As soon as Aerts bobbled on the 2nd lap and opened a 2-second gap, I started just skipping forward. Nice job cleaning up the remains by Sweeck, though.

Wait, what are you talking about? I saw Mein beat Mason. No Pidcock or Turner in sight.

Right. Sans. Without Pidcock or Turner, who would have been clear favorites. Mein gutted it out over Mason in the mud. Bumped shoulders a couple times last few laps.

Aahhh, I just misread your statement as it being a battle between Pidcock and Turner, not a battle sans those two. :)

Sorry for the little Arnold and Willis moment. Was trying not to give too much away.

Well, yes and no. Yes, same revenue sharing with respect to the TV dough and that can buy the same talent. I'm referring more to getting and then retaining the talent in GB. Keeping multi millionaire 20 somethings in GB, when the big cities are offering the same dough is not easy. That's where good management comes in. Guys like Devante Adams and others have stayed because they win (Rodgers) and not for the ice fishing and polka. The during and after football sponsorship and employment opportunities are much bigger for guys who played for DC or SF, etc. is alls I'm saying.

Never mind the heat
Comin' off the street
He wants to party
He wants to get down

As reported last week by Cyclingnews, six riders have been confirmed for the Tour de France so far, with Roglic and Vingegaard joined by Rohan Dennis, Sepp Kuss, Steven Kruijswijk and Wout Van Aert.

And that's with TD and Foss heading to Giro. Good thing UAE loaded up around Pog, they'll need it.

Solid squad so far! I'm thinking an in form Benoot will do good in supporting both Roglic/Vingegaard on flat and rolling terrain as well as in the medium mountains, and be able to support Wout well in his green jersey goals.
Do you take Oomen if he's in form as support, or do you send him with TD to the Giro since they're good mates?
Or take Theunissen for support on flat and rolling terrain and as support for Wout?

Wout doesn't need support. All he needs is a bottle here and there. If he is relieved of domestique duties he is more than capable of winning the green jersey on his own strength.

They’re so talented it’s hard to pick. After the opening TT the first week looks like a series of classics, sprints and cobbles thrown in for good measure. I’d think you want Benoot plus another classics guy to get through those stages.

That’s not really true—reference worlds for starters. When QS has 4 guys in the front group of a classics or crossword stage and starts attacking, Wout can’t cover them all.

As Carl said, there's no way he can keep responding to every attack (Worlds, Olympic RR,..) even as strong as he is. He might be fine on his own, gathering points for green but the occasional lead-out won't hurt as the team will still expect him to pull when necessary for Roglic and Vingegaard.. And support can also mean Benoot or Theunissen take 50% of the monster pulls Wout did, so he can have more of a rest in between ;) Guys like Oomen or Kuss won't be able to do that amount of work on the same terrain.


Agreed, I'd think you would want Benoot and Theunissen there. Both can support both Wout's chase for green as well as support Roglic in the flat/rolling terrain and Benoot in medium mountain stages even as well. I still don't think UAE or Ineos can match that firepower but that's what we thought last year as well, and then after week 1 they're left with half of the team..

Unless Mathieu is there. I'm looking forward to this!

Now that's funny. Everyone who knows knows that Mathieu's back and body will not hold up for 3 weeks.

Bernal had similar issues and managed to race every day of the Giro last year. Hopefully MvdP can get it sorted.

My pick would be Robert Gesink and Mike Teunissen as the last two. Gesink has been around the block a few times and his experience would help. Teunissen can help on the sprints, flats and medium mountains and help out Wout, and Gesink would help on the medium and high mountain stages.

Roglic - Leader
Vingegaard - Co-leader
Wout - Green and sprints
Kuss - High mountains
Kruijswijk - High mountains
Dennis - Flats, sprints and medium mountains
Gesink - Medium and high mountains
Teunissen - Flats, sprints and medium mountains

Wout- Green and sprints and high mountains

Kidding of course. But, I just rewatched Stage 15 where Sepp won in Andorra the other night. Probably my favorite day of the tour. 30 man break, which Wout helps drive. Sprints for KOM. Hangs with Nairo, Gaudu and Valverde, etc. And. Sets up Sepp for the win, while still there if Vingegaard needs him. .

Speaking of. What a boss GT is. A week after popping out his shoulder, still there ratcheting the pace up the final climb (right after summitting the highest point of the race) trying to shake Pog and Jonas so Richie can launch.

No injuries...this year is going to be nasty.

Wout, like always, was an absolute boss that day and what a classy ride by Kuss.

My friend linked some stuff that Andrew Talansky has been going on about. What the hell has happened to that guy? He seems to have lost his mind a bit. Apparently the triathlon experiment is long over for him as well.

Apparently GvA has been reading Talansky’s ramblings.

GvA may have been at the forefront of that none sense.

 
im intrigued .. what's talansky going on about?

x2. I'm gearing up to descend down the internet rabbit hole.

As is the case with his racing, he wears it all on his sleeves. Unfortunately, no rabbit hole. It all becomes very clear what he’s haranguing ~5 posts in. Basically, covid conspiracy with a smattering of “wellness” related posts, all from the past 6 months or so. At this stage, i’m just surprised he hasnt gone whole hog and went with election conspiracy as well.

https://twitter.com/andrewtalansky

As is the case with most pro athletes, their claims to fame rest solely on their respective (4-sigma above mean) physical abilities. Very rarely does a Sir Bannister MD or Gino Bartali come along.

Oh dear. Even went full chemtrail on a retweet.

At least Nico (above) fully understands he has no competence in dancing!