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162 comments
Used his head in the sprint.
Just can’t get away with that anymore. I remember years ago when sprints used to be spread into two on both sides of the road against the railings in an attempt to reduce the barraging. Didn’t work. Dangerous times back then.
Using your head to push is now a big No No. Walscheid should know better.
I can understand why Bouhanni did it becuase he is relatively short and rather than go shoulder to shoulder he had to go head to shoulder with the taller sprinters.
IMO they need to introduce rules for lead out riders, they are increasingly changing line & speed during the sprint to block rival sprinters. Sooner or later this will cause a big crash.
Yes they are...which brings us back to the days when sprints had routinely more contact...the best way to try and stay safe was to use the other side of the road, leading to two sprints in effect. Now it's just one big mash up.
Aaaaand I'm back. Thanks Tony for holding the fort, updates should come much faster now (until I go on holiday again....)
Should go more often....you're doing well.
I hadn't realised the quality of the breakaway riders in this one...really strong. Tomorrow could see quite a few try to show their hand.
Who do we fancy for it?...Rodriquez, Rodriguez, Mate, TDG, Edet, Madraza, Herrada and on and on...it could get messy.
Glad I resisted the extra transfer yesterday for another sprinter. Would very likely have been Degenkolb I'd have brought in. Thrums and Degenkolb playing the Hokey Cokey make them difficult picks.
Just in case you are wondering why the scores are so late; you have to wait for the sun to come up Down Under.
I don't know what has happened to Andy.
On holiday by the looks of the other thread.
First Sprint Stage
BENNETT Sam
LOPEZ
GAVIRIA
JAKOBSEN
WALSCHEID
BAUHAUS
SARREAU
MEZGEC
I thought Bennett looked to be suffering yesterday so not sure how he will perform today.
Interestingly the water was not on the road when Astana went through exactly the same spot 18 minutes earlier than Jumbo. (I checked the video). Reminiscent of the incident when Cadel Evans rode through the tacks on the road.
Marshall's were waving flags ahead of the water, so they were warned and the teams behind them got through the same spot OK.
However, Jumbo riders have a history of crashing in damp conditions in time trials. Something to do with their tyres perhaps.
Eurosport footage of the UAE crash (onboard) shows that the water wasn't on the corner where they crashed but a few yards on. So it wasn't like hitting ice and going down. And it wasn't a big patch of water. Just goes to show how much on the limit they're riding
The water was before the crash, in both cases it looks like one rider going on to the white line after the water loses control and takes his team mates out. Damp tyres, white lines on an ITT bike in a corner at high speed = crash.
I think both teams use the same type of tyre too.
Well that was a bit kak. Put a lot of eggs in the Jumbo, Ineos and Quick step baskets.
The only way is up now.
I made my normal mistake of underestimating Quickstep in the TTT.
Hopefully Gilbert doesn't follow it up wityh a win today.
Bennett & Lopez in for Roglic & Powless.
BENNETT Sam
LOPEZ
VALVERDE
URAN
WALSCHEID
GEOGHEGAN HART
SARREAU
FRAILE
Very annoying, I knew Roglic was going to attack today, but couldn't find a way of keeping him in my team and bringing Lopez in without making too many changes.
My standard team for stage 1 -
ROGLIC
POWLESS
VALVERDE
URAN
WALSCHEID
GEOGHEGAN HART
SARREAU
FRAILE
Hoping for a surprise from Groupama FDJ today.
My purist team -
ROGLIC
LOPEZ
VALVERDE
BENNETT Sam
FORMOLO
MEZGEC
LATOUR
GESINK
Fancied Fraile & Aranburu but went with Mezgec & Gesink
Hmmm, I picked Gesink thinking he would score 20 points today.
Fraile to win tomorrow with Aranburu 2nd ?
Jesper Hansen now on. Seems he dodged the valuing process.
Quite amazing that, after Bernal’s success, a 20 year old Pogacar should be quite so fancied to do well in the Vuelta. The times really are changing.
Undoubtedly Pogacar is very talented but he has never done a GT before and hasn't done a race with lots of hard climbing. Bernal had done a lot more serious racing before winning the TdF and is 2 years older, expecting Pogacar to do well in GC is a bit premature, imo.
He may have won in Algarve and California but there wasn't any 'difficult' climbing in either and there wasn't a lot of serious competition in either race. Kragh Andersen was 2nd in Algarve and Asgreen 3rd in California, neither of whom are exactly GC candidates.
Yeah.....He’s picked his moments and taken them well. My point was just the fact he can be held in such high regard at such a young age is an achievement in itself. We seem to be in the middle of a real collection of new young riders coming through from every direction.
Pogacar has been amazing, particularly when you consider that his team crashed in the TTT losing him loads of time & that he has had virtually no support whatsoever in the mountains.
Bring on Bernal v Pogacar next season.
Fortunately I managed to ignore your earlier comments for my purist team..but actually I had the same thoughts myself...almost too good to be true really, he really has bucked the norm. I didn’t finish picking my team and was going to take him out along with Gaviria...but something happened and I was late doing it. Also missed doing my Spain team as well.
Next season it will be interesting to see which GTs different riders are doing.
I can see Pogacar doing the Giro and challenging.
What do Ineos do? Does Bernal defend the TdF, do they send Froome & Thomas to support him? What races will Carapaz do ? Will TGH and Sivakov have to take a back seat ? What about Sosa & Dunbar? Will Kwiatowski get the message that he isn't seen as a GT rider at Ineos ?
What have JumboVisma promised Dumoulin ? Roglic surely merits leading the team at the TdF.
So many unknowns...and all quite exciting. I think we also have to factor in that one or two top riders may now be coming to the end of their time. Quintana struggles with consistency, Valverde May pop in very short order, Froome may struggle to recover as a dominant force, Thomas may have another winter on the mince pies...all sorts of stuff.
Everywhere I look I see young riders lighting it up.
It is brilliantly refreshing too, the young riders appear to have a very different mentality and are prepared to attack much more readily than the older riders.
The World Championship race should be very interesting to see how the different teams race against MVDP.
I may as well have missed doing the Spain team too.
Fraile, Mate & Nieve have managed to do pretty much nothing.
Not sure what happened with Mate, he hasn't hit a break all race.
Is the transfer window really closing at 11am tomorrow ? I only ask because the stage doesn’t begin until just before 6pm and that will leave me 6+ hours to fret over who in my team is going to stack it in the recon rides!
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