79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 10/16/2020 11:58 AM |
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On a lighter note - at least one thing is right in this crazy world. It's Classics time and D-QS is ruling like it should. (Now, the 3-week Tours are happening in the middle of the Classics - what? So they are stuck with a D-QS team that hasn't burned out yet, hasn't gone into mid-summer semi-rest mode to focus on the Worlds.)
Quick Step has been getting two, sometimes more, riders into the top 10 in almost every race and jersey contest out there. We are half way through the Giro and has anybody else worn the magliia rosa? (Probably hammered that spelling  ) Almeida is riding very well. His team support - world class.
They are also staying out of controversy and (seemingly anyway) staying healthy. Seems that Belgian window outfit picked a winner to sink its capital into. I still doubt money sunk into bike squads leads to that amount of $$s more window sales but if you have a little money to burn, love pro cycling and are Belgian to the core, I"m betting no regrets! (They even ride outfits that are not hard to spot and look quite nice.)
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/16/2020 12:17 PM |
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Almeida has certainly made his stint in pink a memorable one. Let's see how long he lasts. I think he will ultimately get ground down in high mountains but he's given DQS a good run.
Other than that DQS have hardly ruled the classics. van Aert won MSR and Strada. Fuglslang won Lombardia, Roglic won LBL, Hirschi won Fleche, Ewan in Schelde, Pedersen won Gent (and he has really shown this year that his worlds win was not a fluke). DQS have the one win from JA. The schmorgasboard of different winners is actually quite nice and a long list of candidates for Ronde. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/16/2020 12:19 PM |
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So Matthews has now twice tested negative but the experts are still not willing to call the one positive result a false positive. Such are the challenges we're dealing with with this virus. Tested three times but still not quite sure.
It sounds like they did some comprehensive testing yesterday but no further positives so perhaps they can keep things in check despite the early challenges. Fingers crossed. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 10/16/2020 10:46 PM |
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| Almeida May end up taking this all the way through 1) revised mountain stages due to snow in the mountains, or 2) a premature COVID ending to the race, or both. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 10/17/2020 08:33 AM |
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Ganna is a beast.
That is all. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/17/2020 07:30 PM |
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We already knew that Almeida could TT. Tomorrow we will learn how durable he is in mountains. If memory serves he did shed time in previous hilltop finish and it is going to get much harder.
Let the Giro begin, finally. Too bad all my podium picks are already gone. I do have feeling that Giro will finish, my impression is that main Covid challenge (for race at least) is in rear view mirror. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/18/2020 09:14 AM |
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| Almeida sure knows how to make faces when in pain. Haha. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/18/2020 09:31 AM |
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| Good day for Kelderman. Hindley actually looks like better climber. Another youngster to keep an eye on. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 10/18/2020 08:45 PM |
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Almeida did the jersey proud today.
Great stage...nice to get away from the now-standard “wait until the last 500m to grab a few seconds”. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/21/2020 05:27 PM |
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Today was not a particularly interesting finish climb.
Kelderman has two more hard stages to make it stick. But the longer the race wears on the more I am rooting for Almeida. The kid may have a bit of a future (although certainly he is not at level of Evenepoel, Pogacar or Roglic) while a Kelderman would just be one of those one-offs (like Porte finally making TDF podium). Its huge for the guys but otherwise forgetful. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 10/21/2020 06:01 PM |
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| Agreed....unfortunately the Giro has been a bit of a snoozefest, as a whole. A couple of decent stages, but overall a lot of "meh"... |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 10/21/2020 06:19 PM |
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| But fortunately after the boring Giro stage, over to the Vuelta, which again was interesting today. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/21/2020 06:32 PM |
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Agreed on it being a meh route this year. But the Giro was also certainly victim to losing a lot of contenders that would have made it more interesting early on, Thomas, Yates, Vlasov (he already looked better today in Vuelta than yesterday so may start factoring), Kruijswijk (he actually developed mild Covid symptoms so the decision to pull was wise; talked about how it was eerie to completely lose taste). This was my entire podium plus Yates.
Nibali has admitted to being surpassed by the youngsters. Now he is reduced to stoking the Sunweb fire. "If Hindley goes then Kelderman blows". Haha.
Fuglslang is just not interesting as a GC rider; he should stick to classics and week long races. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/22/2020 09:32 AM |
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Kelderman gets to wear pink but looked more shattered than happy. Nibalis words were pretty accurate.
Hart could still win Giro as he TTs way better than Hindley.
Perhaps Sunweb should have Hindley attack on Saturday to get a buffer.
Good racing today. Almeida is finally done. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 10/22/2020 10:40 AM |
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Still, a good show by Almeida. Did the jersey right and didn't disgrace with his fall from the podium. I had hopes he would hang on, but also knew without incredible luck or really good PEDs, not going to happen. I hope to see a lot more of him. (The needed luck being that all who by rights should put minutes on him had really bad days. A lot to ask.)
Fun having another good young rider. I like that he is a quiet one. Over in the Vuelta is another, the American Sepp Kuss. To balance out the van de Poels, van Aerts, Evenepoels. |
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