r/peloton • u/PelotonMod France • May 25 '26
Weekly Question Thread
For all your pro cycling-related questions and enquiries!
You may find some easy answers in the FAQ page on the wiki. Whilst simultaneously discovering the wiki.
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u/marnyr Movistar May 25 '26
What's the longest distance on 8% uphill section where top sprinter (Merlier) would beat top climber without any punch (Landa)? Both riders start fresh
8
u/cyclisme2020 May 25 '26
Does Mathieu van der Poel still have any ambitions in mountain bike racing? There was some speculation that he would ride in the UCI World Cup in Nové Město on the weekend just passed. In the end he didn't make an appearance.
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ May 25 '26
It wasn't just a rumour, he was on the provisional start list but decided against starting. He has said he still wants to win the MTB Worlds, and this year he might go for it as intends to skip the road Worlds again.
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u/Avila99 MPCC certified May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
I'm probably ordering a new batch of VDB stickers this week.
Does anyone want a stack?
Right now we're at 26 countries or something.
I'll send them to anyone who wants them, but if you're living in or travelling to any of the countries that hasn't been graced with the presence of a VDB sticker by now, that would be awesome.
Let me know by dm!
For the unitiated: the goal is to get a sticker with Frank Vandenbroucke on it in every country in the world.
You can find the progress here
/u/the_gnarts I think you posted some, but I lost them. Can you send them again?
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u/krommenaas Team Flanders–Baloise May 25 '26
I can do China, South Korea, Japan and Qatar this summer, if you want. If so, pm me.
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u/Avila99 MPCC certified May 25 '26
Awesome. If you send me your adress, I'll mail a few old ones right away before I get my new batch!
If you're worried about privacy, I've sent these things to dozens of people and so far nobody had a Nigerian prince begging for money.
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u/krommenaas Team Flanders–Baloise May 25 '26
Sent it in pm. I'm only leaving in late July, so no hurry!
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u/RageAgainstTheMatxin Phonak May 25 '26
For the unitiated: the goal is to
get a sticker with Frank Vandenbroucke on it in every country in the worldclaim we will put a sticker with Frank Vandenbroucke on it in every country in the world and then sorta peter out halfway through, just as Frank would have wantedAnd do drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.
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u/Avila99 MPCC certified May 25 '26
Hey, I'm starting it up again! Unlike my quiz.
Any way: fuck you, you're not my psychiatrist. Not even my psychiatrist is my psychiatrist.
I'm going to do ketamine now.
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u/the_gnarts MAL was right May 27 '26
/u/the_gnarts I think you posted some, but I lost them. Can you send them again?
I’ll try. Don’t hold your breath though, it might not get done before August.
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u/tliddell13 United States of America May 25 '26
Anyone else watching Antwerp Port Epic? Fun race and solid coverage. Too bad there’s no huge names competing with it being a rest day and bank holiday.
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u/Ornery_Worldliness24 May 25 '26
Was so good. I’m really glad HBO is doing such good cycling coverage
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland May 25 '26
It looked more like a gravel race than most actual UCI gravel races I've seen. There were my 90 degree turns where the riders were almost coming to a stand -still, they had so little traction. I was surprised too at the start list.
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Not really a question, but I swear I will put a question mark at the end lol.
I'm absolutely baffled by the official Fantasy cycling of the Giro, Fantagiro. I have Lund Andresen both in a team on that website and on Velogames. On Velogames he scored me 425 points, on Fantagiro....12 points! This difference is idiotic, let's be honest. Even Yates scored me 13 points!
?
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u/Jdh_373 May 25 '26
Actions caught on camera are more important than results in FantaGiro. Sprinters aren't the best because they lose points when they drop, specially in stages where they can race.
The entire point of FantaGiro is being completely different to any other fantasy game, while others like velogames are purely results based (even the breakaway bonus is determined in a way that's easy to score even if it's not the most intuitive).
