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Pavel Sivakov on Jonas Vingegaard and Visma: "They really bluffed by saying he wasn't ready"
CyclingMonday, 01 July 2024 at 13:41
Team Visma | Lease a Bike had months in preparation to the Tour de France where only they knew how Jonas Vingegaard's form was. Much was said ahead of the race and it seemed as if the Dane still had to build up his form quite a lot before the start, but that was not the case. UAE Team Emirates knew this could be the case, and Pavel Sivakov points out the obvious bluff from the Dutch team.
"They really bluffed by saying he wasn't ready, but we didn't really believe it either, we knew that if he lined up on the Tour, it was to play for the win the stage and take the yellow jersey," Sivakov told Cyclism'Actu. This sentiment is shared by Tadej Pogacar who said after yesterday's stage that "Jonas Vingegaard was really quickly on my wheel. I’m not surprised by his level".
It is the end of the 'underdog' debate, as both UAE Team Emirates and Team Visma | Lease a Bike entered the race playing down the chances of their leaders. One has raced the whole Giro d'Italia and the other returns to racing almost three months after his past race; but both were head and shoulders above the competition in a climb of only two kilometers on the second day of the race. It seems as if 2024 will see another battle between the two for the yellow jersey, and Pogacar is already carrying it in stage 3.
Sivakov, who has already put in significant work on stage 1, argues that the jersey being on the shoulders of the Slovenian will not be changing the team's tactics. "In the end it doesn't change much, Monday is a stage for the sprinters and in any case, all the teams are looking at us to ride. It doesn't change anything in the team's strategy, in my opinion," he concludes.
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- I counted 16 riders under 24 out of 43 that started. Once was only 16 ! Two of the top riders are Zoe and Schreiber and both under 23 yet that have done 50 min races in the past with the elites so I think it's just bad clock management. Let them race 50 freakin' minutes! One more lap could have made a big dffierence most times in the podium and winner.frieders319-11-2024
- He needs to finish out his contract and then go hit MTB and Cross/Gravel really hard, that's where his heart is.awp18-11-2024
- Pidcock is starting to sound like Froome now.Sweep18-11-2024
- I think this was because there were junior women in the race. If a race has junior women am pretty sure it has to be less than 45 minutes. I believe a rule is coming in for next season that will fine organisers that don't put on a junior women's race a fine equivalent to the prize money. So fingers crossed we should see more longer elite and junior women's races from next season.NorrisHippocampe18-11-2024
- Of course he CAN. Big salary in cycling is not when you win but when they talk about you (and your team / sponsors). For every news about Jonas, MVdP or Wout there are 10 times more(!) news about Pidcock (like everyday for last 2 months?). Since cycling is advertising sport not competitive sport (in terms of from money comes from) Pidcock is winner and GOAT - change my mind. ;-)averagecyclist18-11-2024
- Why do the women CXs keep getting short changed with the length of theor races? They could have easily done another lap to put them at 50 minutes which is their time limit. Yet another CX race where they fail to reach this when they had a chance to. Come on ... the math isn't that hard to figure out lap times and divide into 50 min!frieders318-11-2024
- All pro cyclists are massively underpaid! The amount of riding and physical exertion they put their bodies through is crazy compared to other sports. I can't think of any other sport where you are physically active at a very high level of power output for hours on end each day.Pogboom17-11-2024
- When I was working for Starkist/Heinz my manager quit. So the next week my group was put under another manager. During our first meeting he asked if there was anything we needed to tell him. I said that I would be out the following week on vacation. He said "I don't know if I can let you go on vacation". I replied, "You can't tell if I can go. You can only tell me if I can come back".Sweep17-11-2024
- :-)Sweep17-11-2024
- What a mess there :-)
DareDevil17-11-2024