2010 Vuelta al Pais Vasco

Page 16 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Mar 27, 2010
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
Oh well, as long as they keep 3 men for Gesink, you might even sacrifice Freire, he doesn't have trouble working for teammates, Freire did that in the past as well.
But a bit of a waste of energy it will be.

From what I've seen from Valverde this far it will be hard to beat him, seems to be in puertotastic form

I don't know about that, Gesink looks also in a fine form and I cannot see Valverde drop Gesink on the climbs. And in the upcoming TT Gesink can put some time on Piti.
 
Jan 11, 2010
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maikel said:
I don't know about that, Gesink looks also in a fine form and I cannot see Valverde drop Gesink on the climbs. And in the upcoming TT Gesink can put some time on Piti.
I'd rate them equally on the climbs, and in the TT. But we'll see.

Frank Schleck crashed BTW, according to the (updated) Saxo web site.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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theyoungest said:
I'd rate them equally on the climbs, and in the TT. But we'll see.

Frank Schleck crashed BTW, according to the (updated) Saxo web site.

Haha! Two days after DT was praising his bike handling.:eek:
A regular occurrence with our Frank.
maikel said:
I don't know about that, Gesink looks also in a fine form and I cannot see Valverde drop Gesink on the climbs. And in the upcoming TT Gesink can put some time on Piti.

I seriously doubt that.
 
Mar 27, 2010
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theyoungest said:
I'd rate them equally on the climbs, and in the TT. But we'll see.

Frank Schleck crashed BTW, according to the (updated) Saxo web site.

On the more steep parts of the climbs Gesink is better, he showed that in last years Vuelta, only Mosquera was able to sort of follow Gesink there.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Valverde is more explosive normally, so I don't know about the climbs, it depends how steep they are.
Remember La Pandera, on the steep parts Gesink was pulling away, but on the flatter parts Valverde just sprints on the big gear and returned (and put 2 seconds) on Gesink.
So we'll see. I hope Rodriguez and Gesink will pull away together. So they can work till the finish line

maikel said:
On the more steep parts of the climbs Gesink is better, he showed that in last years Vuelta, only Mosquera was able to sort of follow Gesink there.
Sort of? Mosquera dropped Gesink on La Pandera ;)
(And on the flatter part S.Sanchez jumped over Gesink as well)
 
Mar 27, 2010
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
Valverde is more explosive normally, so I don't know about the climbs, it depends how steep they are.
Remember La Pandera, on the steep parts Gesink was pulling away, but on the flatter parts Valverde just sprints on the big gear and returned (and put 2 seconds) on Gesink.
So we'll see. I hope Rodriguez and Gesink will pull away together. So they can work till the finish line


Sort of? Mosquera dropped Gesink on La Pandera ;)
(And on the flatter part S.Sanchez jumped over Gesink as well)

Only after the steepest part of the climb, on the steep parts he was holding on Gesinks wheel. But hey, Gesink is another year older, still only 23(!) and stronger so... :p Lets put it this way, I hope he demolishes Valverde and the rest of the pack tomorrow :D
 
Jan 11, 2010
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maikel said:
On the more steep parts of the climbs Gesink is better, he showed that in last years Vuelta, only Mosquera was able to sort of follow Gesink there.
Yes he is, problem is there aren't any steep parts in tomorrow's final climb. Maybe Friday's Alto de Aia could be good for the combined forces of Rodriguez and Gesink.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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No I'm pretty sure Mosquera attacked at one of the steeper ramps. Indeed after sitting in Gesinks wheel the whole time before, but he did attack on the steep parts, just watch youtube.

But ok, what Mosquera did is neither here nor there, it's between Valverde, Rodriguez and Gesink in my opinion.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Mellow Velo said:
Haha! Two days after DT was praising his bike handling.:eek:
A regular occurrence with our Frank.

I can understand that youre happy about being right and all, but when someone falls on their head and needs to get stitches shortly before their first child is born maybe sometimes it's better to be wrong.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Christian said:
I can understand that youre happy about being right and all, but when someone falls on their head and needs to get stitches shortly before their first child is born maybe sometimes it's better to be wrong.

