2012 Tour of Oman (14th - 19th of February), 2.HC

[ferryman]

I dont understand your point. Cav has the same mount of wins as Kittel and more than Sagan so far this season. He is competitive, just not as dominating as you will see him later this season.

Was in response to some earlier posts along the lines of wait until MSR etc. Quatar is the first race where he is being tested though and he hasn't been competitive as we know he can be so far. Anyway, wasn't a dig at Cavendish BTW, if anything was a dig at those who slate Schleck for keeping his focus on the Ardennes and the Tour. Maybe too cryptic

 

[Richeypen]

Was in response to some earlier posts along the lines of wait until MSR etc. Quatar is the first race where he is being tested though and he hasn't been competitive as we know he can be so far. Anyway, wasn't a dig at Cavendish BTW, if anything was a dig at those who slate Schleck for keeping his focus on the Ardennes and the Tour. Maybe too cryptic

Im never good with cryptic

 

[hatcher]

God, not this again... even Wiggins looks fat like that. It's called abdominal breathing, and very healthy for a sportsman. Also, it shows quite clearly in an unflattering white jersey.

Someone genuinely wrote in to British Eurosport today to say Wiggins was looking a bit overweight.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

It does seem that cav was blocked.

 

[will10]

Are we really writing Cav off in February again?

Depends who you mean by "we"

 

[wirral]

The way I see "Al Wadi Al Kabir" (final "climb" they are passing it 3 times) is not that hard as the finishing climb the other day.

http://www.letour.fr/2012/TOO/LIVE/us/400/etape_par_etape.html

Look at the last 3 km, it rises from 50m to 110m. I think some of the sprinters can participate in the final sprint.

Yes, I can think Farrar cannot be counted out on a stage like today's.

There are also a load of guys way off the GC who may be allowed to stay away for the stage win. It's a really hard stage to pick.

OK, here's my selection. Sagan repays His Nibs for the Vuelta ****-up and leads him out for the win and gifts him the bonus seconds.


Fat chance I'm right.

 

[roundabout]

It's a tricky stage to pick.

It's about 8km from the last climb to the finish. The last climb is about 2.5km long at about 6% average but much steeper near the top. There are only 2 corners of note in the whole circuit and both are 180 degrees (1 of them between the last climb and the finish line)

Likely a reduced group sprint with Sagan winning again.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

All this race indicates is who is the best on February 16th in Oman. It matters a little bit because everyone was trying to be the best, and some came short.

It does not however, carry the weight to make or break Cav's title as fastest sprinter, unless you really take that superlative very, very literally.

 

[Von Mises]

Stage 3 highlights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZymNMU5sjQ

Very close finish. Sagan and Greipel had very good position right on Kittel´s wheel, but were not able to overcome.
Cavendish had a pretty good position too, but Bouhanni drifted to the left a bit and closed the door infront of Cavnedish, after this heju st gave up.

 

[Kvinto]

It's a tricky stage to pick.

It's about 8km from the last climb to the finish. The last climb is about 2.5km long at about 6% average but much steeper near the top. There are only 2 corners of note in the whole circuit and both are 180 degrees (1 of them between the last climb and the finish line)

Likely a reduced group sprint with Sagan winning again.

True, but another trickiness is that despite it's 8km after the last climb and no corners these 8kms are not quite flat - downhill and false flat uphill which favours the group that may be formed on the climb. Sagan is very likely, but i don't see Greipel or Farrar there not talking about Cavendish at all.

 

[Ferminal]

Most of the sprinters will be gone before the final lap.

 

[Kvinto]

Most of the sprinters will be gone before the final lap.

yeah, i think so too

but Sagan is not quite a pure sprinter

 

[Ferminal]

yeah, i think so too

but Sagan is not quite a pure sprinter

Of course, I mean Cav, Kittel et al. Most of them should get dropped on the first climb of the day, and whilst they will get back on they will be playing catchup for the rest of the day. None of them really have good enough teams in the hills to hold it together towards the finish, remembering what happened to Greipel in the TDU.

 

[MartinGT]

I havent seen the highlights, but can someone tell me what happened to Cav?

 

[Kvinto]

a bit blocked by Bouhanni he stopped pedaling

 

[MartinGT]

a bit blocked by Bouhanni he stopped pedaling

Ah right.

Was it a typical Cav "if I aint winning, well thats it" type of stop?

 

[Kvinto]

Ah right.

Was it a typical Cav "if I aint winning, well thats it" type of stop?

I think if he really wanted to sprint that incident wouldn't have prevented him but as it ruined his chances for the win he really did as you suppose

 

[Boardslide]

Today's stage is underway, it's full on already 5 riders fropped in first 8k. Windy & hard

 

[Boardslide]

5 of the RTS team dropped, and a crash in peloton, 3 riders down but back racing. It's a hard and nervous day.

 

[Boardslide]

Now Guardini crashes, but back in the convoy

 

[Grzdylu]

any ticker?

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Guardini down, but back in the peloton.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

any ticker?

http://twitter.com/#!/antmccrossan

http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23tourofoman

 

[Boardslide]

RTS rejoin and 2 riders on the attack, Vandenbergh (OPQS) and Lodewijck (BMC).

 

[Boardslide]

With 16 km covered the is 3.50.

Do you still want me to post updates as sat at work with one eye on my phone and no work to do or do you all have access to the twitter updates?