UAE Tour 2021, February 21 - February 27

[Fernandez]

Amazing climbing performance. Would be good to see how they fared compared previous years.

 

[will-10]

A shame Yates couldn't be bothered to win.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I don't think you can compare Stork to Powless and Vanhoucke. They have both shown some signs of quality before. Stork has just been completely anonymous pack fodder until today.

Stork also only finished inside the top 10 on gc (2018 Tour Alsace) once in a stage race in the U23 ranks, right?

 

[SafeBet]

I don't think you can compare Stork to Powless and Vanhoucke. They have both shown some signs of quality before. Stork has just been completely anonymous pack fodder until today.

Different degrees of unexpected of course.
Vanhoucke at least had last year's performance on Etna. Powless a few decent climbing results here and there. Stork close to nothing.

But I wouldn't have bet on any of them finishing in the top10 today.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

So, because of today we have to categorise Pogacar as a boring, negative rider? I'd take a pass on that.

Roglic burn, lol.

 

[tobydawq]

Roglic burn, lol.

Actually, I don't mind Roglic but I know a lot of people do and it was more directed at their opinion of him than directly at him.

 

[Samamba]

Different degrees of unexpected of course.
Vanhoucke at least had last year's performance on Etna. Powless a few decent climbing results here and there. Stork close to nothing.

But I wouldn't have bet on any of them finishing in the top10 today.

Vanhoucke and Powless had really good results in the u23 ranks, Storck... well... apart from one decent performance in the Tour d'Alsace, not really.

 

[Lequack]

Amazing climbing performance. Would be good to see how they fared compared previous years.

Previous performances.
By my own timing Pogacar and Yates did the climb in 26:16 give or take a few seconds. But faster than last year.

 

[luckyboy]

Powless and Vanhoucke are good enough to be top 10 here . Who else do you expect to be there? Froome and Valverde are done, Nibali maybe too but he won't be there in a pre-season race

 

[WKA311]

Well Stork certainly is a surprise. As a german I followed him since his U23 days but always had him as more of a medium mountain, hilly guy. He had a nice race here last year, for his standards, but this comes out of the blue.

Also nice climbing debut for Zwiehoff in his first race at this level!

 

[BlueRoads]

Well Stork certainly is a surprise. As a german I followed him since his U23 days but always had him as more of a medium mountain, hilly guy. He had a nice race here last year, for his standards, but this comes out of the blue.

Also nice climbing debut for Zwiehoff in his first race at this level!

Loved the reaction on German eurosport. "That is...eh... well, yes, that's Stork! A German, actually."

 

[roundabout]

Powless and Vanhoucke are good enough to be top 10 here . Who else do you expect to be there? Froome and Valverde are done, Nibali maybe too but he won't be there in a pre-season race

On paper and some of them are less realistic than others Lutsenko/Poels/Caruso//Hermans/Pozzovivo/

 

[Faserr]

I haven't read much of Stork either, although I am following the young german cyclists. I think DSM knew that he is strong because he was in their developement team from the beginning . I once read that he will be the perfect road captain for their team and that they want to develope him in that way. Perhaps he getting stronger then expected.
I think it is a big adavantage to be in a developement team. They don't have to overtrain and ride for results early, because the teams knows what they can do. They can develope steadily and then the results are coming if there is enough talent.

 

[Fernandez]

Previous performances. Now time yet for this year, if someone has a stopwatch they can time it maybe.

Expected more diference. Valverde didnt do that bad in 2018.
Still, impresive performance by these two guys.
Does Kuss have some kind of helper complex? Why did he help that teammate?

 

[Lequack]

Expected more diference. Valverde didnt do that bad in 2018.
Still, impresive performance by these two guys.
Does Kuss have some kind of helper complex? Why did he help that teammate?

By my own timing it was 26:16 for this year.
Also Kuss helped Harper because he saw that he couldn't keep up with the two leaders for the stage win, and Harper was still in play for the top 10 overall.

 

[SafeBet]

Guys, relax. I never said these guys are trash.
I'm just a little surprised they could hold the wheel of the Higuita, Buchmann and Almeida of this world while Sosa, Poels, Haig, Pozzovivo, Lutsenko etc were dropping.

