General Race Thread 2023 **spoilers**

2011abc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120281028#Comment_120281028

I remember Blarney Three Day first stage in early /mid 1990s had snow and plenty of mountains .After stage I walked into B+B shower in my gear including shoes .Coldest ever.

mewso

Sam pipped in Paris-Nice. Oh well.

Dodge

great tactics by quick step to launch Senechal early so Van Poppel had to chase him down much earlier than he would have hoped. Decent sprint by Merlier to overcome Sam

Great final 20k to the race and Sam was fairly strong throughout. Keeping up with the Powless/Pog break on the first hill

Mefistofelino

Is it just me or is Sam looking a bit skinnier than usual for this time of year, especially in the legs?

eeeee

Lara Gillespie second on her debut with UAE. Hard to believe she's still only 21!

https://www.stickybottle.com/races-results/lara-gillespie-takes-first-big-result-in-pro-road-race-in-europe-video/?fbclid=IwAR0e_9fUgUoo2Jkkl7v_GHJmX1dnKNAefe2rAqijMsAiJqhacfGc_GnVjIo

amazing stuff.

Dodge

UAE development team. Not to knock her, but it’s worth pointing out.

Great to see her back though. Lost 2 years to injury

eeeee

Winning a pro race from the development team! Savage result.

Dodge

She was second.

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120313544#Comment_120313544

Thought that at 30km was that bad - Valter had a gap rather than bringing back others, and instead of flapping his arms, Benoot and/ or the car should've told them to push on with both of them working. Wasn't much between the two JV riders, probably up to the car to make the call imo. Think Valter getting a disproportionate amount of crap when there was 3 of them in it (2 riders and DS).

retalivity

Jesus, Ganna destroys everyone in the TT at Tirenno Adriatico

mewso

Tirreno ITT was fun. Looked fairly competitive all along with some good performances. Then Ganna just hands someone his beer.

retalivity

Van Poppel leading out nobody, Bennett miles back

mewso

Yeah he was blocked off on the roundabout and that was all she wrote. Nobody's fault really.

odyssey06

Sam said in the pre-race interview he was 200 - 300 watts off his full power.

But that was more about the run out.

happytramp

Unfortunately, whatever the reason, Sam just isn't able to match the consistent awesomeness of his leadout man at all this season.

MangleBadger

Sam seems to get more hate online than any other sprinter. Granted he isn't at his 2020 form but he is very much knocking on the door this year with a bunch of podiums.

De Bhál

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120323936#Comment_120323936

yeah, I think he's in good form, once he stays injury free, he'll be winning and placing in the tour.

happytramp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120323936#Comment_120323936

I've definitely noticed that too. Quickstep have a lot of fairly unpleasant English speaking fans on the various threads/forums. They've taken against Sam for the falling out with Lefevre and are generally eager for the sprinters that leave the team to fail.

Macy0161

I am a massive fan of Sam, but he has one of the best lead outs going at the moment, and seems consistently lose his wheel. Now I don't know whether that's Sam or Van Poppel (who could be going for gaps not big enough for 2). The pair of them should be doing better imo. For whatever reason, when you're lead out is getting better results, it's going to raise some questions.

Squidgy Black

Yeah Sam’s a green jersey winner with one of the best lead outs in the game, I don’t think any of the criticism is necessarily unfair.

It’s definitely been amplified because of Lefevre and the QS fanboys, but he’s been middle of the pack for a bit now and his form never really picked back up.

Dodge

The lead outs as such were a mess yesterday. That roundabout 500m or so messed them all up.

Obviously we focus on Sam but the 4 best sprinters and sprint trains are Sam, Merlier, De Lie and Demare (no order!) and none of them contested yesterday as the roundabout squeezed them all out and away from their lead outs

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120324407#Comment_120324407

I'd certainly agree with you on that point yesterday.

I would also be of the opinion that Sam is not at his best, but saying that we have a very high expectation of him, and probably expect him to be winning or podium every time. As pointed out, he has a few podiums already this year. We can see how messy so many sprints are, and I'd say lead outs are a bit different that previous years gone by, with teams now trying to disrupt other teams more and more.

I still have faith that Sam will get a good few wins this year. Maybe not just every sprint.

retalivity

I love a good TTT

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120325337#Comment_120325337

This one is more a very long lead out.

odyssey06

I haven't seen this setup before with the TTT... they go out as a team but get individual times and can go over the line on their own?

Or the whole team get the time of the first rider over the line?

Dodge

All individual times. Interesting idea

retalivity

The winning team time for the stage is the first rider over the line, but the GC time is taken for each rider individually. So its working like a 30k leadout for the GC guys

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120325704#Comment_120325704

A Ganna or Tony Martin would be amazing here for a GC guy. No need to try slow down for the team just blast on with your GC guy.

Ganna is a big frame for a draught too

odyssey06

Looking ahead there's no TTT in this year's Tour de France (same organisers as Paris Nice).

But I wonder if this experiment brings it back onto TDF radar next year.

Dodge

I hope not fwiw. Never liked them

I know plenty like them, but not for me