14th Binck Banck Tour , 13-19 August (2.UWT)

[El Pistolero]

Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

He was second in Milan-San Remo and he actually won the bunch sprint (it's not every year that a rider arrives solo). He's a pretty decent sprinter with room to grow.

Although I don't understand how a state-funded team constantly hires top tier foreign sprinters and then make their Belgian riders work their asses off for said sprinters. That doesn't make any sense and is a huge waste of tax money. That's the main reason why I don't like Lotto-Soudal.

(And I don't have anything against Ewan, he was smart to pick Lotto-Soudal for his next team, given their history)

 

[The Barb]

I thought Groenewegen was surprisingly lacking today. Yes, he wasn't helped by the crash and his positioning was (typically) not great but even when in the clear he didn't have much punch.

 

[RedheadDane]

One thing I like about this race is the fact that they're not even trying to pretend they could possibly justify having a climber's jersey.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

Although I don't understand how a state-funded team constantly hires top tier foreign sprinters and then make their Belgian riders work their asses off for said sprinters. That doesn't make any sense and is a huge waste of tax money. That's the main reason why I don't like Lotto-Soudal.

Well, sprinters get you wins and you can probably name 30+ guys before you get to the best Belgian sprinter these days

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

Ewan is 24. How many supreme sprinters are that age ? Some but not many. I'd be surprised if Ewan didn't improve much in the next two years.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

Ewan is 24. How many supreme sprinters are that age ? Some but not many. I'd be surprised if Ewan didn't improve much in the next two years.

Gaviria is 23, although will turn 24 before the end of the season.

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

Ewan is 24. How many supreme sprinters are that age ? Some but not many. I'd be surprised if Ewan didn't improve much in the next two years.

Gaviria is 23, although will turn 24 before the end of the season.

And Groenewegen just turned 25.

 

[Robert5091]

Time trial start order
http://www.sport.be/binckbanktour/2018/en/nieuws/article.html?Article_ID=838077

Kuznetzov is down to start so hopefully he's ok. First man away at 13.39 CET.

 

[vladimir]

Re:

Time trial start order
http://www.sport.be/binckbanktour/2018/en/nieuws/article.html?Article_ID=838077

Kuznetzov is down to start so hopefully he's ok. First man away at 13.39 CET.

No, Kuznetsov will not start today (from Katusha's Twitter): UPDATE and sad news from @v_kuznetsov89: he won't start tomorrow in stage 2 #BinckBankTour. Final diagnosis: fractured sternum, concussion of the brain and bruised kidney. Get well soon, Slava!

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

Ewan is 24. How many supreme sprinters are that age ? Some but not many. I'd be surprised if Ewan didn't improve much in the next two years.

Gaviria is 23, although will turn 24 before the end of the season.

Like I said there are some exceptions but sprinters don't usually hit their career peak at that age. Ewan has the opportunity now to improve on his performances and he needs to as other good sprinters have already arrived on the scene in recent times.

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Ewan isn't a supreme sprinter at all IMHO. In fact Lotto better should've signed Jakobsen this year already and kept Greipel as his mentor instead of making all this trouble by signing Ewan!

Ewan is 24. How many supreme sprinters are that age ? Some but not many. I'd be surprised if Ewan didn't improve much in the next two years.

Gaviria is 23, although will turn 24 before the end of the season.

Like I said there are some exceptions but sprinters don't usually hit their career peak at that age. Ewan has the opportunity now to improve on his performances and he needs to as other good sprinters have already arrived on the scene in recent times.

Wel we don't know if it's the career peak for Gaviria or Groenewegen either.
Out of the more established sprinters, Cavendish won 2 stages in the Giro and 4 in the Tour at age 23 and Kittel won 4 stages in the Tour at age 25.

 

[barmaher]

Dowsett has the fastest time so far.
Durbridge + 1s
Scotson + 3s
Lampaert + 4s
Ganna + 9s

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Campenaerts... less than a second. Again.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Does Campenaerts think he has won already?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Soren Kragh looking very good for overall. Matthews as well
(sorry Campenaerts, I think he will lose in the cobbled stage)

 

[wirral]

Re:

Does Campenaerts think he has won already?

I think the delayed reaction was when he heard the crowd announcer or his radio tell him he had taken the lead.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Kung... hard to beat that time.

 

[RedheadDane]

Kung with a significant time-buffer.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Otherworldly time by Küng, by the looks of things right now. It's almost Cancellara-esque, if he wins by 15 seconds in a TT like this

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

yeah, gonna be hard to take that amount of time in the geraardsbergen stage.

The sprinter/classic combo have to take a lot of boni's now.

 

[Der Effe]

Re:

Does Campenaerts think he has won already?

So glad Küng beat his time. Campenaerts is creating himself a persona in which he acts and sees himself as the time-trialist to beat. Which, apart from the comedy value, is kind of pathetic. Guy has 2 national titles, 2 European titles no one really cares about and one(!) win in a UCI-race.

 

[barmaher]

That is just ridiculous from Kung. What a ride.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re: Re:

Does Campenaerts think he has won already?

So glad Küng beat his time. Campenaerts is creating himself a persona in which he acts and sees himself as the time-trialist to beat. Which, apart from the comedy value, is kind of pathetic. Guy has 2 national titles, 2 European titles no one really cares about and one(!) win in a UCI-race.

Oh that's right, here we go again if Sagan would've done something like this you would've all said it was part of his nature but when another rider plays around (VDP, Campenaerts, Ludvigsson, Hansen) a bit y'all think he's an arrogant ***.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

Does Campenaerts think he has won already?

So glad Küng beat his time. Campenaerts is creating himself a persona in which he acts and sees himself as the time-trialist to beat. Which, apart from the comedy value, is kind of pathetic. Guy has 2 national titles, 2 European titles no one really cares about and one(!) win in a UCI-race.

Oh that's right, here we go again if Sagan would've done something like this you would've all said it was part of his nature but when another rider plays around (VDP, Campenaerts, Ludvigsson, Hansen) a bit y'all think he's an arrogant ***.

Ignore troll bait like that man. Rarely seen a rider not taking himself seriously like Campenaerts. After crossing the finish last week he said he wanted to win with a big margin for once. He told a fellow rider his moustache gives him 2 watts advantage.. yeah. Clearly he's an arrogant *** who thinks he's the grandmaster and takes himself very seriously :lol:

 

[Der Effe]

Re: Re:

Does Campenaerts think he has won already?

So glad Küng beat his time. Campenaerts is creating himself a persona in which he acts and sees himself as the time-trialist to beat. Which, apart from the comedy value, is kind of pathetic. Guy has 2 national titles, 2 European titles no one really cares about and one(!) win in a UCI-race.

Oh that's right, here we go again if Sagan would've done something like this you would've all said it was part of his nature but when another rider plays around (VDP, Campenaerts, Ludvigsson, Hansen) a bit y'all think he's an arrogant ***.

I don’t mind it when someone who actually wins races does it, but what kind of clown do you have to be to do this halfway through a time-trial? It’s the same boring shtick time and time again. It’s just pathetic, especially when you think that apart from like 5 TT’s a year Campenaerts is totally useless as a WT-rider.