2015 Tour Down Under, Jan 18-25 (2.uwt)

[Yingge]

And BMC lead every classification.

Dennis has the GC, Mountains and Young Rider.
Evans has the points.
BMC has the Teams.

 

[jens_attacks]

6very nice finale and action
Richie needs a faster ascent or longer,no punch for him
This will be between him and cadel
I hope domenico too

 

[Lupi33]

I liked that climb

nice selection in the end

worthy of a WT race

 

[Lupi33]

When does live coverage start?

Also, Lupi33 i edited out your image because it was messing up the page size.

geez its 2015, no widescreen!
what century is it

 

[Red Rick]

Porte accelerating looked even less impressive than Gesink. Evans had to start zigzagging to not collide with him

 

[Lupi33]

this guy Dennis was 2nd overall in last years Tour of California

that cant be much of a race

did someone call Porte arrogant? he seems like too much of a nerd to be arrogant

 

[theyoungest]

Porte accelerating looked even less impressive than Gesink. Evans had to start zigzagging to not collide with him

Huh? Gesink? Did I miss something?

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Huh? Gesink? Did I miss something?

Geschke looks a bit like Gesink - at least on the page.

 

[Dr. Juice]

I'm happy for Pozzovivo. Seems to have recovered well from his injury. He could fight for 3rd in the Giro behind Contador and Aru if he manages to outclimb Porte/Uran.
His TTing on the flat is better than Aru and surprisingly good for his weight.

 

[search]

I'm happy for Pozzovivo. Seems to have recovered well from his injury. He could fight for 3rd in the Giro behind Contador and Aru if he manages to outclimb Porte/Uran.
His TTing on the flat is better than Aru and surprisingly good for his weight.

yes, but his plate will be removed after the race, which might influence his preparation a bit. He still plans to return for Tirreno Adriatico though

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Great effort by Dennis, and good tactics by BMC. Looks as though Dumoulin would have won had Dennis not been there.

 

[Taxus4a]

I'm happy for Pozzovivo. Seems to have recovered well from his injury. He could fight for 3rd in the Giro behind Contador and Aru if he manages to outclimb Porte/Uran.
His TTing on the flat is better than Aru and surprisingly good for his weight.

No way Pozzo in that way, he need very step climbs an hot weather. Uran is much more consistent. Pozzo could climb more one day, especially in climbs as mortirolo or zoncolan, but not in the overall. Anyyway Pozzovivo is going to lose 4 minutes in the ITT with Rigo. He was the best in the climb in last year ITT, but he lost a lot in the flat section.

Aru is going to lose as well 2 minutes with Uran, difficult to recover that in the mountains... but I think he will work for Nibali.

 

[Taxus4a]

POssivivo looked good to me ....Can see him going with Porte on saturday and Cadel following ...still between these 3 IMO

Pozzovivo will be ok in Willunga, but today was better for him, with steper slopes that suits best his small body.

 

[Taxus4a]

Not sure if Dennis can hang on up Willunga which means Evans can sit back unlike last year when he was already leading. This probably works in Cadel's favour.

That s a good point, The question now for BMC is what to do with Dennis, He has showed he can win the race, and he is in the best situation for that, with 15 secons with Porte.

But, this is the last race for Evans, the best australian rider ever, and one of the best riders in the last 20 years of cycling, able to win the Tour and the Worlds with more than 33 years.

So, it would be great if Evans can win. The have a good, but as well, complicated situation.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm happy for Pozzovivo. Seems to have recovered well from his injury. He could fight for 3rd in the Giro behind Contador and Aru if he manages to outclimb Porte/Uran.
His TTing on the flat is better than Aru and surprisingly good for his weight.

He's had a few decent results in flat TTs, but in the last long Giro TT it was remarkable how much time he lost on the flat parts and the descents. Like he was standing still.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage 4:

I think this can be raced if we have twisty narrow roads in the final 30kms or so.

Impey FTW.

 

[May0maniac]

No way Pozzo in that way, he need very step climbs an hot weather. Uran is much more consistent. Pozzo could climb more one day, especially in climbs as mortirolo or zoncolan, but not in the overall. Anyyway Pozzovivo is going to lose 4 minutes in the ITT with Rigo. He was the best in the climb in last year ITT, but he lost a lot in the flat section.

Aru is going to lose as well 2 minutes with Uran, difficult to recover that in the mountains... but I think he will work for Nibali.

No way, if he has a bad day then 3 minutes but not 4. The only really hard mountain stages are the Mortirolo and the Finestre stage and those should be steep enough for him. Bad weather could be a problem for him, he's one of the few guys that would love to have the Giro in late August/September.
What are you talking about Aru and Nibali, Aru will ride the Giro as a leader and the Tour as a superdom for Nibali or as a stagehunter if something happens to Nibali.

 

[Jancouver]

Stage 3 finish was quite entertaining even for skeptic like myself. Nicely done by Rohan and Cadel.

However ...

Once again, too bad we dont have a better field and the best riders and uphill finishers are not here. When you have 5 Aussies in Top 7 overall GC you know this is not a proper WT race but Aussies Nationals 2.0

At least the wheelsucker Gerrans is not here as it seems that this race was custom tailored for him by the organizers.

