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

[SiAp1984]

Looks like Cav gets in shape. Looks great to see the rainbow jersey win. I am looking forward to his first duel with Greipel - I still believe that, on a good day, Greipel is as strong as Cav.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Perhaps if you define good day as a very good day for Andrei, and a poor one for Cav, but it's hope over experience if you mean when they're both on a good day.

 

[theyoungest]

Greipel is stronger than Cav. A lot of guys are. Just not faster

 

[BillytheKid]

Still a sprinters race. It does get the blood flowing. Stage 4 was more to my liking. Cav is on target. Highlights are a great thing, cause I'm low on time.

 

[Four Winds]

Looks like Cav gets in shape. Looks great to see the rainbow jersey win. I am looking forward to his first duel with Greipel - I still believe that, on a good day, Greipel is as strong as Cav.

On a good day for Greipel and a bad day for Cav Only really one head to head vitory for Andre when Cav lead him out at the tour

 

[Dancing On The Pedals]

Perhaps if you define good day as a very good day for Andrei, and a poor one for Cav, but it's hope over experience if you mean when they're both on a good day.

Greipel's problem is his positioning - quite often he comes from miles back and just misses out on the win, and he's not the best at finding and following the wheel. When he gets it right though, I believe he is capable of beating Cav, even when Cav is on form. Should be great to watch at the Tour.

 

[Kwibus]

Still a sprinters race. It does get the blood flowing. Stage 4 was more to my liking. Cav is on target. Highlights are a great thing, cause I'm low on time.

Stage 4 was fantastic, while this stage(5) was just another bunchsprint.

Cavendish is amazing. I can't see how any other sprint will really challenge him. Great position and extremely fast.

 

[Poursuivant]

Cav to win tomorrow too?

 

[jens_attacks]

The classic wildcards for Farnese in doubt do you think. He has got to be the main reason they were given them.

same what i was thinking.it was a huge risk for the organizers,basically pozzato was invited everywhere,i can't see oscar gatto having an engine for 250 km,it's a very weak team.
but i guess there isn't a better team than farnese left out for the classics

hope he can come back fast.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Cav needs to be very careful. If he keeps doing this, he may just convince Brailsford that he doesn't need any support and that he can pick 7 riders to help Brad at Le Tour.

 

[Michele]

same what i was thinking.it was a huge risk for the organizers,basically pozzato was invited everywhere,i can't see oscar gatto having an engine for 250 km,it's a very weak team.
but i guess there isn't a better team than farnese left out for the classics

hope he can come back fast.

He's already having a surgery this saturday and might get on the bike (on rollers) already next week.

 

[craig1985]

Stegmans at dinner:

via Robbie Hunter's twitter.

 

[bicycle_rack]

Stegmans at dinner:

via Robbie Hunter's twitter.

He must've lost a bet.

 

[greenedge]

Where was Steegmans? Not that it would have changed the outcome, but at least we would see Tommeke sprint against Cav.
Great win for Cav though.

Nice win by Cav again. Galimzynayov and Guardini have been non-existent here.
Nice sprint by Oss.

Boonen got boxed in.

 

[nevada]

Cav is going to be unbeatable this year with this early form and added motivation that comes with the jersey and olympics.

They need to get their tactics sorted. Trying to juggle a pretend gc ego and a genuine green jersey contender is going to divide this team.

 

[Kvinto]

Nice win by Cav again. Galimzynayov and Guardini have been non-existent here.
Nice sprint by Oss.

Boonen got boxed in.

To be fair Galimzynayov was boxed by Allan Davis (to the right side of road) and even stopped pedaling for a while (on the same part of road just before Galimzynayov Dani Oss managed to push his way through but the the path had closed before Denis)

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Nice win by Cav again. Galimzynayov and Guardini have been non-existent here.
Nice sprint by Oss.

Boonen got boxed in.

Galimzyanov had a flat on stage 1 (wasn't it?) though, but yeah he hasn't shown much.

Guardini has been equally dissapointing but with so many different teams getting involved in the sprint, it must be hard to position yourself well. It's not like he has had a lot of backup from his team. That said, I'm still a little dissapointed because he was pretty good at positioning himself last year.

 

[theyoungest]

Galimzyanov had a flat on stage 1 (wasn't it?) though, but yeah he hasn't shown much.

Guardini has been equally dissapointing but with so many different teams getting involved in the sprint, it must be hard to position yourself well. It's not like he has had a lot of backup from his team. That said, I'm still a little dissapointed because he was pretty good at positioning himself last year.

Zabel's sprint coaching is really working for Katusha so far

Just like Blijlevens for Rabo.

 

[Boardslide]

Todays finish - 4 lanes wide with a slight beng to the left and a headwind

 

[Boardslide]

Marangoni, ladagnous, mouris, lodewijk, gallopin, ojavee & tjallingi on the attack @ 2mins 8

 

[wirral]

Marangoni, ladagnous, mouris, lodewijk, gallopin, ojavee & tjallingi on the attack @ 2mins 8

A veritable mouthful for an English speaking commentator. Phil & Paul would be stuffed.

 

[Boardslide]

A veritable mouthful for an English speaking commentator. Phil & Paul would be stuffed.

It was bad enough trying to type it

 

[Christian]

Zabel's sprint coaching is really working for Katusha so far

Just like Blijlevens for Rabo.

Rüdiger Selig has had one top 10 and one top 5 even IINM in his first race as a "real" pro ... I'm excited to see what he can do this season, very glad he got picked up by a ProTeam

 

[theyoungest]

Marangoni, ladagnous, mouris, lodewijk, gallopin, ojavee & tjallingi on the attack @ 2mins 8

They rode 56 km in the first hour.

 

[Boardslide]

Sky on the front with 23km's to go gap @ 49'