79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/09/2020 07:08 PM |
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My favorite, Quintana,looked good today at l'Ain. Could this be his year? Seemed to have little trouble stay8ng in the lead group with little support on the final climb. CyclingNews talked of him looking "comfortable" throughout.
I wonder if COVID and his training crash have simplified his life and training and eliminated distractions for him. Seems he is right where he should be to be peaking in a month. He won't have the old Movistar engines (that didn't always pull for him), Ineos should be up to speed and Jumbo is already there, but Quintana has shown that when the fire is there he can do a lot alone. I'm probably dreaming yet again, but that would make my summer! Now if he had to accept one of those young Belgian's being on fire. well that's not all bad. And a French wonder - always welcome (even on a Belgian team)! I have no special love for Roglic but he seems both the real deal and a class act. (Likewise his team.) |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/10/2020 10:55 AM |
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Deceuninck-Quick-Step and Evenepoel. Yesterday's ride. The ride for Fabio Jakobsen. Reminds me of LA's ride two days after his teammate died. I got to watch LA do that long breakaway on a classic mid-summer TdF day with the fields of wheat, sunflower and the old roads lined with trees while sitting in a laid back armchair, donating platelets. (Watching LA at his best (as a person). Too bad we didn't see more of that.)
Evenepoel's ride - race smarts way out of line for a 20 yo! That looked like a seasoned Contador. 50 km to go. Ineos cooked. Bernal with almost no support. Other teams aren't gong to want to help. Time to go. (Did I say 50 km to go? Not a problem.)
Deceuninck-Quick-Step is off to quite a start. Of course, they are really playing catch-up. 20 wins by mid-April is the Q-S norm. The biggest in April, So they gotta do what they gotta do in this odd new world! Still it's odd to see them so dominant in August.
Yes, racing is back. Good racing is back. Hope it can stay.
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/10/2020 03:09 PM |
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I was actually a bit disappointed by Quintana yesterday. Yes, he looked good but once again he was just surfing wheels and no attempt at an attack.
Sure it was just a training race, and he had some minor knee issues from the recent incident that cost him some training time, but it wasn't same on fire Quintana as we saw in spring.
As Roglic always says "we will see". |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 10/10/2020 05:59 PM |
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August 3rd, "Racing is back!" October 10th, 4 positives in the World Tour ranks - Simon Yates; the Giro,
Jan Bakelants. Circus-Wanty Gobert is out before Brabantse Pijl and his friend, Tiesj Benoot, Sunweb before Gent-Wevelgem and Kirsten Wild; Sunweb for the woman's race.
I don't like saying this but it is time to shut down pro racing. 4 today, 12 next week (I'm betting half those will not be made public) and a black flag on racing by the end of the Giro. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/10/2020 06:10 PM |
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Giro will test entire peloton tomorrow. That’ll provide a decision point instead of jumping to conclusions. If there are more cases then yes that’s a big red flag but if there’s none then proceed as is.
Cases are on rise in Europe so positives are no surprise but it may not be related to racing and Belgians are uncorrelated to Yates. We can’t lump these together without knowing respective causes. As far as I’m concerned the Yates case is worrisome given that he’s supposed to be in a bubble, the other cases much less so as long as they don’t show up at a race. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/10/2020 07:42 PM |
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Also Benoot isn’t a confirmed positive. He was in contact with Bakeland but has yet to be tested. He’s self isolating as a precaution.
But there’s an entire women’s team (Ale) not starting tomorrow because someone inside their bubble tested positive. Wild tested positive before joining the Sunweb team bubble so that doesn’t affect their participation.
It’s a thin wire. Let’s see if it holds till end of Giro and de Ronde. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 10/13/2020 03:50 PM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 10/10/2020 06:10 PM
Giro will test entire peloton tomorrow. That’ll provide a decision point instead of jumping to conclusions. If there are more cases then yes that’s a big red flag but if there’s none then proceed as is.
Cases are on rise in Europe so positives are no surprise but it may not be related to racing and Belgians are uncorrelated to Yates. We can’t lump these together without knowing respective causes. As far as I’m concerned the Yates case is worrisome given that he’s supposed to be in a bubble, the other cases much less so as long as they don’t show up at a race.
Sadly, my gut and prediction seem to be not too far off. Riders, staff and two teams out. Another six or eight by Thursday between the Giro and classics? I'm not betting against.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/13/2020 06:27 PM |
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Yes Giro is in trouble. The Yates case being worrisome was clearly confirmed.
As to the two remaining classics, not worried about those aside from the spectating aspect. The main concern will be crowd control. Flanders Classics has been sending out pretty strong messaging to general public over last two weeks. Follow spectating rules, then there will be a race. Don't follow them, then race is off. Hopefully the Belgian fans will listen.https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-of-flanders-to-prohibit-spectators-on-all-key-climbs-cobbled-sectors/ |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/13/2020 06:31 PM |
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| Oh...and hopefully tomorrow Cavendish will get a resounding send off as it is liable to be his last race. |
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