Roglic's extraordinary performance in Paris-Nice

[Chris NewbyFraser]

I had a hollow feeling yesterday when watching the finish of Saturdays stage. Roglic turned on a pace which was so remarkeable it reminded me of the Armstrong surges. Can a rider be so much stronger than his fellow racers? I look forward to seeing a race where he is up against the rest of the 'elite of the elite', like Pogacar and hopefully an on-form Bernal.

[OVERDRIVE]

I had a hollow feeling yesterday when watching the finish of Saturdays stage. Roglic turned on a pace which was so remarkeable it reminded me of the Armstrong surges. Can a rider be so much stronger than his fellow racers? I look forward to seeing a race where he is up against the rest of the 'elite of the elite', like Pogacar and hopefully an on-form Bernal.

 

I actully didn't feel hollow and a lot of people are angry taking away a first win from someone-noone is here for free and we must all bleed for wins, as he did. I wasnt really following the Armstrong years but the field is so strong right now that when they're all there it will be blood. 

 

And thats how I like it. 

[Mountain Bru]

I didn't watch the stage, only the highlights, but I think you've gotta look at the whole race, not just one attack at the end, and also who else is in the field. Roglic has always had one of the best kicks at the end of a punchy climb and I don't think he was put under much pressure on the last climb.

It would be a different story if other strong punchers were in the field like Alaphalipe and Pogacar, and Roglic was easily destroying them after covering multiple attacks on the climb.  

 

The most suspect performances in recent times come from MVDP in my opinion. Roglic races smart most of the time, and wins by using his strengths on climbs. MVDP makes ridiculous attacks without paying for them, is often out of position, and then still finds a way to win. Think of Amstel Gold in 2019 - Made a crazy attack, got dropped, and then single handedly chased down Alaphalipe, Kwiato, Trentin, and Fuglsang (I think), and then still managed to outsprint them. And Strada this year he left Bernal and Alaphalipe behind like they were looking for parking. 

[Mountain Bru]

But.....

I find cycling a lot less enjoyable to watch if I constantly worry about who's taking "extra" vitamins. I rather just assume that if one guy is taking something special, then it's likely that everyone is taking something special, so the race is still kind of ""equal"" or ""fair"". Hidden motors are a different story though.

Even with Lance. Everyone was on the good stuff, not just Lance, and he still dominated. The man was an absolute beast.  

[Mountain Bru]

This explains what I was saying about looking at the whole stage, not just one attack. Roglic is a cut about almost anyone else in the last 300m, especially if he hasn't had to work hard, only started pushing with 1300m to go, and has been sitting up recovering for a bit before his final attack.  

[River Rat]

Then it all fell apart for Roglic, on the ground twice losing 3 minutes. Kudos to him for never dropping his head fighting all the way to the end although it was apparent that all hopes of the winning were gone. This guy has serious heart, respect.

[Vetseun]

I think he is doping

[SwissVan]

Dunno about Roglics extraordinary performance, but in that other race today (PN)....

TP could have at least looked like he was a little tired...

Yes, i know...he didnt do a +/- 60 km break on his own like MvP did... but still

[The Ghost]

I had a hollow feeling yesterday when watching the finish of Saturdays stage. Roglic turned on a pace which was so remarkeable it reminded me of the Armstrong surges. Can a rider be so much stronger than his fellow racers?

I think that on the tours Pogacar will have Roglic at the moment and on some races and stages the likes of VDP would have him too, he’s not “that much stronger “ - IMO

[Mook]

Jumbo Visma got themselves a very good team with the likes of Roglic, Steven Kruijswyjk and George Bennett, all very capable of winning a grand tour.

In my opinion Steven Kruiswyjk is the rider doing mega damage upfront. He set a relentless pace up the last climb and with 1.5km he just could not go anymore. By this time he had already broken up the group through relentless climbing pace, and this set the platform for Roglic to kick. You might have noticed that Roglic and Kruijswyk had a brief discussion 5 wheels back from the lead before Kruijswyk moved to the front and started mixing things up. That was sheer intelligent strategy at work.

My heart bleeds for Mader, but he can only blame his team - not Roglic. Remember how the TDF yellow got ripped from Roglic in the penultimate stage last year - by no other than Pogacar in an insane ITT.

 

This is next level pro cycling. Gone are the days of gentlemanly behavior.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

I bet Armstrong wishes he was still around because whatever rock-fuel these guys are on it's Next Level    Makes for great bike racing though so I'm not complaining 

Edited March 15, 2021 by BuffsVintageBikes

[Maniax]

Shattered for Roglic. bad luck on french roads

[Opc_danny]

 

 

The most suspect performances in recent times come from MVDP in my opinion. Roglic races smart most of the time, and wins by using his strengths on climbs. MVDP makes ridiculous attacks without paying for them, is often out of position, and then still finds a way to win. Think of Amstel Gold in 2019 - Made a crazy attack, got dropped, and then single handedly chased down Alaphalipe, Kwiato, Trentin, and Fuglsang (I think), and then still managed to outsprint them. And Strada this year he left Bernal and Alaphalipe behind like they were looking for parking. 

 

The likes of Van Aert and MVP bring another dynamic to cycling that has not been seen before, the cyclocross backround is throwing a big spanner in the works, its predominantly 100's of little attacks over 1-1.30h race, these guys are built completely different and race differently when they are road racing, if we look back, look how Sagan brought a new dynamic and dominated cycling for a good period because of a mtb backround or cavendish because of a track backround.

 

Anyways lets also remember how MVP blew up at World Champs after putting in a massive unassisted attack to catch the leading group, we dont have to look too far to see how pogacar reeled in nearly 3 minutes to just about catch MVP and nearly steal a ridiculous win considering mvp was 20 minutes slower the day before and well recovered whereas pogacar won the previous stage on a monster of a climb. I rate lets appreciate these balsy attacks from far out, cycling is so great right now that i cant remember watching a boring race in a good while.

 

The youngsters have turned these races upside down and its just great to see right now.

[Kenosi]

Add Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert into the hat of possible grand tour winners. Oh and when Tom Dumolin returns from "leave", which 8 do you pick? The galacticos of cycling

 

 

Jumbo Visma got themselves a very good team with the likes of Roglic, Steven Kruijswyjk and George Bennett, all very capable of winning a grand tour.

In my opinion Steven Kruiswyjk is the rider doing mega damage upfront. He set a relentless pace up the last climb and with 1.5km he just could not go anymore. By this time he had already broken up the group through relentless climbing pace, and this set the platform for Roglic to kick. You might have noticed that Roglic and Kruijswyk had a brief discussion 5 wheels back from the lead before Kruijswyk moved to the front and started mixing things up. That was sheer intelligent strategy at work.

My heart bleeds for Mader, but he can only blame his team - not Roglic. Remember how the TDF yellow got ripped from Roglic in the penultimate stage last year - by no other than Pogacar in an insane ITT.

 

This is next level pro cycling. Gone are the days of gentlemanly behavior.

[Patchelicious]

You think that performance was amazing? You should see this dude called MvP.

 

BUT we don't like Roglic, but we like MvP, popularity is the REAL test for PEDs.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Patchelicious

[J Wakefield]

Really didn't think anything he did was suspect over the week. He raced like he always does, Jumbo did what they do and like last year in France, he crashed on a technical course and lost GC unfortunately. At P-N he was the strongest, put him at T-A and the performance wouldn't of looked so "magical" 

 

Route yesterday was changed due to not being allowed into Nice, it was insanely technical and tight and there were casualties early into the start already. 

 

Roglic did what Roglic does in March.