Tour de Suisse 2024, June 9 - 16

[Unchained]

These last races have team directors wearing adult diapers to bed. TDF will see teams covering, working way way harder someone who is nobody, not on the radar , is not a threat will get a little more respect. Lots of riders have shown some ability. 3 weeks worth? I don't know but neither does anyone else..
Hell I am still waiting for Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal or Roman Kreuziger to completely bloom!! Was told by cycling media, they were next big thing!! Right on the edge of greatness!!!

 

[SHAD0W93]

These last races have team directors wearing adult diapers to bed. TDF will see teams covering, working way way harder someone who is nobody, not on the radar , is not a threat will get a little more respect. Lots of riders have shown some ability. 3 weeks worth? I don't know but neither does anyone else..
Hell I am still waiting for Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal or Roman Kreuziger to completely bloom!! Was told by cycling media, they were next big thing!! Right on the edge of greatness!!!

Don’t forget TJVG, Löfkvist, Gerdemann, M. Fothen, Devolder (small amount), TGBM, Kruijswijk, or JVDB among others. At least Hesjedal won a GT.

 

[Escarabajo]

These last races have team directors wearing adult diapers to bed. TDF will see teams covering, working way way harder someone who is nobody, not on the radar , is not a threat will get a little more respect. Lots of riders have shown some ability. 3 weeks worth? I don't know but neither does anyone else..
Hell I am still waiting for Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal or Roman Kreuziger to completely bloom!! Was told by cycling media, they were next big thing!! Right on the edge of greatness!!!

I am still waiting for Edvald Boasson Hagen to be the next Merckx.

 

[Unchained]

I am still waiting for Edvald Boasson Hagen to be the next Merckx.

That makes me hurt a little..* *don't take this out of context, literally,** powers and the rider himself, have decided that Mathieu van red Poel has a schedule that is robust enough to keep him winning, marketable and wearing rainbow for reasons other than pride month!! I always, still do think if EBH would have had more direction to more being less, he would not have been a stage race winner.. I see Dekenkolb,Costa and a few other guys still able to make the crunch in one day races.. Boasson Hagen has always had juice, just needed to be put on quality not quality path that MvdP.is realizing!!
Edvald is a great f-cking bike racer!!

 

[CyclistAbi]

I didn't follow this race closely, only looked at the results. Is Almeida happy with such outcome in regards to GC? I have a feeling that is not the case.

UAE will make carnage on the Galibier climb: not saying differences will be huge but I wouldn't be surprised if Pog is able to gain 40-60 seconds over his closest rivals there.

Rogla is very fond of Galibier and no way he is shifting that much time against Pogi or anybody else, if any.

Wilco will be like the fourth/fifth guy, if he goes to the Tour. He is in enough shape to get the job done.

It's not like adam yates or Almeida showed a better level than Jorgenson in the Tour. Kuss was sick, but he will be again the best super domestique in the world if necessary on the last week.

What we can conclude is that, Emirates, Bora and Visma have super good domestiques for the Tour, who can make the race hard or doing a trap to the rival teams(just like Kuss in the Vuelta). They have a lot of firepower.

But in the end, the winner of the Tour will be like always the most strong leader.

I agree that Kuss will pull through if there will be something left to pull through for. As for diminishing the importance of the team, for this Tour edition, in my opinion teams, especially Bora and UAE will play an important role, determining the overall winner.

Now that Suisse is over we can compare it with Dauphine. In my opinion this year (unlike previous years) Suisse was the higher level race. Almeida and Yates would have smashed Rogla and Jorgenson. In the top 10 of Suisse we got 10 lightweight climbers and not a Canadian rouleur and a Spanish flat domestique like in the Dauphine.
What do you guys think?

Rogla would likely still have won.

No it is not, lmao??? XD

Suisse climbing level was obviousy higher, even my deaf, blind and numb grandma can tell you that.

Your grandma, being deaf, blind and numb, still she is not dumb, listen to what she is saying to you. Dauphiné level was higher.

P.S. This years ToS served mostly as exhibition rides for Pogi Tour team members. And likely in the end relationship was tainted a bit as a result.

