With last year's line-up I could expect a GC podium for Talansky but now a top 10 will be very difficult. The increase in quality compared to last season: sheesh.
Yay, first race of the season! I am hoping we can grab a stage win or two and hopefully be in the Top 10 with Ji by the end of it. Took Ji over Shikai here due to the hills, so hopefully he doesn't completely suck on the hills.
Really interesting race here, but i'm glad I'm not in this band.
Will be interesting to see if Cunego or Roche can win this, guess it depends on how the mountain stage is raced if he can win, otherwise Ricco or Amador will probably take this - or hopefully Berhane for Eritrea.
Looking forward to this, Monsalve should have a good chance for a top 3. Will be interesting to see how he does against Amador. Really hoped he wouldn't be here, he should win this, and then we can fight for 2nd,
I think we could have broken record really of 'startlist too strong for my crappy leader' it is Story game thing really. Current way MG moves is things are always stronger, teams that stay static as in Red Bull for example soon slip down the pecking order.
Speaking of peckers we have two former Giro winners here and of course Amador, I recall fondly having Andrei high on my list for first season and thinking nah he is going too expensive and making do with Siutsou, how I wish I could have fought for him Whaddarider. Just one small step from Plushkin/Spilak.
The Rider wrote:
What a difference a year makes eh?
With last year's line-up I could expect a GC podium for Talansky but now a top 10 will be very difficult. The increase in quality compared to last season: sheesh.
I think Talansky can very well take a top 5 out of this race. And while he can just as well finish outside the top 20 I think the odds are on your side since he is a good puncheur too. It all depends on how preponderant will the mountain stage be in comparison with the hilly ones.
So I think our goal here clearly should be to acquire more points than we have anywhere else yet. Shouldn't be hard, think we might have a total of about 4 points.
Wow - what a startlist! Impossible to put a finger on who could take this. So many strong riders and a lot of GC contenders in the mix. Nice preview roturn
Pretty happy with that from Petit. Obviously I'd normally expect him to beat Nepo and Hoffman, but 4th is where I would have expected him to be around anyway. Sisira as a leadout is baffling when Gallopin is available, but it seemed to work ok.
Best bit of that stage however, was our loaned out rider Nidush Nirantha Fernando taking the U25 lead. I won't begrudge Meiji the points, as it's a fantastic achievement for Sri Lankan cycling.
F*ck so close, really seemed like Nepomnyachsniy could pass Modolo there, but the Italian gave it another punch. Congrats Shonak.
Another good sprinting result in the first flat stage, I really hope Nepo can keep his form up for the other stages unlike Haidar Anuawar in Tachira.
Sweet stage win for us, sprint of dying men against bikex' boy. Glad Modolo's kick pays off although I do not know what Zanotti was up to doing here. Potts a freaking beast tho. Looking forward to next stages, especially stage 4 could be good if we keep the sprint jersey, hm.
Thanks for report
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Got my hopes up when I saw Forero in an excellent position towards the end of the sprint, but looked like he started too early. Still, 8th is about where he is in terms of ranking the sprinters here so nothing to complain about.
