2012 Tour of California May 18 stage 7: Ontario - Mt. Baldy 126 km

[TourOfSardinia]

Okay Rabobank's faith in Gesink pays off - slow train coming.
Chapeau.

All those undone jerseys at front on the mega californian stage - someone will be displeased -

 

[maxmartin]

GOSH Can't TOC has different podium girls at every stage? every time it is the same two people and we have so many hot girls in CA

 

[maxmartin]

Nibali suffering from an allergic reaction from Santa Rosa area

didn't watch the stage so i didn't watch as he got dropped.



i know, i just had some hope as he usually isn't the type of rider to save himself.

also machado 8th? oh well could have been worse but he did another massively disappointing time trial.

 

[jens_attacks]

this day saved the tour of cali of this year gotta say.one of the best days of racing of the season.horner trying a landis,atapuma dropping him.gesink and duarte coming back like motorbikes.awesome awesome

the final 8,1 km from the crossroad
2011 24:32 levi-horner
2012 25:03 gesink

happy for gesink but having the overall in the bag of course i'd have liked atapuma to take the stage win.
finally the colombians woke up.

 

[theyoungest]

happy for gesink but having the overall in the bag of course i'd have liked atapuma to take the stage win.
finally the colombians woke up.

Gesink didn't know how far back Zabriskie was. So maybe if he didn't get the stagewin he'd have nothing.

 

[Kwibus]

Just watched the stage and wow what a great stage!

First of hats off for Radioshack and Horner for trying it from far out.
This made the stage hard from the start.

Then I really enjoyed watching Atapuma, allthough I'm dutch and a fan of Gesink I still hoped Atapuma would win the stage after all the work he had done. He so deserved it, but unfortunately for him he got company from an extremely eager Gesink who was dying to get a good result and a win.

The final on Baldy was great, field exploded probably also because of the high pace the race was raced. Really happy to see Gesink win this. I highly doubted his climbing after his broken leg and his performances over the last year. (including his performances of 2011 in which his climbing wasn't as impressive as it used to be).

Great to see Coldeportes take 2nd and 3rd place, allthough a first place would ofcourse been better.

Kelderman and specially Dombrovski showed some great potential for their age.

Epic stage stage during a rather boring Tour of California.

Ofcourse I'm biased. My heart was pounding like mad when Gesink went

 

[jens_attacks]

Gesink didn't know how far back Zabriskie was. So maybe if he didn't get the stagewin he'd have nothing.

of course and i like better "no gifts".still it was impressive how strong atapuma was,gesink couldn't close a 10 meters gap for a long time.

maybe a chance for coldeportes to ride tour de suisse?are there any wildcards left there?

 

[Kwibus]

this day saved the tour of cali of this year gotta say.one of the best days of racing of the season.horner trying a landis,atapuma dropping him.gesink and duarte coming back like motorbikes.awesome awesome

the final 8,1 km from the crossroad
2011 24:32 levi-horner
2012 25:03 gesink

happy for gesink but having the overall in the bag of course i'd have liked atapuma to take the stage win.
finally the colombians woke up.

Thanks for the times.
I also had the idea Gesink didn't really sprint up Mt. Baldy, but I don't know how hard the race was last year. This year with the early attack of Horner the race was hard from the beginning with a lot of uphill racing before Mt. Baldy, but I have no idea how it was last year.

 

[Kwibus]

of course and i like better "no gifts".still it was impressive how strong atapuma was,gesink couldn't close a 10 meters gap for a long time.

maybe a chance for coldeportes to ride tour de suisse?are there any wildcards left there?

Let's hope so. Allthough so far it seems that only Atapuma and Duarte are capable of competing with the best.

 

[Winterfold]

Very impressive again by Gesink ( he really left it all on the road ) and a hugely entertaining stage.

I wonder if A Schleck has watched Gesink in this? He could learn a lot...

 

[Kwibus]

Well all Americans are super motivated for this race. So then it's even more good news that Gesink beat them all not looking at his best

I´m not that sure if Gesink wasn´t very good for this race. I actually think he is in great form atm since he desperately wanted to perform and get a good result.

So I´m curious how he will do in France.

 

[theyoungest]

Thanks for the times.
I also had the idea Gesink didn't really sprint up Mt. Baldy, but I don't know how hard the race was last year. This year with the early attack of Horner the race was hard from the beginning with a lot of uphill racing before Mt. Baldy, but I have no idea how it was last year.

