2014 4th Tour of Beijing, October 10 to 14 (WT)

[Dazed and Confused]

Great jersey defense by Gilbert.
Nice little setup by Garmin.
Congrats to Martin.

 

[gooner]

Gilbert dug in well. A pity Costa couldn't hold him off.

Martin doesn't want the season to end the way he's performing.

 

[Wallenquist]

Isn't it pretty amazing that Chaves managed to stay on Martin's wheel when he made one of his sick attacks? Especially if we consider that it was no more than 5% Noone even tried to follow him when Danny Boy made the same on LBL.

 

[Flamin]

Brutal attack from Martin in mid-October still. Gilbert will be confident as well going into the winter, ready to fly again in early spring.

 

[trevim]

Brutal attack from Martin in mid-October still. Gilbert will be confident as well going into the winter, ready to fly again in early spring.

Hopefully Gilbert targets Flanders instead of Liege next season, this new Oude Kwaremont course should suit him way better than the old one where he got 3rd.

 

[Pentacycle]

Hopefully Gilbert targets Flanders instead of Liege next season, this new Oude Kwaremont course should suit him way better than the old one where he got 3rd.

TBH I don't think Gilbert likes the Kwaremont that much, as it suits the rouleurs better than puncheurs. But I'd love to see him give it a try again, just like a couple of years ago when he was a factor in MSR too. Pre-2012 Gilbert is best Gilbert.

 

[trevim]

TBH I don't think Gilbert likes the Kwaremont that much, as it suits the rouleurs better than puncheurs. But I'd love to see him give it a try again, just like a couple of years ago when he was a factor in MSR too. Pre-2012 Gilbert is best Gilbert.

Yeah maybe you're right regarding Kwaremont but the course on a whole is harder now and that definitely plays into his hands I believe.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

oh yessss! great stage win for Martin! started the sprint first an noone got him!
yesterday Farrar, today Martin
and again great work by Hesjedal!

What great work did Hesjedal do?

 

[Bushman]

What great work did Hesjedal do?

Attacking with 6 k to go and riding alone until the last K.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Attacking with 6 k to go and riding alone until the last K.

This might have cost Martin the win (in GC) I think, if Hesjedal did some serious pulling instead of attacking Gilbert might not have been able to stay so close. But that is speaking after a race of course.

 

[Pentacycle]

Yeah maybe you're right regarding Kwaremont but the course on a whole is harder now and that definitely plays into his hands I believe.

That's true. And he also stated that he'll target Paris-Roubaix as well, so he might shift his focus in training somewhat to longer efforts.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Attacking with 6 k to go and riding alone until the last K.

Yeah, that's why I'm asking what great work he was doing?

 

[pastronef]

Yeah, that's why I'm asking what great work he was doing?

Hesjedal said at the summit. “I could do an effort and force the other guys to work and not just give them a free ride. From the looks of it, that really helped Dan. He could be relaxed and put the race on everyone else. He was able to finish off, so, happy with that

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Hesjedal said at the summit. “I could do an effort and force the other guys to work and not just give them a free ride. From the looks of it, that really helped Dan. He could be relaxed and put the race on everyone else. He was able to finish off, so, happy with that

If by "the other guys" he means Lopez and Weening, then I agree

 

[Jagartrott]

Attacking with 6 k to go and riding alone until the last K.

Luckily Lopez was pulling for, er, Lopez.

 

[pink_jersey]

TBH I don't think Gilbert likes the Kwaremont that much, as it suits the rouleurs better than puncheurs. But I'd love to see him give it a try again, just like a couple of years ago when he was a factor in MSR too. Pre-2012 Gilbert is best Gilbert.

I'm not so sure about Oude Kwaremont but I think Paterbarg is tailor made for him.

 

[Bushman]

Maybe it would have been a better tactic for Garmin to let Hesjedal ride on the front for Martin. But it was clearly the planned strategy to let Hesjedal attack from far out so that Martin could follow wheels and he did a magnificient job, Hesjedal, no matter if it was the right tactic or not.

 

[Flamin]

Hopefully Gilbert targets Flanders instead of Liege next season, this new Oude Kwaremont course should suit him way better than the old one where he got 3rd.

Gilbert prefers to win a 2nd Liège over Flanders, so I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[dduff442]

Maybe it would have been a better tactic for Garmin to let Hesjedal ride on the front for Martin. But it was clearly the planned strategy to let Hesjedal attack from far out so that Martin could follow wheels and he did a magnificient job, Hesjedal, no matter if it was the right tactic or not.

Garmin may have been more worried about Costa than Gilbert. I think Martin will feel that for the second year in a row he's needlessly left a GC win in China behind him because riding a more aggressive tempo would surely have seen off Gilbert (though perhaps it was really just a great performance from him) and Costa doesn't appear to be on his best form.

You're right that following wheels was important because the climb was really a succession of short ramps with flatter intervals in between.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

That was a fun last five or six km, and a great last km. Martin, Costa, Gilbert, Hesjedal, Sanchez is quite the cast to be at the sharp end of a small race.

Very nice ride Chaves. Not many can hold Martin's wheel when he goes nuts in the last km. I know it's the end of the season, but very encouraging for him to be splitting that trio on a finish like that.

 

[Not Riding Enough]

It is great the air quality has got better but pollution aside China shouldn't really have a WT race due to not allowing spectators. They wouldn't allow anyone with a bike on to the final climb of the course yesterday over 2.5hrs before the race got there. In fact they wouldn't even let you walk to a decent spot to watch.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Official web channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPY90uRBctM

Recap now, will go live shortly.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Hard to look past Farrar here. He's by far the fastest.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

So lets see at what point Sky takes over the front today....

 

[RedheadDane]

Danish Eurosport commentator just called Valgren and Craven two of the profiles in the peloton, Valgren because of his results, Craven because of his looks.
I'm inclined to agree about Craven. Valgren though, probably mostly from a Danish perspective.
On the other hand; they were sitting in the back talking... and all of a sudden Valgren was at the front. So maybe he's a profile due to his amazing ability to get to the front in next to no time.

Back to the race:

Wouldn't it be something if the breakaway stayed away?