Tour of Oman - Muscat Classic 2025 , February 7-12

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Ben is an excellent rider but Valentin is younger with a lot more scope to improve. He'd be a French leader on a French team and for me their best (albeit tiny) chance at the next French TDF winner as it stands.

VPP has 0 chance to be a Tour winner.
Riders such as VPP rarely fight for anything more than a minor top 10 or stage wins. Of course BOC is the bigger lose. It's unlikely VPP finishes in a GT ever, let alone podium.
 
Again? When has he done better? This seems to be Uijtdebroeks' level, he can keep grinding a decent pace but he can't follow accelerations and he has no sprint. His strength seems to be his endurance, but in the Tour of Oman that part isn't really tested.
well he says he can go back to the limit :
 
well he says he can go back to the limit :
I expected a bit more from him to be honest. Top 10 in Tirreno is realistic, but was hoping he would ride top 5 or podium which I don't see happening at the moment.
 
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Cian 51 seconds down in this kind of stage finish. I thought this type of stage will suit him better then the finish on monday, but he performed worse. Still a long way to go for him if he wants to be competitive in stage races again.
Cian ujtedbrockes has only finished higher than 5th overall in a pro stage race once before - the 2022 Sibiu tour (3rd on GC)

This week's performance is about as competitive in stage races as he has ever been. He is at his normal level
 
Watched that again, it's like they got the 30 worst sprinters in the peloton and a couple of guys like Ulissi and Flynn who fall into the category of 'I dunno I'll have a crack I suppose', the end result being 3 unforced crashes. It's like when Contador used to sprint in the drops at 500 watts like he was going up Angliru.

What it did answer was the age-old question of 'is Valentin Paret-Peintre fast?' We can now use this stage as a reference point when he finds himself in a small group at the end of a huge mountain stage.

vpp.jpeg


The Muscat Classic never lies.
 
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