UAE Tour 2022, February 20 - February 26

[Samamba]

This kind of racing also gives weird sprints with every team having a full leadout left and sprinters being not tired at all.

 

[Lequack]

Honestly yes. It's another thing when the breakaway has like 10 minutes and peloton gives up, but this is jsut straight up not racing and taking a day off. And not like yesterday was any different. Just goes to show when you only invite sprinter teams you will end up with a boring race. If Quickstep didn't have a designated sprinter they might do something, but now every team is just waiting for the last 3kms.

Also apart from like 10 guy they will also have a day off tomorrow in the ITT.

 

[Samamba]

I feel like the riders are just laughing at me for watching

 

[repre]

Well, it´s a strong headwind right now, doesn´t make much sense to do anything right now.
Change of direction will be in 7 km, then it should get more interesting..

really? Are you watching??? Phillipsen literally hops off the bike and run with the same tempo and everybody just dying out laughing. AND ITS 28 KMS to go!!! This race is a joke

 

[Lequack]

You don't even need a bike to keep up

 

[Lequack]

I love that the camera is not even keeping up with the riders anymore.

 

[Faserr]

It will hopefully get fast after the turn in a few kilometres.

look at that traffic jam

 

[BlueRoads]

So, they started racing... I only took a look before, and then the graphics said "19 kmpH"...
I mean, I know there's no need to race before, but that was extreme.

 

[Earns1985]

really? Are you watching??? Phillipsen literally hops off the bike and run with the same tempo and everybody just dying out laughing. AND ITS 28 KMS to go!!! This race is a joke

Well, now in the last 20 km, when there could be potentially crosswind, they are riding protected from the wind in the city. Didn´t know that, thought that the last 20 km would be as open as the 20 km before., then it would have gotten more interesting..

 

[dercuforever]

Very nice sprint by the Cav, good placement and huge power.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

You need more luck than usual in this kind of sprint, Cavendish probably deserved it after getting boxed in left right and centre yesterday though. On the other hand, Philipsen looks faster at the moment.

Bennett got boxed in by his leadout, they have a lot of work to do.

 

[Samamba]

Yeah these sprints are a mess. There's more than 5 teams with 7 riders left at 3k from the finish.

Perfect for Philipsen tho as he likes those messy sprints. He's really good at getting himself in a good position. He was behind Groenewegen at a bit more than 1km to go but ends 2nd. Groenewegen isnt even top 15. Having Rickaert as a leadout obviously helps a lot.

 

[Wvv]

It was a nice sprint duel to look at. Kudos to both.

 

[Lequack]

Now there will be even more question whether Lafavre should take Cavendish to the Tour, or Jakobsen. Maybe he will have to take both.

 

[will-10]

It's almost like the UAE Tour isn't the world champs of sprinting. Who knew

 

[dicanio_michael]

Now there will be even more question whether Lafavre should take Cavendish to the Tour, or Jakobsen. Maybe he will have to take both.

He should take both, not because of stage wins, but the publicity. Jakobsen is more like a guy who doesn't like proper lead out, while Cav appreciate Morkov a lot. It might work putting Cav on a train and let Jakobsen follows Ewan wheel.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Let's not talk about sprinters deliberately trying to hurt or kill (sigh) an opponent, shall we? If you're talking about the crazy Theo Bos/Daryl Impey incident, it was in Turkey, not Poland.

It was all about Groenewegen. And it was of course a cynical comment.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

And a nice win of Cavendish, after he couldn't sprint yesterday because he was blocked. Cav from far in the lead, but Philipsen, coming out of the slipstream, couldn't get over it completely anymore. Then it is clear that Cav is still the intrinsically fastest sprinter in the world. Philipsen rode a regular sprint today, just like yesterday by the way. What many Dutch people on Wielerflits.nl couldn't stomach. The degree of Dutch chauvinism and even hatred towards foreigners is huge in that forum.

 

[Lequack]

What happened to Bennet, Vivivani and Groenewegen?

 

[Escarabajo]

Tomorrow ITT 9 km. LOL. In Portugal, a pro race, does a 32 KM ITT and a WT race does a 9 KM ITT. The world of cycling is going backwards.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

What happened to Bennet, Vivivani and Groenewegen?

Bennet boxed and Groenewegen was hindered by his own teammate. Or vice-versa. Every day a few sprinters cannot defend their chances because of this. Yesterday Cavendish was blocked, today it was Bennet and Groenewegen. That's the reason Cav started the sprint from quite far today. Risky, but he was so strong today.

 

[tobydawq]

He should take both, not because of stage wins, but the publicity. Jakobsen is more like a guy who doesn't like proper lead out, while Cav appreciate Morkov a lot. It might work putting Cav on a train and let Jakobsen follows Ewan wheel.

I don't see that happening, to be honest. I still think they will go with Jakobsen but it will definitely generate controversy either way.

 

[tobydawq]

Tomorrow ITT 9 km. LOL. In Portugal, a pro race, does a 32 KM ITT and a WT race does a 9 KM ITT. The world of cycling is going backwards.

Do you think that TT in Algarve did anything good for the race?

 

[Lequack]

Sprint replay

https://twitter.com/x/status/1495753714124136450

View: https://twitter.com/vitasportivait/status/1495753714124136450?s=20&t=X2jRFdVAaMfcLkorjUISeg

 

[Samamba]

Can someone tell me what DSM is doing here btw? Dainese 40th and 22nd, Bol 118th and 66th.