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Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta 2020, Portugal, February 19 - February 23

Page 16 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Regarding Kwiatkowski.

I guess the worrying part is that he is usually in great form early in the season and through most of the spring. Then switching to a domestic role in the Tour. A couple of seasons he has also been able to also make some results in the fall.

Now he has to chase form though, it seems like...

He really hit the wall last year and he sounded optimistic in an interview before the season that he had taken some time off etc. That he was now motivated and felt better... but if you know people that has hit the wall or been burned out etc. It takes a lot more time than maybe a few months.

He still at a high level and maybe it is as simple as that he just need some races to get into shape, since he hasnt raced the Tour. Valenciana and Algarve are his first races back from that. Then again, these are the first races for most riders this season.

Maybe my point is that it is still early to say if he will have a season similar to last, but if he doesnt get any results this spring that will be noteworthy, maybe it will be worse.
 
Disappointing to be a World Champion tbh.

How so? He won races like San Remo, Tirreno, Strade (twice), Amstel, E3, San Sebastian, ...

Certainly more than Rui Costa, Ballan, Astarloa, Vainsteins or Brochard and is probably already equal to Camenzind in terms of big wins. But lets not forget current World Champion Mads Pedersen who won the mighty Tour of Denmark as his biggest accomplishment so far. Are all of these not worthy enough either?
 
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How so? He won races like San Remo, Tirreno, Strade (twice), Amstel, E3, San Sebastian, ...

Certainly more than Rui Costa, Ballan, Astarloa, Vainsteins or Brochard and is probably already equal to Camenzind in terms of big wins. But lets not forget current World Champion Mads Pedersen who won the mighty Tour of Denmark as his biggest accomplishment so far. Are all of these not worthy enough either?

I think he was being sarcastic with that comment towards the poster that said he hasnt been impressed by MK, since he joined this forum. When in fact he has won all those things you mentioned, while being a former WC.
 
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Could Leknessund and Van Wilder get into the top 20 with the ITT?
Both finished in the top 10 of the ECC U23 in Alkmaar.

Overall standings:

 
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@Joelsim that Lopez loses seconds on punchy finishes is mostly because of god awful positioning or other funky stuff. He doesn't really lack punch, as proven by his prologue up the climb in Emilia in the Giro last year.
This time the field was already pretty thinned out so no issues positioning.
I’ll have to disagree with you on this one. Whenever there’s a small group of 4 or 5 top riders at the end of a stage, MAL pretty much finishes last of the bunch on every occasion. He can pull away and keep a lead at tempo, but he has no sprint at all.
 
It is not an automatic win for Remco, but he should have a really good chance. Since he also riding for the overall.

Lampaert, Ludvigsson, Dennis, Mullen, Bjerg and Leknessund if they have a good day.

Schachmann will be good too I think.

You never know with a guy like Wellens either. He 20 seconds back on the overall but he can do well in ITTs. He won two last year tbf.

Wouldnt be surprised if Costa does really well either. He has a chance of a great result in his home race and seems to be in great form.
 
It is not an automatic win for Remco, but he should have a really good chance. Since he also riding for the overall.

Lampaert, Ludvigsson, Dennis, Mullen, Bjerg and Leknessund if they have a good day.

Schachmann will be good too I think.

You never know with a guy like Wellens either. He 20 seconds back on the overall but he can do well in ITTs. He won two last year tbf.

Wouldnt be surprised if Costa does really well either. He has a chance of a great result in his home race and seems to be in great form.
Bjerg and Leknessund are among the best U23 ITT'ers, but so fare have not shown anything to indicate they could come close. Bjerg only seems to be able to peak one time per year (towards the WCC) and has been stacking subpar performances for the past two years, outside of that time of the year. Leknessund lost a minute and a half to Evenepoel in Alkmaar over 20km. I can see them in the top 10, but i can't imagine either of them coming close enough to Evenepoel or whoever beats him. I did read somewhere (maybe on this forum) that Leknessund was focusing on the ITT here, so he'll likely finish closer though.
 
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Bjerg and Leknessund are among the best U23 ITT'ers, but so fare have not shown anything to indicate they could come close. Bjerg only seems to be able to peak one time per year (towards the WCC) and has been stacking subpar performances for the past two years, outside of that time of the year. Leknessund lost a minute and a half to Evenepoel in Alkmaar over 20km. I can see them in the top 10, but i can't imagine either of them coming close enough to Evenepoel or whoever beats him. I did read somewhere (maybe on this forum) that Leknessund was focusing on the ITT here, so he'll likely finish closer though.

OK. Yes, they might not come close today. But they was among the names, when I looked through the startlist, that at least have potential to rival Remco. Unless Remco just win as most expect, me included. And thats all I said, happy? Good.
 
Bjerg and Leknessund are among the best U23 ITT'ers, but so fare have not shown anything to indicate they could come close. Bjerg only seems to be able to peak one time per year (towards the WCC) and has been stacking subpar performances for the past two years, outside of that time of the year. Leknessund lost a minute and a half to Evenepoel in Alkmaar over 20km. I can see them in the top 10, but i can't imagine either of them coming close enough to Evenepoel or whoever beats him. I did read somewhere (maybe on this forum) that Leknessund was focusing on the ITT here, so he'll likely finish closer though.
Bjerg has somewhat of an alibi, not knowing what he is or what he wants. In three years he's changed his mind three times. First he wanted to be a time trialist, then he wanted to shift more towards a GC-rider, which I thought he did pretty well, and now he's let go of that idea already as well. João Almeida on the other hand isn't very good in standalone time trials, but in stage races he's proven to be a very good time trialist. He should have won the Girobio due to said time trial if not for Vlasov commending the Russian team to go berserk after a big crash.
 
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OK. Yes, they might not come close today. But they was among the names, when I looked through the startlist, that at least have potential to rival Remco. Unless Remco just win as most expect, me included. And thats all I said, happy? Good.
WTF is your problem? All i said is that those two will very likely not come close enough for the win because even though they are among the best U23 ITT'ers, the gap is still too large.

Bjerg has somewhat of an alibi, not knowing what he is or what he wants. In three years he's changed his mind three times. First he wanted to be a time trialist, then he wanted to shift more towards a GC-rider, which I thought he did pretty well, and now he's let go of that idea already as well. João Almeida on the other hand isn't very good in standalone time trials, but in stage races he's proven to be a very good time trialist. He should have won the Girobio due to said time trial if not for Vlasov commending the Russian team to go berserk after a big crash.
Bjerg has also announced and changed his mind a few times about attacking the World Hour Record, but he always seemed to be on form during the WCC. Almeida was also on my imaginary list to do well here. I also mentioned Van Wilder a bit higher, he'll be motivated. I think a top 20 would be good for him.
 
I think Dennis wants to show that he is the better time trial rider then Evenepoel. I would be surprised if he doesn't get second or first.

Also, did he rest up yesterday while Evenepoel was pushing 1100 watts trying to stay with superman? That could play into it. Going on San Juan ITT however, me thinks Remco could squeeze by even Dennis and destroy the likes of many others.
 
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