Tour de France Tour de France 2020

[Bonimenier]

Agreed. And I don't agree with some of the comparisons anyway. For example, Wout may be the better rider but I wouldn't rank him higher than Castro as a Tour dom.

Yes, the comparisons weren't made objective either. I'm not sure if Castroviejo is a better dom than Van Aert. They are just very different kind of doms. Castroviejo should be way better on climbs while Van Aert is clearly better on the flat.

Speaking of Van Aert... He might get a slightly more free roll now that Jansen is riding the Tour. Sam Bennett called him the favourite for green even though Jumbo said Van Aert will be there purely as a helper and this was before Kruijswijk was out.

 

[Red Rick]

Free role as in what?

Best case scenario is there's a reduced bunch sprint, Dumo and Roglic decide they're fine and WvA gets a chance to sprint for himself or something.

I see no way WvA is involved in the regular bunch kicks.

 

[spalco]

Ineos had Froome, Thomas, Bernal when they signed Carapaz. If they were also working with Sivakov/Sosa/Hart for the future. It looks less bad now, but I think Carapaz was originally supposed to have much more of a Poels/Nieve/Rosa role than a GT leader.

We'll see if he can replicate that Giro form at Ineos or do better, but if he's suddenly 2nd leader at Ineos it's more due to Ineos shitting the bed than anything else. They've also shown before they really don't mind tanking a Giro/Vuelta bid for just another domestique at the Tour.

I don't know.

I was accused of downplaying Pinot's chances, or being biased against him (not in those words), but I'm not sure why Carapaz is discounted like that.

He won his Giro pretty convincingly (imo), yeah yeah Roglic let him go etc, who knows if the other were able to follow? He has a reasonable TT, he can climb and he had to fight for everything he has. I don't think he's a favourite obviously, but I think it's slightly arrogant to think he'd allow himself to be used as a mere gregario after what he's achieved already either.
And I think he has an outside chance to surprise here.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't know.

I was accused of downplaying Pinot's chances, or being biased against him (not in those words), but I'm not sure why Carapaz is discounted like that.

He won his Giro pretty convincingly (imo), yeah yeah Roglic let him go etc, who knows if the other were able to follow? He has a reasonable TT, he can climb and he had to fight for everything he has. I don't think he's a favourite obviously, but I think it's slightly arrogant to think he'd allow himself to be used as a mere gregario after what he's achieved already either.
And I think he has an outside chance to surprise here.

I think Pinot is mostly mentioned as wishful thinking. Carapaz was the best guy in the Giro on stage 13, 14, after that he didn't really show it again but he also didn't really have to. Pinot has a longer histroy of contending in GTs imo and he showed to be a step up from before last year IMO.

I don't think Carapaz has a reasonable ITT though.

 

[Rollthedice]

I don't see Carapaz to be a contender in this Tour in any way, shape or form, he is there to help Bernal and there's no idea how his form is. He was a bad TTer, not sure if Ineos managed to change that and anyway he'll be so far down in GC by the time the TT comes that it's irrelevant. In fact, by throwing him in Le Tour, his chances to continue a succesful career in GTs are suffering a major setback in 2020. He took the money, took the risks to sign with a notoriously ruthless team so I guess he's OK now. But there's another Grand Tour winner in the peloton who took the money and in a few years can barely get a top ten in a 2.1 race.

 

[roundabout]

I think reasonable would be in terms of placement in an ITT ending on the PdBF.

In terms of time gaps, a top form Dumoulin destroys the rest Bergen style on such a profile.

 

[Lequack]

The Tour de France will expel a team from the race if two or more riders or staffers either show serious COVID-19 symptoms or test positive for the virus during the event.

Teams with two COVID-19 cases will be removed from Tour de France

ASO rolls out strict protocols to safeguard health and ensure race can go on.

www.velonews.com

 

[RedheadDane]

After we saw what JumViz had their rider do to win a sprint Stage in Poland,

Yeah... coz it was the team that instructed Groenewegen to do as he did...