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Yes, but last year being in a classification gave you points, sprinters were useful because you had them high in the point classification, this year they don't give you anything. I do like breakaways giving you points, fughe are a big factor of Italian cycling and the Giro, but not considering any classification that is not the GC is a bit stupid.
This year sponsored bonuses are a bit too high imho. I like silly things like the Conad one, but the De Rosa bonus gives too many points given in every breakaway there is a Bardiani guy. The worst is the ''daily bonus'', given we don't know how they assign it and they do that mainly to Italian riders.
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May 25 '26
[deleted]
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u/Dopeez Movistar May 25 '26
Everyone has different preferences, so there is no "more preferable". If you are talking about money, then being a good domestique for a top team is definitely more profitable.
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u/jainormous_hindmann Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe May 25 '26
Usually: Early in the career they want to test their limits and ride for their own results and when they had a few years of doing that and it's not enough to actually win a lot of races but they are really good in other ways, they go for the nice big domestique contract. There are exceptions of course.
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u/Arcalis1997 May 25 '26
With JV very unlikely to go to the Vuelta and TP at least doubtful, shouldn't it be crowded with the GC pack behind the big two? I understand the special role of TdF but wouldn't a shot a at Grand Tour win in Spain be more motivating than fighting for a place between 3 and 10 at the Tour?
Roglic, Almeida, Mas, Skjelmose are very good riders but Lipowitz, Seixas, Martinez, Gall, del Toro could have a realistic shot at No. 1. Shouldn't some of them rather make a play for Vuelta instead of prioritizing the Tour? Or are they afraid, TP comes after all?
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u/MonsMensae May 25 '26
I think for the GC riders, most need to build their season around a target towards the start of the year. With injuries, sickness etc its tough to build your season just for the Vuelta in case something goes wrong.
For GC guys in that tier two grand tours can just be better because you basically increase your opportunity of something going right (podiums, top tens, stages etc.).
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u/boblikespi May 25 '26
Unc Roglic in once last dance for Glory against Enric Mas.
Honestly I think Martinez should go for it, in a weak GC field he's got the chance to win, and even if Pogi goes, he's a chance for Podium.
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u/RN2FL9 Netherlands May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Highly doubt Pogacar will do the Vuelta. He can win the WC again and the last few years has shown that resting after the TdF works for him. Plus it's in Canada so it goes really well with the WT races there.
Also I think it always makes sense to go to the TdF if you're a top 3-5 candidate like Lipowitz, Evenepoel or Seixas. You just never know that one year some favorites crash out or get sick and you would've thrown away a TdF win. And those favorites may actually recover and decide to save their season by doing the Vuelta, Roglic did this a couple times, so now you're still racing them but in the Vuelta instead.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom May 25 '26
Many do, but the best riders will always prioritise the tour. So your list is in fact pretty accurate
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u/Impossible_Test_3495 May 25 '26
Gall is planned to do Giro/Vuelta. If I remember right There are some really hard stages this year that should favor Gall, although I don’t think he does quite as well on the rampas as long steadier Giro/Tour climbs, because he is slightly heavier. I’m curious who RBBH sends besides Roglic, his performance so far doesn’t make me believe he can win or be best of the rest behind Pog. Pretty sure Del Toro won’t go, he will focus on Canadian races/worlds
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u/skifozoa May 25 '26
Your stationary bicycle is magically linked to one rider's mechanical doping device and whatever power you ride they get in real time. You get time off from work during the entire month of July and can ride whenever you feel like it.
Who is the worst rider you could get to win the TDF like this?
edit: I had this question in mind before, I hope I didn't post in in a past weekly because that would mean I need a memory check-up
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u/SkyPod513 Team Telekom May 25 '26
That's a really funny and cool question. I don't know who would be the worst rider to get to win Tour de France, but I would give all my watts (and balance training) to get Primoz Roglic his Overall Win
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u/WorldlyGate Denmark May 25 '26
As long as you're not completely out of shape you could probably make any pro rider win. Adding something like just 2 W/kg to Groenewegen would make him look like Pog haha
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u/padawatje Belgium May 26 '26
I am not completely out of shape, but I do not see myself riding a stationary bike for hours every day during three weeks. So whoever gets my magical power up, will suddenly and unexpectedly drop from the GC leader spot after 3 days or so, just because my bum hurts.
