Dennis is a tortured figure who has suffered mental health issues - He’s done well to have such a glittering career.
Matthews a likely scratch from MSR this Saturday due to a positive Covid-19 test.
The Pog flew in to Paris Nice shortly after another event, then flew out for the San Remo.
At an interview after his Paris Nice win, asked why he attached so much importance to it, he said that it’s more important for him to have it on his record than stage wins in the Grand Tours. This year, if he doesn’t win at a GT, he and his team have a victory.
Matthews competing depends on whether he is asymptomatic or only has mild symptoms - If so he will be right to compete, however the form will be questionable - This has caused Groenewegen substituted in for Milan Torino, while Mezgec is resting for MSR - If no Matthews then Jayco needs to include a climber type in Hamilton or Harper - It’s actually been an underwhelming month for Jayco with the key feature being the poor placement of riders - They should not have started their European season until Ruta Dal Sol, and instead ridden the Tour Of Oman - They failed to take one of ther climbers to the Saudi Tour to get a GC placing. They rode the two French one day races, instead of riding Grand Camino - Then Groenwegen should have missed TA and instead ridden three or four one day races in Belgium/Holland - They should give Harper the chance to lead at either Romandie or Turkey next month.
Drat. Australian stage wins and Jayco stage wins get me through the Essendon football season as consolation.
Hasn’t been a great period for Jayo.
They kind of had to race the Arbian races due to their AlUla sponsorship I feel.
Also Fawkner DQed from her 3rd at Strade for use of the glucose monitor device.
No such sanction for Alaphillipe for removing his helmet, but hey, it’s the UCI.
The Faulkner decision was a joke - You can use heart rate monitors and power meters with no issues but not glucose monitors - The worst thing is the glucose monitor was not even connected to her phone, so there was no data.
Then there was that Chris Froome incident, with the food supplements.
MVP wins Milan San Remo with a devastating attack at the top of the Poggio. Jayco neo-pro Engelhardt gets his first pro win from a reduced group in the Per Sempre Alfredo. He’s got talent!
That was quite some attack.
The strong headwinds at tje Poggio didn’t do Pogacar any favours.
MVP’s top end power is awesome - The one rider from the part that could match is Spartacus.
Stage one in Catalunya - Commentators going on about a selective sprinters stage when it was an obvious stage for Roglic. this is the same stage that Bling has won on two occasions - And Roglic would often beat Matthews in this type of finish.
Jumbo Visma just killing it in the classics this year.
5 wins with 4 different riders.
Tour of Flanders on Sunday, lets see if the trend continues.
I’m not sure why Jayco are even bothering trying, it’s been abysmal from them, but they are hardly lepers in so far.
Exclude Astana, and Jayco has by far the worst performed Classics team in the WT peleton - Since they signed Trentin in 2018 and promised to beef up the Classics squad they have been rubbish - They need to get their recruitment and talent ID sorted out - Yes, they have a small budget, however they will have an increased budget next year with Alula coming on board, so they can strengthen their squad BUT they need to choose wisely - First thing is to employ more Belgian/Dutch riders for the Classics - They don’t have to be world-beaters but riders who are good at this style of racing and can get results - Then they need to look at their calendar - Firstly, there is no point having Groenewgen riding mountanous stage races, he should only ride like Saudi/UAE/Benelux/Belgium tours and then concentrate on one dya races - At the beginning of the year they should ride TDU,Cadel, Herald Sun, Saudi, Oman and UAE and not race in Europe until Mid to Late Feb - They should also be riding more one day races outside of the world Tour races - Yes, they have been unlucky with Matthews getting sick at PN, while Dunbar broke his hand at Valenciana after one race day and has been out for two months but they have struggled with a roster of dubious quality.
Cycling racing really is stupid sometimes
This kind of incident happens all the time - Wiebes did exactly the same move in the ladies Dwars De Valanderen last week and no disqualification - I would like more consistency from the Commissars in penalising these type of incidents.