You got people like Jasper, Cav, Groenevegen et al causing crashes every other day, but sure, Blu is going to be the dangerous one…
You got to love Taylor Knibb however. After that train wreck she joked “they may not allow me back in their peloton”.
I saw that, class reply.
I don’t think this is about Jerseys, stage wins or UCI points
This is milking the Norwegian hype train. They know the hype has limited ability over the next 6 months, so set a trajectory for the next 4 years.
The hype train is now a product. This is all pure product promotion.
Bu is not helping Blu’s potential in the peloton. Other riders see this and “oh, really ?”.
I got the article forwarded to me by a Kiwi rider with a question “are all triathletes this delusional ?”
In fairness to the triathlete Kristian, and the question “are all triathletes this delusional ?”, maybe the right question should be “are all coaches this delusional and is Jayco delusional for giving this guy a contract”
I don’t think Kristian has said anything delusional yet?
You got people like Jasper, Cav, Groenevegen et al causing crashes every other day, but sure, Blu is going to be the dangerous one…
He’ll never need to worry about bumping bars in a sprint finish with those guys, entirely different thing.
I don’t think this is about Jerseys, stage wins or UCI points
This is milking the Norwegian hype train. They know the hype has limited ability over the next 6 months, so set a trajectory for the next 4 years.
The hype train is now a product. This is all pure product promotion.
Bu is not helping Blu’s potential in the peloton. Other riders see this and “oh, really ?”.
I got the article forwarded to me by a Kiwi rider with a question “are all triathletes this delusional ?”
100%. it is all about the hyping the product and squeezing revenues while they can.
Its either a massive troll and he’ll go back to LC tri racing where he can still compete with the top guys, or actually go with this stupid plan and be forgotten in a year. Seems like a no brainer, but you never know what goes in people’s heads.
I don’t think this is about Jerseys, stage wins or UCI points
This is milking the Norwegian hype train. They know the hype has limited ability over the next 6 months, so set a trajectory for the next 4 years.
The hype train is now a product. This is all pure product promotion.
I think you are dead on here. I really like Gustav and Kristian even seems like a good dude who just loves triathlon, but I’ve found Bu and that whole Norwegian machine to be incredibly annoying over the last 18 months.
You got people like Jasper, Cav, Groenevegen et al causing crashes every other day, but sure, Blu is going to be the dangerous one…
He’ll never need to worry about bumping bars in a sprint finish with those guys, entirely different thing.
Agreed he won’t contest the sprints, but he’s still gonna cause a lot less crashes than those guys. The “oh no, a triathlete in the peleton” is just old gatekeeping, he’ll do fine.
You got people like Jasper, Cav, Groenevegen et al causing crashes every other day, but sure, Blu is going to be the dangerous one…
He’ll never need to worry about bumping bars in a sprint finish with those guys, entirely different thing.
Agreed he won’t contest the sprints, but he’s still gonna cause a lot less crashes than those guys. The “oh no, a triathlete in the peleton” is just old gatekeeping, he’ll do fine.
An inexperienced rider can cause a crash at any point in the race, totally out of the blue and unavoidable for those behind in the peloton. Those sprinters you mention “causes” crashes when they go 100% in the last km, where those who have no reason to be there ease up and much easier can avoid being affected. Very big difference.
Sure, an inexperienced rider can cause crashes. just remember that experienced pro riders cause crashes in every single competition as well, nowhere near a sprint. Its a part of professional cycling, wether we like it or not.
Would bet that there is no statistical significant difference in years as a pro cyclist and the amount of crashes they cause. One could actually argue the opposite, the neo-pros ride with more margins.
You forgot to say at over 60km/h and producing over 1500W!
You forgot to say at over 60km/h and producing over 1500W!
And that’s just the leadout guys.
We l have a problem if we believe that a 33-34 year old guy with little expertise in pro cycling will win the Tour. If KB moves into cycling he will be a domestique, that’s all.
Your comment is about sprinters fighting for position in the last 500m. It has nothing to do with Blu or pretty much every other rider. So basically, it’s not relevant.
