Page has still had the GI troubles recently. The last couple races
were not an indication of his form. Yesterday was a HUGE GVA race, and
he was back in the second group with the usual cast of characters. 5th
thru like 25th were in one big sprint. He was 19th, Ryan was 16th.
Wicks and Tokin were still in the 40's, where JP was (with them) in the
World Cup.
Today all the top guys were not there, but Nijs, Vanth., De Gnegt, etc.
were there and they were throwing down and he hung with them and was
taking his pulls. Nijs went out hard from the gun and only those 3
guys were able to stay with them.
The only people to have won a race in the last few weeks were Nijs, De
Knegt, and Vanth....and Nijs has been able to come back from flats the
last three races. I dont think the guys up front were holding back any
once Nijs flatted, on the contrary, chances to win have been pretty
slim of late.
I agree, of course, that the world cups see another level of depth that
usually translates into a loss of 5-10 positions for the sub toppers
compared to a C2. I dont think that means the winner/podium guys are
going any less hard, there are just more second level guys from Eastern
Moldavia going balls out.
J
Whatever, if it was Ryan in third, or Wells, Velonews/the other US
media would be doing a special issue like it was the second coming of
Christ.
