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

[dlwssonic]

Phinney when fit is always a chance in a prolouge I think.
Bute yeah the rest of the team don't stand out as winners.

They may have trouble beating last years tally.

I dont think so. they already had very little wins last season. The quality of their palmares this year is better IMO. Maybe less wins but a better palmares.

 

[theyoungest]

There's no problem with only having one big winner in your team, but the problem is Evans doesn't win all that much usually... So BMC need a few good guys. As they're a Swiss team they should keep trying for Cancellara. As for Phille I hope he goes to Quickstep-Omega-Pharma.

Boy, that's a horrible name.

Not that much worse than Omega Pharma-Lotto, TBH.

 

[dlwssonic]

those are still no wins. there is a big difference btw coming second and actually winning. that little extra thing that makes the different. and other then evans it looks like no other bmc rider has it.

btw i dunno if it is just me but bmc's kit is horrendous. one of the worst around no doubt =/ i hope they improve that next year.

yeah I know thats why I so badly want BMC to get a win. Thats why they need phil. Its sad that they couldnt get much from phinney due to injuries. I kinda like their kit but i might be affected as I support them.

 

[goggalor]

Is Sagan riding the Tour?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

There's no problem with only having one big winner in your team, but the problem is Evans doesn't win all that much usually... So BMC need a few good guys. As they're a Swiss team they should keep trying for Cancellara. As for Phille I hope he goes to Quickstep-Omega-Pharma.

Boy, that's a horrible name.

thats true I guess. I mean cuddles does well for what kind of rider he is, but yeah one prolific winner can make a big difference.

 

[El Pistolero]

Not that much worse than Omega Pharma-Lotto, TBH.

QSOPL just doesn't sound natural

OPL sounds more natural to me.

 

[velosiped]

It's steeper than this finish and the hill is longer and since Hushovd only narrowly defeated Sagan(who went way too soon) it will be a different story in the Tour. Although Hushovd always wins a stage at the Tour, so why not...

Gilbert can afford to start sprinting from 600 meters out. Sagan can't.


QUOTE] pfff. Hushovd fully controlled this finish all the way - without any teammates. He never was afraid of Sagan.

A little bit steeper will only ensure his chances. Gilbert needs atleast a 8% ascent to explode away from him. Be sure that Garmin boys will keep the pace high up to the finish.[/
The big question is if Petacchi has something to say about it. No one else is strong enough.

 

[dabaideschbi]

Is Sagan riding the Tour?

no he isn't! he's gonna ride the vuelta maybe! do you know if he is gonna race in the slovak national championships????

 

[Ryaguas]

Went way to early and still almost won. What can I say?

He sometimes races like a tool.

Soler bashing and now Sagan bashing... without reason...
Seriously thinking in putting you in ignore... your lame attitude is quite annoying...
Hitch is right about you...

but anyway... Good ride Thor!!!

 

[El Pistolero]

LOL Eurosport showing FW for women now?

 

[dlwssonic]

cadel also hasnt entered many races at all. But the races he has entered he has all top 10s

Volta a catalunya 8th
TA 1st + stage
romandie 1st
dauphine 2nd

but yeah still not enough wins for the team as a whole. would like to see someone else step up and get wins.

 

[El Pistolero]

It's steeper than this finish and the hill is longer and since Hushovd only narrowly defeated Sagan(who went way too soon) it will be a different story in the Tour. Although Hushovd always wins a stage at the Tour, so why not...

Gilbert can afford to start sprinting from 600 meters out. Sagan can't.


QUOTE] pfff. Hushovd fully controlled this finish all the way - without any teammates. He never was afraid of Sagan.

A little bit steeper will only ensure his chances. Gilbert needs atleast a 8% ascent to explode away from him. Be sure that Garmin boys will keep the pace high up to the finish.[/
The big question is if Petacchi has something to say about it. No one else is strong enough.

Gilbert doesn't need 8% to fly away. Toledo finish is not nearly 8% and he owned Farrar there.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

LOL Eurosport showing FW for women now?

to be fair, vos domination is timeless

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

you guys are so harsh and critical of sagan.. he is a beast!!

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Gilbert doesn't need 8% to fly away. Toledo finish is not nearly 8% and he owned Farrar there.

to be fair, it might be a tad harder in the tour, a lot of of riders at peak here. Trains more organized.

 

[maltiv]

Great to see Hushovd finally get a win. Sagan was stronger obviously but that's sprinting.

