2013 Speculation (and confirmation) thread - rider schedules and parcours

[Gloin22]

Unzue hinted today Quintana will be a leader at Giro.

Don't take any schedule for granted yet.

 

[trevim]

i wonder if since both valverde and quintana are riding the tour, if it means costa will skip it to focus on the autumn classics. he hinted he would do that a few months ago

Yeah, the Tour doesn't make much sense if he has to ride as a complete domestique: there are better riders for that job at Movistar specially now with Szmyd and Capechi.

About Sanchez: it was about time! I just hope he doesn't come across with Contador in the first time since 2009 that he puts his nose out of the Tour.

About Quintana: he strikes me as the guy to excel at the Giro even more than Henao perhaps considering he's a more natural climber. Does he stand the cold?

About Andy: it makes sense. He still has the best win on the Ardennes of the last couple of years. Not many guys could have pulled that Liege out of the bag. I hope he mixes it up with Contador in Tirreno.

 

[Angliru]

Unzue hinted today Quintana will be a leader at Giro.

Don't take any schedule for granted yet.

That sounds good to me. Can't wait if it's true.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I doubt he would call out Andy directly or indirectly, at least not intentionally.

You are probably right.

 

[ILovecycling]

Yeah, the Tour doesn't make much sense if he has to ride as a complete domestique: there are better riders for that job at Movistar specially now with Szmyd and Capechi.

About Sanchez: it was about time! I just hope he doesn't come across with Contador in the first time since 2009 that he puts his nose out of the Tour.

About Quintana: he strikes me as the guy to excel at the Giro even more than Henao perhaps considering he's a more natural climber. Does he stand the cold?

About Andy: it makes sense. He still has the best win on the Ardennes of the last couple of years. Not many guys could have pulled that Liege out of the bag. I hope he mixes it up with Contador in Tirreno.

Lombardia
.....

 

[trevim]

Lombardia
.....

Good point. 11th was a good result that day.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Unzue hinted today Quintana will be a leader at Giro.

Don't take any schedule for granted yet.

no. quintana said he wanted to do the giro. but unzue decides and he has decided

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Yeah, the Tour doesn't make much sense if he has to ride as a complete domestique: there are better riders for that job at Movistar specially now with Szmyd and Capechi.

About Sanchez: it was about time! I just hope he doesn't come across with Contador in the first time since 2009 that he puts his nose out of the Tour.

About Quintana: he strikes me as the guy to excel at the Giro even more than Henao perhaps considering he's a more natural climber. Does he stand the cold?

About Andy: it makes sense. He still has the best win on the Ardennes of the last couple of years. Not many guys could have pulled that Liege out of the bag. I hope he mixes it up with Contador in Tirreno.

quintana rides well in the cold, as proven in lombardia, the guy is from arcabuco, where tempereatures average 11 degrees the whole year. in fact the beginning of the vuelta this year he suffered from the heat, because he had come back from colombia, where it was so much colder.

henao though is an even better cold/rain rider

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Good point. 11th was a good result that day.

not just 11th. he was basically the best rider after purito. he was 2nd on the final climb, where only 4 guys were remaining.(4 after purito) purito, quintana, henao, uran and kessiakoff? I think

his 11th place is nothing good results wise. many came back and he finished last in the sprint. but how he raced in the rain and cold and he managed to follow in final downhil in heavy rain. amazing. he amazed me so much this year.

 

[El Pistolero]

Lol, he wasn't the best rider after Purito. Since when does only climbing matter in a race?

 

[Afrank]

Lol, he wasn't the best rider after Purito. Since when does only climbing matter in a race?

Since the race win was decided on the climbs.

 

[El Pistolero]

Since the race win was decided on the climbs.

Then why didn't he come second?

 

[Afrank]

Then why didn't he come second?

Because the other guys sprinted faster in the end. Climbing is a very important part of a race like Lombardia; and the fact that a 22 year old was able be right up there on the final climb with guys like Sanchez, Uran, Henao, Hesjedal, Contador, Kessiakoff, Pellizotti and others shows he has enormous potential to be a future contender in the classics.

 

[cineteq]

Because the other guys sprinted faster in the end. Climbing is a very important part of a race like Lombardia; and the fact that a 22 year old was able be right up there on the final climb with guys like Sanchez, Uran, Henao, Hesjedal, Contador, Kessiakoff, Pellizotti and others shows he has enormous potential to be a future contender in the classics.

Does 'others' include the winner? I guess you were just paying attention to Quintana.

 

[Afrank]

Does 'others' include the winner? I guess you were just paying attention to Quintana.

I didn't include Rodriguez because he beat Quintana (and everyone else) on the climb, and no one was hanging with him when he attacked on the final climb. I was talking more about the guys that Quintana either beat or matched on the climbs.

