Tour of the Alps 2023 (April 17-21)

[Devil's Elbow]

Nobody was a level above today, this looks like a pretty open race. Just with a little too much Ineos train.

 

[Mayomaniac]

A Gall win would have been extra sweet, but 2nd place is still really good.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Ivan Sosa is back, guys, just watch him drop 10 minutes tomorrow

 

[QueenStagiaire]

TGH has a terrible beard

 

[Lui98]

A Gall win would have been extra sweet, but 2nd place is still really good.

He is back in his usual Tour of the Alps form

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Looks like Hart had some curry but forgot to wipe his chin.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ivan Sosa is back, guys, just watch him drop 10 minutes tomorrow

And then he murders everyone on the MTF one day later.

 

[Samamba]

Odds on Gall ending up at Bora next year?

 

[Salvarani]

Odds on Gall ending up at Bora next year?

Or UAE.

 

[DNP-Old]

Sivakov doing his utmost best to secure anything but the free role he so desperately desires.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

 

[Mayomaniac]

Odds on Gall ending up at Bora next year?

He did a training camp with Quickstep after winning the junior WC, so who knows where he'll end up.

 

[search]

He is back in his usual Tour of the Alps form

will likely pay for it in the Giro again, but well, those shorter races probably suit him a bit better anyway.

 

[Escarabajo]

is Zomengnan doing the categorizations?

The mountains classifications are beyond a joke. Many climbs that should be counting are not

Probably the worst one is on the last stage: 7.8 km @ 8.2% gradient. It is a cat 2. But that doesn't tell the story. The first 6 kilometers are @ 10.7%. The rest is just a "false flat". Lol.

 

[Escarabajo]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but riding without gloves is just stupid.

I mentioned it in the Bernal thread and quite a few members disagreed with me. But I agree 100% with you and so does Contador.

 

[staubsauger]

Geoghegan Hart pulls Ineos chestnuts out of the fire.

This should end their leadership debate for the Giro d'Italia, unless Tao cracks badly on Monte Baldo. He's been their best general classification ever since the start of the year. It might've started off as a running gag. Now Tao should get leadership status crystal clear, with Thomas & Arensman working for him!

Ineos can't afford to repeat today's tactical capers at the Giro d'Italia. If you have 3 protected leaders there and eventually Arensman and/or Thomas drop before the best domestiques it's gonna cost them badly.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Who has Dainese pissed of to be send to this race? Oh well, it's DSM so they probably just felt like doing that...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Geoghegan Hart pulls Ineos chestnuts out of the fire.

This should end their leadership debate for the Giro d'Italia, unless Tao cracks badly on Monte Baldo. He's been their best general classification ever since the start of the year.

Ineos can't afford to repeat today's tactical capers at the Giro d'Italia. If you have 3 protected leaders there and eventually Arensman and/or Thomas drop before the best domestiques it's gonna cost them badly.

With some guys coming straight from altitude camp today is probably not the stage that shows you the whole picture. Thomas will be a protected rider, unless his form is really off.

 

[Red Rick]

With some guys coming straight from altitude camp today is probably not the stage that shows you the whole picture. Thomas will be a protected rider, unless his form is really off.

With how the top guys are flying literally every single season there's something strangely soothing about Geraint Thomas being dogshit in the spring, then waking up in the final prep race, then flying his target Grand Tour

 

[staubsauger]

With some guys coming straight from altitude camp today is probably not the stage that shows you the whole picture. Thomas will be a protected rider, unless his form is really off.

That would be the story for Arensman, who always needs some day to acclimatize.

Thomas is 2 months behind in his preparation though. I was already concerned in March. Now I just don't see how he turns the tables.

Tosatto suddenly talking about Tao as a leader ahead of this race, gives me some hints honestly. They were on an altitude camp like you said, so they probably know very well who's their strongest rider "heuer" as you would say.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1647957404510834690

It's a shame the penultimate climb turned out to be irrelevant, I did like Haig and Cepedas attack.

 

[Anderis]

Carthy looks really solid this spring. I wonder if this will translate to his Giro form.

 

[Mayomaniac]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1647957404510834690

It's a shame the penultimate climb turned out to be irrelevant, I did like Haig and Cepedas attack.

For Gall it's usually Itzulia and this race. That makes sense, since he's from Nußdorf near Lienz and it's his home race. Might not be smart to be already flying in those 2 races if you wanna ride for the gc at the Giro, but frankly they suit him more.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Who has Dainese pissed of to be send to this race? Oh well, it's DSM so they probably just felt like doing that...

He made the time cut by three seconds today and I don‘t know if he‘s happy about it.

 

[staubsauger]

For Gall it's usually Itzulia and this race. That makes sense, since he's from Nußdorf near Lienz and it's his home race. Might not be smart to be already flying in those 2 races if you wanna ride for the gc at the Giro, but frankly they suit him more.

Is he going to target the general classification at the Giro d'Italia or the mountains jersey like Geoffrey Bouchard in 2021?