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

[classicomano]

Re: Re:

That typical North-African spirit that we all came to know and love.

Please just ban him from the sport before people start dying.

Nominee for worst post of the year

In return ill take the opportunity to nominate Bouhanni for most moronic cyclist in the history of the sport. Id rather see Gerrans win 10 more monuments then to see him mong up another sprint.

Besides, he certainly doesn't deserve to be banned for that when Bos wasn't banned for a much worse incident.

If you think Theo Bos' manoeuvre was in any way deliberate, I would also like to nominate your post for worst post of the year. Mr. Bouhanni has a long wrap sheet of similair moronic incidents when he just loses his head, hes doing it on purpose so much is clear at this point.

 

[postmanhat]

So close

 

[classicomano]

So close

Absolutely mental.

 

[del1962]

Bling Matthews did remarkably well not to crash, not really a fan but deserved the stage

Kristoff was poor though

 

[Taxus4a]

Tomorrow not much different to Cumbre del sol. it is no so constant, it has less average, but that kind of numers...

I saw quite strong Dumoulin these days, I think he can win tomorrow as well, or close.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=28105

Some people think in other thread Mathews can keep the yellow... i dont see him there , who is a magnificent rider, but not a climber , in lees than 3 minutes nor in his best climbing day.

 

[BigMac]

Costa saying tomorrow's stage can be called off due to snow, tosh I hope?

 

[Samamba]

Re:

Tomorrow not much different to Cumbre del sol. it is no so constant, it has less average, but that kind of numers...

I saw quite strong Dumoulin these days, I think he can win tomorrow as well, or close.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=28105

Some people think in other thread Mathews can keep the yellow... i dont see him there , who is a magnificent rider, but not a climber , in lees than 3 minutes nor in his best climbing day.

Dumoulin can win, but Cumbre del Sol is way harder than the Mont de Brouilly.
And I really think Matthews has a chance to survive. He has the form and the climb isn't too hard. The "staircase profile" speaks in his favor i think.

 

[classicomano]

Re:

Tomorrow not much different to Cumbre del sol. it is no so constant, it has less average, but that kind of numers...

I saw quite strong Dumoulin these days, I think he can win tomorrow as well, or close.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=28105

Some people think in other thread Mathews can keep the yellow... i dont see him there , who is a magnificent rider, but not a climber , in lees than 3 minutes nor in his best climbing day.

I wont be too sure, Bling seems to be in absolute beastmode right now beating Dumoulin and everyone else in a prologue and all. Plus he mentions how his climbing form is great right now and we know from the Giro what he can do if he puts his mind to it, kind of like a Boasson Hagen if he is in top shape.

 

[Samamba]

Costa saying tomorrow's stage can be called off due to snow, tosh I hope?

7 Degrees in Saint Lager tomorrow, rain but no snow (maybe in the evening). Don't think it will be cancelled, even if it snows a little. Maybe if it is that bad that they just cancel those other hills that go to 700m.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

That typical North-African spirit that we all came to know and love.

Please just ban him from the sport before people start dying.

Nominee for worst post of the year

In return ill take the opportunity to nominate Bouhanni for most moronic cyclist in the history of the sport. Id rather see Gerrans win 10 more monuments then to see him mong up another sprint.

Besides, he certainly doesn't deserve to be banned for that when Bos wasn't banned for a much worse incident.

If you think Theo Bos' manoeuvre was in any way deliberate, I would also like to nominate your post for worst post of the year. Mr. Bouhanni has a long wrap sheet of similair moronic incidents when he just loses his head, hes doing it on purpose so much is clear at this point.

OK, let me see your long rap sheet. You're welcome to PM me to make sure I see it. Maybe you can get me to change my mind but I doubt it. Over the years we've seen tons of incidents and people calling for rider's heads, including Cav. Most of the time it's a case where a sprinter just got a bit too aggressive but I certainly haven't seen enough from Bouhanni to say he needs to be banned from the sport. Honestly, I don't think anything that happened today was particularly bad and apparently neither did the officials since they just relegated him to 3rd. Bos was suspended for a month, wasn't he?

