Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[sir fly]

Spekenbrink's remark about commercial value of power meters' data for the teams is something I'd pay attention to. The rest of the interview in accordance with the decision they've made. Reasonable targeting.

 

[Red Rick]

I mean I should be happy if some of the strongest riders ride my favorite gt but ugh this really feels like another year of resignation and everyone agreeing to Froome winning his fifth tour. I mean who are gonna be froome's main rivals? A guy coming from the giro, his own teammate and some underachieving Movistar climber? Even Yates might go to the giro which leaves us with Roglic as probably the most dangerous man and although I like Roglic, there still are higher caliber gc riders than him

Roglic also hasn't decided yet. He might go to the Giro as well
https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/primoz-roglic-nog-geen-keuze-gemaakt-tussen-giro-en-tour/

 

[yaco]

I mean I should be happy if some of the strongest riders ride my favorite gt but ugh this really feels like another year of resignation and everyone agreeing to Froome winning his fifth tour. I mean who are gonna be froome's main rivals? A guy coming from the giro, his own teammate and some underachieving Movistar climber? Even Yates might go to the giro which leaves us with Roglic as probably the most dangerous man and although I like Roglic, there still are higher caliber gc riders than him

Roglic also hasn't decided yet. He might go to the Giro as well
https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/primoz-roglic-nog-geen-keuze-gemaakt-tussen-giro-en-tour/

Giro is also a nice route for Roglic - And of course he will get more support in the GT if there is no Gronewegen.

 

[glassmoon]

I love the Giro.
I like Tom.
I ain't even mad

 

[Robert5091]

Smart move by TommyD.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re:

Smart move by TommyD.

I agree. I hope S Yates goes too.

 

[Koronin]

I mean I should be happy if some of the strongest riders ride my favorite gt but ugh this really feels like another year of resignation and everyone agreeing to Froome winning his fifth tour. I mean who are gonna be froome's main rivals? A guy coming from the giro, his own teammate and some underachieving Movistar climber? Even Yates might go to the giro which leaves us with Roglic as probably the most dangerous man and although I like Roglic, there still are higher caliber gc riders than him

Edit: I forgot about Porte but then again, well, he's Porte

That leaves Porte, Quintana, Pinot and Bardet as the only ones I'm aware of that are targeting the Tour to go after Froome. The other two Movistar riders are talking about the Giro. Valverde wants the Giro/Vuelta double and Landa the Giro/Tour double.

 

[Red Rick]

I can't imagine all those names going after the Giro, especially all the ones who were vaguely alluding to the Giro before the routes came out.

 

[May0maniac]

Respect to Dumoulin and the Team for sending him to the Giro. Of course having a sprinter who can win stages at the Tour also makes things a bit easier for them.
Dumoulin, Nibali, Bernal, Zakarin, MAL, Roglic and/or Kru, Landa or Valverde (probably with Carapaz) and maybe Simon Yates (?), that's a strong field of contenders fighting for the podium spots. If the new coaches, ds and doctores will do their work well we might even get the Astana version of Aru.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Not even mad. The course was made for him. The attempt worked. Well done Giro organisers. Another year where the Giro will be more interesting than the Tour

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well its ASO's own fault. Nice decision by Tom

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Well its ASO's own fault. Nice decision by Tom

They'll have Bardet 3rd in a Tour with Louis Meintjes in the top 6 or some *** like that and therefor they will conclude that the Tour was a resounding success.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Well its ASO's own fault. Nice decision by Tom

They'll have Bardet 3rd in a Tour with Louis Meintjes in the top 6 or some **** like that and therefor they will conclude that the Tour was a resounding success.

Well at least its better than 2017.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Well its ASO's own fault. Nice decision by Tom

They'll have Bardet 3rd in a Tour with Louis Meintjes in the top 6 or some **** like that and therefor they will conclude that the Tour was a resounding success.

Well at least its better than 2017.

