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Óscar Rodríguez

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luckyboy

luckyboy

May 26, 2009
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27secs slower than Quintana on the climb

La Camperona
2018:2,9 km@14,0%---11:55---average speed 14.60 km/h(Nairo Quintana)-RECORD
---12:22---average speed 14.07 km/h(Oscar Rodriguez)
2016:2,9 km@14,0%---12:08---average speed 14.34 km/h(Nairo Quintana)
2014:2,9 km@14,0%---12:08---average speed 14.34 km/h(Christopher Froome)
---13:24---average speed 12.99 km/h(Ryder Hesjedal)

http://www.climbing-records.com/2018/09/nairo-at-his-best-on-camperona.html
 
Arrowfarm

Arrowfarm

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Majka was shaking his head in disbelief, when the interview was over.
It seemed like he wanted to say the word "unbelievable", but he chose the word "cycling" instead, which is funny as hell since those 2 words are basically synonymous.
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
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Óscar Rodríguez was a pretty decent espoir at Lizarte, there had been some talk before the 2016 season that he might be in line for promotion to Movistar that season but he was easily outshone that year by Carapaz, Carretero, Samitier and Castrillo (plus a couple of older hands who were unlikely to get the promotion but were racing at the same team, like Marcos Jurado), which led to him going the Euskadi-Murias route. He won a few races and managed 5th in the Vuelta a Bidasoa, but a minute back on the likes of Edward Ravasi and Mark Padun, and he was 20th in the Volta a Portugal for whatever that's worth (on both sides of the argument).

At the same time, he's going to need to back this up, otherwise it's going to look fairly Foliforov-like, and I'm aware I was pointing out espoir records for Foliforov too (and make no mistake, he was a stronger espoir than Rodríguez too, but then he won an MTT rather than from a break, no matter how many genuine strong climbers there were in said break). I would have been far less surprised had it been Barceló or Samitier that was put in the race and did this. After all Samitier laid waste to a lot of climbing races on the Spanish amateur scene over 2016 and 2017, and Barceló had that awesome performance in Asturias last year where only Quintana and Balarcón could beat him, whereas Rodríguez turned pro sooner but has been fairly quiet since doing so which makes this performance far more out of the blue. Even had the two of them started, if you told me pre-race that Euskadi-Murias won a stage, I'd have figured it was most likely that Edu Prades had got into a good break or won a stage like stage 6 or yesterday's if it was trimmed down hard in the bunch.
 
May0maniac

May0maniac

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Re: Re:

Libertine Seguros said:
Eyeballs Out said:
Having finished 20th in the Volta a Portugal this was much easier. Lucky for Quintana and co that numbers 1 to 19 aren't here
Click to expand...
Hey, at his wattage, Balarcón could have a ten minute GC lead like Robobasso here.
Click to expand...
I mean Roodriguez finished 5min 43sec behind Alarcon on the Senhora da Graça MTF, so i could totally see him demolishing everyone on this climb. :D
Overall I have a similar feeling when it comes to his performance, almost too good to be true and in the pro ranks all of his best resuults.
 
Sylvester

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Not denying this performance is quite suspicious, but Odriozola has been claiming for a long time that this guy is a very talented climber, and he was very strong in the last stage of the Tour of the Alps (he won the KOM jersey). The fact that he's only 23 years old also plays in his favour as far as I'm concerned - progression isn't always linear. Murias have had a good season thus far, exceeding the expectations, but I haven't seen anything ridiculous. I'm prepared to give Rodriguez the benefit of the doubt.
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

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A bit like Cobo on Angliru though, how much was due to being on the right gear and how much was due to being in the right gear is another question. He clearly was pushing a smaller gear when he rode back to Teuns and Majka and once he had got away from them too, but unfortunately the cameras didn't pick up the moment he dropped them to see how he did it to see if he just rode away pushing his lower gear or if he managed to launch a genuine attack, which I'd find probably more suspicious as he opened up a fairly significant gap. I don't think it's quite Gonzalo Najár, he didn't do this from the péloton but from the break, even if it was with some strong riders in it, and it's not like he rode away at the start of the climb and stuck it out increasing his gap all the way; he rode his way back and attacked with just over 1km to go. The thing that was weird was him saying actually he didn't know the climb, because he seemingly paced it a lot better, coming back to the others rather than duelling on the front all the way. But then, I didn't think Foliforov was as out there as Najár either and while he's never been busted, he's also never come close to replicating that show. Is this really any crazier than Victor de la Parte's Österreich-Rundfahrt, Riccardo Zoidl's 2013 season, Jelle Vanendert winning on Plateau de Beille, or all manner of other performances which are huge outliers in those riders' careers but never tripped any wires?

I'm not sure that he or Euskadi-Murias will be naïve enough to have tripped the wire here, but their cards will quite likely be marked (internally within the péloton and externally) after this and replicating this kind of result will be more difficult than achieving it in the first place. They are on the biopass so it's not like Najár or the Törku guys, even if it's a huge, huge outlier. Like I say, I'm surprised it was Rodríguez that pulled this off as I'd have been much more ready to buy it from Samitier or Barceló, and he's more of a 'nobody' than Foliforov, who was an excellent espoir (and also he was in the same espoir age as Lambrecht and de Plus, who outperformed him then but were behind here), but he is a climber by nature and he did finish ahead of Majka on La Covatilla too. Obviously the likes of Teuns and Mollema, who were the strongest other riders in that break today, were also in the break that day which limits its usefulness for comparison.

