Especially as you have to assume Froome will go all in on the Tour to try and get a 5th win. Maybe he hears Thomas also suggesting he won't do the Giro and that it's his best chance of a GT? He'd quite probably be the favourite for the win.
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- Thread starter Bruce Wayne
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Especially as you have to assume Froome will go all in on the Tour to try and get a 5th win. Maybe he hears Thomas also suggesting he won't do the Giro and that it's his best chance of a GT? He'd quite probably be the favourite for the win.
Armel
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Yes normally the Giro will be an 'easy' win, assuming he doesn't fall or something. The Tour is also a whole lot more difficult for him since he hasn't got a good team; less of an issue in the Giro. I'd do the Vuelta in his place, going to the Tour seems like a bit of wasted energy.
Yes. Yates will be a contender as well I'd imagine, assuming he chooses to do the Giro/Vuelta again (I think they suit his style more), and it seems likely that Bernal will perhaps do likewise as well, so it will be interesting to see how he goes if given a leadership role. Dumoulin would be the favourite though, and he's young enough to wait for the Tour to open up for him, as you'd think Froome is perhaps in the final year or so of his time at the top, and Thomas isn't the youngest either, plus of course Nibali is pretty long in the tooth (assuming he's still a realistic contender). I'm not sure who else there is really. Lopez is young and been on the podium twice, but he was a long way down on Froome and Yates this year so it's far from certain that he can step up. Roglic looked very good at the Tour, but he's 29 and with very little road cycling behind him so is much more of an unknown quantity. Quintana had a poor year last year and I'm not sure he's a viable contender, whilst Porte always looks good in week-long races but falters in GT. It needs a new generation to come through really but not sure who that will be.
Armel
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It's extra weird because, this year in the Tour, with an extra week of rest, his form was demonstrably worse than in the Giro (you can find all his performance data online; they are published online in full, same with all the Loto-Jumbo-Norwegian company riders. Short graphic comparison; makes a lot of difference.
Interesting that his weight was quite a bit lower for the Tour. Over 2kg is quite a lot to lose in a relatively short space of time. I mean it looks like he had a shave at the Tour, but stubble can't weight that much.
Armel
Player Valuation: £15m
I think Bernal will ride the Giro and then will have to work for Froome/Thomas. Porte always ruins something so he's a bit of a non-factor - mostly falling or something.
The weight thing was a thought out strategy. They knew he wouldn't be as powerful and fresh in the Tour, so they figured that they should bring his weight down so he could get away with lower wattages. Apparently normally he keeps a reserve because he's very susceptible to infections/illness/having a complete off-day/going to the toilet on the side of the road, decided to do the Tour without a reserve and that didn't work out as they anticipated. You can also see that they actually ride faster on the Italian mountains, than on the French variety.
Which in itself is interest, as Italian mountains are often steeper and higher than their French counterparts. Traditionally, the Tour has been more suited to diesels and the Giro to pure climbers.
Made up with Thomas winning spoty, really sticks it to the froome bot
The Froome bot who achieved something only one other cyclist has ever done with the kind of attack never seen before? I can see how that was less interesting than Thomas riding the Sky train to the last km and dashing off for a few seconds here and there
FWIW, I like Thomas, he seems like a good bloke, but you have to assume that Froome's exclusion was down to the witchhunt waged by Dan Roan all year and the reluctance to make their chief sports editor look like (more of) a muppet.
I completely agree Froomes failed drug test will have counted against him in the public eye. I also think his poor or non performances in a GB vest count against him, though in fairness I think that is brailsford influenced. Thomas performed for GB and has diligently done the hard work for his leader, never ignored team instructions and tried to steal glory for himself, it all adds up I guessThe Froome bot who achieved something only one other cyclist has ever done with the kind of attack never seen before? I can see how that was less interesting than Thomas riding the Sky train to the last km and dashing off for a few seconds here and there
FWIW, I like Thomas, he seems like a good bloke, but you have to assume that Froome's exclusion was down to the witchhunt waged by Dan Roan all year and the reluctance to make their chief sports editor look like (more of) a muppet.
For a while now we've underperformed at the Worlds, especially given the riders at our disposal in the last decade. There was only really the Cavendish win where everything came together. Most of the other races have been less said about the better.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
SPoTY is restricted to British human beings, so Froome's not in the frame really. I think both him and Thomas understand that so there will be no hard feelings.
I doubt froome will be at all worried about not winning spoty when he retires, it is interesting that both thomas and wiggins won it either side of froomes success, granted wiggins had huge fan fare for being first and and taking gold in a home olympics, think he may also have a silver from the worlds that year. Some people just don't capture peoples affections for one reason or another, not that he strikes me as the the type to crave it
It's funny isn't it? One of those utterly meaningless gongs yet it seems to get people rather hot under the collar for a few weeks each year.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
Speaking of cyborgs, the mighty Mathieu van der Poel has confirmed he will be mixing it in the Classics this season, including Flanders. His nemesis Wout van Aert put in some huge performances on his debut Classics season this year, so be interesting to see what MvdP can do - the narrative thus far is that MvdP is the most talented (by some way), but WvA is tougher.
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/5772/mathieu-van-der-poel-to-ride-tour-of-flanders-in-2019
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/5772/mathieu-van-der-poel-to-ride-tour-of-flanders-in-2019
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