Makes sense for his palmares. A Giro win to complete the GT trifecta should be much more prestigious than another 2nd in Tour (if Pogacar is on same level and doesn’t have bad luck).
Landismo is targeting GC at the Giro. My early season prediction (hope) is that he remains healthy and is on the podium.
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Totally. The major downside of Jonas doing the Giro is he steamrolls everyone into racing for 2nd. Beyond Almeida, I can’t think of anyone scheduled to do it who has given Venga much trouble. And given the 3rd week of Tour, it’d be especially boring for Pogacar to romp through France without a full-strength Jonas. And should that happen, like how easy he was able to go in Giro, I bet there’s a good chance Pogacar then lines up for Vuelta.
Puck’s course recons are excellent.
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i dunno if pogacar really cares about the vuelta tho? i think bagging MSR and PR, plus maybe an olympic gold, is what he cares about now legacy-wise. maybe a few more TDFs, though its not clear how much even that motivates him.
i want to see him on the cross fields! apparently gullegem tried to get him this year, would have been stoked to watch that.
I read an interview that he said he’d rather have Roubaix than another Tour; the latter sounds like an obligation rather than desire to run up the score. He did also mention the Vuelta and a few stage races yet to conquer. But yeah, if he had to pick it sounds like he’d rather have MSR and Roubaix. The dude really is a one-day basher at heart.
This kid is fun to watch.
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I got the old pre race jitters just watching that. Until he got to the bus then I realized it’s just not the same thing. At all.
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Zonhoven women’s race was fantastic! Nothing like a good cross with snow.
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It was! Getting spicy.
Nys racing half a lap with literally no handlebars was darn impressive.
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Hard to avoid the conclusion after yesterday’s race - and all the races that he hasn’t been in this season - that having VdP not show up is the single factor most likely to provide a great cyclocross race in the Men’s elite field.
Fun video. But made me motion sick.
The Vuelta is a check box for him, but one he definitely wants. I’m pretty sure he’s stated before his goal is to win all the major races at least once. He’s attempting to knock out a few of the one week stage races he doesn’t have yet this year. No way he wants to end his career without all three grand tours. The question is when. I’m sure how he feels towards the end of the Tour will play a part. I can’t imagine he’s commit or decommit from the Vuelta until the end of the Tour.
The issue with the Vuelta is it’s not over until Sept. 13th, the day of the Montreal Grand Prix (and two days after Quebec City), and then Worlds starts a week later. I think Tadej likes his chances to do a Sagan, and probably sees the Vuelta as always being there, ready for a year when the worlds course is more sprinter friendly.
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Yeah I agree - at this point another Worlds means more than the Vuelta. I’m just saying the Vuelta is an important race for him for his career, not that’s really important this year. I still think it’s a possibility this year based on how he feels after the Tour and whether he thinks he can use the Vuelta as a warm up for Worlds.
National Championship CX races are on tap for this weekend, and we should have some great racing on tap. Anyone have predictions?
They just cancelled the mid-week recon for the Belgian course due to dangerous conditions… Ice and snow covering the entire course. It’s supposed to melt off by the weekend, but ooph… Beringen in anything close to the conditions we’ve been seeing the last few races? Yikes!
Not sure I even want to see what racing this looks like with snow/ice on it…
Trek finally announces Derek Gee, but they did him dirty on the national champs jersey. This is old UAE level bad.
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It’s really bad. Like a reverse tramp stamp maple leaf.
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i see the news dropped - trek deal is sealed.
that canadian champs jersey is shit tho. and woodsy’s was magnificent!