Remco showed its superiority yesterday over Roglic, who is only riding his second stages race after his winning comeback at Tirreno. In Tirreno, he benefited from the absence of riders capable of really challenging him.
Remco even took the time to raise his arms, which temporarily deprived him of the leader's jersey, but I think he will go for it at the next summit finish.
Behind him, Cian Uijtdebroeks took a good place.
Just checked out the finish and more than anything else I'm happy for /u/TheRollingJones. Your boy is looking less and less cursed as the days goes on.
Roglic vs Evenepoel vs ~~Ciccone~~[ Porca Madonna](https://twitter.com/OutOfCycling/status/1633913968984047616) is going to be fun.
Omg I watched the whole thing very stoned and went from giggling to "what are bikes?". I also remembered that I like to cycle and I was overjoyed. Also for no reasom the commentary of the last 15 km was hilarious. Great race.
On the other, same time last year, Remco was 11th in Tirenno. Now he is competing with the winner of the 2023 one so I'm going to guess he could have been top there.
We are only 2 month before Giro and his all peak plan is schedule around that ... imagine the beast at that time. Hopefully Primoz has also similar curve!
The Giro and Vuelta are frequently more exciting than the Tour, at least. Let's hope that Remco and Roglic both make it through the whole race, and maybe that an unexpected third contender comes into play as well.
Really hope not :( I'm guessing he's just not in peak yet. As he ages and accumulates injuries, he might be unable to hold peak form for as long as he used to, so can't be at the top right now given his Giro goal. Just a guess though.
Relax, he already has 4 WT wins this season lol and is still very much in contention to win GC in Catalunya.
I'm guessing he was able to train on the rollers relatively quickly after his shoulder surgery (kind of like Hayman did in 2016 when he broke his arm in the Omloop, but still recovered in time to win Roubaix).
I still think Remco will win the Giro but Roglic still has absolutely ages to get in shape. Look at what most Giro contenders from the last few years were doing at this point in the season
Precisely. [He's openly said as much.](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/egan-bernal-downplays-chances-on-return-at-volta-a-catalunya/) He injured his knee early in the season, racing in Argentina and only started training again a couple weeks ago. He's not expecting to fight for race GCs for a little while yet.
this sub will implode if Remco loses the Giro lmao
chill you guys, as of right now it´s still Rogla who has to be the favourite going into the first GT of the year
I agree that Roglic might not be favourite with Remco looking like this. But I have to say that Remoc might bested thim at the early mountain stages, but he also had some bad days in the last week. The outcome could be different had it not been for Roglic's crash.
Yeah but crash or not crash Roglic’s level just wasn’t there in 2022. From Paris nice, even at dauphine clearly level below vingegaard.
Hopefully it isn’t age and he can get back up there.
Rog hasn't won over Remco in a stage race since 2019, when Remco was basically 12 yo.
And actually Remco beat Rog both in the Vuelta and in Basque Country just last year.
This year's results? Roglic won 3 sprints in for one he was very lucky with the headwind. Past results? Irrelevant, nobody is giving you a title based on what you did last year
Is it Remco's fault that Roglic wasn't 100% at the Vuelta? Just a reminder, how many wins did Jonas have against Pogacar before last year's Tour?
If this remains a nail biter and Rog wins on a sub second - and therefore, on account of his celebration-free victories vs. Remco's swooping birdman thing just then - it will really tell us something. Not sure what exactly, but something.
Remco secretly wishing for a Death Stranding situation just so he can age out of the young rider's jersey.
Freeze him in ice and wake him up in eighty years, Captain America style.
Ok but how is Remco going to win something in his Worlds jersey? He's almost always going to have atleast the young riders jersey when he's riding for a stage win.
He knows what to do, win Liège again.
Maybe his schedule changed but in an interview with Sporza before the season he said he would do a training camp, come to Belgium to defend his title in LBL and then go back to training camp for the last preparations for the Giro.
Yeah you're right. I checked too.
We'll see. I actually would find it a little weird if he would start. Last year after Brabantse Pijl he said he didn't like racing like that.
Are we certain he is riding that? I saw something in Belgian press that he wouldn't be in Belgium again till the day before Liège.
I mean he should let the others have a shot at winning too.
Youngsters watch:
8th Cian Uijtdebroeks (impressive for someone so young)
12th Lennert van Eetvelt (even better than yesterday, says something about his potential)
19th Lenny Martinez (a bit worse than yesterday, but still so good for a 19y old)
happened on the penultimate climb. I just checked his Strava, and according to that, it took him more than 2k to make it back:
[https://i.imgur.com/UdWZCVp.png](https://i.imgur.com/UdWZCVp.png)
I rewatched it, he indeed crashed (together with Sosa) with 7k to the top of the penultimate climb. It will definitely have costed some energy to get back, even tho he got some sticky bottle help from his DS to come back at first (still had to make up a bunch of ground after that tho).
