eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
This is mostly for the likes of Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya, Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Romandie, Tour de Hongrie, Dauphine, Tour de Suisse, Tour of Slovenia and Tour de Pologne, the lead up races for each GT. Luckily for us the only crossovers seem to be between P-N and T-A, as well as the Dauphine with the Suisse and Slovenia (which I honestly can't work out why it doesn't have WT status yet).
Paris-Nice is starting Sunday, day after Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday. My main potential highlights of each are:
P-N:
1. Remco vs Primoz in GC. The only time trial is a TTT which Quickstep have prepared well for with Lampaert and Cattaneo as part of their 5 announced, whilst Bora have Sobrero and Jungels to support Primoz too. I think with no ITT Primoz goes in the slight favourite as he's the stronger climber of the two.
2. The race for 3rd. Not many of the "bigger" GC contenders are there outside those two. Almeida is the best of the rest announced but could someone like Rodriguez or Gall upset him and sneak into 3rd? Is his biggest challenger for the podium teammate Jay Vine? I think the yellow jersey will be fought between the two I mentioned earlier but who comes in behind them will be a good watch.
3. The sprinters. Pederson, Groenewegen, Demare, Bennett, Kooij, Jakobsen, Groves, De Lie, Ackermann. No Philipsen or Merlier (who has seemingly started the year in the best form of the sprinters) so it'll be interesting to see how these guys go. Kooij has had the best start to the year so far, and they really only have the one sprint day on day 2 (day one might be a reduced bunch for someone like Pederson or Groves to go head to head).
T-A:
1. The gap between Vingegaard and the rest. Jonas is the head and shoulders favourite of this, with no Remco, Primoz or Tadej there. However there are a few strong riders who will all be trying to upset him in both Yates twins, Mas, Geoghegan Hart, Carapaz, O'Connor, Hindley, Leknessund and Ayuso which will make for a very interesting GC battle.
2. Healy vs Girmay vs Alaphillipe. No MvdP, no WVA and the first two road stages are almost purposefully built for the likes of these guys. Even Ganna could be a contender for these stages as a dark horse.
3. Again, the sprinters. Philipsen, Cavendish, Milan, Ewan, Bauhaus, Merlier, Mayrhofer, Dainese (an interesting battle internally as a side note), Kristoff and Girmay as well in this category. Bauhaus and Merlier have started the year well, but Philipsen was the best sprinter in the world last year and has only done opening weekend, where he wasn't in contention for either race.
Paris-Nice is starting Sunday, day after Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday. My main potential highlights of each are:
P-N:
1. Remco vs Primoz in GC. The only time trial is a TTT which Quickstep have prepared well for with Lampaert and Cattaneo as part of their 5 announced, whilst Bora have Sobrero and Jungels to support Primoz too. I think with no ITT Primoz goes in the slight favourite as he's the stronger climber of the two.
2. The race for 3rd. Not many of the "bigger" GC contenders are there outside those two. Almeida is the best of the rest announced but could someone like Rodriguez or Gall upset him and sneak into 3rd? Is his biggest challenger for the podium teammate Jay Vine? I think the yellow jersey will be fought between the two I mentioned earlier but who comes in behind them will be a good watch.
3. The sprinters. Pederson, Groenewegen, Demare, Bennett, Kooij, Jakobsen, Groves, De Lie, Ackermann. No Philipsen or Merlier (who has seemingly started the year in the best form of the sprinters) so it'll be interesting to see how these guys go. Kooij has had the best start to the year so far, and they really only have the one sprint day on day 2 (day one might be a reduced bunch for someone like Pederson or Groves to go head to head).
T-A:
1. The gap between Vingegaard and the rest. Jonas is the head and shoulders favourite of this, with no Remco, Primoz or Tadej there. However there are a few strong riders who will all be trying to upset him in both Yates twins, Mas, Geoghegan Hart, Carapaz, O'Connor, Hindley, Leknessund and Ayuso which will make for a very interesting GC battle.
2. Healy vs Girmay vs Alaphillipe. No MvdP, no WVA and the first two road stages are almost purposefully built for the likes of these guys. Even Ganna could be a contender for these stages as a dark horse.
3. Again, the sprinters. Philipsen, Cavendish, Milan, Ewan, Bauhaus, Merlier, Mayrhofer, Dainese (an interesting battle internally as a side note), Kristoff and Girmay as well in this category. Bauhaus and Merlier have started the year well, but Philipsen was the best sprinter in the world last year and has only done opening weekend, where he wasn't in contention for either race.
