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Tour de France - Discussion
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-04-2024 20:49
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Oh boy that was not good :-(
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| ember |
Posted on 01-04-2024 20:58
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Very happy with our performance on stage 15 and 16. Prasad and Roman delivering top 5s is very nice. Roman also must be applauded for all his efforts and breakaway tries. A pity we don't get involved with Preidler and Van Poucke too, but it is what it is, I guess.
PHL with stellar performances in the high mountains. Cnogratulations, knockout! Seeing the earlier discussion on how much time he'll loose to Phinney in the TT, I'll stand by what I said pre-race. Feels he should loose a lot than in a one day TT race on a similar course, simply due to his superior backup stats. Not sure how much he'll loose at the end, but he should be very, very safe in yellow! |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 01-04-2024 21:36
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Nice to see Quintana try again. Just not strong enough, but at least he stayed away this time and took a minor placing. Also moved up to tied for 5th on KOM, for whatever that's worth. It looked for a second like he might have come good on the final climb, but in the end he flubbed any chances he had and lost out to comparable riders.
Unfortunately, despite making the winning break, I think that means Quintana will actually drop a spot from yesterday in the end and finish 13th. McNulty and Cattaneo will easily pass him, and Warchol's win puts him outside the reasonable range to overtake (Carthy already was). Everyone else around are better TTists. At least 13th is the worst we can do at this point with the gaps, but still not ideal.
So: goals for tomorrow. Quintana finishing 12th or higher somehow would be a success. Gregaard staying in the top 20 would be great, and should be possible given his biggest challengers are mostly weak TT guys too. Kamna has a chance for a really good TT this late in the race, so I'd love to see him place, and hopefully move well into the top 30. Even up to 27th seems possible. Then if Eg can maintain his own spot, it's not a bad depth GC effort (though not as good as it could have been a week ago, for sure).
Still curious how the Giro went so wrong after seeing the last two GT's end normally.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Bikex |
Posted on 01-04-2024 21:38
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I definitely hoped for more from Chamorro in the last few stages. |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 01-04-2024 23:47
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Oof, another poor stage as McNulty just fades. Not sure he had any climbing stage where he really performed well and the gaps got so big that not sure we can gain that much in the TT. And could well lose to Cattaneo.
Really a pretty disappointing TDF debut for McCormick, McNulty getting schooled in the young rider competition and the team failed to produce a single stand out (or even mildly interesting) performance unless McNulty has a killer day tomorrow.
Lets hope we are saving our legs for the one that really counts.
I think really sympathies go to Binance - not sure what happened to poor Rodrigues.
I think you saw a lot of the same patterns here as the Giro, the difference is the big guns always had the strength to close the gaps where in the Giro they came up one stage short. Before that last stage in the Giro I would say the outcomes weren't that different with riders in the break taking turns to move up the GC.
I think the Vuelta was different because the breaks never really got any advantage in GC terms. Not sure why that was, maybe the field wasn't as deep or maybe the top teams were a bit stronger relative to the break riders. Being in the breaks has been huge for Warchol in this race but in the Vuelta he attacked a bunch but persistently failed to stay away and finished 14th in a much weaker field.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| redordead |
Posted on 02-04-2024 08:25
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Solid final mountain stage with Pogacar staying passive, but keeping things under control to confirm his 6th place in GC. Another really nice ride from Habtemichael to score 5th place from the breakaway. He had a really slow start to the season, but he's been steadily getting better and is having a good GT 
Let's confirm our good depth results in the final time-trial. Pogacar 6th, Habtemichael stays 16th I think, Borisavljevic could move up a spot or two from 24th and Bouchard has a gap over the riders below him in 33rd. We should close out the team classification victory.
Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:
Really a pretty disappointing TDF debut for McCormick, McNulty getting schooled in the young rider competition and the team failed to produce a single stand out (or even mildly interesting) performance unless McNulty has a killer day tomorrow.
I'm glad we were able to triumph in the U25 from start to finish without too much of a hassle. I have no qualms about the rider with +1 OVL winning here 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| ryant |
Posted on 02-04-2024 13:00
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Carthy doing his job just right in the end, on one hand I'm glad the stage went to the break as Yates now should have the Green Jersey wrapped up but Warchol rising above us in the GC was the price to pay for that it seems. Will be interesting to see the battle between the two worst GC TTers will play out as the gap is only 12s, I hope yesterday's efforts and Warchol's weaker recovery will play in our favour as we would like to jump him to get as high a placing as possible. I don't imagine we'll fall from the top 10 but I'm not sure just how much time we'll be losing to riders around us...
