+11
03-06-2025 16:25
+8
03-06-2025 16:06
+3
01-04-2025 01:16
+7
31-03-2025 17:02
+1
28-01-2025 20:10
+0
04-11-2024 15:36
+4
01-11-2024 16:14
01-11-2024 13:37
+2
25-10-2024 14:00
+27
24-10-2024 16:50
+11
MidnightRider
1. What happened on Finestre is almost entirely the fault of the team directors for UAE and EF. Yes, the riders have a say, but both teams allowed their riders to get locked into a lunatic stare down while the race went up the road. Both team cars should have seen what was happening and *ordered* their riders to snap out of it. 2. As for Wout, I think you underestimate the threat he represented. If Yates had gone over the top with almost any gap at all, once he got on Wout's wheel that lead was in peril. We've seen him do that very thing before, notably stage 5 2022 TDF, when he pulled nearly a minute back on Pog after Jonas had the bike fiasco. Again, that is why what happened is on the DS for UAE and EF. Their job is to see the situation for what it is, and they both should have known better than to let Wout get 10 minutes in the first place.03-06-2025 16:25
+8
MidnightRider
There is no universe in which taking all three podium spots at a Grand Tour is a "debacle." It is one of the great triumphs of modern cycling. I'm not sure it even hastened the end of Rog's time at TJV. He wasn't happy with the way things went at that Vuelta, but that's not why he left. He left because Jonas was the two-time defending TDF champion, and there was no way he was getting top billing any more. What UAE did was a debacle, and their response to it - basically throwing Del Toro under the bus - is worse. Just a stunning misplay on Finestre, and an even more stunning misplay in the media since then.03-06-2025 16:06
+3
MidnightRider
Hard to imagine that his confidence - that imperious flow state that great athletes operate in - hasn't been affected. But that is a different dynamic than the one you described. He has not become hesitant because he is fixated on his rival. He has suffered multiple traumatic injuries, and I have no doubt he is still 1% off both mentally and physically as a result. Football (both kinds) and basketball players who blow out knees go through a predictable cycle in which they are reluctant to do max efforts even after their doctors have cleared them. I myself went though a small version of that after a back injury. It's just hard once you no longer know where the line is. We saw in his TT a couple weeks ago that he still has power, and for all the hand wringing he is still finishing in the top 10-20 of big races. But as we have seen with others, getting *all* the way back is not assured. I'm not ready to say he is done, but few riders who have been hurt as often and as badly as him remain at the top.01-04-2025 01:16
+7
MidnightRider
Too much amatuer psychology. How about this: "he was never as good as when he had not suffered multiple career-threatening injuries." What is happening to him is what happened to Alaphilippe, Bernal, and others. You will notice that his two major peers -- MVDP and Mads - are both at their all time best. You will also note that neither is coming off of anything like the same last 18 months that Wout is. Go back to 2022, then roll the tape forward with Wout remaining healhty and one of them having had multiple traumatic falls. Odds are good he'd be at his dominant best and they would not.31-03-2025 17:02
+1
MidnightRider
While I understand his frustration, the last-minute nature of this isn't really relevant. The problem isn't the selection process, it's that Jens rides for a country with lots of outstanding riders. He is currently the 9th ranked cx rider from Belgium, and that is with Wout at 35th due to minimal participation. Disappointing for Jens, but the right choice for the team.28-01-2025 20:10
+0
MidnightRider
What I can't quite figure is why he didn't do Tour de Suisse this year. He only has two holes in his resume, and I thought his transfer to Bora was meant specifically to correct that. Yet he went to the Dauphine, which he had already won, while Adam Yates won TDS. Seems like the wrong choice to me.04-11-2024 15:36
+4
MidnightRider
Hooligans. Losers. I've been to cyclocross races, and most fans are not like this. I hope they identify the offenders and have them charged.01-11-2024 16:14
+7
MidnightRider
Please go. You and the rest of the crowd that makes these posts are more bothersome than the articles about Lance.01-11-2024 13:37
+2
MidnightRider
I'm no fan of Lefevere, but the loss of the Wolfpack is a blow to the sport. It (the sport) is already too focused on just one event. A powerful Belgian team dedicated to the classics add to the richness of the sport as a whole, and extends the cultural and historical role of cycling in Belgium in particular.25-10-2024 14:00
+27
MidnightRider
Well said. Consummate team player, dedicated family man, brilliant rider who has overcome some terrible injuries...and occasional poster of humorous videos on social media. Not a lot to be critical of, although that doesn't stop some of these old-timers.24-10-2024 16:50