Tour de la Provence 2022 (February 10-13)

[JosefK]

Wins in 2022

Quintana: 2

Masnada: 1

Van Aert: 0
Pogacar: 0
Van der Poel: 0
Roglic: 0

That confirms it! Pogacar is washed up. Time to retire!

 

[Nirvana]

Quintana had this race won from day 2 - He looked in tip top shape from the beginning of the race - Surely, Quintana rides the Giro.

No, Tour for stages and Vuelta (likely) for GC, he already said that multiple times.
Arkea probably won't even go to the Giro.

 

[RedheadDane]

Arkea probably won't even go to the Giro.

They will.
They got the spot left over by Qhubeka.

 

[Nirvana]

They will.
They got the spot left over by Qhubeka.

They only have the right to go but they can refuse, and 99% they are going to refuse.

 

[RedheadDane]

They only have the right to go but they can refuse, and 99% they are going to refuse.

This doesn't imply they'll refuse (article is from December 6th, and now we of course know they've gotten the invite):

Barguil and Arkéa-Samsic hope for Giro d'Italia wildcard in 2022 | Cyclingnews

Warren Barguil plans to ride the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in 2022 if his Arkéa-Samsic squad manages to secure wildcard invitations to both races. The Frenchman has won stages at the Tour and the Vuelta a España during his career but he has never competed at the Giro.

The Breton now has sights trained on completing a full set of Grand Tour stage wins at the Giro.

“I’ve already won on the other Grand Tours, so I’d really like to complete my collection,” Barguil said.

 

[BlueRoads]

I think Ala was pretty good overall. Didn't win anything, but always up there, whether tt, sprint or climbing, and second overall, for a first race of the season where he didn't expect to be at his best that was rather encouraging.

 

[yaco]

They only have the right to go but they can refuse, and 99% they are going to refuse.

Arkea are on the start list for the Giro - I'd get Quintana to ride for GC at the Giro in which he would be a chance for a podium, which is much better than he would get at the TDF.

 

[Salvarani]

They only have the right to go but they can refuse, and 99% they are going to refuse.

Why would they do that?

Dont Arkea have an ambition to go into the WT? Would be a great opportunity to pick up points for them.

 

[Escarabajo]

It would be weird that after fighting so much to get to the Giro in previous year now they will refuse. They have enough riders with motivation to go to the Giro. They can't take all to the Tour and I am sure some of them will be delighted to do a good performance and pursue stage hunting.

 

[Nirvana]

This doesn't imply they'll refuse (article is from December 6th, and now we of course know they've gotten the invite):

Barguil and Arkéa-Samsic hope for Giro d'Italia wildcard in 2022 | Cyclingnews

That's from this evening and basically confirms they are refusing the invite.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/cyclisme/arkea-samsic/cyclisme-arkea-samsic-decline-le-giro-et-disputera-le-tour-de-france-ainsi-que-la-vuelta-3752f770-8d47-11ec-a6c9-d7629bbac447?fbclid=IwAR2LTMhYyj8UqXqORetCjGin7Wx0Q6xoCsSCjuHiYgNdZbQPhPrc7AGI5DM

 

[Nirvana]

Arkea are on the start list for the Giro - I'd get Quintana to ride for GC at the Giro in which he would be a chance for a podium, which is much better than he would get at the TDF.

He's going stage hunting at the Tour, he repeated that even yesterday in the post race interview, then at the Vuelta for the GC.

 

[tobydawq]

That's from this evening and basically confirms they are refusing the invite.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/cyclisme/arkea-samsic/cyclisme-arkea-samsic-decline-le-giro-et-disputera-le-tour-de-france-ainsi-que-la-vuelta-3752f770-8d47-11ec-a6c9-d7629bbac447?fbclid=IwAR2LTMhYyj8UqXqORetCjGin7Wx0Q6xoCsSCjuHiYgNdZbQPhPrc7AGI5DM

Lame. They have a 30-rider roster... This doesn't make much sense for me.

