Tour de France 2024 - The battle of the big 4

[GenericBoonenFan]

Yes, and I have not seen anyone winning a Grand Tour by 10 minutes while looking like he was just on a training camp.

'06 Ivan Basso

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Why does no one think Vingo will be at the Tour this year? The noises coming out of Visma seem quite encouraging that he will be?

Because the timeline of his recovery plus the severeness of his injury he is recovering from (punctured lung for example) make it seem very unlikely that he'll be in form to compete, if he starts at all.

 

[Elos Anjos]

Because the timeline of his recovery plus the severeness of his injury he is recovering from (punctured lung for example) make it seem very unlikely that he'll be in form to compete, if he starts at all.

That or the cycling world is in for a wild trip where a Vingo will be back from the dead just with the power of love.

 

[cellardoor]

'06 Ivan Basso

At least Basso had the common decency to descend poorly.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

At least Basso had the common decency to descend poorly.

Which would make his win even more impressive no?

 

[CyclistAbi]

Vuelta 2023 Roglic was the real Roglic

La Vuelta 2019 Roglič.

La Vuelta 2020 Roglič.

La Vuelta 2021 Roglič.

I feel it's safe to say this are the real Rogličes. As for Vuelta 2022 and 2023 i am not sure about that one. Those two Rogličes look a bit different. This one looks similar though:

Il Giro 2023 Roglič.

 

[CyclistAbi]

So basically Rogla winning Tour 2024 would mean leapfrogging goats. Rogla in natural habitat:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WPXUG5Nmo

 

[Berniece]

La Vuelta 2019 Roglič.

La Vuelta 2020 Roglič.

La Vuelta 2021 Roglič.

I feel it's safe to say this are the real Rogličes. As for Vuelta 2022 and 2023 i am not sure about that one. Those two Rogličes look a bit different. This one looks similar though:

Il Giro 2023 Roglič.

The Roberto Heras of his generation

 

[Froome]

The Roberto Heras of his generation

Or Tony Rominger.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Or Tony Rominger.

Rominger:
3 Vueltas
1 Giro
1 TdF runner up
9 big one-week races
1 big TT feat (hour record)
2 monuments

Roglic:
3 Vueltas
1 Giro
1 TdF runner up
9 big one-week races
1 big TT feat (Olympic Gold)
1 monument

Rogla needs one more monument to make it a perfect draw.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Can't wait for Simon Yates to smoke all these clowns

 

[Blanco]

Can't wait for Simon Yates to smoke all these clowns

They should be shitting themselves!

 

[Elos Anjos]

La Vuelta 2019 Roglič.

La Vuelta 2020 Roglič.

La Vuelta 2021 Roglič.

I feel it's safe to say this are the real Rogličes. As for Vuelta 2022 and 2023 i am not sure about that one. Those two Rogličes look a bit different. This one looks similar though:

Il Giro 2023 Roglič.

Vuelta 2019 Roglic crashed on Giro 2019.
Vuelta 2020 Roglic crashed on Dauphine 2020.
Vuelta 2021 Roglic crashed on Tour 2021.

Vuelta 2023 Roglic is thus more real for me because that's the Roglic that after crashing out of Vuelta 2022 and Tour 2022 he had to face how the field changed again so quickly. His former wins were being washed either in the "wheelsucking" department or the "weak field" university of cycling, together with the "he is too old" to win GTs project.

Vuelta 2023 Roglic was the sleeping phoenix that after being pushed to a Giro that he won against all odds and that he won after a crash in one of the most memorable stages counter PDBF 2020 where he was on the opposite side. There's no script like this in modern cycling.

So in Angliru 2023 he showed the world and his own team that he was as good as their designated rider for the Tour and its winner and he showed he was there to win first and foremost like the warrior he is. Only his fans could read between the lines what was going on.

 

[Froome]

Vuelta 2019 Roglic crashed on Giro 2019.
Vuelta 2020 Roglic crashed on Dauphine 2020.
Vuelta 2021 Roglic crashed on Tour 2021.

Vuelta 2023 Roglic is thus more real for me because that's the Roglic that after crashing out of Vuelta 2022 and Tour 2022 he had to face how the field changed again so quickly. His former wins were being washed either in the "wheelsucking" department or the "weak field" university of cycling, together with the "he is too old" to win GTs project.

Vuelta 2023 Roglic was the sleeping phoenix that after being pushed to a Giro that he won against all odds and that he won after a crash in one of the most memorable stages counter PDBF 2020 where he was on the opposite side. There's no script like this in modern cycling.

So in Angliru 2023 he showed the world and his own team that he was as good as their designated rider for the Tour and its winner and he showed he was there to win first and foremost like the warrior he is. Only his fans could read between the lines what was going on.

