2012 Tour of California May 20 stage 8: Los Angeles 68.5 km

[will10]

Well seems like it was hard enough for Dekker to be scared and stay away

Where was Tony this week?

 

[Mellow Velo]

Well, at least the race lived up to it's "light years ahead", tag.
Came to see what time it started and it's already finished.
68kms? Really? What a joke.

Last night was sublime, today we have returned to plain ridiculous.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Well, at least the race lived up to it's "light years ahead", tag.
Came to see what time it started and it's already finished.

Me too - but one Sagan sprint is enough like another not get too mad about it.

 

[mastersracer]

highlight of the day was the organizers awarding McEwen with the most courageous jersey so he could take a bow one last time. Looked like he had a hard time keeping it together on the podium.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Remarkable, 3 guys who shone in the Circuito Montanes in the past in the top 5. Gesink, Duarte and Van Garderen.

A shame Montanes went tits up. Great race for discovering GC-talent

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, although back then I thought Van Garderen was a great climber, and an okay time trialist. It turns out it's sort of the other way around.

 

[c&cfan]

i don't know about you guys but:

-i think cav is just awesome.. faster at 26 than cipo at his prime (however cipo had a long career, let's see what cav can and will do..)

but only a fool cannot realize that at 22, cav was at most as good as the "sprinter" sagan, and sagan is so much more than that... he is a huge talent.

so i see sagan as the number one contender for ToFrance sprints against cav. flat out acceleration and top speed is not there yet (to beat cav 5 out of 10 times) but you only need a "bump" and sagan is fresher and stronger than cav.

we are talking about a man with the engine to win all 5monuments, stage races, and god knows what more...

 

[El Pistolero]

Hmm Boonen should start worrying If he can't beat Sagan on a flat sprint course like this. i don't see how he can win the Olymoics.

It's the Tour of California, doubt Boonen gives a **** about this race. The only reason he's here is because of sponsors who forced him to go.

Boonen is almost 32 year old, he needs to be in good form to be able to win sprints. He convincingly beat Sagan in the one sprint that's more important than 5 stage wins here: Gent-Wevelgem. Also beat him in the E3 Harelbeke sprint, but Sagan got boxed in there(or something).

I'd have much rather seen Boonen in the Tour of Belgium, stupid Specialized! Oh well, they're sending your boy to the Tour of Belgium so normally, he should take his first win of the season there unless he disappoints again.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Surely Tom is not trying to win the olympics through a bunch sprint. Not because Sagan is faster in California - or in general - but because several riders are faster.

 

[El Pistolero]

After a hard and long race, not many people are faster than Tom Boonen.

 

[180mmCrank]

i don't know about you guys but:

-i think cav is just awesome.. faster at 26 than cipo at his prime (however cipo had a long career, let's see what cav can and will do..)

but only a fool cannot realize that at 22, cav was at most as good as the "sprinter" sagan, and sagan is so much more than that... he is a huge talent.

so i see sagan as the number one contender for ToFrance sprints against cav. flat out acceleration and top speed is not there yet (to beat cav 5 out of 10 times) but you only need a "bump" and sagan is fresher and stronger than cav.

we are talking about a man with the engine to win all 5monuments, stage races, and god knows what more...

I am sure Sagan is a huge talent but there is a big difference between the ToC and TdF...

 

[karlboss]

Not a bad race, delivered what was expected, some bunch sprints, a TT and a MTF.
If this race wishes to move forward, I think the field needs to be stronger, and the parcours improved.
2 MTFs (the harder one coming first) and a TT, and then some good attacking stages. I think Stages 1,2, 3 and maybe 6 have something to offer if there are already differences on GC, and folks care about GC (i think at least enough US riders do). Imagine stage 3 where duarte and some AG2R guy went. Redo the stage, only now TJVG and Dave Zabriskie are already 2 minutes behind on GC.
Out of interest who can be invited to this race? Colombia coldeportes made the race a little more interesting with Duarte on stage 3 and Atapuma on 7, is there scope to invite some other strong continental, procontinental teams from outside the Americas?

