Procycling thread

[Shuggie_Murray7]

So Kuss is losing red tomorrow, eh? No way Vingegaard and Roglic don’t attack him.

No idea what’s going on. I get that it’s bine racing, but you’d be fuming to be leading the race, your team has an absolute stranglehold on the GC, you’re racing your third grand tour of the season and have helped the other 2 win those GTs. And now we’re in the final week of racing and your own teammates are the ones attacking you inside the last 5k.

[Salvo Montalbano]

5 hours ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

So Kuss is losing red tomorrow, eh? No way Vingegaard and Roglic don’t attack him.

No idea what’s going on. I get that it’s bine racing, but you’d be fuming to be leading the race, your team has an absolute stranglehold on the GC, you’re racing your third grand tour of the season and have helped the other 2 win those GTs. And now we’re in the final week of racing and your own teammates are the ones attacking you inside the last 5k.

You think that will happen? Will it just be survival of the fittest? Or will there be a pecking order? Vinegaard being the real leader or Roglic being the Vuelta king?

If Jonas or Primosz attacks, I could see Sepp just refusing to pull for the rest of the race and just letting them and the other domestiques work for themselves. Not that it will help anyone else mind you, TJV being so far ahead of everyone else.

[jaggyness]

22 hours ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

The fun and excitemet has been sucked right out of this Vuelta by Jumbo.

The only interesting remaning point will be which of their 3 GC leaders do they give the win to? Do they just let Kuss stick to the wheels all the way to Madrid? Or do they let Roglic have a pop?

That aside, there's not much else to get excited by, other than L'Angliru tomorrow.

It's like peak sky c2012-2016 where they just had a far stronger squad than everyone else and just strangled the GC competition. It's impressive but doesn't make for exciting racing unfortunately. 

[jaggyness]

20 hours ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

I can't recall a single team ever winning all 3 GTs with 3 different riders in the same season.

It's never happened that's why. Indeed no one team has ever won all the GTs in a single year 

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Not to mention Jumbo also sucked all the joy out of the Tour of Britain last week - picking up 5 stages wins out of 5. WVA won the GC and the point classification.

It really isn't much fun to watch.

Anyway, as predicted before the race, I fully expect Vingegaard to be in red in Madrid. 

[Salvo Montalbano]

1 hour ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

Not to mention Jumbo also sucked all the joy out of the Tour of Britain last week - picking up 5 stages wins out of 5. WVA won the GC and the point classification.

It really isn't much fun to watch.

Anyway, as predicted before the race, I fully expect Vingegaard to be in red in Madrid. 

There was an interview with the organisers on the BBC where they basically said that councils don't have the money to close roads and allocate staff to man checkpoints and erect barriers etc so they were limited in their locales this year. Still hoped there would be more than just 5 sprints and a wee bit climbing that didn't really do much, especially with TJV having such a strong squad and van Aert being a jack of all trades. Also blamed Brexit saying that a lot of teams had to queue for hours if not days to get their support vehicles etc through to Glasgow so a lot of them couldn't be arsed doing that again 5 weeks later hence the smaller than usual field.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Well, I really wish we could hear the team radios at this Vuelta. 
 

I spotted an interview with Vingegaard after today’s stage saying he hopes Kuss wins. That’ll explain why he’s attacked him 2 stages in a row then.

If Roglic had just flew to the win and Vingegaard just paced Kuss to the finish then there barely have been a word said. I still can’t see what the need was for Vingegaard to jump on Roglic’s wheel.

[kiddy]

That pair of cnuts just fcukd Kuss over big style. Stroke of luck Landa hanging in there, to pace him back. But the Spaniards shake of the head spoke volumes.

Lloyd, Blythe &, especially Kelly, we’re incredulous on the Breakaway.

[Gnash]

8 minutes ago, kiddy said:

That pair of cnuts just fcukd Kuss over big style. Stroke of luck Landa hanging in there, to pace him back. But the Spaniards shake of the head spoke volumes.

Lloyd, Blythe &, especially Kelly, we’re incredulous on the Breakaway.

As much as you can have a pop at Jumbo, they are at least making it a genuine race between the 3 contenders.  Imagine how much more boring it would be it they rode through together as a 1-2-3.  If Kuss can't stick with Vingegaard and Roglic, it's quite right they ride away and increase their lead on the other teams.

