UAE Tour 2024, February 19-25

[theyoungest]

Evenepoel, Van Wilder, De Plus, Van Eetvelt, Uijtdebroeks... I don't consider Vansevenant, Lecerf (yet at least), Vanhoucke, Van Gils, Vervaeke, Cras etc elite level climbers. Who are you thinking of?

Wout van Aert

Okay, it feels like a dozen. Apparently it's half a dozen. But as a Belgian you should be very happy.

 

[Samamba]

Lotto climbers are also really happy with their new Orbea Orca btw. I don't like the bike cause I think it's ugly and a pure climbing bike, but compared to what they had at Ridley for the climbs it's a massive difference apparently.

About the aero they are a bit more undecided if it's actually better.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Footage emerging of LVE addressing the masses after reading some of the comments on stage 5.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Wout van Aert

Okay, it feels like a dozen. Apparently it's half a dozen. But as a Belgian you should be very happy.

But I agree that the program does work. Late Bjorg Lambrecht also came through the program. Even though he wasn't a true high mountain climber either.

Lotto climbers are also really happy with their new Orbea Orca btw. I don't like the bike cause I think it's ugly and a pure climbing bike, but compared to what they had at Ridley for the climbs it's a massive difference apparently.

About the aero they are a bit more undecided if it's actually better.

Riding for Ridley all those years was the best trainig they ever got. It's like training with a parachute.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Not as upsetting as Cosnefroy's 2nd at Amstel Gold Race, but still annoying.

Guess we're never winning something in WT ever again, and I don't mean stages or less important classics.

 

[janraaskalt]

I don't consider Vansevenant ... elite level climbers

What actually has happened to him the past 1-2 years? He was flying when he entered the pro peloton, but did not improve, and even got a bit worse, after that.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

What actually has happened to him the past 1-2 years? He was flying when he entered the pro peloton, but did not improve, and even got a bit worse, after that.

He was great in Amstel in '21 i think and C-level stageraces. never as a true climber.
Nothing happened, he simply defied logic and expectations for a few months. He was never a top level talent like Evenepoel, Van Wilder, Uijtdebroeks etc

 

[repre]

"This winter I made some big improvements, I thought maybe my power meter is broken. I'm so *** happy." Lenny Van Eeetvelt

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Van Eetvelt > Van Wilder

Biggest win of his career!

UAE had a terrible day, Pogačar will probably have to return next year unless Ayuso steps up.

Fully deserved for Van Eetvelt, who is much more of an attacker than Van Wilder. That said, i know Van Wilder is aiming for Catalunya and Romandie to really see where he sits compared to the best. And i believe Van Eetvelt was really trying to be in great form for Mallorca. In short, i think Van Wilder still has more margin to improve the next weeks/months. But i do wish he would sometimes believe in his own chances and strength more.

 

[Andre]

Is Van Eetvelt GT material?

 

[Didinho]

Is Van Eetvelt GT material?

That’s what he’s trying out this year. Training for GC’s and see how it goes.

 

[Rob5091]

Is Van Eetvelt GT material?

He did the Vuelta last year. so he's on course.

 

[Samamba]

Fully deserved for Van Eetvelt, who is much more of an attacker than Van Wilder. That said, i know Van Wilder is aiming for Catalunya and Romandie to really see where he sits compared to the best. And i believe Van Eetvelt was really trying to be in great form for Mallorca. In short, i think Van Wilder still has more margin to improve the next weeks/months. But i do wish he would sometimes believe in his own chances and strength more.

Van Eetvelt is technically also aiming for Catalunya
But yeah he also wanted to do really good here (not Mallorca per se), and young guns like him often are a bit too eager in the winter so are in form earlier.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Is Van Eetvelt GT material?

We don't know yet.

 

[Samamba]

We don't know yet.

I think he is, or atleast based on his numbers, not just his raw power also his recovery.

Talking about top 10's and top 5s in the future, not winning or podium (maybe with a lot of luck). I don't think he has THAT talent.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Portuguese ones as well. They were giving the overall victory for O'Connor.

And now with the overall graphics on screen, they don't see their error and are talking about Gran Camiño, ffs.

While the English language ones were awarding it to Van Eetvelt before the others finished, therefore not knowing what bonuses O'Connor might have got (2nd would have given him the win on countback)

 

[Walter1234]

Anyone know why Vine and McNulty dropped so early?
Any statement from them?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Anyone know why Vine and McNulty dropped so early?
Any statement from them?

Haven't seen anything from them, but my guess is they cooked themselves in the echelons.

 

[Rob5091]

Anyone know why Vine and McNulty dropped so early?
Any statement from them?

I was wondering that too. If bonking from the echelons then that's just stupidity.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I was wondering that too. If bonking from the echelons then that's just stupidity.

You should take a look at the Burgos stage in '20, when Evenepoel won on Picon Blanco. There were echelons before that, but everything came back together before the climb. A lot of climbers completely blew up on the climb and lost minutes. Kuss, Gaudu, Bilbao, Mas, Majka, Sosa completely blew up and lost somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.

 

[Lequack]

What a disaster for UAE. When it looked liked they had 1, 2, and 3 wrapped up after the ITT, it got turned on its head. Quite unexpected. And having lost Yates due to a crash as well.

But today's Hafeet climb was probably one of the most exiting ones, especially with GC guys so close together. I was sure O'Connor had enough of a buffer, but what a ride by the young Belgian, hats off. Is Van Eetvelt the new Remco now?

 

[tobydawq]

While the English language ones were awarding it to Van Eetvelt before the others finished, therefore not knowing what bonuses O'Connor might have got (2nd would have given him the win on countback)

It would not have been countback that was the decider, though.

 

[tobydawq]

You should take a look at the Burgos stage in '20, when Evenepoel won on Picon Blanco. There were echelons before that, but everything came back together before the climb. A lot of climbers completely blew up on the climb and lost minutes. Kuss, Gaudu, Bilbao, Mas, Majka, Sosa completely blew up and lost somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.

Two independent mentions of that stage on the same day in the same thread 3 and a half years later just shows that it was the most important stage in cycling in this millennium.

 

[Walter1234]

Dutch eurosport dude never finished grade school it seems.

Was funny; even when the final GC result was shown, they claimed it must be a mistake. It came to them very, very slowly...

 

[Rob5091]

You should take a look at the Burgos stage in '20, when Evenepoel won on Picon Blanco. There were echelons before that, but everything came back together before the climb. A lot of climbers completely blew up on the climb and lost minutes. Kuss, Gaudu, Bilbao, Mas, Majka, Sosa completely blew up and lost somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.

Just proves they were chumps then and chumps today.

Is Van Eetvelt the new Remco now?

Who's Remco?