2011 Criterium du Dauphine - Stage 1: Albertville - Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse 144 km

[Mellow Velo]

JVdB, who'da thunk it?
Gesink and Sanchez surprisingly poor.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I was going to say Purito looks good for overall.

But my minds natural reactions to considering Rodriguez for a win, is "Is there a tt".

How silly of me.

evans will win.
Or VdB, he looks pretty keen.

 

[goggalor]

You could tell that meant a lot VDB.

 

[Moondance]

Gesink in at least 1'30 down. It didn't looked like he cared, or had long given up.

Might be focusing on just Tour prep.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Gesink finishing, doesnt look like he went full out .

Didn't look overly good to me.

 

[Kwibus]

Awesome!

VDB2 can't win.. it was one of his big flaws. According to the Gesink voters(including myself) in the Gesink vs VDB2 thread.

Very nice win by VDB2 and this earned him some extra bonus points in my popularity ranking

 

[ak-zaaf]

What's wrong with Samu?

 

[The Hitch]

This Smith guy is a moron.

Samu comes accross the line and he says "I see a big name coming accross - Tony Martin".

 

[DenisMenchov]

VDB came here not going for the overall but for stage win IMO. Now the pressure is off him come July.

 

[Havetts]

Didn't look overly good to me.

Hardly breathing, running his overly light gear (my opinion ) with a pretty fresh look on his face.. Something tells me he doesnt want his heartbeat-rate go over a certain treshhold.

 

[Wanabanko]

Hopefuly he is not too soon in his best shape.

 

[Spine Concept]

Gesink should articulate what his ambitions are for the Dauphine... Do any of the Dutchies know? After today I don't know what to think anymore.

 

[Moondance]

Very impressive stuff from VDB2, it was a quality effort.

Breaking your duck at 28 is something noone forgets.

 

[goggalor]

Obviously Gesink doesn't get dropped voluntarily. But maybe he couldn't be bothered to limit his losses after the first 30 seconds.

 

[Kwibus]

Didn't look overly good to me.

I watched Gesink just keeping his own tempo. I didn't worry me he got dropped as I personally think he finally was able to keep his calm and do give too much and just focus on the TdF.
I do expect him to give more in atleast 1 stage.

Most of all I hope I'm right

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Gesink finishing, doesnt look like he went full out .

I wouldn't worry too much, he never looked too concerned on the bike today and did a bit of work for Boom. Never saw him out of the saddle.
Hopefully he learnt his lesson from last year, and decided to take this (I know it was suisse) as a warm up race Anyway the Mountain stages will show more.

congrats to VdB anyway, we wanted it.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Awesome!

VDB2 can't win.. it was one of his big flaws. According to the Gesink voters(including myself) in the Gesink vs VDB2 thread.

Very nice win by VDB2 and this earned him some extra bonus points in my popularity ranking

Seems like he heard of it.

 

[kanari]

EBH should get the white jersey right? Very impressive.

 

[Havetts]

Not like I dont want VDB2 to win, Im really glad he won.

 

[Anonymous]

basso has been bad

 

[auscyclefan94]

Surprised EBH was still up there. He'll win tommrow.

 

[Jamsque]

Great aggressive ride from VDB2.

New GC:

Vino
VDB +5
Evans +7
Wiggins +11
EBH +13

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yea ..

This must be a historical low. I think even as neo-pro he climbed better.

I just hope it has something to do with training or not riding 100% but ... it's hard to believe.

 

[Descender]

This Smith guy is a moron.

Samu comes accross the line and he says "I see a big name coming accross - Tony Martin".

It seems to me southern european riders don't exist to him.

 

[Moondance]

Gesink should articulate what his ambitions are for the Dauphine... Do any of the Dutchies know? After today I don't know what to think anymore.

He might explain this away as saying that he's only riding for prep. I don't whether I buy that. Gesink has never been the type to take things easy, he'll always try to do the max to win... And to come up so short is a little troubling.

The TT will reveal much.