If you don't want to fall, don't get on a bike.
 
Jan 11, 2010
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Christian said:
I can understand that youre happy about being right and all, but when someone falls on their head and needs to get stitches shortly before their first child is born maybe sometimes it's better to be wrong.
Mellow Velo, why do you hate babies? And their fathers?
 
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Christian said:
I can understand that youre happy about being right and all, but when someone falls on their head and needs to get stitches shortly before their first child is born maybe sometimes it's better to be wrong.

Yea Mello, freakin' baby hater. You're a baby hatin' cancer lover. In fact, it was you pointing out that someone praised Frank's handling skills that caused the crash! Baby hatin' cancer lovin' crash causer!
 
May 19, 2009
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hello everybody, tomorrow's stage is in Alto de Arrate, the mythical climb it used to be at Euskal Bizikleta, and now since Euskal Bizikleta and the Basque Country fussioned it's in the parcours as an unavoidable price to pay.

But, but, the stage of friday in Orio has two incredible climbs to Aia (the first one of friday also they pass at TT). Well, these climbs are super steep, around 25% at certain passages.

Aia is our Montelupone, I tried to climb last week with a 39 x 25 and I couldn't...

Both climbs are good for Purito Rodriguez and Gesink, not bad for Valv,

I know the TT parcours very well, since it's my area of training, and... it suits Valv and Sammy rather than Gesink and Purito, since there is also flat and technical downhill. BTW, Intxausti es the new Iban Mayo and he will be top 5 or top 3.
 
Jan 11, 2010
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This--I think--is the profile of the final climb, which is steeper than I remember from last year.
arrate.gif
 
May 19, 2009
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theyoungest said:
Yes he is, problem is there aren't any steep parts in tomorrow's final climb. Maybe Friday's Alto de Aia could be good for the combined forces of Rodriguez and Gesink.

Aia is very good for Purito and Gesink, the problem is the 7 km downhill, not too steep where a group can come, then there is a final 600 m climb as bonus track. Friday's stage is THE STAGE

BTW there is a double climb to Aia, the first is like 3'5 km, the first km like 12% with a section of 20%, the rest is like 6%

then 3 km downhill and the second Aia climb, which is 1'3 km 17% average + or -, sections of 25% TERRIFIC
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Aguirre said:
hello everybody, tomorrow's stage is in Alto de Arrate, the mythical climb it used to be at Euskal Bizikleta, and now since Euskal Bizikleta and the Basque Country fussioned it's in the parcours as an unavoidable price to pay.

But, but, the stage of friday in Orio has two incredible climbs to Aia (the first one of friday also they pass at TT). Well, these climbs are super steep, around 25% at certain passages.

Aia is our Montelupone, I tried to climb last week with a 39 x 25 and I couldn't...

Both climbs are good for Purito Rodriguez and Gesink, not bad for Valv,

I know the TT parcours very well, since it's my area of training, and... it suits Valv and Sammy rather than Gesink and Purito, since there is also flat and technical downhill. BTW, Intxausti es the new Iban Mayo and he will be top 5 or top 3.

Gesink did the same TT 2 years ago and finished 5th. Should suit him well ;)
 
Mar 13, 2009
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theyoungest said:
Valverde and Sanchez didn't, so it's hard to compare, isn't it.
But Rodriguez did, and he was well beaten. Plus 2 years ago Gesink had minimalistic to no TT training done. After his junior TT championship he kinda 'left' TTing for what it was until 2008. So, now being 2 years stronger... and then already 5th behind Contador, Evans, Dekker and Cunego, who knows.
 
Feb 20, 2010
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But Purito has always been a shocking time triallist. His performances in Paris-Nice and Catalunya were the nearest things to on-the-pace he's ever been.
 
Dec 30, 2009
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You've got to like Andy S's 'balls to the walls ' quote from his Tweet about how hard Thursday's stage is.