Alan Hatherly joins Team Jayco AlUla on the Road

[BuffsVintageBikes]

9 hours ago, babse said:

Some how missed the final stage of the alula race... Absolute chaos in the crosswinds. 

Alan got dropped off the podium as quick as he drop riders at Killarney every other week 🫠

 

Still very exciting to see him up there on the WT! 

Jayco-Alula's Team tactics were beyond questionable in that last stage.
3 big strong riders in the split up front due to the cross winds and Alan off the back and they decided to ride for the stage win with Groenewegen instead of dropping them back to bring Alan back in the bunch, despite him being just a few seconds off the split at one stage.

They don't win the sprint and they lose 2nd place overall 🙄 I hope someone got a boot up the ass for such senseless decision making. Surely a Podium on the GC triumphs a possible stage win?

[shaper]

1 minute ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

Jayco-Alula's Team tactics were beyond questionable in that last stage.
3 big strong riders in the split up front due to the cross winds and Alan off the back and they decided to ride for the stage win with Groenewegen instead of dropping them back to bring Alan back in the bunch, despite him being just a few seconds off the split at one stage.

They don't win the sprint and they lose 2nd place overall 🙄 I hope someone got a boot up the ass for such senseless decision making. Surely a Podium on the GC triumphs a possible stage win?

Alan/JA also missed an opportunity when Stefan de Bod rode off the front of his group and solo TT to the front group, then finished 10th in the sprint.  There was an opportunity for a small group to go with Stefan, but no one did. Maybe Alan wasn't feeling it on the day and why they tried for the sprint win.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

I don't think anyone expected De Bod to close that gap alone, certainly not the commentators. He's a powerful rider.

[Shebeen]

random thought.

 

Would AH ever considering doing a CX race? probably closer to the XCO he normally does than this road malarkey he is trying now? I know it's in our summer when he's training at home so would be when helluva ask. behind the WvA and MVDP there's always a race to see who is the third best out there

[mecheng89]

2 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

random thought.

 

Would AH ever considering doing a CX race? probably closer to the XCO he normally does than this road malarkey he is trying now? I know it's in our summer when he's training at home so would be when helluva ask. behind the WvA and MVDP there's always a race to see who is the third best out there

I wouldn't put it past him. I'm just not sure how he would handle a muddy AF race. The real CX'ers are used to that. A dry, dusty circuit, well, that's a different story. How is his sprint off the line? 

What's even more juicy is that AH and MVDP haven't competed on even footing in XCO. Now that Alan has reached the top step, we all know MVDP is gunning for that jersey, so that'll be more juicy than a CX race IMHO.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

He's still young but I can imagine he'll be joining Beers and plying his trade in the US Gravel in future years. He's obviously got the skills and proving to have a big engine as well.

[jcza]

1 hour ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

He's still young but I can imagine he'll be joining Beers and plying his trade in the US Gravel in future years. He's obviously got the skills and proving to have a big engine as well.

He is 28, which is no longer young in procycling. 

[BuffsVintageBikes]

That's still young in terms of the guys mixing it up on the Pro gravel bike scene, most of them are in the 30's already.

[andydude]

3 hours ago, Shebeen said:

random thought.

 

Would AH ever considering doing a CX race? probably closer to the XCO he normally does than this road malarkey he is trying now? I know it's in our summer when he's training at home so would be when helluva ask. behind the WvA and MVDP there's always a race to see who is the third best out there

I think he's probably still too focused on MTB, and now road, to also look at CX. And MTB olympics next year a goal for him.

[milky4130]

Well that escalated quickly from CX to Gravel 😆

[mazambaan]

20 hours ago, jcza said:

He is 28, which is no longer young in procycling. 

True when you see the age of promising youngsters being signed for long term contracts. Listening to a Matt Beers interview he noted that, aside from his size 😎, a big disadvantage when he went on the road was understanding the peloton and tactics. This seems to take a year or two.