Same here. It seems like it "should" be time for the race.

Does that mean it's time for picks?

They started on page 1 so get your picks in!

Maybe we were spoiled too much from August to October last year with so much cycling going on in such a short time haha

That is a real point! We mainlined cycling for a bit. It's hard to come down from that buzz.

I haven't kept up. Is Omloop on end of Feb? Gotta make plans.....it's my busy season. (Tony Soprano)

Omloop Feb 27. For the full road season (at least as presently planned): https://www.cyclingstage.com/...cling-calendar-2021/

Thank goodness WvA re-signed with Jumbo-Visma.

And I actually hope Ineos cobbles together a better classics team this year. Top Ganna with support of van Baarle, Rowe, Kwiat, Moscon, could be scary.

Look for the #Wout2024 “What can’t he do?” video which was released today to celebrate WVAs renewing with Jumbo-Visma. It’s up on cycling news.com and is totally hilarious.

That was fun. I actually like the teams engaging in these ways; even if they are a bit contrived at times.

Most of all anything WvA related is a good thing for cycling.

This was an enjoyable read. Naesen has always come across as a likable rider, and AG2R is trying to emulate Don Lefevre. I hope they can do well.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/...mates/#disqus_thread

So I didn't share this yet since I thought most of you saw it already but this was the talking point between me and my friends earlier this week. Wout did some sprints to kick off their training camp and posted a screenshot of his trainingpeaks powercurve, which quickly got deleted again but I managed to take a screen shot.

Look at that 30" power, he should've started his sprint in the Ronde from 400m out haha

Damn thats nasty.

That was nice. They certainly have a much stronger Classics squad and I hope they all get some success.

Does anyone know what ever happened to the other Naesen brother? You don't hear much on him.

Lawrence Naesen is also on the AG2R team with his brother, but mostly in a support role in the classics as far as I'm aware.

Psh, nothing to see here folks. The current U.S. Indoor Champ (incidentally, also @ 78 kg) does 1,345 W for 15 sec and 1,149 W for 30 sec. I'd have expected better from this so-called world beater. [/sarcasm]

In all seriousness, much more an indictment of Zwift racing than anything else.

Only issue with him going from 400 m out is that M vdP also has really good long term sprint power. Still would have made for a tasty drag race though.

That's like a pursuiter's power. But then he can also climb, TT, sprint and who knows what else. Some kind of athlete.

The 20" to 1 minute numbers have CX written all over them. It's like being able to skip rope at the Everest high camps.

Dumoulin leaves team camp and puts career/racing on hold/pause?! So the team announces yesterday leadership role at TDF with Rog and then today he leaves camp... Wondering what the story is here!

this after earlier saying he was interested in the cobbles classics - seems like his head is all over the place; not sure we'll see him racing this year

Yeah just saw this, it's a huge bummer if he is out.
Also of course a big blow to Jumbo trying win the Tour

I sort of see this as a career killing move. I can't imagine a team director ever hiring him with the nagging suspicion that your multimillion dollar GC guy is going to decide to pull the plug on the season 2 weeks before the Tour. You would structure the whole team around supporting a guy of that caliber so it would be a huge gamble to hire him again. My guess is that he will do what Kittel did and decide it is time to move on with his life.

I suppose he has an agreement with Jumbo to comes back, but I bet they start losing interest in about 2 weeks. If down the road he decides that bike racing is really his passion, I would expect it to be at some place like EF that would more tolerant of a rider with multiple interests.

Whilst disappointing from a racing perspective, I'm happy for him that he is considering his overall well being and taking care of himself.

Tom is an amazing rider, but I think IF he does not come back for the Tour it won't affect Roglic too much.

I will read with interest as to why he's pulling the plug. GT racing and training is endless hours in the saddle obviously and really dependent on staying super light. TD is not small. Guys like him and the Kruseship have broad shoulders and can (and probably should) be heavier. Staying that thin can work on you, mentally and physically. Used to be that if your shoulders were wider than your hips you weren't a "climber". Make that natural climber I guess.

And, some guys don't want to ride super dom, especially after being thee man.

I'd welcome more premier guys bulking up a bit, maybe adding some punch and doing the one day races. I've joked with one US WT guy that he should bulk up and do Roubaix, but there's too good a niche for stage race domestiques.

Wishing him the best. He seems pretty thoughtful, and the pressure he puts on himself is heavy.

Agree. As long as Sepp is per usual, a healthy George Bennett will pick up that slack.