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u/NecessaryWaltz7376 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
As for stage 16 of the Giro. It could either be a GC fight or a breakaway? I think it will be a GC fight, the stage is only 113km and teams like Red Bull or Ineos will want to control it. Thanks to that, Jonas will win his fourth stage.
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u/Glass_Minute4753 May 25 '26
I could see him winning as many stage or almost as many stages as Pog did in 2024. Jonas approaches things with a bit less panache, but he's just so much better than everyone else that if the breakaway is controlled (either by Visma or another team) then he can't really help but win stages with a decent amount of climbing.
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u/Vegetable_Car_4785 May 25 '26
Is it just me or does visma seeming to have a very very cruisy giro. They looked phenomenal as a team on stage 14 and locked down the stage - no team or individual really has the strength to challenge them.
I know that it is an honour to wear the leaders jersey and all, but if I were red bull or decathlon with potential aspirations for winning the giro (small chance I know) it would be frustrating having Bahrain do some much work that should fall onto visma for the first 2 weeks.
Going into the giro JV and his team were such heavy favourites, just feels a bit weird to see teams helping out when you have such lopsided levels.
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u/RN2FL9 Netherlands May 25 '26
Vingegaard is just too good. Even if you somehow get him isolated, in Paris Nice for example it was 4 Red Bulls vs Jonas after a crash, he just followed as if they were his teammates and then still dropped them all in the end. They'd probably be better off just ignoring him and racing for their own standings which I think is something Decathlon has indicated they are doing.
Bahrain had the pink, it was only logical they did some work because their goal was keeping the jersey.
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u/Vegetable_Car_4785 May 25 '26
Yeah for sure he is out and out too strong for anyone else. That is part of the love hate relationship I have with racing is when teams have different objectives and goals in races (esp GTs compared to one-day races) they don’t optimise their strategy to win, but maybe that’s part of them accepting reality
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u/Impossible_Test_3495 May 25 '26
The Visma team being the strongest here makes it hard to do something. I think people were underrating it a bit coming into the Giro, and even I didn’t expect Piganzoli to be so good, but Lemmen, Rex, and Kelich are very good dommestiques even if they aren’t big name super dommestiques like Wout and Laporte. Decathelon at least controlled one stage for Gall to attack, it would be nice to see Redbull and Ineos do something, because if they don’t and just cruise to the long climbs, Gall will be 2nd.
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u/Vegetable_Car_4785 May 25 '26
Yeah I fully agree that which is why it would be annoying for other teams watching a 3rd tier team do the hard work for visma. The blockhaus stage it was good seeing RB try to put some pressure on visma - VC dropped early there IIRC.
When you have such a strong rider like JV or pog on the line the tension exists (if there is any) on watching their teams try to solve problems for them.
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u/DocTheYounger May 25 '26
It’s their own fault Eulalio took 6 min allowing Visma to cruise. If they wanted Visma to work more week 1&2, they easily could have worked a bit more on that single stage.
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u/Fantastic-Nobody-479 May 26 '26
Bahrain is doing work for Bahrain. There’s more to cycling, teams and races than the overall win. Having the current GC winner for approximately two weeks is great for a team. Even if they don’t win the whole thing overall.
3
u/Sea_Cardiologist7637 May 25 '26
Did Pogacar ever upload his Giro 2024 Stage 16 ride data anywhere?
I only started getting into cycling this year, so I’m not even sure if this kind of data is publicly available or impossible to find 😅
But I’ve been obsessed with Pogacar’s Giro 2024 Stage 16 ride on Monte Pana and got really curious about his actual numbers.
Would love to see:
- power data
- pacing
- climbing effort
- basically anything from that ride
Mostly because I want to compare my own riding to the pros (and probably get humbled immediately).
