Jayco AlUla thread

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eth-dog said:
Not necessarily. As I said above, most likely Edmondson and Grondahl Jansen are competing for a workhorse spot (with Durbridge tied with Juul Jensen as the best in the squad) with Matthews and Mezgec being the lead out duo for Groenewegen and then Colleoni, Schultz and Grmay likely fighting for the two climber spots on the team, with Schultz the most likely. My money for a tour team would be:

Groenewegen, Mezgec, Matthews, Durbridge, Grondahl Jansen, Bauer, Schultz, Colleoni

Bike Exchange need to stop going for GC after this year. Let Yates go to a team where he can challenge for a Giro or Tour (maybe Jumbo-Visma) and look for someone like Tom Dumoulin to be a pure stage hunter. Rumours are suggesting Hamilton might be heading over to Bora to help Jai as well. We're a team that sort of fell into GC without really having the budget to sustain it. Focus on Groves and Groenewegen for the most part and try to get a good classics rider as well.
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Well it won't be Tom since he's retiring. A real shame.
 
eth-dog said:
I think it's pretty clear that BEX don't consider Matthews as a team leader anymore for stage races. He'll be at Tour de Suisse to support Groves (who I still don't think should ride that race).

Interesting that most of the favourites are doing the Suisse instead of the Dauphine. Haig, O'Connor and Roglic/Vingegaard the only ones at Dauphine; whereas the Suisse has Mader, Vlasov, Pinot, Martinez/Yates and Evenepoel, whilst Pogacar is doing the Tour of Slovenia without any real competition. Would have thought Ineos and Jumbo should have split their leaders personally.
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Matthews has been a team leader for most of his races in 2022 - Yes, Groves will sprint in a flat finish, however Matthews can make more finals.
 
SS3840 said:
I

Pogacar is a machine, I'm hoping Roglic and perhaps an outsider like Mick Storer can set the cats among the pigeons, as it were.

Anywho, the real reason I came here Matt Keenan says a Criterium line up is basically what you're taking to the Tour.. and if that is the case...
Team Bike Exchange here
*Young rider classified... taken from Startlist for Critérium du Dauphiné 2022

If Grmay wins a stage (unlikely).. Let's hope he doesn't cork it... Bike Exchange need a GC rider, and actually get behind him
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Only two of these riders are confirmed for the TDF Durbridge and Groenewegen - Grmay and Colleoni are a no - Jansen and Shultz are very unlikley, while Edmondson is an outside chance.
 

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I think they trial Edmondson as lead out tonight in a weak sprint field to see how it goes. He'll be better in a train at TDF than Matthews but I would guess it's between him and Stewart for a spot. The only upside I see about DG racing Dauphine is they get to control the stage which they are doing but he is not a great chance to make the finish.
 
BEX chose unwisely by sending Groenewegen to the Dauphine - Life is a bit more complicated when you have two WT races which overlap Dauphine and Suisse, which meant the team could only do one more race - They chose Slovenia when they would have better served going to the ZLM Tour - Their tactics in the first two stages have been baffling - Once Groenewegen and one one of their two GC hopefuls had been dropped, they had to keep Edmondson to sprint the final and Schultz to keep GC focus in the peleton, yet they dropped both back to help Groenewegen - Then in stage two it was always likely to go to the break, so they needed two have two riders in the break, especially as it was unlikely that Groenewegen would make the final - Then to make matters worse they left climbers in Colleoni and Schultz in the peleton in which they had no hope in the final if the breakaway was brought back ( it was a close run thing ) - They needed to keep Edmondson and Jansen in the peleton for the final if the break was brought back - Anyway, I suspect stage 3 and 5 will also go to the break.
 
Devil's Advocate: BEX are going to Le Tour with Dylan looking for a stage win, BEX are a threat of being relegated from World Tour level.. so Dylan is simply getting the miles in the legs for Le Tour...
 
SS3840 said:
Devil's Advocate: BEX are going to Le Tour with Dylan looking for a stage win, BEX are a threat of being relegated from World Tour level.. so Dylan is simply getting the miles in the legs for Le Tour...
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I think they wanted him to win Stage 1 and he's an outside chance for stage 5.