[kiddy]

13 minutes ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

I spotted an interview with Vingegaard after today’s stage saying he hopes Kuss wins. That’ll explain why he’s attacked him 2 stages in a row then.

 

[kiddy]

44 minutes ago, Gnash said:

As much as you can have a pop at Jumbo, they are at least making it a genuine race between the 3 contenders.  Imagine how much more boring it would be it they rode through together as a 1-2-3.  If Kuss can't stick with Vingegaard and Roglic, it's quite right they ride away and increase their lead on the other teams.

Could this, their treatment of Kuss, be the straw that breaks the camels back? He’s been integral to every single GT TJV have raced/won over the past 5+years. That their egos got in the way of supporting the rider leading GC spoke volumes.

All it would need now, is a +ve test (in addition to  Hessman + Van Hoydonk’s heart issue) &  we could be into Landis territory.

Edited September 13, 2023 by kiddy

[Gnash]

2 minutes ago, kiddy said:

Could this, their treatment of Kuss, be the straw that breaks the camels back? He’s been integral to every single GT TJV have raced/won over the past 5+years. That their egos got in the way of supporting the rider leading GC spoke volumes.

I've been thinking for well over a year that he should jump ship to become the GC lead at another team.  No idea whether that's feasible in terms of money or other teams' willingness, or, frankly, his TT ability.

[kiddy]

Just now, Gnash said:

I've been thinking for well over a year that he should jump ship to become the GC lead at another team.  No idea whether that's feasible in terms of money or other teams' willingness, or, frankly, his TT ability.

Many’s a chief support thought the same & moved on, & failed, in their pursuit of success.

There wouldn’t be a shortage of suitors, with EF (being an American team) heading a list, that would likely include Ineos & Israel Premier Tech. Both having major big money failures as TL’s.

[well fan for life]

I really like watching WVA race.

But this Jumbo-Visma team can get fucked at the minute. 

[Mr. Brightside]

I really don't understand why they're not telling Vingegaard to back off here. Kuss has been a rock for years, a pivotal part of Giro and TdF wins, yet he's still being pushed every day by the Danish Landis. If Kuss doesn't win it's absolutely disgusting.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

For clarity - Kuss wants his shot, but is willing to help the other 2 out. Vingegaard wants Kuss to win. Roglic wants to race. Hope that clears everything up.

It's just a shame that the nearest non-Jumbo rider is 4 minutes back here - almost 3 mins down on Roglic in 3rd.

[Gnash]

10 hours ago, Mr. Brightside said:

I really don't understand why they're not telling Vingegaard to back off here. Kuss has been a rock for years, a pivotal part of Giro and TdF wins, yet he's still being pushed every day by the Danish Landis. If Kuss doesn't win it's absolutely disgusting.

I genuinely don't get your view on this.  Jumbo have the GC wrapped up.  Why shouldn't they race between themselves?  If Kuss isn't as good as the other 2, and it appears he isn't, why should he be allowed to win?  Especially as the riders racing each other is about the only possibility for entertainment left in this race.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

2 hours ago, Gnash said:

I genuinely don't get your view on this.  Jumbo have the GC wrapped up.  Why shouldn't they race between themselves?  If Kuss isn't as good as the other 2, and it appears he isn't, why should he be allowed to win?  Especially as the riders racing each other is about the only possibility for entertainment left in this race.

For the very same reason why Kuss paced Roglic up L'Angrilu in 2020 - despite Roglic suffering up the climb and Kuss paced him all the way to the top, despite the fact he was on a very good day himself.

By that logic, Kuss should've just dropped Roglic in the red jersey, left him to fend for himself,  and plotted him own way up the mountain. 

[Shuggie_Murray7]

A proper PR exercise for the Jumbo lads today.

[Gnash]

7 hours ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

For the very same reason why Kuss paced Roglic up L'Angrilu in 2020 - despite Roglic suffering up the climb and Kuss paced him all the way to the top, despite the fact he was on a very good day himself.

By that logic, Kuss should've just dropped Roglic in the red jersey, left him to fend for himself,  and plotted him own way up the mountain. 

Totally different situation.  That day, Roglic was in a tight GC battle with Kuss nowhere near. 

Now, Jumbo have the GC wrapped up and Kuss is going to win because of team orders, not because he's the best rider.  It stinks, frankly, and worse than that, it's boring.