 

[BlueRoads]

I did not know that's why some call them KillerBeez.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think reasonable would be in terms of placement in an ITT ending on the PdBF.

In terms of time gaps, a top form Dumoulin destroys the rest Bergen style on such a profile.

Dumoulin reconned the ITT and says he absolutely loves it and it reminds him of Bergen... said if they could draw the ideal TT it would be such one.
Then again, its also ideal for Roglic

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin reconned the ITT and says he absolutely loves it and it reminds him of Bergen... said if they could draw the ideal TT it would be such one.
Then again, its also ideal for Roglic

I wonder if they're gonna do bike switches? I'm fairly sure Dumoulin hates to do that, but the climb is simply too long not to.

Roglic did a bike switch in Bergen so I'd assume he'd do a bike switch here.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Dumoulin is very good at climbing in tt position so I'm not sure if he switches... climb is a bit longer than Bergen though so it might be worth it. Then again Roglic in Bergen only gained like 5 seconds on the climb to Dumo with the switch

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin is very good at climbing in tt position so I'm not sure if he switches... climb is a bit longer than Bergen though so it might be worth it. Then again Roglic in Bergen only gained like 5 seconds on the climb to Dumo with the switch

5 seconds in climbing time or is that after discounting the time it took to make the switch?

Anyway I'm gonna assume they've reconned that and know what they'll do.

 

[hayneplane]

Who will be Road Captain for Jumbo Visma, Martin or Gesink?

 

[Salvarani]

Roglic on FB:
"Did a little spinn yesterday. I honestly thought that I will feel better by now after the crash on saturday @criteriumdudauphine Let's see what upcomming days will bring. I am staying optimistic."

Only 9 days out this isn't good news

Maybe he still feeling a bit sore, bruised and some muscular pain. Which is normal. I think we all have experienced that after a fall a few days after still. Those sort of things usually be around for a few days/a week. Once it starts to get better though, it can go away in a day or two.

It is not an ideal preparation but not many has had that either way. He showed he was on a good track in the race that was. And it was as a precautionary measure he was taken out of the race. Had it happened in the Tour, he would have continued I believe without a doubt.

I think if he was really worried, he would not be posting about it.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

In other news. Sunweb send Cees Bol to the TDF with 1 raceday and think that's fine prep (he's sprint leader btw...) I wonder about their whole Tour plan... they didn't take Kelderman or Oomen or Matthews. Benoot left the Dauphine injured. And then there's mainly flat guys for Bol + n.roche/benoot/hirschi ..

 

[memyselfandI]

I think Jumbo is still stronger than Ineos based on the names and its riders has the better form.

Roglic >= Bernal
Dumoulin >= Carapaz
Bennett = Sivakov
Kuss > Amador
Gesink = Kwiatkowski
van Aert > Castroviejo
Tony Martin > Van Baarle
Jansen = Rowe

Ineos should switch Carapaz to Castro, give him 2nd captain role from the start, I think he's running that high. It would make interesting change of balance and probably could make more pressure against Kuss too. It would give room for Carapaz to peak towards 3rd week as he could step aside earlier for recovery mode in each stage duties, that could bring him back stonger later if Castro starts to fade what is possible.

 

[SafeBet]

In other news. Sunweb send Cees Bol to the TDF with 1 raceday and think that's fine prep (he's sprint leader btw...) I wonder about their whole Tour plan... they didn't take Kelderman or Oomen or Matthews. Benoot left the Dauphine injured. And then there's mainly flat guys for Bol + n.roche/benoot/hirschi ..

At least Hirschi looked in great shape coming out of the Dauphine. But yeah, not a sexy roster.

 

[tobydawq]

Ineos should switch Carapaz to Castro, give him 2nd captain role from the start, I think he's running that high. It would make interesting change of balance and probably could make more pressure against Kuss too. It would give room for Carapaz to peak towards 3rd week as he could step aside earlier for recovery mode in each stage duties, that could bring him back stonger later if Castro starts to fade what is possible.

Lol, what? You're joking, right?

