Not seen the race and only had the time splits to judge on and your comments but relative to expectations/their standards I am impressed by:
- Demare - looking ready for the classics
His teamcar begs to differ.Demare was and will never be ready for the classics, IMO
The reason is to keep the gaps smaller and have more contenders to the title. Cycling has changed in the last 20 years. It is not my decision. I agree with some of that and disagree with other things that they have done. But it is what it is. I certainly want to see better mountain stages but at the same time I don't want to see Indurain type rider killing the spectacle so early in the race. With the marketing, social media, and commerciality that cycling has today that is a big No-No.But why ? Which are your arguments ? Can we also limit the mountain stages to one mountain stage ? Or limit it to just one climb ? Not to influence or falsify the result. You forget that the number of time trials and the length of the time trials have already been reduced enormously in recent years. Why not doing the same with mountain stages or sprint stages ? Besides time trials, hilly rides are the most natural form of cycling. Where the best come forward anyway. Now it's the case that if you're not a climber you can't win a grand tour anymore. And still very difficult to win a small round.
Yeah let’s be fair here, most of us on this forum are die hard cycling fans, which is in itself already a race that facing the danger of extinction. But probably even among the bigger fans half of them loose interest when a race is decided early on.The reason is to keep the gaps smaller and have more contenders to the title. Cycling has changed in the last 20 years. It is not my decision. I agree with some of that and disagree with other things that they have done. But it is what it is. I certainly want to see better mountain stages but at the same time I don't want to see Indurain type rider killing the spectacle so early in the race. With the marketing, social media, and commerciality that cycling has today that is a big No-No.
Now you can disagree with the organizations or not, that is not my problem. As I told you, it is what it is. You would be barking at the wrong tree.
Will be interesting to see Dumoulin on saturday, even though thats still not a real climbing test like the ones he will have to face in the Giro, and this is much better suited for him. It was already clear that his TT was back at a very high level after the Olympics.
For now I am going to say that he will be able to stick with the others on Jebel Jais tomorrow. But he will loose time on Jebel Hafeet on the best climbers (Pogacar, Yates, Vlasov and I am also gonna go for Almeida)
Not Bissegger happen.
I believe they finish a few 100m later on the climb tomorrow than in 2019?
Very good. The other pun has gone past its sell by date. GCN presenters won’t know what to do.Not Bissegger happen.
No chance that Tom Dumolin can win this raceMaybe Tom Dumoulin can make the impossible come true here, and win UAE Tour. I, however, think Pogacar will be stronger in these two MTF stages.
I hope we will see nice battles tomorrow and on Sunday. Pogacar will want to defend his title, and Dumo, Vlasov and Adam Yates (and few others) are super-motivated to win this stage race. I remember, Pogi is only unbeatable at TdF. He is beatable at any other race.
I was specifically thinking of MSR as you are right that he has not threatened a top placing in any of the cobbled classics beforeDemare was and will never be ready for the classics, IMO
I believe they finish a few 100m later on the climb tomorrow than in 2019?
Jumbo isnt that stacked here, I think tomorrow Pogacar or Almeida will simply attack