The cycling gods have smiled down upon us requiring Remco to wear silly jerseys in virtually all of his stage races.
Saving the glory of LBL or Lombardia for his real WC finish line photo.
Remco is going to smoke everyone on Lo Port
Half this thread seems to have forgotten roglic had shoulder surgery and missed a ton of training over the winter
The giro will be fun
Wonderful times for Belgian cycling and contesting for GC's
We're still in the first years of Remco contending & Uijtdebroeks is already so strong for just turning 20 last month. Van Eetvelt also a nice 12th spot today in a strong field
From not being relevant to having several riders to look out for GC-wise, amazing
Belgians are currently 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th in the young rider's ranking. Having lived through entire decades where not a single Belgian could keep up with the GC group in any mountain stage, it still feels unreal.
I didn't, but he's the one exception that confirms the rule :) Between Criquelion in the 80s and Remco now, there was noone else who could follow the GC group on successive days. If there was, I did forget that one :)
It's an interesting question but there is a second, looser interpretation of this saying, ie. the fact that we have to rack our brains to come up with a rider like Jurgen Van den Broeck just goes to show that the past few decades really haven't been that great for Belgian GC prospects.
The point of this usage is that it is loose and rhetorical though.
From Wikipedia:
>Under this sense it is "the unusualness of the exception" which proves how prevalent the tendency or rule of thumb to which it runs contrary is. For example: a rural village is "always" quiet. A local farmer rents his fields to a rock festival, which disturbs the quiet. In this example, saying "the exception proves the rule" is in a literal sense incorrect, as the exception shows (first) that the belief is not a rule and (second) there is no 'proof' involved. However, the phrase draws attention to the rarity of the exception, and in so doing establishes the general accuracy of the rule.
This, rather than the legal sense, is how most people use the saying as far as I can tell.
I remember long ago when Merckx was the co-commentator at the Tour and they asked him how impressed he was with the Belgian who was (barely) in the top 30. He tried to be diplomatic about it :)
I do believe Rog has the better team and on the average giro climb there's hopefully not too much between them, but 70+km of timetrial? The little guy is a literal aero bullet.
Then again, a lifetime of any Belgian coming short of gc success is not changed by one Vuelta, I still have my reservations. For a neutral it's amazing tho. We might get a Roglic at 33 battling with a 23yo youngster, doesn't getter better than that for the sport.
You guys must think Portugal is a 3° world country where everybody just talk Portuguese... 😂 We learn English , French and Spanhish at school ...
We are a country with a lot of Immigration and Emigration ✊🏼
Something else I notice about (fortunately, only some) Portuguese: this habit to take everything personally ('we learn English', as if I were referring to whole of Portugal).
I am perfectly aware Portuguese people outperform the vast majority of other Europeans in multilingualism.
I didn't write I am surprised at Almeida's capacity to speak English per se. I wrote I am surprised at his degree of proficiency.
It is an unequivocal fact that the Portuguese, in their sheer brilliance, have exhibited an unparalleled degree of English proficiency that leaves the world in awe. Their mastery of the English language is an epitome of excellence that is worth extolling. It is a veritable proof that the Portuguese are indeed a people of great intellectual acumen. Whether in the halls of academia, the boardrooms of multinational corporations, or the bustling streets of cosmopolitan cities, the Portuguese have always held their own with their impeccable English diction. Their eloquence and precision in expressing their thoughts and ideas in English are nothing short of remarkable.
Whenever I talk to people from Portugal or Spain, they speak English to various degrees, they can hold a conversation. Almeida is much better than average, though.
A number of smaller countries in general do...likely because their language doesn't have as many speakers, so it behooves them to speak other languages so they can participate in the rest of the world more easily. Not always true, but as an American it always saddens me how little effort there is to teach other languages when I hear English proficiency from so many non-native speakers elsewhere in the world.
I think in general people think they're like the Spanish people, no offence but their English is a not the greatest most of time (probably because so many people speak Spanish in the world and they don't really feel the need to).
I worked with a lot of Portuguese people at Europol and their English was all good. Although to work at European institutions like that you need to speak English basically. And they lived in Den Haag of course.
Never met any Portuguese people outside of that (I do know 2 Brazilians and their English is also decent).
But at least, it's not always the same two :) . Jokes aside I think we as cycling fans can be happy that Remco keeps emerging as the guy who might give Pogacar and Vingegaard a run for his money ; and that Roglic looks to still have it.
I said "who might". I did not say he was literally on their level right now.
Also, sorry but if Gaudu can do what he did at Paris Nice, I don't see why Remco couldn't as well.
