My guess is that he will do what Kittel did and decide it is time to move on with his life.

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.

Indeed!

And an impressive ride from Honsinger too, coming a bit out of nowhere it seemed. Unfortunately she made a few small mistakes at the end but that must give her confidence as well.

We gotta have hope...

WvA put it on MvdP pretty soundly today, sets up an intriguing race next weekend if it goes off. And Alvarado is coming onto form at just the right moment.

This is a little off-topic but while awaiting for next weekend to get here, bike practice is going to require Zwifting (winter finally arrived in Bend). What events or races are you guys liking? Since I hate doing high intensity, figure this will be a good way to get a healthy dose of it.

echappist and I are on the Slowtwitch B's team on the Zwift Racing League, which has been pretty fun. Combination of mass start and TTT (one race per week for 8 weeks, entering week 3). I'd invite you, but our team is a bit full-up and mid-season (and you might be more of an A?). I'm not that aware of what other series are good on Zwift...something of a dilettante with Zwift. I have found that a lot of the races that use the Crit City course tend to be a reasonable approximation of American crit racing, intensity-wise. Solid hour, with a good kicker up the hill.

That said, I really want to get back to IRL racing, and soon.

This is a little off-topic but while awaiting for next weekend to get here, bike practice is going to require Zwifting (winter finally arrived in Bend). What events or races are you guys liking? Since I hate doing high intensity, figure this will be a good way to get a healthy dose of it.

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.

I recall him discussing that years ago in an interview. Is there another mention about it recently?

We gotta have hope...

WvA put it on MvdP pretty soundly today, sets up an intriguing race next weekend if it goes off. And Alvarado is coming onto form at just the right moment.

I'm not sure I'd go that far. MvdP flatted and that's what caused the initial gap. WvA had the power to push the gap back out when MvdP brought it back to within 8 seconds, but I'm sure MvdP burned a lot of matches getting close. I think it would have been a close race today without the flat, and I think the WC should be a lot of fun to watch.

Yes it does in general. I've really appreciated my all road bikes this year as they've allowed me to almost always be outside.

I had to be on the trainer tonight, though I was re-watching Stage 5 of the Dauphine from last year. What a race that was. It certainly helped the time pass a bit more quickly.

Course preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3HUD763cyY.
The biggest "fly over" I've seen in my life, dropping straight into sand.