Teams & Riders The Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe team thread

[CyclistAbi]

Lets hope most/all selected riders are in good form and motivated, hopefully to assert themselves as a team at at least one stage.

 

[MLKarlos]

I am ready for the Giro!!! Finally the first GT.
Especially looking forward to Pellinzari and of course Primosz.

 

[Links2003]

As every year, Dan Lorang was on the Cyclingmagazin podcast before the Giro. They spoke openly about the spring (which they are not happy with apart from the stage races), the changes in the team after Red Bull joined and the upcoming Giro.
They had a lot of bad luck in the spring with illnesses etc. Lorang says that because they didn't want to jeopardize the Giro, they made a conscious decision to use the riders according to the plan and to fill in with other riders in other races, accepting that good results were not possible.

They worked a lot on the time trial. In my opinion, you can already see that in some of the riders.

With Martinez, they actually wanted him to be in shape much earlier. That didn't work out because of illness, among other things. They hope that it will still work out. Pellizari was not planned for the Giro. But since he was so good this year and was also praised by Roglic, they decided to plan the Giro after all.

 

[Tim Cahill]

They haven't done recon of the climbs and Roglic will be taking things, in a shocking announcement, 'day by day'

 

[Gratemans]

I don't know if the "who needs recons, eh?"-approach is the right one, but then again, it's the Giro. Not nearly as frantic as the Tour.
The TT on day 2 will also create gaps in the GC already so that the rest of the first week won't be as nervous I guess.

On the other hand, I'm not all too convinced this is going to be just a two-horse race between Roglic and Ayuso. There's quite a few willing (and able) to throw their hat in the ring this Giro imo.

 

[Rackham]

Rog will always downplay being the favorite for obvious reasons but the truth is it's a difficult situation to be in going into this Giro. It means Red Bull will be expected to control the race.

It's not mano-a-mano that concerns me (although with Rog we're never totally beyond a disaster scenario where he inexplicably gets dropped on Finestre or has a disastrous ITTT for whatever reason), no, the main problem is another Ben O'Connor type breakaway but this time with an even more dangerous rider taking huge time.

Last time (2 years ago) when Jumbo was decimated, Soudal did the heavy lifting in the first week for Evenepoel and then Ineos took over and controlled the race afterwards.

 

[tobydawq]

They haven't done recon of the climbs and Roglic will be taking things, in a shocking announcement, 'day by day'

And all riders start with the same time and there are 21 days. I hope he becomes a pundit after his career. That level of insight would be tough to miss out on.

 

[Red Rick]

And all riders start with the same time and there are 21 days. I hope he becomes a pundit after his career. That level of insight would be tough to miss out on.

Can't wait for the win predictor where every other pundit just picks a rider like a normal person and Roglic just drops the "we'll see ah"

 

[CyclistAbi]

They are entering this Giro edition in a similar fashion JV and Rogla entered Tour 2020, huge favourites. IMHO that is a good thing, to be in such position again. On top of individual quality i hope that Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe to be perceived as the strongest team at this Giro edition. Said that all this powers come with great responsibility and that should be used sparingly. Soft not hard annihilation.

 

[Tim Cahill]

At the very least it does show Roglic doesn't seem to think much of Ayuso etc. I doubt he will be taking things day by day against Vingegaard and Pogacar in the tour.

 

[Links2003]

RBH was very active today and always in at the front. That was a good performance. Whether it was clever in the end remains to be seen. You didn't see UAE at all and they were there with a lot of riders at the end.

Tratnik was dropped a bit early, but I think that was okay. Martinez was nowhere to be seen all day and also lost some time today. Moscon was already at the back of the field before the climb. I didn't like him at all. But that suits his form all year. I think the rest of the team rode very well. But they invested a lot of energy today.

 

[MLKarlos]

RBH was very active today and always in at the front. That was a good performance. Whether it was clever in the end remains to be seen. You didn't see UAE at all and they were there with a lot of riders at the end.

Tratnik was dropped a bit early, but I think that was okay. Martinez was nowhere to be seen all day and also lost some time today. Moscon was already at the back of the field before the climb. I didn't like him at all. But that suits his form all year. I think the rest of the team rode very well. But they invested a lot of energy today.

Not an expert, but arent Teams manage the workload of their riders in a GT?
Maybe it was fine for them to let Tratnik and Moscon drop to Safe Energy.
Martinez is worrying though

 

[Filippo_3467]

The responsibilites were pretty clear imo. Tratnik to position the first climb, Denz (very strong today) to position the second, Aleotti as personal bodyman for Roglic. Hindley also came forward to position himself and Pelizarri also paced himself and could pull a bit in the end. All in all they can be very happy with their performance.

UAE was really bad today. It could have been Ayuso who crashed (with Landa) and not Vine. They were always 10-15 positions too far back and Ayuso didn't look good on the second climb. If Hindley would have pushed on the steep part and Roglic would have attacked I didn't think Ayuso would have been in the first group. of course that risk would have been stupid because they would have only gained a couple of seconds but it was notable that UAE was unorganised and far back.

I never thought that Martinez would do a perfomance like last year. I think he will be the typical Dani martinez. off for 1,5 to 2 weeks and then a pretty good domestique on 2-3 stages. The Giro is backloaded and Martinez will also ride the Tour. So it is enough if he's there to take over the job of Aleotti in the last week.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The responsibilites were pretty clear imo. Tratnik to position the first climb, Denz (very strong today) to position the second, Aleotti as personal bodyman for Roglic. Hindley also came forward to position himself and Pelizarri also paced himself and could pull a bit in the end. All in all they can be very happy with their performance.

