2016 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, August 1 to 7

[Anderis]

Bettiol 10th today. :surprised: Holy crap, he is really making a great progress recently. Really an all-rounder.

 

[StuyvenFan]

Re:

That certainly has to be a mistake. Atapuma was about 1:20 behind Talansky before today stage and today he gained a minute on him.

Seems the officials have caught on, PCS has him as third now. Pretty embarrassing when the officials mess up simple arithmetic.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Bettiol 10th today. :surprised: Holy crap, he is really making a great progress recently. Really an all-rounder.

He seems to have had a lot of benefit riding his first GT. He also was a pretty good climber/hill rider (for a "sprinter") in the Italian U23 scene, often got his results out of (strongly) reduced sprints.

 

[Escarabajo]

Great race. Enjoyed it.
What's up with Morton, why doesn't he go to Europe?

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Great race. Enjoyed it.
What's up with Morton, why doesn't he go to Europe?

Here:
http://cyclingtips.com/2016/06/lachlan-morton-id-like-to-have-another-shot-at-the-worldtour/

 

[luckyboy]

When he was with Garmin I read things like he turned up to races (Tour de Suisse?) with no training for a month, things like that. And he went well at American races and just seemed to do nothing or DNF in Europe.

Wouldn't be surprising if teams remember that. A few hours ago Richard Moore said he had no offers from any WT teams.

 

[Carols]

Re:

They had the wrong guy on the podium in 3rd? What an amateur muck up!

Morton what a beast!!!

 

[BigMac]

Let's pretend that was the stage podium.

 

[The Hegelian]

Morton has serious talent. I'd be amazed if he's not riding WT next year.

 

[jens_attacks]

Lol cannondale

Great race again.

 

[PeterB]

Re:

Let's pretend that was the stage podium.

As far as I could tell that actually was the stage podium. Oddly enough they did not show the podium ceremony of top three overall.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re:

BMC were trying attacks with multiple riders. Talansky responded by himself to one of those.

I think it might have been better than burning out his team and risking being isolated later. He doesn't work anyway.

It was somewhat strange. With several guys in the top 10, BMC were playing the numbers game, Atapuma and Eisenhart had been on the attack. Burning out his team (except for Dombrowski) would not have been a problem, since once you get to Empire Pass the rest of the team would not be of any use. I guess Cannondale didn't want to use the let Atapuma hang out to dry tactic, since the breakaway was not that far ahead. When Atapuma and Eisenhart were brought back, Rosskopf attacked and Talansky took matters into his own hands (especially as Costa went as well). Judging by Costa's perfomance on Empire, it was the steepness that beat Talansky and not the fact that he wore himself out in any way by covering Rosskopf (especially as Talansky was the one who did not pull at all - compared to Costa's 5% of time at the front). Meanwhile Morton stays calm and executes his plan perfectly (although having the legs to execute on the Empire pass is by far the biggest factor in determining success).

As usual, Utah delivers.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Wow, Manuel Senni is showing signs of life, he finished 7th on the stage and I think that managed to finish in the top 10 on gc.

Wow...wait, why wow? Who is he? Some long forgotten injury mared great Italian talent?

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

It was somewhat strange. With several guys in the top 10, BMC were playing the numbers game, Atapuma and Eisenhart had been on the attack. Burning out his team (except for Dombrowski) would not have been a problem, since once you get to Empire Pass the rest of the team would not be of any use.

The problem is- high pace on the flat might have actually burnt Dombrowski, since he isn't good in this kind of racing.
There was also no certainty that Cannondale could hold on all of the attacks until the Empire Pass. If other teams joined BMC's crazy attacks, they could have burnt out when there was still some flat left, making Talansky vulnerable to big time loss.

 

[claude cat]

Re:

Morton has serious talent. I'd be amazed if he's not riding WT next year.

WT teams tend to be nervous of giving guys like him a 2nd chance though. Nothing guaranteed about him returning to the WT level next year, especially with so many riders looking for new homes.

 

[BigMac]

If teams can give Betancur so many chances, they could give him too. I'm sure he won't be asking for a huge salary for starters.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Perhaps Orica will take him as an extra mountain dom?

 

[claude cat]

Re:

Perhaps Orica will take him as an extra mountain dom?

I have my doubts OBE will go there. Traditionally their Australian riders have come through the Cycling Australia development programs. If he gets a chance, I suspect it will be with one of the lower budget WT teams.
And it seems they (OBE) have Atapuma in their sights.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re: Re:

It was somewhat strange. With several guys in the top 10, BMC were playing the numbers game, Atapuma and Eisenhart had been on the attack. Burning out his team (except for Dombrowski) would not have been a problem, since once you get to Empire Pass the rest of the team would not be of any use.

The problem is- high pace on the flat might have actually burnt Dombrowski, since he isn't good in this kind of racing.
There was also no certainty that Cannondale could hold on all of the attacks until the Empire Pass. If other teams joined BMC's crazy attacks, they could have burnt out when there was still some flat left, making Talansky vulnerable to big time loss.

That could well be true. If only Rosskopf had attacked, then Cannondale only really had to keep the gap under control. However, it was reasonable that Talansky should react to attacks by more serious contenders. So when Costa reacted, Talansky followed him. I was initially surprised that Costa had attacked, but I guess that it was an intuituve rather than planned move, since Rosskopf would be a good locomotive to bridge to the escape. The strange thing about the whole situation was mostly that Rosskopf did drag them up to the break with Costa only doing a couple of turns to finally close the gap.

In the end, I don't think that interlude made any change in the final result. Rather, it just made it marginally easier for Morton to achieve his goals, as the Rosskopf attack was neutralised and Morton did not expend any unnecessary energy at all before the final climb (unlike the other 3 of the top 4).

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Let's pretend that was the stage podium.

As far as I could tell that actually was the stage podium. Oddly enough they did not show the podium ceremony of top three overall.

You're correct it was the stage podium since Morton isn't in yellow .

There is one pic from the 27 on CN that shows Talansky with Morton and champagne but none of the final podium.

 

[yaco]

Morton is a flight risk - He needs to join a European based PCT team for a year or two, to prove he can live in Europe - Then he may possibly join a WT.

Doubt very much OBE will have any interest in Morton - Doubt OBE will take any young Aussie riders for 2017 - They may consider a young Aussie rider for the 2018 season

 

[luckyboy]

Surely he'd go to a team that goes to these US stage races?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Wow, Manuel Senni is showing signs of life, he finished 7th on the stage and I think that managed to finish in the top 10 on gc.

Wow...wait, why wow? Who is he? Some long forgotten injury mared great Italian talent?

He was a very good espoir climber, quite a few top 10s in various Italian hilly one-dayers and two mountaintop stage wins and a GC podium in the Giro della Valle d'Aosta in 2014 (at Les Marécottes and Breuil-Cervinia), so he was seen as a big prospect. He went pro start of last year (with BMC) and apart from a somewhat surprising top 5 in the 2015 Italian national time trial, has done nothing of any note since, until the top 10 in the final stage here.

 

[Valv.Piti]

What a great race. These 3 mountain stages were incredible, I really like this race.