Tirreno - Adriatico 2021, March 10 - March 16

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Van der Poel positioning was questionable throughout the last 30 km, not just in the final.
He has tendency to slide back and then move up again from the sides, whereas both WVA and Alaphilippe almost never left the first 10 positions in those last 30 km. Of course having a stronger team would help, but he's also to blame. Not every race can be won by being brutally stronger than the competition.

Thomas De Gendt once made a comment about the amount of energy you save in the back of the peloton, compared to what is needed to stay in the front all the time. Can't remember how he described it, but basically, it was a difference of day and night. It's not simply a matter of staying at the front, and then winning the sprint. Staying at the front drains your energy, and very likely your sprint won't be quite as punchy anymore.

 

[Lequack]

There is only mountain stage, is it enough to unseat MVDP, Alphillipe or Aert from the podium?

We saw how well Aert and Alaphillipe climbed in the TDF climbs already., so I can see at least on of these two staying up with the pure climbers. Plus the climb is pretty even at 7%, so it's just perfect for these riders. And Aert also has his ITT for the final stage.

 

[Escarabajo]

How good is Aranburu?

 

[ice&fire]

Van Aert and Alaphilippe will look humans next to Pogacar. Landa will finish 4th after those three

 

[Publiuszam]

There is only mountain stage, is it enough to unseat MVDP, Alphillipe or Aert from the podium?

We saw how well Aert and Alaphillipe climbed in the TDF climbs already., so I can see at least on of these two staying up with the pure climbers. Plus the climb is pretty even at 7%, so it's just perfect for these riders. And Aert also has his ITT for the final stage.

I have a gut feeling that Alerts will be okay ..didn't he just come back from altitude training? Ala will be okay ish .. I think..hasn't he done it before. Mvdp is the only worry I have. I could be very wrong and not willing to take it to the banks.

 

[Spine Concept]

I have a gut feeling that Alerts will be okay ..didn't he just come back from altitude training? Ala will be okay ish .. I think..hasn't he done it before. Mvdp is the only worry I have. I could be very wrong and not willing to take it to the banks.

Mathieu isn’t a climber pur sang, riding a good GC has never been his ambition. Today was a good chance for him to take a win, too bad he was badly positioned. He was so much faster than Alaphil in the end there.

Is it safe to say he currently has the best acceleration/kick in the whole pro peloton?

The big three staying true to their name though. Impressive stuff from all three. Wout with a beastly win yesterday too.

 

[jmdirt]

I love seeing the rainbow winning!
These three are 'on'!

 

[Gregor_Slovenia]

So much WOW about MVDP and van Aert, lol. They can climb, they can sprint, they can time trial. Blabla, can't wait for that big mountain to see if van Aert can really hold on the pace. It is way different riding for a team and putting on a hammer down, and spectators get a feeling, wow-he could go on his own and win this! But being a leader and really going for yourself on the mountain is sth different. But yes, it is very possible I am wrong, as I was with MVDP and Strade.

 

[BlueRoads]

I feel that because in the end everything went as expected - van Aert keeping overall, van der Poel physically insane, Alaphilippe celebrating ...not too early - the things which happened before might be a bit overlooked or forgotten, but were actually quite interesting. Almeida so strong, Yates finally dropping, Bernal and Ineos in attack mode, Jumbo with team-strength but maybe not the most clever or perfect approach... There might be some plot-lines waiting to be continued. Oh, and then Sagan and Pinot, unfortunately.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

We saw how well Aert and Alaphillipe climbed in the TDF climbs already., so I can see at least on of these two staying up with the pure climbers. Plus the climb is pretty even at 7%, so it's just perfect for these riders. And Aert also has his ITT for the final stage.

I don't think any of them will be able to match Bernal and Pogacar if they attack really hard. WVA and Ala can limit their losses (and have a shot at top3 of the race), not expecting it from MVP though. The final TT will help WVA so if he's still close he will have a shot at victory.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Kind of a shame Van der Poels positioning in the final 1km isn't better. I don't mind he's too far back at 30km to go.

But letting wins go like this ... well at least it'll keep him hungry for other races.. not bad too lose in that sense. But I just feel it was a wasted opportunity.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

on contrary VDP still gives me scares when positioning. His first RVV where he was positioned like 15th on both Kwaremont and Paterberg...
Strade this year on Sant Marie he had to come from pretty far.

It's pretty weird.. has the technical skills to do it easily but somehow seems too far back a lot

in retrospect this also came back today lol

 

[Mayomaniac]

Aleotti 15th and the best Bora rider today, even with Sagan just coming back from Covid that's a bit of a surprise.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

The second place of Van der Poel had nothing to do with (incorrect) positioning. Although Van der Poel showed again he is the most explosive rider of the peloton, at the moment, he is vulnerable uphill. The last more steep km, Van der Poel could not hold his position, and lost position after position. With a fantastic explosive effort, he could come back to the second place.

