dsw

Has it been confirmed that he was told to sit up when in the mix or is it only speculation? I have heard that Gibbons was not 100% due to illness and also saw Cav doing quite a bit of work in front of the bunch for the team (Gibbons?) during certain stages of the ToT.

How about Dan Martin or Michael Woods or even Adam Yates as an outsider? I doubt whether Ben King will make it. The best bet for TDD is probably Kreutzinger with Gasparotto as very long shot. Kwiatkowski is also in obvious good form but might hold something back for the weekend.

I just hope that this incredible ride does not inspire too many local Mamils to start wearing white bibs.

Unberfarkinlievable

I hope so too but he has to get rid of Alaphilipe before it ends in a sprint.

Alaphilipe looks ominous

DDD did not have a bad day yesterday with Gasparotto managing a 7th and Kreuzinger a 15th - So you never know, hopefully it was the start of better days and they will do better during their Ardenne's campaign.

If an Olympic gold is his biggest aim then it makes sense for him to focus on the mtb race. Mountainbiking is probably closer to CX racing which is his best discipline and he probably fancies his chances more to beat an ageing Nino in Tokyo then to take on the new breed of climbers ( Bernal, Yates etc) on a climbers friendly Olympic course.

VdP is next level... he can dominate one day racing over the next few years if he decides to focus on it and rides for a strong team. Perhaps Jim Ratcliffe must just buy him out of his contracts and get it over with...

I agree, there is no need to be a "hero" at this level of the sport.- rather live to fight another day. Re TDD- Their best classic result was a 9th place in the Brugge De Panne by Nizzolo. Kreuzinger came 20th in the Strade Bianche. Maybe they will do better in the stage races starting with the Tour of Turkey today ... Cavendish and Gibbons for the sprints and O' Çonner for GC... the field is not super strong so I have some hope....

In terms of results WVA's team was one of the best on the day (a top 10, 180 UCI points and 5 finishers). Movistar got zero UCI points while Michelin- Scott managed only 10.

If they do get a result I will eat my humble pie with a smile

Even if he is not riding on Sunday his chance to win the 2019 PR is just as good as any of the riders of the TeamDD.

Yip, they did well... For a moment I thought Lawless was going to take it but he was not patient enough and went too soon. Pity that Ryan Gibbons could not start... i reckon he had a very good chance for a podium today.

Another "second tier" rider who impressed was Dylan Van Baarle who was very strong and aggressive on Sunday only 5 weeks after breaking his hand. I find it a bit strange that Asgreen who clearly had very good legs on the day refused to work with Dylan when they lead the race .. if he did they might have stayed away till the end. Maybe Asgreen went through a bad patch at that time only to recover later again , who knows.

Michael Valgren on the neutralisation of the race yesterday- he certainly calls a spade a spade : "We [Dimension Data] were all at the front before it was neutralised. Then bike riders are bike riders, because we're all so ******* stupid. Nobody stops, everyone fights to get to the front, even though it's neutralised. I was so annoyed. "Suddenly there was the car with Scott Sunderland [the race director], and he had to go to the front, but people just didn't move for him. Then I was just standing there talking to him, and suddenly they started and I was like 'what the ****'. "I was at the back so when they started again I was actually dropped on the Kluisberg, because they went without me. I had to chase back for like 20km. I was with some guys but still, it's so annoying. People, they just don't get it. That's just bike racing nowadays, I guess." Cycling News.

Despite being 38 years old Bernie Eissel from DDD still managed to beat Willie Smit by about 4 minutes during yesterday's race.

Indeed .....the sooner it gets sorted the better.... the last time I saw a BMC bike really flying was when Rohan Dennis smashed Dumoulin in the world TT's last year.

When Cav's contract was extended they made it clear that he is not only there to race but also to play a wider leadership role within the team. We can only speculate but maybe he has something to do with the improvement shown by Gibbons in the sprints so far this season?

In an interview earlier this year he said the race he really wants to win this year is Flanders. Based on his performances so far this year his chance seems remote, but one never knows... he certainly has the talent and must come right some or other time... so let see how it goes..

As far as DDD is concerned, for me the biggest dissappointment is the lack of performance by Michael Valgren. I know he was sick a while ago but by now one would expect him to at least start living up to his well earned reputation as one of the best one day racers in the world.

If i have to bet i will put my money on Viviani.

Thought so too but for some reason the world champion suddenly started to push the pace and contributed a lot to bring Yates back Great racing though ..even old Nairo had a bit of a go today......and kudos to Yates for giving it a full go.... he must be getting tired of finishing second..

Haha.. your bike is very safe... another win for Quickstep with Stybar taking the sprint in an exciting race. Not too bad a day for South Africa though as Ryan took a third and Impey a 4th at the Volta a Catalunya.

Supersport is quite good at broadcasting most of the big stage races. As stage racing is to one day racing like Test cricket is to 20 over slogouts I guess they give preference to the real thing