Roglic's Revenge: Pro Cycling 2021

[ursus arctos]

He has always had success there

[longeared]

Baffling Movistar Tactics Klaxon

[longeared]

Astana profit from having numbers in the finale and Alex Aranburu solos to the stage win. That's Astana's first win of the season. Think the main group was close enough for Roglic to retain the GC lead.

[longeared]

Cavendish has just finished third in the Scheldeprijs behind Jasper Philipsen and Sam Bennett. Both the Deceuninck riders were baulked slightly when their lead out got swamped by Alpecin just as they were winding up to unleash their sprint.

[longeared]

Then there's very different weather in the Basque country and a fine Pog-Rog duel on a leg achingly steep final climb. Quite enjoyed that every time Yates / Valverde / Gaudu / Landa rejoined them then Pog would accelerate and immediately drop them all again. Pogacar won the sprint for the stage, Roglic still in the overall lead.

[Sits]

Basque is shaping up nicely; Rog's GC lead nowhere near comfortable yet and I'd fancy Pog for the win eventually. There's another Sits prediction for you.

As for Philipsen he'd survived in my road.cc fantasy squad after failing to impress earlier in the Spring.

[Sits]

[longeared]

Carlton Kirby really does not have a fucking clue about basic tactics does he? Why on earth would Roglic sit up to let Pogacar get back to the front when Rog / Gaudu / Carthy have got a 48 second lead on the road?

[longeared]

Some nice old school "stage for you, GC for me" there as Roglic doesn't contest the sprint as he's won the race overall and David Gaudu takes a fine win on the day.

[ursus arctos]

Very much so

I still think that Gaudu will be a contender for Grands Tours in the years to come

Roglic adds to his remarkable palmares in one week stage races

[longeared]

Mark Cavendish has just won the second stage of the Tour of Turkey. Proper rolled back the years there, real burst of speed and found a gap to get past Greipel (!) and Jasper Philipsen who beat him in Scheldeprijs last week. Cav's first win since February 2018.

[longeared]

Fucking hell, Cav's done it again. Israel Start Up did a huge train for Greipel who just doesn't have the legs nowadays, Cav used Philipsen as his final lead out, jumped into a big space with 150m left and never looked like getting beaten.

[DPDPDPDP]

Fucking hell, Cav's done it again. Israel Start Up did a huge train for Greipel who just doesn't have the legs nowadays, Cav used Philipsen as his final lead out, jumped into a big space with 150m left and never looked like getting beaten.

So pleased for Cav after all that he’s been through the last few years.

[longeared]

Success breeds success as Cav wins a third consecutive stage, assuming the commissaires pass his shoulder barge on a WB Bingoal rider off as general rough and tumble. There was a huge crash in the finish straight just behind the sprinters and the barriers didn't really do their job, looked as if someone went through them.

[Ray de Galles]

I didn't see the race but did see Cavendish's interview afterwards and I notice he's still arrogantly dismissive of his fellow competitors, a deeply dislikable trait.

[longeared]

Pidcock's in the winning break at Brabantse Pijl. Along with WvA and Trentin. Good luck there Tom...

[longeared]

Fucking hell, Pidcock won it. WvA went long in the sprint, Pidcock came round and was able to celebrate 25m from the line. So today that's Cavendish and Pidcock plus Ruth Winder won the women's race in a controversial photo finish and she was born in Keighley so we'll ignore the stars and stripes jersey and claim that as a British win too. Some of today's course forms part of the Worlds circuit too...

[Sits]

Timely that this week's Life in the Peloton edition of The Cycling Podcast is with none other than young Mr. Pidcock. Seems a nice straightforward guy. Shame he's with Ineos.

[longeared]

Unusually entertaining running of Amstel Gold ended with Pidcock, WvA and Schachmann as the final break, largely thanks to INEOS bossing proceedings over the closing climbs. It's taking them absolutely ages to call a winner from a desperately close sprint finish, but it looks as if WvA might have beaten Pidcock by millimetres. If that turns out to be the outcome then it'll be a double for Jumbo after Marianne Vos won the women's race some hours ago.

[ursus arctos]

It is Van Aert, but they aren't helped by the fact that Sporza's video camera on the line made it look like Pidcock

[Sits]

It might have been easier for WvA if Roglic hadn’t had a mechanical issue a little way before the climax, to balance Ineos’ numbers a little more. The recurring story for Van Aert through the Spring Classics seems to have been him doing it alone, usually up against Quickstep and this time Ineos. In fairness in this race others in Jumbo Visma had done work for him, and Pidcock admitted getting a bit carried away chasing Roglic at one point. What a star Pidcock promises to be.

And talking of Quickstep, a fourth stage win for the resurgent Cav to close out the Tour of Turkey.

[longeared]

It's Fleche Wallonne day!!!!! The women's race has just finished, Anna van der Breggen took her seventh consecutive victory - set her pace up the Mur to drop most of the contenders, Kasia Niewiadoma went too early as Dani Rowe predicted on commentary and van der Breggen came round her for the win. Elisa Longo Borghini snatched third from AVV on the line. The men go later for their usual tactical thriller, though there's no Hirschi or Pogacar as UAE have been Covided out of the race. Their entire team was vaccinated at training camp in January, so that probably wasn't in their plans.

[delicatemoth]

Seems a nice straightforward guy. Shame he's with Ineos.

They have a habit of grabbing nice riders. Tao G Hart uses the phrase "social justice" unironically and approvingly, bless him. I don't know how often he's teamed with Moscon. Then there's former world champ and Monument winner and current superdomestique Michal Kwiatkowski, ultra reliable Luke Rowe and gutsy breakaway merchant Dylan van Baarle.

Astana, UAE, Bahrain, Israel... all the dislikeable teams have likeable riders (Dan Martin's ogre face!). I actually quite like that.

[Sits]

And then there's Froome.

[Sits]

Alaphillipe (sp,) was reminding me of Jesus Quintana as he crossed the line in Huy.