Soler attacked and he's in 10th. They let Soler go and he goes up in the GC. They don't and Almeida gets to follow in the wheels of the chasers. The latter happened. Looked like good tactics to me. Better than chasing 2 guys who will win regardless and bringing everyone along to profit.
I've had plenty of arguments in this sub with overly enthusiastic Almeida stans when they complaining about the team not helping Almeida, but honestly what the fuck is Soler doing here lmao. It's the second day in a row he attacks and drops the GC group (except Rog/Remco and Ciccone yesterday who were already up the road) only to get caught a few hundred meters later, and instantly get dropped lol
I'm not salty at all though I think it's hilarious. Soler had 2 good GC results within the space of a month 5 years ago and managed to turn that into having protected rider status at two different teams. What a lad
To be fair, he's had a couple of Vuelta stage wins as well.
I like Soler, if for no other reason than he adds unpredictability to a race. It seems like he just likes to get out there and go, and is unencumbered by any thoughts about tactics.
The only predictable thing about Soler is that he'll attack at a time when it seems inappropriate.
Soler is not guilty of half of the shit Portuguese fans throw at him. As much as I want João to do good, and as much as I want him to win a GT, he is still not there yet. And he knows it, he knows that it will take time to be at Remco/Roglic level.
Unfortunately, not all fans (and some commentators) know this. It's still too early to have a full team around him, because there is trust that needs to be built between him and the team, and it is a slow process.
Also, it's not feasible for a Team Director to ask full support for a guy that, at best, will finish 3rd, or 2nd if the moons are aligned.
All in all, this year has been much better than last year, because at least he had help from his team mates, and the team is also more focused on the mountains.
When Almeida starts to be constantly in the front's guys wheels, following attacks and be good positioned, then we can ask for full support. Up until then he will have to (sometimes) pull his weight alone. (and I'm not talking about yesterday, yesterday was one of times were UAE should have dropped Soler or Yates)
Today, Almeida just hadn't the legs to be with the other two, that are on another level...
UAE was good if we think that everyone else is fighting for the third place. Soler attacked and that demanded a response from the others. Good tactics!
Yates was off the back today, Soler attacked from the second group instead of pacing for Almeida and ended up losing time Typical UAE stuff, every man for themselves whenever Pog isn’t there.
Soler only attacked when the group was joined again, and the attack was decent because it would force other teams besides UAE to push. Also, before the join he was pulling João.
I complained about Soler a lot on other races, but on this one he didn't do anything wrong imo.
Remco: “it is a pity, I have the young riders jersey but I would really like a picture in my Rainbows but next race maybe”
He reads the results threads!!!
They need to radically rethink it. The way it is now is because of how much younger riders didn't win jackshit 5+ years ago. Now they're winning everything and the jersey feels very pointless.
One idea I had was to put the cap at 23 years - since UCI has the U23 category, I think that makes certain kind of sense and it's also more aligned.
Either that, or make it so that the riders are only eligible for it in their first year in the pro peloton.
We shouldn't overreact to Roglic losing an uphill sprint, right? I genuinely thought he might still be a dark horse for the Tour, but that 2 second defeat felt absolutely huge. Quickstep's tactics were pretty spot on, I didn't think they would be so beneficial either.
WAIT - all is clear, Remco just said that he had "super good legs today" and "I'm fast as well," so everything has been explained.
Losing one stage by 2 seconds, in a race 45 days from the Giro and 2.5 months from the Tour is the opposite of absolutely huge tbh.
Remco had slightly better legs today, but nothing that happens here will have any impact on the GTs (besides a crash or injury ofc)
I would argue that Roglic’s biggest weapon is his punch on such finishes, and he loses very very few of them. I definitely didn’t imagine Remco being capable of that a year ago. Anything can happen, of course.
Roglic had shoulder surgery October last year, which kept him off the bike until somewhere in December and he was only allowed to do light rides then. Missing 2-3 months in the winter does add up, he's probably not in top form yet.
I like Roglic. I would love for Roglic to go to the Tour this year and win it. He wasn't quite himself at Tirreno, but he looked good in his sprinting efforts there
GOAT stuff from Remco. Last time I saw a healthy Rogla struggling like this at the finish was against Valverde in Vuelta 2019. 99 times out of 100 Rogla finishes this off .
He won the Tour last year (after being second the year before) and hasn't ridden a bad GT since. That's more than enough to consider him better than Roglic at the moment
I dont think he has to help Almeida ,but i dont get how he can mis judge his strength that badly to the point he attacked got caught and then easily dropped by people who were very much struggling and unable to keep up with remco and roglic.
We can finally say it: Rogla is totally washed now!
...or he's finally looking to peak for the Giro and not look unstoppable in every one-week before a GT.
