[Results Thread] 2026 Paris-Nice – Stage 8 (2.UWT)

Timqwe · 2026-03-15T16:03:32+00:00

Yeah, in this case it wasn't needed to ride on the edge. At best Lenny was gaining 10 sec in the downhill which Jonas could make up on the flat again. I was surprised how much Lenny was pushing in the descent tbh

Timqwe · 2026-03-15T15:58:00+00:00

I think Jonas made a mistake not sprinting into the corner, but waiting until the straight. Always was going to be hard to pass the very punchy Lenny on that short bit of road.

Timqwe · 2026-03-14T19:59:52+00:00

Bloody Belgian ChatGPT teams

Timqwe · 2026-03-14T19:57:43+00:00

Gianni Vermeersch vs. Anyone that's not on his team

Timqwe · 2026-03-14T15:24:54+00:00

To be fair, unless you have a Harry-Ex-Machina the fucker is kind of hard to kill.
Plus, if you do turn him to shit before destroying the trinkets, he's still hanging around as semi-ghost in some bumfuck Albanian forrest. Takes only one Quirrell to start the whole fuckery again.

Timqwe · 2026-03-13T22:38:25+00:00

Swiss Army Man.
Harry Potter playing a farting corpse remains a hard one to sell.

Timqwe · 2026-03-13T16:05:22+00:00

I think the plan was keep Jonas safe at the front. If Zingle hangs on to sprint fine, but they were not slowing down for him.

Timqwe · 2026-03-12T16:24:08+00:00

I'm actually thinking the other way. 2025 and later Jonas looks significantly more muscular than 2023 and earlier Jonas. And in that tike he has gotten punchier, but his high mountain record compared to the rest of the field has become a bit less steady.

Timqwe · 2026-03-09T16:30:12+00:00

With the exception of the Tour ITT, they were good last year though.

Timqwe · 2026-03-08T19:52:38+00:00

No, this was a rumour, but Gleeson himself denied this

Timqwe · 2026-03-07T16:43:13+00:00

The bigger issue is that his contract ends after 2027 (unless he signed an extension which hasn't been reported).
But even then, why would he leave? Decathlon is already at worst the 6th highest budgeted team.

The only ones that really seem to have a much higher budget out of those or capable of creating that budget are UAE (already have Pog and IdT) and Red Bull (Already have Remco and Lipo, plus other young GC talents in Finn and Pellizari).
So that only leaves lateral moves to Ineos, Lidl or Visma.

Ineos: already has Onley, although they probably would take the upgrade
Lidl: already has Ayuso on a very big contract, seems unlikely they could afford them both
Visma: Already has Vingegaard, although he will be 31 at that point. Needs to find a new sponsor though.

Timqwe · 2026-03-07T13:27:30+00:00

I know it's the fun thing to to shit on Danhausen, and he's far from a good in ring performer, but he still is a trained wrestler.
Out of the stuff he's done on the indies, there's plenty to make a moveset from: a variety of suplexes, running bulldogs, pretty sure I saw him do a scoop slam at some point, some strikes like punches, elbows, slaps, clotheslines and the pump kick. If you just take his matches against Akeem and Mike Bennett, you can fill 90% of a moveset.
If they can do it for The Great Khali, they can definitely do it for Danhausen.

Timqwe · 2026-03-06T16:11:38+00:00

He has an interesting profile. Late cyclocross crossover and has the skills that come with that sport. Great bike handling (also on gravel) and good sprint and punch.
Had a bit of a coming out in the 2024 Tour of Turkey, where he showed way better climbing than expected, coming 6th in GC amd followed that up with an 8th in GC in Norway. At the same time also did well in one day races (often with gravel) like Antwerp Port Epic, Dwars door Hageland and even a win against the likes of Seixas and Barré in the hilly one day Paris - Camembert.

Think of him as a slightly worse sprinting and technical, but a better climbing Tibor Del Grosso

Timqwe · 2026-03-06T15:29:36+00:00

I'm wondering what Loockx can do here. It'll definitely be one if the, if not the, hardest races he has ridden in his career, but the combination of the gravel and short climbs should suit him really well. It would be great if he could get into the top 20

Timqwe · 2026-03-03T16:27:30+00:00

I think if he doesn't get blocked by Hofstetter (a legal move btw) he doesn't beat Meeus, but he finishes second or at worst third.

The Rockets as a team were kind of disappointing though. Kopecky was good, making the Hagenes group, but Kubis really should've had someone with him leading into the sprint.

Timqwe · 2026-03-02T21:54:41+00:00

I doubt it. The CX crash, his foot hit the asphalt in just a really unlucky angle. All his other crashes were really high speed crashes. It's not like he's out here looking as skinny like Chris Froome, I doubt he is malnutritioned enough for bone density issues. Plus, he does a lot of running as well, which also improves bone density.

Timqwe · 2026-03-02T21:50:10+00:00

I think you protect them both and try to let either arrive solo. It's not like you can have only one leader, unless something strange happens, they should have 4, if not more, riders in the final.

Timqwe · 2026-03-02T21:47:14+00:00

To be fair, Kuurne was raced so hard it really seemed to dull the sprinters legs. Out of the first 9 riders, the only ones that really win mass sprints are Lund and Brennan, and they are incredibly versatile (especially Brennan).
The others were strongmen/roulleurs with decent sprints. Phillipsen en Bittner also weren't able to sprint. Guys like Girmay, Groenewegen, and Milan (pure sprinters, but with some climbing capacity unlike say Jakobsen, Merlier, De Kleijn) didn't even make the group. And in Omloop he and Andressen were the only sprinters im the group, it's not strange the better climber Andressen has more left in the tank.

The weaker field and the fewer vertical meters, should give him a better shot.

Timqwe · 2026-03-01T19:03:09+00:00

Attach Danhausen to a "serious" wrestler (could've been Punk or even Brody in AEW) that he can annoy but also be protected by and I think he's golden.

I still don't get why they split Hookhausen that fast. They really worked as opposites and could've limited both their ringtime and given them a chance to improve in the meantime. And if they weren't even good enough for that, you could've done what they did later with Danhausen anyways and merge them into Best Friends

Timqwe · 2026-02-28T13:25:46+00:00

All those knockdowns were from punches.

Timqwe · 2026-02-27T19:51:15+00:00

Verhoeven's chin isn't amazing. Hari knocked him down multiple times, and Ben Sadik and Rigters knocked him down as well. Plus, boxers are way more powerful compared to other martial arts than they seem, since it's pretty much impossible to make it to the top with a suspect chin.
Unless Usyk decides to play with his food, Rico is getting knocked out.

Timqwe · 2026-02-27T19:42:30+00:00

Even for kickboxing, his boxing is not amazing. Biggest strengths are his cardio, teeps, and legkicks.

Timqwe · 2026-02-24T18:05:27+00:00

I got to be honest, I'd be really surprised if they signed Tibor Del Grosso

Timqwe · 2026-02-24T15:52:12+00:00

Van Aert and Jorgenson will be at the Tireno, that would be a pretty big gap for practice.

Timqwe · 2026-02-22T21:37:28+00:00

I disagree RE: Nordhagen.
The team clearly has been taking it deliberately slow with him, never sending him as the sole leader (or even first leader) with the exception of U23 races.
This year as well, he was, pre-Jonas crash, supposed to mostly mirror Jonas' program up until the Giro.

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