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

[El Pistolero]

Great win for Demare, really impressive kick and FDJ got it spot on today.

As for Cav's tumble let's put it down as a racing incident but why should we when he can take the blame?

If he's going to blame others, why not? He has his reputation against him in this case. Remember when he made Haussler crash in the Tour de Suisse and spat on him afterwards?

 

[stefrees]

If he's going to blame others, why not? He has his reputation against him in this case. Remember when he made Haussler crash in the Tour de Suisse and spat on him afterwards?

Jeremy hunt has since admitted that no spitting incident took place.

Cav has harshly been accused of a few crashed, today kluge wasn't necessarily at fault but he caused theccrash

 

[richtea]

I did, and I see Cav trying to put his wheel where it didn't belong.

I agree, like you say he's just too much of artist, like a cycling version of Yves Tanguy, Miro, or Braque.

 

[Richeypen]

The Cav and Kluge incident wasnt the only one today. Graeme Brown has accused Robert Wagner of punching him in the ribs near the end of today`s stage.

http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/cyc...-finish-of-tour-of-qatar-20120211-1sxxp.html?

What incident?

 

[greenedge]

Great win by Demare ( he showed great flair ). Him and Hutarovich will love this year getting invites to all WT events and getting lots of wins ( or prestigious 2nd places ). They just need a good lead-out rider ( maybe they can ride for the other occasionally )

 

[hughmoore]

Who was Renshaw banging heads with trying to get a wheel towards the end?

I couldnt tell.


Hugh

 

[Damiano]

Who was Renshaw banging heads with trying to get a wheel towards the end?

I couldnt tell.


Hugh

I think it was Guardini. I think it was the last man in the Farnese Vini train.

 

[canyonball]

Happy for Boonen. Sometimes during last season it really looked like he lost faith in him and on his sprint. So although I don't expect him start beating cavendish and the likes from now on, I do believe this is an important confidence boost for his scheduled races. I quite enjoyed Qatar. Got a smell of spring on stage 4. And it's a-comin'

 

[Hawkwood]

Kluge came over towards Cav and it is true that Cav was blocked in but why then did Cav force it too much when Farrar was in front of him and there was no room to go through.

If Cav didnt force it there i guarantee there would of been no crash. Sometimes you have to recognise you have to hold your position coz there is no room to fight your way out of it.

He didn't `force it too much...' he was using Farrar as his lead-out man and moved when Farrar moved. Cav didn't know that Kluge was switching across half a lane into him, Cav leant into Kluge to hold position, but lost balance, over compensated and went down. If you watch Kluge after this he realises Cav's going down, goes right, then comes back across left almost switching Farrar in the process.

 

[greenedge]

Who was Renshaw banging heads with trying to get a wheel towards the end?

That and him hitting the front for maybe 50 Metres lost him the sprint.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cav already admitted it was his fault by the way. He though Farrar was about to start his sprint, but he(Farrar) held back and that's why Cav touched Farrar's wheel.

 

[ferryman]

Just noticed Sky are showing an hour of Stage 6 highlights at 4 CET.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Just noticed Sky are showing an hour of Stage 6 highlights at 4 CET.

Quietly enjoys the irony of someone from the country which prevents the rest of the UK being able to join CET, using CET.

 

[ferryman]

Quietly enjoys the irony of someone from the country which prevents the rest of the UK being able to join CET, using CET.

Not correct but equally quietly enjoying your perception that we have such sway over the hand that feeds. Quite remarkable given that we have more Panda's here now than Tory MP's

Anyway way off topic, CET reference was for the majority of non UK readers of this forum. Great win for the young Frenchman and very humble in his winning interview. A unique thing for winning sprinters

 

[Hawkwood]

Cav already admitted it was his fault by the way. He though Farrar was about to start his sprint, but he(Farrar) held back and that's why Cav touched Farrar's wheel.

If it's the interview I saw Cav actually said Farrar went right, and a massive German guy Kluge came in from the left,and he was sandwiched. He didn't say it was his fault, though he did say Farrar was an erractic rider to follow in a sprint.

 

[cineteq]

If it's the interview I saw Cav actually said Farrar went right, and a massive German guy Kluge came in from the left,and he was sandwiched. He didn't say it was his fault, though he did say Farrar was an erractic rider to follow in a sprint.