 

[El Pistolero]

i don't know about you guys but:

-i think cav is just awesome.. faster at 26 than cipo at his prime (however cipo had a long career, let's see what cav can and will do..)

but only a fool cannot realize that at 22, cav was at most as good as the "sprinter" sagan, and sagan is so much more than that... he is a huge talent.

so i see sagan as the number one contender for ToFrance sprints against cav. flat out acceleration and top speed is not there yet (to beat cav 5 out of 10 times) but you only need a "bump" and sagan is fresher and stronger than cav.

we are talking about a man with the engine to win all 5monuments, stage races, and god knows what more...

Actually, when Cavendish was 22 years old he could barely finish a race(even flat races). His team was thinking of firing him, but then he won the Scheldeprijs and that kicked off his career. Why else do you think Libertine Seguros calls the Scheldeprijs the worst race in the world.

Sagan definitely has the potential to be faster than Cavendish in the future, but I don't think it's for this year already. And I don't really think you can make comparisons between Cav and Cipo speed wise. I do know that Cav wouldn't have won as much if he had to face Cipo and Peta(not his girlfriend ) in their prime.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah, although back then I thought Van Garderen was a great climber, and an okay time trialist. It turns out it's sort of the other way around.

Weird. I always thought the other way around, was quite obvious also

 

[theyoungest]

Weird. I always thought the other way around, was quite obvious also

Well, then you thought right

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Actually, when Cavendish was 22 years old he could barely finish a race(even flat races). His team was thinking of firing him, but then he won the Scheldeprijs and that kicked off his career. Why else do you think Libertine Seguros calls the Scheldeprijs the worst race in the world.

Sagan definitely has the potential to be faster than Cavendish in the future, but I don't think it's for this year already. And I don't really think you can make comparisons between Cav and Cipo speed wise. I do know that Cav wouldn't have won as much if he had to face Cipo and Peta(not his girlfriend ) in their prime.

Actually comparing sprinters should be the thing to be most easily evaluated emprically. You'd only need enough data.... I'd just love to know if Cav really is great or if he's just the only very fast sprinter in the peloton that got positioning skill in himself.
Knowing how strong Peta used to be, and that he could still beat Cav sometimes over the last years keeps telling me that Cav is a very lucky ******* being aroung now.
But as I really dislike the guy, I'd rather have speed comparision than my feelings to judge about this one.

There must be some data somewhere?

 

[The Hitch]

It's the Tour of California, doubt Boonen gives a **** about this race. The only reason he's here is because of sponsors who forced him to go.

Says the guy who was ready to call cav's career over because he didn't make it to the final of some Belgian cobbles race.

Glad you finally realised that sprinters don't peak all year long and target certain races.

Too bad you had already called Goss's season a total failure beyond repair by then, oops

No surprise it took Boonen getting his *** handed to him for you to realize it of course, but the important thing is that you learnt.

 

[El Pistolero]

Says the guy who was ready to call cav's career over because he didn't make it to the final of some Belgian cobbles race.

Glad you finally realised that sprinters don't peak all year long and target certain races.

Too bad you had already called Goss's season a total failure beyond repair by then, oops

No surprise it took Boonen getting his *** handed to him for you to realize it of course, but the important thing is that you learnt.

Yes, and none of them target California. I was talking about Boonen's age though. If he was young he would have cleaned up this race à la Sagan. Now that he's older he needs to be in good shape to have his best speed.

And I'm afraid I never called Cav's career over because he couldn't make it to the final of a cobbled classic. Not when I was being serious at least. Nice try though, better luck next time.

Is Goss having a great season or something? Am I missing something here?

 

[saganftw]

sagan will never be as fast as cav...at least i hope so,i d be dissapointed if was pure sprinter like cav

its much more entertaining to have him as contender for hilly classics,medium mountain stages and flat stages

as far as tdf goes,you know cav will fck up one or two stages like he did in giro so i expect sagan to be right there Ferrari style taking advantage of his positioning and bike handling skills

 

[orangerider]

Sagan wont be as fast, but the more complete rider. Essentially he is the modern day Eric Zabel, but with even better prospects.

 

[ElChingon]

Had to save this one for the record:

Not only the rider but I doubt that's Miss Cali

 

[DominicDecoco]

Peter Zlatan is not the coolest guy in this picture, though. Give it a couple of seconds and you'll know why.

 

[The Hitch]

Any particular reason behind why you call Sagan that or is it more a "just felt like it" type thing?

 

[DominicDecoco]

 

[The Hitch]

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