2012 Speculation (and confirmation) thread - rider schedules and parcours

[The Hitch]

Thomas to miss the tour and ride the Giro then track for the Olympics

What an excellent choice. Looking forward to see what he can do at the Giro and hope he can get his home gold.

 

[Ferminal]

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=44587

Purito to do Giro and Vuelta.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=44587

Purito to do Giro and Vuelta.

Great news, thanks. I assumed he was only going to do the Vuelta and no Tour OR Giro. Glad I was wrong.

 

[theyoungest]

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=44587

Purito to do Giro and Vuelta.

Makes sense, if they're signing Menchov. The Tour parcours won't be to Purito's liking.

 

[Ferminal]

Makes sense, if they're signing Menchov. The Tour parcours won't be to Purito's liking.

Yeh that's what he says in the interview. I wouldn't have been surprised if he only did the Vuelta though. Hard to know if he will show up to the Giro in top shape.

 

[Parrulo]

great news

i love how purito doesn't get fooled by the tour love and rides the races that actually suit him unlike 2 bros we know

 

[roundabout]

He will have less competition for stages in the Giro and that's about it. As he is not good enough to even podium the Giro I doubt GC possibilities were a consideration.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

He will have less competition for stages in the Giro and that's about it. As he is not good enough to even podium the Giro I doubt GC possibilities were a consideration.

Who do you think is good enough to podium the Giro.... any spanish rider?

 

[Havetts]

Who do you think is good enough to podium the Giro.... any spanish rider?

Problem is, JRodriguez is a pretty inconsistent climber and a horrid time trialist so one bad day and the time trial can screw him over pretty badly.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Problem is, JRodriguez is a pretty inconsistent climber and a horrid time trialist so one bad day and the time trial can screw him over pretty badly.

yea, i know all that, i just want to ask roundabout who he thinks are good enough

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Problem is, JRodriguez is a pretty inconsistent climber and a horrid time trialist so one bad day and the time trial can screw him over pretty badly.

Ah, but he probably looks at it as "if I have a good day on one of the major climbing stages I can gain LOADS".

Or, more realistically, like when he was at Caisse, he'll ride with only a partial interest in the GC at the Giro but focused on it for the Vuelta (of course at Caisse he was super-domming for Valverde at the Vuelta, but he always cropped up at the upper end of the GC, whereas at the Giro he'd go stagehunting in the mountains). He'll probably split his aims like Igor Antón did in 2011, but hope not to flub his lines at the Vuelta again.

 

[maltiv]

Problem is, JRodriguez is a pretty inconsistent climber and a horrid time trialist so one bad day and the time trial can screw him over pretty badly.

Every time I look at the Giro results from this year I'm surprised to see JRod in 5th, because I can barely remember him being in the race at all. So he can't have been that inconsistent, not in the Giro at least. Not sure what went wrong in the Vuelta but pretty much everyone who did the GC in the Giro sucked more or less the entire year after that, an illustration on how ridiculously hard that race was.

 

[Parrulo]

Every time I look at the Giro results from this year I'm surprised to see JRod in 5th, because I can barely remember him being in the race at all. So he can't have been that inconsistent, not in the Giro at least. Not sure what went wrong in the Vuelta but pretty much everyone who did the GC in the Giro sucked more or less the entire year after that, an illustration on how ridiculously hard that race was.

purito had a very very good last week and managed his losses pretty well on other stages lets not forget that he was the one that made the attack that dropped nibali on finestre

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I wasn't talking about track, but the Olympics in general.
Home Olympics tends to bring more out of the athletes, plus the increased funding etc.

Not true. Teams tend to do best the olympics before the one they host (lots of excitement, lots of funding, less pressure), then drop back slightly under the weight of expectation at home.

 

[Ferminal]

Not true. Teams tend to do best the olympics before the one they host (lots of excitement, lots of funding, less pressure), then drop back slightly under the weight of expectation at home.

Well it hasn't been that way the last few cycles, at least with Australian and China, not sure about Greece.

 

[The Hitch]

Well it hasn't been that way the last few cycles, at least with Australian and China, not sure about Greece.

15th 6 6 4 in Athens vs 17th 4 6 3 in Sydney.

US, even though they dominated both, got more golds in home Atlanta than Barcelona.

Spain famously went from 1 gold in Seoul to 13 in Barcelona, and have never fallen back to their pre Barcelona performances (oft discussed in that other subforum).

