Recent content by Tank Engine

Moreira was the strongest, there was evident rivalry within the W52 team, but he came second. Take either the crash or penalty away and Moreira would have won. I don't think it was a damp squib of an ending. The scenery is beautiful. The racing is crazy. This is a circus. Just enjoy it.

In the first group, two guys from the yellow jersey's team are dragging the guy in 2nd place. In the 2nd group, the yellow jersey is being dragged by guys from the biggest rival team. This just has to be the Volta.

That was junior racing style. I think partly that is the nature of the Volta. Secondly, the eternal rivalry between W52 and Efapel. Thirdly, with Torre coming so early in the race, the GC was completely open and no-one wanted to sacrifice their chances, even if they were on a slightly off day...

The bug is that Rogers won all his world TT titles before 2014, so the analogy proves that Kuss will not win a world TT in the future.

And that is why I had to break the analogy by picking a Colombian (I'll go for Lopez), in order to avoid a contradiction and the universe disappearing in a puff of logic. If Wout wins, it will be Poels. He might have one bad day, but he has a history of big days in the last week. I think that...

The GC situation and the last two mountain stages are very similar to those in 2014. Nibali was dominant (but not his team). In 2014, the first stage was basically a battle for the mountain jersey between Majka and Rodriguez, with Majka winning the stage after Purito first attacked and then...

Can bike exchange explain why Jensen wasn't pacing for Matthews, as Wright was for Colbrelli? OK, it's easy to say post-hoc that it was wrong. For me, it starting out more or less as expected with Flowers and Cattaneo attacking, as well as Matthews and Colbrelli going for the intermediate...

The all important team competition. They are chasing Colbreli (Bahrain)

True, but several of the best climbers who will be given a leash (and van Aert if he's there) will looking for mountain points. Ala's batteries will be running low from impersonating a duracell bunny, so I think the all rounders who are strictly concentrating on winning the stage are in with a...

A classical break stage. Given the state of the race I would expect INEOS to give Mike Flowers a day pass to go into the break as their best bet for a stage win (but they might go for the unexpected "set up Richie C. for a surprise attack on the final climb"). There are no more uphill starts...

Re: It could have been a calculated risk, since it often the case that there is a major attack from the closest GC contenders on the Bukowina Wall which then gets nullified. The less steep slopes on the next hill are a good place to counter attack after riding the wall at a "more steady pace"...

Mostly a tried and tested parcours. But why change it if it isn't broken? The long drag finish in Bielsko-Biała is the biggest novelty. Battaglin and EBH shoud do well there. I expect a bit fight between BMC and Mitchelto. The irregular Bukowina Wall is always a fun climb (to watch).

Re: Re: True, in terms of the GC suspense, there was more this year than in 2014. For me the similarity (at least from the point of view of the GC) comes in the fact that from halfway through these races, nobody seemed to be racing against the yellow jersey (apart from a couple of digs by Tom...

Five. In many ways, I found this similar to the 2014 Tour. There were a number of interesting supporting roles, but the main plot line failed to hot up. Martin, GvA and Alaphilippe were often on the attack. I think the short stage (not the grid) was a nice idea, but Sky were too dominant there...

Re: Re: Yes, but old & slow clearly wins the prize for the most accurate predictions.