2015 Tour de Suisse Stage 3 Quinto – Olivone 174.5 km

[LaFlorecita]

Wow Sagan!!!! And Majka did a brilliant job, great work

 

[Gigs_98]

pinot is now an official sprinter

 

[Irondan]

pinot is now an official sprinter

He had a nice turn of speed at the finish...

 

[johnymax]

Katusha screwed up yesterday so they decided to work for Sagan today. Disappointed nobody of the favourites attacked on the penultimate climb to make the race harder. Everybody is waiting for wednesday I guess.

 

[Carols]

Very animated finale! Sagan by no means my favorite, but great ride and nice set up by Majka. Albasini commits suicide twice, respect for trying!

 

[HiroAntagonist]

Majka being awesome, TDF is looking to be awesome

 

[Flamin]

No moves from the favourites unfortunately, but the last climb also looked quite a bit softer than 7%. Katusha again incredibly ***. And Sagan's victory was like 80% thanks to a strong Majka.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re: Re:

that's just numbers. today is definitely harder in my book. also with the gothard in the beginning

Called it first Exactly, it was at the beginning. Overall, the day might have been harder (maybe not though as it was a lot shorter), but it's the climbs in the second half that really matter. That was Sagan territory.

Majka was very solid today. Katusha should have been more interested in the sprint yesterday

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

Majka being awesome, TDF is looking to be awesome

Got me excited. He needs to lose less than 1:00 on ITT in the first day and then actually be a protected rider on the cobbles.
But the real litmus test will be on wednesday.

 

[Popchu]

Today was the 11th raceday in a row Sagan was in the top 10. Pretty amazing.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Majka being awesome, TDF is looking to be awesome

Got me excited. He needs to lose less than 1:00 on ITT in the first day and then actually be a protected rider on the cobbles.
But the real litmus test will be on wednesday.

I hope that tinkoff will be much stronger as in the giro because otherwise majka will have to work for contador

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Majka being awesome, TDF is looking to be awesome

Got me excited. He needs to lose less than 1:00 on ITT in the first day and then actually be a protected rider on the cobbles.
But the real litmus test will be on wednesday.

Majka surpassed my expectations today - I'm starting to realise I underestimated him. But Mankato is a strong TT-ist. He will be less than 30 secs down. Remember last year's giro? 4th in a 40km+ TT.

 

[damian13ster]

I remember it. And he did a really good flat section in that TT. I am not sure if that wasn't an outlier though.
We will see. I am really hopefull. I hope that Tinkoff is not stupid enough though to make him pull in the mountains. No need for that

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

No moves from the favourites unfortunately, but the last climb also looked quite a bit softer than 7%. Katusha again incredibly ***. And Sagan's victory was like 80% thanks to a strong Majka.

so it would have been if any other in that group had won the sprint. It doesn't take anything away from his win. Amazing performance by Majka and amazing to see Sagan push himself to hang on when it goes uphill.

 

[Netserk]

Majka being awesome, TDF is looking to be awesome

Got me excited. He needs to lose less than 1:00 on ITT in the first day and then actually be a protected rider on the cobbles.
But the real litmus test will be on wednesday.

He will get his GC opportunity in Spain. No need to waste energy and resources to have Majka close in GC in France.

 

[damian13ster]

Of course there is a need. This route is really good for him, he could top 5. There is no need for him to spend energy being on a front of the peleton unless to attack

 

[Miburo]

Who gives a *** about top 5?

2 years ago saxo got 4 and 5, someone gave a ***?

 

[Jagartrott]

What a stupid finish. The one entering the corners first would always win.

 

[damian13ster]

Having 2 dangerous riders is much better option than having just 1.....
Ffs, isn't that obvious?

 

[Billie]

Re:

Of course there is a need. This route is really good for him, he could top 5. There is no need for him to spend energy being on a front of the peleton unless to attack

Majka is way overrated. He finished behind Betancur, Niemic and Scarponi in Giro 2013 and Rolland and Pozzovivo in 2014. it's not because he won some mtfs from breaks in a weak climbing field that he's suddenly a candidate for top 5 overal in a top class field.

Majka won't be considered dangerous by sky or movistar

 

[Netserk]

Re:

Having 2 dangerous riders is much better option than having just 1.....
Ffs, isn't that obvious?

Not when the goal is to win with just one of them. There's no double if Majka wins (no way he could even if that was a goal)

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Having 2 dangerous riders is much better option than having just 1.....
Ffs, isn't that obvious?

Let me quote you "He could top 5"

Thus implying majka can make the top 5 in paris, which is completely irrelevant since it's not saxo's goal.

So why do you say ffs? Phrase yourself properly.

 

[damian13ster]

The goal should be to do the best in the race, not to feed egos.
Let Majka race, give him one domestique for first week and see where he is at. That's the smart thing to do. Vuelta is much less suited for his abilities.

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

No moves from the favourites unfortunately, but the last climb also looked quite a bit softer than 7%. Katusha again incredibly ***. And Sagan's victory was like 80% thanks to a strong Majka.

so it would have been if any other in that group had won the sprint. It doesn't take anything away from his win. Amazing performance by Majka and amazing to see Sagan push himself to hang on when it goes uphill.

Of course, but without Majka, the likeliness of a late attack sticking to the finish instead of things coming down to a sprint would have been far greater. That's more meant as a compliment to Majka though than to downplay Sagan's performance or something

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

Having 2 dangerous riders is much better option than having just 1.....
Ffs, isn't that obvious?

Let me quote you "He could top 5"

Thus implying majka can make the top 5 in paris, which is completely irrelevant since it's not saxo's goal.

So why do you say ffs? Phrase yourself properly.

Because opponents know that he is dangerous so if he is close in GC and he attacks they will have to spend energy and follow him. Is that spelled out enough for you or you need more explanations?