So far, the San Luis race is more entertaining. Also last night the live stream connection from TDU didnt work for me and the last few minutes of the race was impossible to watch. (I'm sure it worked for everyone else ... blah blah)

 

[search]

No way, if he has a bad day then 3 minutes but not 4. The only really hard mountain stages are the Mortirolo and the Finestre stage and those should be steep enough for him. Bad weather could be a problem for him, he's one of the few guys that would love to have the Giro in late August/September.

it's not too unlikely he will focus on the Tour anyway. (Apart from the cobbled stage) it's better suited to his abilities, leaves more time to recover from his injury, and Ag2R still has Betancur who is supposed to lead the team at the Giro anyway.

Pozzovivo will probably still do the Giro, I wouldn't be too surprised to see him not going for GC though.

 

[Lupi33]

Stage 3 finish was quite entertaining even for skeptic like myself. Nicely done by Rohan and Cadel.

However ...

Once again, too bad we dont have a better field and the best riders and uphill finishers are not here. When you have 5 Aussies in Top 7 overall GC you know this is not a proper WT race but Aussies Nationals 2.0

At least the wheelsucker Gerrans is not here as it seems that this race was custom tailored for him by the organizers.

So far, the San Luis race is more entertaining. Also last night the live stream connection from TDU didnt work for me and the last few minutes of the race was impossible to watch. (I'm sure it worked for everyone else ... blah blah)

yeah... no

this stage finish was suggested by local cyclists ie not Gerrans as he's not considered a local coming from a rival state.

Turtur wanted to balance the race so that a rider like Greipel didnt win every stage as had happened in the past. Its half for sprinters, half for all rounders, but not too tough on climbs for January due to the stage of fitness riders are at.

I thought today's stage was a success and far better than Corkscrew which had a dangerous descent and was overall a disappointing climb from a racing perspective.

the guy who won the stage today was 2nd overall in last year's ToC but likely wont figure in the wash up at TDU
what does that say about ToC?

 

[Taxus4a]

No way, if he has a bad day then 3 minutes but not 4. The only really hard mountain stages are the Mortirolo and the Finestre stage and those should be steep enough for him. Bad weather could be a problem for him, he's one of the few guys that would love to have the Giro in late August/September.
What are you talking about Aru and Nibali, Aru will ride the Giro as a leader and the Tour as a superdom for Nibali or as a stagehunter if something happens to Nibali.

The ITT of the Giro has some small climbs, but it pretty flat, I am going to explain you better:

Plus than 40 Km flat

15 Km flat.

Well, see intermediate 1, Pozzo first, 15 seconds over Uran, second:

http://www.gazzetta.it/Giroditalia/2014/classifiche/it/t_12_class.shtml?lang=it#

Intermediate 2, Uran first, Pozzo 10th, at 1:07, so he loses with Urán 1.22 in the descent and 7 km flat.

Final: Pozzo 9 th at 2:09, so he losed 1:09 plus with Uran.

http://www.gazzetta.it/Giroditalia/2014/classifiche/it/t_12_class.shtml?lang=it#

if we consider he was like uran in the two final climbs, he losed 2:30 in the descent and flat, more or less we can asume 2 minutes in 15 km flat, imagine in 40 kms flat, I am optimistic if he lose just 4 minutes with Uran, it dependes de wind. i have to admit that in the flat of that ITT the face headwind, but 2 minutes in 15 Km is too much.

And reallity is than with lees ITT Pozzo has showed in the Giro overall weaker than Urán.

For me Uran if he is like in Giro ITT or Vuelta of last year, he will put one minute on Contador.

 

[Jancouver]

Looking at the last 3km the finish could not get any flatter than this. Any tricky corners in the last K?

Lobato to take it with bunch of Aussies in the Top 10 ...

 

[auscyclefan94]

Interesting comments from Evans at the beginning of today:

Q: Cadel, you mentioned yesterday when we were going to the presentation tent, you said to Rohan, "you finally listened to me". What were your words of wisdom to him? A: "Hang back and attack when I say and we'll take advantage of the situation." No, we had a plan going in to it yesterday to maximise our chances of winning. And if it wasn't me hopefully another of the BMC team and it's worked out perfectly. Rohan deserved it, he did a really strong move there and intercepted us at the right moment." Q: I was very excited at how he went past you guys so fast. It was you, Pozzovivo, Tom Doumolin was there. Class riders and he went bang, straight past you. Was that a surprise to you? A: "We know Rohan can do a short amount of high-powered, quick sequences back there on the track. Tactically it was a perfect opportunity for him because we know Richie those guys were following me and it opens up a really good opportunity for Rohan which we wanted to take advantage of it and he took full advantage of it and then some."

 

[TourOfTexas]

Stage 3 finish was quite entertaining even for skeptic like myself. Nicely done by Rohan and Cadel.

However ...

Once again, too bad we dont have a better field and the best riders and uphill finishers are not here. When you have 5 Aussies in Top 7 overall GC you know this is not a proper WT race but Aussies Nationals 2.0

The same thing is going on at San Luis. The locals are just in better shape. Plenty of WT puncheurs are in the startlist. I don't remember why Slagter isn't riding.

 

[Lupi33]

this stage is a coastal stage for a large stretch so depending on the weather you could see some echelon action