Sand witched!Looked like Caruso went down with a km to go after being sandwiched by Viviani and Archbold
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Sand witched!Looked like Caruso went down with a km to go after being sandwiched by Viviani and Archbold
It's Ganna be pretty easy Tadej it.Its Ganna be pretty easy.
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?
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.Viviani has really gone downhill the last couple of years. I know that he had his issues, but that was not good today.
Will be interesting to see how MVDP gets on in the TT as a pan flat power course of short length should suit him.
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.
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.
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.Viviani has really gone downhill the last couple of years. I know that he had his issues, but that was not good today.
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.
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.
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.
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.
you surely have a point, but personally I can hardly argue with riders & teams giving this race the credit it deserves: noneAs 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.
NOBODY LIKES ECHELONS, OKAY!!!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.