If you aren't, fair enough

 

[Gregor_Slovenia]

Pogi set the record of the climb today

 

[Lequack]

Pogi set the record of the climb today

Yes I was looking at the climbing records site just now

Jebel Hafeet
2021:10,9 km@6,8%---25:57---average speed 25.20 km/h(Pogacar-A.Yates)-RECORD
2020:10,9 km@6,8%---26:15---average speed 24.91 km/h(Pogacar-Lutsenko-A.Yates)
2020:10,9 km@6,8%---26:10---average speed 24.99 km/h(Adam Yates)
2019:10,9 km@6,8%---26:40---average speed 24.53 km/h(Valverde-Roglic-Gaudu)
2018:10,9 km@6,8%---26:25---average speed 24.76 km/h(Valverde-M.A. Lopez)
2017:10,9 km@6,8%---26:33---average speed 24.63 km/h(Rui Costa-Zakarin)
2016:10,9 km@6,8%---28:57---average speed 22.59 km/h(Tanel Kangert)
2015:10,9 km@6,8%---27:02---average speed 24.19 km/h(Esteban Chaves)

Source:

Faster and faster on Jebel Hafeet

© UAE Tour Jebel Hafeet 2021:10,9 km@6,8%---25:57---average speed 25.20 km/h(Pogacar-A.Yates)-RECORD 2020:10...

www.climbing-records.com

 

[Bushman]

Nibali had absolutely nothing to do in the gc before today’s stage and is obviously nowhere near good enough to contend for the stage win. This is of course fully expected, since this is purely a training race for him. But why wouldnt he lend a hand to his teammate Skjelmose instead of rolling in to an anonymous 13th place or whatever, in the end just 12 seconds in front of Skjelmose? Not that I would expect Nibali to do that given his status, but Skjelmose is 20 years old, riding his first WT-race ever and fighting for a top 10 spot which would probably mean the world to him. It would have been such an easy way for Nibali to gain a lot of respect and loyalty from a young teammate if he would have just dropped back 10-15 seconds and rode the last kilometer or so in front of Skjelmose.
Well, I’m sure these scenarios happen frequently and mostly go by unnoticed, I just happened to see it today as I was curious about Skjelmose’s ability to hang on for his top 10.

 

[Oliver]

Pogi set the record of the climb today

Big thanks to Adam Yates!

 

[Gregor_Slovenia]

Yes I was looking at the climbing records site just now

Insane climbing speed actually, okay, there was some tailwind in the final, the UAE team and Ineos made it fast pace in the beginning, but when Pogi and Yates stayed alone on the front, they have been riding very uneven pace, so it tells me that on the steady pace the climbing time would be even better. And just we are in February, with big heat on the climb. What a great performance from both of them.

 

[Lequack]

Another win for rim brakes. Pogacar and Formolo both had rim brakes, Majka and Polanc both had disc brakes. Yates also on rim brakes.

Also Froome is being consistent:
Jebel Hafeet 2020 Froome finished at exactly 5:00 down on Pogacar.
Jebel Hafeet 2021 Froome finished at exactly 5:00 down on Pogacar.

 

[SafeBet]

Also Froome is being consistent:
Jebel Hafeet 2020 Froome finished at exactly 5:00 down on Pogacar.
Jebel Hafeet 2021 Froome finished at exactly 5:00 down on Pogacar.

That was on his second try though.
He was almost 10 minutes down the first time.

I honestly fell like he's improving. Whether this will be enough to be a factor in any major race this year is hard to say.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Another win for rim brakes. Pogacar and Formolo both had rim brakes, Majka and Polanc both had disc brakes. Yates also on rim brakes.

Also Froome is being consistent:
Jebel Hafeet 2020 Froome finished at exactly 5:00 down on Pogacar.
Jebel Hafeet 2021 Froome finished at exactly 5:00 down on Pogacar.

And he lost nearly ten minutes to Pogacar the first time they did it last year. He's definitely improving and he lost 2:31 less than old man Valverde today.

 

[Lequack]

And he lost nearly ten minutes to Pogacar the first time they did it last year. He's definitely improving and he lost 2:31 less than Valverde.

Huh you're right. I though I saw Valverde cross the line before him, must have been another Movistar rider.