UAE Tour 2020, February 23- February 29

[Blanco]

Pogacar had a couple of peaks last year, including a late-ish one at the Vuelta, so he may have been looking for a slower build up this year.

He's targeting the Tour so I'd wouldn't read much into this result -- although I'm sure he would have gone for the win if he could have.

Yates might be the best mountain stage hunter out there right now; he could win another GT under the right circumstances. Outstanding rider. I'm a fan.

He said numerous times that this race is his first big goal of the season.

 

[SafeBet]

I don't think Pogi underperformed.
Yates pulled a Quintana there. Out of this world.

 

[WKA311]

Nice performance by Stefan de Bod. Had him as a pure time trialer and rouleur but he seems to have good climbing legs on him on climbs like this.

A bit disappointing by Ciccone and very much dissapointing performance by Poels and Knox.
Also a shame with Buchmanns crash, would have liked to see him here.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Poels is always a 50/50 wether he performs or not .

 

[shalgo]

Is there any video of the Ewan/Bennett sprint finish?

99 DOWSETT Alex ISN 13'47"
100 EWAN Caleb LTS 14'14"
101 BENNETT Sam DQT 14'14"
102 KONOVALOVAS Ignatas GFC 15'19"

 

[Berflamand]

I don't think Pogi underperformed.
Yates pulled a Quintana there. Out of this world.

Exactly. If Yates was not in this race, everybody would probably be praising Pogacar for riding away almost half a minute from the rest of the field (though the difference might not have been as big since he might have attacked closer to the finish). I think he did a great race.

Yates was just very very impressive.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Nice performance by Stefan de Bod. Had him as a pure time trialer and rouleur but he seems to have good climbing legs on him on climbs like this.

A bit disappointing by Ciccone and very much dissapointing performance by Poels and Knox.
Also a shame with Buchmanns crash, would have liked to see him here.

Knox wanted to ride for his own GC in the Giro... Seems like he's got his work cut out for him. He might be working for Evenepoel before he knows it if he doesn't improve rappidly. 11 minutes down on one climb?! I believe this climb suited him last year, iirc he finished top 5 or top 10.

 

[Blanco]

Exactly. If Yates was not in this race, everybody would probably be praising Pogacar for riding away almost half a minute from the rest of the field (though the difference might not have been as big since he might have attacked closer to the finish). I think he did a great race.

Yates was just very very impressive.

He didn't. This race was his first big goal of the season, and Yates gave him a minute! Jabel Hafeet is not Mont Ventoux, and Adam Yates is not Alberto Contador from 2009!

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Poels is always a 50/50 wether he performs or not .

More like a 10/90.

 

[Alexandre B.]

He didn't. This race was his first big goal of the season, and Yates gave him a minute! Jabel Hafeet is not Mont Ventoux, and Adam Yates is not Alberto Contador from 2009!

Let's see how he fares this season.

 

[Rollthedice]

"It gets worse and worse, it becomes MotoGP... I knew I couldn't climb much faster. I'm in my place." - Quentin Jaurégui.

"A week ago at Ventoux, I wasn’t terrible, we were blown away by Quintana. Today, we’re taking another one with Yates who finishes a minute and a half early. It’s already going really fast, the level is already high" - Gaudu.

 

[F_Cance]

Wasn't Quintana the rider last year "complaining" about the high level early in the season? Well, look where he is now.

 

[Lequack]

Is Quintana doing a Yates or is Yates doing a Quintana?

 

[Anderis]

Yates might be the best mountain stage hunter out there right now; he could win another GT under the right circumstances. Outstanding rider. I'm a fan.

Do you mean Simon?

 

[SafeBet]

Another climb.
Another record destroyed in February.

 

[RedheadDane]

Do you mean Simon?

Conspiracy theory:
There is only one Yates! Whenever "they" appear together, it'sactually an optical illusion.

 

[hayneplane]

Knox wanted to ride for his own GC in the Giro... Seems like he's got his work cut out for him. He might be working for Evenepoel before he knows it if he doesn't improve rappidly. 11 minutes down on one climb?! I believe this climb suited him last year, iirc he finished top 5 or top 10.

When he got dropped it looked like he was majorly suffering with the heat which is hardly likely to be a factor in Italy in May.

I don’t see him as anywhere near the level of Remco in current ability or potential but today was not a true reflection of his ability.

 

[Koronin]

Bet Movistar are gonna regret letting NQ and Landa go. Valverde will soon be if not already in the same bracket as Cavendish.

The answer to that is NO. They let NQ go because they'd had enough of him. He didn't get along with the majority of the team and they were tired of dealing with him. Landa they decided didn't fit as well as they had hoped. They are banking on Mas as the future of the team.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

When he got dropped it looked like he was majorly suffering with the heat which is hardly likely to be a factor in Italy in May.

I don’t see him as anywhere near the level of Remco in current ability or potential but today was not a true reflection of his ability.

I just now saw the stage. I'm also sure it was the heat seeing him park like that. But still, that was a huge letdown. Others also suffered but few did like Knox.

 

[jaylew]

The answer to that is NO. They let NQ go because they'd had enough of him. He didn't get along with the majority of the team and they were tired of dealing with him. Landa they decided didn't fit as well as they had hoped. They are banking on Mas as the future of the team.

I don't think that's a good bet.

 

[hayneplane]

I don't think that's a good bet.

Agreed. I would not be surprised if in 5 years time we look back on Mas vuelta podium as being as much of an anomaly as Peter Velits in 2010.

 

[Koronin]

I don't think that's a good bet.

The fact that Mas is 6 years younger than Landa and NQ, and the team is in the middle of a total rebuild, yes it's a good bet unless there's another young Spaniard out there who is younger than Mas that is a better option to start building the team around. The reality is Movistar should have started this rebuild about 3 years ago.

One other thing to expand on my earlier comment to wheresmybrakes, Valverde has other value to the team as well. They use him to evaluate talent and to scout talent. He's also currently transitioning into a coaching position which is what he'll be doing after he retires, as well as what he currently does with his amateur team.

 

[Joelsim]

Conspiracy theory:
There is only one Yates! Whenever "they" appear together, it'sactually an optical illusion.

Don’t they just ride a different twin each day while the other one recovers?

“Twin doping” as it’ll become known as.

 

[jaylew]

The fact that Mas is 6 years younger than Landa and NQ, and the team is in the middle of a total rebuild, yes it's a good bet unless there's another young Spaniard out there who is younger than Mas that is a better option to start building the team around. The reality is Movistar should have started this rebuild about 3 years ago.

No, it's an awful bet. You don't build your team around someone like Mas. I like the guy, but he's not the kind of rider you should build your team around unless your team is maybe pro conti level. If they're building their team around him it just shows how far they've truly fallen. Imo, they don't currently have anyone on their roster worthy of "building the team around" with Bala on the verge of retirement.

 

[Koronin]

No, it's an awful bet. You don't build your team around someone like Mas. I like the guy, but he's not the kind of rider you should build your team around unless your team is maybe pro conti level. If they're building their team around him it just shows how far they've truly fallen. Imo, they don't currently have anyone on their roster worthy of "building the team around" with Bala on the verge of retirement.

Which Spaniard would you suggest they do a rebuild around? They won't build a team around a non Spaniard. They were asked why they were signing so many "foreign" riders by some of their fans and their response was, don't worry we will always have a Spanish team leader and the majority of riders will always be Spanish.