Yeah, no, I do agree the general public has no idea. I thought you were seriously saying WVA isn’t that good. 
Probably doesn’t even need to be that drastic…
If we replace Huatacam and Galibier with two individual TTs, does Wout have a chance? Maybe.
I think it would be interesting if a team actually tried to make him a GC contender. I mean he hangs with people up the mountains while doing a TON of work throughout the tour for his team, as well as launching mind boggling attacks for stage wins. I dont thinks it’s unreasonable to think he could place well in the GC if a team worked to protect him.
Plus he’d almost certainly put time into other GC people on the TT, and he’s be a threat to gain time on flat stages in a breakaway. Or at the very least keep teams constantly on edge with a threat of attack.
2 Likes
I think it would be interesting if a team actually tried to make him a GC contender
That’s called rebuilding his body into something like Froome or Wiggins (when he won the Tour). Usually that was done with cortico steroid injections.
I just don’t think WVA would want to spend several years making himself a waif like GC rider reducing his chances to win monuments like Paris-Roubaix or Flanders.
1 Like
No I wouldnt either lol! But…follow up question…would it be 100% necessary? Could he make up any time he lost in the mountains with attacks on the flats and TT performance with his current body makeup?
It’s certainly been a while since there has been someone as well rounded of a rider as he is…it all comes down to how much time he bleeds in the mountains. It might not be catastrophic.
I’m not sure making him a protected GC rider in today’s typical Tour format would be enough. And based on interviews, he has little interest in losing any weight/power and sacrificing his current abilities.
I doubt we’ll see it intentionally. But what if Roglic AND Vindegaard were to go down?
Interesting review written by a golf journalist who was specifically asked to review it because he was a non-cycling fan with almost no knowledge about bike racing. He ended up really getting into it and gave it a 9 out of 10.
5 Likes
I think it’s a concern, or at least certainly a factor. That said…I mean the guy still won the TT after 3 weeks of racing. So Indont think you can say it’s a hard limit on what one can do. Plus he was doing way more work than a GC contender would.
Jumbo would go all-in on the points classification, maybe team points, and stage wins. They wouldn’t care about GC time gaps at all. Maybe give Kuss or another top domestique free reign to get in breaks and go for stage wins.
1 Like
If it happens mid tour I think you’re 100% right. If it happens BEFORE though, and both are out at the start…I think anything is on the table. It would be a heck of a story just having them send Wout for the GC.
1 Like
2 Likes
Those moments are lacking context…he won on Ventoux because he got in a break and he was the strongest guy in the break. He didn’t win becuase he is a great climber.
He dropped Pog, but then also blew himself up. He didn’t go on and win the stage.
Everyone cites these examples but never mention the stages where he gets shot out the back immediately.
Wout is a generational talent…he arguably the most well-rounded cyclist in the peloton. What he is not is a generational grand tour rider. He is also somewhat cursed in having come of age as another generational talent (MVP).
2 Likes
We seem to be in a golden age of all rounders. Pogacar with 4 monuments to go with his 2 Tours. Remco with 2 monuments and a GT. Roglic with an Olympic TT and a monument win to go with his 4 GT wins. Not to mention MVDP and to a lesser extent Pidcock capable of winning the biggest races on MTB, CX or road. Fun times to be a cycling fan!
4 Likes
However there is a lot more of the planet outside of the US…I imagine 95% of Europeans couldn’t name hardly any baseball or American Football or Ice hockey players…doesn’t mean they aren’t any good.
1 Like
Oh, agree 100%. I tried to be clear I was only referring to the US. Also…these days I personally couldnt name a single player in baseball or hockey confidently. I still keep up with basketball, but that’s about it for american sports. The older I get the sillier the sporting scene strikes me…I follow cycling races because it’s my hobby.
2 Likes
And many retiring pros interviewed by Jens and Bobby or by the GCN people say how this new generation is so much more serious and in many cases faster (at least at a much younger age).
Now go back to the Merckx generation and there is no way that man would be the all-winning all-rounder he was then if he came up today. Yeah, I’m sure he’d be great, and he’d have the benefit of modern training and technology, but he’d also have much more competition from specialists.
Given the format of win or don’t win, and add to that specialists, I don’t think it can be compared to team sport GOATs.
I was curious if they were going to play up the drama like Drive to Survive did. The second episode playing WVA as the villain was interesting.
I thought UAE were going to be in Season 2?
1 Like
I thought that trailer was misleading and horrible!