13/05 - 19/05: Tour of California

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Great stage design and great stage! Well, at least the last hour that I saw. Obviously the organizers were also a bit lucky that Bernal needed to go out and do what he did, but on the other hand, thats what you actually get from placing a medium long, flat TT in your race!

Tao with some great stuff as well. He also speaks spanish doesnt he?

Wait, I thought TTs are bad for aggressive racing. Well, they are only bad if one guy is the best climber and TTer and has the best team, but you cannot do much in this case anyway.

Again, thats probably the media thats pushing such a stupid agenda... if you do it right, you will get big gaps and exciting, aggressive racing

 

[Gigs_98]

It must be so weird for someone who is new to cycling to see the guy who is currently in pink in the giro suddenly on the podium in California.

 

[Bavarianrider]

If it hadn't been for the TT we would have seen a snoozefest up until the last km.
Great race design and an ubeliebavlewinner. The future is his.

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

The Sky young guns seem to be bonding superbly. I'd send Bernal, Tao, Henao and Sivakov to Vuelta alreayd. Let them looose

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

I think Tao could have been second, if he didn’t lose time yesterday he would’ve been third and if he had a more protected status on the first mountain stage, he would’ve been right up there too.

We could be very sick of seeing Bernal disappearing into the distance while Geoghegan Hart sits on the chaser’s wheel looking like he could cruise away at will in a few years but right now it’s pretty amazing

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

What is Bernal’s next race?

Was originally Route du Sud, but it looks like he'll be going to either Dauphine or Suisse instead.

Interesting, thanks.

Personally, I'd rather see him do the former to be honest. Would be good for him to take a step back. Eyes on the progress.

I wonder how Sky feel about him doing a GT now. Maybe send him to Vuelta with zero pressure for results.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

What is Bernal’s next race?

Was originally Route du Sud, but it looks like he'll be going to either Dauphine or Suisse instead.

Interesting, thanks.

Personally, I'd rather see him do the former to be honest. Would be good for him to take a step back. Eyes on the progress.

I wonder how Sky feel about him doing a GT now. Maybe send him to Vuelta with zero pressure for results.

Vuelta has been on the books for a long time, which I don't really have a problem with. It's not riding a grand tour per se, it's how you are going to ride said grand tour. For now, I think it would be much better for him to just go out there and have some fun, rather than having that GC pressure on his shoulders already.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

What is Bernal’s next race?

Was originally Route du Sud, but it looks like he'll be going to either Dauphine or Suisse instead.

Interesting, thanks.

Personally, I'd rather see him do the former to be honest. Would be good for him to take a step back. Eyes on the progress.

I wonder how Sky feel about him doing a GT now. Maybe send him to Vuelta with zero pressure for results.

It’s looking more and more likely he will go to the Vuelta and be given a free role to see how he copes over 3 weeks. Sky don’t really have anyone else to send there as leader anyway.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Great stage design and great stage! Well, at least the last hour that I saw. Obviously the organizers were also a bit lucky that Bernal needed to go out and do what he did, but on the other hand, thats what you actually get from placing a medium long, flat TT in your race!

Tao with some great stuff as well. He also speaks spanish doesnt he?

Wait, I thought TTs are bad for aggressive racing. Well, they are only bad if one guy is the best climber and TTer and has the best team, but you cannot do much in this case anyway.

Again, thats probably the media thats pushing such a stupid agenda... if you do it right, you will get big gaps and exciting, aggressive racing

I wouldn't say it's the media. It's just the conclusion most will come to if you don't think about the issue long enough. Almost always when a gt is absolutely dominated it's because the dominant rider isn't only a good climber but also a very good TT'er. (Pure climbers often win gt's but rarely dominate them) So the people who are annoyed by the not very close result make the TT's responsible for it and claim the race would be better off without them. But that's a little like the logic some use when they are saying "It's stupid to put a descent after a climb, why not finish on top, that would make it even more epic". People don't understand that if you change one part of the route, that has an impact on the racing on every part of the route. Would the time gaps in the last week of the 2015 consistently be so big without the TT? Probably not, but many people will say that the TT destroyed the race because otherwise it would have been way closer.

 

[pastronef]

Re:

Great stage design and great stage! Well, at least the last hour that I saw. Obviously the organizers were also a bit lucky that Bernal needed to go out and do what he did, but on the other hand, thats what you actually get from placing a medium long, flat TT in your race!

