2012 bold predictions

[Panda Claws]

Greg Van Avermaet will win Sanremo (and that's not even that bold)

Yes, it is. Gilbert, Ballan and Hushovd are all better in that classic than he is.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Here's a question - who will be Cav's enforcer next year? Until now, people make Cav upset by saying something stupid like "if he isn't on form maybe somebody could get close to him" or "look Cav, I've been talking about your greatness for the last 24 hours straight, can I talk about something else now?" (the saddest real one was when Farrar won a sprint in the 2010 Vuelta, and Cav had a hissy fit that Farrar didn't mention that Cav had had a bike problem when he did his interview, instead focusing on talking about things not concerning Cav, such as the great job his team did and how pleased he was to have won), and Cav gets Renshaw to bully them a bit and let them know in no uncertain terms who the boss is, get in their head and intimidate them a bit, as we know that part of the game is psychological. Who have Sky got who will fulfil that role?

 

[taiwan]

Eisel would be a first guess.

Possibly Cav won't be able to operate in quite the same way, and will be disadvantaged a little.

Links to Panda Claws' comment - if Renshaw ends up doing a job for Bos and the latter is better able to use his speed, then we could see a change in the rankings.

Sutton or Hayman?

 

[Gloin22]

Eisel would be a first guess.

Possibly Cav won't be able to operate in quite the same way, and will be disadvantaged a little.

Links to Panda Claws' comment - if Renshaw ends up doing a job for Bos and the latter is better able to use his speed, then we could see a hange in the rankings.

Sutton too, very smart rider too. Obviously Thomas will be there except Tour killing everyone with his awesome lead-outs

Although EBH is considered too, someone from Sky said, but it's not yet decided who will do Tour lead outs as last man.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Thomas and EBH seem a bit too nice to be the physical bully presence that Renshaw is.

 

[theyoungest]

Thomas and EBH seem a bit too nice to be the physical bully presence that Renshaw is.

Well, you do have a point... Cav's dominance seems partly psychological, since physically he isn't the strongest sprinter by far. Part of that is a kind of anger, tell him he's not the fastest and he'll definitely beat you. But part of that must also have to do with the confidence that he had the strongest leadout man, and he no longer has that. Look at by how small a margin he won the Worlds... his positioning was definitely off.

 

[Panda Claws]

- Gilbert will win all 3 Ardennes Classics again.

- Cancellara will win E3, RVV and PR

- Ballan will win 2 stages at the Giro.

 

[El Pistolero]

Didn't realize Ballan never entered the Giro before lol. Amazing.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Didn't realize Ballan never entered the Giro before lol. Amazing.

There was a whole bunch of hype about him starting it in 2010, but of course he was kept off the road by BMC at the time.

 

[sublimit]

Here's a question - who will be Cav's enforcer next year? Until now, people make Cav upset by saying something stupid like "if he isn't on form maybe somebody could get close to him" or "look Cav, I've been talking about your greatness for the last 24 hours straight, can I talk about something else now?" (the saddest real one was when Farrar won a sprint in the 2010 Vuelta, and Cav had a hissy fit that Farrar didn't mention that Cav had had a bike problem when he did his interview, instead focusing on talking about things not concerning Cav, such as the great job his team did and how pleased he was to have won), and Cav gets Renshaw to bully them a bit and let them know in no uncertain terms who the boss is, get in their head and intimidate them a bit, as we know that part of the game is psychological. Who have Sky got who will fulfil that role?

Renshaw is a loss but Cav has shown he can win without him on occasions but it makes it harder, Eissel calling the shots and Thomas with the usual long pull in the last 2 K. Maybe using Swift as final leadout guy.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm not really thinking about the leadout though. There are plenty of guys at Team Sky who can do a very good job in the leadout role, with Eisel as the train driver. I'm thinking about who can keep Cav protected, who can bully and intimidate those who try to get into his head, or those he perceives as slighting him, whether intended (Ventoso) or not (Farrar). Renshaw is a big unit who is not afraid to throw his weight around or get physical if need be. Cav's "threat" to Ventoso to ride around in the bus so he can see what Cav goes to is quite clearly not a challenge in its literal sense (Ventoso usually rides faster than Cav on the mountains, so it's not a threat to ride at less than 100%), so what is it if not asking Ventoso to come and let the HTC heavies have a few words to keep him quiet? Renshaw had that job before, and he was good at it. We saw that Renshaw would not baulk at headbutting riders or putting people in the barriers, so he didn't need to, because riders would not mess with him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Yes, it is. Gilbert, Ballan and Hushovd are all better in that classic than he is.