""I knew that one day he would be the one. I knew that he could possibly win the Tour, and now he has won it two times,” Roglič told Rouleur".

 

[Elos Anjos]

""I knew that one day he would be the one. I knew that he could possibly win the Tour, and now he has won it two times,” Roglič told Rouleur".

What has this to do with the post?

 

[Froome]

What has this to do with the post?

"So in Angliru 2023 he showed the world and his own team that he was as good as their designated rider for the Tour".

This is not correct. Roglic admitted it.
Visma staff thinks the same and the results in the Tour speaks for themselves.

 

[Elos Anjos]

"So in Angliru 2023 he showed the world and his own team that he was as good as their designated rider for the Tour".

This is not correct. Roglic admitted it.
Visma staff thinks the same and the results in the Tour speaks for themselves.

So you pick a random quote out of the blue with no context whatsoever and compare it to my statement about the Vuelta 2023. That's the GT when Roglic only lost time to the fishmonger in a stage when he was supposed to be the one attacking.

And that while I was addressing the Angliru stage where they were as good as the other.

[content deleted]

 

[Froome]

So you pick a random quote out of the blue with no context whatsoever and compare it to my statement about the Vuelta 2023. That's the GT when Roglic only lost time to the fishmonger in a stage when he was supposed to be the one attacking.

And that while I was addressing the Angliru stage where they were as good as the other.

You better start making sense.

This is not a random quote. The interview is on "Rouler" and is not out of context. He was speaking about Vingegaard.

There's no indications that Roglic is at the level of Vingegaard, even Roglic fans in general already admitted that Roglic is not at the level of Pogacar and Vingegaard in Grand Tours, but of course it doesn't mean Roglic can't win the Tour, because bad luck sometimes happens, and it just takes one or two crashes to change the situation.

Visma knows very well who is the strongest of the two. For some reason they let Roglic go, and they stayed with Vingegaard. For some reason they choose Vingegaard instead of Roglic for the Tour 2023 because they knew/said they had the data who let them confident he could beat Pogacar, and of course, they knew they had more chances with Vingegaard instead of Roglic to win the Tour. Unless you think Heijboer doesn't understand nothing of data.

You just need to look at the perfomances in the previous Tours. Vingegaard absolutely annihilated Pogacar in the Time Trial.

Roglic lost the Tour in the Time trial to Pogacar.


Are you really serious talking about the Vuelta 2023?! Vingegaard had the the Tour de France in the legs, he was sick in the first week, and he stayed in Denmark between the Tour and Vuelta. He didn't made a good preparation like Roglic.

Roglic was in altitude training camps, did a perfect preparation, and yet he never could drop Vingegaard, not even on Jalavambre or Angliru.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Why does no one think Vingo will be at the Tour this year? The noises coming out of Visma seem quite encouraging that he will be?

Cause he had a bad accident that takes a long time to heal that directly hampers his ability to train at altitude.

 

[BigCoward]

The problem as i see it for Vingegaard is he needs pog to be shattered in week 3,
However he can't get his team to push too much in the first 2 weeks as he likely won't be in top form Himself then.

 

[AmRacer]

The problem as i see it for Vingegaard is he needs pog to be shattered in week 3,
However he can't get his team to push too much in the first 2 weeks as he likely won't be in top form Himself then.

But there are three other teams which will push hard from stage 1.

 

[Kwaremonster]

After that Giro I'm really looking forward to this. There are questionmarks surrounding all 4. Poggi right now the favourite but I hope the Giro took something out of him plus hopefully he has to deal with a dysfunctional team. Vingegaard, I hope he will get in shape but not be the monster that he was last year, Roglic and Evenepoel I can hope they can shut up the doubters a bit. I don't care much who wins, maybe a new winner would be nice, but I mainly hope for a battle.

Am I setting myself up for a froom-contador-nibali style dissapointment: probably.

 

[fbjim]

Is it true that no former TDF winner has ever lost the Tour de France "on the road", and come back to win it later?

I still don't know if I buy Pogacar here. The competition will be better, and Vingegaard has still only shown moments of weakness.

 

[SHAD0W93]

But there are three other teams which will push hard from stage 1.

I see one team, UAE.

 

[SHAD0W93]

To make things more interesting I hope all the lieutenants are at their best with the Big 4. If so things could get very exciting with any of; Pogacar, Ayuso, Adam, Almeida, Roglic, Hindley, Vlasov, Vingegaard, Kuss, Matteo, Evenepoel, Landa, or Van Wilder attacking and forming a winning move for a teammate. Even better is all the Big 4 aren’t afraid to try a flier if they feel like it might work.