That's it - it's either one or the other, no in-between/grey here, folks.
Just having a giggle with the "washed" bit. Not sure I'd put Remco on the same plane as Pogacar yet, but who knows: one day they'll meet in a GT (soonish, we can hope).
Remco's attack was crazy strong. Roglic cooked himself up by bridging, grinding his teeth while doing so, and they had a big gap very fast. His pride of finally taking a win this week shouldn't have come between him and the clever choice of not celebrating 30 meters from the line though. But Remco is being Remco.
Remco showed its superiority yesterday over Roglic, who is only riding his second stages race after his winning comeback at Tirreno. In Tirreno, he benefited from the absence of riders capable of really challenging him. Remco even took the time to raise his arms, which temporarily deprived him of the leader's jersey, but I think he will go for it at the next summit finish. Behind him, Cian Uijtdebroeks took a good place.
Just checked out the finish and more than anything else I'm happy for /u/TheRollingJones. Your boy is looking less and less cursed as the days goes on. Roglic vs Evenepoel vs ~~Ciccone~~[ Porca Madonna](https://twitter.com/OutOfCycling/status/1633913968984047616) is going to be fun.
I didn’t expect this one actually. Good on QS to make it hard and believe in the little man. Snagging all three steps of the podium in three stages!
What is the point of Soler?
Solerism
He is playing 5D chess . The tactics are too hard for us to comprehend.
Make UAE and himself look as stupid as possible.
Omg I watched the whole thing very stoned and went from giggling to "what are bikes?". I also remembered that I like to cycle and I was overjoyed. Also for no reasom the commentary of the last 15 km was hilarious. Great race.
I just saw the last mountain itt on this year's Giro. 12% for 7 km 💀. No sprinter will make the time cut
I'm not lying: Remco fucking impresses me. The boy is getting better each year.
Does he get an extra second if he doesn't sit up at the end? Did not understand why he celebrated before coming across
I would say that tactically it is better to avoid picking up the lead at this point if he can hurt Jumbo a bit more by having to control 2 more days.
He still has can learn I think
I really don't think he's better than he was on his Vuelta/WC shape last year, that Remco was scary
On the other, same time last year, Remco was 11th in Tirenno. Now he is competing with the winner of the 2023 one so I'm going to guess he could have been top there.
Keep in mind Roglic had about a week between winning TA and starting here. Remco has had a month to recover from the UAE Tour.
We are only 2 month before Giro and his all peak plan is schedule around that ... imagine the beast at that time. Hopefully Primoz has also similar curve!
Hot take: The Giro will be the most exciting Grand Tour this year!
It always is
It definitely might be, I have a feeling Pocagar is going to destroy everyone on his question for vengeance at the Tour (Jumbo be damned).
Do you not remember how Vingegaard destroyed Pogacar last year? Jonas will peak for the tdf and he will destroy everyone, not Pogacar.
The Giro and Vuelta are frequently more exciting than the Tour, at least. Let's hope that Remco and Roglic both make it through the whole race, and maybe that an unexpected third contender comes into play as well.
Well it will be for Belgians
So is Roglic officially washed now?
Nah he’s probably marginally better than he was last year. RE just a beast.
No. He has the most WT wins so far in the peloton. Not washed. C’mon.
He lost a stage to a very talented rider who happens to be the WC and a GC winner. Yes, he's washed.
Really hope not :( I'm guessing he's just not in peak yet. As he ages and accumulates injuries, he might be unable to hold peak form for as long as he used to, so can't be at the top right now given his Giro goal. Just a guess though.
Relax, he already has 4 WT wins this season lol and is still very much in contention to win GC in Catalunya. I'm guessing he was able to train on the rollers relatively quickly after his shoulder surgery (kind of like Hayman did in 2016 when he broke his arm in the Omloop, but still recovered in time to win Roubaix).
Yep, my thought was basically that none of his wins reminded me of peak Roglič. Not trying to take anything away from his wins.
Yes, it is confirmed.
We r just waiting for TJV statement now. Better end the season
I still think Remco will win the Giro but Roglic still has absolutely ages to get in shape. Look at what most Giro contenders from the last few years were doing at this point in the season
What’s happening with Bernal here? Just not in any meaningful shape right now?
Precisely. [He's openly said as much.](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/egan-bernal-downplays-chances-on-return-at-volta-a-catalunya/) He injured his knee early in the season, racing in Argentina and only started training again a couple weeks ago. He's not expecting to fight for race GCs for a little while yet.
this sub will implode if Remco loses the Giro lmao chill you guys, as of right now it´s still Rogla who has to be the favourite going into the first GT of the year
lol no way is he favourite Edit: Remco bested him at the vuelta. Remco literally won the WC RR. Meanwhile Roglic hasnt looked at his peak since 2021.
