2015 Tour of California May 10-17 2015 (2.HC)

[jens_attacks]

alaphillipe will put bobby gesink and henao to their places tonight

 

[hrotha]

Everything about Sagan screams douche.

 

[DBotero]

Henao should destroy everybody tonight.Maybe he'll have some challengers in the person of Dombrovski or Gesink.If Kennaugh is recovered he should be there too.

 

[saganftw]

wow havent been on this forum for way too long time,but this is as good as when patriots won the superbowl,there was so much salt i was worried about my health

just fyi,i own a tshirt with a rooster and a cat on it described with different words shall i say,im sure you know which ones,so i fit right in...glad to be back boys

 

[Christian]

Sagan the person is annoying but Sagan on a bike is a force of nature... proven yet again yesterday, as soon as he went out the starting box you could see his sheer strength and already knew he was going to annihilate the field. As a cycling fan, I admire that talent and dedication

 

[tomorrow]

Re: Re:

Sagan wins a time trial? Must have been a joke time trial at a joke race against joke competition. At least Sagan is a likeable chap unlike Cavendish he's surely going to win at least another stage. Bah.

well, with the distance, it was more of a prologue than a proper time trial. An sagan winning prologue with no Malori, Martin, Cancellara is not that big of a surprise.

As far as tomorrow is concerned, I don't think sagan will even bother to try, at some point, he will just wave to the cameras, Mount Baldy and Green Mountain are his favourite for this

He will bother to try this time.

I've already read the interview too. Well, among other things, i am very curious how that goes with him. He's been able to hold some cat1 hills, but always the gc guys didn't go full gas on them. Also, they didn't end with basicaly 3km at 10%.

 

[max_powers]

Re:

Sagan the person is annoying but Sagan on a bike is a force of nature... proven yet again yesterday, as soon as he went out the starting box you could see his sheer strength and already knew he was going to annihilate the field. As a cycling fan, I admire that talent and dedication

ans he even smoked the field w/o shoe covers

 

[Squirbos_19]

Gesink for the stage win. Dombrowski and McCarthy in top 10 with McCarthy taking the young riders jersey.
Sagan to show his climbing potential and keep the GC lead.

 

[Pricey_sky]

What is the gradient of the final climb?

 

[BigMac]

Re:

What is the gradient of the final climb?

The actual climb, from Mt. Baldy to Manker Canyon parking lot, few meters bellow the Ski Lifts, is 7km at 9%. Reminds me a bit of last year's stage finishing in Mountain High, where the steepest part was actually the finale up to Table Mountain.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

What is the gradient of the final climb?

The actual climb, from Mt. Baldy to Manker Canyon parking lot, few meters bellow the Ski Lifts, is 7km at 9%. Reminds me a bit of last year's stage finishing in Mountain High, where the steepest part was actually the finale up to Table Mountain.

Thanks Bigmac. 7km @ 9%? I'm guessing the Sagan fans were trolling when they said he could fight for GC here...

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

What is the gradient of the final climb?

The actual climb, from Mt. Baldy to Manker Canyon parking lot, few meters bellow the Ski Lifts, is 7km at 9%. Reminds me a bit of last year's stage finishing in Mountain High, where the steepest part was actually the finale up to Table Mountain.

Thanks Bigmac. 7km @ 9%? I'm guessing the Sagan fans were trolling when they said he could fight for GC here...

I'm hoping you're right there. A list of winners that goes TJVG, Wiggins, Sagan looks very odd.

 

[Tank Engine]

Sagan will try, but fail. I think it will be a dual between Henao and Gesink. I think Henao just has the edge

 

[classicomano]

This whole race has sucked ass, so the showdown at Mt Balding will also suck ass. Sagan to win the overall as the final nail in the coffin.

 

[DBotero]

Re:

This whole race has sucked ass, so the showdown at Mt Balding will also suck ass. Sagan to win the overall as the final nail in the coffin.

Hopefully not,i refuse to believe that this climb is not enough to bury him.If Henao,Gesink or Dombrovski etc can't gain enough time on this guy it's time for them to change their job.

 

[WheelofGear]

If Henao is in the shape he was in Basque Country where the competition was a lot harder, he could win by at least minute.

He is so punchy that he immediately can create a huge gap. I know they caught him a few times in Pais Vasco, but there a no riders strong enough to reel him in this time.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

If Henao is in the shape he was in Basque Country where the competition was a lot harder, he could win by at least minute.

He is so punchy that he immediately can create a huge gap. I know they caught him a few times in Pais Vasco, but there a no riders strong enough to reel him in this time.

He really should just follow wheels and outsprint whoever's with him on the finish line. He would win the race that way. I hope Gesink takes it, especially after the brave but unsuccesful effort from teammate Kruijswijk in the giro today. Lotto NL could use a little success.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

This whole race has sucked ass, so the showdown at Mt Balding will also suck ass. Sagan to win the overall as the final nail in the coffin.

Hopefully not,i refuse to believe that this climb is not enough to bury him.If Henao,Gesink or Dombrovski etc can't gain enough time on this guy it's time for them to change their job.

I think they might need to get a gap over Sagan of about 1min 10 because of bonus seconds on a very flat stage tomorrow.

 

[Leffe_Bruin]

Ten Dam to take stage and Henao GC

 

[ILovecycling]

Im looking forwatd to it, I hope Henao feels good

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

If Henao is in the shape he was in Basque Country where the competition was a lot harder, he could win by at least minute.

He is so punchy that he immediately can create a huge gap. I know they caught him a few times in Pais Vasco, but there a no riders strong enough to reel him in this time.

He really should just follow wheels and outsprint whoever's with him on the finish line. He would win the race that way. I hope Gesink takes it, especially after the brave but unsuccesful effort from teammate Kruijswijk in the giro today. Lotto NL could use a little success.

And gutting second place yesterday for Jos van Emden.

 

[May0maniac]

Vai Senni!

 

[Bushman]

Keep an eye out for Tao Geoghegan Hart riding for Axeon. Just turned 20 this year, quite a talented lad I believe. He did fairly well in the tt and he is stronger uphill than against the clock, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him in between 15th and 10th on the stage.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Keep an eye out for Tao Geoghegan Hart riding for Axeon. Just turned 20 this year, quite a talented lad I believe. He did fairly well in the tt and he is stronger uphill than against the clock, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him in between 15th and 10th on the stage.

Yes, he did well in last years Tour of Britain and also got 3rd in the U23 Leige. Certainly one to keep an eye on in future.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Keep an eye out for Tao Geoghegan Hart riding for Axeon. Just turned 20 this year, quite a talented lad I believe. He did fairly well in the tt and he is stronger uphill than against the clock, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him in between 15th and 10th on the stage.

Yes, he did well in last years Tour of Britain and also got 3rd in the U23 Leige. Certainly one to keep an eye on in future.

He was also tenth last year in Tour de l'Avenir as a first year senior (19 years old). When I first got to know him was back in 2013 because he was racing against some of the best Danes like Mads Pedersen and since then I have been following some of the riders from that generation a bit. There are some quite talented riders in that year like Tao, Mads Pedersen, Robert Power and of course Mathieu Van der Poel.