Well that’s a positive attitude if I’ve ever seen one!
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Well, the only realistic alternative to Pog domination is if he crashes, gets sick, or has some other serious misfortune.
Pinning my hopes on someone getting hurt isn’t exactly positive thinking either so I choose apathy given the circumstances.
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Bardet getting blown out the back in the first day of the Giro……i suppose it may give him some rope later in the race to go after stage wins and maybe climb back into podium contention, but not a good way to start the Giro for a podium contender.
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Very happy to be wrong about today at least. Great finish!
Exciting finale today
Almost an optimal result for pog. Ineos in pink with a non gc rider and he put time into all his pre race contenders
But…him attacking and not winning is a rare thing, maybe a sign of weakness for later in the race
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Yes I feel the same, I’m glad my prediction did t come true (and once again reminded myself why am not a gambler !)
So Pogi got pink and already a decent lead over Thomas with 45 seconds. Not the most impressive we’ve seen Pogi, but was still enough to put a lot of time into the rest with a climb like that, especially considering the light crash before. Why the hell Ineos helps UAE to control and chase the break is beyond me if they are really there to win… Uijtderbroeks looks way better then in the early season may even have a chance at a podium if his TT is not tooo bad.
The Vuelta Femenina, was pretty entertaining, Trek had it bad with the crash in the TTT and Realini going out. Vollering showed that she is still the best stage racer and Climber out there, it’s brutal how she can just ride the rest of her wheel, still her support looks iffy, most of the time there is no one pulling or upping the tempo before she goes… I really hope she gets the full support for the TDF…
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You can see the weight loss 
Feels like the giro is over. Didn’t look like it was hard for him to put all that time into the chasers.
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You have to keep Pogi’s overall ambitions in mind - he’s got 5 1/2 more weeks of Grand Tour racing left, so he probably came into this at 90-95%, Remember all the negative talk about Froome for the first 2.8 weeks of the Giro when he was trying to double-peak? and then he went full nuke?
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Funstage, definitely get the highlights
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They had the pink jersey, plus Thomas’ best overall result will come from 1) staying out of trouble (given his track record of crashing in Grand Tours) and 2) riding his own pace up the climbs. So riding at the front and controlling the race serves them well.
Thomas isn’t going to beat Pog by attacking him on day 2. He’s not that kind of rider. He’s probably not going to beat him by simply climbing at his own pace and not having bad days either, but that might get him a podium which in itself is a hell of an achievement for a 38 year old, and would put him in the best position to capitalise if Pog does have some bad luck or has somehow got his preparation completely wrong or something.
Pog burning matches for no reason other than he loves to actually fooking race his bike…I both admire it and shake my head at it.
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I’m genuinely curious how a generational talent like Pog sees training for the Giro/TdF. Trying to win a 3 week race like the Giro a month before the TdF can’t be ideal from a training perspective, even for someone like Pog.
Yeah but they are not at the Giro to present the Pink jersey for a day, there was no way they keep it on the final ascent. They can keep Thomas safe without controlling the break and chasing it. It just lead to a nearly full strength and restet UAE squad making the last climb harder and allowing Majka to do a very hard leadout for Pogi which makes it harder on Thomas in the end. I mean I agree that Thomas probably will have to race for 2nd and it would for sure be an achievement (allthough the competition outside of Pogi isn’t really strong), but if you pretending to want to win at least ride as a team like it. Thomas chances would be the hard climbing days where he needs to hope Pogi cracks but then don’t make life easier for them on stage 2…
Man that didn’t make any sense what Pogi did there… but it for sure made that finish super exiting, It’s hard to tell if those efforts are really problematic for Pogi in the long run but it’s for sure energy that he doesn’t need to spend.
I hate, hate, hate this. Who cares that Ineos had the pink jersey with someone who isn’t a GC contender, if there goal is to win the race? Except for descents, Ineo should stay off the front and make UAE burn their team / tire out their team so that possibly in week 3 Ineos could isolate / drop Pog.
100%.
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If Jonas was going to be full strength at the tour I’d be questioning a lot more, but given it’s no guarantee Jonas will even be at the start then who knows, maybe he’ll get away with it.
Selfishly I hope Pog goes all out every day and puts himself in a bit of a hole so that the 3 way battle between him, Remco, and Roglic is actually a battle at all and not just the Pog show.
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UCI is going to UCI.
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