2011 Tour de Suisse, Stage 4: Grindelwald - Hutwill, 198.4 km

[hatcher]

Why on earth would Sky take Henderson instead of Swift?

Swift is really good at the hilly, reduced bunch sprints, but they already have EBH for those. Henderson is faster on a flat sprint.

 

[maltiv]

Swift is really good at the hilly, reduced bunch sprints, but they already have EBH for those. Henderson is faster on a flat sprint.

Henderson is also better in a TTT.

 

[Gloin22]

Why on earth would Sky take Henderson instead of Swift?

Swift was orginally planned to do only Vuelta as GC this year. But from the results he is getting Sky Mamangment said they have to reconsider. Though I still think Henderson will go for the Tour.

 

[boomcie]

Swift is really good at the hilly, reduced bunch sprints, but they already have EBH for those. Henderson is faster on a flat sprint.

Not the worst of arguments, still Henderson is a Kiwi, Swift is British.

Also Hagen has "already" won one race, stage 1 in the mighty Bayern Rundfahrt.

Swift has won 5 races already. 3 of them within World Tour territory, one of them in the ToC. That's some high quality victories right there.

Henderson won 2. One WT, one ToC. Will be blown away in the flat sprints by the likes of Cav and his buddies.

I'd definitely take Swifty.

 

[Jamsque]

Sky seem to think Henderson is faster than he actually is. I'm not sure he's quicker than Swift any more.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

I think Henderson will ride the tour this year. Swift will ride the Vuelta which will help his prep for the Worlds where I imagine he'll be a protected rider and/or lead out man for Cav.

Swift also has time on his side. Henderson will be great in the TTT, and can switche between sprinting himself and lead out for EBH.

Although I'd love to see Swift race the TDF I think Sky should pick Henderson.

 

[boomcie]

If he was really scheduled to ride the Vuelta it changes quite a bit. I reject all other arguments

 

[hatcher]

Not the worst of arguments, still Henderson is a Kiwi, Swift is British.

Also Hagen has "already" won one race, stage 1 in the mighty Bayern Rundfahrt.

Swift has won 5 races already. 3 of them within World Tour territory, one of them in the ToC. That's some high quality victories right there.

Henderson won 2. One WT, one ToC. Will be blown away in the flat sprints by the likes of Cav and his buddies.

I'd definitely take Swifty.

Swift will be blown away by Cav too. Henderson is, in my opinion, more likely to consistently get top 5s than Swift. Hopefully consistently being up there will lead to a win.

Henderson has really spent the entire the year working as leadout for other guys. Paris-Nice is the only race he has been main sprinter, and he won a bunch sprint. Tour de Suisse will be his second race as lead sprinter. I bet he does well.

 

[maltiv]

Not the worst of arguments, still Henderson is a Kiwi, Swift is British.

Also Hagen has "already" won one race, stage 1 in the mighty Bayern Rundfahrt.

Swift has won 5 races already. 3 of them within World Tour territory, one of them in the ToC. That's some high quality victories right there.

Henderson won 2. One WT, one ToC. Will be blown away in the flat sprints by the likes of Cav and his buddies.

I'd definitely take Swifty.

EBH has been injured almost the entire season though so that's a completely useless statistic you got there. He is normally about as quick as Swift, but his endurance is much better and in the extremely fast sprints in TDF I'm pretty sure EBH is the better alternative. None of them will win flat sprints though, but one of them can win the green jersey...

 

[boomcie]

EBH has been injured almost the entire season though so that's a completely useless statistic you got there. He is normally about as quick as Swift, but his endurance is much better and in the extremely fast sprints in TDF I'm pretty sure EBH is the better alternative. None of them will win flat sprints though, but one of them can win the green jersey...

I'm not.

But which *** person would leave home EBH? I wouldn't and did not suggest this either. All I was saying is that EBH's presence does not make Swift obsolete.

 

[theyoungest]

EBH has been injured almost the entire season though so that's a completely useless statistic you got there. He is normally about as quick as Swift, but his endurance is much better and in the extremely fast sprints in TDF I'm pretty sure EBH is the better alternative. None of them will win flat sprints though, but one of them can win the green jersey...

How many bunch sprints has EBH won since joining Sky? Three? Not much at least, if you consider how many times he's tried his luck in a sprint. He's always up there, and of course he's fast, but Swift seems to have a little extra kick.