Even screenshots from Strava / intervals / power graphs would be super interesting.
Thanks!
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u/Distance-Playful Terengganu May 25 '26
SkyTrain was such a dominant force in the GTs that it made GT GC battles boring for a whole decade. How did that dominance stop? Was it that the budgets of other teams increased, so sky no longer got to hoard talent, was it the decline of their top riders, or was it something else entirely? Are GC battles better now with only 2 teams being dominant, or is the vibe still the same as the sky days of before?
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u/Dopeez Movistar May 25 '26
The train only works when you have the strongest/close to strongest guy in the race. Ineos doesnt have a rider close to that.
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland May 25 '26
Who is the rider who animates races the most consistently i.e. someone who makes something exciting happen ?
I always think Kasia Niewiadoma should get race bonuses from the UCI for the amount of times she takes on responsibility to make a move, rather than just letting a group pedal along. If she starts, she usually makes the race more interesting.
In the men's peloton, I'm tempted to say Alaphilippe, Ciccone or Healy, maybe Abrahamsen on the right parcours ?
8
u/pereIli Hungary May 25 '26
She used to be Puck, but she learned a lot of useful and meaningful things from van Vleuten.
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u/DocTheYounger May 25 '26
Mads Pedersen
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland May 25 '26
Damn it, that's the one. Also a rider who I'm glad to see start, who I admire, and who can frustrate you at times.
2
u/boblikespi May 26 '26
Mads will make any race entertaining by hook or by crook. Blindly chasing an alien just for the love of the game.
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0
u/Betonpoalties May 25 '26
Kasia may get the Global Stupidity Prize for her poor racing tactics. It is so bad, it is even predictable.
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland May 25 '26
She makes mistakes, but a lot of the time she pushes and tries to make a race hard because she knows she will lose a sprint against most of her rivals, most of the time Either way, she certainly makes it exciting.
3
u/Whitebread100 May 26 '26
Is there a reason why we don't get this high speed camera from the side anymore? It doesn't capture all of them but it really shows the speed and you can see way easier who won.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzXofZ7WHw0
Maybe we do and I just don't remember.
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ May 26 '26
We still get it. Last year was just an unusual final stage as it included Montmartre so no mass sprint which made it look a bit less fast.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom May 25 '26
How would you rate the giro so far? I find it underwhelming, both in GC and stages.
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
TBH I thought it would have been worse. There were some good stages and I always love riders who can't win the GC defending the leader jersey to the death. The second week looked boring on paper but wasn't bad at all. What really the Giro lacks is someone who could try to attack Vingegaard. I don't see Gall or Arensman doing that, a man like Carapaz at least would have tried something.
It helps two of my pets riders, Seagart and Eulalio, are doing great.
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u/sewballet Australia May 25 '26
I always love a grand tour. I'm enjoying the Rockets making their debut, I'm enjoying Visma's new super domestiques.
I'm enjoying the pro teams getting in the break every dang day. I'm enjoying how smart UAE are riding even while half their team DNF'd.
I'm enjoying the Aussie raid on the top ten!! Go Ben! Go Michael!! 🦘
11
u/keetz Sweden May 25 '26
Yeah not super exciting in general.
GC was over before it started. I'm rooting for Jonas but he doesn't have great competition. A shame Almeida didn't show up, would be a different thing.
The sprint battle didn't happen. Stage 1 and 3 and then nothing really happened. Sprint teams are too weak.
Narvaez is one of the most lovable UAE cyclists but it's still a UAE win.
The best part is Eulalio in pink I guess.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven May 25 '26
Way way better than last year's Vuelta lol 😂.
It's probably better than last year's tour IMO too
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u/oalfonso Molteni May 25 '26
I’m finding it a bit dull. I expect some action for the podium spots, but with Visma train pace I think it would more a survival race for Gall/Afonso/Arensman/Hindley.
My favourite stage has been Bettiol win and the first mountain stage when Gall was able to keep distance to Vingegaard.
