diphthong

wanted to see him compete in the giro and think it would have been better for him to be in the forefront as the protected rider in the giro
to sink or swim for a foreseeable three weeks over hill and dale and tt with a lesser but still decent supporting cast. uae will be bringing the
a-team to the tdf and brandon figures in but in more of a (big) cog in the machine in the tdf vs a hot spotlight in the giro. hoping he gets fully
unleashed in the vuelta...as i perennially do with any of the guys deserving of a shot or two at the big time.

diphthong

guess who’s getting selected to defend the reigning maillot jaune in a little over a week?

Doge

Nice start to the season.
https://www.velonews.com/news/road/b...RjsjzJ_tGVac8s

MinnMan

Saw that. Was going to post it here but you beat me to it.

Doge

I think we all get caught up in being a star while being white jersey eligible.
We can all see who showed up to this race. A WT win is a significant thing.
Time will tell how this new batch of riders perform. I still think peak is the 26-35 range, but recent years have shown maybe not.

GrainBrain

mwa ha ha

MinnMan

A great performance today, also

MinnMan

Third place on the final mountain stage at the Algarve, putting him second on GC, after Evenepoel.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcn...el-in-algarve/

AlgarveCycling

The short Malhao climb that they did twice in that stage is a notorious 2km+, 10% effort. Brandon held over 400 watts for the entirety - his time was amazing considering it was part of a 170+km 3000m+ race at 40km/h average.

We ride the Malhao climb half a dozen times a year - part of a 120-150km ride for me - and it is brutal when done hard. Far from the steepest, we have climbs that make it look relatively 'easy' but it has a good, wide road that lends itself to speed and putting in a hard effort.

MinnMan

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/fa...e-men/results/

Yeah, there wan't much competition in this race. Apart from Kuss, a bunch of nobodies.
Oh, wait....Alaphilippe and Roglic were there....

MinnMan

Doge

As so many of the leaders these days are very young, the temptation to make a determination on their cycling carrier <25 is strong. I'm glad the fans have things to look forward to.

MinnMan

Yes, there is a huge explosion of new talent in the road racing world, from GC contenders (the Slovenians, Remco, etc) to classics riders/all rounders (WvA, MvdP, who are not that young, but who are pretty new to road racing) and it inspires fans

What McNulty (23) and a few others (Matteo Jorgenson, age 20; Magnus Sheffield, age 22) may offer is something that might boost American fandom, which as we all know, lags terribly.

cyclezen

Sheffield is 19, will be 20 in April.
The relative explosion of young US rider talent, along with still rising, experienced Pro Peloton riders is really exciting!

diphthong

(young) punks not yet dead! thinking we may need a new(b) jersey for the < 23 yos...the white jersey is seemingly now for old-timers/grizzled vets...save it for the 23-25 yo aged...

diphthong

the climbing and tt talent is there. thinking he will do two gt's (in support) this year unless he/the team decide to go the classics route and then crash the vuelta with brandon
just maybe, possibly, as the protected rider depending on how things break. either way, he's likely to post a few stellar results. this was a sweet, sweet ride.

MinnMan

I am assuming that he'll be riding for Pogacar in the Tour, and that will limit his chances for personal glory. His forte is long range attacks, and maybe he'll have the opportunity to try one or two at something like Paris Nice or one of the other spring stage races (Basque? Catalunya?)

MinnMan

Thanks for the correction.
A few years back, there were only maybe two US riders in the whole TdF (Teejay and somebody else?), a number lower than, say, Luxumbourg.
This year, I expect there could be half a dozen or more. Kuss, McNulty, Jorgenson, Powless, Craddock, Simmons....others.

MinnMan

It looks like the main events on his spring calendar are Paris-Nice and Romandie. Both of these could be great showcases for his abilities.

Later, the Tour and Vuelta

https://www.procyclingstats.com/ride...endar/calendar

sincos

More than that, it looks like he'll have a good chance at being their number 1, at least for Paris-Nice. Pogacar will be at Tirreno-Adriatico for PN and coming off the Ardennes double for Romandie. McNulty will have a chance to shine.

Doge

Matteo should be same age as Brandon.

MinnMan

and there 'tis

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/pa...age-5/results/

GrainBrain

That was a big result. All by himself he essentially kept the mighty Rohan and the Arkea minions at bay ~almost 6 minutes back as he rode to a win.

His conversation on live feed with Matteo Jorgensen was hilarious; with Matteo saying "F-you I was really past my limit" when McNulty mentioned how terrible he felt the previous day and how he thought he wouldn't even make it then. Matteo looked incredulous at McNulty mentioning he almost didn't start.

First American to win a stage at Paris Nice since christian vande velde in 2009.

Welshboy

Great stage win in Paris-Nice today and his first win in a World Tour event. Clearly, the first of many!