General Race Thread 2023 **spoilers**

Morris Garren

Tratnik must obviously eat the same breakfast as WVA and the Jumbo Oats team; he is certainly chugging away like a choo choo train !

retalivity

Think he left it too long to attack there

EDIT: Maybe not!

CantGetNoSleep

Disappointed for Healy not to get the podium, think he and Pidcock deserved it more than Buitrago who just sucked wheel a lot of the way. What a few weeks he has had though

Squidgy Black

Pidcock spends an awful lot of time pulling at the front, it was the same in Amstel too, you’d have to wonder if he just sat on a bit more would he have more in his legs to challenge the attacks etc

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120511828#Comment_120511828

This time last month, he won a stage at the coppa bartali! Been stratospheric since, hope he keeps it going into the giro

Squidgy Black

Pog had surgery on his scaphoid after the crash today.

Full recovery usually 8-12 weeks but team think he’ll be back in 5-6.

Going to impact his tour prep massively

breezy1985

All a bit predictable really. Thank God for Healy and Remco's amazing WC kit to give the race something interesting.

Poor Pidcock really was born at the wrong time.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120513078#Comment_120513078

I can't see him riding a bike in six weeks or anywhere close to that. No way the scaphoid will be strong enough for all that riding a bike entails. Any bump or hollow in the road will severely hurt his wrist. He might get back in 8 to 10 weeks with lots of physio and has a better chance of riding the Tour than classics over cobbles. If this happened in February he'd have two less monuments.

retalivity

Pog v Rog v Remco at the Vuelta, Jonas to win the tour by about 5 mins.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120516426#Comment_120516426

He can train every day on Zwift. It’s not about being out and about it’s bout long hard rides. He can do that well enough indoors these days.

Dodge

Speaking of wrist injuries… Eddie Dunbar starts the Tour of Romandy tomorrow in support of Yates. Pretty strong field tbh so should give a decent idea on some of the Giro form

Sam Bennett is down for Eschborn Frankfurt next week (he won it last year) followed by the Tour of Hungary (won by Dunbar last year, but with a great sprinter field in it)

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120517052#Comment_120517052

He can get the rest of his body right, I'm not sure how Zwift works as regards his grip. Is it real life like as in bumps etc?

He needs six weeks in a cast and when that comes off he needs physio. Minimum before he can ride a real bike is 8 weeks. If he tries riding a real bike over any sort of rough terrain before then he could lose another 10 weeks.

He'll just about make the Tour but I'm sure he will make it. He'll have four days before he has to ride hard and that is loads of time to be used to it.

eeeee

My cousin played hurling for 6 weeks on a broken scaphoid and told no one till after the final, had surgery on it, was back playing in 2 weeks. I've known people to break it and be back out on the road in a splint in 2 weeks. Depends on how bad the break is but I don't see it holding Pog back that much. If anything a bit of recovery time now is no harm for the rest of the season.

retalivity

Imagine game over 1cm into a week long stage race

https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1650877790143610880

breezy1985

Looks like the front chain ring snapped.

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120519885#Comment_120519885

Yep either catastrophic failure, or mechanic who fitted the rotor chainring is getting the sack

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120520478#Comment_120520478

Impossible to say what actually caused it from TV images, but that was my thought too... wouldn't want to be his mechanic when he got back to the bus!

A painful one... as innocuous niggles go there's nothing as sore as smacking your knee into the bars/ drops

retalivity

Yates has abandoned Romandie, should mean that Dunbar is off the leash a bit more.

Lutsenko and Cav have abandoned as well, bit of a disaster for Astana. No idea how Cav is going to get around Italy in 2 weeks.

seaviewphotos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523554#Comment_120523554

Looks like Cav abandoned on the first climb, not looking good at all the Giro.

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523941#Comment_120523941

Cav's best years at the Tour were when he didn't finish the Giro and he hasn't even started 2 GTs in a decade. Not sure what was the intention in doing the Giro - apart from Stage #2, it is a particularly lumpy Giro. Even the easier stages look like this:

I'd be surprised if he makes it through the first week.

at1withmyself

I don't think Astana have any expectations on him finishing the Giro. I'd be guessing it's a training block for him only and any stage wins will be a bonus.

mewso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523554#Comment_120523554

Interesting test for Dunbar Friday Saturday. Maybe he is just riding back into shape but for the Giro he should be hitting form about now and the field here is nothing stellar. A recovering Ayuso (hard to know - clear favourite if he is fit), Caruso, Bardet etc. are the standard he should be looking to match. If he can't now can a week make the difference for the Giro?

*edit Saturday is the mountain stage not Friday

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120527128#Comment_120527128

He also is still one of the most talked about riders in British media so him just signing up or even contemplating it does a job for Astana.

De Bhál

Eddie Dunbar in the front group here with 6km left

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120528383#Comment_120528383

seemed to be marking moves, once the final rise was done he left it to zana or sobrero to attack.

Dodge

Just noticed Yates isn’t going the Giro. May be because of the new illness/injury. Matthews listed as their leader.

Sobrero might be protected in the mountains but there’s no obvious GC candidate. If he’s on form, you’d expect Eddie to be allowed attack

cunavalos

I know we are two and a half years out from the next relegation sequence but Jayco will have to start concentrating on point scoring strategies, this means they may have to target hanging on to a top 10 GC at the Giro (Hopefully it is Sobrero) and we can watch Eddie and Chris Juul Jensen in a few breakaways come week 2 and 3. Also throw the italian champion Zana into that mix and I would suggest that stage wins from breakaways should be Jayco's priorities while also seeing how the KOM competition develops (The Giro KOM nearly always favours a breakaway rider and is worth 100 UCI points)

I hate to admit to listening to the Lance, Hincapie and Johann Bruyneel podcast but they have been quite enamored with Ben Healy of late despite Lances obvious hatred of anything Vaughters related(He calls them nothing more than a second division team) and they feel the Giro is possibly a bit much for Healy after such a heavy classics season. Hincapie is of the opinion that Vaughters is looking to bank as many points from Healy while he still has form and may not be able to call on his services next year if bigger teams come calling.

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120529883#Comment_120529883

If they needed points wouldn't they be better off sending some riders to lesser races to just mop up points there

cunavalos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120529901#Comment_120529901

They tried that, were the only world tour team in a one day race in Italy last week and only managed 4th and 11th.

Actually just noticed Juul Jensen didn't make the final Giro squad so he wont be appearing in any breakaways

Dodge

Even aside from Healy, EF have had a fine start to the season. Powless, Cort and Carr have won a few races. Horner etc have no clue about points and rankings

Uran, Carthy and Carapaz will all likely finish top 10 in GC at the GTs this year. They’ll be fine