So after all, he didn't really say it was his fault...that's more like him

 

[zigmeister]

If it's the interview I saw Cav actually said Farrar went right, and a massive German guy Kluge came in from the left,and he was sandwiched. He didn't say it was his fault, though he did say Farrar was an erractic rider to follow in a sprint.

Typical Cav response. The fact is, Cav is the trailing rider. He should expect riders to move left/right and come over into what he thought was a gap. The gap of course, closed due to the fact he jumped just a second before Farrar, who was also going out to the right. Then the rider coming left also.

Rule one in cycling, don't overlap your front wheel over someone's rear wheel, or don't put yourself in a position that might lend this to occur.

Cav can only blame himself, unless he was right up next to his hip with his shoulder when Farrar came over, then not much would have happened, just a bump between the two.

Also, one could say that Cav ruined the sprint and possible stage victory for Farrrar by jumping up to the right of his rear wheel which he had to know Farrar was going to go towards the same gap to get around the rider he was trailing.

Oh well, whatever. That's racing.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Typical Cav response. The fact is, Cav is the trailing rider. He should expect riders to move left/right and come over into what he thought was a gap. The gap of course, closed due to the fact he jumped just a second before Farrar, who was also going out to the right. Then the rider coming left also.

Rule one in cycling, don't overlap your front wheel over someone's rear wheel, or don't put yourself in a position that might lend this to occur.

Cav can only blame himself, unless he was right up next to his hip with his shoulder when Farrar came over, then not much would have happened, just a bump between the two.

Also, one could say that Cav ruined the sprint and possible stage victory for Farrrar by jumping up to the right of his rear wheel which he had to know Farrar was going to go towards the same gap to get around the rider he was trailing.

Oh well, whatever. That's racing.

The one thing we can say with absolute certainty, after watching the rest of that race, is that Cav did not cost Tyler a stage win.

The 6th could have been 5th, in an ideal world, perhaps.

 

[El Pistolero]

I don't think any sane person would argue that. Farrar hasn't been very fast last year and this year. Greipel is the second fastest sprinter(though I expect him to be Cav's match at the smaller races) and behind them are a handful of sub-top sprinters.

 

[Kvinto]

Farrar says himself that he had done very little sprint training and will concentrate fully on sprints only after Paris-Roubaix
I think Goss isn't slower than Greipel

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Farrar says himself that he had done very little sprint training and will concentrate fully on sprints only after Paris-Roubaix
I think Goss isn't slower than Greipel

Other than getting talked up by Cav after some vuelta lead-outs, I'm never really sure what Goss has done to deserve his sprinting reputation.

In MSR he was the only sprinter present. At the worlds the 'hill' made it very much suit him as sprints go.

Where the reputation on a pure flat gallop comes from, other than Cav praising him, I'm not sure.

 

[theyoungest]

Other than getting talked up by Cav after some vuelta lead-outs, I'm never really sure what Goss has done to deserve his sprinting reputation.

In MSR he was the only sprinter present. At the worlds the 'hill' made it very much suit him as sprints go.

Where the reputation on a pure flat gallop comes from, other than Cav praising him, I'm not sure.

Maybe from winning flat bunch sprints?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Maybe from winning flat bunch sprints?

4 last year? (I'll give him a joke race like the cancer classic, but the bay crits can sod off)

In such tough sprinting fields as the TOC, Oman & the cancer classic (when he'd been racing all week and everyone else was on holiday).

There are lots of riders who win many more sprints, and look very impressive doing it. He just seems to be guy who has moved in to the Farrar Greipel class in people's minds, without the results to back it up. MSR is a decent excuse why, but if you remove his very impressive hills capability and just look at flat sprints, there isn't masses of evidence to put him of a par with Greipel et al.

 

[Kvinto]

Other than getting talked up by Cav after some vuelta lead-outs, I'm never really sure what Goss has done to deserve his sprinting reputation.

In MSR he was the only sprinter present. At the worlds the 'hill' made it very much suit him as sprints go.

Where the reputation on a pure flat gallop comes from, other than Cav praising him, I'm not sure.

To be fair apart from one Tour stage last year i haven't seen Greipel succeeding in big events either

 

[maltiv]

Maybe from winning flat bunch sprints?

Historically, there's little proof that Goss is a better sprinter than EBH for example, whom no one considers to be a top 3 sprinter. Both of them occasionally win a flat bunch sprint but mainly excel in reduced or uphill sprints. Goss is a little overhyped when it comes to flat sprints, but of course, he has other qualities.