Greg Van Avermaet will win Sanremo (and that's not even that bold)

Well he nearly won San Remo with that brilliant attack on the Poggio this year! ****ing Cancellara stuffed things up!

I said GVA would win AGR all this year along with Ryaguas but that prediction didn't seem to eventuate therefore I will not predict him to do anything good next year.

 

[The Hitch]

Well he nearly won San Remo with that brilliant attack on the Poggio this year! ****ing Cancellara stuffed things up!

I said GVA would win AGR all this year along with Ryaguas but that prediction didn't seem to eventuate therefore I will not predict him to do anything good next year.

Sasquatch laughed it off totaly, bravely offering to take a Cadel avatar for life (or some such) if GVA even made the top 5.

Have to say, his street cred rose with that one.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Sasquatch laughed it off totaly, bravely offering to take a Cadel avatar for life (or some such) if GVA even made the top 5.

Have to say, his street cred rose with that one.

How did his street cred rise when GVA very nearly won the race let alone finish top 5?

 

[maltiv]

How did his street cred rise when GVA very nearly won the race let alone finish top 5?

Probably because said poster's prediction was spot on? Like if I said that Cancellara wouldn't win a monument in 2011 it would still be a correct prediction even if he "very nearly" (in this case, much more so than GVA) won 3 monuments.

 

[Panda Claws]

Well he nearly won San Remo with that brilliant attack on the Poggio this year! ****ing Cancellara stuffed things up!

I said GVA would win AGR all this year along with Ryaguas but that prediction didn't seem to eventuate therefore I will not predict him to do anything good next year.

I do not get it. Being caught in MSR at 3km is not nearly winning.
Also, his best results in AGR is 24th...

 

[The Hitch]

How did his street cred rise when GVA very nearly won the race let alone finish top 5?

I was talking about AGR.

I said GVA would win AGR all this year along with Ryaguas but that prediction didn't seem to eventuate therefore I will not predict him to do anything good next year.

Sasquatch laughed it off totaly, bravely offering to take a Cadel avatar for life (or some such) if GVA even made the top 5.

Have to say, his street cred rose with that one.

GVA did not nearly win AGR.

He did not top 5 MSR either for that matter.

 

[Panda Claws]

Come to think of it GVA was never top-5 in any race except the Clasica San Sebastian, Gran Piemonte and Paris-Tours.

 

[Ryaguas]

I said GVA would win AGR all this year along with Ryaguas but that prediction didn't seem to eventuate therefore I will not predict him to do anything good next year.

Well... will be almost impossible for GvA to win AGR the next year with Big Phil in the team =(
But... I'd say that Greg will podium if not win MSR and will have a great Vuelta España

 

[auscyclefan94]

I do not get it. Being caught in MSR at 3km is not nearly winning.
Also, his best results in AGR is 24th...

I disagree. Considering what a massive gap he had on the Poggio and that there wasn't a very organised chase right until the end of the Poggio he certainly did nearly win it.

 

[will10]

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Yes he had a big gap on the Poggio and there was no concerted chase until the very top of the climb, yet he still couldn't hold on...

 

[Panda Claws]

I disagree. Considering what a massive gap he had on the Poggio and that there wasn't a very organised chase right until the end of the Poggio he certainly did nearly win it.

I disagree again if say the riders would be going at 55km/h then it would still take 3 minutes and 16 seconds for them to finish.

So even if he were to enter the final 3km at such a pace and with a 10 second lead. All the pack would have to do is go at 60km/h to catch him in the final 1km. And we all know GVA was not going as fast anymore.

Now I know that this math does not say all that much but in MSR 2-3 km's is still an eternity. Just look at Pozzato's charge in MSR 2010, he was easily caught and still going a lot faster than GVA was.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Boonen will do another RvV - PR double

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Boonen will do another RvV - PR double

Uh, I would love that!

 

[El Pistolero]

I don't know what I want more:

A Milan-San Remo victory for Tom Boonen. We haven't won that classic in a long time and I don't even count Tchmil's victory.

or

A Paris-Roubaix victory for Boonen. Just to **** of Roger de Vlaeminck