2012 Tour of California May 16 stage 4: Sonora - Clovis 209.6 km

[cineteq]

Refined and shortened definition of Cycling:
"Cycling is a sport in which Peter Sagan wins."

Is this your signature?

 

[plooton]

Is this your signature?

Absolutely.

 

[offbyone]

I wouldn't count the TT out just yet for him

In 2010, he placed top 20, 1:47 back. That time trial was several km longer. If he is better in the TT there is a good chance he is < 30 seconds off the contender's pace with his current buffer. He might win big bear stage and the last stage which, with time bonuses, would put him 10 seconds behind, but he will lose time on baldy. I could see him on the podium though.

 

[gustienordic]

Haussler is clearly the Ullrich of California.

I love this post.

 

[Kopuliak]

lol@Oss looking from behind at Sagan final meters .... fantastic job by him today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p9KFOrGZIbY

 

[Bala Verde]

Wow. It's over? Just woke up. I think I missed a mile or 40....

Heino's allerbeste, seine grosste erfolgen. 4x2 in Cali. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzagawn. Again. Good on him. So far he's the only one who has shown any interest in this race. So now we know, he's really got that climb a bit and then sprint in the end thing down. Also doesn't help when 3 stages have and identical profile and the rest is vacationing.

Some say that racing is the best form of training. I'd say sitting on the couch is almost as good.

Remarkable stretches of black targrout. Loved the yellow contrast, very livestrongey.

Tomorrow the race against the clock? Anyone want to see who falls asleep first?

 

[deValtos]

Got to admit, I'm pretty interested to see how Sagan will win the time trial tomorrow !

 

[Don Johnson]

So what are the odds of Sagan coming out of tomorrow's stage still in yellow?

Sagan 0. zero. 0. yellow Zabrinskie yellow

 

[royalpig180]

Got to admit, I'm pretty interested to see how Sagan will win the time trial tomorrow !

I think i'd have a panic attack if that happened
That said, I wouldn't be shocked if he's only 20-30 seconds out of yellow after tomorrow and then reclaims it from the likes of Zabriskie at Big Bear on Friday.

 

[Christian Schneider]

Cycling fans should be outraged!

14,000 feet of climbing and the entire peloton finishes in a bunch!
This "race" is a sham. Every year it gets worse. Even Phil Ligget seems bored and he usually enjoys listening to himself mispronouce riders' names.

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

When Zabriskie attacks Phill keeps saying Ekimov is the only other rider in the world that could have pulled this off, wtf!!!

 

[karlboss]

I like stages which finish uphill, downhill, flat to the end. I think the organisers need to realize who is coming to their race and how is it being raced and I should think make that final climb easier and further from the line and bring the pure sprinters into it, and closer to the line and harder to bring the more pure climbers into it, or even longer and harder again and bring the GC riders into making time gaps possible.
So there's 3/4 stages, There seemed to be loads of wind on the exposed section of that ridge, make them ride through that for a day. 4/5 stages. TT, MTF, there we are up to 6/7 stages. Punch finish 7/8. City circuit race, oranisers love those it's an opportunity to bolster crowd numbers 8/9. done.

Has anyone done a california in the race design thread...maybe it's time.

Of course California has some beautiful mountains that folk could ride up and down all day, but I really don't think anything but the finishes will matter in the ToC, because the big teams don't care enough to really push. Lets hope they learn that lesson for next year.

This year the only thing holding my interest is Sagan, and wondering just how good he is, and waiting with anticipation for the result (not the watching of this TT) he rarely has motivation to push for a ITT of this length. He did well in the past, but his form this year is a step up. If he holds the leaders jersey after today...we get a chance to see if he can really climb.

 

[AntonioRossi]

I don't quite see where the number 14,000 ft of climbing came from. From several different guys on strava who uploaded their data, the highest it came was 9,800 ft. But chapeau to Sagan

 

[karlboss]

15740ft as listed on the Strava page of the ToC

 

[Don Johnson]

I like stages which finish uphill, downhill, flat to the end. I think the organisers need to realize who is coming to their race and how is it being raced and I should think make that final climb easier and further from the line and bring the pure sprinters into it, and closer to the line and harder to bring the more pure climbers into it, or even longer and harder again and bring the GC riders into making time gaps possible.
So there's 3/4 stages, There seemed to be loads of wind on the exposed section of that ridge, make them ride through that for a day. 4/5 stages. TT, MTF, there we are up to 6/7 stages. Punch finish 7/8. City circuit race, oranisers love those it's an opportunity to bolster crowd numbers 8/9. done.