 

[johnymax]

Tomorrow is an ideal opportunity for MvdP to go on the attack in his sweet zone 80-90km from the finish, on Poggio Della Croce.

 

[BlueRoads]

The second place of Van der Poel had nothing to do with (incorrect) positioning. Although Van der Poel showed again he is the most explosive rider of the peloton, at the moment, he is vulnerable uphill. The last more steep km, Van der Poel could not hold his position, and lost position after position. With a fantastic explosive effort, he could come back to the second place.

You're an enigma to me. I don't know whether you are trolling, have no idea about cycling, or just have a really great sense of cycling that I can't follow. I'm saying this in all honesty. How can we see things so differently, time and time again?

 

[JosefK]

Pogi came in 4th today (stage 2) . . . pretty impressive for the kid. It's been noted earlier, he may lay waste to everyone on the mountain stage. And he likes time trials now, so maybe . . .

 

[Red Rick]

Nibali 17th today.

Be very

very

afraid

 

[Red Rick]

on contrary VDP still gives me scares when positioning. His first RVV where he was positioned like 15th on both Kwaremont and Paterberg...
Strade this year on Sant Marie he had to come from pretty far.

It's pretty weird.. has the technical skills to do it easily but somehow seems too far back a lot

I think he's gotten extremely used to it not mattering to him before cause he could always just by force.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

So much WOW about MVDP and van Aert, lol. They can climb, they can sprint, they can time trial. Blabla, can't wait for that big mountain to see if van Aert can really hold on the pace. It is way different riding for a team and putting on a hammer down, and spectators get a feeling, wow-he could go on his own and win this! But being a leader and really going for yourself on the mountain is sth different. But yes, it is very possible I am wrong, as I was with MVDP and Strade.

It's WOW, because they aren't supposed to be able to do all those things. Both of them keep raising the bar. Five years ago the only successful cross rider to transition onto the road, was Stybar. First people were amazed that they could both ride the final of the EU championships, or that they did "ok" in classics. Then they started winning classics, sprints, uphill sprints, time trials, and van Aert even showed he can climb well enough to be at least a superdomestique. So yes, WOW. Also, him being a team leader won't affect him one bit, both of them have basically been team leaders since they were 19 years old. Whether he can climb with the best on a MTF remains to be seen (my guess would be not quite), but it doesn't take anything away from what both have showed and continue to show. Nor does it take away anything from your favorite rider, everybody also said WOW in the TDF ITT.

 

[KZD]

There is only mountain stage, is it enough to unseat MVDP, Alphillipe or Aert from the podium?

We saw how well Aert and Alaphillipe climbed in the TDF climbs already., so I can see at least on of these two staying up with the pure climbers. Plus the climb is pretty even at 7%, so it's just perfect for these riders. And Aert also has his ITT for the final stage.

I think that Van der Poel will softpedal the last climb in order to rest for the next day. He is not here to fight for the overall.

 

[roundabout]

I think Van der Poel was pretty decently positioned until the group caught Landa/Sivakov, but then there was a slowdown and he had to work around Landa/Sivakov on his side of the road and acceleration came from Thomas from another side of the road.

Could he have done better? Maybe, but to me he wasn't horrible, just somewhat unlucky - he was about level with Alaphilippe in the group when Thomas accelerated - the difference was having free road ahead.

 

[Blanco]

Nor does it take away anything from your favorite rider, everybody also said WOW in the TDF ITT.

Hmm, actually his favorite rider is the other one, the one with a silly helmet in that ITT

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

You're an enigma to me. I don't know whether you are trolling, have no idea about cycling, or just have a really great sense of cycling that I can't follow. I'm saying this in all honesty. How can we see things so differently, time and time again?

I'm been following cycling for decades.... and also don't just watch what's going on in the front row. Review the last km, Van der Poel fails to advance, because the pace is too high uphill. So, I don't think Van der Poel has a chance in the queen stage to Prati di Tivo. Nor Van Aert who is only at 98 % of his peak. While Ala and Van der Poel are at 99 %. Pogacar and Bernal will be the favorites then, but maybe Ala could surprise.
Tomorrow, Van der Poel is the favorite, with an uphill sprint to Gualdo.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

So can Van Aert actually win the GC here? He has a 14 seconds advantage now, 18-24 seconds advantage tomorrow, and with one more more flat stage that's likely 30 seconds. Add probably 20 seconds with the final ITT, that's 50 seconds. How much will he lose on Prati di Tivo? 30 seconds? 1 minute tops? Then there's stage 5 as well, in which he could lose some time also.