Hey everyone!
wanted to get some discussion started about the TDF. What do yo think? Is Roglic’s win a fact? do you think there’ll be any upsets?
As a Colombian, just had a rough day seeing Bernal crash and burn, but he’ll come back strong, and we still have two guys in the top ten. Can’t complain.
Jumbo’s dominance is quite impressive, though! I don’t remember seeing anything like that in recent years.
What do you think?
I have been keeping up with the tour. I think Jumbo paid for a solid team and has foresight to see where riders should be instead of where they want to be. That being said, I think everyone is seeing the real Bernal; he is still young and has a lot to learn. He had a phenomenal team around him last year which I think made him appear better than maybe he really is attributed with individually. This year’s tour though has been pretty wild with young talent cracking out of their eggs all over the place and it has been a great to watch. Some one I know I now have my eye is Hirschi from Sunweb. Wow, what a performance this guy has been putting on rather regularly. Unfortunately, I do expect him to finish in a jersey but maybe there is next year for him.
I really think the next couple of Tours are going to be quite fascinating because I think what we are starting to see is the sunset on some very famous careers.
Agree, pretty impressive stuff coming from Sunweb.
I love how aggressive Pogacar is, but I doubt he has a real shot at first place, even if he’s in better shape than Roglic. His team is nowhere as good.
What about Wout van Aert? that guy can do everything well!
I’ve been interested to see how the enforced change in training over lockdown has affected the riders.
Some of the older guys, Alaphilippe certainly, seem to have lost a bit of power for a second or third push in a race.
Some of the young guns, Bernal et al, have certainly been shown up as their team isn’t quite as strong to control the race.
Jumbo Visma have a good strong team and a leader who seems to be controlling things nicely. Whatever Wout Van Aert Has been doing or eating…seems to be working!
It’s certainly a change of the guard this year.
It is indeed interesting. I have seen the beast rides Bernal did during lockdown (+200km almost every day). Some commentators think he overdid it.
Too bad about Alaphillipe. It was expected for him to lose the yellow jersey, but it was sad to see him lose it over receiving a bidon!
Yeah, I’ve heard interviews with a few of the riders and they seem to be saying how impressed they have been with the high intensity stuff during lock down and then how quickly the endurance came back with less longer rides, the opposite of what Bernal did…
The domination of Jumbo is very impressive. They seem to have all the answers and strong riders on their team. They are controlling the peleton like Team Sky/Ineos did for the last several years.
I was surprised to see Bernal exit the race as well as Sagan struggling for wins. That said Sam Bennett looks really strong.
I know this isn’t his year for a win but Wout Van Aert is amazingly strong. Maybe next year his team will ride for him.
Yes, definitely some changes. The arrival of new faces will definitely make the following years so interesting: Pogacar, Kuss, Evenepoel, Van Aert, Martinez, Van der Poel, Hirschi, the list is long. Exciting times!
I guess since the TDF seems set already, we’ll have to look forward to the Worlds and the Giro now. This compressed season has been such a treat to watch.