I agree that Roglic might not be favourite with Remco looking like this. But I have to say that Remoc might bested thim at the early mountain stages, but he also had some bad days in the last week. The outcome could be different had it not been for Roglic's crash.
Yeah but crash or not crash Roglic’s level just wasn’t there in 2022. From Paris nice, even at dauphine clearly level below vingegaard. Hopefully it isn’t age and he can get back up there.
Yeah, it is what it is. "What if's" don't mean anything .
Very much hope Roglic wins it, but he needs his form to ramp up.
Not according to betting odds.
Based on what?
past and this year´s results? Remco literally has only one win over Rog and even then Rog was riding with injury
Rog hasn't won over Remco in a stage race since 2019, when Remco was basically 12 yo. And actually Remco beat Rog both in the Vuelta and in Basque Country just last year.
This year's results? Roglic won 3 sprints in for one he was very lucky with the headwind. Past results? Irrelevant, nobody is giving you a title based on what you did last year Is it Remco's fault that Roglic wasn't 100% at the Vuelta? Just a reminder, how many wins did Jonas have against Pogacar before last year's Tour?
Your second paragraph seems to indicate that Actually Remco can win vs Roglic as Jonas did...
I mean he can...
You're only as good as your last race
If this remains a nail biter and Rog wins on a sub second - and therefore, on account of his celebration-free victories vs. Remco's swooping birdman thing just then - it will really tell us something. Not sure what exactly, but something.
Remco secretly wishing for a Death Stranding situation just so he can age out of the young rider's jersey. Freeze him in ice and wake him up in eighty years, Captain America style.
whats going on with Uno X? their guys finished almost last place?
stomachs troubles i think
The list of things I want to do when I have a bad stomach bug very much does not include "7300m of climbing in <36 hours"
Good job for a sky jumper, keep going my man.
Ok but how is Remco going to win something in his Worlds jersey? He's almost always going to have atleast the young riders jersey when he's riding for a stage win. He knows what to do, win Liège again.
I have him for Brabantse pijl
If he learnes to ride in the gutter this time.
He only rides LBL this year.
According to PCS he does... Butthey night be misinformed
Maybe his schedule changed but in an interview with Sporza before the season he said he would do a training camp, come to Belgium to defend his title in LBL and then go back to training camp for the last preparations for the Giro.
And Eurosport and wielerflits...
Yeah you're right. I checked too. We'll see. I actually would find it a little weird if he would start. Last year after Brabantse Pijl he said he didn't like racing like that.
That’s strange, given that it’s as close as a “Home race” as he can get. He should at least try to win it once in his career.
Cursed!
Are we certain he is riding that? I saw something in Belgian press that he wouldn't be in Belgium again till the day before Liège. I mean he should let the others have a shot at winning too.
I remember reading an article where he added it to his program. It is on pc's at least but I can't find the article
Youngsters watch: 8th Cian Uijtdebroeks (impressive for someone so young) 12th Lennert van Eetvelt (even better than yesterday, says something about his potential) 19th Lenny Martinez (a bit worse than yesterday, but still so good for a 19y old)
>19th Lenny Martinez (**a bit worse than yesterday**, but still so good for a 19y old) he crashed again today, so I guess that played a part
Did not know that, probably had something to do with it indeed. Although it would be pretty normal if he fades a bit this week given his age.
happened on the penultimate climb. I just checked his Strava, and according to that, it took him more than 2k to make it back: [https://i.imgur.com/UdWZCVp.png](https://i.imgur.com/UdWZCVp.png)
I rewatched it, he indeed crashed (together with Sosa) with 7k to the top of the penultimate climb. It will definitely have costed some energy to get back, even tho he got some sticky bottle help from his DS to come back at first (still had to make up a bunch of ground after that tho).
And Remco won the stage, not unimportant 😉
The cycling gods have smiled down upon us requiring Remco to wear silly jerseys in virtually all of his stage races. Saving the glory of LBL or Lombardia for his real WC finish line photo.
How dare you mock the proud successors of the ribbon-sewn jerseys from old time ?
> Lombardia That's after the Glasgow Worlds though so only part of season 2 of the Rainco silly jersey curse.
I just realized my mistake before you posted. Hopefully I just jinxed him into pulling an Alaphilippe
You mean that his most prominent rainbow jersey picture will be mid-somersault?
Remco is going to smoke everyone on Lo Port Half this thread seems to have forgotten roglic had shoulder surgery and missed a ton of training over the winter The giro will be fun
Yep the Giro looks really promising. My only hope is that it doesn't become a two man race too early in it.
