UAE Tour 2021, February 21 - February 27

[sir fly]

Looked like Caruso went down with a km to go after being sandwiched by Viviani and Archbold

Sand witched!

 

[Jungle Cycle]

that look like Gaviria at 2015 worlds final..

 

[KZD]

Van der Poel just can't stop winning can he?
Really good display from Dekker, Pogačar and Almeida as well.
It will be interesting to see how these latter two will fare against Van der Poel tomorrow.

 

[Spine Concept]

He was only coming to this race as support he said...

 

[johnymax]

Its Ganna be pretty easy.

It's Ganna be pretty easy Tadej it.

 

[RedheadDane]

Someone sure took his time to get to the finish line

139 BRUNEL AlexysGroupama - FDJ15:46

 

[tobydawq]

Someone sure took his time to get to the finish line

139 BRUNEL AlexysGroupama - FDJ15:46

Are you gonna make a story of it every time a rider gets home alone as the last one in a race?

Or was it because he was in the front to begin with?

 

[tobydawq]

Very nice by Skjelmose. This is his WorldTour debut and now he is set for an overall top 10.

 

[RedheadDane]

Are you gonna make a story of it every time a rider gets home alone as the last one in a race?

Or was it because he was in the front to begin with?

That. Lot's of people finishing +15 minutes down in a sprint - well, what everyone expected to be sprint - stage. Losing that much time after initially being in the front group with - what? Not much more than 50 Ks... - to go; that's slow. Especially since he also lost several minutes to the not-quite-longer-chasing-merging-of-all-the-other-groups group, and they weren't exactly going fast either.

 

[johnymax]

Very poor showing from all the teams that had GC aspirations and were in the chasing groups. To give up and lose 8min on the first stage is definitely not a good decision.

 

[will-10]

Viviani has really gone downhill the last couple of years. I know that he had his issues, but that was not good today.

Hardly. In 2020 I would've bet the house he missed the first echelon on a day like that, it's impressive he made it. After a day like this it's not a normal sprint.

 

[hayneplane]

Will be interesting to see how MVDP gets on in the TT as a pan flat power course of short length should suit him.

Pogi in prime position for the GC with Almeida and a thermonuclear climbing effort from Yates the only feasible things in his way.

 

[search]

Will be interesting to see how MVDP gets on in the TT as a pan flat power course of short length should suit him.

it'll also be interesting to see if Alpecin even bothered to bring a time trial bike

 

[Koronin]

After the ITT tomorrow can we just hand Pogacar the trophy and call the race over?

As for the teams calling it day when they were over a minute down with no hope of closing the gap makes total sense. It also makes total sense for anyone who wants to go stage hunting to not bother putting in any sort of decent let alone good ITT, hope the teams with GC hopes let breaks get a good amount of time and go after stages.

 

[tobydawq]

After the ITT tomorrow can we just hand Pogacar the trophy and call the race over?

As for the teams calling it day when they were over a minute down with no hope of closing the gap makes total sense. It also makes total sense for anyone who wants to go stage hunting to not bother putting in any sort of decent let alone good ITT, hope the teams with GC hopes let breaks get a good amount of time and go after stages.

I don't think it makes that much sense. You completely miss out on a chance to go for a top 10 on GC by not keeping the gap down. The podium might have been out of reach but there are still important points at play. Now, riders like Mattias Skjelmose, Neilson Powless and Chris Harper can fluke themselves to a top placing in this race.

Also, who says this will be the only day with echelons? A couple of stages more, and riders who made the split today might lose out. But not by eight minutes.

But as it stands now, no, a lot of riders will not have an incentive to go hard tomorrow.

 

[BlueRoads]

Now, riders like Mattias Skjelmose, Neilson Powless and Chris Harper can fluke themselves to a top placing in this race.

And that's the only good thing for my cq points today on an otherwise extremely disappointing day.

Also, who says this will be the only day with echelons? A couple of stages more, and riders who made the split today might lose out. But not by eight minutes.

That's what I thought.

