2016 Paris - Nice, March 6th - 13th, WT

[staubsauger]

Everyone seems to be busy with whether Dumoulin should focus on GC now already or wait for another season with it.

I guess he's very happy with being like Serhiy Honchar in 2016.

So he's gonna train and try for a top 5 and the maglia rosa at the Giro if he's able to do so. While the tt and the Olympics remain his major goal.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Re:

173KRUIJSWIJK Steven
TEAM LOTTONL - JUMBO1:12

I really love this guy, he can only perform in the 3rd week

According to his twitter he had to change the bike and he did almost al the TT with a normal bike .

It´s true that he is very good in the 3rd week og a GT, but he is not that bad either in other kind of scenarios.
Last year he was good in Tour de le Ain, Great Britain, Tour of Yorkshire,Volta Limburg classic and not bad in Cataluña and Paris nice.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

173KRUIJSWIJK Steven
TEAM LOTTONL - JUMBO1:12

I really love this guy, he can only perform in the 3rd week

He almost broke his wheel at the start. That's why

Also, he did pretty well in some 1 week tours and even won the Arctic Tour or something in norway

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

173KRUIJSWIJK Steven
TEAM LOTTONL - JUMBO1:12

I really love this guy, he can only perform in the 3rd week

According to his twitter he had to change the bike and he did almost al the TT with a normal bike .

It´s true that he is very good in the 3rd week og a GT, but he is not that bad either in other kind of scenarios.
Last year he was good in Tour de le Ain, Great Britain, Tour of Yorkshire,Volta Limburg classic and not bad in Cataluña and Paris nice.

So, top 10s in some random races is considered as "very good", looks like 250 riders were "very good" last year.

 

[ferryman]

Not sure why so many are getting their knickers in a twist over this from Contador. It should be in the bag now all things being equal...

 

[Taxus4a]

Spilak has lost too much time, maybe does is it his first race?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Not sure why so many are getting their knickers in a twist over this from Contador. It should be in the bag now all things being equal...

The MTFs on stage 3 and stage 6 suit Thomas, Dumoulin and also Izagirre very well. Contador could lose time tomorrow too. It's definitely not in the bag, he can win but it'll be a tough fight

 

[ferryman]

Re: Re:

Not sure why so many are getting their knickers in a twist over this from Contador. It should be in the bag now all things being equal...

The MTFs on stage 3 and stage 6 suit Thomas, Dumoulin and also Izagirre very well. Contador could lose time tomorrow too. It's definitely not in the bag, he can win but it'll be a tough fight

Spoken like a true Scots woman Have faith, not fear of losing But seriously, he should win it from now if he is in any condition...

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Not sure why so many are getting their knickers in a twist over this from Contador. It should be in the bag now all things being equal...

The MTFs on stage 3 and stage 6 suit Thomas, Dumoulin and also Izagirre very well. Contador could lose time tomorrow too. It's definitely not in the bag, he can win but it'll be a tough fight

contador will demolish them in stage 3 and stage 6, only porte could be a threat and if contador isn't in first place after stage 6, he will attack from far like in 2007 on stage 7

 

[trevim]

Re:

173KRUIJSWIJK Steven
TEAM LOTTONL - JUMBO1:12

I really love this guy, he can only perform in the 3rd week

He should target Dauphine after riding the Giro and something else in between

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

Not sure why so many are getting their knickers in a twist over this from Contador. It should be in the bag now all things being equal...

The MTFs on stage 3 and stage 6 suit Thomas, Dumoulin and also Izagirre very well. Contador could lose time tomorrow too. It's definitely not in the bag, he can win but it'll be a tough fight

contador will demolish them in stage 3 and stage 6, only porte could be a threat and if contador isn't in first place after stage 6, he will attack from far like in 2007 on stage 7

Porte said he is not here in good shape and he ruled out to win. To do a good prologue you dont need to be in a very good shape, and it wanst a super prologue. Anyway maybe is no true and he is ok.

Contador tomorrow should lose time time with people as Thomas or Domoulin, but we will see, the second sterrato is short but looks quite nasty...it depends on the weather, especially the crosswinds.

 

[rm7]

Re: Re:

Not sure why so many are getting their knickers in a twist over this from Contador. It should be in the bag now all things being equal...

The MTFs on stage 3 and stage 6 suit Thomas, Dumoulin and also Izagirre very well. Contador could lose time tomorrow too. It's definitely not in the bag, he can win but it'll be a tough fight

If Contador is in any kind of decent shape he should definitely be winning stage 3 with a last KM attack, and gain 5-10 seconds on Thomas and Porte, 15-20 on Domoulin. I'm not really sure about Izagirre's level tbh. '

Tinkoff to set a hard pace as soon as they hit Mont Brouilly, with Majka going full gas acceleration with 2k's to go. Contador to finish the job then.

Stage 6:

I agree that the last climb actually suits riders like Thomas and Dumoulin very well, but remember that Contador is still by far the best climber even on such a climb compared to those two. But Contador always do very well on stages with multiple mountains. Tinkoff should definitely start racing hard from Cote de la Sigale as it should favor Contador. They've got a strong team for the mountains here.

 

[coimbrawu]

Very impressively by Bevin. He got New Zealand ITT championship this year, 10th place in TDU, 10th for Tour du Haut Var and then 3rd in prologue last night, a bunch of solid top 10 this year. But he is more than an ITT specialist, he sprint against Ewan and Wippert in Tour de Korea last year, he climbed against the mysterious powerful Iranian in Tour de Taiwan's queen stage (The Iranian always get good results in Asian MTF and the stage finish at 2571m). He is very tough climb and I think he can get more good results in his first year with a WT team.

 

[coimbrawu]

today's final is very tricky, hope a strong man can breakaway and take the stage. Maybe Chavanel has the chance

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Re: Re:

173KRUIJSWIJK Steven
TEAM LOTTONL - JUMBO1:12

I really love this guy, he can only perform in the 3rd week

According to his twitter he had to change the bike and he did almost al the TT with a normal bike .

It´s true that he is very good in the 3rd week og a GT, but he is not that bad either in other kind of scenarios.
Last year he was good in Tour de le Ain, Great Britain, Tour of Yorkshire,Volta Limburg classic and not bad in Cataluña and Paris nice.

So, top 10s in some random races is considered as "very good", looks like 250 riders were "very good" last year.

I have said good, not very good.

 

[MartinGT]

Snowing at the start apparently.

 

[coimbrawu]

wow, it begins to snow now!
Wouter Wippert ‏@wouterwippert 26min
Snow is here so @ParisNice can begin! #snow @Ride_Argyle
Team KATUSHA ‏@katushacycling 4min
#ParisNice Looks like the weather is not on the rider's side today... On the way to start...

 

[del1962]

Ian Stannard has a quiet chuckle to himself

 

[DFA123]

Re:

today's final is very tricky, hope a strong man can breakaway and take the stage. Maybe Chavanel has the chance

Problem is that the best strongmen are on Kittel's team.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Mont Brouilly:

1. Bardet
2. Contador
3. Jesus Herrada

 

[DBotero]

 

[Kwibus]

Titi looks fine. All the other faces are like "oh crap" and Titi is like "ah oui.. tres bien"

 

[Carstenbf]

Voeckler to go solo and get 2+ mins, then goes on to win GC!

A guy can dream, no?

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Voeckler to go solo and get 2+ mins, then goes on to win GC!

A guy can dream, no?

2 min won't be enough for him though. Then again, never underestimate voeckler when he has the maillot jaune.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Today could be pretty nasty if those dirt roads are wet......

If it really turns ugly Thomas' classics pedigree might help him a bit compared to other GC guys.