Congrats to Puma, another dominating performance that I'm happy Kamna got to be a part of!
Nothing much to say about this stage for our team. We had yellow and no GC guys. Aranburu finishes 26th today, which really isn't too bad at this level. Kind of wish he didn't lose time yesterday, as he might have gained a few points that way. Olesen did well to stay in the front group yesterday and gets a GC top 30 for a handful of points.
Predictably, AKA finishes tied for the points jersey win. It's a minor points difference so I don't care much. Cool to see him on the podium in green. Always a welcome sight.
Thanks for the reports Nemolito!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
This was probably the last race where Alarcon had a chance to do well in. Which says a lot about my shitty planning for him. 6th is better than the best I hoped from here. Seeing the team take charge before the final climb was very unexpected, but pretty awesome to see
Vysna in 33rd is pretty good, while I won't complain about Pogacar finishing just outside the top 50
We've been doing very well lately so we can feel good going on a 2 week break now
No depth but good result for Phinney. Hoped to defend the title but that's a very decent race. Congrats to Puma once more, everything going in their direction atm.
Lopez likely ruined a better result by attacking everyone else far too early. It should have been an easy decision to just cruise along as long as possible and only then use his acceleration to outsprint them. Ah well, still a somewhat okayish result eventhough its not what i hoped for.
Ouch, that hurts. Completely failed leadout on stage one, and Nairo probably still was celebrating his Japan win, given yet another underperformance on day 2. He definitely wasn't the only underperforming climber, though, so I guess just too much quality (and competition) in this race.
Given that we were on the right side of the split on day 1, and thanks to PTHC points, we still leave with an OK amount of points in our basket - but it's yet another one of those "what if"-races...
Congrats to the ever dominating WC, and thanks for the reports.
Leaving a sponsor goal race and Herklotz' last outing of the season unseen and uncommented for two weeks isn't ideal, but it had to be done.
Doesn't mean it can't still be reacted to now! Thanks Nemolito for reporting this.
A weird stage one with a roulette sprint and roulette time gaps, congrats to AKA once again?!
Sucks for Festina and Evonik yet again, at least it's only two race days but I feel for you (and worry for Demare) once more.
Silvio stayed up there, although being behind Phinney and MAL isn't ideal when everything but the Top 3 in the GC could be decided on countback.
But this is a win goal anyway, so we aimed to not make that matter on day 2.
And it didn't! What a final performance of the 2021 season from Herklotz.
This has been the year where he learned to masterfully combine strenght and strategy to set himself apart from the opposition.
The Giro-proven approach of following attacks and letting things settle at the front until dropped riders are starting to catch up just to attack at the exact moment where the situation appears to reach a stalemate again has been perfected here.
Even with his descending skills, it was a tough ask to stay away until the finish, so he correctly decided to save something for the sprint and let the chasers catch up again to have additional reserves over them in the final meters.
And who knows what might've been without the puncheur training dubbed excessive by some?
(BIG shoutout to the entire team here! Impressive depth and a classification sweep to boot! You all have been a vital part of this. And thanks for all the kind words! )
Four races as a world champion, four overall victories.
Time for a long winter break, Silvio!