If Valverde hadn't crashed on the opening stage, you wouldn't have complained about that route

 

[Valv.Piti]

A nice evening at your parents house just relaxing and surfing through CNs forum just turned into my worst nightmare again. Please dont remind me of that shitty day again (Im actually serious, I would really prefer not to talk about that ever again).

 

[Koronin]

Re:

A nice evening at your parents house just relaxing and surfing through CNs forum just turned into my worst nightmare again. Please dont remind me of that ****** day again (Im actually serious, I would really prefer not to talk about that ever again).

After that I didn't bother with the rest of that Tour. That day was a nightmare.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hahaha, nah, *** that. I had actually forgotten everything about it, but I just remembered he won in Innsbruck, so its not that bad.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Hahaha, nah, **** that. I had actually forgotten everything about it, but I just remembered he won in Innsbruck, so its not that bad.

He came back and proved he was as good as before and finally got that elusive World Championship. Now he's talking about racing through 2021.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Most GC guys should go fairly well in the three ITTs, IMO, so I'm not sure if this is a great idea

 

[Red Rick]

It's a pretty great idea, seeing as the gap between 'fairly well' and 'Tom Dumoulin' in hilly ITTs is minutes.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Hahaha, nah, **** that. I had actually forgotten everything about it, but I just remembered he won in Innsbruck, so its not that bad.

That's some pretty worrying signs of dementia :surprised:

The same thing happened 11 years previously, though. And that time he was actually considered the favourite when the Tour began by other people than his fans.

 

[Red Rick]

That's selective memory and it's perfectly healthy.

2017 Tour never happened. I agree with that. Similar to the 2011 Tour de Suisse.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

It's a pretty great idea, seeing as the gap between 'fairly well' and 'Tom Dumoulin' in hilly ITTs is minutes.

Yeah, but in actuality it's a climbers' course. The key mountain stages are insanely hard ... definitely the hardest mountain stage block since I got into cycling. The rest of the course is almost an afterthought.

You have a couple up and coming climbers who will likely have improved over last year. Bernal, Mas. Wheel sucker Lopez probably won't bring it, but if Yates can hold it together for a whole GT... who TF knows. One of those three guys could be a real problem.

Dumoulin should have focused on the Tour, as he could have done the last time around. The season after that it's the Olympics. Another excuse not to focus on the race sponsors think is by far the most important.

It seems to me that Dumoulin doesn't yet have what it takes to focus his season on the Tour, and deal with the insane (media) pressure that goes along with it. We all know that's his main weakness.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

It's a pretty great idea, seeing as the gap between 'fairly well' and 'Tom Dumoulin' in hilly ITTs is minutes.

Yeah, but in actuality it's a climbers' course. The key mountain stages are insanely hard ... definitely the hardest mountain stage block since I got into cycling. The rest of the course is almost an afterthought.

You have a couple up and coming climbers who will likely have improved over last year. Bernal, Mas. Wheel sucker Lopez probably won't bring it, but if Yates can hold it together for a whole GT... who TF knows. One of those three guys could be a real problem.

Dumoulin should have focused on the Tour, as he could have done the last time around. The season after that it's the Olympics. Another excuse not to focus on the race sponsors think is by far the most important.

It seems to me that Dumoulin doesn't yet have what it takes to focus his season on the Tour, and deal with the insane (media) pressure that goes along with it. We all know that's his main weakness.

He seemed to handle the pressure fine during the Tour.

This is a rational decision. He knows this route is much, much better for him. If neither Thomas nor Froome races takes 2 min + out of everyone in the ITTs. It's gonna take a monstrous effort to take it back.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re: Re:

He seemed to handle the pressure fine during the Tour.

I'm talking media pressure mostly. He already had another Giro podium in the bag. It's not the same thing.

This is a rational decision. He knows this route is much, much better for him. If neither Thomas nor Froome races takes 2 min + out of everyone in the ITTs. It's gonna take a monstrous effort to take it back.

Maybe not. The Gavia / Mortirolo stage alone should be good enough to make up most of that gap, IMO. That stage is the hardest in recent and not so recent GT history.

The most consistent climber will win this race.