Overall, what I'd say is, there are plenty of questions to be asked about how Óscar Rodríguez pulled off today's ride. Having the best gearing and riding your own pace à la Carlos Sastre may give us an answer, but it's not necessarily the answer, or at least not the only answer. It's a huge, huge outlier in terms of his achievements to date and nobody even really considered him a contender for the stage even once he was in that breakaway. However, I would argue that Óscar Rodríguez is also not Gonzalo Najár or Mustafa Sayar. He may kick on from this to become a decent stagehunting climber or, given he's actually half decent against the clock, something more. But just as likely is that he might be Aleksandr Foliforov or Matteo Rabottini.
 
May0maniac

May0maniac

Jun 30, 2014
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Re:

Libertine Seguros said:
A bit like Cobo on Angliru though, how much was due to being on the right gear and how much was due to being in the right gear is another question. He clearly was pushing a smaller gear when he rode back to Teuns and Majka and once he had got away from them too, but unfortunately the cameras didn't pick up the moment he dropped them to see how he did it to see if he just rode away pushing his lower gear or if he managed to launch a genuine attack, which I'd find probably more suspicious as he opened up a fairly significant gap. I don't think it's quite Gonzalo Najár, he didn't do this from the péloton but from the break, even if it was with some strong riders in it, and it's not like he rode away at the start of the climb and stuck it out increasing his gap all the way; he rode his way back and attacked with just over 1km to go. The thing that was weird was him saying actually he didn't know the climb, because he seemingly paced it a lot better, coming back to the others rather than duelling on the front all the way. But then, I didn't think Foliforov was as out there as Najár either and while he's never been busted, he's also never come close to replicating that show. Is this really any crazier than Victor de la Parte's Österreich-Rundfahrt, Riccardo Zoidl's 2013 season, Jelle Vanendert winning on Plateau de Beille, or all manner of other performances which are huge outliers in those riders' careers but never tripped any wires?

I'm not sure that he or Euskadi-Murias will be naïve enough to have tripped the wire here, but their cards will quite likely be marked (internally within the péloton and externally) after this and replicating this kind of result will be more difficult than achieving it in the first place. They are on the biopass so it's not like Najár or the Törku guys, even if it's a huge, huge outlier. Like I say, I'm surprised it was Rodríguez that pulled this off as I'd have been much more ready to buy it from Samitier or Barceló, and he's more of a 'nobody' than Foliforov, who was an excellent espoir (and also he was in the same espoir age as Lambrecht and de Plus, who outperformed him then but were behind here), but he is a climber by nature and he did finish ahead of Majka on La Covatilla too. Obviously the likes of Teuns and Mollema, who were the strongest other riders in that break today, were also in the break that day which limits its usefulness for comparison.

Overall, what I'd say is, there are plenty of questions to be asked about how Óscar Rodríguez pulled off today's ride. Having the best gearing and riding your own pace à la Carlos Sastre may give us an answer, but it's not necessarily the answer, or at least not the only answer. It's a huge, huge outlier in terms of his achievements to date and nobody even really considered him a contender for the stage even once he was in that breakaway. However, I would argue that Óscar Rodríguez is also not Gonzalo Najár or Mustafa Sayar. He may kick on from this to become a decent stagehunting climber or, given he's actually half decent against the clock, something more. But just as likely is that he might be Aleksandr Foliforov or Matteo Rabottini.
Click to expand...
To me de la Parte was way crazier, faster than Ricco on the Kitzbüheler Horn, but on a harder stage that also included the Grißglockner and he put over 1min in respected climbers like Hermans and Hirt, but that performance also came while riding on a CN team, just like durning the Volta, same with Zoidl (who has also found his legs again now that he's once again riding for a CN team that hasn't exactly the best reputation), so they didn't have to really worry about the bio passport.
 
F

FilipeFD

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OMG, you are suspicious about a performance of a Vuleta rider.

Time for the mods to move all Vuelta threads to the clinic. Or you think only Volta deserves it?

and it is also very disrespectful to think a ProCont cyclists dont have the skill or ability to beat WT. If he was a nobody from a WT you wouldnt even second guess his result, but as a PCT..., he must be doped
 
H

Huapango

Apr 23, 2016
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Re:

FilipeFD said:
OMG, you are suspicious about a performance of a Vuleta rider.

Time for the mods to move all Vuelta threads to the clinic. Or you think only Volta deserves it?

and it is also very disrespectful to think a ProCont cyclists dont have the skill or ability to beat WT. If he was a nobody from a WT you wouldnt even second guess his result, but as a PCT..., he must be doped
Click to expand...

I agree with this logic. Sometimes, the best riders don't always get onto a WT team for whatever reason. Maybe Rider B (B being a slightly inferior rider) gets a contract over Rider A (the superior rider) because Rider B has a friend on the team, can be trusted more or is able to respond better to a particular program. There are many other factors, but these are just a few.
 
Escarabajo

Escarabajo

Apr 16, 2009
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Re:

FilipeFD said:
OMG, you are suspicious about a performance of a Vuleta rider.

Time for the mods to move all Vuelta threads to the clinic. Or you think only Volta deserves it?

and it is also very disrespectful to think a ProCont cyclists dont have the skill or ability to beat WT. If he was a nobody from a WT you wouldnt even second guess his result, but as a PCT..., he must be doped
Click to expand...
Relax, if he is that talented he will get a contract soon. Very soon. And we will get to enjoy his performances in a WT team.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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He pulled a Froomie, he'll win the Tour four times in the next five years.

Oh wait, he's Spanish and thus isn't protected like all British cyclists are (outside of Spain that is).
 
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