I'm hoping Durbo can challenge Roglic/WVA for the ITT though. Should be able to get top 5 if that gets any points
 
The rumor is that Groves is moving to Alpecin - I find it a baffling decision as he will still be the number two sprinter behind Philipsen - I find it even more baffling because Philipsen has similar characteristics as Groves so a suitable calendar
 
yaco55 said:
The rumor is that Groves is moving to Alpecin - I find it a baffling decision as he will still be the number two sprinter behind Philipsen - I find it even more baffling because Philipsen has similar characteristics as Groves so a suitable calendar
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Yeah, would be very disappointing.
 
Groenewegan is next off to Tour of Slovenia. This has never been a sprinters race, there is one flat stage plus stage 5 which has 1k, 10% climb, 7k from the finish. No way he gets over that, the best they could hope for is a small bunch only gets away and there is enough other teams willing to work to bring it back. There must be a method to this madness, but I have no idea what it is.
 
Orange Agent said:
Groenewegan is next off to Tour of Slovenia. This has never been a sprinters race, there is one flat stage plus stage 5 which has 1k, 10% climb, 7k from the finish. No way he gets over that, the best they could hope for is a small bunch only gets away and there is enough other teams willing to work to bring it back. There must be a method to this madness, but I have no idea what it is.
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Issue is none of the lead up races have flat stages really. Might as well get miles in the legs.
 
Orange Agent said:
Groenewegan is next off to Tour of Slovenia. This has never been a sprinters race, there is one flat stage plus stage 5 which has 1k, 10% climb, 7k from the finish. No way he gets over that, the best they could hope for is a small bunch only gets away and there is enough other teams willing to work to bring it back. There must be a method to this madness, but I have no idea what it is.
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Mezgec can do the sprint.
 
Groenewegen, Matthews, Mezgec, Durbridge, Bauer, Grondahl Jansen, Juul-Jensen and Schultz for Le Tour.

Pretty clear we're committing to the sprint train and maybe letting Schultz chase some mountain stages as well.

So from that you'd probably suggest that they're going for a podium at La Vuelta with Yates. Expect Hamilton and Sobrero to be his main support in the mountains, Craddock and Durbridge on the flats and maybe give Groves a chance as a sprinter with Smith and Stewart the lead out.
 

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Apparently chasing Adam Yates to come back. Not sure that's the right move, we should be moving away from GC riders as much as possible. I'd be looking at guys like Warren Barguil, Wout Poels, Diego Ulissi (who you can build a classics team around) and maybe Cees Bol or a young sprinter to replace Groves.
 
Eddie Dunbar and Zanna who won the Italian 2022 RR are confirmed - Dunbar is underutilized AT Ineos and is a good talent - Zanna is talented, although BEX has mixed results with Italians - Jan Hirt is nearly confirmed - Good all round rider who can do well if he retains his form - A Yates is still subject to negotiation - If this happens then Yates x 2 should ride 2 GT's for stages with Adam focusing on one day races and Simon on one week stage races.

The Vuelta with its TTT makes selection interesting - Ordinarily you'll select some strong TTer's but with the excellent equipment at their disposal you can mix up the team.

My team would be S.Yates, Sobrero, Hamilton, Konyshev, Groves, Edmondson, Hepburn, Groenewegen
 
yaco55 said:
Eddie Dunbar and Zanna who won the Italian 2022 RR are confirmed - Dunbar is underutilized AT Ineos and is a good talent - Zanna is talented, although BEX has mixed results with Italians - Jan Hirt is nearly confirmed - Good all round rider who can do well if he retains his form - A Yates is still subject to negotiation - If this happens then Yates x 2 should ride 2 GT's for stages with Adam focusing on one day races and Simon on one week stage races.

The Vuelta with its TTT makes selection interesting - Ordinarily you'll select some strong TTer's but with the excellent equipment at their disposal you can mix up the team.

My team would be S.Yates, Sobrero, Hamilton, Konyshev, Groves, Edmondson, Hepburn, Groenewegen
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They won't send both Groenewegen and Groves. For me the team probably ends up like:

Yates
Hamilton
Howson/Meyer
Sobrero
Konyshev
Kangert
Stewart
Groves

Give Groves a few of the guys he's worked with before.

A couple more stage win in Le Tour, a stage win for Groves in La Vuelta and a top 10 finish for Yates probably puts us out of danger as far as relegation goes. Only 500 points behind EF and if we get the tactics right we could get Bling in yellow for a couple of days (Would need to drop MvdP and WVA though)
 
eth-dog said:
They won't send both Groenewegen and Groves. For me the team probably ends up like:

Yates
Hamilton
Howson/Meyer
Sobrero
Konyshev
Kangert
Stewart
Groves

Give Groves a few of the guys he's worked with before.

