UAE Tour 2023, February 20-26 (women's race February 9-12)

[yaco]

Ineos or QS should be the favourites, however I have a feeling there could be a surprise winner.

 

[Lequack]

TTT is only 17km, there wont be any significate differences.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

TTT is only 17km, there wont be any significate differences.

Basically the same length as in 2019, when Roglic gained 18 seconds on Valverde and 29 on Gaudu. They finished 31 and 44 seconds down on GC in second and third, so the TTT was the single biggest differentiator that year. Yes, in a GT this TTT would be a drop in the bucket, but this race has two climbs and one of those (Jebel Jais) barely matters. Considering that Bilbao and Plapp finished just 5 and 16 seconds down on Pogacar on Jebel Hafeet last year, a 10-second gap tomorrow could easily end up deciding the race. And I'd be surprised if QS, Bahrain and Ineos are all within 10 seconds of each other tomorrow.

 

[steffr222]

Basically the same length as in 2019, when Roglic gained 18 seconds on Valverde and 29 on Gaudu. They finished 31 and 44 seconds down on GC in second and third, so the TTT was the single biggest differentiator that year. Yes, in a GT this TTT would be a drop in the bucket, but this race has two climbs and one of those (Jebel Jais) barely matters. Considering that Bilbao and Plapp finished just 5 and 16 seconds down on Pogacar on Jebel Hafeet last year, a 10-second gap tomorrow could easily end up deciding the race. And I'd be surprised if QS, Bahrain and Ineos are all within 10 seconds of each other tomorrow.

Yeah I would be surprised too if QS are within 10-20 seconds to BV and Ineos tbh - on different ends probably though

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The biggest problem for Quickstep is that three of them went deep a day before the TTT. Other than that, i'm not convinced this is a weak TTT team. Sprinters and lead-out are often quite good at short TTT's, because they are used to ride in sprinttrains. Cerny and Schmid are decent TT'ers and even Serry and Vervaeke aren't terrible at it.

 

[topcat]

@tobydawq Come on Toby, come and get your 1-day ban before someone deletes the post!

Toby is better at one day bans whereas 3 week bans are my specialty.

 

[Sciatic]

In my opinion it's silly to give the win to one rider because of a pixel or a 0,00001 second in a race with an "open" start, after many hours, when there's a line painted on the road for them. If one can't see it on a finish photo either give it to both of them or, which I would prefer, have a tie-breaker - if it's a stage in the UAE Tour I honestly don't care, but in important races one doesn't want an outcome like today. I'd welcome a rule change.

I agree. Didn’t FIS change their rules for individual start Nordic races so they don’t go beyond hundredths (.00) to determine a winner—-after one the Olympic 50k finals was decided by, like .0001? And the two athletes had their gold and silver medals cut in half, shared and then soldered together?

 

[CyclistAbi]

In TTT it's in my opinion rather expected for Evenpoel to do good. What killed the mood a bit is Evenpoel was brilliant in crosswinds. Hence if this is it then it was over before it even started.

BUT. As the unknown part was always about determining what happens on climbing. And as this will be a theme for Evenpoel. In first half of the season.

Lets indeed look beyond mere numbers and see what exactly will happen. Staring with stage 3. There still are some questions left to be answered. Of a rhetorical nature.

Hence all in all this race is far from being over. A whole week ahead.

 

[Sciatic]

Except no one likes tied races. Unless both winners are given equal $$$ for the effort, then maybe.

You may know better than I do what riders want, but I’ve never understood the clamor among fans to do away with ties (I’m not speaking about futbol). Obviously in championship final you have to have a winner, but the rest of the time I just don’t seem to have that same gut response. Often life doesn’t provide clear cut winners and losers, I don’t know what’s so abhorrent about an occasional tie in sports. Just me I guess.

 

[Tim Cahill]

The miserable powers that be have deprived us all of the glory of a 1km head to head shootout.

First Pidcock gets robbed now this.

 

[Sciatic]

The miserable powers that be have deprived us all of the glory of a 1km head to head shootout.

First Pidcock gets robbed now this.

A match race would be pretty cool and unique . . . Unless we ended up a 1/2 hr of track stands.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I agree. Didn’t FIS change their rules for individual start Nordic races so they don’t go beyond hundredths (.00) to determine a winner—-after one the Olympic 50k finals was decided by, like .0001? And the two athletes had their gold and silver medals cut in half, shared and then soldered together?

Close!
At the Olympics in 1980 there was 1 hundredth between the gold medalist (Wassberg) and silver medalist (Mieto) in the 15 km. 41.57,63 versu 41.57,64. Since that they went down to tenth of a second as the smallest time unit in individual start races.
Except for the sprint prologue (where the top 30 qualifies for the heats) where they use hundredths again.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Wasn't it Merlier who instigated the winning echelon? Glad he won.

 

[Sciatic]

Close!
At the Olympics in 1980 there was 1 hundredth between the gold medalist (Wassberg) and silver medalist (Mieto) in the 15 km. 41.57,63 versu 41.57,64. Since that they went down to tenth of a second as the smallest time unit in individual start races.
Except for the sprint prologue (where the top 30 qualifies for the heats) where they use hundredths again.

Thanks! Good to know that my memory may be leaky but not completely shot

 

[hayneplane]

Ilan Van Wilder didn't hold the baton for long.