Has anyone done a california in the race design thread...maybe it's time.

Of course California has some beautiful mountains that folk could ride up and down all day, but I really don't think anything but the finishes will matter in the ToC, because the big teams don't care enough to really push. Lets hope they learn that lesson for next year.

This year the only thing holding my interest is Sagan, and wondering just how good he is, and waiting with anticipation for the result (not the watching of this TT) he rarely has motivation to push for a ITT of this length. He did well in the past, but his form this year is a step up. If he holds the leaders jersey after today...we get a chance to see if he can really climb.

I think the organizers tried to make a race which would give the lesser lights a chance to hang in there, I would compare this to and Olympic event.

They could have made a quick selection and narrow down the competition, like they did with the one two punch, the day before Sierra road, and the day after, Sierra, which really narrowed the race down to Levi and Chris.
Would the critics rather see that. Or the organizers could have had a sprint fest. I think that this race is a compromise, and light years ahead of Tour down under , Turkey, or The Vuelta.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Sagan and Oss are like Batman and Robin only Batman and Robin sucks in comparison.

 

[The Hitch]

I think the organizers tried to make a race which would give the lesser lights a chance to hang in there, I would compare this to and Olympic event.

They could have made a quick selection and narrow down the competition, like they did with the one two punch, the day before Sierra road, and the day after, Sierra, which really narrowed the race down to Levi and Chris.
Would the critics rather see that. Or the organizers could have had a sprint fest. I think that this race is a compromise, and light years ahead of Tour down under , Turkey, or The Vuelta.

I think I've got the answer. Bavarian rider.

 

[offbyone]

I think the organizers tried to make a race which would give the lesser lights a chance to hang in there, I would compare this to and Olympic event.

They could have made a quick selection and narrow down the competition, like they did with the one two punch, the day before Sierra road, and the day after, Sierra, which really narrowed the race down to Levi and Chris.
Would the critics rather see that. Or the organizers could have had a sprint fest. I think that this race is a compromise, and light years ahead of Tour down under , Turkey, or The Vuelta.

They based the race on money

 

[karlboss]

Don, it is a sprint fest, just reduced to 50-60 man bunch sprints...so the difference from TDU and Turkey is...honestly, the TT. As even Turkey and TDU had a stage that the same guy couldn't possibly win. You could even argue that the stage friere took was reduced bunch, but then stage 8 Cali, well we'll see if a pure sprinter can beat Sagan.

Having said the route is no worse than a bunch of more established one week races this year. Only without the history and prestige.

The coverage has been excellent.

 

[RedheadDane]

I was sorta falling asleep a little partly because not much happened, partly because it was almost 1 am where I am! Gotta say I woke up when DZ attacked!

And I kinda LoLed a little at the top2!

 

[argyllflyer]

Managed to stay awake til the last 5km!

 

[tomorrow]

Sagain

On our slovak forum, there's been introduced nice new nickname for sagan:

sAGAIN

 

[Mellow Velo]

I don't quite see where the number 14,000 ft of climbing came from. From several different guys on strava who uploaded their data, the highest it came was 9,800 ft. But chapeau to Sagan

It's because the count every little speed bump. Totally false.
It rolled along between 500 and 1000 metres, for most of the course, then dropped down to the finish.

At first Sagan and Haussler were a novelty.
Next time it was quirky.
Third time it got tedious.
Number four a total bore.

And to think a few jokers were calling the quality of the Giro sprint field, weak.

SAGAIN

I like.

 

[Flamin]

6th, nice one from Jasper Stuyven. His very first race with the big guys and he isn't even a sprinter at all.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Would the critics rather see that. Or the organizers could have had a sprint fest. I think that this race is a compromise, and light years ahead of Tour down under , Turkey, or The Vuelta.

Sorry my friend, have to disagree.
Seems "light years ahead" has replaced "the 4 GT" tag, but it's still inflating AToC way above it's status, in comparison to La Vuelta.

The closest comparison, I feel in terms how the way the race is moving/progressing, is Turkey.
Both are building towards WT status, both are well organized, both have recently introduced serious MTFs, both have very good media coverage, but both have a way to go, in terms of field quality and parcour finishes.

In this respect, Turkey does not have the huge hurdle to cross, (many home teams) and is therefore expected to achieve promotion to WT in the next couple of years.
As yet, I don't see a palatable solution to Cali's headache.