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Ciro reported yesterday that a lot of riders from Ineos were extending, which would bring their total contracted riders for 2024 to 22/23, not a lot of room to a merger.
- Apr 15, 2014
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I never knew Pailheres could be linked with Port d'Envalira.
Interesting!!
What a monster ride by Remco.
- Jul 7, 2013
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Remco should join UAE to form a dream team of two Merckxes and send the Skeletor back to fishing industry.
He seems to be finalizing his climbing form by setting some big rides on climbs before toning down for the Vuelta start.
edit: he did the final 40k on the TT bike, according to the graph above, that would be TT on port d'Envalira. (~5%)
Hope he can get as close as possible to his peak (or his peak) so we get some action in the Vuelta. He has the opportunity to test out how he fares against a fully prepped Roglic who has a teammate that won the TDF on a parcour that suits him less than this years Giro with a team that is less. Hopefully he has an ally in Ayuso. (because G/Almeida probably will do the same as roglic, follow wheels while Roglic is in red after stage 2). (they should all try to take time in vingegaard in the first week when that one is still lacking some race rythm... Even Roglic to be the 1st leader...).
It will be a major uphil battle to bring it home this year, but looking forward to see the fruits of his labor and his climbing legs. Lets hope he can get red as late as possible so the fight will be mano a duo a mano a mano.
edit: he did the final 40k on the TT bike, according to the graph above, that would be TT on port d'Envalira. (~5%)
Hope he can get as close as possible to his peak (or his peak) so we get some action in the Vuelta. He has the opportunity to test out how he fares against a fully prepped Roglic who has a teammate that won the TDF on a parcour that suits him less than this years Giro with a team that is less. Hopefully he has an ally in Ayuso. (because G/Almeida probably will do the same as roglic, follow wheels while Roglic is in red after stage 2). (they should all try to take time in vingegaard in the first week when that one is still lacking some race rythm... Even Roglic to be the 1st leader...).
It will be a major uphil battle to bring it home this year, but looking forward to see the fruits of his labor and his climbing legs. Lets hope he can get red as late as possible so the fight will be mano a duo a mano a mano.
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- Feb 1, 2020
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Clearly super impressive, but someone like Aru was still doing sinilar training rides even in his final season when his engine was totally fried and his recovery pretty much gone (I remember him doing 8 hour rides). So it's not that uncommon among pros.
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View: https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1693580476814917655?t=RKkP15IVCcmiHaiF80Rwow&s=19
No Cerny?!?
Time to leave for ineos!
No Cerny?!?
Time to leave for ineos!
That's an even weaker team than I expected. Why isn't Alaphilippe going? He isn't going to win anywhere in the meantime.. Guess we'll see some guys drop off at the start of the last climb because "they weren't needed anymore for the rest of the stage".
I guess I sort of understand the absence of van wilder but it just shows the weakness that QS has in depth and why signing only Landa is not enough. Unexpected things happen, people crash or get sick.. And as Remco mentioned himself in the LR interview, there should be competition to get into the main GC team.
I hope that he will have at least someone to get some water bottles once in a while. Jesus.
- Jan 8, 2020
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Well, as Patrick has always said, all you have to do is follow the wheels, in an inexorable game of attrition, and then beat them. Sometimes this fundamental rule of cycling is forgotten. Be the ace, the trump card that nulifies others strengths. Easier said than done, however, but that's what it boils down to.
Problem is the team strength and depth is what gives the leader the option to control the race. Following wheels you lose control of how you want the finish line to look. We've seen Jumbo pretty much adopt a Froome approach, but as they have such depth use satellites a little more than Sky did but fundamentally it's just evolution of Postal>Sky>Jumbo. Probably a little less controllable in La Vuelta, but Le Tour is all about less is more and more control is less unpredictability.
- Mar 29, 2012
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I wonder...
Why buy team mates, when you can give your DS a bag of money, and ask, in the race, if some other teams are willing to do some work for your team?
It has happened many times before and I think it's cheaper than actually signing a domestique. Just lease them
Which is a lot easier said than done if you have ONE rival to follow, rather than two. It's going to be very difficult for Remco to compete with both Rog and Ving on the same team; hopefully he'll be able to forge some alliances on the road but Jumbo look so strong for this race, the antithesis of SQS.
It’s (SQS) strategy also depending on nothing going wrong, but as we know that’s rarely the case over three weeks. It’s when things go wrong that team strength can really make a difference. I don’t think Roglic would have won the Giro unless Kuss was there the day Rog faltered. Or having folks who stay close on climbs to help chase in the valley of a multi-mountain stage if gapped early on. Obviously there aren’t enough elite climbing doms for every team to have one. But to argue that it doesn’t really make much a difference is a weak rationalization to defend his team’s deficits.
- Jan 8, 2020
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I know, I never said the theory was easy or the practice realistic, however, it's what Remco simply has to do under the circumstances. But if he pulls it off, he will ascend to the heights of Olympus.
- Jan 8, 2020
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To the bolded, if you think that's what I was arguing, then you have totally missed the point. I was simply trying to look on the positive side of a bleak situation. On the other hand, with such a weak team what other rationalization would you give? Fold over?
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- Apr 15, 2014
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Without wanting to disrespect his teammates, but... looks like Evenepoel will have to do this mostly himself, starting with the TTT. The others with the exception of Cattaneo will only slow him down. He and Mattia can do a 2-man TTT, with enough people in the wheels hanging on until the end.
- Jan 8, 2020
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Sorry if it wasn’t clear—I was criticizing the SQS/Patrick statement not what you said. I guess I posted in a response to yours because I was agreeing with you that a weak team really limits offensive options to control and race and also is big problem when things go wrong.
I should have written first in that replay, “I agree with you and also . . .
I think in a short and technical TTT like this one Casper Pedersen should also be really valuable.
Funny how things work.
I cannot see past Jumbo for the Vuelta.
It’s in a way good as Remco starts a pretty heavy underdog considering this, his team weakness and the route.
However, no other rider has hit his objectives better in the last two years, so can one hope?
The other thing is peak Remco has handled Rog fairly easily (though perhaps it was not peak Rog).
Hoping we get peak climbing Remco. Otherwise, this will be up to Rog, Vingo and perhaps Ayuso.
I cannot see past Jumbo for the Vuelta.
It’s in a way good as Remco starts a pretty heavy underdog considering this, his team weakness and the route.
However, no other rider has hit his objectives better in the last two years, so can one hope?
The other thing is peak Remco has handled Rog fairly easily (though perhaps it was not peak Rog).
Hoping we get peak climbing Remco. Otherwise, this will be up to Rog, Vingo and perhaps Ayuso.
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