• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2023, March 20-26

Page 71 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
You know Evenepoel is the Messiah when he can convert an entire forum that has been raging on wheelsuckers for over a decade, yelling at Valverde for being a negative rider, to suddenly be overjoyed that somebody is wheelsucking.

As for styles, I admire riders who ride for the win the best they can with the cards they have been dealt. I will never cheer for someone to be stupid.

That is the difference between Valverde and Rogla, even if it's more of a difference in degree than in kind.
 
I do not agree. He is payed to win races and not to gift away wins. Also, his team worked at the front quite hard and they all do get a bonus for a stage win, so going for the win is the only reasonable thing in my opinion. Also, I think this narative was started by the poor excuse of an analyst that is Brian Smith and it was only for that particular stage. Other times riders have been caught at the line and it is business as usual. Even Mäder himself said he needed to be better to win the stage, that is how it is in professional racing.
Horner was saying something about alliances and whatnot, maybe he had a point there seeing how it was Bahrain who eliminated Rogla at both TdF21 and Vuelta. But in all seriousness Rogla needed those seconds and I do not think anybody in the peloton was angry about his win.
Another thing is that is if you like a ultra attacking rider like Pog, he wins a lot as well. So he denies other of victories just as much as Rogla, if not even more.
Edit: Regarding your second point, I do not think the teams would have ridden differently in the last stage if Rogla gifted the win to Mäder. Bora sensed an opportunity to win the GC and other to move up on the podium and that was it. It was heartbreaking watching Rogla fight a losing battle, but that is why many of us like the guy so much.
I disagree with this narrative. But who is right? You? Me? Who knows? I seriously doubt, however, that Roglic's win came without consequences.
 
There’s a reason why people say how good it is to watch cycling in this era with the likes of Pogacar, WVA, MVDP, Pidcock and Remco. All of them would have taken turns even when they are in the lead, because they aren’t potatoes.

No, they wouldn't have. Plenty of examples. We saw one of those examples only one day ago, when Van Aert didn't take turns when Van Der Poel jumped on the Taaienberg.

What Roglic did was normal and taking turns would have been stupid. Roglic isn't stupid.


This isn’t a GT, this is a 1 week WT stage race, everyone will forget who won this in a couple of years because it’s not important.

This is one of the 7 big week stage races. Winning one of them is big and won't be forgotten easily.
Riders like Schachmann, Higuita, Betancur, Soler, Martinez ... will later only be remembered because they won one or two of the big 7 WT week stage races.

Roglic now has won 5 out of 7. Nobody has won 7 out of 7, and I think nobody even podiumed 7 out of 7.

An example of how important those 7 big week WT stage races are for cyclists: Richie Porte did Tirreno Adriatico last year hoping to become the first rider to podium all 7. (Unfortunately he just missed out on 3th place and was 4th.) Quintana podiumed 6 out of 7 (and took a stage win in al 7).
 
Remco Evenepoel after stage 6: "It's very nice to race against my idol because I really look up to him. It's very nice to race with a superstar like Primoz."

:D:D:D
He could learn thing or two from the real master, especially these last two stages. It's not very wise to ride like an idot all the time, he could use his head sometimes. He will need that, already in the near future...
But then I guess maybe they were right when they say footballers aren't the smartest people around...
 
No, they wouldn't have. Plenty of examples. We saw one of those examples only one day ago, when Van Aert didn't take turns when Van Der Poel jumped on the Taaienberg.

What Roglic did was normal and taking turns would have been stupid. Roglic isn't stupid.




This is one of the 7 big week stage races. Winning one of them is big and won't be forgotten easily.
Riders like Schachmann, Higuita, Betancur, Soler, Martinez ... will later only be remembered because they won one or two of the big 7 WT week stage races.

Roglic now has won 5 out of 7. Nobody has won 7 out of 7, and I think nobody even podiumed 7 out of 7.

An example of how important those 7 big week WT stage races are for cyclists: Richie Porte did Tirreno Adriatico last year hoping to become the first rider to podium all 7. (Unfortunately he just missed out on 3th place and was 4th.) Quintana podiumed 6 out of 7 (and took a stage win in al 7).

But they're not important to Berneice no matter what the Cycling World perceives as important. AFA stage racing goes they are only eclipsed by the 3 GTs. Not to mention the UCI points Roglic is racking up for his team :). But haters gotta hate...... They should go find a sport they enjoy, cycling is filled with long periods of boredom.
 
Lol as if I don’t understand why he doesn’t take a turn. That’s not the point. I watch cycling for entertainment. There’s a reason why people say how good it is to watch cycling in this era with the likes of Pogacar, WVA, MVDP, Pidcock and Remco. All of them would have taken turns even when they are in the lead, because they aren’t potatoes. This isn’t a GT, this is a 1 week WT stage race, everyone will forget who won this in a couple of years because it’s not important. We watch this for entertainment, and Roglic is boring
This says alot about how you'd want the event to play out more than reality.
The only thing that may satisfy some fans is a 3 week race with nothing but time trials. Then, maybe then their fancrush will be fulfilled. Except that Wout would win that.
 
So now we are rooting for nothing to happen in a race :'). Why even view?
So who is rooting for that? You just defined what you found entertaining.

If you were in that race or had been before and found yourself in the jersey; what would you do? Unless there was some hill or super-technical course element that would allow an attack that could generate a gap you'd be best advised to save energy until an opportunity or threat occurred. Remco attacked and could not get that gap. That means he was not strong enough. It was exciting to see the tension play out.

By the way; I admire both riders. Having put some miles into racing there is an appreciation for the long, subtle stage race game. It's not always smash-mouth ego attacks. If you're going to be successful over a long time you'd better have depth to skills. Predictability is a liability.
 
So who is rooting for that? You just defined what you found entertaining.

If you were in that race or had been before and found yourself in the jersey; what would you do? Unless there was some hill or super-technical course element that would allow an attack that could generate a gap you'd be best advised to save energy until an opportunity or threat occurred. Remco attacked and could not get that gap. That means he was not strong enough. It was exciting to see the tension play out.

By the way; I admire both riders. Having put some miles into racing there is an appreciation for the long, subtle stage race game. It's not always smash-mouth ego attacks. If you're going to be successful over a long time you'd better have depth to skills. Predictability is a liability.

Carols, Blanco because the moment Remco attacks and can't drop Roglic, he should stop. use his brains. ergo --> this stage would have become nothing fun.

Previous climb stage? same story Remo pulls to long, not using brains. should have stopped
The Vallter stage? same thing, Remco pacing way to long should not have attacked and just wait for the final km.

In all these cases, its about using brains to wait for the sprint and do as little as possible. This is the fancrush of the supporters of Roglic.

The others who fancrushing (like me) enjoy people going for the win. try things, play around. If it doesn't work it you are called stupid, if it works out its called brilliance. But at least i enjoyed/went up in the stage.


While some are saying you race to win, that is true in some form. But in fact sports is a play used to entertain people. The sponsorship are because people watch a sport because it is entertaining.
Just imagine if MSR without any climb at the end, just 300km and a sprint. People are now already skipping the first 275km
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: noob

Latest posts