Castroviejo (whose best GT GC result is 24th) was able to be with the best ten on one stage in the Tour de l'Ain but nowhere else, and now he should be a back-up for Bernal instead of a defending GT winner?

 

[Red Rick]

I do think Castro is underrated.

But really no WTF

 

[Zoophonic]

I don't see Carapaz to be a contender in this Tour in any way, shape or form, he is there to help Bernal and there's no idea how his form is. He was a bad TTer, not sure if Ineos managed to change that and anyway he'll be so far down in GC by the time the TT comes that it's irrelevant. In fact, by throwing him in Le Tour, his chances to continue a succesful career in GTs are suffering a major setback in 2020. He took the money, took the risks to sign with a notoriously ruthless team so I guess he's OK now. But there's another Grand Tour winner in the peloton who took the money and in a few years can barely get a top ten in a 2.1 race.

In any shape or form?? Well how about this scenario. Bernals back issue flares up in the first week. Carapaz assumes the leadership. He goes on to win. That is not beyond the realms of possibility.

 

[Gigs_98]

I think we generally shouldn't jump to conclusions too early about who will be stronger than who in the tour. Like, Kuss being great at the Dauphine doesn't mean he'll be great in the third week of the tour which is the time where he is mostly needed.
Meanwhile, Sky not looking good at the Dauphine is not a great sign, but they will surely improve, I have no doubt about that. And Kwiat, Sivakov, Carapaz, Amador and Bernal reaching top shape in the third week sounds f*cking scary. That's the reigning Tour champion, the reigning Giro champion, a monument winner and world champion, a 23 y.o. who many see as a future gt champion and who already got a gt top ten last year and a guy who once finished the Giro in 4th. Now in fairness, out of that mountain squad I find Amador clearly the least scary but then again, if Andre Amador is the weakspot of your mountain train that's a very nice weakspot to have. And I haven't even mentioned the rest of the squad who are mostly there for flat and rolling terrain but are very capable climbers themselves.

Now I don't want to say Ineos is stronger than JV, because frankly I don't think they are, but don't make the mistake of underestimating them. Really the only thing Ineos might be lacking this year is the out and out strongest rider. Aside from that they still have an insane squad.

 

[Breezy1985]

In any shape or form?? Well how about this scenario. Bernals back issue flares up in the first week. Carapaz assumes the leadership. He goes on to win. That is not beyond the realms of possibility.

More likely though if Bernal is out Ineos will be looking at damage limitations rather than a GC win

 

[Breezy1985]

I think we generally shouldn't jump to conclusions too early about who will be stronger than who in the tour. Like, Kuss being great at the Dauphine doesn't mean he'll be great in the third week of the tour which is the time where he is mostly needed.
Meanwhile, Sky not looking good at the Dauphine is not a great sign, but they will surely improve, I have no doubt about that. And Kwiat, Sivakov, Carapaz, Amador and Bernal reaching top shape in the third week sounds f*cking scary. That's the reigning Tour champion, the reigning Giro champion, a monument winner and world champion, a 23 y.o. who many see as a future gt champion and who already got a gt top ten last year and a guy who once finished the Giro in 4th. Now in fairness, out of that mountain squad I find Amador clearly the least scary but then again, if Andre Amador is the weakspot of your mountain train that's a very nice weakspot to have. And I haven't even mentioned the rest of the squad who are mostly there for flat and rolling terrain but are very capable climbers themselves.

Now I don't want to say Ineos is stronger than JV, because frankly I don't think they are, but don't make the mistake of underestimating them. Really the only thing Ineos might be lacking this year is the out and out strongest rider. Aside from that they still have an insane squad.

Sorry but if we can't discuss form based on what we have seen so far this year what is the point of even having discussions on a forum

 

[Berflamand]

Selection Bahrein-McLaren:

Bilbao
Caruso
Colbrelli
Haller
Landa
Mohoric
Poels
Valls

Most notable omission: Dylan Teuns

Teuns is extremely disappointed. He says he had back problems (seems popular these days) during Dauphiné which led to some bad results but that he had treatment and feels fine and ready now. (source: Sporza)