 

[Parrulo]

yeah I know thats why I so badly want BMC to get a win. Thats why they need phil. Its sad that they couldnt get much from phinney due to injuries. I kinda like their kit but i might be affected as I support them.

the red and black combination is a good combination if its well put together. but that is hard to do. also when looking at a kit you have to think of how it looks on the road not how it looks on a presentation. saxo's kit didn't look that great but on the road it looks good. liqui's kit is also good on the road and so is lampre's even tho lampre may shock your view with its pink.

now if you compare teams that use red this year ( only RS and BMC iirc) last year's RS kit was also boring and dull just like bmc's kit this year. but they improved a lot and this season have one of the best looking kits on the road (imo)

pics:
RS 2010

RS 2011

BMC 2011

not the best pics but couldn't find better. anyway while the jersey may not be that bad looking, on the road its awfull

IMHO

Soler bashing and now Sagan bashing... without reason...
Seriously thinking in putting you in ignore... your lame attitude is quite annoying...
Hitch is right about you...

but anyway... Good ride Thor!!!

hey ryaguas where have you been?

 

[boomcie]

Soler bashing and now Sagan bashing... without reason...
Seriously thinking in putting you in ignore... your lame attitude is quite annoying...
Hitch is right about you...

Wait what? I'm not a Sagan basher at all. He's an incredible rider and does not annoy me the slightest bit. Still, it's hard to deny he races like a total idiot sometimes. Also, I'm not under the impression that I'm such a severe basher compared to some other users on this forum...

I believe you have done more boomcie-bashing in one post than I have done Sagan bashing in my entire life.

Amen to the Soler bashing though. Guilty as charged.

And about putting me on ignore, that would be quite the downer, but I guess I wouldn't even notice.

EDIT: what I said about Sagan this morning:

What remains to be said?

-Rojas will win, because he looks so good in the mountains and he's pretty fast and because he's tired of the jokes?
-Sagan will win, because he looked awesome yesterday and is also wicked fast?
...
For me personally?

Sagan if he's up for it. Otherwise Goss.
...

Yeah, I'm such a Sagan basher?

 

[roundabout]

Gilbert doesn't need 8% to fly away. Toledo finish is not nearly 8% and he owned Farrar there.

While the finishing straight was pretty flat there was a bit of climb before it where Gilbert launched his sprint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xwSleWeOqs&feature=player_detailpage#t=514s

I would say Farrar did very well to keep up uphill.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

painful to see how slow boonen has become. has no kick anymore. if sagan waited 50 metres longer he would've won. he's so powerful

 

[kanari]

Good for Thor to finally get a win in the rainbow-jersey, well deserved. Great effort by Sagan as well, him and Thor were in a league of their own today.

Must say I was a bit surprised not to see Goss feature in the final at all, could be he had an issue of some sort today, but I actually think at this point that Degenkolb is HTC's strongest rider on this type of finish, it's a shame we won't see him at the tour.

As for Team Sky, what the hell happened there?

 

[Ryaguas]

hey ryaguas where have you been?

Still recovering from the efforts in Il Giro
Alberto recovers faster than me tho... haha
Nah having a hard time over here... cant focus as always so I'm taking a little rest
But building form again

Yeah, I'm such a Sagan basher?

Calling him a tool without raison is not nice... The guy is still learning... I dont like Sagan either but I respect him... I'll stop the attack mode, Hitch is way better than me in that area...

and still looks like some ppl is crying cuz Thor "wheelsuck" the c0cky c0ck and He didnt win... bah... cry me a river...

 

[boomcie]

Calling him a tool without raison is not nice (1)... The guy is still learning... I dont like Sagan either but I respect him (2)... I'll stop the attack mode, Hitch (3) is way better than me in that area...

Wow Ryaguas, what did I ever do to you?

1. I didn't call him a tool. I said he races like a tool.

Went way to early and still almost won. What can I say?

He sometimes races like a tool.

I did call him an idiot, but I obviously meant he raced like an idiot.

2. I do respect Sagan. And unlike you, I don't dislike him.

3. What are you? Hitch's blood brother? It's not because him and me have a little personal vendetta going on that you need to hop on the wagon and start crapping all over me.

 

[hektoren]

Ah yes, Freire. Regularly spotted by Eurosport's dynamic duo.
Pretty impressive eyesight.

They spotted Gabriel Rasch (Garmin-Cervelo) pulling at the front 6 km's out, too! Not bad for a guy who DNF the 1st stage!


To the Thor-bashers: He just does what needs to be done. Today it was latching onto the wheel of Sagan and getting the necessary cm's at the finish. If you follow Thor closely in the last few km's you'll realize it took some maneuvering to get there. It looks effortless, but isn't.

 

[indurain666]

Nice Tour so far, couple of good wins. Good to see Hushovd dealing with the curse of rainbow jersey!

Off topic: Bad karma to the 92 a-holes riders who did not wait for Andy Schleck during the TT after he had another "mechanical" Someone should teach Andy how to shift gears properly