A couple more stage win in Le Tour, a stage win for Groves in La Vuelta and a top 10 finish for Yates probably puts us out of danger as far as relegation goes. Only 500 points behind EF and if we get the tactics right we could get Bling in yellow for a couple of days (Would need to drop MvdP and WVA though)
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You want to take Groenewegen because the Grand Depart is in Holland with flat finishes - Groves can go for the more selective sprints - The more I think about I fail to understand why Groves is going to Alpecin - He'll be number two sprinter behind Philipsen BUT more importantly he has similar characteristics to Philipsen, so he may have a different calendar.
 
If you add Dunbar, Reinders (rumoured to be coming in, might be at the request of Groenewegen since they're countrymen?), Yates, Zana and Hirt that adds a lot to this squad, although rumours are suggesting Hirt may go to Quickstep instead of us which is understandable.

Apparently Kung might want out of Quickstep though and he'd be someone I'd definitely like on the squad. Is a strong time trialist and climber.
 
Kung would be a dream signing, however, it's unlikely because of the way BEX has ignored it's Classic's squad in the last five years - I dubt the value of Reinders, especially seeing the development of Stewart and O'Brien as part of a sprint train - BEX has to ensure they keep Mezgec who along with Hepburn is the heart and soul of the team.
 
So, how do we assess their Tour?

2 stage wins (only UAE and Jumbo had more, same amount as Quickstep, Israel and Alpecin)
4 second places
7 other top 10 finishes

pro cycling stats use an algorithm based on various different things and by their assessment we were the 4th best team this year behind the three teams who were top 3 in GC.

As far as the relegation battle goes, we're 440-odd points ahead of Lotto Soudal and 540 ahead of Isreal as the only teams that can jump us. There aren't many big points available apart from Pologne before La Vuelta but Yates is searching for wins in a one day race tonight, a two day race in a couple of days and then I suspect we go all in for him at La Vuelta. If we can pull off a top 3 there it'll make it very difficult for us to go down.
 
Based on Tour and Giro BEX 100% deserve to be a WT team and Israel deserve it more than Lotto. i hope they fix up the points situation with teams sending strong squads to lower level races for 'points farming', its not good for the sport or the quality of races.

Yates and Bling both re-commited, Blake Quick was very impressive in the Aussie summer this year even though the competition wasnt as strong as usual but there is no reason he cant develop to the level Groves is at in short time.
 
Orange Agent said:
Based on Tour and Giro BEX 100% deserve to be a WT team and Israel deserve it more than Lotto. i hope they fix up the points situation with teams sending strong squads to lower level races for 'points farming', its not good for the sport or the quality of races.

Yates and Bling both re-commited, Blake Quick was very impressive in the Aussie summer this year even though the competition wasnt as strong as usual but there is no reason he cant develop to the level Groves is at in short time.
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Lotto has been really bad the whole season.

Blake Quick is a very appropriate name for him. He has serious jets.
 
Bizarre team they're sending to Pologne. Groves is clearly the protected rider but he's really only a chance in the first two stages and after that he's got no chance of winning any stage from there. They haven't sent any climbers, just a couple of time trialists (which means we should clean up the top 3 between Craddock, Hepburn and Sobrero)

Good result overnight in Prueba Villafranka with Yates and Smith getting the top 2. Been a great season so far, a strong Vuelta will put it over the top
 
eth-dog said:
Lotto has been really bad the whole season.

Blake Quick is a very appropriate name for him. He has serious jets.
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Lotts hasn't been awful as they've won 19 race while BEX has won 20 races - Relegation battle is making appear that teams have experienced bad years.
 
Bike Exchanges Aussie signings for 2022.

Rudy Porter is an excalling signing - Riding for Trinity Racing while obtaining some good GC results in under 23 races.
Blake Quick - I'm not as bullish about this signing - He's been signed as a Groves Replacement - very good in the Aussie summer but has found it tougher in Europe.
Alisa Polites - A 19 year old who is a development project but has heaps of talent.
Amber Pate - A 27 year old who is a latecomer to the sport - Should be WT standard and will be a domestic.

Transfer News

Spratt to Jumbo Visma.
Harper a strong chance to join BEX.
 

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