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J Wakefield

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Posts posted by J Wakefield

  1. 11 hours ago, milky4130 said:

    From the armchair critic: I know it's only stage 1 but I dont feel confident in Pogacars performance today, he may survive Giro but come the Tour we may see a new winner. A fresh Pogacar these guys will not hang on his wheel when he attacks up a climb, if they do he almost always will take the sprint, yeah I know he got no assistance after the descent so naturally wouldn't have the bite for sprint. I just feel he is carrying lots of fatigue from the all the 2024 races thus far.

    2024:
    4 races - 1 was a stage race.
    11 race days in total
    Where is all the racing and fatigue coming from? 

     

  2. 9 minutes ago, Jbr said:

    I was actually looking his strava up but power numbers are hidden for the last 3 weeks.

    I had a doubt but I thought last time I saw his data his zone2 ended at my threshold indeed 🤣 You just confirmed 😜

     

    EDIT : yeah, found a ride where his zones show... 259-352 zone 2, that's actually over my threshold 😭

    It is higher it's not that above. 

  3. 6 minutes ago, Frosty said:

    I’d imagine it’s more about fine tuning his XCO skills than general fitness. He seems more  “ready to race” now compared to previous years. 

    Yes it would be a small percent of specialisation than actual training to get ready. 

  4. On 4/9/2024 at 9:03 AM, mecheng89 said:

    I'm not in the world of advertising and marketing, but 8 days of exposure versus 2? The audience size yeah is a big factor, but I don't know the viewership numbers for these events.

    He isn't doing much MTB-ing for someone who wants to go for gold at Paris tbf. But then again, this is MVDP.

    He focuses now on MTB post classics completion

  5. 47 minutes ago, Paulst12 said:

    I know it's hard for organiser to arrange routes for these big tours but surely slow the group down by putting up barriers?? 

    So for me the question is what do all the Tour favorites now do given a lot have serious damage that will eat into preparation time... Do you think Remco and Jonas will be in form and ready to take of Tadej who looks to be the big gainer from this? 

    Some try recover best as possible and others don’t go to the Tour. 

  6. 16 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

    Roglic also abandon but walked away with just light cuts and abrasions. He’s got to be cursing his luck. He’s starting to worry me in that like Chris Froome, everytime I see him race I have this will he won’t he crash anxiety.

    that said, road racing is getting faster at the sharp end and the road they were riding on is in bad shape with broken tarmac due to roots pushing through. The UCI is not looking terribly good this year with poor decision making from ‘22 and ‘23 leading to more crashes and more injured riders. Instead of focusing their energy on real safety it’s directed and brake hoods, socks, pointyness of helmets and other trivial crap. 

    There were roots under the tar that were pushing up in the corner and this is what caused riders to go down mainly. It was spoken about before we started the stage in passing. 
     

  7. 31 minutes ago, stringbean said:

    300k bike and the suspension seals can’t last a week of racing🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

    Not specifically, some riders like specific feedback from a bike, front end etc. some riders are more sensitive than others. Perfect example here in Basque post stage was feedback on a certain set of tyres used and rider has asked for a small change cause he wasn’t happy and confident on the feedback the bike gave him in a certain environment on the road due to the tyres. 
    for me and you it makes no difference, go up a level or 15 it does. 
    you are more than knowledgeable to know this!!

    Matt likes his bike set up specifically and wants that feeling in a race. He was the same when he raced motocross and his then bike set ups. 

     

  8. 3 minutes ago, Thomo said:

    Unlikely to get any arguments here. 👍🏻

    The comments about looking better but not necessarily being a GT threat were however referring to Bernal. 😊

    Hopefully wrong about EB, as the more contenders there are, the better the viewing.!

    Apologies my age is showing its face here. 

    Bernal is the best I have seen him since his crash, I dont think however to win a GT is not an option but a 3-5th looks possible 

  9. On 3/24/2024 at 4:18 PM, Thomo said:

    He gets better with every outing. 👏🏻

    Don't know whether he'll be a serious challenger in the GT's, but good to see him back, improving and seemingly enjoying himself.

    He will win Giro with his fingers up his nose barring illness or injury and be a threat at the Tour. 

  10. 1 hour ago, Wannabe said:

    John, my perception is that some of the newer "experts" on lehub do not know who or what you are, therefore they are under the fallible impression that they know more about our beloved sport than you. (top tip, if you do not know who John Wakefield is, consult Dr Google)

    Matt again said in the interview today that Howie put him in the hurt box and that all he could do was to hang on. (I dunno if that was tongue in cheek/an inside joke) What I saw was that Matt was on the front most of the time, only on the more technical climbs did Howie go to the front. On the long gradual climbs Matt could throw his watt bombs down.

    Howie won both his Epics with partners physically way stronger than him (Koolharvy and Matt) but he survived both with relative ease.

    But hey, what do I know about Mtb riding, I'm just a armchair critic that only rides in good weather.

     

     

    You dont need to google, Im not important I found out in November via WhatsApp.  

    More importantly to answer your questions, Matt had some stomach issues today hence the not feeling tip top and its day 7 of a tough Epic, I cannot believe anyone is tip top today.

    With the much shorter steeper climbs it does not suite his 81kg frame compared to a bunch of low 60kg riders so his energy output and also consumption is alot more. It hurts and he will be on the back foot somewhat naturally. Same to say on a drag or flat road when he puts said 60kg riders into the gutter at 50kmh its not fun for the them. 

    It also shows how much class and knowledge Howie brings to the table, in both epics he has won. For me it's about partner management from the stronger rider, communication between partners. This is something Matt and I are always in discussion about but in fairness to him, I feel he is 1 of the best in the World Of MTB to deliver this service. I dont say this cause I coach him, I say this cause it's factual when you just look at performance and see who he has to partner with to race wins. For Epic he is always with a new partner - 3 wins 3 different partners, many teams are stable team mates and know each other really well. 

     

  11. 40 minutes ago, Titleist said:

    On another note, how does a typical day in the life of Matt look during Epic prep in one of those 25 hour weeks? What does he do for the rest of the day after a 4 hour morning session for example?

    Sure there is some things I cannot share but in general it Depends what he has going on. Recovery is key post training then should he have admin to do he will sort travel logistics, we discuss training based on the day sometimes or what is coming up travel, races etc. what is a good plan or not. 
    he sometimes has sponsor obligations to do and if there is heat training or acclimation then this is post training in some cases. 
     

    what is fact and what the general conception is, is that he doesn’t sit and Netflix all day. 

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