UAE Tour 2022, February 20 - February 26

[Blanco]

No surprised regarding the winner though, Pogacar was clearly the best today and I don't expect anyone to beat him in Jabel Hafeet so if he doesn't lose time in the flat stages the final win should be his.

Pogacar was always going to win these kind of sprint, especially without some other fast guys. But I'm not sure he really is the strongest right now, both Vlasov and Yates look really sharp to me. We'll see, but I won't be surprised if he doesn't win on Jebel Hafeet.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Big split in the peloton. Pogacar is up front and has taken 2 bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint just ahead of Vlasov, Ineos have missed out completely by the looks.

 

[sir fly]

Big split in the peloton. Pogacar is up front, Ineos have missed out completely by the looks.

Just for the intermediate...

 

[Devil's Elbow]

And then everything came back together.

 

[Lequack]

Peloton is going real fast, no splits yet.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Today there is no balance because Pogacar is the master of all. However, they can try to keep it as close as they can by eliminating the first ITT. With it you eliminate all the climbers from the get go. That's what the organizers are trying to avoid.

Of course, Pogacar is the best all-rounder and climber. And he is explosive too. And he has a sprint when arriving in a smalle bunch. But that has nothing to do with the topic. The balance between (to many climbs), hilly stages and TT. The conclusion is that there is no balance. Even Pogacar would have it less easy if there were more time trials.

 

[BlueRoads]

Peloton is going real fast, no splits yet.

I missed the "going real fast" part, now that I'm looking they are super relaxed again.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Imagine if Kukrle wins this... It looks tough, but it's not entirely impossible.

Edit: Damn, the gap is going down too fast now.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Punctures don’t care how talented you are. Pogi with a puncture 6.5 K’s out.

 

[AlfaLum]

Punctures don’t care how talented you are. Pogi with a puncture 6.5 K’s out.

No.

 

[Wvv]

Philipsen gives Bennett sprinting lessons here. Speedy lad!

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

No.

No what?

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Quite a busy sprint, well done Jasper!

 

[sir fly]

Philipsen superb.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Really want to see Ewan, Jakobsen and Philipsen line up at the same race for once. There definitely isn't anyone else at that level for now.

Also both Kooij and Malucelli look to have stepped it up this year.

 

[Wvv]

Really want to see Ewan, Jakobsen and Philipsen line up at the same race for once. There definitely isn't anyone else at that level for now.

Mmm. Merlier in decent shape is a cannonball that can beat them all. Don't count him or good ol Cavendish out.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Where was Quick Step? Cavendish or Morkov was nowhere in the sprint.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Mmm. Merlier in decent shape is a cannonball that can beat them all. Don't count him or good ol Cavendish out.

Merlier is up there in terms of speed but his consistency and recovery aren't as good. The same is true for Cavendish right now although he may be suffering from his crashes.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Where was Quick Step? Cavendish or Morkov was nowhere in the sprint.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1496827222983913474

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/qst_alphavinyl/status/1496827222983913474

Bad luck for Cav. Hopefully he can perform tomorrow.

 

[Escarabajo]

Of course, Pogacar is the best all-rounder and climber. And he is explosive too. And he has a sprint when arriving in a smalle bunch. But that has nothing to do with the topic. The balance between (to many climbs), hilly stages and TT. The conclusion is that there is no balance. Even Pogacar would have it less easy if there were more time trials.

And that is your opinion. For the organizers there is more balance. Less TT and less hard mountains. That's what they call balance.

 

[jmdirt]

Nice JP!

 

[Nirvana]

And that is your opinion. For the organizers there is more balance. Less TT and less hard mountains. That's what they call balance.

It's not balance, it's the fear of having someone killing the race and thus loosing supposed interest but that generally leads to races that suck because having just sprints for the bonus seconds or the break 10 minutes upfront with the peloton at walking pace are the absolute worst.

 

[Roku]

And that is your opinion. For the organizers there is more balance. Less TT and less hard mountains. That's what they call balance.

Well they could just leave a 5 KM ITT, 19 bunch sprints and a 200 km flat stage with a single iconic climb, like Tourmalet, 150 km far from the finish. That would make for an extremely balanced race!

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

And that is your opinion. For the organizers there is more balance. Less TT and less hard mountains. That's what they call balance.

Not in the Tour anyway !

 

[Lequack]

Another rest day for the peloton.