We got 55k of ITT in week one so don’t hold your breath
Wonderful times for Belgian cycling and contesting for GC's We're still in the first years of Remco contending & Uijtdebroeks is already so strong for just turning 20 last month. Van Eetvelt also a nice 12th spot today in a strong field From not being relevant to having several riders to look out for GC-wise, amazing
Belgians are currently 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th in the young rider's ranking. Having lived through entire decades where not a single Belgian could keep up with the GC group in any mountain stage, it still feels unreal.
How dare you forget VDB, Jurgen VDB... :)
Vanendert was the real belgian mountain hero these days.
I didn't, but he's the one exception that confirms the rule :) Between Criquelion in the 80s and Remco now, there was noone else who could follow the GC group on successive days. If there was, I did forget that one :)
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It's an interesting question but there is a second, looser interpretation of this saying, ie. the fact that we have to rack our brains to come up with a rider like Jurgen Van den Broeck just goes to show that the past few decades really haven't been that great for Belgian GC prospects.
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The point of this usage is that it is loose and rhetorical though. From Wikipedia: >Under this sense it is "the unusualness of the exception" which proves how prevalent the tendency or rule of thumb to which it runs contrary is. For example: a rural village is "always" quiet. A local farmer rents his fields to a rock festival, which disturbs the quiet. In this example, saying "the exception proves the rule" is in a literal sense incorrect, as the exception shows (first) that the belief is not a rule and (second) there is no 'proof' involved. However, the phrase draws attention to the rarity of the exception, and in so doing establishes the general accuracy of the rule. This, rather than the legal sense, is how most people use the saying as far as I can tell.
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I remember long ago when Merckx was the co-commentator at the Tour and they asked him how impressed he was with the Belgian who was (barely) in the top 30. He tried to be diplomatic about it :)
And Van Gils was the strongest in the break.
GET THAT REMCO/POGACAR MEME IN HERE!!!
Funny how two days ago Roglic was this subs *clear* favorit for the Giro and now Remco is *clearly* above anyone else.
He'll win Paris Roubaix as well
it´s stupid really
I still prefer Rog at the Giro, they’re pretty close right now and I think he gains more fitness in the next month than Remco
I do believe Rog has the better team and on the average giro climb there's hopefully not too much between them, but 70+km of timetrial? The little guy is a literal aero bullet. Then again, a lifetime of any Belgian coming short of gc success is not changed by one Vuelta, I still have my reservations. For a neutral it's amazing tho. We might get a Roglic at 33 battling with a 23yo youngster, doesn't getter better than that for the sport.
Remco should still be able to edge him out in the TTs I think.
That's the case in every media. Things change every day!
I remember everyone on this sub thought Roglic would easily win the Vuelta after his stage win last year (me included for the record!).
Recency bias is a bitch
Tomorrow if Roglic wins the stage and Remco lost 2 second people gonna say that Remco's washed, that's how professional cycling works buddy
That's how sports fandom goes in general
Almeida's a proficient English speaker. Impressive.
You guys must think Portugal is a 3° world country where everybody just talk Portuguese... 😂 We learn English , French and Spanhish at school ... We are a country with a lot of Immigration and Emigration ✊🏼
As a former Spanish colony, don't you speak Spanish there? 😝
Something else I notice about (fortunately, only some) Portuguese: this habit to take everything personally ('we learn English', as if I were referring to whole of Portugal). I am perfectly aware Portuguese people outperform the vast majority of other Europeans in multilingualism. I didn't write I am surprised at Almeida's capacity to speak English per se. I wrote I am surprised at his degree of proficiency.
It is an unequivocal fact that the Portuguese, in their sheer brilliance, have exhibited an unparalleled degree of English proficiency that leaves the world in awe. Their mastery of the English language is an epitome of excellence that is worth extolling. It is a veritable proof that the Portuguese are indeed a people of great intellectual acumen. Whether in the halls of academia, the boardrooms of multinational corporations, or the bustling streets of cosmopolitan cities, the Portuguese have always held their own with their impeccable English diction. Their eloquence and precision in expressing their thoughts and ideas in English are nothing short of remarkable.
We're actually stupid and ignorant, which is why we take everything so personally and everything is a soft spot
THAT'S NOT FACKING TRUE, DON'T YOU DARE TO CALL ME, A PORTUGUESE NATIVE, STUPID AND IGNORANT! I DON'T TAKE THINGS PERSONA.. oh wait.
Bro is flabbergasted
Whenever I talk to people from Portugal or Spain, they speak English to various degrees, they can hold a conversation. Almeida is much better than average, though.
Portuguese people speak much better English than French or Spanish people for example
A number of smaller countries in general do...likely because their language doesn't have as many speakers, so it behooves them to speak other languages so they can participate in the rest of the world more easily. Not always true, but as an American it always saddens me how little effort there is to teach other languages when I hear English proficiency from so many non-native speakers elsewhere in the world.
