For sure, they’re never going to have a proper sprint squad on top of GT and classics. He looks good as the solo finisher in stage races, and maybe becomes has the goods for a classics guy too? Sagan did ok in a similar role.
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I think his second?, uphill win at Catalunya was super impressive not only bc of the terrain but how he played it.
Didn’t he win 2x at Catalunya? And yeah, it shows his Sagan-esque style.
Tough drought on racing for next bit. Giro is the only beacon on horizon.
Well, there is Romandie on right now, but not a super exciting parcours nor a super exciting startlist. Vuelta Feminina starts this weekend featuring FDJ’s Vollering/Labous/Muzic trio vs what looks to be a pretty stacked Movistar squad and we’re still waiting to see who SD-Worx lines up with, and Lisa’s only got two riders listed so far but they’re PFP and Vos. I’m assuming PFP is going for GC here? If so will be interesting to see how that project unfolds.
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that catalunya stage win was peak sagan-esque. he was gapped off on a techy descent. then he had the teammate of leader on his wheel - none other than multiple stage winner Kaden Groves and he slowly dialed it up such that a REALLY good sprinter could not come off his wheel. looked a lot like a Sagan Tour uphill finish.
He also looked very in the game at Roubaix until distance/volume explosion. he is and hopefully will continue to be very fun to watch.
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Kooij is likely heading to AG2R. Between him and Tiesj, AG2R is throwing their new billionaire supporters money at the Visma team.
Is Tiesj leaving Visma?
He hasn’t decided, but he has a 7 digit offer from AG2R.
Oh wow, being Belgium and all he seemed like the perfect fit at Visma, but I guess money talks
He’s that good. $$ gotta get paid.
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(and yet crazy to think Coathanger Kruis was within a whisker of a giro win pre snow bank and even Simon had everyone on the ropes before Finestre - times, they have a changed with the stacked super teams).
Yeah Giro dog gets all the press, but Giro snow bank seems just as likely to cause chaos.
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From the sounds of it Giro Snowbank is lurking this year - they’re talking about maybe having reroute some stages.
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The views are more compelling than the racing at Romandie. Thomas The Train is racing Traka 200 tomorrow, which should be interesting. Old Man Valverde too.
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I wonder what volume Valverde is doing these days. From what I understand, since his retire his volume had remained relatively similar to his pro days at least through last year.
Ineos have said Arensman and Bernal are co-leaders. I’m really hoping we see a resurgent Bernal who can contend.
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Seems like this is the story at the Giro pretty much every year.
Yup, springtime in the Alps. Part of the Giro’s charm. I guess they just got like another 40cm on Finestre this week? Will be too bad if the Queen Stage (and Cima Coppi) gets rerouted. Still might be opportunities for Giro Snowbank to pounce on somebody though.
At what stage do we get the first Giro Dog appearance?
Ah yes, the Giro Dog’s first appearance prediction. I tend to think of the likelihood of strays increasing the further south you go, so it should be early. Given we start in Albania… I’m not all that sure what the stray dog situation is there specifically but having travelled in the Balkans, it’s quite possible the feral canine population is higher than that in Italy. But I’ve also heard the Albanian gov’t can be quite brutal in their efforts to deal with these kinds of issues, particularly during tourist season (i.e. mass poisonings) so who knows?
Put me down for Stage 4.
At the risk of sounding too officious, because in fact we’re just making stuff up as we go along, said Giro Dog must be unleashed and have unfettered access to the riders as they are moving through said Giro Dog’s home environs.
If it is a scruffy terrier with even a slight resemblance to Crime Dog Healy, bonus.
I’ll go stage 5.
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I’m going to be optimistic the same way I am with Wout dominating this Giro ala le Tour 22. Giro dog is going to sit this one out and the riders are going to have a safe tour.
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