It’s a dangerous sport, especially on wet,slippery Italian roads.
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Martinelli’s crash was the worst, down 50m into a ravine, but it looks like he’s been lucky and no fractures.
Plapp needs more resilience and professionalism. I look at today’s stage won by Denz and Plapp could have gone with him in the final.
done some digging about the Matt White removal. It was performance related which was exacerbated by pressure from the Sponsor Alula. I’ll also add that Jayco are 98% certain to retain their WT licence, however this situation has affected thier recruitment for 2026.
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YATES
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That was a big move by Yates. Jayco gets a second win.
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That is about the best stage you can win in the Giro. Finestre/Sestriere is a legendary stage in the Giro.
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Great Stage win by Chris Harper!
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Nice work from Harper and Simon Yates redemption on the climb that he lost the Giro those years ago.
Got to say what the heck were Carapaz and Del Toro thinking?
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BEEN watching Boucles Le Mayenne. Krinjtsen of Jayco is coming into form and his GC position does not reflect his level.
Thought Jayco’s overall performance at the Giro was average, however they had two super rides by Plapp and Harper. O’Connor and Bling are going to Suisse before the TDF. Expect the Dauphine team to be weak.
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Gerry has broken his silence over White’s removal from Jayco. As per gerry’s style he did not give much away but pointed out that if you do things the same way and get the same results then things must change.
Looking at UCI points from the Giro, my thoughts that Jayco had an average Giro were vindicated when you see the team came 17th in the points ranking.
I fail to understand why in Hungary and now Slovenia they do not bring a climber. Its all and well to go for sprint wins but it would have been good to bring Plapp to build up more resilience in his body.
Think my info about white’s dismissal was fairly much on the mark. Anyway, White was on the cycling podcast this week reviewing the Giro and will do the last week of the TDF for TNT. Very likely to be the coach for the upcoming World’s.
Groenewegen has won two stages in Slovenia. Looked solid in the sprints, despite losing his train in the second victory. He’s definitely going better sitting a bit off the leaders as in all close losses he was run down in the final minutes. Anyway, he should not be in Slovenia. They could have relied on Walscheid and sent Groenwegen to three or four one day races this week in Belgium which attract more UCI points and of course are easier on the body.
I was informed yesterday that their could be a surprise selection in Jaycos TDF team. NOT that i knew that Bling is off with a suspected pulmonary embolism.
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Matthews ruled out of the TdF with a pulmonary embolism discovered at high altitude camp.
Yes. Edited my previous post from 8 days ago. read the last paragraph. Got info two days ago there could be a surprise selection in the TDF. Anyway, Plapp is currently at altitude so he is the likely replacement.
Matthews illness is a blow for several reasons. Jayco are not completely out of the relegation dogfight, and Bling is their best point scorer. He’s also versatile and could have been deployed as the second last rider in Groenewegen’s sprint train as well as having the capability to win a stage himself. You can back in O’Connor, Schmid and Dunbar in the TDF team. Schmid is going real well, while Dunbar is solid at Dauphine. I expect Groenewegen to be supported by Mezgec with one other rider. I’d take both Walscheid and Foldager. And Plapp is the eigth rider.
Bling should be fine with the early detection of blood clots. Many athletes have suffered this problem and made a full recovery. Finally, Jayco is not hitting the mark in the transfer market. They wanted Groenewegen to stay, them umhed and ahed about walscheid who is now off the table.
Not long after i post this Dunbar collapses at the Dauphine. This has been an issue all season with a rider doing a good GC collapsing on one day. Jayco needs to look at their training program. I mentioned that Krinjsen is coming into form. Kills himself to bridge to the leading group in Dwars het Hageland and punctures out. Hopefully the tide will turn.
O’Connor got in a large break in stage one of Suisse to build up a two minu te buffer on most of the leading GC contenders. he should be able to do a good GC from here. groenewegen 10th in elsteden brugge after an awful lead out. he should have just about won.
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Mate, really appreciate your insights and commentary. Thanks for your posts over a long period.
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Your enthusiasm is appreciated
The Jayco curse of riding for GC in 2025 continues at Suisse. On his form shown so far in this race, O’Connor should never have lost 2m and 42s in this stage. He should have finished around with Vaquelin. In nearly every stage race this year, Jayco’s riders reach a certain level whether it be top 5 or top 10 and inexplicably have a bad day. i suspect it must be related to the training progam
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O’Connor has been horrible this year, so I wasn’t surprised at all.
It’s not a good sign for the TdF.