UAE was really bad today. It could have been Ayuso who crashed (with Landa) and not Vine. They were always 10-15 positions too far back and Ayuso didn't look good on the second climb. If Hindley would have pushed on the steep part and Roglic would have attacked I didn't think Ayuso would have been in the first group. of course that risk would have been stupid because they would have only gained a couple of seconds but it was notable that UAE was unorganised and far back.

I never thought that Martinez would do a perfomance like last year. I think he will be the typical Dani martinez. off for 1,5 to 2 weeks and then a pretty good domestique on 2-3 stages. The Giro is backloaded and Martinez will also ride the Tour. So it is enough if he's there to take over the job of Aleotti in the last week.

UAE has only strong climbers and Baroncini, they are sacrificing a bit of positioning. They still had five riders in the final group and Vine was up there as well.
I wasn‘t as impressed by Denz but the Bora riders bar Martinez still all did their job.

 

[Filippo_3467]

UAE has only strong climbers and Baroncini, they are sacrificing a bit of positioning. They still had five riders in the final group and Vine was up there as well.
I wasn‘t as impressed by Denz but the Bora riders bar Martinez still all did their job.

I think Denz did his job. The legs are clearly good (as shown in Frankfurt as well) but he's not good at positioning. Shouldn't be a big worry on those kind of stages and in the mountains/break control. But this also shows the need for them to bring in Moscon and Tratnik as well and why I don't think Denz should ride the Tour in favor of a van Poppel. He looses positions if he's not riding full out to the front. Never was good at it thats why he's not a Politt replacement.

 

[Links2003]

I think Denz did his job. The legs are clearly good (as shown in Frankfurt as well) but he's not good at positioning. Shouldn't be a big worry on those kind of stages and in the mountains/break control. But this also shows the need for them to bring in Moscon and Tratnik as well and why I don't think Denz should ride the Tour in favor of a van Poppel. He looses positions if he's not riding full out to the front. Never was good at it thats why he's not a Politt replacement.

If the sporting management didn't think Denz was good at position riding and protecting, his race program wouldn't be so specifically geared towards Roglic. He was also at his side for a long time. But actually Moscon - if you've seen what he showed on the mountain last year - should be much stronger towards the end of the stage.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I think Denz did his job. The legs are clearly good (as shown in Frankfurt as well) but he's not good at positioning. Shouldn't be a big worry on those kind of stages and in the mountains/break control. But this also shows the need for them to bring in Moscon and Tratnik as well and why I don't think Denz should ride the Tour in favor of a van Poppel. He looses positions if he's not riding full out to the front. Never was good at it thats why he's not a Politt replacement.

Politt isn‘t that great at positioning either, just look at him in Flanders or Roubaix, but at some point in a GT, positioning becomes more about having the watts to beat the others in a drag race.

 

[hayneplane]

UAE has only strong climbers and Baroncini, they are sacrificing a bit of positioning. They still had five riders in the final group and Vine was up there as well.
I wasn‘t as impressed by Denz but the Bora riders bar Martinez still all did their job.

UAE also has Arrieta to do the rouleur work and McNulty to an extent.

Red Bull arguably did their best all round team job of the season today in keeping numbers around Roglic on both ascents in the final and taking the pack through much of the last 5km staying safe.

 

[CyclistAbi]

At the very least it does show Roglic doesn't seem to think much of Ayuso etc. I doubt he will be taking things day by day against Vingegaard and Pogacar in the tour.

Why wouldn't he?

 

[CyclistAbi]

On stage 1 i agree they were rather active and hopefully didn't waste too much energy, said that positioning and team support was rather superb. At one point i felt like if the opportunity knocks Rogla might even attack (or follow).

 

[Netserk]

UAE has only strong climbers and Baroncini, they are sacrificing a bit of positioning. They still had five riders in the final group and Vine was up there as well.
I wasn‘t as impressed by Denz but the Bora riders bar Martinez still all did their job.

And their captains are Ayuso and Yates, both notorious for hanging at the back of a group.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Primoz Roglic rode to Giro lead in a 68-tooth chainring - "I managed… though I don’t know how"

More and more nowadays riders are taking on bigger chainrings in the time-trials so as to power through with a higher pace in the flat roads. This leads to some quite astonishing gear ratios and Primo...

cyclinguptodate.com

New ideas, by the people that joined the team, already bearing fruit.

 

[VeloMaster]

Primoz Roglic rode to Giro lead in a 68-tooth chainring - "I managed… though I don’t know how"

More and more nowadays riders are taking on bigger chainrings in the time-trials so as to power through with a higher pace in the flat roads. This leads to some quite astonishing gear ratios and Primo...

cyclinguptodate.com

New ideas, by the people that joined the team, already bearing fruit.

It always puzzles me why commentators and journalists get so carried away about chain ring size, without ever telling us what the corresponding rear sprockets are.

No doubt, many are pushing monster gears compared to us mortals. But as a track cyclist I am well aware that a large chain ring, offset somewhat by a large-ish rear sprocket, has less friction and is thus faster than more traditional set ups. It's all about the gear ratio, not the individual gears.

Just a pet peeve.

 

[CyclistAbi]

@VeloMaster

I feel that the whole package of the changes made in regards to equipment was beneficial in this TT.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I mean the big chain ring was used to push on it, harder, that was the whole point. Not for aero or cosmetic purposes.

With all due respect.