly also Kragh, but he is just a pretty disappointing rider tbh.

 

[Baldinger]

Mads Pedersen was 5th in Dwaars and won stages in Herald Sun Tour and Tour of Denmark. But yeah... sometimes consistency comes with age. He's still only 22.

 

[RedheadDane]

I actually remember watching some award show back in 2015. The U23 team - consisting of the time of guys like Mads P, Mads W, Søren Kragh - won some kind of award. Well… those guys have joined the big boy's club, just need for Mads W to catch up.
And then Mads P broke the trophy... :lol:

 

[Bushman]

Re:

Mads Pedersen was 5th in Dwaars and won stages in Herald Sun Tour and Tour of Denmark. But yeah... sometimes consistency comes with age. He's still only 22.

In retrospect it was a clear mistake sending him to the Giro after such a long spring. Of course the team had put him on a schedule and couldnt know he would be so strong during the spring but he had been in nice shape and riding well from January through april and he seemed very tired after Roubaix. I believe going to the Giro took a toll on him for the rest of the season.

It might benefit him next year perhaps though, who knows

 

[Baldinger]

I think you're right... but then again. He didn't look that tired when he made his move on the last hill in l'Eurometropole. That was impressive.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just shamelessly dragging this up again to post a bit of an observation.

The problem with those guys doing so well generally is that now I get disappointed when they don't do well, as opposed to (pleasantly) surprised when they do well.
And it's not just me, media's in on it too. Take Fuglsang's and Søren Kragh's recent second places in Andalucia and Algarve; I saw articles/headlines talking about how those second places were "disappointing", a few years ago it would have been; "WoHOOO! THEY GOT SECOND!" (And I know, calling Fuglsang part of the "new" generation might be stretching the definition a little bit...)

 

[Tim Booth]

Re:

Just shamelessly dragging this up again to post a bit of an observation.

The problem with those guys doing so well generally is that now I get disappointed when they don't do well, as opposed to (pleasantly) surprised when they do well.
And it's not just me, media's in on it too. Take Fuglsang's and Søren Kragh's recent second places in Andalucia and Algarve; I saw articles/headlines talking about how those second places were "disappointing", a few years ago it would have been; "WoHOOO! THEY GOT SECOND!" (And I know, calling Fuglsang part of the "new" generation might be stretching the definition a little bit...)

if you're going to 'stretch' Fuglsang (33), what about 'Denmark’s next big thing' (27)
https://www.velonews.com/2019/02/road/qa-michael-valgren-denmarks-next-big-thing-is-already-here_483668

 

[RedheadDane]

I think Valgren is in the upper end of the "new" generation.
And perhaps - as the article implies - less "the next big thing", and more "the current big thing".
I did some counting a while back, and if I recall correctly then basically half the current crop of WT riders are under 25.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Just shamelessly dragging this up again to post a bit of an observation.

The problem with those guys doing so well generally is that now I get disappointed when they don't do well, as opposed to (pleasantly) surprised when they do well.
And it's not just me, media's in on it too. Take Fuglsang's and Søren Kragh's recent second places in Andalucia and Algarve; I saw articles/headlines talking about how those second places were "disappointing", a few years ago it would have been; "WoHOOO! THEY GOT SECOND!" (And I know, calling Fuglsang part of the "new" generation might be stretching the definition a little bit...)

Wowowowow. I know Jakob does not win often, but we should at least remember when he does.

Other than that I agree. Calling Jakob part of the 'new' danish generation is wrong from an age perspective, but he is racing in the same field as the so called new generation, so I can see why the mix up happens.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Thing is, Søren Kragh is the best rider from a talent perspective IMO (lets not include Julius Johansen, dunno where he stacks up), but dude cant get it right in the spring and constantly gets sick. Its a rider that can win Kuurne, Robubaix Liege and literally everything in between. I didnt watch Rolf Sørensen race, but its uncanny how similar of a skillset they have. Hope he is getting well and can contend in the cobbles, but he needs to get back ASAP.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Just shamelessly dragging this up again to post a bit of an observation.

The problem with those guys doing so well generally is that now I get disappointed when they don't do well, as opposed to (pleasantly) surprised when they do well.
And it's not just me, media's in on it too. Take Fuglsang's and Søren Kragh's recent second places in Andalucia and Algarve; I saw articles/headlines talking about how those second places were "disappointing", a few years ago it would have been; "WoHOOO! THEY GOT SECOND!" (And I know, calling Fuglsang part of the "new" generation might be stretching the definition a little bit...)

Wowowowow. I know Jakob does not win often, but we should at least remember when he does.

Other than that I agree. Calling Jakob part of the 'new' danish generation is wrong from an age perspective, but he is racing in the same field as the so called new generation, so I can see why the mix up happens.

Right, I didn't specify that I meant that second places in the ITT... my bad.

 

[tobydawq]

I think it may be a smart decision to skip Strade for Kragh. People in the peloton say it's the hardest race day of the season (even if the distance is not overwhelming, the challenges begin almost instantaneously unlike the first flat 100 + km of the cobbled monuments), and it could be detrimental for him to be dragged through that race if he is still recovering.

But it's a very badly timed disease.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just realised something; the thread-title doesn't actually specify that we're talking about the guys. I would personally love to see Cecilie Uttrup get a big (televised) win, in a large part simply to see how she'd react, thinking about how she reacted upon getting fourth in la Course.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Just realised something; the thread-title doesn't actually specify that we're talking about the guys. I would personally love to see Cecilie Uttrup get a big (televised) win, in a large part simply to see how she'd react, thinking about how she reacted upon getting fourth in la Course.

I think that LS showed perfectly well that we had forgotten some people on the first page.

 

[memyselfandI]

Re:

Thing is, Søren Kragh is the best rider from a talent perspective IMO

Maybe.

Mads Würtz Schmidt, Mikkel Bjerg, Magnus Cort go even above Søren Kragh from a talent perspective IMHO, but they have not reaped benefits and results out like SK. Well Mikkel B is very young yet. Mads W..dunno what holds him, he has two rainbow jerseys already and some days it can be seen he is lightspeed fast tt'er but..

 

[RedheadDane]

Shameless plug!
I have no idea what Chris Juul is doing in that list in the beginning.