Speaking of which, you weren't around the forum at that time but people went ballistic. I don't remember anyone making negative generalizations about the Dutch, however.

 

[HelloDolly]

Anyone know what is up with Kitel ? IS he sick ? Has he lost form ? or can he not bebothered ?

 

[ferryman]

Words have been posted that shouldn't have been. Gentle reminders have been issued via PMs. Let's keep the debate over the racing peeps, and we will all live happily ever after But as for the Dutch...;: (joking!!)

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

Tomorrow not much different to Cumbre del sol. it is no so constant, it has less average, but that kind of numers...

I saw quite strong Dumoulin these days, I think he can win tomorrow as well, or close.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=28105

Some people think in other thread Mathews can keep the yellow... i dont see him there , who is a magnificent rider, but not a climber , in lees than 3 minutes nor in his best climbing day.

Dumoulin can win, but Cumbre del Sol is way harder than the Mont de Brouilly.
And I really think Matthews has a chance to survive. He has the form and the climb isn't too hard. The "staircase profile" speaks in his favor i think.

Yes, Cumbre del sol is more for climbers, is almost 100 meters climbing more...we will see, but with the best: Thomas, Contador, Domoulin, Porte if he is ok,... he has no options here, and difficult to keep the yellow although he is a good climber for this kind of climbs. there is not really a long hard stretcht, the rest suit well for not pure climbers after to see the video.

 

[jmdirt]

So close

indeed!

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

@Kwibus
The way I see it, it was definitely risky, on-the-edge sprinting from Bouhanni, as usual. But two points:
The initial swerve to the left, although a DSQ could be justified, it wasn't dangerous. It wasn't a very sudden move and he left enough space for Matthews.
From that point on, he just sprints straight to the line, except for a slight swerve further to the left but it is unclear if this was deliberate or perhaps even caused by Matthews. What I do see, however, is that the barriers aren't straight, it's clear from the overhead shot. Bouhanni sprints in a straight line, but there is less and less space for Matthews because of the barriers.
So to summarize, yes, it was risky and perhaps the DSQ was justified. But it was nothing extreme, and the barriers definitely played a part.

As I pointed out the initial swerve was nasty, but not enough for a DSQ. The thing is Matthews was allready next to him so there was no other way to go for him and Bouhanni put him in that position and I'mmsure Bouhanni was fully aware of that.
Yes the barriers weren't straight, but it makes me wonder if Bouhani didn't see that coming...

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

That typical North-African spirit that we all came to know and love.

Please just ban him from the sport before people start dying.

Wow. You should be ashamed. Nobody is reacting about your racist filfth?!
I thought this forum was a place free of comments like this, since it is supposed to be all about the sport. I was wrong, it seems.

YOU should be banned from this forum!

Spot on!

Nevermind. I see a mod allready had his word. Classico keep your racism to yourself next time.

 

[Kwibus]

I think Matthews will still be in yellow after today. Dumoulin isn't in Vuelta shape so I doubt he will win today.
Actually Dumoulin said before the race that he was never able to get decent form in March/April so it's curious tomsee what will happen.

I find it hard to predict this stage.,climb is rather short and gradients allthough not perfect for a power climber they certainly ain't ideal for the real climbers. I just don't know. Only an extremely in form Contador could do it I guess.

 

[The Barb]

Re:

I think Matthews will still be in yellow after today. Dumoulin isn't in Vuelta shape so I doubt he will win today.
Actually Dumoulin said before the race that he was never able to get decent form in March/April so it's curious tomsee what will happen.

I find it hard to predict this stage.,climb is rather short and gradients allthough not perfect for a power climber they certainly ain't ideal for the real climbers. I just don't know. Only an extremely in form Contador could do it I guess.

Matthews looks in super form and I agree he will hold yellow today. It might sound crazy but I don't think he'll be far from winning the stage.

 

[blackmamba]

Anyone know how the weather most likely will be at start and at the finish?

 

[classicomano]

Re: Re:

OK, let me see your long rap sheet. You're welcome to PM me to make sure I see it. Maybe you can get me to change my mind but I doubt it. Over the years we've seen tons of incidents and people calling for rider's heads, including Cav. Most of the time it's a case where a sprinter just got a bit too aggressive but I certainly haven't seen enough from Bouhanni to say he needs to be banned from the sport. Honestly, I don't think anything that happened today was particularly bad and apparently neither did the officials since they just relegated him to 3rd. Bos was suspended for a month, wasn't he?