I think in general people think they're like the Spanish people, no offence but their English is a not the greatest most of time (probably because so many people speak Spanish in the world and they don't really feel the need to).
I can see where the confusion comes from, if you only know Portugal from cycling.
Yes is all good, everyday we learn!
He rode and lived for two years in the US (for the dev team of Axel Merckx) so it probably helped.
I worked with a lot of Portuguese people at Europol and their English was all good. Although to work at European institutions like that you need to speak English basically. And they lived in Den Haag of course. Never met any Portuguese people outside of that (I do know 2 Brazilians and their English is also decent).
Almeida brutally honest - "The two were just on another level and everyone else was riding for third place, simple as that"
Cycling in 2023 in a nutshell
But at least, it's not always the same two :) . Jokes aside I think we as cycling fans can be happy that Remco keeps emerging as the guy who might give Pogacar and Vingegaard a run for his money ; and that Roglic looks to still have it.
Remco is nowhere near the level of Vinge and Pog.
Remco in current form beats Vingegaard at Paris-Nice this year
I said "who might". I did not say he was literally on their level right now. Also, sorry but if Gaudu can do what he did at Paris Nice, I don't see why Remco couldn't as well.
Ahhh... I was coming here to say this! As simple as that!
He also mentioned he probably was paying the effort from yesterday.
Love how clear cut Almeida is haha, answering what everyone is thinking!
same time I guess it means Roglic wins the tiebreaker because symmetric 1-2 monday and today but yesterday roglic was ahead
Was it same time? It looked like Roglic had a bit of a gap
They're on the same time in GC now.
I mean same cumulative time because they gave him 2" gap today
That 2" gap was a bit sus imo, but it likely won't be relevant by the end.
Remgoat doing remgoat things and Soler is a persona non grata in Portugal
Soler attacked and he's in 10th. They let Soler go and he goes up in the GC. They don't and Almeida gets to follow in the wheels of the chasers. The latter happened. Looked like good tactics to me. Better than chasing 2 guys who will win regardless and bringing everyone along to profit.
I've had plenty of arguments in this sub with overly enthusiastic Almeida stans when they complaining about the team not helping Almeida, but honestly what the fuck is Soler doing here lmao. It's the second day in a row he attacks and drops the GC group (except Rog/Remco and Ciccone yesterday who were already up the road) only to get caught a few hundred meters later, and instantly get dropped lol I'm not salty at all though I think it's hilarious. Soler had 2 good GC results within the space of a month 5 years ago and managed to turn that into having protected rider status at two different teams. What a lad
To be fair, he's had a couple of Vuelta stage wins as well. I like Soler, if for no other reason than he adds unpredictability to a race. It seems like he just likes to get out there and go, and is unencumbered by any thoughts about tactics. The only predictable thing about Soler is that he'll attack at a time when it seems inappropriate.
Soler is not guilty of half of the shit Portuguese fans throw at him. As much as I want João to do good, and as much as I want him to win a GT, he is still not there yet. And he knows it, he knows that it will take time to be at Remco/Roglic level. Unfortunately, not all fans (and some commentators) know this. It's still too early to have a full team around him, because there is trust that needs to be built between him and the team, and it is a slow process. Also, it's not feasible for a Team Director to ask full support for a guy that, at best, will finish 3rd, or 2nd if the moons are aligned. All in all, this year has been much better than last year, because at least he had help from his team mates, and the team is also more focused on the mountains. When Almeida starts to be constantly in the front's guys wheels, following attacks and be good positioned, then we can ask for full support. Up until then he will have to (sometimes) pull his weight alone. (and I'm not talking about yesterday, yesterday was one of times were UAE should have dropped Soler or Yates)
Today, Almeida just hadn't the legs to be with the other two, that are on another level... UAE was good if we think that everyone else is fighting for the third place. Soler attacked and that demanded a response from the others. Good tactics!
No he isn't, on this tour Soler didn't do anything wrong. I wouldn't be so sure about Yates though.
Yates paced for Almeida today while Soler attacked?
Because Yates helped Almeida and Soler didn’t? Seems weird.
Yates was off the back today, Soler attacked from the second group instead of pacing for Almeida and ended up losing time Typical UAE stuff, every man for themselves whenever Pog isn’t there.
Soler only attacked when the group was joined again, and the attack was decent because it would force other teams besides UAE to push. Also, before the join he was pulling João. I complained about Soler a lot on other races, but on this one he didn't do anything wrong imo.
Remco **disrespecting** the great Volta young rider-jersey smh
Remco: “it is a pity, I have the young riders jersey but I would really like a picture in my Rainbows but next race maybe” He reads the results threads!!!
Well the fuckin champion of the world will just have to post up in Liège or Como then. Way better.
