Tomas Kopecky is better at positioning. With Kopecky-Kubis-Reinders-Groenewegen you have pretty much a finished train already. Kopecky and De Vries can also control breaks.
I think he goes, because of the ITT and his overal quality, but I don't think he's quite a lock.
Macron can't even get the regular French people to stop burning the country down, how is he going to contain an alien?
How did Paul Double manage to loae that much time?
*coughs*
At least he doesn't ride for UAE... yet
Does Larsen do sprint preps? I can't recall ever seeing him be part of leadout trains. Besseges was Mouris-Kopecky-Kubis-Reinders-Groenewegen right, or did he get involved in the leadout there?
Tomas?
Reinders also posted a story of Kubis and Groenewegen riding together on his Insta, so it seems Kubis also is at the altitude camp.
(Loockx on PCS is scheduled for Tour du Finestre btw, which starts after the Giro)
I kind of wish there would be one more climber, or even an all-rounder like Loockx, there though. This team is very rouleur heavy
I think, if the aforementioned 5 go, the battle for the last 3 spots is between the Kopeckys, Larsen and Maire. They all don't have any more races scheduled for now.
Only one ITT hurts Larsen, but maybe you still take him for that?
Geleijn has Turkey scheduled, and honestly does not have the level of the the others mentioned.
I don't get De Vries as a part of the GT squad. He doesn't climb well enough for stage wins and also isn't really ever part of lead out trains. Imo Tomas Kopecky is a better, more versatile version of him. However, De Vries is at altitude with Groenewegen and Reinders, so that does bode well for him
I think there are 4 locks: Groenewegen, Poels, Reinders and Kubis. There is no way they're not taking Kubis, he's the second biggest star on the team, as a wildcard team that would send a really bad signal if they left him home.
Plus, right now, I'd expect Red Bull, Decathlon and Ineos to have more cash available than Visma. Unless they find a Red Bull sized, multinational sponsor, there's is virtually 0% of it happening.
Even then, current Visma can't get a bid in that's big enough that UAE will outspend with such an amount that the sportive aspect will be secondary. Getting outspend by 500k is way different than getting outspend by 5M.
Yeah, that's fair. But for both him and Benoot, if I had to pick one thing that is THE best thing they do, it would be hilly Ardennes-type races 😂
The other logical option would be Eiking, who has GT experience. However, he is scheduled for the Tour of Turkey and Maire is on their best days the better climber imo.
I wonder if Unibet is taking him to the Giro. Can't really send Poels + seven 75kg+ trucks, you'll need at least one more climber. According to PCS, he has no more races on his schedule.
*Fleche Ardennaise
I mean, yes, but this is also what he does well, right? He's kind of a Benoot re-gen, and his biggest U23 result is his Fleche win.
Also, Adrien Maire 17th in this field is really solid
Next Gen Demon won, sure, moving on.
Tulett really promising though after a shaky start of the season!
The Tudor riders just can't stay on their bike this season
Axel Laurance with the homage to Chris Froom
(I still want an orange "retro-Rabobank" jersey at some point, though)
You know, I'm coming around on the light jersey. Not necessarily because I think it's better looking, but it's a lot more unique than another black jersey.
Arensman looking pretty good. Surely this'll be the year he doesn't piss away 2 minutes in the first week of the Giro.
Not Tulett though