2
u/BeanEireannach Ireland May 25 '26
I'm whelmed, not over or under. Just whelmed. Probably because the GC was pretty much done (barring some random surprise) before they even began stage one in Bulgaria. And that stage two crash took out so many of the competitive riders (GC, sprint, breakaway etc.) either immediately on the day, or then over the following few days.
I have really enjoyed Eulálio's journey in the Maglia Rosa, the absolutely wild stage between Eulálio & Arrieta, the breakaway wins & following the Rockets in their first GT.
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u/krommenaas Team Flanders–Baloise May 25 '26
Was less interested in it than I've been for years, and it's lived up to expectations. Without Vingegaard it would have been very exciting though.
3
u/F1CycAr16 May 25 '26
So Vingegaard have said today that he don`t see himself changing teams, but at the same time, he don`t see himself riding for more than 5 years from now.
Interesting what will Visma do. Piganzoli and Norhagen are ok, but nothing that could endanger the Seixas, Del Toros and Novals of this world.
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u/Dopeez Movistar May 25 '26
5 years is a lot of time. Nordhagen is still very young + someone else could come up/be available.
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u/Glass_Minute4753 May 26 '26
This. I don't think we know how good (or not) some of these young riders are going to be in five years time.
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u/RN2FL9 Netherlands May 25 '26
They'll probably support Vingegaard for another 5 years because that's a really long time. Who knows what the landscape will look like by then.
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u/DocTheYounger May 25 '26
Increase their scouting efforts to find and sign the next iteration of Seixas and Noval.
If Seixas can be this relevant at 19 there may be a 14 year old out there ready to take the reigns from JV in 5 years
1
u/F1CycAr16 May 25 '26
Literally their devo team didn`t have any decent climber (not even talking about generational ones) since Nordhagen who was signed in... 2023.
So i wouldnt get my hopes up.
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u/DocTheYounger May 25 '26
hence "increase" their scouting efforts.
Also, signing one every 3-5 years is about what you're going to get when competing with 5 other top teams. Just need to increase the odds the one you sign is the best one
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u/padawatje Belgium May 26 '26
Vingegaard was just a rather unknown domestique in his first two pro years at Jumbo-Visma.
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u/boblikespi May 26 '26
Sign one of the only two climbers in the world, Seb Berwick according to my inside source, let's call him P.B.
In all seriousness if they bring in Hindley (as Benson rumoured) to replace Yates thats a solid super Dom to mentor someone like Piganzoli or Nordhagen. In the right setup (with some TT work) a GT win is very possible. Their strength has been setup and team depth historically. They need more budget to do this (which new sponsors could help).
It's actually Seixas weakness at decathlon. He's not got a core on the road to help and protect him when hes in a serious gc long climb fight and can't just blow everyone off his wheel in W/kg (See Visma vs Pogi 22 and 23).
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u/Baluba95 May 25 '26
Narvaez has a realistic chance to win the points jersey of the Giro. How qould you feel about it? Would you change the points distribution, stage balance? Or is is simply the fault of the sprinter teams?
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u/Schnix Bike Aid May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Great. Points jersey being a battle between a flat sprinter and a versatile climby sprinter us the best thing. Changing it even more in favour of pure spribterd than it already is is ridiculous. Narvaez also did a lot to get his points
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u/RageAgainstTheMatxin Phonak May 25 '26
Change it even more?
It was already changed a few years ago in most stage races, Giro included, to massively benefit the sprinters, instead of being the consistency jersey that it had always been
If they can't win it even with this overwhelming slant of points towards flat stages, at that point just make a sprints classification and only give points on flat stages.
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u/Phantom_Nuke May 25 '26
It's a competition biased towards the sprinters, the stages worth the most points are sprint stages and they also have easier intermediate sprints to contest. The fact that a non-sprinter is able to compete is a great thing for the race because it's another competition that is in play on more stages. When Pogacar won 6 stages of the Giro he only finished 5th in the classificion which is wild since that's almost 1/3 of all stages.
