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Apr 25 2022 18:46 - Dec 02 2024 11:21
36 forum postings Cycling

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It is very rare that a rider is physically able to race in all three grand tours in one season.

This year's there are two such riders: Sepp Kuss and LL.Sanchez and it's been 4 years since it happened previous time (T.de Gendt 2019).

In this view, there is one rider in the modern history of cycling that is definitely worth mentioning, not a very big name, he won a stage at Vuelta and one more at Giro. Adam Hansen is his name (age 41 today) and he is an Australian.

His big achievement: he was able to repeat the triple GT appearance on as many as 6 ocassions and this came in consecutive years 2012-2017! Not only appeared but finished them all. The best GC place he ever managed was 53rd though.

I ran quickly through the names on the list 2000-now. Just one rider made 3 appearances (Farrar 2009-2011) while I think all others were able to to this just once in their career (or 2 max if I missed anyone).

So 6 in a row must be a massive physical burden (18 races in 6 years)!

On SEPP KUSS, he is a powerhouse and a superdomestique for the Jumbo big guys (Ving, Roglic), could likely shine on its own in some smaller team. So with the massive effort he contributes in every tour (plus stress as expectations in this team are always high), 3x in a row is a big thing too.

The sprinters field is rather weak as Vuelta doesn't offer too many opportunities for sprinters. The more difficult it will be to predict the sprinters stages. And by the time of Madrid's final sprint on Day 21 this group is likely to be further depleted.

The notable names on the startlist are: Coquard, Thijssen, Groves, Menten, Molano, M.vd Berg, Theuns, Dainese, Hoffsteter, Garcia Cortina, Page, Vendrame. That doesnt' even add up to a full ten of genuine sprinters.

GC and GC-type domestiques. The list might help with GC overall predictions as it is usually the case that only the real leader gets to top-10 while others are fully devoted to help him and often lose time because of that. Not always though. And in some instances it is difficult to say who the leader will be at the start; sometime the leader emerges just over week 1 depending on the current form of potential co-leaders. A big question about the Vingegaard-Roglic tandem, too.

JUMBO-VISMA: Vingegaard, Roglic, Kuss, Kelderman
UAE TEAM EMIRATES: Ayuso, Almeida, Vine
MOVISTAR: Mas
INEOS GRENADIERS: Thomas, Arensman
SOUDAL-QUICK STEP: Evenepoel
TEAM DSM: Bardet, Poole
BAHRAIN-VICTORIOUS: Landa, Poels
JAYCO-ALULA: Dunbar
GROUPAMA: L.Martinez
ARKEA SAMSIC: C.Rodriguez
LIDL TREK: Mollema
EF EDUCATION: Carthy
BORA HANSGROHE: Vlasov, Kamna, Uijtdebroeks, Buchmann

Interesting fact... Guess who the reigning World Cyclo-cross Champion and Runner-up 2023 are :

1. Mathieu van der Poel, 2. Wout van Aert !

I could find just one more road cyclist on the starting list (at least the names I recognise), Clement Venturini, so the rest are pure cyclo-cross specialists I guess, which shows how versatile MvdP and WVA are.

MvdP is actually the first rider in history to win both road race and cyclo-cross championships.

Meanwhile, Filippo Ganna, a recognised ITT specialist wins his 6th world championship at the velodrome today.

The rainbow jersey has been worn by Cycling World Champions since 1927!

It's called rainbow but technically the colours worn are the five colour of the olympic flag circles on a white jersey (for instance, there is no black in the real rainbow).

There is officially a term 'curse of the rainbow jersey' which means statistically its owner typically declines on his performance the following season. There are a few statistical and psychological studies trying to prove/find corelations. Evenepoel has a great chance to break the spell today although the curse probably took its toll already with his forced exit from Giro due to covid when he was really in his prime.

Today's World Championship Road Race starts at 10h40 CET.
Edinburgh-Glasgow 271km
Expected finish time: 16h30-17h45 CET

Highest pcs.com ranked on the startlist are:

Pogacar 1, Evenepoel 2, Philipsen 4, Van Aert 5, M.Pedersen 7, Almeida 9, Skjelmose 10, Laporte 12, M.vd Poel 14, Kooij 23, Powless 24, Kung 30, Hirschi 32, Healy 38, Kristoff 39, Coquard 43, Trentin 45, Madouas 47, Matthews 48, Schmid 49

Bookies favs are:

**** vd Poel, van Aert, Evenepoel
*** Pogacar, Philipsen, M.Pedersen
** Asgreen, Laporte
* Van Baarle, Skjelmose, Kooij, Alaphilippe, Healy

The defending champion from Wollongong AUS 2022 is Evenepoel.

A lot of changes (20+) on the startlist for the Tour de Romandie which starts tomorrow.

Please check and change your predictions.