1 | POGACAR Tadej | UAE Team Emirates | 210 | 05:13:55 |
2 | VINGEGAARD Jonas | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 150 | + 01:08 |
3 | EVENEPOEL Remco | Soudal Quick-Step | 110 | + 02:51 |
4 | LANDA Mikel | Soudal Quick-Step | 90 | + 03:54 |
5 | ALMEIDA Joao | UAE Team Emirates | 70 | + 04:43 |
6 | YATES Adam | UAE Team Emirates | 55 | + 04:56 |
7 | BUITRAGO Santiago | Bahrain Victorious | 45 | + 05:08 |
8 | RODRIGUEZ Carlos | INEOS Grenadiers | 40 | + 05:08 |
9 | CARAPAZ Richard | EF Education-EasyPost | 35 | + 05:41 |
10 | GALL Felix | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 30 | + 05:57 |
Jorgenson was dropped on the Galibier when UAE pulled. And then said that Jonas would have benefited from a harder pace ?! Nothing wrong with self-confidence but that monster turn is yet to come from him. Maybe next year or at an earlier point in the stage. He was basically team UAE on Sunday.
It’s not just Kuss who is missing and van Aert who is at less than his amazing Tour from a few years back. It’s also Roglic being gone. And, the one stage where Vingegaard had help from Roglic (who caught and then led him on the descent) is the one stage where he won. A classics team in the mountains isn’t going to be the same. At least so far. Who knows what the Alps will bring. They have until Nice to figure this out.
That's not true. On Hautacam Pog was just straight up dropped. Same for Col de la loze. The ITT last year was massive too. Oh and on Marie blanque. They don't need a co-leader, but they need a stronger team to match UAE in the mountains. They just had a lot of bad luck this year with crashes. Of course JV at 100% is the most important part.
From the beginning, JV's only real chance was that Pog overextended himself in racing the Giro and then the Tour. That question has yet to be answered. Last year Pog looked great ... until he did not. I will say that Sepp Kuss' value to Jumbo over the past few years is becoming more and more apparent. It is great to see Jorgensen doing the work, splitting the group, but he is not up to Sepp's level and I suspect he is going to plummet down the standings as they wear him out.
Yup Visma is weaker this year. No Kuss and sub par WvA just to mention the most obvious. And Jonas himself can’t possibly be at his best
Agree with what you said except, I think Matteo did as good as job as Sepp would have done. Matteo is also a better all around rider and bike handler. Even though Sepp has won the Vuelta, Matteo's career looks more promising.
Sepp is able to hover around after a big pull like A Yates does. Jorgenson, not so much. And is no where near the level to challenge an Evenepoel at a la Vuelta. It's counter factual but I don't think he can replace Sepp as a domestique
After watching and reading a bit more, I'm inclined to walk it back and agree with you. Matteo was it from the very beginning. Wilco lasted like 10 seconds and was gone. In '22, they had Roglic in the top 10 (before he retired) and eventually Sepp at 17th final GC, WvA at 21 and Benoot at 35. In "23, they had Sepp at 12, Wilco at 18, Benoot at 24 and Van Baarle at 42. Which means they had a whole line-up of guys busting up the peloton before Kuss ever took over. Wilco is clearly not the same level, and they have decided to let WvA sprint, so it is Matteo or bust this year.
Also, I did not realize Matteo had a very quiet top 20 finish for Movistar in '22. Hats off to his day yesterday. He's going to get worked over the final week.