S*** Small Races 2024
Comments
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Maybe ....
"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 pm0 -
He is most likely a tier 3 GC contender and is performing like a tier 3 GC contender.
And since everyone loves these lists 😉 :
Tier 1: Vingegaard, Pogacar, Remco, Roglic
Tier 2: Bernal (case can be made it's only Bernal), Kuss
Tier 3: TGH, Carapaz, Hindley, Simon Yates (mainly because he seems to get sick a lot), Adam Yates, Mas
Tier 4: Vlasov, Almeida (can't follow moves, must ride his own pace), Ayuso (age), Gaudu
PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 20230 -
Thomas?
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Tier 2 all going well, Tier 3 most likely. He won't beat those in Tier 1 and has beaten everyone else.
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.0 -
Was handed a musette full of pride.
Tier 3 for me at the moment.
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Cake is just weakness entering the body0 -
Struggling to see Bernal as Tier 2 at present. He does seem to be steadily regaining form but he's nowhere near the top so far and significantly behind Kuss I would argue. Hopefully he does get back but it's going to be a long journey.
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There's a lot of recency bias in that list. How Mas can be Tier 3 is beyond me, he's never looked like he can win a GT and makes Almeida look dynamic.
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Forgot him. Probably tier 2 on his current very best form, but more realistically tier 3. Agree with @pblakeney
Bernal tier 2 is entirely about him getting back close to his old self (his absolute old self could very well be tier 1). If he does a Froome, talking about things getting better all the time and "this and that is giving him hope" etc. then he is tier 4.
@andyp I'm absolutely willing to concede the point, that Mas isn't better than Almeida. Could just as well be tier 4. If only those two race a GT, I'd probably pick Mas over Almeida and feel bad about it for 3 weeks.
PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 20230 -
Bernal is tier N+1 . Simply not a GC contender.
Tier 2 should be removed and everyonr in tier 3 gets a promotion
"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 pm0 -
It's a bit of a moot point in reality. If you don't have one of the four top guys, you mostly don't win if they ride the GT in question, with only Kuss being the exception that comes to mind and which is also the strongest point on why he is in tier 2 above the others despite not always wanting to contend.
PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 20230 -
Carapaz hindley kuss and tao have won a GT
"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 pm0 -
Only Kuss won that GT with one of the tier 1 riders present and finishing (without getting sick, crashing etc.) with the exception of Carapaz' Giro win which is also almost 5 years ago and just prior to Roglic's prime beginning.
PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 20230 -
Thomas and evenepoel are a distance behind the top 3, but a distance ahead of the rest. They're the only 2 tier 2.
"Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago1 -
That's quite an eye widening margin of victory and podium sweep for UAE there. Were there restrictions on machinery allowed for this stage?
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Cake is just weakness entering the body0 -
I wouldn't class either of the top 2 as TT'ers either
"Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago0 -
Agree, I thought it was Ineos' best chance to break their duck for the season, as long as Foss could beat Cavagna.
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Cake is just weakness entering the body0 -
McNulty came fourth in the world champs TT.
Didn't look to be any restrictions on what they could use, but I'd assume Team UAE have trained on the course more than most.
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Not sure how much training needs to be done for a 6 min course. McNulty is probably just an underrated time trialist.
PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 20230 -
Underrated...? He was the 2016 Junior World TT champion and came 4th in Worlds last year!
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McNulty clocked 13:27 for this 6 minute course.
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Yates packs at UAE , after effects of a crash
"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 pm0 -
Very effective team work from Decathlon-AG2R in the UAE Tour. Prodhomme softened up the group, then Paret-Peintre attacked hard at 1.2 kms to go with Ben O'Connor on his wheel, opened up a gap and then O'Connor maintained that gap to the line to win by 5 seconds.
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Oops sorry. Must have gotten my numbers jumbled somewhere.
PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 20230 -
Was disturbed to read that after complaining about a headache, it was then left to Yates to decide whether or not to abandon.
Hopefully, something's got lost in translation there.
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Cake is just weakness entering the body1 -
Gran Camino can't get a full race in again - opening tt is now on road bikes, and won't count for the gc.
I assume the weather is genuinely disruptive this time, not like last year.
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I'm assuming it's related to high winds. Live picture suggest it's sunny, but there does seem to be some wind pick up on the mics
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Definitely - the pictures they showed at the start of the broadcast were of race stuff blown over.
Not sure why that should take it out of the GC though.
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Looks like Tarling is about to secure Ineos’ first win of the season.
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Probably because they've attracted a really good GC line-up and they want them to come back again next year as well. It looked pretty dodgy to me earlier, and a lot of the route was right on the coast, completely unsheltered from the Westerly. The GC teams might well have organised a boycott if it had gone ahead. AS it was they rode on road bikes, and there were places where deep rims looked like a pretty bad idea
Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Yep, 42 seconds clear of second
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