 

[RedheadDane]

That's from this evening and basically confirms they are refusing the invite.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/cyclisme/arkea-samsic/cyclisme-arkea-samsic-decline-le-giro-et-disputera-le-tour-de-france-ainsi-que-la-vuelta-3752f770-8d47-11ec-a6c9-d7629bbac447?fbclid=IwAR2LTMhYyj8UqXqORetCjGin7Wx0Q6xoCsSCjuHiYgNdZbQPhPrc7AGI5DM

That's weird. Especially since one of their biggest stars already expressed interest in going.

 

[Samamba]

Obvious reason here is that they want to send good riders to races like Morbihan, Bro Leon, Mercan'Tour and other Coupe de France races which give them free UCI points because every other good team is focussing on the Giro.

Fighting for that WT license by going to a lot of high points races without a stacked field is one thing, skipping a GT to do it is just pathetic imo. Like why do you want that WT license then?

Just sad cause they have a good enough team to send a pretty strong line up to all GTs.

 

[Escarabajo]

That's from this evening and basically confirms they are refusing the invite.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/cyclisme/arkea-samsic/cyclisme-arkea-samsic-decline-le-giro-et-disputera-le-tour-de-france-ainsi-que-la-vuelta-3752f770-8d47-11ec-a6c9-d7629bbac447?fbclid=IwAR2LTMhYyj8UqXqORetCjGin7Wx0Q6xoCsSCjuHiYgNdZbQPhPrc7AGI5DM

Just a short while ago they were asking the Giro Director for an invite. Now they are refusing it?

 

[Sciatic]

Obvious reason here is that they want to send good riders to races like Morbihan, Bro Leon, Mercan'Tour and other Coupe de France races which give them free UCI points because every other good team is focussing on the Giro.

Fighting for that WT license by going to a lot of high points races without a stacked field is one thing, skipping a GT to do it is just pathetic imo. Like why do you want that WT license then?

Just sad cause they have a good enough team to send a pretty strong line up to all GTs.

Yup, and disappointing for us as fans.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just a short while ago they were asking the Giro Director for an invite. Now they are refusing it?

I suppose it could have been the Giro Director who'd asked them to refuse, in order to leave more room for Italian teams.

Should we make an Arkea Samsic thread?

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Obvious reason here is that they want to send good riders to races like Morbihan, Bro Leon, Mercan'Tour and other Coupe de France races which give them free UCI points because every other good team is focussing on the Giro.

Fighting for that WT license by going to a lot of high points races without a stacked field is one thing, skipping a GT to do it is just pathetic imo. Like why do you want that WT license then?

Just sad cause they have a good enough team to send a pretty strong line up to all GTs.

I’m sure they would love to do all 3, but the problem is how horrible UCI points system is.They would decimate their lineups to get more points to get their World Tour license.This is such an ignorant comment, as clearly one year of going all in on grand tours is not as good as 3 years of doing the same with a better lineup.

 

[Escarabajo]

I suppose it could have been the Giro Director who'd asked them to refuse, in order to leave more room for Italian teams.

Should we make an Arkea Samsic thread?

There was one!

Team Arkéa-B&B Hotels

Couldn't find a thread for the team (apart from in that other place), but they've announced their 2021 TDF lineup with the cover-all-bases combination of Quintana, Bouhanni and Barguil. They have named a squad to fight on a number of fronts, with Elie Gesbert able to complement the three...

forum.cyclingnews.com

 

[Netserk]

Obvious reason here is that they want to send good riders to races like Morbihan, Bro Leon, Mercan'Tour and other Coupe de France races which give them free UCI points because every other good team is focussing on the Giro.

Fighting for that WT license by going to a lot of high points races without a stacked field is one thing, skipping a GT to do it is just pathetic imo. Like why do you want that WT license then?

Just sad cause they have a good enough team to send a pretty strong line up to all GTs.

I think it's great. And good of them to pull out so another team can participate instead. It makes the guaranteed invites a bit more palatable.