- May 5, 2010
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- Oct 13, 2021
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The protection team didn’t do much protecting yesterday by not getting him into the first echelon. Of course, any auto translate only exists for comedic purposes.
- May 5, 2010
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- 30,239
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- Sep 26, 2020
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I mean it's not like it's a completely wrong translation.
- Apr 3, 2009
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Not sure I'd expect consistent GC performances from Vine just yet, especially fighting echelons and riding TTT's. He's a climber with excellent watts per kilo performances, not an all around bike rider and talent at this point. It's early season, he'll come around to some good climbing form when the real races start.
- Jan 31, 2016
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Except a few players couldn't stay with their teams. What was an impressive confirmation of the pointlessness is how little time divided the top teams. They're probably thinking of how much money and effort was expended for mostly nothing. Not much was proved there, to my surprise.
- Feb 26, 2022
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Team time trials need to be longer to make a difference, but then of course if they are people will say it had too much impact on the race...
He needs 2-3 seasons to fully learn riding in the peloton and improve positioning and most importantly saving energy. He reminds me of Roglic who also had some good result and wins in early seasons, but just couldn't do it consistently. You can have two riders riding in similar positions in the peloton in the span of 3 hours, but one can avgerage 5-10 % less Watts than the other just with smoother riding and limiting any unnecessary accelarations.
- Aug 6, 2014
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That last sentence, the sheikh probably begs to differ. This is the UAE Tour, it ain't getting much bigger for that team than here.
- Apr 3, 2009
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It's an important race for them. That said, if they're optimizing fitness peaks for each rider on the team for a week-long stage race in February, no matter what races they sponsor, they're idiots. They're not idiots. Their best rider didn't even show up for this one, can't really buy the argument that races don't get much bigger for them. They might have some interest at that race in July for example.
- Apr 3, 2009
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- Jan 8, 2020
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Right its called racing craft. You have to go through an apprenticeship at the guilds of cycling, like painters in Florence of the Renaissance.
also if it is utterly flat and speeds are universally high because of equipment improvements. Hard to make differences. The higher the speeds, the slimmer the time gaps.
you have to at least have rolling terrain, then…
also the three teams with the best setups ended 1, 2 and 3 so it’s hard to know which team was strongest.
Hoping Pog never ends up on a specialized, canondale or pinarello. It could be game over for cycling.
EF riders have said the new road canondale is noticeably faster, maybe that has also gone into their TT bikes.
Also tests comparing a present day road bike to lemond’s TT bike from 1989 found today’s road bike more aero despite no TT bars.
TT route designs need to include at least some rolling hills otherwise speeds will be so high that added to the curtailed distances, no differences will be made in TTs.
Plapp in 2022 lost 16 secs to winner Pog on Jais, and 16 secs to winner Pog on Hafeet.
Plapps TDU was rather bad result-wise (maybe domestique for Sheffield?), so I‘m not sure about his shape. If his February shape is better than in 2022, then he‘ll be dangerous for Remco, tomorrow and next Sunday.
He just has to hold Remco‘s wheel on Jais and Hafeet. In the sprint, both would be equal.
So I cross fingers for Plapp, because Remco will get his big wins later in the season.
Plapps TDU was rather bad result-wise (maybe domestique for Sheffield?), so I‘m not sure about his shape. If his February shape is better than in 2022, then he‘ll be dangerous for Remco, tomorrow and next Sunday.
He just has to hold Remco‘s wheel on Jais and Hafeet. In the sprint, both would be equal.
So I cross fingers for Plapp, because Remco will get his big wins later in the season.
- Jul 7, 2013
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- Jan 8, 2020
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And then at the finish it comes down to who has more, I don't say in the tank, which is proverbial, but power. It's not Paris-Roubaix in other words.
- Jun 7, 2011
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And yet it is a considerable stylistic upgrade over EF's and Uno-X's abominations.They come from the future, and it's ugly
- Jan 8, 2020
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Jesus Christ they look like aliens.They come from the future, and it's ugly
Congrats to Soudal–Quick-Step.
Considering the GC standings. Evenepoel is not in leaders jersey hence he will need to do some attacking. Lets see if competition is up to it. I still expect something from UAE. That is an attempt for a stage win.
Considering the GC standings. Evenepoel is not in leaders jersey hence he will need to do some attacking. Lets see if competition is up to it. I still expect something from UAE. That is an attempt for a stage win.
Will only happen if sheikh TBZ either sells Colnago or buys another bike company.
- Sep 8, 2015
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Plapp has just come off a large training block in the Victorian Alps. He's been smashing hills very much like the finish on stage 3, so he should be cherry ripe.
FWIW: Vine has a hell of a lot more experience in the peloton than Plapp.
Worth noting on Jais, Plapp attacked repeatedly last year, including a big attack with ~500m to go, he could have easily lost zero time on Jais but was going for a stage win instead after his GC was done due to breaking his bike before the TT. Should be able to follow relatively easy tomorrow.
According to Plapp, he was aiming to get into good form by here, after he was almost hit head-on by a truck in australia just before the new year and had to bail off the side of the road (alongside the moto rider who was pacing him). Seemed to manage to get one good day out during the RR (honestly two years in a row he's just out ridden everyone else tactically) then was otherwise pretty meh in the other aussie races.
Worth noting on Jais, Plapp attacked repeatedly last year, including a big attack with ~500m to go, he could have easily lost zero time on Jais but was going for a stage win instead after his GC was done due to breaking his bike before the TT. Should be able to follow relatively easy tomorrow.
- Jun 7, 2011
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I guess around 100 racedays for Plapp and around 150 for Vine in total. Plapp has a certain number of racedays on firstcycling which don't show up on PCS though. So Vine certainly has more peloton experience, but neither have plenty. Plapp has been riding in peloton at a younger age than Vine, even if not often, but that plays to his advantage.
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