Tirreno-Adriatico 2019, March 13-19

[Red Rick]

Re:

And Ala is the best on steep 1 km climbs but not on 2 or 3 km muritos.

I think it's settled that he is more like Bettini or perhaps Rebellin than Valverde.

Ala proving once again how stupid French tactics at the Worlds were last year

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Wonderful race action.

Hopefully Lutsenko is alright physically after all the crashes.

Magnificent win. Congrats.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

And Fuglsang is such an odd rider. He has no sprint or punch, but is great at riding high pace on short, explosive climbs.

He has always been quite good in the Ardennes and those type of climbs but he doesnt really have that all-out peak power that more explosive climbers have.

Also the sprint today was so short that it would’ve been impossible for anyone to win the sprint from last wheel (Yates couldnt even pass Roglic). Fuglsang should have launched earlier if he wanted to win but then he would have burned Lutsenko completely

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

This is why Lutsenko should never do cobbles again. Can't even do normal road racing properly

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

How does Fuglsang finish 4th in that sprint?

I have no idea why he didn't attack the moment Lutsenko was caught, but I guess that in the end his tactical mistake wasn't too important with Lutsenko winnning.

Probably because he knew Roglic would keep the pressure on all the way to the line, with Dumoulin being behind..... but yeah, I was expecting it too.

In any case, he should be able to ride away from Roglic. But of course he must have been worried about Yates, who had not exactly contributed much to the chase.

He “should” be able to ride away, from one of the best time trialers the world, riding at his max?

Not likely dude - especially when Fuglsang doesn’t have enough punch, to fight his way out of a wet paper bag

 

[slosada]

Re:

To be fair, Lutsenko was the only one who had the time to take a quick nap in the final K, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he won that sprint

You're probably being sarcastic. There were other 2 on the wheel... And he had: 1. fallen twice. 2. 32Km TT right before the sprint.

 

[Red Rick]

I want another one such hilly stage instead of that TTT crap every time.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

I want another one such hilly stage instead of that TTT crap every time.

Couldn't agree more

Why does every stage race need a TT?

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

How does Fuglsang finish 4th in that sprint?

I have no idea why he didn't attack the moment Lutsenko was caught, but I guess that in the end his tactical mistake wasn't too important with Lutsenko winnning.

Probably because he knew Roglic would keep the pressure on all the way to the line, with Dumoulin being behind..... but yeah, I was expecting it too.

In any case, he should be able to ride away from Roglic. But of course he must have been worried about Yates, who had not exactly contributed much to the chase.

He “should” be able to ride away, from one of the best time trialers the world, riding at his max?

Not likely dude - especially when Fuglsang doesn’t have enough punch, to fight his way out of a wet paper bag

Well, Roglic had taken all turns at the front in the headwind - he could not really ask for a better opportunity to attack. But as I said, Yates would probably just close him down...

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Re: Re:

I want another one such hilly stage instead of that TTT crap every time.

Couldn't agree more

Why does every stage race need a TT?

Why does every stage race need mountain stages?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

I want another one such hilly stage instead of that TTT crap every time.

Couldn't agree more

Why does every stage race need a TT?

Why does every stage race need mountain stages?

It doesn't, there are plenty without

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Anyone know how Kragh dropped 13,30 on that stage?

Before Lutsenko went, he was sitting with Dumoulin and Oomen, so seems like a lot of time, in terrain that should suit him fine.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

And Ala is the best on steep 1 km climbs but not on 2 or 3 km muritos.

I think it's settled that he is more like Bettini or perhaps Rebellin than Valverde.

Ala proving once again how stupid French tactics at the Worlds were last year

I think the Frenche tactics were the hope that Alaphilippe could stay with the lead group over the hell climb because he was the only one they had that hand any hope of maybe out sprinting Valverde.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Anyone know how Kragh dropped 13,30 on that stage?

Before Lutsenko went, he was sitting with Dumoulin and Oomen, so seems like a lot of time, in terrain that should suit him fine.

He has been sick in the past couple of weeks. Couldnt race Omloop or SB. Probably just not in form atm.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

I don't understand all the comparisons to Valverde. He's just not nearly good enough in the high mountains to warrant that comparison. He's much more similar to Bettini in my opinion.

Bettini before deciding to focus on classics was able to finish 7th in the Giro and that despite working for Bartoli until stage 15 after which Bartoli cracked badly giving him free reign. Nowadays with the bigger focus on stage races there is compared to 20 years ago I think Bettini would have been a regular in top ten of GTs like Valverde is.

I don't think Alaphilippe can came close to a top ten in a Giro, probably was closer to him Bartoli that was never able to survive high mouintains and snatched his only top 10 in a GT in a very easy Vuelta in which he still cracked in the only real mountain stage, in weeklong stage races was more consistent but Alaphilippe could still improve. Bartoli was also a good time trialist like Alaphilippe (something that Bettini wasn't) and close to him also as sprinting whereas Bettini was way faster and able to win or podium in bunch sprints when he wanted.
Well Bartoli was very good also on the cobbles but in that Alaphilippe is yet to be tested so we don't know if he can compete for a Ronde but also Bettini put on very good showing in support of Boonen.

