2016 Eneco Tour (WT): Sept 19 - 25th

[gospina]

Re:

So performing better than everyone expected one to = competitive

While getting 3rd in the overall =! competitive

Certain riders are held at different levels/expectations. Anything less than winning the TDF is now considered subpar by some fans for Nairo. Any other rider would be a hall of fame rider with 2nd, 2nd and 3rd in their only TDF participations. Sagan also held at a high standard, all those 2nd places were seen as failures.
Froome, Quintana, Contador and Nibali are all at that level. Not winning a GT is considered a poor performance.
Going back to the point of the thread, Nairo did come back to Europe only for the WT leader race. If Sagan doesn't pass him, I doubt he will race Il Lombardia. Amazing sprint by Sagan. Overhead shot is amazing

 

[gospina]

Re: Re:

Quintana has 10 more racedays than Sagan so far this year, and other than his DNF in GP Miguel Indurain, his worst result in all of the races he has participated in was 4th in the Colombian RR (at least 3rd in all other races). I'm no Quintana fanboy, but one has to be fair. He has been competitive from January to September and raced a fair amount (the primary reason why he has raced more than Sagan, is that Sagan has reduced the amount of racedays this year).

You're ignoring the fact that Sagan raced a few mountain-bike races, including the Olympic race, which meant he couldn't ride the Vuelta.

If it were up to me I'd give Quintana penalty points for the way he rode in the Tour this year.

Gosh. :lol:
Incredible.

What's incredible is that you can be a fan of such a boring rider, lol. He wouldn't have won the Vuelta either without Contador making things exciting once again.

Nairo's GT wins at Giro and Vuelta and Froome's last 2 TDF wins were NOT decided in the mountains or ITT. Those 4 wins were either on breakways or on some group disconnects. So to say he wouldn't have won the Vuelta is correct, but he wouldn't have won the Giro and Froome wouldn't have won the Tour for similar events. Froome was much more exciting than a sick Nairo this year at the TDF. The run uphill alone was exciting. Nairo was more exciting at the Vuelta.

 

[Netserk]

How was Froome's Tour win this year not won in the mountains and the ITTs?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

How was Froome's Tour win this year not won in the mountains and the ITTs?

Because the media want's to make it seem like Froome won TdF in some super innovative way despite him only gaining 30-40 seconds on his attacks. I guess.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

So performing better than everyone expected one to = competitive

While getting 3rd in the overall =! competitive

Certain riders are held at different levels/expectations. Anything less than winning the TDF is now considered subpar by some fans for Nairo. Any other rider would be a hall of fame rider with 2nd, 2nd and 3rd in their only TDF participations. Sagan also held at a high standard, all those 2nd places were seen as failures.
Froome, Quintana, Contador and Nibali are all at that level. Not winning a GT is considered a poor performance.
Going back to the point of the thread, Nairo did come back to Europe only for the WT leader race. If Sagan doesn't pass him, I doubt he will race Il Lombardia. Amazing sprint by Sagan. Overhead shot is amazing

Pretty much this. I had much higher expectations for Quintana at the Tour than what he showed this year. And so did he.

 

[Flamin]

Hope the break is caught and we get a good showdown on Bruine Put for the boni seconds.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

Hope the break is caught and we get a good showdown on Bruine Put for the boni seconds.

With the TTT next, several teams will save themselves, not to mention that no one (in contention for the GC) wants to serve the stage win to Sagan. Breakaway FTW.

 

[Samamba]

Re: Re:

Hope the break is caught and we get a good showdown on Bruine Put for the boni seconds.

With the TTT next, several teams will save themselves, not to mention that no one (in contention for the GC) wants to serve the stage win to Sagan. Breakaway FTW.

Teams like Lotto Soudal should try to make the race hard. They'll lose a lot of time in the TTT anyway so...

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

Hope the break is caught and we get a good showdown on Bruine Put for the boni seconds.

With the TTT next, several teams will save themselves, not to mention that no one (in contention for the GC) wants to serve the stage win to Sagan. Breakaway FTW.

Yeah, possibly. On the other hand, the climbs are not hard enough to drop the sprinters (maybe only Kittel at best) so it's a genuine chance for them.

 

[Billie]

Re:

Hope the break is caught and we get a good showdown on Bruine Put for the boni seconds.

Alsemberg is where the action has to happen. 2nd part false flat where finish of Brabantse Pijl used to be that's where a nice group can ride away

 

[Billie]

Re: Re:

Sagan now has 593 points and Nairo has 609. 1 more stage and 9th overall and it will be a tie. Anything more and Sagan takes the lead, forcing Nairo to race Lombardia if he wants to win. In case of a tie, the tie breaker is number of victories, so Sagan will take the tie breaker.

Winning what?

I'm pretty sure Quintana couldn't care less.

he's coming back from Colombia just for that

 

[rghysens]

crash + abandon Boonen

 

[Netserk]

Not again

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Not watching yet, but the Sporza ticker said Tim Wellens tried to attack when the break was caught and some other people joined him but it came back together quickly again. It's good news that the break got caught early and that somebody like Wellens is already attacking.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

BMC riding a strong pace. Looks like they might be planning something. We haven't got anything yet, but the signs are there to indicate some folks might have a go today. Not the most difficult stage today, but something is definitely possible if they want to.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Dumoulin attacking now, some people joined him, but they're not that far

 

[Netserk]

Why do BMC have Oss (far behind in GC) in the move?

Dumoulin best in GC (+20'') Preidler second best (+41'')

 

[Netserk]

Many decent attacks recently. Now Olivera (+22'') and a Ag2r rider (Denz) going clear.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nelson Oliveira is such as strong rider.

 

[Arredondo]

Good race till now

 

[Netserk]

Boom and Bak and others trying to move behind.

 

[Billie]

Hagen and Dennis in a break now

 

[Netserk]

Dennis in a dangerous group up ahead.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

If this break gets some organization it could be fun!

 

[Netserk]

Grivko is 22'' behind, I think these two will be allowed to stay out there until the very final.