 

[maltiv]

I'm not.

But which *** person would leave home EBH? I wouldn't and did not suggest this either. All I was saying is that EBH's presence does not make Swift obsolete.

Personally I'd bring all of them - Swift, Henderson and EBH. That won't happen though because Sky thinks Wiggins needs at least 7 mountain domestiques.

 

[El Pistolero]

I got sagan @4.25
And a long shot on franky schleck @200 (aware there is no chance, but weirder things have happened right?

Always expect the unexpected.

I think that's a quote from good old Juul Cezar.

Good bet right there. I'd take it as well if I was into betting.

 

[maltiv]

How many bunch sprints has EBH won since joining Sky? Three? Not much at least, if you consider how many times he's tried his luck in a sprint. He's always up there, and of course he's fast, but Swift seems to have a little extra kick.

I agree, but as I said, neither of them will win a flat sprint, but one of them can win the green jersey (I don't think he should focus on that unless he already has a stage though).

 

[just some guy]

How many bunch sprints has EBH won since joining Sky? Three? Not much at least, if you consider how many times he's tried his luck in a sprint. He's always up there, and of course he's fast, but Swift seems to have a little extra kick.

If HTC is taking Goss for the uphills and helping lead out Cav on the flats

why would Sky look at EBH for the uphills and a train of Thomas - EBH - Swift for the flats

and then if Ben wins a stage we can all go on about him being Swift and the like.

 

[Frosty]

Going O/T here but with regards to Sky in the tour then maybe they will be thinking of EBH for Green? Cant see him winning any bunch uphill or flat stage though.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I think Henderson will ride the tour this year. Swift will ride the Vuelta which will help his prep for the Worlds where I imagine he'll be a protected rider and/or lead out man for Cav.

Swift also has time on his side. Henderson will be great in the TTT, and can switche between sprinting himself and lead out for EBH.

Although I'd love to see Swift race the TDF I think Sky should pick Henderson.

On the money. Henderson is the balanced choice, given that there's probably not a lot to choose between them (and either will need Cav to have a bad day to win a sprint) and given that perhaps Sky's bext chance of a stage win is the TTT.

 

[just some guy]

On the money. Henderson is the balanced choice, given that there's probably not a lot to choose between them (and either will need Cav to have a bad day to win a sprint) and given that perhaps Sky's bext chance of a stage win is the TTT.

Ale-Jet riding right ?

Green Jersey 2010 can climb well for a sprinter and I don´t believe will have to work for their """"GC""""" leader.

He has to be odds on for the Green

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Ale-Jet riding right ?

Green Jersey 2010 can climb well for a sprinter and I don´t believe will have to work for their """"GC""""" leader.

He has to be odds on for the Green

Odds-on? Decent chance, but not odds on. He'll need to repeat last year's trick of winning any stages that Cav messes up and finish 2nd to him in others. He's quite capable of doing that (although I wasn't overly impressed with his top end speed in the Giro) but not odds on to do so.

 

[kanari]

Haven't seen anyone name Boonen, so I'll go for him FTW today. Also put a bit of money on Thor vs Rojas @ 2.00.

 

[just some guy]

Odds-on? Decent chance, but not odds on. He'll need to repeat last year's trick of winning any stages that Cav messes up and finish 2nd to him in others. He's quite capable of doing that (although I wasn't overly impressed with his top end speed in the Giro) but not odds on to do so.

Yes but points midstage count for much more this year and Cav loves to go for the win - where maybe Ale jet will collect points during the satge and still collect at the end.

 

[TeoSheva]

Yes but points midstage count for much more this year and Cav loves to go for the win - where maybe Ale jet will collect points during the satge and still collect at the end.

this year there will be a Gilbert-factor that there wasn't last year... he can get point in 75% of the stages!

 

[momomomo]

You seem to forget that Hushovd beat Sagan in a flat sprint in Cali when he was in crappy condition. When Swift won I guess... So Thor takes this if he wants it enough.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Yes but points midstage count for much more this year.

Didn't know that. What's the breakdown?

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Didn't know that. What's the breakdown?

Only one intermediate sprint per stage, but with 25 points for winning it and points for the 15 first riders over the line.

So basically, you could get a bunch sprint in the middle of a flat stage because there are only four-five riders in the break - or you could see more sprinters trying to get in the break.

Should be a good contest for the jersey!