Speaking of which, you weren't around the forum at that time but people went ballistic. I don't remember anyone making negative generalizations about the Dutch, however.

I doubt ill convince you of getting him banned but do I really have to convince you the guy has a reputation of being a careless, dangerous sprinter at the very least? Even 4 years ago Greipel complained that Bouhanni was a danger to the entire peloton, and in return the ever classy Bouhanni threatened to punch Greipel in the face. By all accounts Greipel is one of the nicest guys in the peleton so it speaks volumes about his character (rotten).

Regarding the Bos incident I caught all the aftermath of that, and I guess they felt foced to give him some kind of punishment seeing all the uproar and how severe the consequences were, but in the end it was clumsiness of a guy who was new in the peloton and trying to find his way. Ive followed him and his career for over 10 years and theres not single malicious bone in his body, overall nice guy and I cant recall any incident with him after that either. But anyway lets not wallow over all that since its been discussed to death already.

 

[coimbrawu]

Re:

Anyone know how the weather most likely will be at start and at the finish?

chances for crosswind, rain, cold and maybe even snow at the end of the stage

but there maybe some cross wind/head wind during the climb, not sure if the road is exposed or not.

 

[GP Blanco]

Re:

Anyone know what is up with Kitel ? IS he sick ? Has he lost form ? or can he not bebothered ?

According to the team the train got lost.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

There seems to be quite big difference in opinions regarding how Matthews will do today. Personally I think he will do very well. In his earlier days as a cyclist he was actually very good uphill (take a look at his l'Avenir results for instance). Of course a lot has happened since and he has focused more on sprinting. However, the last two years he's been working very hard on his climbing to focus more on uphill finishes. Also, Paris-Nice GC (and Milano-Sanremo) has been his main goals for the first part of the season since he finished his 2015 season.

I think he'll keep yellow today, but obviously he doesn't need to lose much time to lose the leader's jersey. Just 5 seconds to Dumoulin, 10 to Thomas or Izagirre or 24 to Contador.

 

[Davesta]

Re: Re:

@Kwibus
The way I see it, it was definitely risky, on-the-edge sprinting from Bouhanni, as usual. But two points:
The initial swerve to the left, although a DSQ could be justified, it wasn't dangerous. It wasn't a very sudden move and he left enough space for Matthews.
From that point on, he just sprints straight to the line, except for a slight swerve further to the left but it is unclear if this was deliberate or perhaps even caused by Matthews. What I do see, however, is that the barriers aren't straight, it's clear from the overhead shot. Bouhanni sprints in a straight line, but there is less and less space for Matthews because of the barriers.
So to summarize, yes, it was risky and perhaps the DSQ was justified. But it was nothing extreme, and the barriers definitely played a part.

As I pointed out the initial swerve was nasty, but not enough for a DSQ. The thing is Matthews was allready next to him so there was no other way to go for him and Bouhanni put him in that position and I'mmsure Bouhanni was fully aware of that.
Yes the barriers weren't straight, but it makes me wonder if Bouhani didn't see that coming...

Just catching up on yesterday's stage now...the thing that strikes me about the sprint, is that Bouhanni is riding almost all of it with his head down. He looks to the floor from about 100m out, where he then swerves across the road and forces Matthews against the barriers. Then after looking forwards briefly, he puts his head down again and initiates contact with Matthews in a very dangerous position (i.e. blocking Matthews against the barriers). It's amazing neither of them hit the deck.
The initial swerve perhaps wasn't enough for a relegation, as that sort of thing happens regularly and is often used tactically. But that, combined with the head-down sprinting and the clear movement towards Matthews when he's against the barriers, is easily cause for relegation.
Matthews' sprint was clean, and he was lucky not to have been injured by Bouhanni.

Anyway, looking forward to today's stage...

 

[Alexandre B.]

Mont Brouilly 2014 - Michael Matthews at the back of the elite group.