I think if Alaphilippe shifts focus on GT racing, he could finish in the top 10 just like Bettini, but that's about it. And I do think they are quite similar in riding style, with Bettini being a little faster and a little more successful
And no Bettini couldn't been like Valverde in GT's. He could've snitch couple of more top 10's, but that's light years away of Valverde's achievements in GT's.

If there is a video available watch the stage of Pampeago in that Giro, he was 24, at his second year as pro, catapulted in the role of the leader after working for two weeks for his designated captain, I think that saying that with a focus on GTs he would have been a regular in the top 10 is the minimum, and that considering the routes of late 90s/early 00s, nowadays Tours with ridiculous TT mileage and juniors mountain stage and easy Vueltas with one real mountain stage would have been even better for him.

Also for Boogerd that was cited before could have been the same, the only time he seriously tried he ended 5th in the Tour, even if we should note that the 1998 Tour was affected by abandons due to clinic reasons.

At the moment Alaphilippe hasn't show any signs in GTs and he regularly cracks even in weeklong stage races when the climbing is more than a certain amount, like I said some days ago a GT for him should be only hills and not too hard medium mountains with at maximum some monoclimb MTF not too long.

As for the riding style he reminds me more Voeckler with all his movements on the bike and his gesticulations, he only lack the facial expressions to be identical

I watched Bettini back then, I'm not that young, and I stand by that what I said. if he had a GT potential, he would've showed that in more occasions beside that Giro. There were riders back then also who targeted and were successful in both classics and GT's, like Jalabert, Vinokourov, Di Luca, etc.

He didn't show GT potential in other occasions because he never tried again and after 1998 he put on weight and worked more on his sprint so he wasn't able to climb like before.
From what I've heard in some interviews he wasn't interested to fight for GC knowing he didn't have a chance to win because of his TT handicap and so he decided to focus solely on the classics.

 

[Nirvana]

I have to thank Eurosport for not showing that so I've missed a stage that looking at reports was the better in years for Tirreno and tomorrow again no coverage

Anyway we had the confirmation that, despite the criticism, the route design was perfect unlike recent edition with a MTF, and the TTT gaps force action. I hope Vegni will consider that for next years.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Re:

I have to thank Eurosport for not showing that so I've missed a stage that looking at reports was the better in years for Tirreno and tomorrow again no coverage

Anyway we had the confirmation that, despite the criticism, the route design was perfect unlike recent edition with a MTF, and the TTT gaps force action. I hope Vegni will consider that for next years.

It's 2019 mate, plenty of ways to watch racing when its not on TV.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

I have to thank Eurosport for not showing that so I've missed a stage that looking at reports was the better in years for Tirreno and tomorrow again no coverage

Anyway we had the confirmation that, despite the criticism, the route design was perfect unlike recent edition with a MTF, and the TTT gaps force action. I hope Vegni will consider that for next years.

It's 2019 mate, plenty of ways to watch racing when its not on TV.

I know that there are plenty of ways but I don't like watching a low resolution video on a 15'' PC screen, likely with dozens of (potentially malicious) popups and with the risk of not finding a language that I understand. It's 2019 and I hope to watch the race on a decent sized TV screen with a good image quality.
And in these days I'm working during the night so when the race is on I'm sleeping, if the race is on Eurosport I only have to set the MySky to register it and I can watch it before or after work.

 

[Lequack]

Both Roglic and Dumoilin making snarky remarks about Simon Yates ITT win:

"Maybe I won’t have a good day, we're not at the finish yet, there’s quite a bit of racing left to do,” Roglic warned.
"Ask his brother, he won a time trial, so we’ll see what happens," he said about Adam Yates’ chances in the time trial.

"I think Roglic, with his better time trialling skills is the bigger favourite now, more than Yates. But maybe Adam can pull a Simon… You never know," Dumoulin concluded, finally finding his sense of humour after a hard, disappointing day in the saddle.

More here:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tirreno-adriatico-contrasting-emotions-for-roglic-and-dumoulin-after-steep-climbs-spark-time-gaps/

 

[Sestriere]

What a beautiful win for Lutsenko, these are the days I love cycling for! Hopefully the second fall wasn't too serious to handicap him tomorrow as this will be the stage that makes or breaks overall ambitions. A Top 5 (maybe even podium) on GC is possible for him and would be deserved.

 

[Lequack]

This is how stage 5 of Tirreno looked like in 2015:

 

[Lequack]

25 Big Photos from Stage 4 (descriptions to come) — rcs/corvos
http://www.steephill.tv/2019/tirreno-adriatico/photos/stage-04/

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

25 Big Photos from Stage 4 (descriptions to come) — rcs/corvos
http://www.steephill.tv/2019/tirreno-adriatico/photos/stage-04/

Great pictures !

 

[Wvv]

Couldn't watch cycling all day, but after reading comments here and elsewhere, I didn't want to go to bed before checking some highlight videos. Awesome performance. Wasn't that much of a fan of Lutsenko, but you can't deny he's a special rider. Hats off.

 

[Carols]

Does anyone have a stream?