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Would he be happy playing second fiddle to Bernal? If not, he could be off to ride for another team, now that would be interesting.
Have always thought Froome should try and win it with another team and that would cement his status as a great rider... bit like Mick Doohan and Honda in 500cc GPs years ago... could he have done it on a different bike?
Pleased to see Kruiswijk on the podium... some overdue success since that crash on the Gavia.
Would be nice for him to have a bit of Pinot’s panache, or for Pinot to have a bit of Kruijswijk’s resilience
Also agree with sympathy for George Bennett and bottle-fetching... I love the fact that he’s christened his bike Shadowfax on Strava too!
Have always thought Froome should try and win it with another team and that would cement his status as a great rider…
I don’t think he’d be able to do it with another team. Neither would G. Whatever Ineos/Sky do to prepare their riders is way above what other teams are doing. I’m not saying they could turn a cart-horse into a thoroughbred, but maybe Dan Martin should ask for a job. 😂
Lot of interesting viewpoints there, some bits I agree with and some points surprise me. personaly, I thought this years' race was excellent. Alan Philip was fab, I've been a fan for some time now and he not only lived up to expectations, he exceeded them. Numerous other also lived up to expectations, although in many case the expectation was "won't do much at all" and that was proved to be the case 0 I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about.
Adam yates was not on form, Simon seemed to be carrying better form after the Giro and as a result I'm undecided whether he'll going to smash the Vuelta or crumple
Great to see Egan go, and G to be so gracious in supporting him. Like others, I wonder if the decision had actually been made quite some time before it became obvious on the road.
I thought the weather changes were great, it underlined how the teams tactics of "give it all on the last climb" don't always work.
i think it might be time to start a Vuelta preview thread. Sivakov vs Roglic vs DuMoulin vs Yates?
Adam yates was not on form, Simon seemed to be carrying better form after the Giro and as a result I’m undecided whether he’ll going to smash the Vuelta or crumple
I’ve got to wonder about Mitchelton Scott’s coaching staff & what they do so the riders hit form at the right time. Do they taper, do they go to altitude close to the start; do they ramp up intensity but reduce miles... whatever it is isn’t working this year. Simon only looked good after a week of doing bog all but riding at the back of the peloton; by mid week two he was well rested and was meant to support his brother as a super domestique. Was this following some hard “training” at the Giro?
However, I think Adam detrained during this time and lost his form. It seems that when one peaks the other doesn’t, yet the one who’s form is dipping seems to be the team leader at this point. It’s weird.
i think it might be time to start a Vuelta preview thread. Sivakov vs Roglic vs DuMoulin vs Yates?
Carapaz vs Landa vs Quitana vs Valverde - a sort of four horsemen of the Movistar tactical apocalypse 🙂
Lol, you half expect movistar to put an entire team of gc contenders in at some point and then just let them go.
would be amusing to watch
FDJ, well I was gutted for Pinot. Blimey if ever there was a Guy that breaks himself physically and mentally at this race its him. I called him fragile in the other thread, thats pretty harsh from me and I apologise. He’s a rider of the quality I like, a solid rouleur who can take on the main protagonists.. and I prefer that type of squad and the teams that ride around him.
Except that he is fragile. He's DNFed at six of the dozen GTs he's started and no fewer than four of the seven Tour de Frances. For perspective, Thomas has three DNFs in 15 starts, Froome three in 17 and Nibali three in 22. I don't think you need to apologise, the evidence backs it up.
You do kind of wonder about the way he deals with it. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this. I don’t understand,” Pinot told L’Équipe. “I’ve done seven Tours and had four abandons, when on other races, I never abandon. It only happens on Grand Tours, even though they are my races.”
I wonder if a different, more systematic team might be asking questions about his durability and looking at ways of improving it instead of just feeling it's all very unfair.
Don't get me wrong, he's clearly a brilliant rider, but he doesn't seem durable.
Egan Bernal got a congratulatory tweet from Shakira, which is kind of cool. The Colombian equivalent of an Aussie getting one from Kylie 🙂
https://twitter.com/shakira/status/1155600728607592449
Except that he is fragile
Best two week stage racer in France. Sadly. So wanted him to do it this year.
@bikebouy – you appear to have an issue with your apostrophe key
Yeah, sorry.
I wrote it in Word, I did notice that Word couldn't cope with ' . And clearly pasting it into this ere' box has had an effect by adding Span Style etc.
Soz..
Hope it didn't spoil your enjoyment of my critique..
🤡
🤠
The Colombian equivalent of an Aussie getting one from Kylie 🙂
Oh come on! It’s been 3 hours and no-one’s gone ‘Ooh-err missus’. Are you all too grown up? 😁