Its touch and go for GC at TA - First time for a while, I’ve seen a rider ride Roglic off his wheel - Would like to see A.Yates have a crack at Fleche Wallone and LBL.
Impressive effort by Haig in P/N - He really should have matched Chaves time in the ITT which would have given him 3rd place.
Roglic wins TA by less than 1 second.
Dennis’ ITT form seems to be down still. Perhaps is partially the new equipment he’s riding?
On to the MSR this Saturday.
Yates actually lost by 0.3 seconds - Anyway a good performance by Yates on a parcour more suited to Roglic - Will add that Roglic is the best one week stage racer in the peleton.
MS team for MSR is Impey,Trentin, Mezgec, Affini, Stannard, Hepburn and Juul-Jensen - A top 10 will be a good result.
Dennis and ITT - Durbridge finished 5 seconds down on Dennis in the TA ITT which is in line with my thoughts as Dennis is better than Durbridge in a shorter ITT - Will add that Dennis had the fastest first split and then died in the second half of the ITT.
Alaphilippe wins MSR from a select group.
Trentin went very early and Sagan seemed not to have any legs in the sprint. Alaphilippe has 7 wins this year, and in the form he’s in, he could win plenty more.
Trentin is tactically naive in big races - No reason to attack with 2kms to go when you are the second fastest sprinter in the group - A podium or more went begging - Management must be frustrated - Posted earlier in the year that the TDU must have Alaphalippe in their sights if there is no Sagan.
I couldn’t figure it out either. Sagan is faster than Trentin, but those should duke it out if it’s a pure sprint. Why Trentin went so far out was perplexing.
Good listen if you guys are interested
Will walker was a Aussie pro cyclist.
2004 won Melbourne to warnabool as a teenager
2004 stage winner of herald sun tour
2004 Second in road race under 23 world champs
2005 Aussie national u23 road champ s
Won world Champs as a under 23
2006-2008 rabobank pro team tours giro ditalia and vuelta
Expect Mitchelton Scott to go close to winning Catalunya - It’s a matter of which Yates.
Bing wins stage 2 , Catalunya, from Valverde and Impey,
Serious climbing starts tonight.
Impey went too early in the sprint, though still would have come second to Matthews - An excellent ride by Smith who has fitted in like a glove.
Busy period of racing with De Panne tonight - team is Mezgec, Durbridge, Edmondson, Bauer, Hepburn, Scotson and Affini - Imagine it will come down to Mezgec unless it’s windy and Durbridge may have a chance.
Coppi Bartali starts today - team is Bookwalter, Schultz, hamilton, Howson, Stannard, Meyer, Bewley - I understand that Hamilton and Schultz have been set for this race - The team will do very well in the TTT later today - Stannard comes 5th in the first stage.
Adam Yates wins stage 3, a nice ride. Quintana did his usual wheel sucking trick, the guy never works.
Good to see Dan Martin up there, Bernal is going to be dominating GC races very soon, you feel.
De Panne was a crash fest as it usually is. Durbo crashed, Heppy caught up in one too.
Groenewegen is a beast and blew everyone away, despite poor positioning.
E3 this Friday and Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields on Sunday.
Durbo ruled out for the rest of the cobbled classics.
MS wins the TTT at Coppi Bartali with Stannard in the leaders jersey. Durbridge crashes too often and is becoming a liability. Edmondson also out of the Classics.
MA Lopez wins at Catalunya and takes a narrow lead in the GC. It may well be enough though with no more pure climbing stages. Adam Yates stays 2nd.
E3 tonight and Flanders in the Fields on Sunday, cobbled classics season starts in earnest.
Lopez has been lucky so far this year - He won Columbia because Sky chased Sosa who was in the break, while if Bernal, yates, and Quintana co-operated in stage 3, Lopez would have lost 30 to 40 seconds.
Stybar wins E3, Wout Van Aert 2nd, GVA 3rd.
Schachmann wins Catalunya stage from the break. Matthews won the sprint to come 2nd.
Hamilton retains the GC at Coppi Bartali
Trentin just missed the winning move at E3 - keep at it and he can get a podium in one of the big classic races.
Bing takes the penultimate stage at Catalunya.
He’s a big show to take the last stage too.
Matthews is definitely a chance to win the final stage - Want to see how Matthews goes in Dwaars De Vlaanderen and Ronde De Vlaanderen - Mitchelton Scott failed to utilise his full range of talent.