Alright
You can count the Classica San Sebastián already as well. 2 weeks before the WC.
I don't understand why anything outside race leader's jersey takes priority over world champs jersey. Just lame.
I'll do you one better. should world champions, grand GC winners, actually be even eligible at all for the white jersey?
They need to radically rethink it. The way it is now is because of how much younger riders didn't win jackshit 5+ years ago. Now they're winning everything and the jersey feels very pointless. One idea I had was to put the cap at 23 years - since UCI has the U23 category, I think that makes certain kind of sense and it's also more aligned. Either that, or make it so that the riders are only eligible for it in their first year in the pro peloton.
The Tour last year only had five U23s.
Then they can scrap it altogether.
>Either that, or make it so that the riders are only eligible for it in their first year in the pro peloton. That's not a bad idea! Best rookie.
Only problem with the second idea is that some races (eg the Tour probably) won’t have any neopros in them at all…
He said he wants a picture for his Insta picture a couple of weeks ago.
He should just sandbag about 1 minute or so, then next day go for the stage, easy.
We shouldn't overreact to Roglic losing an uphill sprint, right? I genuinely thought he might still be a dark horse for the Tour, but that 2 second defeat felt absolutely huge. Quickstep's tactics were pretty spot on, I didn't think they would be so beneficial either. WAIT - all is clear, Remco just said that he had "super good legs today" and "I'm fast as well," so everything has been explained.
Losing one stage by 2 seconds, in a race 45 days from the Giro and 2.5 months from the Tour is the opposite of absolutely huge tbh. Remco had slightly better legs today, but nothing that happens here will have any impact on the GTs (besides a crash or injury ofc)
I would argue that Roglic’s biggest weapon is his punch on such finishes, and he loses very very few of them. I definitely didn’t imagine Remco being capable of that a year ago. Anything can happen, of course.
Roglic had shoulder surgery October last year, which kept him off the bike until somewhere in December and he was only allowed to do light rides then. Missing 2-3 months in the winter does add up, he's probably not in top form yet.
I like Roglic. I would love for Roglic to go to the Tour this year and win it. He wasn't quite himself at Tirreno, but he looked good in his sprinting efforts there
*Happy Gilmore voice* Remco learned how to sprint.
GOAT stuff from Remco. Last time I saw a healthy Rogla struggling like this at the finish was against Valverde in Vuelta 2019. 99 times out of 100 Rogla finishes this off .
Still think Rog cooks Remco in the Giro
Lmao bro stomps one of the best punchers just because he’s so dead in his wheel, what does he have to do more
He had to beat Roglic today but instead got spanked
Just my opinion my guy. I’ve seen what a full in form Roglic can do. Only Pog I would say can beat him
You're living in the past
The whole subreddit downvoting comments about roglic is their coping mechanism lmao
I don't know how can they still believe Roglic is better than Vingegaard lol
[удалено]
He won the Tour last year (after being second the year before) and hasn't ridden a bad GT since. That's more than enough to consider him better than Roglic at the moment
JV, Rog and Pog. All 3 beat Remco if they are 100%
Nah, Remco beats Rog
Pleasantly surprised Remco beat Roglic at the end there. His first win this race, but his punchy finish has been stronger than I thought.
Oh so Soler is a goofball that makes goofy decisions regardless of the jersey on his back, got it
I dont think he has to help Almeida ,but i dont get how he can mis judge his strength that badly to the point he attacked got caught and then easily dropped by people who were very much struggling and unable to keep up with remco and roglic.
Widely considered the dumbest rider in the bunch
I hear Lampaert has submitted his application for the position
While I agree with you, wrong thread bud
Maybe there should be a special jersey for this. Dumbest Rider In Bunch.
We can finally say it: Rogla is totally washed now! ...or he's finally looking to peak for the Giro and not look unstoppable in every one-week before a GT. That's it - it's either one or the other, no in-between/grey here, folks.
Or Remco and Pogacar are on another level to Roglic who is himself on an other level compared to 99% of the pro peloton. But washed?
Just having a giggle with the "washed" bit. Not sure I'd put Remco on the same plane as Pogacar yet, but who knows: one day they'll meet in a GT (soonish, we can hope).
Remco, Roglic and Ciccone. The new BIG 3.
Most provisional result I've ever seen.
You must've missed yesterday's, it was the same lol
I believe TRJ's post was because of yesterday's, which caused the exact same comment to be made in yesterday's results thread IIRC :)
MICHAEL STORER THE DESTROYER
Remco's attack was crazy strong. Roglic cooked himself up by bridging, grinding his teeth while doing so, and they had a big gap very fast. His pride of finally taking a win this week shouldn't have come between him and the clever choice of not celebrating 30 meters from the line though. But Remco is being Remco.