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Yeah right, a win is a win. EBH beat Alexander Kristoff today. Is Kristoff also doing the Panorama?

At last.... hopefully it is the start of a good run for the team.

To make up for the uninspiring race pack I see we each rider is going to receive a free downloadable digital image of him/herself in action Personally I enjoyed the 54 km route quite a lot and besides the very dodgy seeding system I have no complaints. Having said that, I am predominantly a roadie so I really appreciated the lack of technical stuff. Will be back.

But then there is also Viviani ..... Re Porte... he had quite a lot of bad luck since he left sky... he might also not have the leadership qualities and resilience that is required to lead a team to GC success.

Perhaps Mark C can sneak a win or at least a podium during the Yorkshire tour (2.HC) that starts today. Looking at the rest of the DD team who will be riding I do not have much hope for any other riders getting a result........ maybe Tom-Jelte Slagter has an outside chance but I am clutching at straws.

The rider in DD who disappointed me the most this year is Michael Valgren. Unlike Louis, who had good results in the past but never really won a big race, Valgren was actually winning races a year ago and now he is not getting even close.

I watched for a few minutes on TV and the course seemed technical with sharp turns and punchy short climbs so I guess it did not suit a rider like him. Still a very bad start like you said.

Tao will probably have to support Kwiatkowsi and Poels today. Excellent and aggressive rider like you said, also very versatile. He should be excellent in one day races if he focus on it, although they are probably grooming him to become a leader in multi day stage races together with Bernal and Sivakov.

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.