 

[noob]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aMke9EXwpVg


He looks genuinely content. Glowing. I won't buy into the idea of a strong rivalry between him and Yates. Almeida biggest rival is always Almeida.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Well, Almeida didn't win the GC, although he said he pushed the biggest numbers ever. On top of that he was beaten by Yates. a riders that is pretty open about being happy to work for Pogi. So if Almeida is genuinely content, then he likely already gave up on (future) GC ambitions.

 

[Froome]

Well, Almeida didn't win the GC, although he said he pushed the biggest numbers ever. On top of that he was beaten by Yates. a riders that is pretty open about being happy to work for Pogi. So if Almeida is genuinely content, then he likely already gave up on (future) GC ambitions.

At emirates he will always have few opportunities in the near future, but he knew that when he choosed emirates to be his new team.

Like we saw in Tour de Suisse, the team choosed Yates to be the main leader, obviously he is also behind Pogacar, and Ayuso will be more protected( also because of Matxin) in the future.

There is also Del Toro and other young guys for the future, who will also made it very hard for Almeida there.

The money certainly played an important role on his decision when he left Quick step, and it's a fair option. He should take care of his life. I wish him the best outside of cycling, he looks to be a humble and honest guy.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1799123122223800828

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1799123122223800828

https://twitter.com/x/status/1801298479807139884

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1801298479807139884

Both barely above Widar w/kg in Baby Giro lol.

 

[Rackham]

Roglič is a last km sniper.

His numbers really don't tell the whole story because his climbing speeds are pretty much always determined by the speed of his main rivals/or teammates. Aka if they go harder & faster, so does Rog. That's his unique skillset FYI.

The same conversations happen every year & every race (aka "look how low his numbers are!")... until he pulls a Lo Port or Angliru out of the hat.

I mean at some point, sure, he'll be old & past his best (age catches up with everyone), but I do remember all the cycling hipster influencers throwing Ayuso's numbers around during the Vuelta last year whilst claiming he'd demolish Rog in the third week.

 

[CyclistAbi]

So would Yates and Almeida from ToS drop Vlasov from Dauphiné?

 

[Berniece]

So would Yates and Almeida from ToS drop Vlasov from Dauphiné?

Yes, easily

 

[CyclistAbi]

Yes, easily

I see that hype is very strong ATM, Galibier should tell us if it was all real.

 

[Berniece]

I see that hype is very strong ATM, Galibier should tell us if it was all real.

I would be hoping on the 3rd week if I was you. Galibier will be mostly UAE.

 

[shadowrider]

I don't think stage are 4 hard enough to make big differences. Sestrieres, montgenevre and Galiber are not that steep.

Probably stage 11... yeah is a bit hard, with some steep climbs in the end.

Pogacar doesn't need very steep climbs to make the difference. Overall, the Galibier is a difficult climb. Pogacar, actually the strongest and best in shape, has to attack in the Galibier. Because he has to make the (important) difference during the first half of the Tour. Later, Pogacar risks to fade a bit especially the last week. So, my prediction. UAE will try to destroy most domestiques and even a few subtop-riders during the first part of the Galibier. Pogacar will attack quite EARLY in the climb, in order to make the difference. He will try to gain almost a minute to be able to resist his last opponents during the descent and last flat section before the finish.

 

[shadowrider]

No it is not, lmao??? XD

Suisse climbing level was obviousy higher, even my deaf, blind and numb grandma can tell you that.

Your grandma could. But tell us why the Suisse climbing level was higher than the Dauphiné level. I couldn't deduce that from anything. Roglic is still a stronger rider/climber than Yates and Almeida. He would also have won the semi climbing TT. Jorgenson and Rodriguez are at least as strong as Yates/Almeida. So ?

 

[shadowrider]

These posts are going to be priceless when the outcome is so obvious and predetermined to many.
Glad I didn't have money on all the injured lame race horses that ended up in the hospital after Basque country accident on April 4th. After seeing lots of fresh flyers I am not going to be surprised by a surprise!!Too many guys riding at a high level!! And as far as solid rehab and recovery.. Remco and Roglic still falling off their bikes. Amazing that part of the solid make up of UAE is not crashing!! And Del Toro fell off 2 times in 8 stages... He is not going to the TDF!!

