MinnMan

. "minor damage to the head"... who knows?

slcbob

Fingers crossed for Jorgenson and Benoot. Visma certainly not wasting any good karma on anyone else. Yikes.

GrainBrain

Oh my goodness whose bookie was praying to Satan for that crash? Wout slid for such a long ways!!!

Eric F 

Jumbo loses. Jumbo wins.

diphthong

congrats to mj! and another big-time performance from abrahamsen…taking over for kristoff?

MinnMan

Broken collarbone. There goes his spring campaign. What a shame.

But Jorgenson...wow.

GrainBrain

Oh my my I was talking the other day with my better half about how Mateo funded himself last year and didn't give up, then this after Paris Nice. Yes yes yes!

On the other hand, flobikes posted the post race interview of Tiej and man, he-looked-heartbroken. Absolutely gutted. I love the under dog and all, but gosh Wout is becoming that character huh? Was it the 2019 tour he had that nasty crash with injuries, now this?

Has he been to La Vuelta yet? Is it time now? Broken collar bone and ribs, Giro probably isn't happening right?


Oh, Riley Sheehan placed 25th today in the peloton two minutes back - I'll be reading more into that then I should.

Eric F 

Ribs, too, apparently. This changes everything for him, including the Giro (I expect)

Matteo was awesome, for sure, but Benoot did an excellent job running defense in the chase group. That's not easy work.

MinnMan

So what is Jumbo's plan for the TdF now? They were fearsome with Vingegaard, Roglic, Van Aert, and Kuss (+ others). No Roglic, no van Aert. So Jorgenson is going to be the other super-domestique + alternative threat? Those are big shoes to fill.

MinnMan

Not to be alarmist, but van Aert reportedly broke 7 ribs. Lots of cyclists I know have broken some ribs, and though recovery is painful, it is usually no big deal. But that many ribs is a different story, with much greater risk of permanent lung damage and more
I really really hope he comes through this easily and quickly.

slcbob

^ that's a lot of ribs. Ah jeez.

Jorgenson is wearing the _1 bib in the new startlist. I looked at PCS yesterday at one point and there were only 4 or 5 names in the Visma roster, but it's fleshed out now. Including Tratnik, hopefully besting his last two DNFs.

Also showing Pedersen and Girmay as starters. But now it's even harder than usual to bet against MVDP.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race...2024/startlist

MinnMan

I was looking further down the road to TdF, but it's good to hear that Pedersen is still slated to race this weekend. Stuyvens wasn't so lucky.

slcbob

Oh, duh. Yes, France. I see that now.

Very big shoes to fill but Jorgenson sure is stepping up. And he seems to be a bit more of a killer than Kuss when it comes to playing or threatening to play the alternate role. Though it's not like many teams will be too comfortable letting a GT winner up the road so they're both a great alternate threat, if the form is there.

Checking current TdF roster for Visma: Vinegaard, with Kuss, Kruijswijk, and Jorgenson for the hills plus LaPorte, Van Baarle, Benoot, and Tratnik. A great team by any standards other than compared to the Jumbopalooza of 2023. Bora has a little less diesel but more climbers behind Roglic -- Sobrero, Martinez, Vlasov, Hindley, Jungels, Kamna all on the long list with Denz and Van Poppel. It'll be a heckuva race.

Visma likely to have Cian Uiksdjflsdjf as the GC leader at the Giro with a respectable quiver of mountain domestiques but oh how the mighty have fallen.

WVA was going to do Italy, Olympics, Spain, and Worlds. Yesterday Roubaix and others were scratched but Italy was still showing on his "upcoming participations." Today Italy is scratched and his next one is the Olympic RR. Part of my says he'll recover miraculously, show up at Le Tour to ride into shape for Paris, and pick up a stage or three. OTOH, his current injuries in PCS include "fractured sternum" so that pumps up the miracle volume a bit.

GrainBrain

That's it Matteo!! Only one to follow MvdP up the koppenburg!!

You can say a lot, but watching MvdP handle that koppenburg - that's pure skill and nothing else. Truly an incredible rider. Anyone see him in action at the cx worlds? Same.

Ah Matteo, you look like you'd seen a ghost there trying to chase!

Tough conditions, is it me or did UAE completely stuff it? How does Politt get third - Bjerg 4th - Morgado 5th then wellens 12th? Like you were a minute off MvdP - that couldn't have been made up?

GrainBrain

Itzulia Basque Country, Quinten Hermans gets a nice win! Good to see that from him.

diphthong

saw that and knew you’d be pleased.

MinnMan

And Merlier gets some payback. Cool.

slcbob

Yikes. Carnage in the Basque country. A dozen riders down, a half dozen to hospital. All of the big three DNF.

I saw the news on the PCS ticker then went over to look at the feed.

It looked to me like a decreasing radius turn but not one that would be SUCH a big problem for the bunch. I saw this in a Cyclingnews article; perhaps that contributed, too.

There were riders going off the road well in front of the first guy down, so this wasn't all domino theory. One of them was Evenepoel. Someone even hopped over the drainage ditch that later consumed a few riders, including Roglic, and kept going in a maneuver right up there with Armstrong-Beloki.

The break was around 2:50 or 2:30 up at the time. Go back three minutes before the crash and watch for a bit; you'll see a very brief replay clip of someone in the break returning from the forest. I'm pretty sure it's the same spot.

slcbob

In other, hopefully more safe news, what do y'all think of the Arenberg chicane?

Lots of commentary out there, from Adam Hansen's steady hand to Jorgenson's vigorous +1 to Van der Poel's "is this a joke?"

Interesting article here touches on the process more than most:

https://escapecollective.com/how-rou...y-in-48-hours/

My opinions and psychic predictions:
1. There will be a huge sprint for position into the chicane. Duh! - Capt Obvious.
2. There may be a crash in the chicane entry that everyone will be talking about. - Jeane Dixon
3. I would rather crash on the tarmac and grass of the chicane than the cobbles in the Trouee

It'll be curious to see if the lower entry speed and lining out makes bigger gaps on the far side of the sector. And what the opinions will be on the other end, with that +/- the crashes.

I loved Tim de Clerq's comment that he was one of the riders who suggested it but of course others will complain because that's cycling.

semroc

Terrible crash in Basque. I was watching the race live. Remco did a masterful job. Burgeudeau was the one in the break who went off there first. So sad to watch. Hope everyone is okay.

Eric F 

Brutal. This could have a serious impact on how the rest of the year goes.

MinnMan

Oh, dear G*d. Roglic had already had a bad crash the other day. The whole race, from stage to stage, has been unsafe. And now this.

GrainBrain

Yes the Basque crash was vomit inducing. Prayers for Jay Vine who was in the ditch a long time, along with Jonas. I watched as well, hard to see who fell and following Twitter I think it was Sean Quinn (bummer!!!!) and Cepeda - not Uran as the commentators were stating. Open concrete and not enough relay info when we saw Burgeadu initially lose control. A most brutal race indeed is the Basque country. Real men are riding here.

Gosh prayers to Lenny Kamna as well - just terrible.

diphthong

really throws a monkey wrench into the works. hopefully everyone isn’t injured too badly and are able to carry on in the next week or two.

wishing kämna a speedy recovery.

and, of course, here comes p-r to inflict more damage. timing is everything.

MinnMan

Yeah, no kidding. From van Aert to this. It has to be one of the worst strings of news for pro-racers in a long long time.
Racing is tough and dangerous, but this is too much.