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What?
That I think 21-day bicycle races are supposed to be about racing for 21 days with no down time, like the 24h du Mans, and Salvarani thinks 21-day bicycle races are ok if they're about riding bikes for 21 days with set, specified points designated for racing and set points that aren't, like the Dakar Rally, and we fundamentally disagree on this point.What?
Aru attacked simply because he canIf you watch it maybe you can come up with a plausible answer for two unexplained things that happened today. First, an attack by Aru on Lusette and second a sprint to the line by Alaphilippe from a group of about 30 comprising all the favorites for the fifth place. I will not disclose the outcome of both events.
Bicycles are machines.Comparing machines to humans. What a great leg to stand on.
Comparing racing formats, not vehicles. Come on, you're smarter than to play that card to score points.Comparing machines to humans. What a great leg to stand on.
Comparing racing formats, not vehicles. Come on, you're smarter than to play that card to score points.
I actually don't think Roglic will be able to follow when they hit the two big summit finishesOr maybe Roglic just wasn't feeling great today either and this whole stage was big bluff (including Kuss/Dumoulin interviews) to keep opportunists out of attacking.
Boy did I miss Froome today.Interesting line of argumentation
Anyway I have found the problem with today's stage
They do know we exist.Definitely no point in acting as if the riders are personally offending us by not attacking all the time. The riders don't care about us. In fact; they don't even know we exist.
They do know we exist.
I actually don't think Roglic will be able to follow when they hit the two big summit finishes
Definitely no point in acting as if the riders are personally offending us by not attacking all the time. The riders don't care about us. In fact; they don't even know we exist.
Not as individuals. Of course they know there are fans, but their job is not to make us happy.
Even as individuals.Not as individuals. Of course they know there are fans, but their job is not to make us happy.
There is a certain irony though, in that normally that point is used with regards to riders like Simon Gerrans or Louis Meintjes, who are perceived as maximising their results through negative racing. While there is some distaste for them finding success through that route, there is at least an understanding of why they do it (well, maybe we should go back in time to someone like Leipheimer rather than Meintjes, because Leipheimer's TT weapon meant he could actually use his tactics to win things, whereas Meintjes topped out at being a placement rider) because they aren't paid to entertain us, they're paid to win bike races. But that just makes Jumbo today all the more perplexing, because you would think that allowing such a slow tempo when tomorrow's stage is a flat one is a higher risk strategy - it gives up the opportunity to benefit from the bonus seconds at the top of the climb that Roglič would be favourite for, it keeps more opposition close at hand, it allows more opponents to benefit from domestiques for longer - than setting a more aggressive tempo would have been, especially perplexing when they had so much success at the Dauphiné with their tempo-setting strategy.Not as individuals. Of course they know there are fans, but their job is not to make us happy.
Even as individuals.
Oh, I love Alaphilippe and Evenepoel... cause I think they'd disagree.
Have you seen how Contador named his bike line?I doubt there are any riders out there who know that some crazy person by the name of [RedheadDane] exists (not gonna use my real name). Sure, on occasion I might have interacted with a few of them on social media, but there are so many fans an followers out there, they probably forget about it again.
Sure, there might be a few people out there who get to know riders on a semi-personal basis, but for the vast majority that's not the case.
According to some riders statements after today's stage, we keyboard warriors know nothing about racing a bike. They were all at their limit. It's just a coincidence that 30 dudes have exactly the same limit.