2024 pre-season chat

2

Comments

  • daniel_b
    daniel_b Posts: 12,116
    edited November 2023
    andyp said:

    Wout Van Aert to go for 2nd in GC at the Giro?

    FTFY ;-)
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660


    Woop woop
  • wakemalcolm
    wakemalcolm Posts: 1,000
    WvA reportedly not fancying the Giro GC anymore after seeing what's on the menu for the next 5 months.
    ================================
    Cake is just weakness entering the body
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660

    Not sure if it happened over the forum shutdown but Pog doing the Giro-Tour double at the expense of the classics is a real shame.


    My view is we lose out in both the classics and the Tour as he doesn’t attend one and will struggle with fatigue in the Tour - not least as Vingers has proven he is stronger than Pog in week three.


    The gap between the Giro and Tour is bigger than usual because of the Olympics - in fact exactly the same gap as when Pantani did the double in 1998…

  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,668

    The Tour is a week earlier than normal due to the Olympics, so are you sure the gap between the Giro and the Tour is bigger than usual? If so the Giro must be 2+ weeks earlier than normal.

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,779

    Random ramblings of an ageing mind...

    Maybe he is using the Giro as a training camp. If he happens to win so much the better.

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,596

    Are you sure? It looks like it's 5 weeks next year, which is the same as this past season.

  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,501

    Vingegaard's biggest safety net has been WVA in the Tour. The moment you lose time to Jonas, you're in big trouble because you cannot attack him from distance because he has WVA up the road to always tow him back to you.

    This leads to you having to put enormous effort from the beginning of the Tour to try and take time on him ahead of mountain TT's or the big mountain stages.

    With Wout not going to the Tour next year, it's the best opportunity Pogacar will have in a while to reclaim the Tour. Even if he feels he could beat him every year, Tours without WVA will be easier to win against Vingegaard than Tours with WVA riding for Jonas.

    Imho it's a big planning mistake that now might give Remco his best opportunity so far ever.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660

    Heard it on the cycling podcast

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,779
    edited December 2023

    Why debate it when Google is available?

    Giro d'Italia finishes on 26/05/2024, early.

    TdF starts 29/06/2024, early. Five weeks in-between.

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660

    And in 98?

  • wakemalcolm
    wakemalcolm Posts: 1,000

    At the moment he appears to be committed to 2 and a half monuments, so I think that talk of missing the classics is a bit off.

    Do you actually mean the cobbled classics in the way that a boomer might talk about the British Universities: both of them.

    ================================
    Cake is just weakness entering the body
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660

    Absolutely!

  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,494

    MVDP form going into the classics season is off the frickin' charts

    He's going to start every race as massive favourite

    We could be about to see something very special

    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • wakemalcolm
    wakemalcolm Posts: 1,000

    That's a bold prediction: 33 days to Het Volk nevermind the 'important' stuff.

    ================================
    Cake is just weakness entering the body
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,494

    Tell you what

    I'll be bolder.

    Accident or incident excepted he'll do the MSR, Roubaix, Flanders treble

    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,596

    That's two huge exceptions that cover pretty much everything.

  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,494

    He could ride into a lamppost.

    That does seem to slow him down momentarily

    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • I predicted this back in 2021 after he dropped that wattage bazooka at Strade Bianche. Considered putting a line on at the bookies and everything.

    Turns out winning all three is a lot harder than it looks 😂. As good as this generation of riders is I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if any of them won all 3 in a single season.

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,596

    To be fair to @tailwindhome (and MVDP) he placed 1st, 2nd and 1st in those three races last season.

  • Gee doing Giro and TDF this year, according to beeb.

    ================
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  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,632

    Do you mean going for the double (which hasn't been done since 1998)?

    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,779

    Going for a podium finish double more likely. Beat Pogacar and Vingegaard? Nah.

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,481

    Riding GC at the Giro and a support role at the Tour

  • daniel_b
    daniel_b Posts: 12,116

    Presumably for Carlos and Piddington.

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  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,940

    That would be quite the achievement.... Competitive in all 3 perhaps

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,501

    C'mon @mididoctors "Competitive in all 3" isn't really saying much. 😉

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,494

    Your sprinter making it over the Poggio is an 'incident', so I claim the win ;)

    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,725

    Honestly, I'd be inclined to give you that.

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,776

    Deserves a healthy....


    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver

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