I think he’d be crazy to make the switch, just to get used and abused as a domestique and lab monkey. But I admit that I would love to watch it go down…
I don’t think either sport really respects the other. Triathlon is tough! I don’t think pure cyclists understand how hard it to master all three sports at once and have everything line up perfectly on race day. In the same way, cycling for 5 hours everyday at a super high level is madness.
As we can see from Taylor Knibb, bike handling would be his greatest weakness. Along with his weight.
Just to be fair, Dygert and Kopecky crashed in the women’s ITT at the Paris Olympics. Taylor’s brakes were allegedly damaged in crash one impeding her in crash two and later after crash three she asked for a bike change. That’s just shit happening on the course. The damage to equipment can hurt anyone, so it is not an entirely fair data point, because all these riders ride solo in all kinds of scenarios and don’t crash (for context Dygert also crashed into a guardrail at Imola worlds in 2021 when she lost control over her bike…maybe equipment speed wobble but still protour people crashing solo too).
But agreed, Kristian will have to learn to race with people around him. Clearly Jayco feel he can so everyone here doubting him should minimally let is play out and see if he can learn bike handling. Primoz learned going from ski jumping to biking, Mike Woods learned from track to biking, Campanaerts learned going from triathlon to biking, Ritchie Porte did the same coming from tri as did Lance. All to different degrees of bike handling but good enough to be in the peloton. It’s not the same degree of complex skill like learning to do the 400IM in swimming or a tennis serve at pro level or a golf drive a pro level. Enough people learn the skill sufficiently to race at pro whereas no one changes sports and can compete at the above three that I listed without starting out doing those.
Maybe he can learn to survive in a peloton, but at what energy cost? If you raced elite/u-23 cycling you know that a good handler save a lot of energy to a regular handler and a very lot to a “bad handler”
This ‘handling thing comes up all time’. Agreed those of us who race bikes get that it is a key skill. My point is Jayco thinks he can pick that up sufficiently and it is secondary to the engine that they are paying for. They won’t cut a contract to anyone here on ST who thinks they have better bike handling skills because the engines of people around here suck relative to Blu.
Also as you point out there are nuances in handling and positioning. Somehow Primoz ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time with a frequncy that others top riders don’t. We can chalk that up to bad luck but after a while the luck is what a rider makes. Jayco at least believe he can be of some utility.
In any case, I don’t think Kristian has himself said anything about winning the TdF or jerseys.
In any case, I don’t think Kristian has himself said anything about winning the TdF or jerseys.
These guys are 4 partners in their “tech” company. Bu does not saying anything without Blu being aware and vice versa. Everything is planned out.
Giving the benefit of the doubt to Bu, maybe his comments are taken out of context. But this would not be the first “very bold” statement by “the team”.
Wonder if after today Jayco will realize they were sold a line.
There has been media talk that he wants to “fight for a jersey” by 2028… I don’t see it. To do that, you have to climb with the best, and it won’t matter what your VO2 is, he will not keep up with the pure climbers day in- day out over a 3 week grand tour over terrain that his body shape just is not built for. It is an entirely different beast to ironman racing on mostly flat courses (where weight isn’t a large factor).
I’m a big fan of what they are doing, but I do think this is a stretch…
You can say a lot about Norwegians - but they seldom put out bold statements, without having some solid evidence to back it up.
They have enough science and numbers on Blu (not only his VO2Max) to make a good decision for a proposed shift to cycling.
You have a MUCH (say 10x) bigger financial incentive in cycling. If you are in top10 in the WT peloton, you make more than even the best paid triathletes (now that Frodo retired 😊)
If Blu loose weight (which certainly he CAN) - maybe drop to 70 kg(?) and FTP over 500, why not be competitive in a Grand Tour?
Finally, on the needed cycling experience to race in the WT peloton: Jonas took 2-3 years from the Fish Factory to be praised for his amazing handling skills in the 2023 TdF ITT. Blu is know novice to handle a bike.