 

[SafeBet]

Viviani has really gone downhill the last couple of years. I know that he had his issues, but that was not good today.

Overall I agree but he's coming back from cardiac surgery in late January so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.

 

[Koronin]

I don't think it makes that much sense. You completely miss out on a chance to go for a top 10 on GC by not keeping the gap down. The podium might have been out of reach but there are still important points at play. Now, riders like Mattias Skjelmose, Neilson Powless and Chris Harper can fluke themselves to a top placing in this race.

Also, who says this will be the only day with echelons? A couple of stages more, and riders who made the split today might lose out. But not by eight minutes.

But as it stands now, no, a lot of riders will not have an incentive to go hard tomorrow.

It appears most of the GC teams decided that they had no shot at the podium so who cares about the other positions. I wouldn't be surprised with so many races already being moved a lot of riders decided they had no interest in using energy for what they likely see as no worthwhile results. Tomorrow I suspect there will be teams attempting to figure out what Ganna and maybe Pogacar's best time in peak condition is and figure out an approximate time you need to finish in to stay in the race and that's what the vast majority of riders will be doing. Basically tomorrow will be nothing but a glorified training session for most riders. At this rate I suspect most are going to take the entire rest of the race as a glorified training camp.

 

[tobydawq]

It appears most of the GC teams decided that they had no shot at the podium so who cares about the other positions. I wouldn't be surprised with so many races already being moved a lot of riders decided they had no interest in using energy for what they likely see as no worthwhile results. Tomorrow I suspect there will be teams attempting to figure out what Ganna and maybe Pogacar's best time in peak condition is and figure out an approximate time you need to finish in to stay in the race and that's what the vast majority of riders will be doing. Basically tomorrow will be nothing but a glorified training session for most riders. At this rate I suspect most are going to take the entire rest of the race as a glorified training camp.

Okay, lol, relax.

You begin to sound a bit like you did after Harrogate and Guadalajara, and I don't quite see the reason for this.

I really doubt 120 riders will just ride around with the sole focus on making the time cut for a full week in a WT-race.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

On riding to minimize gaps.... If I can only remember one GC rider from last year's race (and couldn't even correctly remember where he finished!), why would teams care about minor top 10 placings? Save it for Paris-Nice or something.

 

[Koronin]

Okay, lol, relax.

You begin to sound a bit like you did after Harrogate and Guadalajara, and I don't quite see the reason for this.

I really doubt 120 riders will just ride around with the sole focus on making the time cut for a full week in a WT-race.

You could get some who will use it as a glorified TT training session.

Intentionally losing time (and a TT is a great place to do that) to get a bigger time gap to go stage hunting is by far the best option for anyone wanting to try stage hunting. In that case, if TT training wasn't going to be useful, I'd even consider riding a road bike instead of a TT bike.

 

[tobydawq]

On riding to minimize gaps.... If I can only remember one GC rider from last year's race (and couldn't even correctly remember where he finished!), why would teams care about minor top 10 placings? Save it for Paris-Nice or something.

As I said, WorldTour points. It was fairly pathetic what happened today, especially considering it was the first racing day of the year for many. In the Doha Worlds they didn't even let up like that even though that would have made much more sense.

 

[RedheadDane]

On riding to minimize gaps.... If I can only remember one GC rider from last year's race (and couldn't even correctly remember where he finished!), why would teams care about minor top 10 placings? Save it for Paris-Nice or something.

I don't think they're basing their tactics on what you remember.

 

[search]

As I said, WorldTour points. It was fairly pathetic what happened today, especially considering it was the first racing day of the year for many. In the Doha Worlds they didn't even let up like that even though that would have made much more sense.

you surely have a point, but personally I can hardly argue with riders & teams giving this race the credit it deserves: none

 

[Netserk]

Okay, lol, relax.

You begin to sound a bit like you did after Harrogate and Guadalajara, and I don't quite see the reason for this.

I really doubt 120 riders will just ride around with the sole focus on making the time cut for a full week in a WT-race.

NOBODY LIKES ECHELONS, OKAY!!!