 

[The Hitch]

the fact that a 22 year old was able be right up there on the final climb with guys like Sanchez, Uran, Henao, Hesjedal, Contador, Kessiakoff, Pellizotti and others

Does 'others' include the winner? I guess you were just paying attention to Quintana.

rewatch the race and then ask yourself if on "on the final climb", the 22 year old was "right up there" with "the winner", or was he maybe actually slightly behind "the winner" who was a few hundred metres ahead.

Maybe then your attempted cheap shots wont end up bombing so hard.

 

[cineteq]

I didn't include Rodriguez because he beat Quintana (and everyone else) on the climb, and no one was hanging with him when he attacked on the final climb. I was talking more about the guys that Quintana either beat or matched on the climbs.

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying.

Maybe then your attempted cheap shots wont end up bombing so hard.

Does the Hitch always have to answer condescendingly with anger? Is this guy okay?

 

[El Pistolero]

Because the other guys sprinted faster in the end. Climbing is a very important part of a race like Lombardia; and the fact that a 22 year old was able be right up there on the final climb with guys like Sanchez, Uran, Henao, Hesjedal, Contador, Kessiakoff, Pellizotti and others shows he has enormous potential to be a future contender in the classics.

Yet the race is often decided on a descent. For better or worse(crashes).

So because a person is a better climber he's automatically better than someone who's slightly worse at climbing, but much better in descending?

That's a strange look on racing.

Also being up there with all the rest doesn't mean you were the second strongest man in the race.

 

[Afrank]

Yet the race is often decided on a descent. For better or worse(crashes).

Yet in this years race it was decided on the climb.

So because a person is a better climber he's automatically better than someone who's slightly worse at climbing, but much better in descending?

That's a strange look on racing.

Your putting words in my mouth, I never said this at all. All I did is point out that climbing especially mattered in this years race, the winner won by attacking on the climb, and that Quintana was very good on the climbs. Thus he was very strong in the race.

Also being up there with all the rest doesn't mean you were the second strongest man in the race.

Duh, but beating and matching some of the best climbers in cycling in terrible conditions in one of the biggest classics in cycling shows enormous potential and talent. This is what I've been saying from the start, do you deny it?

 

[theyoungest]

Duh, but beating and matching some of the best climbers in cycling in terrible conditions in one of the biggest classics in cycling shows enormous potential and talent. This is what I've been saying from the start, do you deny it?

I think the question is whether it shows real potential for the classics. This wasn't your regular classic of course, pretty much tailor made for a Colombian, certainly with the Muro di Sormano in it, and another wall at the end. El Calimero wants us to believe that Gilbert could have won it if he didn't crash, I'm inclined to think he couldn't have, precisely because this course is too hard for a "real" classics rider.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Lol, he wasn't the best rider after Purito. Since when does only climbing matter in a race?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Yet the race is often decided on a descent. For better or worse(crashes).

So because a person is a better climber he's automatically better than someone who's slightly worse at climbing, but much better in descending?

That's a strange look on racing.

Also being up there with all the rest doesn't mean you were the second strongest man in the race.

the rest were 4 riders behind purito, and he came in 2nd on that climb. also the big climb before he was first or one of the first. he was if not 2nd best than at leats 3rd or 4th best rider. way better than his 11th position if you just looked at results

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I think the question is whether it shows real potential for the classics. This wasn't your regular classic of course, pretty much tailor made for a Colombian, certainly with the Muro di Sormano in it, and another wall at the end. El Calimero wants us to believe that Gilbert could have won it if he didn't crash, I'm inclined to think he couldn't have, precisely because this course is too hard for a "real" classics rider.

El murro yes. but the final climb is nothing more than a lbl style climb. there it was where only 4 guys including samu, uran, henao were together with quintana and the rest was dropped. the first 3 of those at least known classical riders. purito was first and is also good in classics. I'm not going to say here that quintana is a future lbl winner, because that is doubtful. but he definitely has shown a lot more than pinot in the classics.

 

[Parrulo]

i have to agree with ryo's last 2 posts. quintana might not have been the second best but he was in the group of the second best riders. which is much more then anything pinot has ever shown on a classic.

and gilbert could have definitively contend for the win had he not crashed. after the muro there was still 50k of racing left with only 2 climbs and 1 of those suited gilbert to perfection, so saying he was out of contention for being dropped on the muro, where he didn't even lose that much time, is a bit of a stretch imo.

and quintana could very well win a lbl in the future, he will probably have to do it the same way schleck did in 09 or nibali tried this year but it is possible. hell if not for a super strong astana and iglinsky on what very likely will be the best performance of his career nibali would have done it and it would have been the second time in 4 years some1 won solo all the way from the Roche aux faucons.

 

[JRanton]

Froome

Algarve - Tirreno-Adriatico - Tour

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-i-never-rode-against-wiggins


Presumably Wiggins will try to defend his Paris-Nice title which might well be his only serious target pre-Giro.