Korea greatly outdone their 84 tally in 88, and of course both US and Russia went wild with the boycotts in their respective home olympics.

So it seems in the last 30 years no olympics fit this theory. Only Britain has come out with an exceptional performance before their home olympics.

Don't know where the idea came from.

Even in winter olympics, Canada doubled their Torino medal tally in Vancouver.

I think threes a fault in the logic too since the country only finds out 3 years before the olympics that they will hold the following one, so theres not really enough time for the funding effect to come through.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Not true. Teams tend to do best the olympics before the one they host (lots of excitement, lots of funding, less pressure), then drop back slightly under the weight of expectation at home.

Or really? Once again another example of your ignorance non-fact rubbish...

China
2008--(host)2008: 51-21-28
2004--32-17-14

Greece
2004--(host)6-6-4
2000--4-6-3

Australia
2000--(host)16-25-17
1996--9-9-23

USA
1996--(host)44-32-25
1992--37-34-37

Spain
1992--(host)13-7-2
1988--1-1-2

South Korea
1988--(host)12-10-11
1984--6-6-7

USA
1984--(host)83-61-30
1980--boycott (cold war)

Soviet Union
1980--(host)80-69-46
1976--49-41-35

etc etc, no need to further prove you wrong.

as you can see, contrary to your baseless assumption, hosting cities do fact in show improvement

 

[Christian]

Tour of South Africa cancelled (velonation)

Tropicale Amissa Bongo to take place mid-season next year from the 24th to the 29th of april. It appears to be a one-time only change though because of the African Football championships organized by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. It remains to be seen whether it can attract the high profile riders again with this change, but apparently 5 highly-ranked european teams have already manifested their interest in starting.

http://www.cyclismactu.net/news-2012-la-tropicale-amissa-bongo-decalee-a-fin-avril-20498.html

 

[gilbertador]

So Contador and Nibali are starting off i san luis, i think thats really cool that 2 grand tour winners will be riding in South America, will any of the good Columbian teams be there?

 

[Anonymous]

If he is just riding the team pursuit I don't think he will get a Gold medal.
Aus are stronger than GB without Wiggins.

I think the difference between the two teams is so small its impossible to tell, but GB will have the advantage of having ridden the velodrome in the run up.

Thomas is 10 times more important to the team pursuit than Wiggins.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So Contador and Nibali are starting off i san luis, i think thats really cool that 2 grand tour winners will be riding in South America, will any of the good Columbian teams be there?

If they aren't, then some of their riders will be on a national team.

I'd expect to see Start Cycling Team there too, a bunch of the best Argentine riders have been grouped together in a new team San Luís-Somos Todos, some useful Brazilian and Argentinian talent will be there for Funvic, and I'd expect to see somebody like Movistar Continental too. I'd also expect Jamis-Sutter Home since they've always had a bit of an Argentine presence on the team.

Actually scratch Movistar Continental. I'd expect the full Movistar to be there. I wonder if Coldeportes will go, and leave their Continental arm to race in Tachíra?

 

[Ferminal]

I think the difference between the two teams is so small its impossible to tell, but GB will have the advantage of having ridden the velodrome in the run up.

Thomas is 10 times more important to the team pursuit than Wiggins.

Anyone who does the Track World Cup will be able to share in that advantage (wasn't DB saying that they shouldn't have done so, to keep an advantage?).

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think the difference between the two teams is so small its impossible to tell, but GB will have the advantage of having ridden the velodrome in the run up.

Thomas is 10 times more important to the team pursuit than Wiggins.

Team Pursuit will be one of the most interesting events of the Games imo. Always great to watch and is a highly competitive event.

 

[The Hitch]

I think the difference between the two teams is so small its impossible to tell, but GB will have the advantage of having ridden the velodrome in the run up.

Thomas is 10 times more important to the team pursuit than Wiggins.

Isnt there going to be a World Cup event there in March, which got Bailsford to get upset that opponents are going to be able to get a feel of the velodrome?

 

[mariposa]

London Track World Cup 2012

In response to Hitch's question - event is from 17th to 19th February 2012. Tickets on sale from next week 17th November or 15th if you are a member of British Cycling. Would have liked to have gone as missed out on Olympic tickets but will be in Portugal - hopefully watching the Tour of the Algarve.