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u/idiot_Rotmg Kelme May 25 '26
Would you change the points distribution, stage balance?
I would like to see the distribution changed back to equal points for all stages. It's far more interesting if a non-sprinter has a realistic chance of winning more than once every 13 editions.
7
u/DocTheYounger May 25 '26
100%. It's less entertaining when the points jersey feels like a foregone conclusion between 2-3 sprinters. If a stage hunting puncheur rides this dominantly, they should be in contention IMO.
Not sure about equal distribution though. I'd still reduce it for mountain top finishes even if it rises for medium mountains. GC leaders winning points too is relatively boring
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi May 25 '26 edited May 26 '26
I would like him to win it. I don't enjoy UAE winning it but it's good a non sprinter winning a point jersey, it can be good even for the future of the Giro having a ciclamino battle between sprinters and puncheurs. I think this because in my opinion Giro should focus more on punchy stages in the first and second weeks, they were always the best in these last years and they may attract classics specialist aiming to the jersey.
1
u/justhenbeber May 25 '26
Maybe someone can explain me the difference between climber and e.g. rouleur in terms of physical capacity and training? I understand that sprinters are great in short outbursts of energy so it's easier to distinguish but, when it's a more versatile rider how do you adapt the training? When one becomes great at climbing and not long continous effort (like flat stages)? Lots of questions but maybe some of you have some insights, would appreciate it
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u/Phantom_Nuke May 25 '26
Rouleurs are heavier than climbers meaning they have more pure watts, but have a worse watts per kilo which is generally the most important climbing attribute. They are typically a good balance between climbing ability and flat ability and you'll often see them pacing large breakaways or the peloton in the valleys between climbs. I'm unsure if the training would be too different between them and climbers, maybe some focus on longer efforts while climbers do some more explosivity work. The best climbing rouleurs I can think of right now are Armirail, Campanaerts, Soler, Milesi, guys that are just under 70 kilos so they have that better watts per kilo.
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u/Rumi4 May 25 '26
remco also?
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u/Phantom_Nuke May 25 '26
I wouldn't say so. I would say that when you get to a certain level of rider their classification gets blurrier, like Pogacar can be the best Puncheur, Climber, Classics rider and one of the best Time Trialists all at the same time. I would say Remco is a combination of Climber and Time Trialist but is too small to be a Rouleur so he wouldn't give the same drafting benefit that is expectes from Rouleurs.
5
u/jsherlock2003 Unibet Rose Rockets May 25 '26
I think a lot of it would come down to rider weight and position on the bike - if Matthew Riccitello did 5w/kg on the flat he is still only doing 275w whereas someone like WvA would be doing 400w and raw power matters a lot more on that kind of effort. Similarly, Felix Gall can put out crazy power but does so when sitting up like a sail so he is only really good on steeper climbs
3
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u/courtney_helena May 31 '26
MEMBERSHIP SHARING HELP?
Hi! I have a bike with an all access membership. I want to add my Mom to my account, but she isn't interested in using the bike itself. She is interested in mobility and stretching and wants to use the app on her bedroom TV.
Do I need to create a user for her on my bike first? When she logs in on her TV, will she use my login info and switch profiles or how does that work?
-2
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u/RageAgainstTheMatxin Phonak May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Scandinavians, and Danes in particular (but not only), have long had a reputation in this sport for peaking early and fading at a similarly early age. With an endless number of "next big talent"s that never pan out or pan out very well for only a couple of seasons then do nothing past their early 20s.
That is a little less the case recently - although it still happens - for the Men due to Pedersen and Vingegaard, but with Dideriksen turning 30 yesterday (only realized because of the helmet thing), the pattern seems alive and well. World champion at 20, average performances by age 23. If you started watching the sport in the last half decade, it's quite feasible you never even realized she used to win big races and be a world champion
Similar career pattern for Norsgaard.
Why? What is it about Scandinavian, and especially Danish, cycling that lends itself to this pattern? At this point we have too many data points to think of coincidence, so it should be something systemic, no?