I do not think this counts as Ewan didn’t lose due to celebrating too soon.

 

[CHGJ2000]

Quickstep's team is getting underrated here. Most of their squad can do a decent TT, which is pretty important. On the flip side, UAE has gone full try hard getting their entire squad custom TT setups and new positions (even a different one for Vine compared to NC's), so they really should do well considering they've also brought the strongest team on paper imo. 6/7 riders have top 10'd WT TTs (most of them have podiumed), will be super motivated to gain time back after today.

Wurf crashed today, finishing 10 minutes down, so would expect not much from him in the TTT and Ineos' team has a tonne of weak TT riders, so they're going to need to nail the technical side to really be competitive.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Quickstep's team is getting underrated here. Most of their squad can do a decent TT, which is pretty important. On the flip side, UAE has gone full try hard getting their entire squad custom TT setups and new positions (even a different one for Vine compared to NC's), so they really should do well considering they've also brought the strongest team on paper imo. 6/7 riders have top 10'd WT TTs (most of them have podiumed), will be super motivated to gain time back after today.

Wurf crashed today, finishing 10 minutes down, so would expect not much from him in the TTT and Ineos' team has a tonne of weak TT riders, so they're going to need to nail the technical side to really be competitive.

This is the UAE Tour, there is no technical side to the TTT. Very few corners. That being said, I think you're underestimating Ineos here, they've always been up there in every TTT they've ever done and Plapp and Tarling are two of the biggest powerhouses in this field. Last time round in this race, for example, they came fourth with a team of Golas, Elissonde, Sivakov, Puccio, Moscon and Halvorsen. I think they have a better lineup this year.

 

[CHGJ2000]

This is the UAE Tour, there is no technical side to the TTT. Very few corners. That being said, I think you're underestimating Ineos here, they've always been up there in every TTT they've ever done and Plapp and Tarling are two of the biggest powerhouses in this field. Last time round in this race, for example, they came fourth with a team of Golas, Elissonde, Sivakov, Puccio, Moscon and Halvorsen. I think they have a better lineup this year.

I meant more on the side of turn/pacing strategies. Regardless, that team I'd say is marginally worse than their one this year but not all that different. Wurf (injured), Viviani, Heiduk and Swift is a pretty awful group of riders to have as the majority of your squad, even accounting for sprinters generally being a bit better at TTT's than TT's. Tarling and Plapp are great for sure (so were Moscon and Kwiato when they tried back then) and Tulett should be alright although I don't think his w/CdA is all that great, in general though compared to UAE the depth is really really bad.

I could see them top 3'ing (probably more likely than not), but will require a monumental performance from them to win.

 

[Berniece]

I do not think this counts as Ewan didn’t lose due to celebrating too soon.

It’s about celebrating when you didn’t win, because Philipsen had it after he cheered at the TDF not knowing someone else already won. Nonetheless you won’t see Van Wilder messaging Ewan that hé now has the baton since it was so close and he is also from Merlier’s team

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

That would give riders like Ewan and Cavendish an advantage, as their asses are just closer to their heads - and front wheels - than most other sprinters.

So close that both menn are very capable of talking out of them.

 

[Big Doopie]

Basically the same length as in 2019, when Roglic gained 18 seconds on Valverde and 29 on Gaudu. They finished 31 and 44 seconds down on GC in second and third, so the TTT was the single biggest differentiator that year. Yes, in a GT this TTT would be a drop in the bucket, but this race has two climbs and one of those (Jebel Jais) barely matters. Considering that Bilbao and Plapp finished just 5 and 16 seconds down on Pogacar on Jebel Hafeet last year, a 10-second gap tomorrow could easily end up deciding the race. And I'd be surprised if QS, Bahrain and Ineos are all within 10 seconds of each other tomorrow.

this really has no business being a WT race.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

this really has no business being a WT race.

That applies to like a quarter of the WT, especially now that the UCI wants none of the WT races to overlap starting next year (which is a stupid idea in the first place even without the bloated WT calendar).

 

[SHAD0W93]

In my opinion it's silly to give the win to one rider because of a pixel or a 0,00001 second in a race with an "open" start, after many hours, when there's a line painted on the road for them. If one can't see it on a finish photo either give it to both of them or, which I would prefer, have a tie-breaker - if it's a stage in the UAE Tour I honestly don't care, but in important races one doesn't want an outcome like today. I'd welcome a rule change.

Or they just do the dead heat.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627644884378173447

View: https://twitter.com/LanterneRougeCP/status/1627644884378173447?cxt=HHwWjoC-ncKZx5YtAAAA

 

[Oldermanish]

Do you have an idea for a tie-breaker?

I suggest both finishers are required to take an "Irish" shot of good tequila...like Heradura Anejo, then drink a pint of Celebrator Double Bock Ale. Suitably restored after the "bike race", they'd then strip down and arm wrestle until a winner is found. There are other ways to test the true endurance and strength of our Heroes!

Fully televised, of course.

 

[Nick2413]

Or they just do the dead heat.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627644884378173447

View: https://twitter.com/LanterneRougeCP/status/1627644884378173447?cxt=HHwWjoC-ncKZx5YtAAAA

This would actually be really interesting.