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 02-04-2024 13:54
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Top-5 place looks secured but maybe Sivakov can gain one more spot? It's going to be an exciting time trial for sure!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 02-04-2024 14:41
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Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:
I think you saw a lot of the same patterns here as the Giro, the difference is the big guns always had the strength to close the gaps where in the Giro they came up one stage short. Before that last stage in the Giro I would say the outcomes weren't that different with riders in the break taking turns to move up the GC.
I think the Vuelta was different because the breaks never really got any advantage in GC terms. Not sure why that was, maybe the field wasn't as deep or maybe the top teams were a bit stronger relative to the break riders. Being in the breaks has been huge for Warchol in this race but in the Vuelta he attacked a bunch but persistently failed to stay away and finished 14th in a much weaker field.
I mean, to an extent, yes. But on the final couple of days, especially the day Shikai went, it wasn't a matter of the peloton just not being strong enough to keep the break in check or make up ground. The peloton, including the leader's team, was just completely uninterested for the majority of the stage and let the gap balloon. They may not have been able to catch him, but they also would not have lost even remotely close to the time they did if the AI cared. That has not be the case here.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 02-04-2024 17:59
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Right try from Nesset in the break, but just not strong enough. Still another solid GC from him in a GT and of course with a great stage to look back on.
The TT should be quiet for us, so just about saving the legs for a final push in Paris!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 02-04-2024 18:09
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Grande Cattaneo! Top 10 dreams still alive with the TT still to come. We might end this race on a positive note after all
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 17-03-2025 04:15
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 02-04-2024 19:56
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Kamna again good but not spectacular in 9th. This is just a level too high for him I guess, and at the end of 3 weeks he's hurting. Still kind of disappointed he entered that unwinnable break and lost so much time. Otherwise he might have also been knocking on the door of the top 20.
Quintana loses the spots we expected. 13th is not a terrible result given the tough field, but it's certainly at the bottom of expectations. And we need overperformances, not barely meeting par. Depth wise, 13th, 20th, 28th, and 34th is not a terrible performance. But with very few stages results and no wins, that's not gonna count for much.
Congrats to knockout on finally winning the Tour de France!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| SotD |
Posted on 02-04-2024 20:01
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Turns out to be a bad race for us again, unless Farantakis suddenly decides to pick a Stage win.
Two subtop GC riders where neither get’s close to the top 10 nor the KOM is not ideal.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 02-04-2024 21:46
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Two second places in a row, eighth in the GC. Cattaneo heard the complaints of the past few days. I could still complain about losing seventh by ten seconds but it's not like that would save us from relegation
Kalaba to finish us of on another high tomorrow.
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| knockout |
Posted on 02-04-2024 22:05
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Grand Tour Champion
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Is it happening for real? 
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| ember |
Posted on 02-04-2024 22:25
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Congratulations, knockout!!! Just brilliant to see you actually get there, and bring home yellow in the Tour. Very happy for you, big congratulations!
It has been a rather anonymous race for us, mainly because of us not being that active in the mountain stages. I can't fault Prasad, though, who has had a pretty good GT again. Fingers crossed he can challenge for a final stage top 5! |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 03-04-2024 01:33
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Well apologies to McNulty, he saved his notable performance for the last opportunity. A really nice ride to finish 3rd on this stage and reclaim a top 10 GC place. Much better than I was anticipating.
redordead wrote:
I'm glad we were able to triumph in the U25 from start to finish without too much of a hassle. I have no qualms about the rider with +1 OVL winning here
Agreed a fair outcome, but would you begrudge me just a little hassle?
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| redordead |
Posted on 03-04-2024 06:50
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Nothing special from Pogacar in the TT, but he didn't need it. Borisavljevic also far from his best, enough to move to 22nd which is what I hoped for. Habtemichael on the other hand did well, I didn't think he could move up any further, ended up just 1'' from 15th
Hopefully nothing weird happens on the last stage and we bring everyone to the end where they should be.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 03-04-2024 12:07
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24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 03-04-2024 17:54
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Story of this race.
That looked like a really good jump from Grosu but still the same ending. We are really lucky to walk away with two wins from this given how sprints played out. It's not a disaster, but it's not a great outcome for us either given how we only focused on sprints here.
Thank you for the wonderful reports and congrats knockout!
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