Tao with some great stuff as well. He also speaks spanish doesnt he?

yep, he´s been living in Girona for 5-6 years now

 

[Moviefan1203]

Poor Tejay.

We still believe in you, man. You rode a great race.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

I wonder how Sky feel about him doing a GT now. Maybe send him to Vuelta with zero pressure for results.

It’s looking more and more likely he will go to the Vuelta and be given a free role to see how he copes over 3 weeks. Sky don’t really have anyone else to send there as leader anyway.

De la Cruz this winter said that the team promised leadership to him for the Vuelta.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

I wonder how Sky feel about him doing a GT now. Maybe send him to Vuelta with zero pressure for results.

It’s looking more and more likely he will go to the Vuelta and be given a free role to see how he copes over 3 weeks. Sky don’t really have anyone else to send there as leader anyway.

De la Cruz this winter said that the team promised leadership to him for the Vuelta.

Things can change quickly on the road.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

I wonder how Sky feel about him doing a GT now. Maybe send him to Vuelta with zero pressure for results.

It’s looking more and more likely he will go to the Vuelta and be given a free role to see how he copes over 3 weeks. Sky don’t really have anyone else to send there as leader anyway.

De la Cruz this winter said that the team promised leadership to him for the Vuelta.

Things can change quickly on the road.

As MovieFan said, things will be decided on the road. I doubt even Sky thought Bernal would show quite this much in the first half of the season.

 

[Escarabajo]

Great win by Bernal. Incredible control of racing situations. He was so calmed before the attacks and did well timed attacks. Now it helps that you are the best climber in the race.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Nobody seems to be talking about him, but great race from De Plus, first stage tour since his 7 month recovery and a solid 8th place.

Bernal seems like the real deal.

 

[woodburn]

TJ never disappoints.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

I think Tao could have been second, if he didn’t lose time yesterday he would’ve been third and if he had a more protected status on the first mountain stage, he would’ve been right up there too.

We could be very sick of seeing Bernal disappearing into the distance while Geoghegan Hart sits on the chaser’s wheel looking like he could cruise away at will in a few years but right now it’s pretty amazing

And judging by their tweets after the stage it appears they’ve struck up quite a friendship already, I expect to see them racing together for a long time to come.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I think Tao could have been second, if he didn’t lose time yesterday he would’ve been third and if he had a more protected status on the first mountain stage, he would’ve been right up there too.

We could be very sick of seeing Bernal disappearing into the distance while Geoghegan Hart sits on the chaser’s wheel looking like he could cruise away at will in a few years but right now it’s pretty amazing

And judging by their tweets after the stage it appears they’ve struck up quite a friendship already, I expect to see them racing together for a long time to come.

Yeah, and while Tao is great, he is by no means a transcendent rider like Bernal. The comepetition wasn't the best either..

 

[Eclipse]

We might have a new monster. Superb performance

 

[Kwibus]

He rode 1:30 into the next rider in 10kms. Wtf is this monster

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I guess a resurrection of the old adage "feel the Bern" might be appropriate.......

cause they sure done felt it

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

You'd think "ah but it's Van Garderen".. but then you realise he also rode 1'30 into Yates and Majka.

Yikes.

I have a sudden appreciation for Roglic. How the feck did he follow this guy in Romandie?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

You'd think "ah but it's Van Garderen".. but then you realise he also rode 1'30 into Yates and Majka.

Yikes.

I have a sudden appreciation for Roglic. How the feck did he follow this guy in Romandie?

"Ah but it's Van Garderen"
"when has Majka ever done anything in a season before the GT he's aiming for"
"first race since fractured pelvis"

Honestly find the Romandie MTT more impressive than this. And it does put Roglic' performance into perspective.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

You'd think "ah but it's Van Garderen".. but then you realise he also rode 1'30 into Yates and Majka.

Yikes.

I have a sudden appreciation for Roglic. How the feck did he follow this guy in Romandie?

"Ah but it's Van Garderen"
"when has Majka ever done anything in a season before the GT he's aiming for"
"first race since fractured pelvis"

Honestly find the Romandie MTT more impressive than this. And it does put Roglic' performance into perspective.

Scariest part is that Roglic didnt seem to be in too much trouble following Bernal even when everyone else were going backwards.

Man, one of these two will have won a GT before 2020.