2012 Tour of California May 18 stage 6: Palmdale - Big Bear 186.3 km

[Maroon Heaven]

Get in there.

Brilliant day for AG2R. they deserve a drink after that

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Oh, man, he better stay away.

 

[burning]

Wow, much more closer than i have expected

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wow, much more closer than i have expected

it was not close at all, he had a 1300m lead at 5km to go and kept 600m. So they didn't even make up half of the 1.3km lead he had

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Magnificent! Spectacular win for Georges!!!!!

 

[Cancellator]

Sagan looked so bored as he "sprinted" for the 2nd. Were they even trying?

 

[Gloin22]

Sagan looked so bored as he "sprinted" for the 2nd. Were they even trying?

He won it so easily it doesnt matter

 

[classicomano]

Ok time to forget whatever the **** this was and get hyped for tomorrow.

 

[Frosty]

Velits was third getting him a four second bonus. Argos finished 4th and 5th.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I agree the front acke should have raced harder. But that's their fault.

It's not their fault they were racing on 40km of 2-3% with a 20km flat finish to neutralise any attacks.

The run-in to Big Bear makes any attacks other than long range ones with blind hope amount to nothing but a waste of energy. The climb saps energy without ever offering the opportunity for an attack. It is a dreadful place to race a bike, it makes Arcalis look like the Kapelmuur.

This has been, sad to say it, a dreadful race this year. There are some good races in the USA (Utah, for example), but this is none of them.

 

[Kazistuta]

Fear of spiders is called aracnaphobia, fear of tight spaces is called chlaustraphobia, fear of Peter Sagan is called Logic.........

Congratz to Georges!

 

[offbyone]

Magnificent! Spectacular win for Georges!!!!!

Rarely does the suffering from a near full stage breakaway pay off. Good for him.


Sagan's armchair sprint cracks me up.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

the most exciting thing that happened was me getting mentioned at Eurosport NL

 

[Cancellator]

What I don't understand is why waste energy chasing if you're not going to do it properly? If they started a bit earlier they would have caught him. Why not give the guy 2 minutes and rest your riders? He wouldn't compete in the GC tomorrow anyway after this sort of effort...

 

[hrotha]

the most exciting thing that happened was me getting mentioned at Eurosport NL

What did they say? I didn't ask before because I didn't want to interrupt the talk about this exciting stage.

 

[offbyone]

the most exciting thing that happened was me getting mentioned at Eurosport NL

lol. "One of the best races in the world". Well at least tomorrow will be worth watching.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Bavarian that Facepalm is for yourself. You fail to have a counter-argument on LS last post so just post a picture.

Just go away troll

This has been discussed a zillion times.
Should i explain him for the zillion+1 time that a race is not only about a HC climb?
Had the pack raced harder the french guy could not have stayed away lke that.He would have got caught somwehre. Hence from the pack we would have seen a lot more attaks, as people would have seen an actual chance o take the stage.The race would have been a ot better.If a break would have been sucessful is a different question.Maybe Saanwould have wonout of a group of 30 or so. May a few smallgaps would have opponed. We don't know, it would have een a lt more spectacular.
This is not a stage to win the GC: But it's a perfect stage for a spectacular race in a beautiful landscape. However, if riders decide early that theydo't really try to chase backthe leading man, well than it gets rather boring. But blame this on the riders. The stage was set, if the actors don't deliver, it's not the directors fault.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Zabriskie will crack tomorrow. I don't see him in the top 5 at the end. He looked tired at the finish.

Chapeau to Georges and Hinault for bringing some much-needed glory to Ag2R.

 

[mewmewmew13]

I am so glad Georges got the win!
What a ride for him.
I was hoping maybe old Jensie went up to the front to tell the peloton to race for 2nd.....

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

33 151 Fred RODRIGUEZ Team Exergy 00:00:29

even ****ing freddy rodriguez survived the stage.

 

[Arnout]

Lol the commentator says Anquetil will regret it that he never had the chance to ride to Tour of California

 

[TomasC]

What I don't understand is why waste energy chasing if you're not going to do it properly? If they started a bit earlier they would have caught him. Why not give the guy 2 minutes and rest your riders? He wouldn't compete in the GC tomorrow anyway after this sort of effort...

From some point they knew they were just chasing the Keldermann group, racing for 2nd (which still pays off the effort).

 

[cineteq]

However, if riders decide early that theydo't really try to chase backthe leading man, well than it gets rather boring. But blame this on the riders. The stage was set, if the actors don't deliver, it's not the directors fault.

You have to forgive Libertine, all she cares is about parcours.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Lol the commentator says Anquetil will regret it that he never had the chance to ride to Tour of California

unreal ....

 

[theyoungest]

For a day like this. Blame the riders, it's not the races fault.

You did see Kelderman and Weening going full gas, and simply unable to build a big enough gap on the crappy gradients to stay away on the 20 (!) flat kilometers?