Pro Tour Season 2023

[lavi]

We are off to some great racing by both of the sexes.

Some (personal fav) highlights:

• Femmes' Strada Bianche win by Demi V! Not to mention (scary) cameo by loose equine!
• Dudes' SB: Pidcock is a beast! MvDP needs a rest after cross.
• Both Tirreno Adriatico and Paris Nice were fantastic!

Of course the Nothern Classics will be entertaining as they typically are.

The one thing I think (after watching Paris Nice) is that this Tour is a) going to be very entertaining, and b) going to be a slugfest b/t Pogacar and Vingegaard (and their teams). From Paris Nice, I'd say Jonas is in trouble. Sure, the Tour is a ways out, and Paris Nice ain't the Le Tour....but still. Pogacar was out for blood, and smiling along the way.

Gonna be a great race season!

[lavi]

Also, if anyone didn't get a chance to see MVDP doing lead outs for Jasper Philipsen, it was a treat. Dude is a monster. I thought he was gonna just go ahead and win of few of them for himself.

Should be fun to see Evenpoel square off against Roglic at Volta a Catalunya...though I think Evenpoel will prevail.

Sagan. Wow. He looks tired with almost no zip in his legs. Sadly, it seems his time is officially past.

Cav...I hope he goes better than he did at Tirreno. Yikes.

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by lavi

From Paris Nice, I'd say Jonas is in trouble. Sure, the Tour is a ways out, and Paris Nice ain't the Le Tour....but still. Pogacar was out for blood, and smiling along the way.

It will definitely be interesting. Tour is a long way out and you can't really project from this far out. The fitness these guys are expressing right now is very different to what they will in July, and is more a symptom of whoever is coaching's philosophy rather than the maximum potential of any given rider.

For the record I'm bullish on Tadej; I think he lost the 2022 Tour rather than Jonas winning it. It's obviously very hard to call, though, as Tadej could have been more restrained initially and still found himself under-teamed and simply under-gunned when it went mano a mano.

But that's the thing about cycling that I love, run the same race 100 different times and you will see 100 different races.

[Spdntrxi]

Originally Posted by lavi

We are off to some great racing by both of the sexes.

Some (personal fav) highlights:

• Femmes' Strada Bianche win by Demi V! Not to mention (scary) cameo by loose equine!
• Dudes' SB: Pidcock is a beast! MvDP needs a rest after cross.
• Both Tirreno Adriatico and Paris Nice were fantastic!

Of course the Nothern Classics will be entertaining as they typically are.

The one thing I think (after watching Paris Nice) is that this Tour is a) going to be very entertaining, and b) going to be a slugfest b/t Pogacar and Vingegaard (and their teams). From Paris Nice, I'd say Jonas is in trouble. Sure, the Tour is a ways out, and Paris Nice ain't the Le Tour....but still. Pogacar was out for blood, and smiling along the way.

Gonna be a great race season!

Jonas was 2min+ behind Pog in 2022 in Tirrano-A.. I also think Pog is the one to beat, but just saying.

I wish JV would still start Primoz in the TDF