2012 Tour of Qatar (5th - 10th February), 2.HC

[Panda Claws]

Still a good sprint by Boonen. Did anyone see Hushovd ?

 

[Mellow Velo]

Cav tries, Cav wins.
Renshaw, Degenkolb round out the top 5

Still a good sprint by Boonen. Did anyone see Hushovd ?

AWOL

 

[will10]

1 Cav
2 Boonen
3 Kruopis
4 Renshaw
5 Degenkolb
6 Farrar
7 Selig
8 Boucher
9 Wagner
10 Kuchynski

 

[wirral]

Ok looks like Cav is up for it.

 

[woodie]

Messy sprint, was awesome, nice work by Cav to weave through and get it, too bad Renshaw lost his wheel, still did well to get 4th

 

[TheArt]

1 - Cavendish
2 - Boonen
3 - Kruopis
4 - Renshaw
5 - Degenkolb
6 - Farrar
7 - Selig
8 - Boucher
9 - Wagner
10 - Kuschynski

 

[diggercuz]

greenedge lurking in 3rd...

 

[Mellow Velo]

Cav @ 8 seconds on the GC...........

 

[will10]

Steegmans brings Boonen up from 15th position to the front at 600m to go with everyone flat out. Unbelievable

 

[Panda Claws]

Steegmans brings Boonen up from 15th position to the front at 600m to go with everyone flat out. Unbelievable

Could we finally have the old Steegmans back?

 

[will10]

Could we finally have the old Steegmans back?

Today reminded me of the days when he was McEwen's leadout man a few years back, and used to give Robbie a 30 yard headstart on the rest for the sprint, he was astonishing back then

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Lol rabo is so crappy at sprints..... Renshaw had to work so hard bashing and positioning his way through a mob of sprinters to even reach fourth position.

 

[El Pistolero]

Instead of all this crap of Renshaw being the best lead-out man, Steegmans impresses me much more.

Good win by Cavendish, he can still win the overall.

 

[TeoSheva]

Lol rabo is so crappy at sprints..... Renshaw had to work so hard bashing and positioning his way through a mob of sprinters to even reach fourth position.

Renshaw needs a clone of himself to have a good leadout

 

[will10]

Instead of all this crap of Renshaw being the best lead-out man, Steegmans impresses me much more.

Good win by Cavendish, he can still win the overall.

Renshaw is way more consistant but on his day Steegmans is incredible.

 

[Thomsena]

I keep forgetting this is on Eurosport. **** off. Did it yesterday as well.

 

[Froome19]

Today reminded me of the days when he was McEwen's leadout man a few years back, and used to give Robbie a 30 yard headstart on the rest for the sprint, he was astonishing back then

Question is whether he should be leading out Boonen or vice versa..
Omega could have a terrific year if all their sprinters start to fire disregarding the like of martin and Leipheimer etc
I'm unimpressed by Farrar he had the perfect lead out but was soundly beaten by Kruopis who along with boonen and cav were by far the best.
Renshaw was also unimpressive and Blythe was a let down after two day ago

 

[El Pistolero]

Renshaw is way more consistant but on his day Steegmans is incredible.

Steegmans had some problems with Katusha and Radioshack, so that's why we haven't seen him much last few years. Tbh, I think Renshaw profited a lot from the help of his other team-mates and especially Cavendish to be called best lead-out man. Usually the HTC train were with 5 man up front in the finale with Cavendish closing the line.

 

[will10]

I'm sure you'll see the parallels between today's and this one, Steegmans brings McEwen up from 15 positions back to catapult him to the win, really awesome work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MwjlRH9TjY&feature=player_detailpage#t=849s

 

[wirral]

Yes, Farrar absolutely didn't do the business today. I thought he was a slam dunk for at least 3rd place. He just seemed to lack acceleration.

Interesting that Cav seemed to distance himself from "the GC guys" in the interview. Surely he would be second favourite now behind Boonen. He only has 8 seconds to make up.

 

[dlwssonic]

amazing stage loved the cross winds! Cav got me cq points! Kinda dissapointed that Blythe got box in and in the end didnt have the power. He had a great position.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yes, Farrar absolutely didn't do the business today. I thought he was a slam dunk for at least 3rd place. He just seemed to lack acceleration.

Interesting that Cav seemed to distance himself from "the GC guys" in the interview. Surely he would be second favourite now behind Boonen. He only has 8 seconds to make up.

What are the bonus seconds like in this race? 10, 6, 4?

I hope more wind today and that Cavendish doesn't make the front echelon, otherwise Boonen could still lose the overall here.

 

[Kvinto]

So it appears Cavendish is fast even without a HTC train Steegmans & Boonen were great too, they both need this sort of performances to restore confidence.

 

[theyoungest]

Instead of all this crap of Renshaw being the best lead-out man, Steegmans impresses me much more.

Good win by Cavendish, he can still win the overall.

Steegmans has more power, Renshaw (usually) a better positioning sense (haven't seen any of that so far this year though)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

@El Pisti: Steegmans loses his effectiveness when we get to a full a nervous peloton and not on straight roads.

He's only good when he has space. Which is only in Qatar and the Champs Elysees lol. Most of the year Steegmans is useless as lead out.