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

[Don Johnson]

Great win by Georges, smackdown on Leakygas, idiotic chasing of Georges by Garmin and Leaky.
Leaky made Sagan look dumb, racing for second. Absolutely ridicu;ous chasing by Garmin and Leaky. Pharma, Greenedge, Rabo,Radioshack, big winners by having the other teams chase for them.

 

[TomasC]

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

You must be kidding I have my sound off but for those of you who don't, this must be why it was worth to see the broadcast

 

[Cancellator]

DZ: "It's just kinda ... balls to the wall."

 

[Don Johnson]

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

I am guessing you haven't been to California?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Sagan's armchair sprint cracks me up.

That was hilarious. He was waving at the cameras well before crossing the line.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

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?

he only had eye for the beautiful surroundings and tarmac, because that's what really matters. Oh and 50km itt's ofcourse

 

[TomasC]

Two Slovaks on the podium. Not bad.

 

[hfer07]

can you folks imagine if Sylvain Georges hadn't won the stage? that would have been a disaster!!! the AToC Organizers have to come up with a new layout for this stage, because is getting "boring" to watch some folks being hyped up on this so called "mountain stage" trying hard to breakaway, just to get caught near to the last Km to witness a massive sprint.....

 

[Christian]

lol it was worth staying up this late just to see Sylvain Georges on the podium seems like a funny guy

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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?

Ironically, because this stage was so un-selective, they have made this race only about a HC climb. There are lots of ways to make a stage selective. We're not saying it has to be an HC MTF, we're saying it has to provide some kind of opportunity for gaps to be created so that racing can occur.

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.

Except this would mean it would just be like 2010. Where several people tried to attack from the pack, but they COULDN'T because of the easy gradients and the un-selective nature meaning several teams had multiple domestiques to pull people back (Tony Martin in particular was spectacular that day). It was a bit more exciting than today's snoozer, but not much.

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.

The director is at fault for choosing a terrible script though.

This is not a perfect stage for a spectacular race. The landscape is good, but this has not been a spectacular race. However, this stage was a perfect stage for the 2012 Amgen Tour of California - looks like it could be quite good on paper, but toothless in practice. This one's on both the actors AND the director.

 

[Frosty]

Two Slovaks on the podium. Not bad.

Yeah, bit of a mistake on the Radioshack site's ticker which reckons they are team-mates and that Peter Velits is Czech

http://radioshacktourtracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

 

[Arnout]

I am guessing you haven't been to California?

I ain't, no. And if you read back I've said in this thread that I would like to visit it soon because the views are stunning

But to say a rider like Anquetil would've liked to be able to race here is a bit far fetched, isn't it?

 

[Frosty]

Looks like Phil and Paul could have been right about Georges English ability

 

[offbyone]

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.

It wouldn't matter if they chased back the leading rider, it just would have been a sprint then. Secondly, because there has only been one stage in this race that made a GC difference, there are still lots of contenders and so teams want to keep their climbers in contention rather than making risky moves on a stage where their climbers can't actually make a gap.

No, not all stages have to be big GC stages, but remember this is only a 1 week race not a 3 week race and it has only 2 stages that matter GC wise, and one is a TT. They could easily have made this a 2 day race and the results would be the same.

I can't tell if you are just a troll or really think this is a good race. But if it is the latter, you should really consider the many dissenting views.

 

[Cancellator]

Looks like Phil and Paul could have been right about Georges English ability

It was obvious he understood what the guy said though...

 

[Kazistuta]

Quote CN live ticker: "Okay folks. That was an impressive show" .....say what?

 

[TomasC]

Yeah, bit of a mistake on the Radioshack site's ticker which reckons they are team-mates and that Peter Velits is Czech

http://radioshacktourtracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

I guess they accidentally passed the ticker info through that scrambler they were constantly using to pixelate the video transmission.

 

[theyoungest]

I ain't, no. And if you read back I've said in this thread that I would like to visit it soon because the views are stunning

But to say a rider like Anquetil would've liked to be able to race here is a bit far fetched, isn't it?

Even Johan Cruyff played Major League Soccer, so who knows.

 

[Frosty]

It was obvious he understood what the guy said though...

Yeah, im partially joking. When i turned to the interview he was having a question translated but he didnt have to have some other ones. Its different understanding something written/spoken and actually forming sentences etc yourself, especially after an effort like that

 

[Cancellator]

Yeah, im partially joking. When i turned to the interview he was having a question translated but he didnt have to have some other ones. Its different understanding something written/spoken and actually forming sentences etc yourself, especially after an effort like that

Yep, my problem with P&P was that they were so sure that he can't understand something like the cheers from the fans. As if understanding English is some sort of superpower only held by Americans...

 

[Kazistuta]

Well, after having visited France three times I must admit that a lot of French people doesn't speak/understand English (or at least refuse to), so gotta grant P&P their concern

 

[whittashau]

So sick of Phil going on about how the "wall of a climb" that is Mt Baldy will produce massive time gaps tomorrow. Yeah, 2 minutes between first and 10th maybe...huge.

 

[Don Johnson]

I ain't, no. And if you read back I've said in this thread that I would like to visit it soon because the views are stunning

But to say a rider like Anquetil would've liked to be able to race here is a bit far fetched, isn't it?

Like Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Charles Wallace said 'California knows how to party.'

Lot of nice bikes here, not so many great riders.

But like Phil and Paul said, Los Angeles is only 40 miles from Big Bear Lake.

L.A. that place is BIG FUN, the kind Anquetil would have loved.

Being from California, I see the Amgen Tour of California as a celebration, and a reason to party.

Why not enjoy it for what it is? Jauque 'Sex, Lies, and Handlebar Tape, Anquetil, would have loved it.

I will bet you Coppi and Bartali would have too.

 

[Arnout]

Like Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Charles Wallace said 'California knows how to party.'

Lot of nice bikes here, not so many great riders.

But like Phil and Paul said, Los Angeles is only 40 miles from Big Bear Lake.

L.A. that place is BIG FUN, the kind Anquetil would have loved.

Being from California, I see the Amgen Tour of California as a celebration, and a reason to party.

Why not enjoy it for what it is? Jauque 'Sex, Lies, and Handlebar Tape, Anquetil, would have loved it.

I will bet you Coppi and Bartali would have too.

That's something different. He might've loved it here. But regret that he didn't get the chance? I doubt it.

Anyway, gonna leave it here, I don't feel like arguing over something trivial like this.

 

[greenedge]

Congrats to Georges- he did very well.

Velits looking good and Sagan will own in LA.