2015, 69th Tour de Romandie: April 28 to May 3 (WT)

[TourOfSardinia]

We're live in BeIn French

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

I'm very reserved regarding the performance of the Giro riders.
Those preparing for the Tour should do better.

Why is it that the Giro riders don't a) ride Romandie, or b) ride it for a good overall performance as a lead up?

I can understand Contador not doing so as he is going for the exhausting Giro/TDF double, but I'm not sure why other riders with aims of a top five finish in Milan don't wish to race this event pretty hard; seems like the perfect lead up.

Why as a comparison, do the top TDF GC contenders always race either Dauphne or Swiss in reasonable form (Nibali wasn't great in Dauphne last year, but was still in or around the top ten from memory)?

Generally speaking, being competitive at the Romandie means one's close to his top shape.
For the Giro hunters that's not exactly the best position since they have to keep the top shape for five weeks (in total). Keeping it for three weeks is already demanding enough, as we know watching the GTs.
As far as the Tour hunters are concerned, imagine the shape building curve as a waving form where every next peak is higher than the previous one, and the dip is more shallow than the previous (ideally, you should be able to draw straight lines connecting the peaks and dips from the joint point of reference, but under the different angles, naturally. That's a theoretical model). So, at the end of April, they're hitting one of the last two peaks before the main target - they're at their sub-max (and riding only for a week), while the Giro riders should be just rising from the dip.
But, every rider is a story for itself. Their curves differ, the angles mentioned earlier, the joint point of reference, etc.. The model can rarely be applied without adjustments, and those who manage to approximate the ideal theoretical on their individuals are the most successful. Nowadays it's easier to tune the composition of the curve with the power measurement and all other physio data and advanced statistical tools enabling us to spot the hidden variables influencing the performance.
You can take a look at the results of different riders and I'm sure you'll spot the patterns and individual differences. Savoldelli is a nice example of the Romandie - Giro combo you've initially asked about.

 

[Guybrush]

what's the purpose of those traffic cones?

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

what's the purpose of those traffic cones?

Advertising for VLC?

EuropCar 22:26.00

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Lol...no way Froome wins stage 5 over a minute. Although I have him as a favourite for the race. My list of favourites:
***** Froome
**** Quintana, Špilak
*** Uran, Costa, Frank
** Nibali, Fuglsang, Pinot, Bardet, Majka, Thomas
* Peraud, Scarponi, S. Yates, Van den Broeck, Rolland, Zakarin

Swap Frank with Fuglsang and I'd agree 100%

 

[Asero831]

Peraud is good in TT..

 

[SeriousSam]

What is the argument that Quintana will be stronger than Nibali?

 

[SyroboiII]

Va Va Froome!

 

[Miburo]

Re:

What is the argument that Quintana will be stronger than Nibali?

In this race or in general?

I prefer the in general question, that's really hard to tell. I'd give nibali the edge. I think that if they'd face 1v1 in a GT Nibali will somehow outfox him.

Quintana still needs to prove that he has that mental strength in a GT. I think that's really important, some might disagree.

In this race i expect them both to be pretty bad compared to their normal level.

 

[BigMac]

Cannondale-Garmin have the current best time at the finish line, with Lampre 1 second behind. Trek third.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

Yeah, I thought so.

What I was getting at is wondering why in a general introduction to a race in the French speaking part of Switzerland, on a forum where the majority of posters are from mainland Europe, and several others from other countries around the world, by a poster who is himself from Portugal the only tv station mentioned was one from a relatively small cycling country that the majority of people in that country can't even afford anyway. (and that it turns out won't broadcast the race either).

I didn't have the time to dig where it would be broadcasted, I just assumed Sky Sports would, because they held the rights, and did in fact show the race, the last two years. I also assumed that, if Sky Sports were going to broadcast it, it wouldn't take much for someone to post a link to an online stream. It's not that I chose to mention Sky only, I didn't know other stations were showing it.

Cheers.

Don't worry, I wasn't getting on your ass about it, just don't have the highest opinion of Magnus these days and your intro was otherwise pretty thorough so I was worried literally no one else would broadcast it.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

What is the argument that Quintana will be stronger than Nibali?

In this race or in general?

I prefer the in general question, that's really hard to tell. I'd give nibali the edge. I think that if they'd face 1v1 in a GT Nibali will somehow outfox him.

Quintana still needs to prove that he has that mental strength in a GT. I think that's really important, some might disagree.

In this race i expect them both to be pretty bad compared to their normal level.

2nd Tour 2013, 1st Giro 2014 - not prove of mental strength?

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

What is the argument that Quintana will be stronger than Nibali?

Quintana still needs to prove that he has that mental strength in a GT. I think that's really important, some might disagree.

I thought his resolve under criticism last year following the stage from hell was pretty impressive.

 

[SafeBet]

Horrible time by Ag2r. And Peraud looked spent in the end.

 

[BigMac]

Ettix is on the road. These are the standings so far:



# Team Time Delay Avg (Km/H)
1 Team Cannondale - Garmin 21:59 21:59 52.403
2 Lampre - Merida 22:00 0:01 52.364
3 Trek Factory Racing 22:01 0:02 52.324
4 Team Giant - Alpecin 22:09 0:10 52.009
5 Team LottoNL-Jumbo 22:14 0:15 51.814
6 Tinkoff - Saxo 22:14 '' 51.814
7 Team Europcar 22:26 0:27 51.352
8 Lotto Soudal 22:31 0:32 51.162

edit: with the addition of Ag2r. They just came in 9th 42 seconds behind.

 

[SyroboiII]

Tinkoff-Saxo had a very slow TTT. I think if Contador and Sagan wasn't there, they would not have been a WT team.

 

[goggalor]

Greenedge now 1st by 39 seconds over Garmin

 

[BigMac]

Re:

Greenedge now 1st by 39 seconds over Garmin

Damn!

Good for Simon Yates.

 

[qwer]

Re:

Tinkoff-Saxo had a very slow TTT. I think if Contador and Sagan wasn't there, they would not have been a WT team.

leave this forum please. you just trolling

 

[qwer]

wait for etixx

 

[ILovecycling]

Oricaaa

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

What is the argument that Quintana will be stronger than Nibali?

In this race or in general?

I prefer the in general question, that's really hard to tell. I'd give nibali the edge. I think that if they'd face 1v1 in a GT Nibali will somehow outfox him.

Quintana still needs to prove that he has that mental strength in a GT. I think that's really important, some might disagree.

In this race i expect them both to be pretty bad compared to their normal level.

2nd Tour 2013, 1st Giro 2014 - not prove of mental strength?

Tour as a leader is an another level

@qwer
But he will have a beautiful AC avatar by sunday

 

[ILovecycling]

solid time by fdj.

 

[MatParker117]

That Orica time is not unbeatable.

 

[BigMac]

Katusha very nice time, 5 seconds behind Orica.

Ettix QS next to come home.