Tour of Poland (Tour de Pologne) August 12 to 18, 2024

[yaco]

Just a recap of today's stage - sprint or breakaway? Also restricted use of radios like yesterday's stage 3 - stage 5 will see a complete ban so guys better get used to it today.
Kooij, Merlier or Ewan, I'd pick for a sprint. Schachmann a DNS today. Breakaway? Bahrain had Bilbao at the front yesterday so maybe they might try, Paluta to try for more KOM points, Israel PT have Ackermann but maybe they'll too have a go.

The sprinters have not suffered through three days to let a sprint opportunity slip through their fingers.

 

[search]

Safety overrules everything.

in a perfect world, there may be a way to keep safety standards and improve the racing, without a DS screaming in the riders' ears 90% of the time.

 

[Rob5091]

What a bizarre stage! Why is Liv Alula Jayco riding at the front of the peleton when they should be in the break. Why is NFB acting as a rouluer when she should be resting to help Vollering in the last 2 stages.

Errr .... lots of races today, easy to get confused. This is the Poland thread ...

 

[Rob5091]

The sprinters have not suffered through three days to let a sprint opportunity slip through their fingers.

Yep, seems so. Paluta got his KOM points and then Gieryk was lone man out front.

 

[yaco]

Yep, seems so. Paluta got his KOM points and then Gieryk was lone man out front.

I am interested to see how Kooij ( who should be at the Vuelta ) performs in the final. Think he can run Merlier close if he gets a good position for the final.

 

[postmanhat]

Just trying to watch this race for the first time, and it doesn't seem to available on Discovery in The UK?

 

[yaco]

This is a super relaxed last 40kms in Poland.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Errr .... lots of races today, easy to get confused. This is the Poland thread ...

Moved it

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re radios: every rider had two way communication with race control, not with their own cars, would solve the safety issue, while removing the riding as robots syndrome. Has it never been trialled?

 

[RedheadDane]

They appear to have lost them...

 

[search]

must be recorded images now, or did the helicopter get lost as well?

 

[search]

funny that having pictures or not makes absolutely no difference for Ant McCrossan's commentary

 

[RedheadDane]

"Hmmm... some issues with live images. Less than 1 K to go. Should we swift to finish line cameras, or show the same pre-recorded loop over and over? Decisions... decisions..."

 

[Faserr]

smartphones

 

[Rob5091]

It must be those Russian hackers again ...

 

[RedheadDane]

They found the riders in the end, and Kooij won.

 

[Rob5091]

Back to the good old days when we got to see only the last 500m or so ...
Chapeau Kooij anyway & who had Bennett down for a podium spot?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I wish they had kept the camera on the guy on the balcony making bootleg copies of the finish, or at least I hope it was the race he was filming.

 

[yaco]

A convincing win by Kooij. Should be doing this at the Vuelta.

 

[Keldergoat]

A convincing win by Kooij. Should be doing this at the Vuelta.

In those, checks notes, *2* flat stages in the Vuelta? Muah, I completely get why sprinters are dodging the Vuelta like a bullet this year.

 

[joe_papp]

If Merlier gets positioned well I'll pick him any day of the week, otherwise I put my bet on Olav Kooij.

Wow. Bravo!

 

[yaco]

In those, checks notes, *2* flat stages in the Vuelta? Muah, I completely get why sprinters are dodging the Vuelta like a bullet this year.

You ride a GT to get the mileage in your legs. Kooij is a fouth year pro who has ridden exactly half of one GT in his career. Kooij can get over some hilly stuff and it is possible he could make the final of another two stages.

 

[Keldergoat]

But to ride a GT just to get the mileage in your legs he is at the wrong team. He knew when he extended his contract at Visma that the chances for a GT will always be more scarce than if he would've ridden for, let's say, EF.

 

[Keldergoat]

Wow. Bravo!

Thanks! But I mean, predicting a stagewin for Kooij on a perfectly flat sprinters stage isn't exactly the gamble of Victor Lafay winning the opening Tour de France stage.

 

[yaco]

But to ride a GT just to get the mileage in your legs he is at the wrong team. He knew when he extended his contract at Visma that the chances for a GT will always be more scarce than if he would've ridden for, let's say, EF.

I've already posted he made a bad career move. However, Visma could have taken him to more than one GT in 4 years.