Don't forget the crash of Ayuso...

 

[shadowrider]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aMke9EXwpVg


He looks genuinely content. Glowing. I won't buy into the idea of a strong rivalry between him and Yates. Almeida biggest rival is always Almeida.

Well, we saw the same when Kuss took the lead by accident during the Vuelta. Vingegaard and Roglic were "happy" at first. A bit less a few days later. Trying to attack their "new" leader later on. Rejected by the team boss. Roglic seemed to have a toothache on the podium..... to leave the team a few weeks later.
So, let's see what will happen during the Tour. Especially if Pogacar would fade or even would have a crash down during the last week.

 

[Froome]

Well, we saw the same when Kuss took the lead by accident during the Vuelta. Vingegaard and Roglic were "happy" at first. A bit less a few days later. Trying to attack their "new" leader later on. Rejected by the team boss. Roglic seemed to have a toothache on the podium..... to leave the team a few weeks later.
So, let's see what will happen during the Tour. Especially if Pogacar would fade or even would have a crash down during the last week.

Roglic made the decision to leave the team already before the Vuelta. I think he said that in a interview.

 

[Andre]

Good race by Lecerf. Only 20 riders had a better time. 21st in final standings

 

[CyclistAbi]

I would be hoping on the 3rd week if I was you. Galibier will be mostly UAE.

If the hype is real, Rogla and Bora being so much behind Pogi and UAE, as some of you seem to suggest, then there won't be week three or hope, then the race will already be decided on Galibier. Now what i find much more likely to happen is, Rogla and Bora to be just fine, but there indeed could be some issues already involved, for some other pre-race favourites and their respective teams.

 

[Berniece]

If the hype is real, Rogla and Bora being so much behind Pogi and UAE, as some of you seem to suggest, then there won't be week three or hope, then the race will already be decided on Galibier. Now what i find much more likely to happen is, Rogla and Bora to be just fine, but there indeed could be some issues already involved, for some other pre-race favourites and their respective teams.

I don't believe a GT can be decided on a single stage, definitely not this one. Even if Pogacar would take 2min on everyone, I wouldn't say the race is over.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I don't believe a GT can be decided on a single stage, definitely not this one. Even if Pogacar would take 2min on everyone, I wouldn't say the race is over.

Obviously the race ends at the finish line in Nice, said that if Pogi would to take 2 minutes on Galibier, i don't know what else would people tend to expect. Still, good luck with that. If UAE would really be that far ahead, they would send Yates and Almeida to Dauphiné, rather then doing an exhibition ride at ToS.

But OK, not to take anything away from Yates and Almeida. UAE can still finish top 3 GC at the Tour 2024, as the current narrative goes, it's totally up to them and lets see on how that goes.

 

[Slavique Nuke]

At emirates he will always have few opportunities in the near future, but he knew that when he choosed emirates to be his new team.

Like we saw in Tour de Suisse, the team choosed Yates to be the main leader, obviously he is also behind Pogacar, and Ayuso will be more protected( also because of Matxin) in the future.

There is also Del Toro and other young guys for the future, who will also made it very hard for Almeida there.

The money certainly played an important role on his decision when he left Quick step, and it's a fair option. He should take care of his life. I wish him the best outside of cycling, he looks to be a humble and honest guy.

With UAE, he has been team leader on three GTs and several major stage-races. Whereas at QS he had to work for Remco even when he was much stronger than him. There is no doubt that the UAE are financially better off, but it has also been a step forward for him from a sporting point of view.

As for the Tour, I think the riders are much more content with their role when they have to help someone like Pogacar, who is very likely to fight for the top spot...

 

[SHAD0W93]

Obviously the race ends at the finish line in Nice, said that if Pogi would to take 2 minutes on Galibier, i don't know what else would people tend to expect. Still, good luck with that. If UAE would really be that far ahead, they would send Yates and Almeida to Dauphiné, rather then doing an exhibition ride at ToS.

But OK, not to take anything away from Yates and Almeida. UAE can still finish top 3 GC at the Tour 2024, as the current narrative goes, it's totally up to them and lets see on how that goes.

Why send Adam and Almeida along with Ayuso to CdD. UAE are trying to win as much as possible.