Recent content by Ludwig's Olaf

Re: Nice place this Zakopane. Ski jumping today got cancelled because the hill collapsed or something, so let them have at least a small event. The Poland Tour is odd. Either circuits trough some of the most awful cities in Europe with those silly big commercial balloons all around, and then...

See, that's why the TdF sucks. Everybody gets something out of this tedious race, the Froome fans, the Quintana fans, and the Nibali fans, just not those of Berti because the TdF isn't made for him. Too few mountains, too gentle gradients, too many dull flat stages back to back in the first...

Urine and spit look bad to us because we note such things, but Froome doesn't. He's got this fixation with his Watt meter. A miracle he didn't crash yet into a tree or car along the way, but it's going to happen one day.

He did again what he does best, exploding the peloton from the start. Froome isolated on top of the first climb, the elite group slugging it out on 100 miles amongst themselves, even though Quintana showed signs of life once again on the last of them. The first memorable stage of this year's...

Re: Re: Purito had two recently. Doesn't look too pleased nonetheless.

Re: Re: I believe Bertie finished 10 minutes+ ahead of Froome in the Vuelta 2012, and he wasn't in top shape either. Remember? A most amazing grand tour just after the boring one won by the Elvis impersonator.

What is it that they can't rival Nibbels or Bertie in popularity?

Re: That's code for he plans to attack and pull back six minutes. ;)

Valverde was regarded as the new Armstrong 10 years ago, even a Merckx given his versatility. And then came Contador and Valverde didn't finish once better than Berti in any tour they both participated in. Now is his probably last chance at the age of 35. What are they supposed to do at...

Re: Giro 2011 was certainly any rider's most convincing victory in living memory, the toughest tour ever, and strong competitors. Nibali after his Vuelta victory, Rujano (that's the one Quintana reminds me of), Anton, and Simeoni was still younger. The difference to Froome's TdF this year...

Re: Tejay Van Garderen That's because you poor guys have to endure 30 minutes or so of commercials every hour, and you must be seduced to watch them. It's 2 or 3 minutes per hour on the German government TV, and the commentator doesn't inflict migraine. :cool:

Luck is not on his side the whole year. Thunderstorms were forecast for today, again not materialized. What's the world coming to when a Froome and the best climber since Marco Pantani can stay with Nibali on this descent, albeit dry, and Berti of all people crashes? Next time round it'll rain...

Re: That is because Aru is a tested young rider, while Landa isn't. Many of the riders of the current TdF placed 3rd or better once in some tour of the past and were hailed as the next great hope, but are now good only for breakaways. Hesjedal, Pinot, Keldermann, de Gendt, Martin to name a...

Re: That was more like half the peloton than a breakaway, and the main field did not chase. A recreative ride but for the last gentle climb. How much did the main contenders pull back on Sagan on the climb and descent? Three, four minutes? Sagan's team told him the Spanish guy pulled out too...

The Eurosport commentators pointed out many times that Contador and Valverde are close friends. Prominently when Valverde had a mechanical in that flat windy TdF stage in 2013, Saxo immediately stopped pulling at the front. Only when it was clear that Valverde would lose an awful lot of time in...