@Count: Fair enough I sympathesise really. GvA is a possibly a bit too good for an improved Free agent, Dan Martin is the closest comparison and he has similar stats (82 MO, 77 HI). The difference is that stage racers are a good degree more than the top cobblers. Still I do find it somewhat frustrating when people talk of planning two/three years ahead - but that is just me at end of day we have bunch of riders for a one year contract and we make changes based on what comes up.
This race shows Bewley off to the best - people say drop him before the sprint and hell Jayco tried very hard to make the race hard. The trouble is the guy just goes and paces basically the winning move he is like one man Sky bot train.
Highly selective one this and looks like we are in for correct cobbled results which I will admit a few of us were maybe not hoping for. KBK looks like to go way of Bewley etc. Several managers perhaps thought of top 10's and were a long way off of the mark.
At least Kristoff won the sprint, a pity it was for 29th and not 9th
It looked like both he and our team were on the back foot from the moment when Jayco'z made it a hard race, missing splits and not able to follow the first groups. At least good to see Nordhaug in the breakaway. Hopefully we'll improve in KBK, which should suit us better.
Congratulations, Roman. Bewley seems to be in beast mode another season. A stunning ride!
What a lovely report the_hoyle! Dramatic race reported in dramatic fashion, good job.
Congrats to Becherovka, Bewley is just unstoppable and i would be very surprised to not see him winning PT rankings once again, this guy should be worth 1.5 millions in wages.
Good race for Metinvest in the end - Nolf 12th is a bit less that i would want, but he lacks the finishing kick, so it is hard. But Albert 19th is great and with two in the top 20 we probably gained something on our rival teams like I-GEN, AKER or Tinkoff.
Happy with the top 10. For a late 80k free agency steal, Vandenbergh could really impact our season if he can continue finishing in that area on the cobbles.
That was a pretty useless effort by Kamyshev and the team. Was nicely positioned in the big split in the peloton, but for whatever reason decided not to attack the opportunity. Seemed like there were plenty of boys in orange to pull it off.
