2019 PRO thread

[Dan Gerous]

Jakob Fuglsang?

Ha yes, forgot Fuglsang. Impressive so far this year and Astana has a very strong team.

[Dan Gerous]

Egan Bernal could pull a Carapaz too...

[bilwit]

I'm not sure I would put Thomas as a distant first. Sure he will have the best team but he's not quite in the same shape he was last year up to now. He was in the form of his life last July. And last year Froome and Dumoulin were coming off 1st and 2nd at the Giro, they were obviously tired and riding on fumes, then Kruijswijk and Roglic were no real big Grand Tour contenders. Everyone else were either crashed out or sub-par. I'm not saying Geraint had an easy ride or was lucky or that he didn't earn the win fair and square but I wouldn't rate him much higher than Dumoulin, Yates, even Pinot... If Dumoulin's knee recovers, and it's not looking too bad right now, he'll be fresh and motivated.

Quintana's not looking promising right now, Bardet either. Uran is a mystery... Nibali will be lucky if he's as good as he was at the Giro, probably below that level I'm afraid. Who else?

It's not looking great for guys like Bardet and Porte but I wouldn't write them off just yet, even Froome these last few years has looked virtually useless (results and otherwise) right up until the targetted race. There's plenty of time for them to ride into form when it matters in the Tour, they're not that off the mark right now.

[flying]

Dave Brailsford speaks about Chris Froome's crash - Stage 4 - Critérium du Dauphiné 2019

https://youtu.be/UPMwjQi1MwA?t=1

About the crash
Seems Froome took a hand off bar to blow nose...Wind caught wheel & he crashed at 60kpm into a wall...ouch!

[roadman]

Cyclocrossers making the road pros look like amateurs.. WVA winning at Dauphine and Merlier 2nd in Belgium..

[Haydn]

I hope for Froome's sake there is no footage of that

[jasjas]

With broken femur, wrist and elbow, i doubt he gives a fcuk.

He obviously felt it was safe to ride one handed, so v unlucky.
Toward the end of his career, i wonder if he'll come back from this.

[Lewn777]

With broken femur, wrist and elbow, i doubt he gives a fcuk.

He obviously felt it was safe to ride one handed, so v unlucky.
Toward the end of his career, i wonder if he'll come back from this.

I'm sure top pros can go on until their 40's, so he can come back from it. More the question is how competitive you can really be in your late 30's. Can someone really love cycling enough to go from team leader to a supportive role, I doubt many can. Recovery time, maybe six months. On current form he still seems very competitive so I would say I should carry on until the end of 2021 or 2022. Depends how much he loves the lifestyle and his passion to compete, something only he can answer. But surely there's another two or three seasons of good form if he wants them.

[dereksmalls]

With broken femur, wrist and elbow, i doubt he gives a fcuk.

He obviously felt it was safe to ride one handed, so v unlucky.
Toward the end of his career, i wonder if he'll come back from this.

I'm sure top pros can go on until their 40's, so he can come back from it. More the question is how competitive you can really be in your late 30's. Can someone really love cycling enough to go from team leader to a supportive role,

Ask Lance that about the 09 tour

[Lewn777]

With broken femur, wrist and elbow, i doubt he gives a fcuk.

He obviously felt it was safe to ride one handed, so v unlucky.
Toward the end of his career, i wonder if he'll come back from this.

I'm sure top pros can go on until their 40's, so he can come back from it. More the question is how competitive you can really be in your late 30's. Can someone really love cycling enough to go from team leader to a supportive role,

Ask Lance that about the 09 tour

I looked in the UCI archives and I cannot find anything about this Lance Armstrong person you talk about.

[Dan Gerous]

Brailford has added Froome also fractured his hip on top of the other fractures.

If we're to believe statistics, this could be the end of the Froome era. The average recovery period for broken femurs is 9.5 months. Also, Froome will be 35 next summer, only one person has won the Tour passed 34, Firmin Lambot was 36 but waaaay back in 1922, it was a different sport with very different athletes back then.

That was one hell of costly booger!


In other news, Campenaerts commented about Wout Van Aert's Dauphiné TT performance: "I have to admit that I'm a bit scared of Belgian Championships ITT in two weeks."

[UpFromOne]

In other news, Campenaerts commented about Wout Van Aert's Dauphiné TT performance: "I have to admit that I'm a bit scared of Belgian Championships ITT in two weeks."

WVA in the form of his life this year?

[Dan Gerous]

Well, it's his first full year on the road, a bit early to say 'form of his life'.

[TonyM]

In other news, Campenaerts commented about Wout Van Aert's Dauphiné TT performance: "I have to admit that I'm a bit scared of Belgian Championships ITT in two weeks."

WVA in the form of his life this year?

Humm...based on his CX season he is "just" normal...LOL...

Let's see how he improved at road cycling! (And he did already with this TT!)

[sfo423]

On to Belgium. Aero as elbows.