Trofeo Laigueglia 61 st edition 28 February 2024

[Rob5091]

202 km long and let's hope for better weather then last year's pouring rain - UAE come with Ayuso and Herschi so they're big favs.
Startlist at https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/trofeo-laigueglia/2024/startlist
Roadbook in Italian and English at
https://trofeolaigueglia.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/GARIBALDI-LAIGUEGLIA-PRESSED.pdf

TV from 14.30 CET - might be only on RAI (like last year) but a certain 3 letter website might well have it. Start 11.00 CET

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Piggybacking off last year's OP, here's the route in a bit more detail:

Cima Paravenna:

Testico:

The circuit
Effectively four laps (they join it like 100 metres after the finish line), featuring the nasty Colla Micheri followed by another tricky descent and the easy Capo Mele, from the side descended in Sanremo.

Colla Micheri:

Capo Mele:

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

UAE come with Ayuso and Herschi so they're big favs.

Big favs indeed. Just hope it will not end up with a UAE 1-2-3 like it did in 2022.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

TV from 14.30 CET - might be only on RAI (like last year) but a certain 3 letter website might well have it. Start 11.00 CET

13:15 onwards on Disc + in UK (so probably 15 minutes of waffle before coverage starts)

 

[Samamba]

Jarno Widar should be at the start

Interesting, even tho the level should be too high ofcourse and I doubt he likes the wind.

 

[ashhutch1997]

The finish of stage 4 of this year's Giro could've done a simular route to this.

 

[DNP-Old]

Besides Jarno Widar this will also mark the pro debut of Simone Gualdi, very much a bright spot in Italy's future. Also debuting is a personal favorite of mine: Ciro Perez. Uruguay nomaaaa.

 

[Roku]

Besides Jarno Widar this will also mark the pro debut of Simone Gualdi, very much a bright spot in Italy's future. Also debuting is a personal favorite of mine: Ciro Perez. Uruguay nomaaaa.

Not to be a pest, but I think Gualdi also rode in France this weekend.

 

[SafeBet]

Not to be a pest, but I think Gualdi also rode in France this weekend.

Yeah and he was in the first chasing group working for Busatto deep into the race.

 

[Samamba]

Besides Jarno Widar this will also mark the pro debut of Simone Gualdi, very much a bright spot in Italy's future. Also debuting is a personal favorite of mine: Ciro Perez. Uruguay nomaaaa.

I am so confused as to why Intermarché is able to sign this talents honestly.

It's great tho.

Btw Widar didn't have the best winter apparently and also got sick 2 weeks ago (5 days of the bike meaning he missed his debut at Haut Var) so not sure what to expect. Also will probably be thrown into the ditch by some wind gust probably with his 50 kilos.

 

[SafeBet]

I am so confused as to why Intermarché is able to sign this talents honestly.

The devo team has an appealing program for young riders. The training is structured without being too strict.
They also give the rider a clear path to a contract with the WT team if everything goes according to plan, plus they mix in a few pro races in the rider's schedule to let him gain experience.
That's what Busatto told me last year and I guess it's the same for Gualdi.

Young Italian riders tend to sign for teams where they can find other Italian riders, because for most of them the language barrier is a real challenge. There are exceptions to this rule of course (see Germani) but it can make a difference. For example DSM has a rather strict policy about not speaking your native tongue with other riders from your country and that can take a toll on young fellas. Milesi mentioned this aspect as one of the reasons he wanted to leave DSM.

 

[Roku]

I am so confused as to why Intermarché is able to sign this talents honestly.

It's great tho.

IMHO they have somewhat of a nice reputation as a team that provides opportunities both for riders on the twilight of their careers who try to revive for a last nice contract (Kristoff, Costa, Teunissen to a lesser extent) and youngsters who are starting their career. Almost every rider that leaves the team does it on very good terms (except for Quinten Hermans and probably Bakelants, though the latter I think it was Jan's fault due to not accepting the end of his career) and the impression is the good atmosphere on the team is not just a PR stunt.

Plus, they offer a clear pathway and a nice program just from the scratch even to riders signing for their Devo team. In almost every non-WT race they feature a rider from the feeder team and have given real opportunities to show themselves (Busatto in 2022, Huub Artz is making a great impression this year).

Apart from the super teams, there are not much better teams to start a WT career than Intermarché.

PS: I left the message as draft and have seen Safebet basically shared the same idea with feedback from the inside.

 

[RedheadDane]

Pssst... @Eshnar. Time to get the glue.

 

[Rob5091]

Yep, we're under way with 5 guys up the road with 1min 40 sec on the peloton.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

It's been a while, but I see from the live ticker that Oscuro Italiano is still riding.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Is Widar winning yet?

 

[Samamba]

Is Widar winning yet?

Usually he's already over the finish line by now but for some reason they do 200km here. Not sure why.

 

[scribers]

Pssst... @Eshnar. Time to get the glue.

Youd make a decent mod. You have red in your username so the fear familiarity is already baked in

Throw your horned helmet Viking thingy into the ring!

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Lotto can't catch a break in terms of crashes this week...

 

[Samamba]

Lotto can't catch a break in terms of crashes this week...

Not just this week. Vermeersch, Slock, Grignard, Kron (but not from a Crash I think) are all out. It's getting annoying.

Gotta hope that Berckmoes and Sepulveda aren't that hurt or they're gonna be starting races with 6 (Strade for example).

 

[SafeBet]

Break has been caught as we get the first live images of the day. Groupama pulling.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Absurd amount of moto pacing at the front leading to a lot of separations behind, as if it wasn't hard enough for the smaller teams.

 

[SafeBet]

Kind of a suicide attack by Rota considering how stacked the UAE roster is.

 

[Samamba]

Widar still there I think

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Widar still there I think

You mean the peloton is still keeping up?