I think Gesink attacked pretty hard and at the end he didn't go very fast anymore, the guys in the back seemed to claw back a little. He also said himself he was struggling there.

That's why I think it's funny British Eurosport guy Brian Smith says Gesink has taken a step up this year. Lol. He's only just starting to be a shadow of his former self.

 

[Kwibus]

Some on here really need to make their way over here and ride this stage. It is a beast, and the way it was ridden today was incredible. GREAT stage, deserving winner, fantastic racing.

I agree.
Mt. Baldy isn´t a typical Alp climb since it´s steeper and shorter. Imo it looks like an Italian climb. 8km @ 8.5% isn't a ****ty climb.
Actually it's better to finish on than an 20km @ 5.5% climb on which usually nothing happens.

 

[Kwibus]

The strange one for me was Matt Busche dropping out of the break, but finishing less than a minute behind Horner? He would have been perfect after the Jens pull and Horner obviously did too much work for the move to work.

Busche obviously could have given a lot more to the team effort or has he started team shopping already? Maybe he was ordered back with the thought than it would reduce the chase. If so, that was a false assumption.

Rabbo did benefit from the BMC/Garmin fist fight. Well played.

Rabo did put 2 guys at the front before the roads went up, so they did do their share. Just a bit smarter by not using their stronger riders

 

[Kwibus]

great to see gesink finally back to his good days, poor guy had a rough year and a half since his father's death

42 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:14:49
43 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

ouch. . . nibali clearly in no shape at all

Yeh I think he's not giving it all and focusing on the TdF. Performing really well here is imo not very good for a rider if he wants to perform in the TdF.

 

[Kwibus]

I think Gesink attacked pretty hard and at the end he didn't go very fast anymore, the guys in the back seemed to claw back a little. He also said himself he was struggling there.

That's why I think it's funny British Eurosport guy Brian Smith says Gesink has taken a step up this year. Lol. He's only just starting to be a shadow of his former self.

Indeed.
I think Gesink gave it all today and has good form, but I don't think he is back at his old level yet. I'm not sure if he's going to be back at the level at all. Let's hope he will. He's obviously still improving.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Just to repeat what has already been said: I really enjoyed that stage, even if my CQ team didn't.

Great to see Gesink finally manage to combine a top TT with a top ascent.
Valiant effort from Horner and Atapuma.
Amazed by Dombrovski, pleased by Keldemann.
Oh and despite the continued hype, TJVG continues to climb as he has in the past: very well, right until he blows up.
Dave Zee remains in his pigeon hole, too.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

of course and i like better "no gifts".still it was impressive how strong atapuma was,gesink couldn't close a 10 meters gap for a long time.

Yeah, if not for the breakaway Gesink would have gotten third. Atapuma and Horner were definitely stronger.

 

[theyoungest]

Lol, it's the world's biggest Gesink fan again.

 

[will10]

Let's hope so. Allthough so far it seems that only Atapuma and Duarte are capable of competing with the best.

Yes, they are carrying the rest of the team a bit. Great result today though against motivated Americans

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Lol, it's the world's biggest Gesink fan again.

Deep down, you know I'm right.

 

[SergeDeM]

It came up as Jhon during the race ( though i know it is John ).

Colombians don't know how to properly spell John because the h is silent in spanish. This means they don't know where it goes and if you go through a Colombian namelist you will probably find more Jhons than Johns.

 

[Duartista]

Yes, they are carrying the rest of the team a bit. Great result today though against motivated Americans

This was definitely their best race as a team so far. The other guys at least got into breaks, and Rodriguez was with Duarte until the beginning of the final climb.
Suarez remains the big disappointment.

As others have said, it was a great stage to watch. I was hoping to see Atapuma hang on, but at the same time it's impossible to begrudge Gesink the win after the tough 18 months he's been through. Duarte could maybe have done a bit better if he hadn't been sitting at the back of the group all the time. Uran does the same, it's a little frustrating.

Horner's comments towards Atapuma seem like sour grapes to me.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I´m not that sure if Gesink wasn´t very good for this race. I actually think he is in great form atm since he desperately wanted to perform and get a good result.

So I´m curious how he will do in France.

Well Gesink himself believes he is not really there yet, uphill. It's going well but he is not on his best level yet. Which is good news if he can improve further before the Tour.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Deep down, you know I'm right.

No, you are pitifull, you remind me of me when Nibali wins. Give it up man, you don't want to look like me when nibali wins